On Tuesday, the Information and Investment ministries in Nay Pyi Taw put forward a cross border trading scheme for use by Thai firms using the Thai baht as a settlement currency. The economic initiative is seen as another move, supported by China on a regional basis, to weaken the strength of the US dollar. It comes as the forces of the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s feared military, are also believed to have launched a Summer offensive against rebel forces in the war-torn country armed with guns, missiles and aircraft supplied by Russia and China with Beijing using Pakistan as a conduit to supply weaponry to the heavily sanctioned junta.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/03/16/second-war-rages-in-myanmar-over-12000-dead/

Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok, Mae Hong Son and Yangon.

Spurned man had left an hour before after imploring his estranged girlfriend, who was previously married to a foreigner outside Thailand, to resume their relationship. He returned in a stolen Royal Forestry Service pickup and a firearm also taken without permission from the force, to wreak havoc on her home during which her 20-year-old son was fatally gunned down.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/03/14/former-boyfriend-kills-thai-woman-son/

Carla Boonkong reports from Buriram province.

29-year-old Mr Pornmet Songmetta reportedly works with the family firm Absolute Clean Energy, a Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) listed electricity distribution firm which operates 19 power plants in Thailand. His expensive Porsche Taycan Turbo suffered minor damage early on Saturday morning, near Taksin Bridge in Thonburi when it hit the Yamaha Fino motorbike of 40-year-old Waseem Ahmad leading to his death shortly afterwards at nearby Taksin Hospital in Bangkok.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/03/13/charges-for-top-cop-porsche-driving-son/

James Morris reports from Bangkok.

Top cop ‘Big Joke’ appeared to support the woman’s story on Wednesday when he revealed that police in Thailand had intercepted a message from what he said was a ruthless Chinese gang. The story is also quite similar to claims made in February by a 31-year-old Chinese man who claimed he was held by a Chinese human trafficking gang in the rapidly expanding resort city of Sihanoukville as a ‘blood slave’ and threatened with organ harvesting before making his escape last month. The repugnant trade in human organ harvesting is one of the darker and evil sides of international human trafficking, one that many people find naturally repugnant but which is growing rapidly with continuous demand exceeding supply and vast sums being paid for human organs through increasingly sophisticated fronts such as medical clinics and international medical tourism. The World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2018, estimated that a human kidney was bartered somewhere in the world more than once an hour or over 10,000 times a year while one Washington DC-based intelligence organisation conservatively estimates that at least one in ten human transplants involve organs harvested illegally.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/03/12/thai-woman-organ-harvest-terror-in-cambodia/

Carla Boonkong reports from Sa Kaeo Province and Pnomh Penh.

The rising emergency and disruption to prospects for tourism come amid plummeting consumer and business confidence as the overall Thai economy has been hit with a record high consumer price index for February and faltering business activity.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/03/11/thai-tourism-emphasises-ukraine-war-neutrality/

James Morris reports from Phuket, Pattaya and Ko Samui.

On Tuesday, following a tense cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister pleaded with the public to cut back on the use of cars and air conditioning. He asked people to make sure to switch off the lights at home or at the office. This was followed by a meeting of a key committee to decide whether Thailand’s strategic oil reserves should be extended and how the kingdom can keep its Oil Fund running to keep the price of oil and energy stable while preventing a shortage of supplies. The government is being warned that anything short of swift and decisive action could see uncontrolled inflation take hold after it was confirmed that February’s headline rate came in significantly higher than expected at 5.28%.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/03/09/thai-economy-faces-a-return-to-the-1970s/

Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok

The trial comes as a new law, strengthening legal protections against torture and human rights abuses against people held in custody with more transparency provisions, makes its way through Thailand’s parliament. The case of the suffocation of 24-year-old drug-dealing suspect, Jeerapong Thanapat, shocked Thailand to the core last August when a video clip emerged showing the police chief in Nakhon Sawan, currently facing trial on a capital murder charge, placed plastic bags over the victim’s head and fastened them while other police officers looked on at the main police station in the city.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/03/08/activist-anxious-over-ferrari-joe-police-torture-trial/

Carla Boonkong reports from Bangkok.

On Saturday, the Superintendent of Bo Phut Police Station on Ko Samui, Police Colonel Yuttana Sirisombat, confirmed that routine enquiries into the death of the sporting celebrity revealed that there were no suspicious circumstances linked to the incident and revealed that the star had complained of chest pains at home in Australia before his departure for Thailand where he arrived last Thursday to stay with several friends.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/03/07/aussie-sports-star-shane-warne-died-from-natural-causes/

James Morris reports from Ko Samui.

The world has become an extremely dangerous place since February 24th 2022 with growing fears that the situation can escalate. There is also a growing realisation that this will not be a short war but an extended conflict, one that is deepening and shows signs of dividing the world even as it has united western countries and public opinion in vehement opposition to Russia and President Vladimir Putin.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/03/06/russia-warns-thais-planning-to-defend-ukraine/

Carla Boonkong reports from Bangkok

Widow and street seller who could not feed her family turned to illegal lenders and was charged 30% interest per month. She called the police when threatened by a debt collector who wanted to sell her refrigerator. Thailand’s top cop this week revealed that some money lending rackets are charging interest at up to 60% per month on loans.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/03/06/call-the-police-on-loan-sharks-says-big-joke/

James Morris reports from Khon Kaen.