- Tourism News
Economic ministers to meet next Monday for economic and tourism ‘Council of War’
The council of economic ministers will meet next Monday, on October 7 in Bangkok, to discuss the current economic and tourism situation. Kobsak Pootrakool, the deputy secretary-general to the PM for political affairs, says the meeting will confront obstacles facing the country’s tourism industry. “The ministers will also discuss the country’s export situation”. The Nation reports that the Commerce Ministry…
- Transport News
Transport Minister pressures State Railway board to resign
PHOTO: The Nation Board members of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) are expected to tender their resignations to Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob ‘soon’, according to sources to The Nation. There has been speculation for some time that the members have been under pressure to resign, as the minister reportedly wants to reconstitute the board. Among many other issues, the…
- Crime News
Phuket encroacher is handed down 10 year sentence
PHOTO: Nai Yang Beach, just part of the coastal land along Phuket’s north-west coastline The Department of Special Investigation have successfully prosecuted an encroachment case involving land on Phuket’s north-west coast. The Criminal Court handed down a 10 year sentence to Anek Lipracha, a prime suspect in a case involving encroachment of 93 rai of coastal land in Sirinat Marine National…
- Business News
Cafe Amazon brewing up a cup of coffee in China
PTT Oil and Retail Business, the owners of the Cafe Amazon brand, has opened its first branch in China. Their goal is to make the coffee chain a global brand, a sort of ‘Thai Starbucks’. The first Cafe Amazon outlet in China is located at a Sinopec petrol station in Nanning of Guangxi, in southern China on the Vietnamese border,…
- Environment News
Blue skies, nothing but blue skies, in southern Thailand
PHOTOS: Matichon Online Breath easy southerners. Residents and tourists in at least seven southern Thai provinces have been greeted with clear blue sky and fresh air, well, certainly a vast improvement anyway although there is still some slight lingering smog. For the first time in two weeks Matichon Online reports that much of the Indonesian smoke from plantation burn-offs has cleared,…
- Economy News
Asian Development Bank drops growth forecast for Thailand
“The bank forecasts a slightly higher growth rate at 3.2% next year, due largely to infrastructure investment in the Eastern Economic Corridor.” The Asian Development Bank is lowering its growth forecast for Thailand’s economy from 3.9% to 3% but is optimistic that conditions will improve next year. “The bank forecasts a slightly higher growth rate at 3.2% next year, due…
- Environment News
Two flying lantern events in Chiang Mai for Loy Krathong get their permits revoked
PHOTO: Rove.me Chiang Mai’s City District Office has scrapped permits previously granted to organisers of two ‘sky lantern’ events that would have released a total of 5,000 flying lanterns during the upcoming Loy Krathong Festival, on November 11. The two events, one at the dinosaur-featuring Hidden Village Chiang Mai attraction and the other at the Royal Park Rajapruek in tambon…
- World News
China opens mega airport in Beijing ahead of country’s 70th anniversary
“China is expected to surpass the US to become the world’s biggest aviation market in the next couple of years.” by Poornima Weerasekara China’s President Xi Jinping has opened a futuristic new airport in Beijing, expected to become one of the busiest in the world. Xi declared the starfish-shaped airport open in brief remarks at a ceremony inside the huge terminal,…
- Politics News
Thai pro-democracy body calls on UN to investigate ‘military government in disguise’
PHOTOS: Facebook: Jaran Ditapichai/Kritsada Akkhapracha Jaran Ditapichai, the president of the Association of Thai Democrats without Borders’ has written to the UN yesterday asking the international body to investigate the government of Thai PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha. The Nation reports that Jaran personally dropped the submission at a letterbox near the UN headquarters in New York and recorded the action with…
- Việt Nam
Hà Nội: Cháy lớn tại chợ Tó, Đông Anh
Ngọn lửa xuất phát từ gian hàng tạp hóa tại chợ Tó, Đông Anh, Hà Nội tạo thành cột khói lớn cao hàng chục mét sau đó thiêu rụi nhiều tài sản của tiểu thương. Vụ cháy diễn ra tại chợ Tó (số 333 xã Uy Nỗ, huyện Đông Anh, Hà Nội) vào lúc 7h30 sáng nay. Ngay sau khi…
