Month: June 2021

  • Thailand NewsBodies of couple who died at a Koh Tao pool sent to police hospital for autopsies

    Bodies of couple who died at a Koh Tao pool sent to police hospital for autopsies

    Medical examiners at the Police General Hospital will do an autopsy on the bodies of the billionaire couple who were both found dead in a resort pool on Koh Tao, an island in the Gulf of Thailand off the Surat Thani coast. The results on the cause of death will be released in around 2 weeks, Koh Tao police chief…

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  • Phuket NewsPower outages coming to Patong

    Power outages coming to Patong

    On Wednesday, electricity will be temporarily cut off in sections of Patong, a town in Phuket. The Provincial Electricity Authority announced the electricity will be turned off as they install new high voltage cables. The power will only be off from 9 am to 5 pm on: Pi Rd, Pisit Koranee Rd, and Nanai Rd, Soi Bang Prurian, Soi Weerakit,…

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  • Thailand video newsGood Morning Thailand | Hotel woes, Phuket sandbox, your comments | June 7

    Good Morning Thailand | Hotel woes, Phuket sandbox, your comments | June 7

    Today Bill and Tim speak to KP Ho,the co-founder of the Banyan Tree brand in Thailand. We also discuss the latest in the Phuket Sandbox plan and the reopening of Thailand to general travel. Can you travel to Thailand? Yes… find out how.

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  • Bangkok NewsTaxi driver arrested for allegedly stealing from Australian man in Bangkok

    Taxi driver arrested for allegedly stealing from Australian man in Bangkok

    Police arrested a taxi driver who allegedly stole thousands of baht and Australian dollars from an Australian man back in May 2018. The Australian had hired a taxi to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. When he got out, he realised that not only his passport was missing, but 40,000 baht and AUD$4,000 were also gone. Surveillance camera footage shows the man getting…

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  • Covid-19 NewsPrivate hospitals in Thailand to confirm price of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine today

    Private hospitals in Thailand to confirm price of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine today

    The Private Hospital Association is expected to confirm the price of the Covid-19 Moderna vaccine, which will be provided as a paid alternative outside of the government rollout. The Moderna vaccine has been approved by Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration and will be made available for purchase at private hospitals. According to a Pattaya News report, Paiboon Eksaengsri from the…

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  • Pattaya NewsForeign driver detained following alleged road rage incident in Pattaya

    Foreign driver detained following alleged road rage incident in Pattaya

    A foreign national has been detained in Pattaya, accused of reckless driving and road rage that caused significant damage to other vehicles. According to the Pattaya News, the incident occurred on Saturday night, when a black vehicle was seen bumping into and dragging 2 other vehicles along a road in the Banglamung district. Witnesses alerted the police, who arrived on…

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  • Phuket NewsConfidence low in Phuket as sandbox hopes marred by rules and restrictions

    Confidence low in Phuket as sandbox hopes marred by rules and restrictions

    As Phuket prepares for its July 1 re-opening to vaccinated holidaymakers, tourism operators on the southern island aren’t quite jumping up and down with excitement. The much-discussed sandbox scheme comes with some tough rules and restrictions that some fear will put people off visiting. Top of the list is the requirement to stay on the island for a minimum of…

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  • Covid-19 NewsHealth Ministry insists supply issues won’t affect vaccine rollout

    Health Ministry insists supply issues won’t affect vaccine rollout

    Thailand’s Public Health Ministry says the country’s vaccine rollout will begin today, with 2 priority groups: the elderly and those with 7 underlying health conditions. The Deputy Minister of Public Health, Sathit Pitutecha, acknowledges that many hospitals around the country have postponed vaccination appointments scheduled for today over concerns they had not received enough vaccine doses. “We are aware of…

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  • Best ofTop 5 Marketing Agencies in Bangkok

    Top 5 Marketing Agencies in Bangkok

    If you are looking to elevate your business, you may be in need of a marketing agency. Thailand has hundreds of marketing firms to choose from. These range in size from small, niche marketing companies to large, full-service marketing agencies. With so many options, narrowing down your search to find the right agency can be difficult. This decision is especially…

