- Northern Thailand News
Police seek “copyright agents” for extortion
Police in Nakhon Ratchasima say they’re seeking a warrant to arrest “copyright agents” who attempted to extort dozens of vendors. The investigation is nearly complete and warrants will be issued by the end of this week. “We are waiting for documents from relevant copyright holders, and we have also established a committee to identify police officers accused of involvement,” according…
- News
Unconscious 4 year old rescued from locked car
Pattaya police got a report that a child was stuck in a car in front of a shopping mall. When they rushed to the scene a volunteer rescue team, they found a crowd surrounding a car, trying to wake up a sleeping four year old boy. The boy’s mother was there and was in fact the one to call for…
- Crime News
Police general kills two, dies in courtroom land case drama
A retired senior policeman has shot dead the plaintiff and his lawyer before being fatally shot by police in a Chanthaburi courtroom. He wounded two other people accompanying the plaintiff. 67 year old police major general Thanin Chantratip was a defendant in a 10 year long civil lawsuit about land in Tha Mai district. He was in court for a…
- World News
Protestor shot, man burns in Hong Kong unrest
Police are warning that Hong Kong’s rule of law has been pushed to the “brink of total collapse”. The protests have been lingering for five months now. The warning came as protesters clashed with police across the city again yesterday (Tuesday). On Monday, a police officer shot a masked protester and a man was set on fire during one of…
- Hot News
Warrants issued in “Billy” murder case
Arrest warrants have been issued for the former chief of a national park and three other officials, for the murder of Karen activist Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen. They face charges including robbery and detention. Chaiwat Limlikit-aksorn, former chief the Kaeng Krachan National Park, faces murder charges. Police are preparing for their arrest but say they would welcome their surrender. Billy was…
- Environment News
Future Forward Party might be dissolved
The Constitutional Court will deliver a ruling on on Nov 20 that could make or break the Future Forward Party (FFP) and its leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. The party and Thanathorn face a slew of legal cases that seriously jeopardise their political future. The FFP, which has 80 MPs, could be dissolved and its 24 executives banned from politics. If the…
- News
Drunk man reports car stolen
A 50 year old man in the northern province of Lampang told police his car was stolen from a local petrol station. As it turned out, he was so drunk he couldn’t remember how he got to the station. He finally realized that a friend had dropped him off. The incident was shared on national television. The man called police…
- News
TAT opens 100 baht tourism scheme
TAT’s ambitious ‘฿100 Travel Around’ scheme opened yesterday. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has opened registration for its “100 Baht Travel Around” campaign. According to the TAT website, the project is to promote domestic tourism by providing 100 baht packages for domestic tours and rooms. Registration will only be open on the four “catchy dates” of 11-11 (November 11),…
- Events
8,600 lanterns to be launched during Chiang Mai’s Yi Peng festival
Today is Loy Krathong and there is nowhere else in Thailand that does it as well as Chiang Mai. The Choeng Doi subdistrict, to the north east of Chiang Mai city, will continue to hold the Loy Krathong and Yi Peng lantern festival until November 12, as the area does not come under prohibited zones due to flight services. Chitipon…
- Economy News
A restart for resumption of Thai-EU trade talks scheduled
MONTAGE: The Thaiger Free trade talks between the EU and Thailand are about to start again after years in the wilderness following the 2014 military coup, and years of protracted negotiations before stretching back to 2005. The Thai Commerce Ministry is now preparing to resume free-trade talks with the European Union. The director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiations, Auramon…
- Phuket News
Rare giant manta ray sighted off Phang Nga
“We rarely see manta rays of this size around here, and I’m so glad to have seen one.” A rare five metres wide giant manta ray has been spotted near Koh Ta Chai, north of the Similan Islands group, off Phang Nga province. The photos came from Somporn Kaewmaneechote, a diving instructor with Sea Turtle Diver Company. Somporn said the…
- Transport News
Police tracking down Mercedes driver who wouldn’t give way to an ambulance – VIDEO
MONTAGE: Daily News Police are tracking down the driver of a Mercedes Benz who gave ambulance drivers ‘the finger’ after refusing to give way to the screeching sirens of the ambulance trying to get a patient to hospital. The ambulance travelling between Phyathai 2 and Phyathai Hospital (Sri Racha) in central Bangkok on Saturday. The relatives of the patient described the incident as…
- Tourism News
Kata Group launches new 512-room Phuket family resort – Pamookkoo Resort
Kata Group, Phuket’s oldest hotel group, is launching its eighth resort, the Pamookkoo Resort. The cost of the investment is 1.75 billion baht. The new resort is in the heart of Kata. Kata Group opened its first hotel on Phuket 40 years ago and was a pioneer in attracting the early tourists to the island’s southwest coast. The new hotel…
- Northern Thailand News
Police suspect land dispute in double murder in Chiang Rai
PHOTOS: Chiang Rai Times Chiang Rai police are investigating a husband and wife that were murdered in the province’s Chiang Saen District last Wednesday. When arriving at the property, police found the bodies of a husband and wife, both with strangulation marks on their necks. There was no sign of a struggle and nothing was stolen. Their pick-up truck and…
- Pattaya News
“Pattaya’s a rubbish infested dump” – Mayor swings into action
PHOTO: “Add some rubbish bins if you want to known as a tourist city” – