Five activists were indicted on Wednesday on charges of attempted violence against the queen during a pro-democracy demonstration last year, when a royal motorcade encountered dozens of protesters.

Failure to follow Covid-19 controls by a cook at an alternative quarantine facility in Bangkok led to a new virus cluster forming in Samut Prakan province, according to health officials.

Thailand recorded a current account deficit of $1.07 billion (33.5 billion baht) in February after a deficit of $0.7 billion in the previous month, the central bank said on Wednesday.

BEIJING: China faced mounting pressure Wednesday over the investigation into the origins of Covid-19, after the WHO chief revived a theory it may have leaked from a Chinese lab and the United States led concerns over data access.

The government on Wednesday reported 42 new Covid-19 cases, 24 local infections and 18 imported cases, raising the total to 28,863.

Police checkpoints will be back on roads nationwide from April 1, with an emphasis on transparency and public scrutiny, Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, deputy national police chief, said.

YANGON: The United States on Wednesday ordered the departure of non-essential diplomats from Myanmar, amid growing violence following the military coup to oust civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

PARIS: An area of pristine rainforest the size of the Netherlands was burned or hacked down last year, as the destruction of the planet's tropical forests accelerated despite a global economic slowdown, according to research Wednesday.

Six cats of two rare foreign breeds acquired with money from the drug trade will be auctioned on April 23 in Klaeng district of Rayong province, Office of the Narcotics Control Board secretary-general Wichai Chaimongkol said on Wednesday.

BRUSSELS: "Lupin", a French reboot set in postcard Paris, has made Omar Sy a global star and fulfilled a long-lost dream for Europeans: the confidence to take on Hollywood.