It’s been called the world’s stinkiest fruit. But it’s deeply beloved by many.
Durian is a pungent, prickly fruit from Southeast Asia that has fascinated foreigners for centuries, and China is no exception.
China buys most of the world’s durian exports, a surge spurred over the past decade by social media and growing trade ties with durian-producing countries.
Both locals and Chinese are seeking to expand the booming durian industry across Southeast Asia.
But the prospect of high profits has also ignited tensions, resulting in land disputes and environmental concerns.
Toxic runoff from unregulated mines in Myanmar has sparked health and environmental concerns, across the border in Thailand.
Thai authorities have detected levels of arsenic nearly five times above acceptable limits. Meanwhile, local fishermen and residents are complaining of falling incomes and expressing food safety concerns.
Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng reports from Bangkok, Thailand.
Rare earth rush in Myanmar blamed for toxic river spillover into Thailand
Water tests from the Kok and Sai rivers near Thailand’s border with Myanmar have revealed elevated arsenic levels, leading Thai officials to warn citizens to avoid contact with river water.
The pollution is widely believed to be linked to unregulated mining in Myanmar’s Shan state.
Extraction of gold in Shan State has surged in the years since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar; more recently, mounting evidence suggests rare earth mining is also expanding across the state.
Elevated arsenic levels have also been found at testing points in the Mekong, which is fed by both the Kok and Sai rivers.
When tens of millions of baht disappeared from funds supposed to help lift Thai farmers out of poverty, Chutima Sidasathian began investigating.
The acclaimed journalist and human rights defender soon uncovered a banking scandal that has devastated her local community.
But a public figure implicated in the alleged fraud has filed criminal defamation complaints against her and now she’s facing up to 18 years in prison.
She’s just one of tens of thousands who have been slapped with these charges in the past decade.
101 East investigates how lawsuits are allegedly being used to intimidate whistleblowers and conceal corruption in Thailand.
Tại Indonesia, một ứng viên tổng thống và bộ trưởng ngoại giao đã phát biểu về cuộc chiến ở Gaza trước hàng trăm nghìn người biểu tình. Tại Malaysia, thủ tướng, đội khăn keffiyeh của người Palestine, đã dẫn đầu cuộc biểu tình của riêng mình, mô tả tình hình Gaza là “điên rồ” và “đỉnh cao của sự man rợ.” Còn tại Singapore, chính phủ cấm treo cờ của hai bên tham chiến.
Tại Thái Lan và Philippines, sự cảm thông dành cho các nạn nhân dân thường người Palestine đi kèm với sự tức giận trước việc nhiều công dân Thái Lan và Philippines đã bị Hamas giết hoặc bắt làm con tin. Trong khi tại Việt Nam, Lào, và Campuchia, các chính phủ đã thận trọng đưa ra những tuyên bố trung lập về Gaza – dù ký ức về trải nghiệm bị ném bom của các quốc gia này đang dần nổi lên.
Greenhouse gas emissions can be offset by carbon sinks such as forests, but expanding these areas can put Indigenous communities, reliant on the forests, at risk.
Khao Sok rainforest in Thailand. Photo by: Sebastian Kautz / Alamy
From Khao Sok National Park in the southwest to Phu Chi Fa Forest Park in the north, forests cover around 30% of Thailand’s total area. Approximately 23 million people live near or in these lush green landscapes, depending on them for sustenance and livelihoods. But that’s now at risk, due to both climate change-related threats and the policies implemented to protect the forests.
Warangkana Rattanarat, Thailand country director for The Center for People and Forests, warned that the arrival of El Niño earlier this year has caused long droughts and less rain, damaging crops and other forest resources. This has affected the availability of food, as well as the income local people can derive from forest resources, she added.
The country has also experienced floods and the highest temperatures on record this year, impacting forests and the communities within them. In theGermanWatch Global Climate Risk Index 2021, Thailand ranked at number nine globally for long-term climate risks.
Additionally, there are land and tenure rights issues for Indigenous forest communities to contend with, and national climate commitments that have the potential to negatively impact such communities, said experts.
