BANGKOK — Thailand’s junta-appointed legislature has passed a bill outlawing commercial surrogacy in the Kingdom following a string of surrogacy scandals last year.

The new law, passed by the National Legislative Assembly on Thursday, stipulates that only married couples with at least one Thai partner can access surrogacy services in Thailand.

The surrogate mother, who must be Thai and over 25, cannot receive any direct fees for the service.

The law was proposed last year after Thailand’s reputation as a go-to destination for affordable “fertility tourism” came into the spotlight following a series of international scandals.

The first incident involved an Australian couple who took home a baby girl but abandoned her twin brother with his Thai surrogate mother after discovering he had Down Syndrome.

In a separate scandal that emerged several months later, a 24-year-old Japanese man was discovered to have fathered at least 12 babies with surrogate mothers in Thailand. In January, Mitsutoki Shigeta succesfully sued the Thai government for custody over three of the babies. 

"This law aims to stop Thai women's wombs from becoming the world's womb,” NLA member Wanlop Tankananurak told Reuters.

Under the new law, hiring women to commercially carry fetuses is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. 

Surrogacy advocates say outlawing the practice risks driving the industry underground, or forcing couples to seek services in countries with less reliable medical services. Commercial surrogacy is currently legal in some US states, and countries like Russia, India, and Israel.

BANGKOK — In an effort to evade the Thai junta’s ban on political protests, student activists in Bangkok have taken to expressing their dissent through anonymous banners hung around the city.

BANGKOK — In an effort to evade the Thai junta's ban on political protests, student activists in Bangkok have taken to expressing dissent through anonymous banners hung around the city.

At least two banners have been strung across pedestrian bridges in Bangkok over the past three days, bearing stern words for the Thai junta.

The first banner, hung near Bangkok University on Tuesday, said “Stop Abusing Students,” following the arrest of a student activist and several others who organized a rare pro-democracy demonstration in downtown Bangkok on Saturday.

The second banner (above), hung early this morning near King Mongkut’s University of Technology, said "Down With Dictatorship – Long Live Democracy."  Text at the bottom of the banner warned: "This banner cannot self destruct, unless it is removed by a lackey of a dictator."

Both banners were removed by security officers several hours after they were erected. A student activist, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed to Khaosod English that the banners were hung by student groups.

Since the May 2014 coup, several dozen student activists have posed the most consistent public challenge to the Thai junta, which has banned all political demonstrations and criticism of its regime. 

Although the military takeover was initially met with sizeable protests in Bangkok, the budding anti-coup movement was quickly squashed after soldiers began arresting demonstrators and sending them to face trial in military courts.

Only a small network of student activists, mostly in Bangkok, have continued to stage regular demonstrations against the military government, which are nearly always broken up by soldiers and often end in arrest.

While the students are normally briefly detained in army camps before being released without charges, Siriwit Serithiwat, the student arrested on Saturday for organizing a mock election, has been charged with defying the junta’s ban on protests and is expected to face trial in military court.

Siriwit has also been charged with violating an agreement he was forced to sign during his last detention in which he promised not to participate in any political activities. 

Hanging anonymous banners is not the first time student activists have sought to circumvent the junta's strict ban on public dissent. They have also organized "picnics" (which later led authorities to ban "eating sandwiches with anti-coup intent"), public read-ins of George Orwell’s 1984, and mass viewings of the Hunger Games movie, which became associated with the anti-coup movement after demonstrators adopted the film’s three-finger salute last May.

Earlier this month, students at Thammasat University used elaborate disguises to sneak parade floats that were critical of the junta past security officers who were monitoring their annual pre-football match parade. 

(Reporting by Sally Mairs)

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By Kyaw Lynn

LASHIO, MYANMAR (DPA) — Sheltering at Man Su Buddhist monastery in north-eastern Myanmar, Mu Mu San and eight other women as well as two children are waiting for relatives they left behind.

The monastery in Lashio town in Shan state is serving as a temporary shelter for people fleeing violence near the Myanmar-China border, some 130 kilometres away.

Volunteers of Myanmar's Red Cross organisation carry a wounded volunteer Moe Kyaw, 45, near self-administered Kokang capital Laukkai, northern Shan State, Myanmar, 17 February 2015. EPA/LYNN BO BO

"My husband and three relatives are still on the way and we haven't get any news of them," said Mu Mu San, 32, who fled from Laukkai, the capital of the self-administered Kokang region, which has been the focus of heavy fighting between government troops and rebels.

"Rescue trucks are full of war victims. So they prioritize children and women, so I left my husband and relatives there," said Mu Mu San.

The convoy carrying war victims, including Mu Mu San, was shot at by Kokang rebels during the drive away from the border. Two Myanmar Red Cross volunteers were wounded.

Mu Mu San's group are among thousands who fled Laukkai after fighting erupted 10 days ago.

President Thein Sein Tuesday declared a state of emergency and imposed martial law in Kokang, with dozens of soldiers and rebels killed in the past fortnight.

At least one civilian died in an ambush by the rebels Tuesday as residents fled to Lashio town further away from the Chinese border to avoid the violence.

A wounded Red Cross volunteer lies on the ground after vehicles of a rescue convoy were attacked by Kokang rebels near self-administered Kokang capital Laukkai, northern Shan State, Myanmar, 17 February 2015. EPA/LYNN BO BO

The rebels, formally known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), are led by Pheung Kya-shin, an 84-year-old fighter of Chinese descent.

"We will keep fighting the Myanmar government until Kokang is recovered," Pheung – who speaks Mandarin with a Yunnan accent – told Chinese media in December, his first interview in 5 years.

The MNDAA controlled the Kokang region between 1989 and 2009.

Myanmar's army seized the area in 2009 in the wake of a failed peace deal, according to which the rebels were to reform into a border guard force under the control of the military.

Pheung Kya-shin refused to bargain, and he and other leaders fled to Thailand.

His rekindled fight against the government has been taken up by at least two other ethnic rebel groups.

"We are in alliance. So we must join them in fighting against the government. Otherwise, the next time it will be us," said Tar Parn La, a spokesman for the Ta'ang National Liberation Army.

Myanmar citizens are seen awaiting rescue teams to flee from self-administered Kokang capital Laukkai, northern Shan State, Myanmar, 17 February 2015. Thousands of people living around Laukkai have fled as clashes continue in the area. EPA/LYNN BO BO

Not all rebel groups in Shan state are joining the Kokang fighting, however. The powerful United Wa State Army (UWSA), which has been in talks with the government over its nationwide peace deal, has said they have no reason to help the Kokang rebels because they want peace and stability in the region.

Authorities say the fighting has been prolonged by the involvement of the TNLA and Arakan Army, both of which are fighting government forces in other areas of Shan and in northern Kachin state.

Army chief Min Aung Hlaing on Monday warned the rebel groups that joining the Kokang rebels would be a declaration of war, state media reported. "They have to take responsibility for it," he was quoted as saying.

The country's giant neighbour China adds another dimension to the violence.

More than 30,000 residents have fled to China's north-western province of Yunnan since February 9, according to Yunnan's Lincang City authorities.

Myanmar authorities meanwhile say Kokang rebels entered Myanmar from China.

Beyond the Chinese ancestral link to the MNDAA leadership, Beijing denies any ties to the rebels. It says it respects Myanmar's "territorial integrity" and would not allow organizations or individuals to undermine stability in the border areas.

A Buddhist monk and war victims fleeing from Laukkai takes cover after vehicles of the Red Cross rescue convoy were attacked by Kokang rebels near self-administered Kokang capital Laukkai, northern Shan State, Myanmar, 17 February 2015. EPA/LYNN BO BO​

Myanmar state-run media has offered an alternative explanation for the fighting, reporting that the army launched its operation last week after MNDAA rebels seized weapons from a local militia.

Whatever sparked the violence, the timing is such that a long-sought peace deal between the government and the country's myriad ethnic groups could be under threat.

One of the signatories says the Kokang rebels were not invited to take part, leading them to gain power in other ways.

"We are worrying it may impact on the ongoing peace process," said Padoh Mahn Nyein Maung, a central committee member of powerful Karen National Union, representing another ethnic group.

"They demanded that the government accept them as a group in signing the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord, but government didn't accept it. So, the fighting starts," he said.

"What else can we do other than fight them to retake our region?" said Kokang rebel spokesman Htun Myat Linn.