News
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Sponsored How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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Arrest for scam and then a bonus arrest in Pattaya
Pattaya police have arrested an Indian man and his Thai girlfriend for scamming an Indian tourist out of 6,000 baht in the early hours this morning. But there was a bonus arrest too. Pattaya police chief Pol Col Prawit Chorseng say 26 year old Maninder Singh and 32 year old Mallikar Thongriam were arrested shortly after the victim, 31 year…
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Pheu Thai now claims to have the numbers to form a coalition. So does Palang Pracharat.
Pheu Thai Party, which at this stage has emerged as the winner of the most lower house seats after the general election, says they’ve gathered enough support from political allies to form a coalition government. The party’s secretary general Phumtham Vechayachai made the claim at a meeting this morning. He said Pheu Thai and other parties now command enough MPs…
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Woman survives eight floor plunge into a condo car park
A woman has been injured after her car plunged from the eighth floor of a condo car park in Bangkok’s Bang Koh Laem district. The car had fallen from the nine-floor car park building of the Phraram 3 Residence condominium on Rama III road around 11pm last night (Monday). The driver was identified as 40 year old Rungthip Thongchanreed. Daily News…
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Fourteen kilograms of marijuana seized in pre-Songkran drug crackdowns
Phuket police have sized a total of 14 kilograms of marijuana in three separate cases, including intercepting parcel post yesterday. It’s all part of the annual pre-Songkran drugs crackdown. Phuket Provincial Police have seized a parcel box sent via Thai Post in Rawai where they found 12 kilograms of marijuana. Police are now tracking down the sender. In the second…
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Emergency crews participate in fire drill at Phuket airport
PHOTOS: The Phuket International Airport Phuket International Airport emergency crews battled fake fires near the main runway today. Firefighters and rescue workers were deployed on the tarmac as part of regular drills aimed at improving response times and emergency response efficiency. This was the first such drill at the airport this year. Observing officials reported that the emergency crews were…
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Air Asia apologises for its “Get off in Thailand” promotion
AirAsia has now apologised following an advertising campaign using the phrase “Get off in Thailand” was posted around the city of Brisbane to promote the airline’s direct route to Bangkok. Collective Shout, a campaign movement against the objectification of women says the marketing gaff promoted sex tourism in Thailand. Melinda Liszewski, a campaigner at Collective Shout accused the airline of…
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Petition aims to impeach Election Commissioners
PHOTO: Election Commission chief Ittiporn Boonpracong – The Nation More than 670,000 people have signed a petition at the change.org website calling for the Election Commission’s five commissioners to be ‘stood aside’ pending an investigation in the aftermath of the March 24 Thai election. Petitioners contend that the election was marred by mistakes, blunders and tampering. The campaign could actually become…
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Parties race to cobble together a working coalition
Day Two following the election and the only thing that is clear is that nothing is clear at this stage. Pheu Thai and Phalang Pracharat are both claiming the right to form a government with support of like-minded parties. The two rival parties, the pro-democracy Pheu Thai and the pro-Junta Phalang Pracharat, are locked in a close battle to form…
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Stash of methamphetamine tablets seized from Mae Sai plantation
by Natthawat Laping About 50,000 methamphetamine pills have been seized by rangers of the Pha Muang task force along the Thailand-Myanmar border in Chiang Rai province. The drugs were seized at 6am yesterday (Monday) when patrolling rangers heard a dog barking at someone in an isolated banana plantation in Muang Daeng Tai village, Tambon Mae Sai, in Mae Sai district.…
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Maya Bay rehabilitation: Volunteer divers needed
PHOTOS: The Marine National Park Operation Center 3 (Trang) It’s still closed but the coral reef restoration project at Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi Ley needs more volunteer divers. The Marine National Park Operation Centre 3 (Trang) says that the project has been conducted by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation under the support of the…
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Thaksin: Election rigged with many irregularities
Former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra told Agence France-Presse yesterday that Thailand’s election was marred by “irregularities” and “rigged”. He says the military rigged the election system to retain their political grip on the kingdom. “Everyone knows in Thailand, everyone international that observed the election in Thailand, knows that(there is irregularities,” he told AFP in English. “What we call, we should call,…
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Election: The problems ahead, Tuesday
PHOTO: The political dance of horse-trading begins. Prayut Chan-o-cha in campaign mode And so we awake on the second day since the election. With 95% of votes counted we’re in firm territory now as far as voting trends are concerned . So we can start guessing which way the new parliament might be formed. Here are the main issues for…
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Two Future Forward candidates win Pheu Thai strongholds in Chiang Rai
Two long-time champions of the Pheu Thai Party in Chiang Rai have been defeated by candidates of the new Future Forward Party in yesterday’s general election. In Constituency 1, Pheu Thai several-term MP Samart Kaewmeechai was toppled by Future Forward’s Ekkapop Pianpiset in a closely run contest. Ekkapop, who had resigned his position as a doctor at a private hospital…
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Twin found dead in Pattaya house
PHOTO: Sanook Locals from a housing estate in Nong Prue, Pattaya have called police after noticing a foul smell coming from the house of a man, one of two twins, who lived at the address. Sanook reports that police and emergency responders found the house locked from the outside and had to break in. Inside they found 23 year old…
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Immigration staff on alert after Thai jeweller bludgeoned to death in Bangkok
PHOTO: Thai Rath Thai border staff have been alerted after a female Thai jeweller was found bludgeoned to death in a Lat Phrao hotel room yesterday, in the northern Bangkok suburbs. CCTV indicates that a likely suspect is a South African man seen going into the woman’s room. Thai Rath reports that 35 year old Susama Reunrit from Kanchanaburi was found…