1 of 4 | A Japanese tourist smokes cannabis at a Dutch passion shop in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Thailand’s de facto legalization of marijuana last year has brought a wave of tourists from the region intrigued by the lure of the forbidden leaf.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
TTCT – Sau thời gian dài giằng co, chính trường Thái Lan cuối cùng cũng (tạm thời) ngã ngũ với một tân thủ tướng và sự trở về của một cựu thủ tướng bị lật đổ.
Thailand’s multibillion-dollar sex tourism trade is thriving again after its shutdown during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
With the country’s borders open again, tourists are flocking from around the world.
Despite prostitution being illegal, bar girls in the coastal city of Pattaya can earn triple the average wage, drawing workers from the country’s poor rural provinces.
But police say children are increasingly targeted in the city’s red-light district.
101 East investigates Thailand’s sex tourism trade and how it exploits vulnerable children.
YOHEI MURAMATSU and TOMOYA ONISHI, Nikkei staff writers
September 6, 2022 04:22 JST
BANGKOK/HANOI — From wooing more Russian tourists to boosting trade, Southeast Asian nations are bolstering economic ties with Russia in hopes of curbing inflation and spurring their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. and European countries have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. But these efforts could be hindered by emerging nations as they prioritize addressing their own economic headwinds.
APORNRATH PHOONPHONGPHIPHAT, Nikkei staff writerAugust 24, 2022 16:12 JSTUpdated on August 24, 2022 20:08 JST
BANGKOK — Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday suspended Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha from duty until it rules on a petition filed by opposition parties that the one-time army chief has served beyond the constitutionally mandated eight years.
Prayuth first awarded himself the prime minister post in 2014, after staging a military coup.
“The court has determined by a 5-4 vote to suspend Gen. Prayuth from the duties of Prime Minister from Aug. 24 onward until the court reaches a [final] verdict,” the court said in a statement.
While Prayuth remains suspended from duty, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan will serve as a caretaker prime minister, said Wissanu Krea-Ngam, another deputy prime minister and the government’s legal expert. Prawit is the most senior deputy.
A VietJet Air Airbus A320(SL) departs from Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, on September 18, 2017.Credit: Flickr/Alec Wilson
The low-cost carrier Thai VietJet Air has been forced to make a public apology after an April Fool’s tweet prompted a flood of criticism in Thailand, one of its major markets, for making fun of Thailand’s King Vajiralongkorn. The post described the creation of a fake new route between the city of Nan in northern Thailand and Munich, Germany, where the king has for many years spent considerable amounts of time.
TTCT – Cả rừng tin tức tiêu cực về môi trường vẫn thường dễ dàng che khuất những nỗ lực có thực nhằm chữa lành thiên nhiên. Nhưng nay thế giới đã có một “tụ điểm” dành riêng cho những câu chuyện trồng rừng tốt đẹp.
Ảnh: Andres Azpurua
Tại Chiang Mai (Thái Lan), việc phục hồi rừng bản địa đã được nâng lên thành câu chuyện sinh kế. Dân làng nhận tiền thù lao khi tham gia chăm nom vườn ươm và đất đai, đồng thời được hưởng lợi từ nguồn lâm sản ngoài gỗ. Dự án này đã “bám rễ” và phát triển rực rỡ trong hơn 16 năm với sự chung sức đồng lòng của các nhà khoa học, người dân Hmông bản địa và cơ quan quản lý vườn quốc gia.
Giữa thời buổi “tuyệt chủng” và “biến đổi khí hậu”, những nỗ lực phục hồi và bảo tồn rừng có hiệu quả, như ví dụ ở Chiang Mai, có thể giúp chúng ta gieo mầm hy vọng về tương lai của Mẹ Trái đất. Trên bản đồ tương tác trực tuyến Restor (restor.eco/map) có hàng chục ngàn ví dụ như thế.
Walter Lohman is director of the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.
