Acting prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai affirmed the government’s commitment to combatting the spread of narcotics in the country, before adding officials who are negligent and/or complicit in the illegal drug trade will face serious consequences.

Combat engineers started mine-clearing operations in the Chong Bok area near the Thai-Cambodian border in Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani province on Sunday after a landmine explosion injured three Thai soldiers there on July 16.

Thai immigration authorities have expanded their fast lanes at the country’s international airports to accommodate not only Chinese students and families, but also growing numbers of international school holidaymakers.

Thailand is now pursuing retaliatory measures against Cambodia after a probe showed the landmines responsible for Wednesday’s mine explosion in the Chok Bok border area in Ubon Ratchathani were newly planted, army commander Gen Pana Klaewplodthuk said on Saturday.

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has stepped back into the political spotlight as the ruling Pheu Thai Party and his daughter, suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, find themselves on increasingly shaky ground.

The National Institute of Development Administration found in a recent opinion survey that most respondents believe that some Buddhist monks have violated monastic rules and should be punished.