More than 30 new Thai political parties submitted names and logos on the opening day of party registration in Bangkok on Friday, an early step in the junta-ruled kingdom’s halting return to democracy.
Thailand has been under army rule since a 2014 coup toppled an elected government that was accused of corruption and installed a military government.
The generals have banned all political activity and repeatedly postponed a promised return to democracy.
Yet this week the junta chief vowed…
Open Banking: banks need to rethink product distribution
ANALYSIS: Banks need to reconsider how best to provide their products to customers as a result of the changes anticipated in the age of Open Banking.
Australia has ‘difficult issues’ with China, but it’s no cold war
A top Australian diplomat told a Senate committee Thursday that the bilateral relationship with China was going through “complex and difficult issues”, but rejected a media report of a diplomatic deep freeze.
Frances Adamson, secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, described The Australian newspaper’s headline: “Cold war: China’s freeze on ties” as “just wrong.”
“We’re going through a period where there are some…
Bali bombers’ spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir hospitalised in Indonesia
A radical Islamic cleric who was the spiritual leader of the Bali bombers and a force behind a jihadist training camp raided in 2010 has been transferred from prison to a Jakarta hospital.
Guarded by four paramilitary police officers, the ailing white-bearded Abu Bakar Bashir arrived at the hospital in Indonesia’s capital on Thursday morning.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2011 for supporting a military-style training camp for militants that was uncovered the year before.
The…