Month: November 2020
- Thailand News
It’s beetle fighting season in Northern Thailand
It’s fight season … for Rhinoceros Beetles. The bugs battle on a wooden stage. Their horns lock as they push against each other until one backs down. People watch and place bets. Some wagers are as high as 100,000 baht. From the start of wet season until winter, locals in northern provinces Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Lampang gather for…
Read More » - World News
Typhoon Goni kills 22, many others missing, now heads towards Vietnam
Typhoon Goni blasted its way across the northern island of Luzon, tracking just south of the capital Manila. It made landfall around 5am in the morning and by the end of the day it had crossed, heading westwards, and reached the South China Sea, having killed at least 22 and displacing more than 800,000 people. The latest death toll was…
Read More » - Thailand Protest News
2 protest leaders re-arrested while recuperating in hospital
3 protest leaders are recovering in hospital following skirmishes outside the Bangkok Remand Prison during their release on Friday night. 2 of the 3, Panupong Jadnok and Parit Chiwarak have been re-arrested, while still recovering at Praram 9 Hospital in Bangkok. Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul is also being treated at the hospital and it’s understood police are seeking a court order to…
Read More » - Tourism News
When hoteliers emerge from 2020, the business will be hard
OPINION Is it time re-imagine the guest relationship? Globally, more than a hundred million travel and hospitality jobs will be lost in 2020 due to Covid-19. Here in Phuket, where I moved in 1988 as the opening general manager at Amanpuri, we have seen as many as 60,000 job losses in the hotel sector alone, which accounts for 86,000 registered rooms,…
Read More » - Politics News
POLL: Do you believe anything was achieved after last week’s emergency session?
Asked about the effectiveness of last week’s emergency joint session to discuss the political impasse, most Thais believe the talkfest in the Thai Parliament was just a “stalling tactic”, buying time for the incumbent coalition government. The debate was held last Monday and Tuesday. There were no substantive motions coming from the 2 days of debate, merely the setting up…
Read More » - World News
34 Thai provinces affected by heavy rains and flooding, typhoon ‘Goni’ heads towards Vietnam
Heavy rain overnight has flooded parts of the Wang Nam Khiao district in southern Nakhon Ratchasima caused by run-off from the mountainous areas of the Thap Lan National Park. At least 1 person has been reported dead from the north eastern floods, an 18 year old swept away by sweeping waves of water while driving back to house by motorcycle…
Read More » - Thailand Weather Updates
Eerie green glow hovers over Ranong on Halloween
Thai social media is in a meltdown after people shared photos an “eerie green glow” spotted in night sky over Ranong province in southern Thailand (5 hour drive north from Phuket). The pictures of the eerie green glow were snapped by residents living in Muang Ranong district. Of course the theories have been coming thick and fast – it was…
Read More » - Covid-19 News
England heads back into lockdown for a month
England is being sent back inside, a return to a national lockdown after a troublesome surge of Covid-19 cases. Yesterday another 21,915 people were registered as new cases, and 326 died across the UK. Since the start of the pandemic in the UK there have been 1,011,660 cases and 46,555 deaths, a statistical death rate of 4.5%. The BritishPM Boris…
Read More » - World News
OBITUARY: Sean Connery, the original Bond and the sexiest man of the 20th century
Sir Sean Connery has died aged 90. Jason Bond, his son, announced that he had died peacefully in his sleep after being “unwell for some time”. His career spanned some 70 movies. He was the first actor to have portrayed Ian Fleming’s British spy character James Bond, playing the role 7 times from 1962 to 1983. He won an Academy Award…
Read More » - World News
‘Goni’ slams into Philippines’ coast, most powerful typhoon of the year – VIDEO
Typhoon Goni, aka. ‘Rolly’, the region’s most powerful typhoon for 2020, has crossed the coastline in The Philippines packing sustained winds of 225 kilometres per hour. Goni hit Catanduanes island this morning just before 5am, Philippine time. It then moved onto the northern island of Luzon, and will pass some 100 kilometres south of the capital Manila. More than 500,000 people…
Read More » - Technology News
Travellers to Thailand to wear “Smartband” tracking watch
Special Tourist Vias, 14 day quarantine, “plans”, “models” and endless red-tape. Now we’ve got the “smartband” to track foreigners when they visit Thailand. The so-called Smartband will have to be worn by any foreign travellers entering Thailand. The new wearable restriction for travellers to Thailand coincides with the Cabinet announcement this week to allow more foreign tourists and crew of…
Read More » - Covid-19 News
Foreigners who test positive for C19 in Thailand won’t be able to use the public health system
The battle to reopen Thailand’s borders is shaping up as a 3-way PR fight between economic hawks who are eager to re-open to reboot the country’s tourism industry, a government and medical officials resting on their laurels after containing the virus, and a risk-averse population who, survey after survey, indicate they are keen to keep the borders closed. In another…
Read More » - Tourism News
Nearly 5,000 Thai Airways staff to deplane in voluntary resignations
Officially, 4,977 staff at Thai Airways have applied for different stages of its Mutual Separation Plan for the survival of the airline. In other words they’ve been politely asked to resign. The airline employs about 20,000 people. The beleaguered national carrier has endured a decade of substantial losses, endless headlines about systemic corruption, padded senior staff contracts and executive perks.…
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