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Thailand names third prime minister in two years
Thailand’s parliament has chosen business tycoon Anutin Charnvirakul as the country’s prime minister – the third in two years, after yet another leader was removed from office.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who belongs to Thailand’s most powerful political dynasty, was removed by the constitutional court last week for ethical violations over her handling of the border dispute with Cambodia.
Anutin’s Bhumjaithai party broke from the coalition led by the Shinawatras’ Pheu Thai, and secured enough support in parliament to win the premiership.
But the uncertainty may not be over for Thailand which has seen multiple administrations deposed by court interventions and military coups in the recent past.
Anutin’s rise to the premiership deals a significant blow to the Shinawatra family, which has dominated Thai politics since 2001, when Paetongtarn’s father Thaksin became PM.
On Thursday night there was intense scrutiny in Thailand of a private jet carrying Thaksin out of the country.
Early on Friday he posted on social media saying that he had flown to Dubai for medical treatment and that he intends to return in time for a 9 September hearing for a court case that could put him back in jail.
His Pheu Thai party, which emerged as a major player in the 2023 election, is now on the sidelines. It had one last remaining candidate for PM, Chaikasem Nitisiri, who has little public profile and is in poor health.
In the past the Shinawatras’ populist policies gave them wide support among lower-income Thais, but put them at odds with Bangkok’s conservative-royalist elite.
Both Thaksin, and his sister Yingluck, who served as prime minister after him, were ousted by military coups in 2006 and 2014 respectively.
When Paetongtarn became the PM, it was seen as a comeback for the family – but her dismissal suggests they have again lost favour with the conservative-royalist elite.
Paetongtarn was the fifth Thai prime minister to be removed from office by the Constitutional Court, all of them from administrations backed by her father Thaksin.
She herself took office after her predecessor was dismissed by the same court, also for an ethics violation.
And the Pheu Thai-led coalition formed the government only after the reformist party that won the election was prevented from doing so – before it was then dissolved by the Constitutional Court, and some of its leaders banned from politics for the next 10 years.
Its successor, the People’s Party, is among those currently supporting Anutin. It has the most number of seats in parliament but it is still barred from forming a government.
[BBC]
A new strain of mpox, previously called monkeypox, has been detected in a person in England, say UK health officials.
The virus is a mix of two major types of the mpox virus, and was found in someone who recently returned from travelling in Asia.
Officials say they are still assessing the significance of the new strain.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it is normal for viruses to evolve. Getting vaccinated remains the best way to protect against severe disease – although an mpox infection is mild for many.
The new virus strain contains elements of two mpox strains, called clade Ib and clade IIb. It currently has no name.
UK health officials recently encouraged gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men to make sure they were vaccinated against mpox.
That call came as a strain called ‘clade Ib’ showed early signs of local spread in some European countries.
‘Clade IIb’ is linked to a global outbreak of mpox in 2022 which affected many countries worldwide.
In the UK, vaccination is available for groups of people at highest risk of catching mpox:
- those who have multiple sexual partners
- those who engage in group sex
- those who visit sex-on-premises venues
Health officials say the vaccine is 75-80% effective at protecting against mpox.
There have been no studies on how well the vaccine protects against this latest strain, although it’s thought there will be a high degree of protection.
Dr Katy Sinka, head of sexually transmitted infections at UKHSA, said genomic testing had allowed it to be detected.
“It’s normal for viruses to evolve, and further analysis will help us understand more about how mpox is changing.
“Getting vaccinated is a proven effective way to protect yourself against severe disease, so please make sure to get the jab if you are eligible,” she said.
Prof Trudie Lang, director of the Global Health Network at the University of Oxford, said there were “excellent systems” to identify cases and control onward infection in the UK, but in other parts of the world, in more vulnerable populations, “this is harder to achieve”, where access to vaccines is not as reliable.
Prof Lang said if further cases of this strain appeared in the UK and elsewhere, it would be important to understand how it’s being spread and how ill it makes people, in order to assess whether it’s more or less dangerous than previous strains.
There have been nearly 48,000 confirmed cases of mpox globally in 2025, and 2,500 in the past month, with most occurring in central Africa.
