View Articles

The Thailand government is pressing ahead with its plans to legalize land-based casinos within large entertainment venues, a government spokesperson said last month. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has reportedly asked the country’s finance ministry to draft a comprehensive bill to provide the legal foundation for casino firms to set up and run their business. The initiative is expected to make Thailand a more attractive tourism destination among foreign tourists. The spokesperson informed that Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat will lead the preparation of the bill. As per the government estimates, integrated entertainment complexes with casinos will generate $328 million in the first year of their operations.

G20 declaration on addressing global labour market challenges and promoting decent work fell short of the expectation, which perhaps prompted the Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Gilbert F Houngbo to urge G20 Labour and Employment Ministers to take decisive actions to reduce inequalities, promote gender equality, and encourage diversity in the workplace.

On August 1, 2024, Bangladesh took a decisive step in its fight against terrorism and extremism by officially banning the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) party and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir. This action, undertaken under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009, follows widespread unrest and violent protests related to the quota system for government jobs, which the government has attributed to the instigation by these fundamentalist groups. The turmoil led to the deaths of at least 150 people, prompting the government to take severe measures to restore order and security.

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Bill Clinton forced a resisting Russian President Boris Yeltsin into signing a NATO-Russia pact in 1997 totally on U.S. terms, newly disclosed U.S. documents show. Further, the trove of U.S. documents adds, when Yeltsin demanded in return that NATO not expand eastwards towards Russia, thus incorporating the formerly socialist nations of Eastern Europe, Clinton turned him aside.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plummeted on Friday, mirroring a broader market sell-off triggered by a weaker-than-expected US jobs report. The digital asset's attempt to rally early in the day was short-lived as investors opted for safer havens amid escalating economic uncertainties.

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ ‘Indian heritage’ is being questioned while her allegedly fly-by-night ‘Black American heritage’ is being seen as for "convenience’s sake" only. Fact is, while Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is being berated by the media for introducing the "race card" in the presidential election, a sense of insensitivity, and "anything goes to win", has come to settle down on the Kamala Harris presidential campaign which, in the initial flush of President Joe Biden’s abdication, was forging ahead from the word go.

NEW YORK: Voters could elect a Trump administration that denies the climate crisis and whose policies are dictated by the fossil fuel industry. Or a Kamala Harris administration that builds on climate-friendly policies, curbs the power of the fossil fuel industry, accelerates a clean energy revolution, adapts to climate change, and builds resilient communities and global solidarity.

The New Popular Front (NFP) has taken a major step towards forming a coalition government in France after the partners agreed to name independent socialist Lucie Castets as the Prime Minister candidate for forming the new government after the July 7 general elections led to a hung national assembly. The NFP leadership has formally urged the President Emanuel Macron to immediately appoint her as the new Prime Minister.

Left and Right politics do exist in America, but the divide has never been so pronounced as it is shaping up this time just ahead of the D-Day, when the Americans would be electing their next president in November this year. The blame for polarising this year’s presidential election on the left and right streak goes to the Republican candidate Donald Trump. Joe Biden making way for Kamala Harris has made Trump conscious of the tough challenge he would face in the incumbent vice-president. He obviously launched a vile campaign against her and started depicting her as a hardened leftist; using it as a metaphor of her being a hardened criminal.

President Nicolas Maduro announced new security and defence measures across Venezuela on Tuesday to deal with the outbreak of far right violence in the country. Violence erupted on Monday following news that Mr Maduro had been re-elected president. Sunday’s vote has been verified by independent observers, but the opposition has issued its usual claim that the result was rigged.