By GREG LOWE IN BANGKOK BUSINESSES that have been hit hard by months of protests and deadly clashes on the capital’s streets say that it is too early to assess the full impact of the recent violence on their operations. Protesters rampaged across Bangkok on Wednesday, torching more than 30 buildings, after leaders … Read full story >>>

From ANDREW DRUMMOND, Bangkok May 21 www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wYlda08kR8 Link to Andrew Drummond at Evening Standard Link to THE SUN “Find Brit thug of bloody Bangkok!” A British red shirt ‘anarchist’ caught on video saying he was going… Read full story >>>

I’ve been out and about around Rajaprasong today surveying the cleanup efforts following Wednesday’s events . Army troops are disassembling abandoned red shirt tents, while fire fighters have been spraying water on a smoldering section of Central World. I’ll share more images later, but for now you can have a look… Read full story >>>

Pictures (from the top left): Firemen after putting out the blaze at Siam Theater, inside the pagoda transformed as a refugee camp, another Red monk wandering, a group of soldiers at Siam area, soldiers check a you Red shirt as try to leave the area, view from the stage, the littered street… Read full story >>>

After the grotesque “Road Map” blew off… reality is coming back with a vengeance. The first round was on april 10 (26 deads). The second round started today with a string of events. – shooting and incidents at Lumpini : at least 1 dead, 10 wounded -target assassination (attempt) of Seh … Read full story >>>

The Nation’s Parinyaporn Pajee had a story yesterday about indie filmmakers protesting the Culture Ministry’s film-funding scheme, which has been covered here previously . The article lists nine of the 47 approved projects, among them Fon Tok Khuen Fah by Pen-ek Ratanaruang, who sought 20 million baht and received 8 … Read full story >>>

For the latest on the highly fluid situation in Bangkok follow Bangkok Pundit’s live blogging and trust the excellent Twitter sources @tulsathit , @terryfrd , @Tan_Network , @georgebkk and @bangkokpundit . The events now may well mark a turning point in Thai history. Here’s a line of thought though. Yes some… Read full story >>>

In august 2009, here what I wrote on the chart with USD-THB exchange rate and thai holdings of US Treasuries. The BOT fantasy : buying more and more USD (via US debts) in order to maintain the exchange rate USD-THB. Well, 5 months later, where are we ? Higher US Treasuries holdings… and higher … Read full story >>>

Time to update our charts about… credit. You know the motto : credit is the Grand Master Flash. The blood that flows into the veins of the Green Shoots’s Economy. No credit = no honey. This is why the clowns all the over the world are … Read full story >>>

April brings the peak of Thailand’s yearly temperatures and also the cooling water throwing Songkran Festival (top photo). For those of you living or holidaying in Thailand during the Songkran Festival, Beyond The Mango Juice would like to wish you all an enjoyable and safe period of festivities … Read full story >>>

Photo from Manager via Thai e news Read full story >>>

Update: Amarin Plaza is now open. MBK is open. Updated from twitter users said six shopping malls will be closed during Red shirt rally today. Paragon and Discovery at 13.00. Central world is now closed the gates. Kasorn Plaza announced one day closing. thanks to @oojkoo Read full story >>>

The Bangkok Post reports: More than 4,000 demonstrators gathered at the King Rama VI Monument in front of Lumpini Park yesterday afternoon to oppose the red shirts’ prolonged demonstrations in Bangkok.They carried banners that opposed calls for an immediate House dissolution and … Read full story >>>

Thai Airways International’s board of directors approved the Bt10 billion capital increase , which needs shareholders’ approval at the April 28 meeting. THAI President Piyasvasti Amranand said that proceeds from the share offering will be used for general corporate purposes, including to manage its liquidity, finance future aircraft investments, strengthen THAI’s … Read full story >>>

Ladprao Road has been a sea of red today as thousands of Bangkok residents turned out to cheer on the red-shirted pro-democracy activists this lunchtime. The first outriders began to appear just after 11 this morning, forming a position at the red light at … Read full story >>>

Probably traveled too much through the former Soviet Union and the old Eastern Bloc before the fall of the Berlin Wall, but to hear the communist terminology of class war out of the mouth of the probably most monopolist figure in Thailand’s recent… Read full story >>>

knock knock… The Finance Ministry has published data for february . VAT collection was up by 23 %, compared to february 2009, at 39,05 billions THB. Impressive ? It’s the base effect… What is interesting is that VAT was… down compared to the previous… Read full story >>>

Thailand’s economy is steadily recovering as indicated by higher employment, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Sunday. “ The Thai economy is clearly in a sustainable recovery after the Board of Investment last week revealed that foreign firms in the country have hired more employees in comparison to last year… Read full story >>>

I want to bother you a bit. You’ re waiting for news about the Red Shirts Rallye ? Let’s talk instead about foreign direct investments. Here is an update of my first chart about FDI ( here ), with datas for the last quarter of 2009. (Source… Read full story >>>

The government may reduce subsidies for sugar and cane farmers later this year in a bid to curb public spending , Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva says. The study showed that subsidising the sugar industry had resulted in significant costs to the public purse. The study also examined the impact of subsidising products such as rice, … Read full story >>>