Bangkok/Geneva - Global unemployment would increase by 18 million to 51 million people this year from 2007 figures, depending on the extent and length of the economic crisis, the International Labour Organization predicted Wednesday.
"We are now facing a global jobs crisis," the UN organization's director general Juan Somavia said in Geneva. "Progress in poverty reduction is unravelling, and middle classes worldwide are weakening. The political and security implications are daunting."
The organization has painted three scenarios for global unemployment in 2009, ranging from bad to worst.
Bangkok - Thailand's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a 14-year prison sentence for British national Maurice John Praill on charges of sexually abusing an 8-year-old boy eight years ago.
The ruling was read out to Praill, 77, at a court in Chonburi, 90 kilometres east of Bangkok.
Praiil was arrested in 2001 on charges of sexually abusing a minor at the beach community of Pattaya and sentenced to 14 years in prison but was allowed to live freely in Pattaya on bail for the past eight years as he appealed the case.
Bangkok - Thai authorities arrested 78 Rohingya boat people in Thai waters Tuesday and sought court permission to deport them amid reports that the navy shoved about 1,000 others out to sea last month, half of whom are feared drowned.
The refugees' boat was captured by the Thai navy about 2 am near Surin Island, Phang Nga province, and handed over to police to be processed for deportation back to Myanmar, said Police Colonel Veerasilp Kwansaeng.
Bangkok - Thai police on Tuesday charged the lead singer of a rock band as the prime suspect in starting the fire at the Santika pub on New Year's Day that killed 66 people and left more than 200 injured.
Salawudh Arriya was arrested Monday night while performing at a Bangkok pub with "Burn," a popular Thai rock band that was on stage at Santika on the night of the fire.
Phnom Penh - Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers meeting in Phnom Penh agreed Monday to negotiate a border dispute that last year erupted into a fatal skirmish between the South-east Asian neighbours.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters after his two-hour meeting with Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya that talks concerning the border surrounding the
11th-century Preah Vihear temple would resume next week.
Bangkok - Honda Motor Company's exports from Thailand reached 23.6 billion baht (674 million dollars) in the last quarter of 2008, down 12 per cent compared with the same period in 2007, the Japanese auto manufacturer revealed on Monday.
Total Honda exports from Thailand in 2008 amounted to 104.6 billion baht (2.9 billion dollars), up 4 per cent on the 2007 performance, according to figures released by Asian Honda Motor Company, Honda's regional office in South-East Asia.
Bangkok/Geneva - Global unemployment would increase by 18 million to 51 million people this year from 2007 figures, depending on the extent and length of the economic crisis, the International Labour Organization predicted Wednesday.
Bangkok - Thailand's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a 14-year prison sentence for British national Maurice John Praill on charges of sexually abusing an 8-year-old boy eight years ago.
Bangkok - Thai authorities arrested 78 Rohingya boat people in Thai waters Tuesday and sought court permission to deport them amid reports that the navy shoved about 1,000 others out to sea last month, half of whom are feared drowned.
Bangkok - Thai police on Tuesday charged the lead singer of a rock band as the prime suspect in starting the fire at the Santika pub on New Year's Day that killed 66 people and left more than 200 injured.
Phnom Penh - Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers meeting in Phnom Penh agreed Monday to negotiate a border dispute that last year erupted into a fatal skirmish between the South-east Asian neighbours.
Bangkok - Honda Motor Company's exports from Thailand reached 23.6 billion baht (674 million dollars) in the last quarter of 2008, down 12 per cent compared with the same period in 2007, the Japanese auto manufacturer revealed on Monday. 
