Thailand

Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco has completed its exit from China with the sale of a 20% stake in a joint venture to a unit of its state-run partner China Resources Holdings (CRH), raising 275 million pounds (1.1 billion baht). Having struggled to crack the Chinese market, Tesco established the Gain Land joint venture with CRH in 2014, combining its 131 …

The Public Health Ministry on Tuesday announced two new Thai Covid-19 cases: a woman, 31, whose relative visited Guangzhou and a male driver of Chinese tourists, 29, as the total number of local cases rose to 37. Sukhum Kanchanapimai, permanent secretary for health, said the woman was a maid and was initially diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown cause. Later, doctors …

Former deputy commerce minister Banyin Tangpakorn and five other suspects are facing six charges including premeditated murder. The charges stem from the abduction and murder of a brother of a senior judge to force her to drop an indictment against Pol Lt Col Banyin in a share transfer case. Wirachai Sakuntaprasoet, an elder brother of Bangkok South Criminal Court judge …

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha first time ever defended a land sale by his father publicly, insisting that it did not favour anyone after the opposition raised the issue during the first day of the censure debate against the government. Yutthapong Charassathian, a Pheu Thai Party MP for Maha Sarakham, claimed that the land which was sold by Gen Prayut’s father …

Italy reported Monday its fourth death from the new coronavirus, an 84-year old man in the northern Lombardy region, as the number of people contracting the virus continued to mount. It was the third death in Lombardy, where villages have been put in lockdown and security measures enforced in a bid to stem the spread of the disease, the region’s …

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, at 94 the world’s oldest leader, submitted his resignation to the king Monday after a bid by his allies to bring down the government and block the succession of leader-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim. The coalition would reportedly have excluded Anwar, Mahathir’s presumptive successor, and most of the lawmakers from his party, which would have stopped him …

Canada’s Teck Resources said Sunday it had withdrawn its application to develop a giant oil sands mine in western Alberta, a controversial project which the federal government had been set to vote on this week. The Frontier project would have cost about Can$20 billion ($15 billion) and had been expected to produce 260,000 barrels of oil per day. But its …

The Royal Thai Police Office has instructed its legal office to look into a statement made by Pannika Wanich, the spokeswoman for the now-dissolved Future Forward Party, accusing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha of helping cover up Malaysia’s multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal, assistant police chief Pol Lt Gen Piya Uthayo said on Monday. Pol Lt Gen Piya, the office spokesman, said Pol …

Customs-cleared exports in January unexpectedly rose for the first time in six months, increasing 3.35% from a year earlier, boosted by higher shipments of gold and oil-related products, the commerce ministry said on Monday. January’s figures compared with a Reuters poll forecast for a fall of 3.0% in shipments, a main driver of Thai growth, and against December’s 1.28% drop.  …

Prime Minister Hun Sen wants motorists who repeatedly flout traffic rules to be banned from driving. Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Interior Ministry’s annual conference on Thursday, Hun Sen suggested relevant authorities should consider revoking their licences and ban them from driving for a period of years. Hun Sen instructed officials to look into the possibility of doing …