There is a long-held logic in Washington that puts so-called geostrategic interests ahead of values. The idea is that we cannot afford to stand for liberty because our global competitors do not.
If we alienate oppressive governments by criticizing them or pushing for political reform, the logic follows, they will side with our competitors and tilt the game board against us.
This is a much too simple way of looking at the world.
A case in point right now is what is happening in Thailand. For weeks, thousands have been demonstrating in favor of democratic reform, which the Thai government is already attempting to suppress.
If the U.S. turns a blind eye to this suppression—or sides with the Thai authorities—out of fear of pushing the Thai government closer to Beijing, we will be betraying our own democratic values.
The demonstrators are calling for a new constitution and greater freedom of expression. Protesters also are calling for constraints on the power of the Thai monarchy—a very touchy subject in Thailand, as criticism of the monarchy can land one in prison for up to 15 years.
It is hard to blame them. The state of democracy in Thailand today is not good. Elections held last year were best described as “partly free and not fair.” Although they did provide for a transition to civilian government, the military remains very much in control of the Thai political structure.
The strong influence of the military is by design. The country’s 2017 constitution, drafted by the Thai military junta, was written precisely to keep the military in, to keep former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (and other opposition like the former Future Forward Party) out, and to augment the powers and privileges of the monarchy.
Of course, Thailand is not the worst abuser of liberal freedoms. Freedom House now classifies it as partly free—a status it holds with several other countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, which have regular elections.
The U.S. is right to engage Thailand as the valuable treaty ally it is. The Thai people, however, are also right to demand more of their government.
A relatively low-grade crackdown is already underway, and likely will intensify. The best model may be the current situation in Hong Kong, which Thai authorities may see as the most efficient approach to shutting down dissent.
Like Hong Kong following Beijing’s imposition of its “national security law,” the legal structure is in place in Thailand to target protest leaders and try to decapitate the movement.
There is also the possibility of a much broader, violent shutdown of the protests that anyone familiar with the Thammasat University massacre of 1976 shudders to consider.
In either case, the U.S. must stay true to its values. It cannot condone the arrest of political activists or a broader crackdown on peaceful protests. The Trump administration should speak out and take action against individuals responsible—as it has in Hong Kong.
If things cascade into another military takeover, Washington will be compelled to curtail the extent of its military cooperation with Thailand—as it did after other recent coups in 2006 and 2014.
Is this ceding the field to the People’s Republic of China in what is now a global strategic competition? Not at all.
Certainly, in the short term, Beijing will seek to gain an advantage, as it has at other tense points in U.S.-Thai relations. But Thailand has long had a good security relationship with China, the best in Southeast Asia, in fact. That is not the doing of the U.S.
Thailand is the classic fence-sitter. It wants to engage both the U.S. and China, and barring the former, will still be wary of drawing too close to the latter.
In the longer term, American interests align with the Thai people. They will remember where we were in these days of protests. Any tactical edge we may gain with U.S.-Thai military exercises or new arms sales will be overshadowed by their disappointment in our sense of priorities.
American values are a strategic asset, not a liability. We may soon be called upon to treat them as such.
Tuần này, truyền thông loan tin rằng Campuchia có thể đã bí mật ký thỏa thuận cho phép Trung Quốc sử dụng căn cứ hải quân Ream, đồng thời một dự án quy mô khác ở Dara Sakor cũng bị nghi ngờ là nhằm phục vụ mục đích quân sự.
Nghệ thuật tạc tượng Phật đang được áp dụng tại một nhà tù ở tỉnh Bang Kwang, Thái Lan với mục đích nhằm thay đổi nhân cách và nhận thức của tù nhân.
Cũng từ hoạt động này, theo Cục Cải huấn Thái Lan, nhiều tù nhân đã tạo ra các tác phẩm xuất sắc. Trước đó, một nhóm tù nhân bị giam giữ với an ninh thắt chặt đã được huấn luyện trong vòng 185 ngày để làm điều mà họ chưa thực hiện bao giờ: đúc các khối đất sét thành tượng Phật.
CVD 