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  • Tourism NewsTourism operators pinning hopes on vaccine rollout

    Tourism operators pinning hopes on vaccine rollout

    Thailand’s tourism operators are pinning all their hopes on the national vaccine rollout, which kicks off today. However, the government’s reputation for vaccine procurement and management has come in for sharp criticism and confidence is not high. Already, a number of provinces have had to postpone their vaccine rollouts after receiving an insufficient number of doses from the Public Health…

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  • Tourism NewsThai Airways to fly 5 Phuket routes to Europe

    Thai Airways to fly 5 Phuket routes to Europe

    With several airlines in the Middle East announcing July 1 reopenings of flights to Phuket, Thai Airways has finally announced plans to fly in and out of the island from Europe. As the Phuket Sandbox plan climbs closer and closer to being officially approved, airlines are scheduling flights. Now Thai Airways has announced direct flights from 5 European cities beginning…

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  • Covid-19 NewsLabour party urges UK to close borders to Thailand, Vietnam

    Labour party urges UK to close borders to Thailand, Vietnam

    The Labour party in the United Kingdom has suggested that the UK border be closed to travellers from Vietnam and Thailand, citing the appearance and spread of a variety of Covid-19 variants. Home Secretary Priti Patel was warned Friday night by Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds that the two Southeast Asian nations should be moved to the red list and…

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  • Crime NewsPackage set to fly to New Zealand has 520g of meth

    Package set to fly to New Zealand has 520g of meth

    The Office of the Narcotics Control Board said that a package stopped at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport before it flew off to New Zealand had 520 grammes of crystal meth. The package had 7 women’s shoulder bags that were found to be stuffed full of crystal methamphetamine. Airport staff caught the package before it was scheduled to fly to Auckland on…

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  • Thailand NewsThailand Foreign Ministry concerned about Myanmar situation

    Thailand Foreign Ministry concerned about Myanmar situation

    A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Thailand expressed the country’s concern for their troubled neighbour Myanmar and the violence that rages on there. They called for the country, mired in protests and violent skirmishes against the military junta that seized power on February 1, to follow the actions agreed upon by leaders of the surrounding Southeast Asian nations. In…

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  • Phuket NewsPhuket sells cheap food packages to struggling inhabitants

    Phuket sells cheap food packages to struggling inhabitants

    Starting yesterday, to help ease the strain of financial hardships from Covid-19, a Phuket organization has made cheap food packages available for sale. 15,000 food packages from the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization were made available at 24 locations throughout the Island. The packages cost 70 baht per set. They include: 5 Kilograms of rice at 40 baht per pack 1…

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  • Covid-19 NewsCovid UPDATE Sunday: 2,671 new infections and 23 deaths, provincial totals

    Covid UPDATE Sunday: 2,671 new infections and 23 deaths, provincial totals

    There has been another 2,671 new infections of Covid-19 detected across Thailand in the past 24 hours. There’s also been 23 deaths. 604 cases were detected in Thai prisons. Most of the current outbreaks continue to be around Bangkok and its immediate provinces. Bangkok registered 675 cases yesterday. Provincial totals below… GRAPH: worldometers.info • A recent survey, conducted by the Centre…

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  • Bangkok News#FreePALESTINE billboard taken down in Bangkok

    #FreePALESTINE billboard taken down in Bangkok

    A billboard in Yan Nawa, a district in Bangkok, has been taken down. It was reportedly put up by a group of Thai Muslims who support the Palestinian cause. The billboard consisted of the Palestinian flag with “#FreePALESTINE” superimposed on the bottom of the flag, as well as the dome of the Al-Aqsa mosque. Reportedly, Thai officials had asked the…

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  • Covid-19 NewsBangkok shopping centres: stay calm, we’re mostly safe

    Bangkok shopping centres: stay calm, we’re mostly safe

    Earlier this week, there was a minor kerfuffle when 3 shopping centres in Bangkok publicly denied they were the source of a Covid outbreak. Now, 3 different malls in a different district are also trying to calm fears amidst the CCSA stating they are the source of Covid clusters. The news comes from the CCSA showing a graphic of the…