- Transport News
Shake-up at the top in Thai state enterprises – Transport Minister
PHOTO: BTS station – YouTube In a major management shakeup in Thai state enterprises, the transport minister has now appointed a new chairmen to the boards of the Port Authority of Thailand, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) and the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMA). The list of new chairmen has been…
- Politics News
Prayut meets up with Thai expats in New York ahead of UN meetings today
PHOTOS: ศ.ดร.นฤมล ภิญโญสินวัฒน์ Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has been meeting Thai expats in New York before his attending the UN Climate Summit and other meetings this week. Prayut and his entourage, including Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, arrived at the Plaza Athenee Hotel on the 64th street yesterday around midday on a sunny New York day. Prayut was welcomed by Nipon…
- Business News
Phuket social enterprise shop takes the first steps
PHOTOS: stepswiththeera.com A Bangkok-based social enterprise has made its debut in Phuket as it opened a new zero-waste shop, cafe and vocational training centre in Cherng Talay. The shop is run by Steps With Theera and provides a range of plastic substitutes including bamboo straw sets, bamboo toothbrushes and SuperBee wax wraps, alongside a refill station with beauty products from…
- Economy News
Finance Ministry launches 100 billion stimulus package to kickstart sagging economy
PHOTO: thailandshoppingdining.com The Government is kicking off a new stimulus package valued at 100 billion baht to “stimulate the grassroots economy”. Prasong Poontaneat, permanent secretary of the Finance Ministry reported that the government is preparing a brand-new stimulus package. “The Finance Ministry and related agencies will spend more than 100 billion baht on approximately 30 million low-income households nationwide.” The…
- Politics News
Thai MP rich list
PHOTO: The Nation The National Anti-Corruption Commission has published a who’s who list of Thailand’s richest politicians. The NACC has reported the personal finances of 80 MPs. The personal finances report is an addition to the NACC’s previous report of 415 MPs who had earlier submitted their asset lists in July. Notable MPs whose assets and debts have been revealed…
- Crime News
More arrest warrants issued over Bangkok’s August bomb attacks
PHOTO: Voice of America The Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for five more suspects yesterday over their alleged involvement in the simultaneous bomb and arson attacks in Bangkok back on August 2. Police presented evidence against them to the court yesterday to obtain warrants for their arrest. They are accused of being members of an unlawful syndicate and collaborating to carry…
- World News
Southern Thailand smog well above safe levels
PHOTOS: Charoon Thongnual – The Nation Hat Yai, the main city in Songkhla, has been among the worst hit by the smog engulfing parts of southern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The business district of Hat Yai has been hard hit with PM2.5 particles exceeding the safety standards of 50 (set by the World…
- Bangkok News
Bangkok shophouse partially collapses in the rain
An abandoned shophouse in Bangkok’s Bang Plat district partially collapsed last night. No one was injured as the three-unit shop house, spread over four floors on Soi Charansanitwong 96/2 in Bang Or subdistrict, had been empty for a while. Officials said the fourth and third floors collapsed onto the lower floors, causing glasses and pieces of wood, and concrete, to fall…
- Tourism News
New branding for the old town – tweaking Phuket’s Old Town
PHOTO: Many renovated buildings and putting the crappy overhead cabling underground is bringing the old town alive Though Phuket remains among the world’s most popular tourist destinations, injecting some 477 billion baht to the Thai economy, with its “Pearl of the Andaman Sea” branding, its future status is being questioned due to competition from Indonesia and Vietnam. In response, Phuket…
- Crime News
2.5 million methamphetamine pills seized near Myanmar border
PHOTO: The Nation Another big delivery of methamphetamine pills has been intercepted in Chiang Mai. This time the couriers were both female. Rangers from the Pha Muang Task Force intercepted 2.5 million methamphetamine pills and arrested two females in a pick-up truck that broke through a checkpoint in the Mae Ai district early yesterday. The arrest followed a tip-off that…
