Author: Desk Team

Cashless payments, online shopping and revenge travel on the rise in the new 'endemic world', says Visa study Cashless payments, online shopping and revenge travel are the three leading trends that will feature in the "endemic world", according to a survey by Visa. Thai consumers (89%) lead Southeast Asia in their intention to use cashless payment methods more often, followed by those in Vietnam (83%), Malaysia (78%), Indonesia (78%), and the Philippines (78%), the company's Consumer Payment Attitudes Study shows. The study also found Thai consumers have the highest confidence in digital payments. Over four in five (86%) Thais perceived digital payments as safer than cash, followed by Vietnam (80%), the Philippines (79%), Indonesia (79%), and Malaysia (75%). "During these past two year...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Within a two-week span, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan caused a stir by throwing a wrench in Sweden and Finland’s historic request to join NATO, lashing out at fellow alliance member Greece and announcing plans for a new incursion into Syria. Erdogan appears to be using Turkey’s role as a mediator in the Ukraine war and its ability to veto new NATO members as an opportunity to air a variety of grievances and to force other nations to take action against groups the Turkish government views as terrorists, including Kurdish militants. Amplifying his strongman image by focusing on international disputes also could resonate domestically as Turkey gears up for a general election next year. Here’s a look at Erdogan’s latest brinkmanship and what he can hope to gai

BANGKOK (AP) — The world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray, has been caught in the Mekong River in Cambodia, according to scientists from the Southeast Asian nation and the United States. The stingray, captured on June 13, measured almost 4 meters (13 feet) from snout to tail and weighed slightly under 300 kilograms (660 pounds), according to a statement Monday by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-U.S. research project. The previous record for a freshwater fish was a 293-kilogram (646-pound) Mekong giant catfish, discovered in Thailand in 2005, the group said. The stingray was snagged by a local fisherman south of Stung Treng in northeastern Cambodia. The fisherman alerted a nearby team of scientists from the Wonders of the Mekong project, which has publicized

Occupancy rate stood at just 10% in May Three Thai women make their way with their luggage into Malaysia at the Sadao border checkpoint in the southern province of Songkhla on April 1. Thailand reopened the southern checkpoint after a period of prolonged closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (AFP photo) Tourism operators in Hat Yai are calling for additional support when it comes to registration for the Thailand Pass and bus services at the Malaysian border, particularly at the Sadao checkpoint, in order to bring back tourists. "Tourism operators in Hat Yai are still struggling to maintain their business despite the reopening as most arrivals are Malaysian businessmen, not tourists," said Kamon Suttiwannopat, president of Songkhla Tourism Association. Obstacles at the Sadao checkpoint,...

SINGAPORE - United States Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin met his counterpart, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, in Singapore on Friday (June 10), where they discussed ways to further strengthen defence cooperation, including in cyberspace. The two leaders reaffirmed the excellent bilateral defence relationship and the mutually beneficial partnership between the two countries during a bilateral call at the Shangri-La Hotel, said the Ministry of Defence (Mindef). Mr Austin, a retired four-star general, is in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue - an annual high-level defence summit taking place from Friday to Sunday - where he is expected to deliver a major speech on US defence policy in the Indo-Pacific. The dialogue is being held as a fully in-person event for the first time in three years....

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — China and Russia blocked the U.N. Security Council from issuing a statement Friday expressing concern at the violence and serious humanitarian situation in Myanmar and the “limited progress” on implementing a regional plan to restore peace to the strife-torn Southeast Asian nation, diplomats said Friday evening. The council was briefed virtually behind closed doors Friday afternoon by Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, the special envoy for Myanmar for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and U.N. envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer on efforts to resolve the crisis in the country since the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup. When the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, it claimed with scant evidence that the general election her party won in N

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government on Thursday confirmed that ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to a prison compound in quarters separate from other detainees. Suu Kyi was arrested on Feb. 1, 2021, when the army seized power from her elected government. She was initially held at her residence in Naypyitaw, the capital, but was later moved to at least one other location. For most of the past year, she has been held at an undisclosed location in Naypyitaw, generally believed to be on a military base. Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the ruling military council, confirmed in a text message to journalists that Suu Kyi was moved on Wednesday to the main prison in Naypyitaw, where she is being held separately in “well-kept” circumstances. News of her transfer had b

BAGHD (AP) — Dozens of lawmakers who make up the biggest bloc in Iraq’s parliament resigned on Sunday amid a prolonged political impasse, plunging the divided nation into political uncertainty. The 73 lawmakers from powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s bloc submitted their resignation based on his request, to protest a persisting political deadlock eight months after general elections were held. Parliament Speaker Mohammed Halbousi accepted their resignation. Al-Sadr, a maverick leader remembered for leading an insurgency against U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion, emerged as the winner in the election held in October. The election was held several months earlier than expected, in response to mass protests that broke out in late 2019, and saw tens of thousands rally against endemi

Police stand guard as they wait for protests against the military coup in Yangon on Feb 4 last year. (Reuters File photo) SINGAPORE: The international community should not get “stuck in cancel rhetoric” when it comes to dealing with the military junta in Myanmar, says Thailand’s new special envoy to the country. “Condemnations, sanctions, ostracisation … have reached diminishing returns,” Pornpimol Kanchanalak told participants at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual meeting of security and international affairs experts on Saturday in Singapore. She was responding to comments made by other speakers who expressed little confidence that democratic norms can be restored in Myanmar anytime soon. US State Department counsellor Derek Chollet said there was “no chance” the junta’s planned elect

DUBAI (REUTERS) - Israel signed a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday (May 31), its first big trade accord with an Arab state that reduces or removes tariffs and over time targets lifting annual bilateral trade to more than US$10 billion (S$13.7 billion). The pact was signed in Dubai by Israel's Minister of Economy and Industry Orna Barbivai and her counterpart, UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, after months of negotiations. Tariffs will be eliminated on 96 per cent of goods with the UAE predicting the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement would boost bilateral trade to more than US$10 billion a year within five years. Emirati trade minister Thani Al Zeyoudi said the trade deal wrote "a new chapter in the history of the Middle East". "Ou...