Dr Boghuma Titanji, assistant professor of medicine at Emory University, said the new strain is what experts feared would happen if mpox continued to spread worldwide.
“The more mpox circulation we permit, the more opportunities the virus has to recombine and adapt, further entrenching mpox virus as a human pathogen that is not going away,” she said.
Mpox can be a unpleasant illness.
Common symptoms are lesions or a skin rash, which can last for two to four weeks, plus fever, headaches, back pain, muscle aches and tiredness.
The virus spreads from person to person through close physical contact, coughs or sneezes and touching infected clothing, bedding or towels.
UK Health officials say anyone who thinks they might have mpox, should contact NHS 111 for advice on what to do.
[BBC]
A powerful earthquake has struck off Japan’s coast, triggering a tsunami alert, according to local media reports.
An initial report by Japan’s Meteorological Agency put the magnitude of the quake on Monday at 7.2.
It said the earthquake struck off the coast of Aomori and Hokkaido, adding that a tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast
Residents on both sides of Thailand’s and Cambodia’s border evacuated in droves on Monday as fresh clashes erupted, killing at least five people.
Both sides have each accused the other of starting the violence, which is the most serious confrontation between the two countries since they agreed to a ceasefire in July.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul says his country “never wanted violence” but will “use necessary means to preserve its sovereignty”, while Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen accused Thai “invaders” of provoking retaliation.
Since May, escalating tensions between the neighbours have led to more than 40 deaths, as well as import bans and travel restrictions.
On Monday, the Thai army said its troops had responded to Cambodian fire in Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani Province, including by launching air strikes along the disputed border; while Phnom Penh’s defence ministry said it was the Thai forces that attacked first, in Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province.
At least one Thai soldier and four Cambodian civilians have been killed, and about a dozen wounded as a result of Monday’s fighting, according to officials on either side.
For Thai teacher Siksaka Pongsuwan, though, there are other, hidden victims of the clashes: the children living near the border, he warns, are “losing opportunities and… precious time” compared to their peers living in relatively peaceful cities.
Nearly 650 schools across five Thai provinces have been ordered to shut for safety reasons, Thailand’s education minister said, following the fresh tensions that have simmered since Sunday.
Meanwhile, videos on social media show chaotic scenes at schools in Cambodia’s border provinces as parents rushed to take their children home.
And this is not the first time these children have had their education interrupted in recent months.
In July, in the midst of the children’s examinations, five days of intense fighting broke out between the two nations.
In the aftermath, Pongsuwan’s school switched to online classes, but not all students could access them – some lived in households with no internet, while iPads distributed by the schools did not reach everyone.
In Cambodia, former journalist Mech Dara shared several clips of children frantically running out of their schools on his X account.
“How many times [do these] kids have to suffer the shocking environment?” he wrote. “The nonsense fighting bring kids [a] horrible nightmare.”
He also shared a picture of a boy, still in his school uniform, having some food in an underground bunker. “Why does the kid and his family have to eat their meal in the bunker…?” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Pongsuwan told the BBC that he and his neighbours are now torn about whether to evacuate – even as gunfire can be heard every now and then in his village.
“If you ask whether we’re scared, yes we are… Should we leave? Will it really be safer? Or should we stay?” he tells the BBC.
A century-old dispute, reignited
The century-old border dispute between the South East Asian nations dramatically escalated with a Cambodian rocket barrage into Thailand on the morning of 24 July, followed by Thai air strikes.
Days later, Bangkok and Phnom Penh agreed to an ‘immediate and unconditional ceasefire’ brokered by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
In October, both sides signed a ceasefire agreement during a ceremony with US President Donald Trump in Malaysia. At the time, Trump claimed a historic achievement in ending the border conflict.
But just two weeks after that signing, Thailand said it would suspend the implementation of the agreement, after two of its soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion near the Cambodian border.
Cambodia, which nominated Trump for a Nobel peace prize for his role in brokering the ceasefire, has repeatedly claimed it is committed to the deal.
Thailand and Cambodia have been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800km land border for more than a century, since the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.
[BBC]
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