Suspended prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has denied Chinese President Xi Jinping discouraged Chinese from visiting Thailand because of her party’s plan for legal casinos, saying that people’s safety was the prime concern.

Two senior monks have been defrocked following the seizure of sex videos and over 80,000 images featuring sex between a woman and high-ranking clergy at well-known temples in Bangkok and other provinces.

Anutin Charnvirakul, former interior minister and leader of the now opposition Bhumjaithai Party, blames a sharp decline in Chinese arrivals and losses in Thailand’s tourism sector on the Pheu Thai-led government’s dismissive attitude towards Chinese President Xi Jinping’s repeated warnings against its casino legalisation policy.

Thailand’s revised proposal to reduce import tariffs on thousands of US products is likely to be viewed favourably by the US, says finance permanent secretary Lavaron Sangsnit.

The proposed 36% tariff on US imports of Thai products could pile pressure on the manufacturing sector, with workers likely to bear the brunt, says the Employers’ Confederation of Thai Trade and Industry (EconThai).

Airlines report forward bookings for short-haul markets for the remainder of this year are weak, in contrast to the long-haul segment, while some carriers expressed interest in joining the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) stimulus campaign.