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Power outage in parts of Chalong tomorrow
PHOTO: PEA Residents of Chalong should be aware that there is a scheduled power outage from 9am to 4.30pm tomorrow (Tuesday) as the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) continues its work on high power voltage systems in the area. The blackouts will affect the areas from the Shell petrol station on Patak Road to Bayshore law office opposite Chalong Beach Hotel…
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Fake Garuda pilot arrested at Jakarta Airport
PHOTO: The Jakarta Post Police at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta have arrested a man posing as a pilot for the Indonesian national flag carrier Garuda at the airport’s Terminal 3. The arrest happened last Friday. The man has been identified as Alvin Adithya Darmawan. He was wearing a Garuda pilot uniform when he checked in at the Garuda…
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Police checking 50, mostly, minor violations post election day
Police around Thailand are prosecuting 50 alleged violations of election laws and continue to monitor the post-poll situation for further signs of potential trouble. The Royal Thai Police say they’re on alert for ‘ill-intentioned groups’ fomenting post-election chaos, national police deputy spokesman Colonel Krissana Pattanacharoen said this morning. The 50 cases under investigation include buying votes, deliberate destruction of ballots…
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Alleged Greek murderer of Phuket beautician remains at large
PHOTO: Dimitrios ‘Dim’ Chairopoulo, wanted and believed to be living in Greece Local Phuket police are yet be informed of the latest in an international hunt for a Greek alleged murderer Dimitrios Chairopoulos. He remains wanted as a suspect in the murder of local beautician 43 year old Niramon ‘Bea’ Aewkaew in Phuket during February. Cherng Talay police say they want…
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Democrats toppled in Phuket
PHOTO: Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva resigned the leadership position last night amid dismal polls around the country The Democrat Party in Phuket, once a reliable strong-hold of Democrat votes, has yielded its customary monopoly, ceding two House seats to the junta-aligned Phalang Pracharat Party. The unofficial tally, as of late last night, gave Phalang Pracharat’s Sutha Prateep na Thalang…
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Guyanese arrested over ‘magic’ bank note scam in Phuket
PHOTOS: Surachete Hakparn A Guyanese man has been arrested in Phuket after the owner of a local language school reported a money scammer with an unusual scam. The Immigration Bureau Chief Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn reports that they have arrested the Guyanese man named Abdul Kalam Azad Sattaur at a mansion in Phuket Town last Friday. The arrest follows a Thai…
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Russian ‘mafia’ suspect arrested in Phuket
PHOTO: Siam Rath/Immigration Bureau / Phuket Immigration A male Russian ‘mafia’ identity has been arrested in Chalong, wanted over a number of alleged offenses in his home country. Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn says, “Officers have arrested a Russian man named Igor Tretiakov (spelt as ‘Ior’ on the Immigration poster), at an apartment in Chalong last Friday.” “We were notified from…
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Thai poll results, for newbies
PHOTO: France 24 The numbers are still being counted but the trends are now quite defined so that any changes are unlikely to affect the final result. According to popular vote figures from the Election Commission, with 93% of the total votes counted, Palang Pracharat garnered the most votes with 7.5 million, with Pheu Thai following at 7.3 million. But…
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UPDATE: Election results – what it all means
The Election Commission says the official results of the Thai general election will be announced today. By the close of counting last night around 92% of the votes had been counted. The bleary-eyed commission decided to delay the announcement until this afternoon. The EC chairman says the announcement of winners in each constituency had to be deferred because expat’ votes…
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Hermès opens its first store in Phuket at Central Floresta
Hermès has opened of its first store in Phuket at Central Floresta, the newly opened lifestyle shopping destination in the heart of the island, opposite Central Festival. As Hermès’ first venture outside the Thai capital, the new Hermès Phuket store makes a significant statement of expansion and confidence in the market. The new address in this world-renowned island will allow the…
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UN election monitors spread across Bangkok and beyond
PHOTOS: The Nation Foreign observers representing the United Nations have fanned out across the capital and its outskirts today to monitor the long-delayed election. Today’s national election, the first since 2011, is also the first since the military-backed NCPO seized power in May 2014. Four four-member teams wearing pale-blue vests were assigned to polling stations in Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Pathum…
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Red car ‘gun flasher’ arrested in Phuket
Phuket police have arrested and are questioning the driver of a red sedan following Friday’s incident on Thepkasattri Road in Srisoonthorn where he appeared to wave a gun out of his driver’s window (video in the link below). Manop Sangpal was tracked down by police but they’ve confirmed that Mr Manop’s ‘gun’ was just a BB gun, not a firearm.…
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2,821 days
It’s been 2,821 days between July 3, 2011 until today, March 24, 2019. July 3, 2011 was the last time Thais voted in a general election. That time Pheu Thai, led by Yingluck Shinawatra, won 265 seats in the 500 seat parliament. It was only the second time in Thai history that a single party won more than half of the seats…
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His Majesty urges Thais to elect ‘good people’ in today’s election
His Majesty the King has quoted from a speech delivered by his father, the late King Bhumibol, to urge voters to elect “good people” to rule the country. The Royal Household Bureau announced at 8.44pm that His Majesty had instructed the Lord Chamberlain to quote from a royal speech delivered by King Bhumibol at the sixth gathering of National Boy…
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“A clean and fair election”, EC assures international delegates
Thailand’s Election Commission has assured representatives from 11 nations and one international electoral watchdog organisation of a clean and fair election tomorrow. The EC briefed representatives of election commissions from Australia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, East Timor, and Vietnam at the Rama Gardens Hotel at 9.45am this morning. Representatives of the International Institute for Democracy…
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