Showing 51 - 60 of 167
The battle to ban asbestos
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 30/11/2014
» Depending on which medical expert you listen to, Thailand has either recorded just five cases of asbestos-related illness in its history, or use of the controversial material is a lurking menace affecting up to 1,000 people every year.
The problems with impeachment
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 16/11/2014
» As state agencies weigh corruption charges against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra over the rice-pledging scheme, legal experts are questioning the legality of an impeachment.
Farming out new ideas, or replanting old seeds?
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 02/11/2014
» The Prasert Singsuksri family has farmed rice for four generations in Ayutthaya's Bang Sai district, where a typical pioneer farm during his grandfather's era would start out with 5-10 rai of land.
A village haunted by superstition
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 14/09/2014
» More than 10 years ago a village in the northeastern province of Sakon Nakhon made headlines as the home of Thailand's most feared ghosts, known as phi pob, but these days the evil spirits appear to have simply vanished.
Rise of the rural middle class
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 10/08/2014
» Outside the Central department store in Ubon Ratchathani, a black Mercedes-Benz S-Class with yellow Lao licence plates drove from the car park. It was a Wednesday, but at weekends, a security guard told me, some 20% of the vehicles parked here are from Laos, many of which are European cars travelling to the northeastern province through Pakse or Mukdahan.
The isan 'Problem'
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 10/08/2014
» Throughout history, Isan has seen "revolts", "mad people's movements", "segregation bids" and "communist domination". Anthropologist Charles Keyes writes in his book Finding Their Voice: Northeastern Villagers and the Thai State that the 1901 Phu Mi Bun uprising in Isan, which followed economic restrictions and tax burdens, foreshadowed the subsequent challenges by rural northeasterners to the Thai state's authority.
Cash for no comment
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 20/07/2014
» Few people outside the media industry had heard of the Thailand Information Centre For Civil Rights and Investigative Journalism (TCIJ), but by Monday it had the attention of every major news organisation in Thailand.
Minding Thailand's business
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 06/07/2014
» Pranom Kowinwipat never missed any of the 60 general meetings during her five years on the audit committee at Bangchak Petroleum Plc.
Meeting resistance: the hard road of opposition in exile
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 15/06/2014
» After waiting for 90 minutes at the hotel for the man who many in the Thai establishment consider the “most dangerous mind” in politics, a white Toyota Fortuner rumbles to the entrance.
Online gambling explosion is just waiting to kick off
Spectrum, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 01/06/2014
» Each with a pen in their hand, the two men with grey hair sitting on stools at an old billiards table, now fitted with a marble top, flip through the Sport Pool and Talad Look Nang (leather ball market) tabloids while studying football teams' form. For 20 baht, these daily sports papers offer results and analyses of previous matches.