LATEST ARTICLES

Red shirts warn of a civil war

Red shirts warn of a civil war

URBAN warfare raged through Bangkok last night as antigovernment protesters skirmished with the military and a protest leader warned of a coming civil war. Streets outside the protesters’ fortified encampments in Bangkok’s commercial heart — designated ‘‘live-fire zones’’ by the military on Saturday — echoed with the rattle of gunfire and small bombs as the …read more

Red shirts to stay until deal hammered out, vow protest leaders

Red shirts to stay until deal hammered out, vow protest leaders

Leaders of Thailand’s anti-government protest movement last night cautiously welcomed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s five point reconciliation plan, but criticised his planned election date of November 14. The leaders said Mr Abhisit had no right to set an election date, merely to dissolve parliament, but they conceded negotiations with the government had begun, potentially leading …read more

Honeymooners in Suvarnabhumi airport limbo pine for soil of England

Honeymooners in Suvarnabhumi airport limbo pine for soil of England

Helen and Nathan Groves’ honeymoon suite is simple, to say the least. Two airport benches pushed together. A thin foam mattress laid over the top. Two small yellow pillows emblazoned with promotional logos, and a couple of thin tartan blankets. The whole contraption shoved up against a wall in the cavernous and windowless basement of …read more

Defiant redshirts gear up for military onslaught on their Bangkok camp

Defiant redshirts gear up for military onslaught on their Bangkok camp

Thousands of anti-government protesters were braced behind fortified barricades of car tires and sharpened bamboo staves in central Bangkok Sunday night in anticipation of an imminent assault by security forces. The leaders of the so-called Red Shirts protest movement had ordered their followers to abandon their signature red attire for ordinary clothes so that they …read more

Focus on Thaksin as protest paymaster

Focus on Thaksin as protest paymaster

Thaksin Shinawatra’s face is on their red T-shirts. His voice, broadcast on loudspeakers at their encampment in Bangkok’s upmarket shopping district, has been in their ears. His words are on their banners. But is his money in their pockets?

Red-shirt protesters storm TV station

Red-shirt protesters storm TV station

In the first open show of violence in a month-long battle for power in Thailand, thousands of anti-government protesters yesterday stormed a satellite station and forced detachments of soldiers and police officers in full riot uniform to ignominiously retreat.

Thai style sauce

Thai style sauce

Pim Sukhahuta wrinkles her nose and laughs. A high-profile play-off between the celebrity Hilton sisters wasn’t exactly how she wanted to break into the world of international fashion, she explains. But when Nicky Hilton and her famous sister Paris bought the same chambray buttoned dress, designed by Pim for the Sretsis label, the tabloids jumped …read more

The Can Do Girls

The Can Do Girls

A laugh rings out; one of the young women leans over, grinning, and whacks her neighbour on the arm. There are eight or 10 friends here in the Can Do bar in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai, sitting in easy camaraderie around a big table in an open-air back room. Eating noodles, teasing, gossiping …read more