- Business News
No impact on PTT’s imports from Saudi oil refinery attack: Thai minister
Thai energy minister Sontirat Sontijirawong claims that last Saturday’s attacks on two major oil-processing facilities run by the Saudi-owned company Aramco will not affect oil imports of the Thai petro-chemical giant PTT group. He added that he had learnt from Aramco and related parties that the situation there was under control and the damage was being assessed. The incident would…
- World News
Hong Kong train derails during morning peak
“The cause of the derailment was still under investigation but there was no immediate suggestion of foul play…” A passenger train has derailed during the morning peak hour in Hong Kong. Three people were injured in the incident. Images from the scene showed three carriages had left the tracks and were zigzagged across the rails near Hung Hom station in…
- Northern Thailand News
Thai PM insists government flood victims aren’t being ignored
PHOTO: A dog tries to keep dry on a flooded street in Thailand’s northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani – Krit Phromsakla Na Sakolnakorn – AFP Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha says he attaches great importance to relief operations designed to alleviate the suffering of flood victims and the government has procedures to compensate them. A government spokeswoman Naruemol Pinyosinwat was taken aback…
- Chiang Mai News
30,000 uni students take the long and winding road up Doi Suthep
PHOTOS: The Nation Some 30,000 students, past and present, and staff from the Chiang Mai University headed up Thailand’s holiest mountain yesterday on the university’s annual trek to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. It’s the university’s 55th anniversary of the annual climb. Freshmen from 20 faculties from two of the CMU campuses trekked up the winding 14 kilometre road from…
- Northern Thailand News
Thai woman arrested after 13 year old Burmese girl forced into prostitution
by Tossapol Boonpat Police have arrested a local Mae Hong Son woman for allegedly procuring a 13 year old girl as a prostitute for sex with a string of local men. Mae Hong Son is west of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, on the Myanmar border. Mae Hong Son police say the woman, whose name had not been names at this…
- Thailand News
Pope Francis confirms his ‘pilgrim of peace’ visit to Thailand in November
PHOTO: Father Joseph Anucha Chaiyadej, director of the Catholic Social Communications of Thailand, along with deputy secretary-general Monsignor Dr Vissanu Thanya-anan and Dr Chainarong Monthienvichienchai, counsellor for the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, speak to the media yesterday – The Nation It’s official, the Pope is coming to Thailand. Rumoured earlier but now officially announced. His Excellency Paul Tschang In-Nam,…
- Transport News
FAIL! One in seven public transport vehicles didn’t pass safety tests
One in seven public transport vehicles failed safety checks in the first week of a new program Vehicles failed the tests mostly because of a low-quality brake systems and excessive black smoke emissions In better news, only three of 10,236 drivers failed the exam About one in seven public Thai transport vehicles have failed safety checks in the first week…
- Northern Thailand News
Five killed in Sa Kaew passenger van crash
PHOTOS: Thai Rath A Thai van driver has been killed along with four Cambodian passengers after a car veered across a traffic median and crashed head-on into them. The accident occurred at 10.30am yesterday on the Aranyaprathet-bound Suwansorn road in Wattana Nakhon district of Sa Kaew, on the Cambodian border, east of Bangkok. Police report that a Cambodian girl and…
- Việt Nam
Anh nối dài chuỗi chiến thắng nhưng vẫn bị chỉ trích vì thi đấu khó hiểu trước Kosovo
Trong loạt trận vòng loại EURO 2020 diễn ra rạng sáng nay (11/9, giờ Việt Nam), tuyển Anh tiếp Kosovo ở sân nhà Wembley. Trận đấu mang nhiều bất ngờ cho người xem bởi có đến 8 bàn thắng được ghi phần lớn nhờ lối chơi hết sức khó hiểu của tuyển Anh. Tiếp đón Kosovo, vốn là đối thủ…
- Việt Nam
Ronaldo lập poker, hủy diệt Lithuania
Hành quân đến sân của Lithuania, Cristiano Ronaldo có trận đấu thăng hoa khi ghi tới 4 bàn mang về chiến thắng 5-1 cho Bồ Đào Nha, ở lượt trận thứ 4 bảng B vòng loại EURO 2020. Chỉ phải thi đấu với đối thủ quá yếu là Lithuania, không ngạc nhiên khi nhà đương kim vô địch châu Âu…
