Thailand

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares advanced in Asia on Wednesday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to its best day since 1933 as Congress and the White House neared a deal on injecting nearly $2 trillion of aid into an economy ravaged by the coronavirus.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 5.3%, while Hong Kong added 3% and Sydney climbed 3.6%. Markets across Asia were all up more than 2%.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand will be in an emergency mode from March 26 for a month to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told a news conference on Tuesday.

The emergency decree will mean the prime minister will have the executive power to declare further measures to contain the virus, including giving extra authority to officials and allowing the setting up of checkpoints to reduce people movements, Prayuth said.

He said details of the measures will be announced later.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai military conscripts face widespread violence and sexual assaults, Amnesty International said in a report on Monday, calling the abuse institutionalized and systematically hushed up by the hierarchy.

A culture of power abuse and impunity within the military came under the spotlight last month when a Thai soldier went on a shooting rampage killing 29 people, triggered by a dispute over a housing deal involving his superior officer.

BANGKOK (AP) — U.S. futures dropped more than 4% and Australia’s share benchmark initially plunged 8.5% as work on more stimulus for the U.S. economy hit snags in the U.S. Senate.

Shares dropped more than 4% in Hong Kong and 5% in South Korea. The Shanghai Composite index lost 2.6%. However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index held steady, gaining 0.5% in early trading Monday.

Top-level negotiations between U.S. Congress and the White House continued after the Senate voted against advancing the $2 trillion economic rescue package.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares in Asia failed to hold onto opening gains on Thursday, skidding further after the latest selloff on Wall Street.

Stocks fell in Tokyo, Sydney, Hong Kong and Seoul in early trading Thursday. Investors are in search of cash as fears of a prolonged coronavirus-induced recession take hold.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gave up 0.7% to 16,5602.26, while in South Korea, the Kospi sank 6.5% to 1,487.85. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 4% to 21,397.56 and the Shanghai Composite index shed 1.9% to 2,676.79.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares reversed early losses in Asia on Tuesday after the U.S. stock market plunged to its worst day in more than three decades and huge swaths of many economies came to a standstill as businesses and travel shut down due to the virus outbreak.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 reversed early losses to gain 0.7% while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 0.9%. Shares also rose in Thailand and Australia, but fell in other regional markets.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares plunged in Asia on Friday, with benchmarks in Japan, Thailand and India sinking as much as 10% after Wall Street suffered its biggest drop since the Black Monday crash of 1987.

Markets worldwide have retreated as fears of economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis deepen and the meltdown in the U.S., the world’s biggest economy, batters confidence around the globe.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Dozens of Thai lawmakers from a prominent opposition party that was dissolved last month said on Sunday they will join a new party together to keep their parliamentary seats.

Thailand’s constitutional court dissolved the high-profile Future Forward Party last month, banning its executive members and leaving the rest of its lawmakers to find a new party to join within 60 days or they would lose their status.

BANGKOK (AP) — The global march of the new virus triggered a vigorous appeal from the World Health Organization for governments to pull out “all the stops” to slow the epidemic, as it drained color from India’s spring festivals, closed Bethlehem’s Nativity Church and blocked Italians from visiting elderly relatives in nursing homes.

As China, after arduous weeks, appeared to be winning its epic, costly battle against the coronavirus, the fight was revving up in newly affected areas of the globe, unleashing disruptions that profoundly impacted billions of people.

PATTANI, March 2 (NNN-Bernama) — The second round of the Southern Thailand peace talks will go on as scheduled this week despite the change of government in Malaysia.

A Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) source said the meeting, to be held on March 4, will see Malaysia’s former Inspector-General of Police Rahim Mohd Noor facilitating the negotiations between the government of Thailand – headed by Gen Wanlop Rungsanaoh – and the BRN.

“Now, everyone is in Kuala Lumpur and is preparing for negotiations this time around,” the BRN source told Bernama when contacted.