<p>The recent announcement that the Ministry of Commerce <a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30306190">is pursuing 20 billion baht</a> in allegedly ‘fake’ rice deals in terms of compensation from six senior individuals, namely former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom; his former deputy Poom Sarapol; Manas Soyploy, a former director-general of the Department of Foreign Trade; his former deputy Tikamporn Natvorathat; and Akrapong Theepvajara, ex-director of the Foreign Rice Trading Office, makes one wonder how deep the rabbit hole goes.</p>

<p><span>Over the past year, Southeast Asia has witnessed significant setbacks with regard to the abolition of the death penalty, FIDH said in a new report published today, on the occasion of the 14th World Day Against the Death Penalty.</span><br /><br /><span>The report, titled “</span><a> </a></p>

<div><img alt="" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5253/30174595196_a5c7150b70_z.jpg" /></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>2017 ASEAN will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Progress has been made towards more close-tied regionalism in Southeast Asia and mechanisms for joint governance have become more sophisticated.&nbsp;However, while ASEAN as an inter-governmental institution is keen to collaborate with the business sector and closely engage with it at all levels, its relationship with civil society remains fraught with tensions. </div>

<p>On his visit to Thailand during the 60th Anniversary year of Thai-New Zealand diplomatic relations, the Right Honorable Jim Bolger, Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997, granted the following interview to <em>Prachatai</em>, facilitated by the Project for a Social Democracy. The interview covers development in Khon Kaen, Thai-New Zealand relations, the AEC and aid, cultural rights promotion, the TPP, corruption, the state of Thai politics, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the Deep South.</p> <p></p>

<p>This major essay addresses the issues of terrorism, inclusion and reconciliation in Thailand and more widely in Southeast Asia, using the means of language in education to build social inclusion, citizenship affiliation and inter-ethnic reconciliation.</p>

<p>The largest environmental story to break this month has been <em>The</em> <em>New York Times</em>' exposé of the Mississippi-based Kemper Project's mismanagement, delays, inflated costs, and alleged fraud, making a mockery of the NCPO's plans to convert Thailand from natural gas to 'clean coal'.</p>

<div> <p>An academic article just released in the journal <em>Nature Climate Change</em> and reported <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/rising-sea-levels-will-leave-just-the-top-of-161148748.html">worldwide</a> further confirms we are entering a period of human-influenced climate change which will affect the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of this planet for tens if not hundreds or thousands of years. Put simply, melting sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic does not readily refreeze.</p> </div>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-61117579-5922-a420-db6e-67a71f70209e">January 19, 2016 – Jakarta, Indonesia - Mission of Canada to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-61117579-5922-a420-db6e-67a71f70209e">The Government of Canada recently announced the appointment of Marie-Louise Hannan as Canada’s new ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). </span></p>

<p>The Thai Health Promotion Foundation has fallen foul of the anti-corruption vigilantes, who claim that the Foundation has been supporting all sorts of activities that are beyond its mandate, wilfully and wantonly squandering the taxpayers’ hard-earned money.</p> <p>Well, no.</p>

<div>Experts say the boat people crisis is a critical regional problem where responsibility is shared among the countries involved. </div>

<p>South East Asian waters have seen an influx of an approximate 8000 Rohingyas – Myanmar's ethnic Muslim minority who face persecution and denied citizenship in their homes forcing a mass exodus of them to flee their land. They now face exclusion at sea as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia have denied them access into their borders due to the fear of opening the floodgates to rising costs and difficulties to accommodate thousands of these refugees leaving them floating in cramped boats out in the open sea for weeks now.&nbsp;</p>

<p>(Bangkok, May 14, 2015) –&nbsp;<a href="http://hrw.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8%2c7197-%3eLCE593719%26SDG%3c90%3a.&amp;RE=MC&amp;RI=4432086&amp;Preview=False&amp;DistributionActionID=78082&amp;Action=Follow+Link">Thailand</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://hrw.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8%2c7197-%3eLCE593719%26SDG%3c90%3a.&amp;RE=MC&amp;RI=4432086&amp;Preview=False&amp;DistributionActionID=78081&amp;Action=Follow+Link">Malaysia</a>, and&nbsp;<a> </a></p>