- Expats
British expat petitions government to help desperate elephants, handlers
The closure of elephant camps and sanctuary-style tourist attraction throughout the northeastern provinces has left thousands of elephants facing starvation. Some have made the long march back to their home villages, where their arrival is creating more problems than it solves. Susan Field, a British citizen living in Koh Samui, yesterday presented a petition with nearly 65,000 signatures to the Thai…
- Crime News
Online marijuana dealer arrested in Nakhon Si Thammarat
Authorities in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat have arrested a young man whose online marijuana sales soared during the Covid-19 outbreak. Human trafficking suppression police today apprehended 24 year old Nanthapong Phuetsawanit at a house in tambon Sra Kaeo of Tha Sala district and confiscated 41 marijuana plants, 1.5 kilograms of dried marijuana, quantities of cannabis oil and…
- Chiang Mai News
Aussie woman arrested for shoplifting in Chiang Mai – VIDEO
Police in the northern province of Chiang Mai yesterday announced the arrest of a 38 year old Australian woman who allegedly stole 6 inexpensive items from a store in tambon Chang Moi, in Mueang Chiang Mai district. “Emily C.” was traced after she got into a white Toyota Prius and returned to the hotel where she had been staying for…
- Bangkok News
Illegal online gun dealer nabbed in Nonthaburi
Police in Nonthaburi province, on the northern outskirts of Bangkok, arrested a man this morning for selling guns illegally online, and seized 2 firearms found in his possession. Crime Suppression Division police raided a townhouse at Piyawararom housing estate in Bang Bua Thong district, acting on a tip it was the hideout of a man already wanted on an arrest…
- Covid-19 News
“World Health Organisation is an unreliable source on health issues” – Thai doctor
With the Covid-19 crisis has all but passed in Thailand (today marks the 24th consecutive day without a local transmission), Thais now view the World Health Organisation as an unreliable source on health issues, at least according to a specialist at Bangkok’s Vichaiyut Hospital. He complains that the WHO is slow in providing information. “Especially when they inform the public…
- Covid-19 News
Australia to remain closed to nearly all but international students until next year
Australia’s trade minister said yesterday that the country is unlikely to reopen its borders to international arrivals until some time in 2021, but will look to relax entry rules for international students and other long-term visitors. The country has been largely successful in containing the spread of Covid-19, success which it attributes to curbs on international travel and tough social…
- Thailand News
Covid-19 update: 6 new cases, all detected in quarantine (June 18)
Breaking a 3 day streak of zero new cases, Dr Panprapa Yongtrakul, assistant spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration this morning announced 6 new cases of Covid-19 over the previous 24 hour period, all detected in state quarantine. Thailand has now reached 24 days without a domestically transmitted case. Of the 6 new cases, 5 are male students,…
- Pattaya News
“It’s 3 months now, when can we reopen?” – Pattaya bar owners
Today marks 3 straight months that Pattaya’s world famous – and vitally important to the city’s economy – nightlife and entertainment industry has been shuttered by the Thai Government. The industry was originally told to close “for 2 weeks” on March 18. But as the Covid-19 crisis escalated and fear and uncertainty grew worldwide, the closure was repeatedly extended, with…
- Politics News
Constitutional Court to hear petition against MP Thammanat Prompao’s political standing
MP and Deputy Agriculture Minister Thammanat Prompao is no stranger to controversy, and this week he appears to be back in the hot seat, again, as opposition MPs have filed a petition challenging his ministerial status and his post as an MP. Thailand’s Constitutional Court has accepted the petition for consideration. But the Court rejected the demand by the 51…
- South Thailand News
Jilted uni student throws acid on ex girlfriend
A university student in Thailand’s southern Songkhla province has been arrested today and charged with physical assault and possessing a fake gun, after he splashed acid on his former girlfriend for rejecting him. 18 year old Nong Thawibboonphonwent went to see his 20 year old ex-girlfriend Rattiyakorn (surname withheld), around 10:30 last night at the convenience store where she works,…
- Covid-19 News
Trial shows cheap steroid could significantly reduce Covid-19 deaths – VIDEO
Low doses of the generic steroid ‘Dexamethasone’, given to patients in hospital with Covid-19, has reportedly reduced death rates by about a third among those with the most severe symptoms, trial data showed yesterday. The results are being described as a “major breakthrough” by scientists conducting the UK-led clinical trial known as RECOVERY. They suggest the drug should immediately become standard…
- Environment News
Injured whale shark looks for help from divers – VIDEO
Video footage of a huge whale shark swimming toward a diving instructor while showing its tail that was caught in a rope has gone viral on the internet. The encounter took place near Koh Pha Ngan in the southern Surat Thani province last Saturday. A 3 metre long whale shark, injured by a rope tightening around its tail, swam toward…
- Covid-19 News
Grounded Thai pilot now does motorbike food deliveries
“I have my motorbike, so I found my part time job. And now I am a food delivery man.” With many of the world’s international airlines grounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, many in the aviation industry, including even pilots, have been forced to find other ways to make a living. Here in Thailand, a ban on international arrivals remains in…
- Crime News
Bangkok woman allegedly kills, mutilates father
Bangkok police have arrested a woman who they suspect of murdering her father and cutting off his genitals before fleeing the scene yesterday. She was found wandering on a street around 2.30am this morning. They also recovered the knife that they believe was used in the murder. The woman was semiconscious and unable to speak, and officers say they’ll let…
- Events
Countdown! Thailand’s first satellite launch planned for Friday
Thailand’s air force will launch its first satellite this Friday, following months of delay. Dubbed Napa-1, it’s scheduled to be launched using an Ariane Vega rocket from a staging area in French Guyana in South America, according to a Royal Thai Air Force source. The launch was postponed 3 times, in September and December last year due to technical issues,…
- South Thailand News
PM, police issue warning to biker gangs, threaten renewed curfew
In a press briefing yesterday, the assistant national police chief issued a stern warning against “dek waen” (biker gangs), who have returned to the roads of Bangkok and some provinces after the national curfew was lifted Sunday. On Monday, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha issued a warning saying the government will reimpose the curfew if people fail to cooperate with Covid-19 control…
- Economy News
Phase 3 easing generated 200 billion baht into Thai economy
Phase 3 of Covid-19 restriction easing, which began June 1, has generated 200 billion baht of additional cash flow into the economy. With many other establishments returning to business as usual tomorrow, the Thai Chamber of Commerce has launched a forum for the brainstorming of ideas on the next business trends under the “new normal,” that must comply with health…
- Covid-19 News
Covid-19 update: 1 new imported case (June 14)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported 1 new imported coronavirus case and no new deaths today taking the total number of infections in Thailand to 3,135 since the outbreak began in January. The death toll remains at 58. The CCSA says the new case is a 35 year old female Thai student who returned from the US last Monday.…
- Tourism News
Tourist attractions get ready for tomorrow’s Phase 4 easing
Thailand’s Interior Ministry has ordered all provincial governors to manage their tourist attractions in preparation for Phase 4 of Covid-19 lockdown relaxation, which begins tomorrow. The ministry’s permanent secretary said yesterday that after Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered related authorities to manage beach attractions, the ministry instructed provincial governors nationwide to manage their tourist attractions as follows: Prepare tourist attractions,…
- Bangkok News
Bangkok removing trees to make way for underground walkways
As part of a new “landscape improvement project,” the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has begun removing trees along Na Phra Lan Road, to pave the way for an underground network of walkways. 34 trees on the road will be removed, and the “Silpakorn Nokrob” (around Silpakorn) Facebook page yesterday called the decision “heartbreaking” for locals and conservationists. In April the BMA…
- Environment News
Bangkok’s sky park bridging the Chao Phraya ready for opening
Bangkok now has an elevated garden overlooking the Chao Phraya River, after architects transformed a portion of an abandoned electric train project into a green pedestrian bridge. For 30 years, the unfinished Saphan Phut line stood as a reminder of the Lavalin Skytrain project, which was abandoned in 1992. The project began in 1984 under former PM Prem Tinsulanonda. Today…
- Economy News
Rubber roads will help Thai growers, increase safety
Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha chaired the signing ceremony of an agreement to use local Thai rubber in road construction, part of an effort to help the country’s financially strapped rubber farmers. Prayut praised the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives as well as Prince of Songkhla University, the Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, the…
- Covid-19 News
Local Covid-19 spike shuts Beijing district
An area of Beijing is on a “wartime footing” and the city has banned tourism and travel after a cluster of Covid-19 infections centred around a major food market sparked fears of a new wave of infection. Concern is growing of a second wave of the virus, which has infected more than 7.835+ million people worldwide and killed more than…
- Covid-19 News
Crowned bats captured, studied as possible Covid-19 carriers
Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, and the Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, are researching whether Thailand’s “crowned bats” could carry or transmit the Covid-19 coronavirus. The chief of the department’s wildlife health management section says they went to a cave in in the eastern province of Chanthaburi, home to millions of the bats, to capture more…
- World News
Justice minister targets drug money laundering
With the government struggling to find revenue streams for its economic stimulus plans to rebuild an economy battered by Covid-19, Thailand’s justice minister thinks he has an idea to help. He wants authorities to target businesses that launder drug money from the Golden Triangle and has set a target of 1.5 billion baht by August. The minister says anti-drug forces,…
- Road deaths
Thai road deaths surpass 6,000 for year to date
Thailand’s publicly announced goal of a maximum 664 road deaths per year from 2020 now seems fanciful, by a factor of 10 of more. The Daily News reports that as of yesterday, the death toll at the scene of traffic incidents in Thailand since the beginning of the year stood at 6,120. 43 died at the incident scenes on Wednesday…
- Covid-19 News
Covid-19 update: 5 new cases, all imported (June 13)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration today announced that 5 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the previous 24 hours. All 5 were imported cases of Thai students returning from Saudi Arabia. No new deaths were reported. The total number of confirmed cases since the beginning of the outbreak in Thailand now stands at 3,134. The death toll remains at…
- Crime News
Homicide ruled out Ukrainian woman’s Koh Samui death
Police in the southern Surat Thani province now say the death of a Ukrainian woman on Koh Samui was either from natural causes or suicide, and have specifically ruled out homicide. Officers found 32 year old Olga Frolova’s phone in her knapsack and suggest that she died while resting in the forest from exhaustion and heat, or at her own…
- Thailand Weather Updates
Heavy rains and flash floods predicted until next Tuesday from ‘Nuri’
The Thai Meteorological Department is warning that tropical storm ‘Nuri’ could bring heavy rains and cause flash flooding in at-risk areas across Thailand. A low-pressure system that developed in the Philippine Sea, and was tracked over the central Philippines has moved into the South China Sea, has become a tropical depression. At 4am today the department officially announced tropical storm…
- Crime News
Government denies rumours of fines for online alcohol-related pics
Despite recent reports, the Office of the Alcohol Control Committee is dismissing a rumour about individuals being fined for posting images of alcoholic drinks on social media. The rumour went viral, with some saying individuals can be fined to up to 50,000 baht for posting images of alcoholic beverages online, or up to 10 times that amount if they’re manufacturers.…