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  • Hua Hin NewsLast WWII Thai airman died at 102 years old

    Last WWII Thai airman died at 102 years old

    World War II ended 76 years ago before many of us were born, but this week, the last Thai airman who actively fought in World War II died at the age of 102. Thai airman Choy Lodethanong died on Wednesday morning. At the age of 102, the death was considered to be of natural causes. Choy was part of the…

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  • Phuket NewsCar chase starts at checkpoint, goes downhill from there

    Car chase starts at checkpoint, goes downhill from there

    Over the weekend, a 51 year old man from Trang allgedly sped through a checkpoint and led police on a reported 60 kilometre police chase. The chase ended when the man overturned his car. The “60 Kilometres” presumably referred to the man’s speed. The man, Parit Poldet, had initially declined to stop for the check at the Phuket entry Tha…

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  • Covid-19 NewsTourism program adds a plus

    Tourism program adds a plus

    This weekend, the Phuket government announced a program whereby businesses can now flout their relative vaccinated status to customers with a certificate with a literal plus. The Amazing Thailand SHA Plus certification is reached via an online registration from the Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration aka SHA. The government has urged all businesses and venues that are 70% inoculated…

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  • Thailand NewsPride Month celebrates the LGBTQ community in Thailand

    Pride Month celebrates the LGBTQ community in Thailand

    In the United States, June is Pride Month – a month to celebrate the LGBTQ community, in memory of the Stonewall riots in June of 1969. It is a month to recognize the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer population in the US. While Pride Month isn’t officially international, some acknowledgement and celebration have been seen in Thailand. In Bangkok,…

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  • Thailand News500,000 Sinovac doses reach Thailand

    500,000 Sinovac doses reach Thailand

    Yesterday, China’s embassy in Thailand announced that the second shipment of 500,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccines given by the Chinese government got to Thailand. This second shipment brings the total donations of Sinovac from China to 6.5 million doses. Globally, China and Thailand have the most doses of Sinovac. Earlier this week, The Thaiger reported that 11 million doses…

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  • ExpatsTAT proposes eased restrictions and 10 year visa to key groups

    TAT proposes eased restrictions and 10 year visa to key groups

    Key word – PROPOSAL. Perhaps tired of piecemeal baby steps to attract tourists while missing the bigger picture, The Tourism Authority of Thailand proposed a sweeping plan to give 4 target groups easy access to live, work and prosper in Thailand for a decade at a time. The radical proposal was presented to PM Prayut Chan-o-cha in a video conference…

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  • Thai LifeThai airports to use machines more, humans less

    Thai airports to use machines more, humans less

    A self-check-in service that includes luggage loading services, is coming to Thai airports. The Airports of Thailand has decided to bring the service to Suvarnabhumi airport to minimize physical interactions between passengers and staff, thus helping curb the spread of Covid-19. 180 self-check-in machines will be beta tested this month, before taking more permanent residence next month. Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, the…

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  • Covid-19 NewsOver 4 million people vaccinated in lead-up to June 7 campaign

    Over 4 million people vaccinated in lead-up to June 7 campaign

    But not all have yet had both doses of their vaccines. As Thailand ramps up to finally get its mass vaccination campaign underway, over 4 million people have been at least partially vaccinated so far. The most recent data reports that 4,142,994 people have received at least one vaccine in Thailand. Our World in Data statistics last updated 2 days…

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  • Pattaya NewsMan almost drowns looking for shells, suffers serious injuries

    Man almost drowns looking for shells, suffers serious injuries

    Yesterday afternoon, a man required medical attention after nearly drowning and suffering serious injuries after his search for shells went awry. He had been looking for shells near the Bali Hai Pier in Pattaya, a city on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand. The (name withheld) 60 year old man, was found lying unconscious on the beach when…

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  • Tourism NewsPhuket Sandbox to be approved by Cabinet on Monday

    Phuket Sandbox to be approved by Cabinet on Monday

    It’s official, sort of. After months of kicking sand around, debating if it will really happen, the Centre for Economic Situation Administration officially approved the Phuket Sandbox plan, an important step forward. The announcement, made on Friday afternoon, appears to answer the often-posed question if the sandbox plan would ever happen as the much more intense and deadly third wave…

