Ramadan is supposed to be the holy month for all Muslims throughout the world to refrain from food, drink and other physical needs from sunrise to sunset, to practice self-restraint to cleanse one’s body and soul from impurities and to focus on God.

Three KFC fried chicken outlets in Yala and Pattani are to be closed down in the middle of July due to safety problem and public suspicion that the three shops do not have a certificate from the Central Islamic Committee to guarantee that all the ingredients used and cooking process are in line with the Halal food prescription.

Sunday June 29 marks the first day of the fasting month of Ramadan in Thailand the Chula Ratchamontri Arzis Pitakkumpol, the Muslim spiritual leader, announced the sighting of the moon.

Almost a full month since the coup on May 22, there seems to be clarity about the policy regarding the unrest problem in the three southernmost provinces from the National Council for Peace and Order – a problem which has been treated as a national agenda by successive governments in the last decade.

As the National Council for Peace and Order has been busy addressing a host of pressing problems ranging from the outstanding payments for farmers under the rice pledging scheme, corruption, illegal gambling, forest encroachment to illegal parking and motorcycle taxies and lottery overpricing since it seized power from the Yingluck government on May 22, not a word was heard from the military junt ...