InBangkok.org

As the death toll of the flood reaches 224 people, Al Jazeera has a video on their website called Thailand hit by worst monsoon in 50 years , which isn’t very informative, but gives you an impression of what it’s currently like in many cities of Thailand.
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Thailand still hasn’t joined the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and is now being called to do so. It’s the first international court that is able to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide and currently has 118 member states. Read more: THAILAND: Global Coalition calls on Thailand to join...
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The Thai government has published several reports on human rights issues in Thailand, including the problems in violent Southern Thailand. These reports differ drastically from reports published by NGOs. These differences will be discussed at the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday. Given the widespread inability among Thai officials to admit...
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Thailand is still selling more and more jewelry to customers from other countries, despite economic slowdown in the USA & Europe. The overall jewellery export value is expected to surpass US$12 billion this year. This includes sales that are made within the country to customers who bring the country out (mostly tourists, specially...
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The Bangkok police announced what its anti-narcotics operations achieved between August 30-September 12. 277 drug addicts were admitted to the rehabilitation program. Nearly 4,000 suspects were arrested on drug-related charges. The number included 2 major narcotics producers and over 300 dealers
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The Bangkok airport handled 31.41 million international passengers in the year 2010. Phuket is one of the fastest growing airports (in terms of number of passengers) of 2010 globally. More info & international comparison here (PDF-download) .
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There’s a run on gold these days. So much so that police even enforced stricter security in the “gold store” Yaowarat area. According to Thipa Navawattanasap, the president of YLG Bullion and Futures, local gold prices may even hit 26,000 baht in the short term. Read more about it here.
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The new “purple line” of the BTS system in Bangkok is scheduled to open 2014 and will serve north-eastern Bangkok. The estimate costs run into 50bn baht. For more details read: Bangkok Mass Rapid Transit-Purple Line, Bangkok, Thailand
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Critics of Thaksin often blame him for corruption – and even among his supporters, there are very few that seriously believe he wasn’t corrupt. It’s nonetheless interesting to look at corruption ratings from Thailand before, during and after the Thaksin administration . There’s no doubt Thaksin was corrupt and used his political power...
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Now that the election has gone quite well, it should be noted that there are still some ways things could get nasty in Thailand. The Return of Thaksin For example, the winning Pheua Thai party, could bring back Thaksin to Thailand, giving him amnesty, and maybe even try to return part of the...
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At least 49 people were killed in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi on Thursday in a third consecutive day of bitter violence blamed on political and ethnic tensions, officials said.
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Apple announced on Thursday that more than 15 billion applications for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch have been downloaded from its App Store.
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Nearly 70 miners were trapped underground and at least eight have died in a spate of mining accidents that have jolted China's dangerous mine industry in recent days, state media reported Thursday.
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There’s an good Chuwit 101 primer from Associated Press . If you aren’t aware of one of Thailand’s most colorful politicians (the former prostitution tycoon) it’ll be a fun read.
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There’s an interesting 25 minute documentary on drug detention centers (army rehab bootcamps) in Thailand and neighbouring countries. It’s mainly criticizing the lack of effectiveness and lack of skilled staff. However, contrary to some other reports, this Al Jazeera documentary also points out that the inmates are treated good, no abuses, the centers...
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Here some quotes from an expert brief you by Joshua Kurlantzick for the Council of Foreign Relations, but it’s worth reading  Thailand’s Elections: Resolution or Implosion? in full. the election could simply accelerate Thailand’s political meltdown, underway since a coup in September 2006 any of the plausible poll scenarios is likely to inflame...
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The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today issued an urgent appeal to the public in the case of Mr. Kiettisak Thitboonkrong. His body was found dead several days after his arrest in 2004. Here’s a reprint of the appeal : THAILAND: Call for observers in the case of torture and murder of Mr....
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There’s a stellar article on reuters titled Analysis: As Thais vote, a struggle with education . Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva wants to pour 371.5 billion baht ($12 billion) into a six year education reform plan. Now, we’re not going to speculate how much of that would be siphoned into pockets of government employees....
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Thaksin’s back in the media spotlight this week. Here just a couple of recent articles on him and interviews with him: From Dubai exile, Thaksin waits for Thai political winds to change (MARK MacKINNON for Globe & Mail) In Thaksin’s own words (Nirmal Ghosh for Straits Times) Thaksin on lese majeste – is...
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In 2010, Thailand shipped about 138,000 tons of durians (60% of global exports) to mainland China (UN trade stats)
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There are quite a few movies and books about the infamous Klong Prem prison in Bangkok. Now, there’s an article on the prison and Thailand’s failed drug policy in the Bangkok Post too, and it’s worth reading: No fresh starts at ‘New Life Camp’ Drug offenders held at a special section of Klong...
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Watch this short video by Duncan McCargo for a quick roundup of Thailand’s coming election. Definitely worth watching the full 6 minutes. http://asiasociety.org/video/policy-politics/duncan-mccargos-thai-election-primer
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Being involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the monarchy in Thailand is one of the most serious allegations that can be made against someone. No one would do so jokingly, particularly not in public. People can go to jail for life when they try to overthrow the monarchy. Last year, the Thai army...
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According to an article by the Bangkok Post titled Crackdown on foreign nominee land sales in the past 10 years, land prices in some areas of Koh Samui have increased 100-fold. Imagine you’d have seen that coming 2001…
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The earthquakes that struck New Zealand in September and February will eat up about 7.5 percent its GDP, more than the cost of the recent disaster in Japan on Tokyo's economy, the IMF said Monday.
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World football's governing body Fifa said Monday that it would fund an Interpol training programme to help tackle match fixing and irregular betting thought to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
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A Texas man who burned his face off after his head touched an electrical wire showed off his new look Monday as doctors presented the United States' first full face transplant.
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Pavin Chachavalpongpun (or Chachapingpong, as I would really prefer to call him, just because it would make for an awesome name) published Thailand’s Military on the Offensive – The Thai army politicizes the monarchy in the Wall Street Journal. It’s a good one, read it. Dan Waites published Thailand: The new Burma? which...
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