(Photo: Nutthawat Wichieanbut)Analysts were lukewarm on the Stock Exchange of Thailand's (SET) plan to open the door to alcoholic beverage listings, arguing the Thai market has limited growth to attract large-scale brewers. Thailand is home to some major brewers but still has no listed alcoholic beverage producers after Thai Beverage aborted its domestic initial public offering (IPO) in 2005. The alcoholic beverage market seems to have a limited growth outlook to attract such new listings,” he told the Bangkok Post. While Mr Kitipong declined to comment on the risk of renewed protests against alcoholic beverage listings, he noted that the social environment has probably changed. The broader 2025 context revealed that Thailand's policy rate remained relatively low compared to regional peers, suggesting limited policy space.

What better way to begin a new year than with a story about love for all? During the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, postman A Chang posed as a photo developer, helping Japanese forces while secretly sheltering Chinese refugees. The film is loosely based on the discovery of a key piece of evidence from the Nanjing Massacre. In 1938, 15-year-old darkroom apprentice Luo Jin secretly compiled photos of the atrocities-taken by Japanese soldiers-into an album and hid it. A high school student sets out to fight his way through various gangs to reach the top of the pecking order.

Consumer confidence hit by war and political turbulenceListen to this articleElection campaign posters on display in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok. Mr Thanavath expects business activity to receive a boost from election-related spending by political parties over the coming weeks. Consumers also worry about global geopolitical tensions, which could drive up energy prices, Mr Thanavath added. However, he said he expects business activity to receive a boost from election-related spending by political parties during this time. Mr Thanavath urged political parties to devise strategies to achieve annual economic growth of more than 3%.

Shangri-La Bangkok welcomes new beginnings brought by the Year of the Horse with elegant and sumptuous feasts at Shang Palace Chinese Restaurant. Executive Chinese chef Kwok Ka Wai debuts decadent set menus featuring auspicious dishes to give you and your family an abundant Chinese New Year. From today until Feb 28, diners can enjoy Chinese New Year specialities and a festive dim sum menu. From Feb 12-22, diners can indulge in three meaningful set menus, along with a selection of special à la carte dishes:The Fortune Set (for a minimum of four guests)The Prosperity Set (for a minimum of four guests)The Longevity Set (for a minimum of four guests)Auspicious set menu. To welcome the Year of the Horse and bring good fortune, health and happiness to guests and their families, a traditional lion dance accompanied by Chinese drumming and cymbal crashes will commence at the Shangri-La Wing entrance on Feb 17 at 10.15am.

Listen to this articleA Thai Airways Airbus A350-900 takes off from a runway at Suvarnabhumi airport. The board of Thai Airways International (THAI) Plc has appointed four subcommittees to drive the organisation forward and is preparing to hold a meeting to formulate the company's strategy next month. Mr Lavaron said allocating positions was complex because of legal requirements. Once the court allowed the operations to resume, the company moved swiftly to make the appointments to ensure continuity in executing contractual and legal transactions, said Mr Lavaron. Referring to the next steps, Mr Lavaron said the company would hold a regular board meeting on Jan 19, followed by a general meeting in February to discuss Thai Airways' strategy.

Renewable power, especially solar and wind, offers an intermittent supply of electricity as power generation capacity can increase or dip depending on weather patterns. He said officials need to make clean power more reliable by developing battery energy storage systems (BESS), which Egat can accomplish. While private companies will continue to generate clean power from various renewable sources, Egat will focus on BESS to supply back-up power when renewable power supply drops, said Mr Wattanapong. This will not only boost Egat's power generation capacity, but also support government efforts to increase renewable power supply under the 2026 PDP, scheduled to be enforced between 2026 and 2050. If private firms develop and operate BESS, businesses that use more clean power for their operations may pay higher power bills, he said.

EC warns of big fines for late policiesListen to this articleCampaign signs from various political parties line roadsides across Bangkok. Apivat Roengsap, director of the EC's Office of Political Party Affairs, said on Thursday that only policies requiring the use of funds must be submitted, while non-budgetary policies are exempt. Mr Apivat said that political parties must also submit information on their primary voting processes. EC chairman Narong Klanwarin has signed an order appointing a committee to scrutinise political parties' spending-related policies used in campaign advertising. The third group includes parties contesting fewer than 200 constituencies, totalling 42 parties.

Russia slams Western peacekeeping plan for UkraineListen to this articleUkraine's allies said they had agreed key security guarantees for Kyiv at a summit in Paris earlier this week. An initial 28-point plan which largely adhered to Moscow's demands was criticised by Kyiv and Europe, and now Russia has slammed the attempts to beef-up protections for Ukraine should an elusive deal be reached. Ukraine's allies said they had agreed key security guarantees for Kyiv at a summit in Paris earlier this week, including a peacekeeping force. But Moscow has repeatedly warned that it would not accept any North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) members sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine. Zelensky said earlier this week he was yet to receive an "unequivocal" answer of what they would do if Russia does attack again after a deal.

Ministry wants to reduce agricultural burning by 15%Listen to this articleThe Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry is committed to promoting agricultural practices that eliminate the need to burn farmland, allocating over 250 million baht to implement 21 no-burn agricultural promotion projects in fiscal 2026. The ministry has worked with relevant agencies to develop prevention and mitigation measures for agricultural burning for the 2025/2026 season. The plan targets a nationwide reduction of agricultural burning by at least 15% for major economic crops, including rice, maize for animal feed and sugar cane. The plan also promotes diverting agricultural residues to biomass energy and industrial plants to reduce open-field burning. According to Ms Airin, the ministry is working jointly to drive the implementation of government operations to deter and reduce all forms of open burning, including the burning of agricultural residues in farming areas.

Syria tells civilians to leave Aleppo's Kurdish areasListen to this articleThousands of people have fled Aleppo's majority-Kurdish areas. (Photo: AFP)ALEPPO — Syria's military warned civilians in two besieged Kurdish neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo to leave on Thursday, as it prepared to conduct a fresh wave of strikes targeting Kurdish positions. On Wednesday, thousands of civilians fled the two Kurdish neighbourhoods of Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh via two corridors set up by the army, which then went on to shell the areas after an evacuation deadline. In Qamishli, the main city of Syria's Kurdish areas in the northeast, hundreds of people demonstrated on Thursday against the Aleppo violence, according to AFP correspondents. In Israel, the foreign minister Gideon Saar condemned what he called "serious and dangerous" attacks against the Kurdish minority.

The end of China's one-child policy, 10 years laterListen to this articleWomen push baby strollers as they walk along a street in Beijing on Sunday. A decade since China scrapped its stringent one-child policy and implemented a two-child policy in January 2016, the nation is finding itself dealing with a looming demographic crisis. A two-child policy was also piloted in multiple regions starting in 1985. (Before 2001, not only the one-child policy but the entire family-planning policy, including the two-child and three-child policies of the 1970s, were "illegal".) The government went with their assessment, implementing the two-child policy selectively in 2014.

This research argues that PNG's accession to Asean could enhance regional security cooperation, allowing Asean to expand its strategic reach into the Pacific, and Indonesia to advance its defence interests. However, both PNG and Asean face significant institutional, political, and structural challenges in the path towards full membership. PNG has several motivations driving its pursuit of Asean membership. PNG's strategic position is reinforced by its longstanding policy of remaining outside formal foreign military alliances. Nevertheless, PNG's full membership in Asean would offer strategic benefits to both Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Don't ignore local pollsListen to this articleOn Sunday, 47 million voters across 76 provinces will elect mayors and legislators for 4,994 so-called "Or Bor Tor". Usually located in rural areas, TAOs manage basic public services such as tap water, small local roads, garbage collection, and sanitation. Much of the public's attention is focused on the national election scheduled for Feb 8. These reforms are part of a broader effort by political parties to decentralise administrative power and resources from the central government to local authorities. The hope is that a new government and Lower House in Bangkok will fast-track these four laws and other policies to give local administrations like TAOs and local municipalities more power and resources.

Agency to rectify dairy glutListen to this articleAgriculture and Cooperatives Minister Capt Thamanat Prompow has ordered the Dairy Farming Promotion Organisation of Thailand (DPO) to urgently address a raw milk oversupply crisis after dairy farmers in Lop Buri province dumped more than 40 tonnes of milk in protest on Tuesday. He said yesterday that the incident highlighted the severe hardship faced by dairy farmers and required immediate, practical solutions. DPO Director Watcharee Wannasri explained that raw milk delivered outside MoU terms had not been pre-agreed and was therefore purchased at a reduced price. Ms Watcharee said production lines had also been operating below capacity during the holidays but additional volumes could now be absorbed gradually as a temporary relief measure. The cooperatives, which discarded the milk, she said, would be held responsible to compensate their members.

Pol Lt Gen Trairong Phiwphan, Deputy Inspector General and Deputy Spokesperson of the RTP, yesterday at the RTP's headquarters said authorities had elevated anti-trafficking operations through the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Centre. Last year alone, police handled 279 human trafficking cases, arrested 366 suspects and assisted 317 victims, he said. Of particular concern were 15 cases involving child labour exploitation, Pol Lt Gen Trairong said. Minors made up 213 victims, while online-related trafficking cases reached 170, representing more than half of all cases recorded. The Mirror Foundation's Missing Persons Data Centre warned that there is a new trafficking pattern involving teenagers aged 15 to 18.