Miss Universe candidate Chalita Suansane walks on stage in her evening gown during the Miss Universe preliminary show at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, south of Manila, on Thursday. (EPA photo) A deputy government spokesman has urged Thai people to vote for […]

CHATTING WITH ASTRONAUTS: Children play with a motion-sensing interactive responsive display at the ‘Explore the Universe’ exhibition at the science museum. PHOTOS: Paritta Wangkiat ‘Christie” shows the vanilla twilight. Reddish-orange light illuminates the horizon. A couple of stars emerge in the purple sky. They blink, […]

I met Owen on my recent trip to Nakhon Phanom, a border province way, way up in the far Northeast. Owen is eight years old. He’s in Grade 4 at the local primary school. Owen sat with his mother and when the novelty of having […]

About 15 years ago, the Bangkok Post carried a report on Thailand marking National Submarine Day. It was a trifle puzzling because Thailand didn’t have any submarines. In fact the kingdom hadn’t possessed a sub since way back in 1951, and that was a relic […]

Graft-busting agencies are expected to give a vow to identify suspects in bribery allegations implicating several Thai companies and state enterprises in recent revelations by the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the United States Department of Justice. A quick assurance from the government […]

As they say in Narathiwat, it never rains but it pours. Wow! Sure, we asked about corruption, but we weren’t expecting to be flooded out. If more is better, it was quite a week for insight before the big disappointment. We had: • a stunningly […]

On Wednesday the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha saw a bombshell drop in its lap when Transparency International announced the corruption rankings for 176 countries. Thailand, whose military leaders promised they would fight corruption as their top priority, slipped 25 places in the rankings […]

Patong beach in Phuket is popular among foreign tourists. (Photo by Achataya Chuenniran) PHUKET: Local police and state officials in Phuket are exploiting legal loopholes to extort money from foreign employees and migrant workers, says a former senator. Thanyarat Atchariyachai, a former chairwoman of the […]

A Syrian refugee family arrives in Detroit on Nov 19, 2015. President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing refugee arrivals and barring immigrants from seven countries has taken immediate effect and already some refugees are being detained at US airports. (New York Times Photo) President Donald […]

(From left) Chalita “Namtan” Suansane of Thailand, Maxine Medina of the Philippines and Kezia Warouw of Indonesia. (Miss Universe website) While the final round of the Miss Universe pageant is not until Sunday night, the race is on, with Thais, Filipinos and Indonesians by the […]