Economic growth will be subdued this year due to the impacts of the pandemic, but it could reach 5-6% in 2022 if there are no fresh outbreaks, a deputy prime minister said on Wednesday.

There were 4,510 arrivals through Suvarnabhumi airport on Monday and Tuesday after the country's reopening to vaccinated visitors on Nov 1, with fewer than 1% testing positive for Covid-19, according to the government.

The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JCCIB) on Wednesday raised its 2021 economic forecast to between 0.5% and 1.5% following the country's reopening to vaccinated foreign visitors without quarantine requirements.

A 19-year-old student sought help from the Crime Suppression Division on Wednesday, saying she had received threats to her life from a series of loan sharks she owed about 1.9 million baht in total.

MANILA: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday that local government officials will be punished for falling behind their targets for Covid-19 vaccinations as the country seeks to open up the economy.

Bitkub Online Co became Thailand’s latest startup to notch up a valuation of more than $1 billion after it sold a majority stake to the nation’s biggest bank by market value. Bitkub’s coin tripled in value after the deal was announced.

There were 7,679 new Covid-19 cases and 56 more fatalities recorded during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry said on Wednesday morning.

TAIPEI: The first official delegation of European lawmakers landed in Taipei, defying warnings from China that the bloc’s support for the democratically ruled island would have dire consequences.

HONG KONG: A 20-year-old Hong Kong independence activist was facing life in prison Wednesday after becoming the youngest person convicted under the city's national security law, but told the court he had "nothing to be ashamed of".

Myanmar's ruling military on Wednesday stood by its decision to deny a Southeast Asian envoy access to detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, resisting growing international pressure to comply with a regional peace plan agreed in April.