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  • South Thailand NewsUPDATE: Billionaire couple found dead at bottom of Koh Tao resort pool

    UPDATE: Billionaire couple found dead at bottom of Koh Tao resort pool

    The owner of a 5 star hotel in Phuket and his wife were found dead at the bottom of their hotel swimming pool on the island of Koh Tao on Friday afternoon. Police received the initial report at 4.45pm on Friday. The island off the Surat Thani province coast has gained notoriety after a string of suspicious and sensationalised deaths…

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  • Covid-19 NewsCovid UPDATE Sunday: 2,671 new infections and 23 deaths

    Covid UPDATE Sunday: 2,671 new infections and 23 deaths

    There has been another 2,671 new infections of Covid-19 detected across Thailand in the past 24 hours. There’s also been 23 deaths. 604 cases were detected in Thai prisons. Thailand has now registered a total of 148,604 cases, the vast majority since the start of April in what’s being called the third wave, which emerged from the bars, nightclubs and…

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  • Technology NewsStudio designs solution to online class uniform debate

    Studio designs solution to online class uniform debate

    They say nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool and a controversial school rule for online classes has just proved that to be the case. When school authorities announced the foolproof plan of making it mandatory to wear a uniform even during online classes, the decision was met with backlash from students who didn’t see the need to dress…

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  • World NewsBurmese coup leader says in interview he’s surprised by backlash

    Burmese coup leader says in interview he’s surprised by backlash

    In an interview with a Hong Kong TV channel recently aired on Burmese television, Burmese coup leader Min Aung Hlaing said that he was struggling to control Myanmar after a surprise backlash. The interview by the Chinese language Phoenix Television was just aired Thursday in Myanmar. In the interview, the military leader said he did not anticipate such widespread and…

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  • Covid-19 NewsLoei postponing appointments due to shortage of vaccines

    Loei postponing appointments due to shortage of vaccines

    With a lot of good news on Covid-19 vaccines being received from China and being mass-produced in Thailand, things are starting to look up for Thailand’s alarmingly slow national vaccination efforts. But the province of Loei announced yesterday that they would be postponing appointments for vaccines due to a shortage of jabs available to them. The governor of Loei took…

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  • Thailand NewsCompensation for side effects or death from Covid-19 vaccine

    Compensation for side effects or death from Covid-19 vaccine

    Though serious side effects and death from vaccination are exceedingly rare, the Thai National Health Security Office will provide compensation for those negatively affected by a Covid-19 vaccine. The plan calls for 100,000 baht compensation for anyone with an adverse vaccine reaction that prevents them from working for a while, up to 240,000 baht for disabilities resulting from vaccination, including…

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  • Phuket NewsTAT and Tourism Ministry push for domestic tourism in Phuket

    TAT and Tourism Ministry push for domestic tourism in Phuket

    The Tourism Authority of Thailand is partnering with the Tourism and Sports Ministry to build confidence and boost domestic travel to Phuket as it reopens to international tourism next month. They hope to give Phuket a much-needed boom by attracting local travellers as well as fully vaccinated international passengers. Aiming to get domestic travel up and running in August, the…

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  • Covid-19 News25 million Pfizer and J&J vaccines coming, millions ready now

    25 million Pfizer and J&J vaccines coming, millions ready now

    Thailand’s goal of giving 100 million vaccine shots by the end of 2021 may be met with the help of Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, as negotiations for 25 million vaccines are ongoing now. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha had set a goal of 100 million vaccines and later increasing it to 150 million jabs, but so far only 6 million Sinovac…

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  • Visa InformationUPDATE: Phuket Sandbox – Changes to travelling back to Thailand

    UPDATE: Phuket Sandbox – Changes to travelling back to Thailand

    Yes, there are some more details, about the Phuket ‘sandbox’ and there will certainly be some more changes in the next few weeks as we lead up to July 1. Getting back to Thailand, via Phuket, is now much easier from the start of July but there are still a few conditions and restrictions you need to be aware of.…

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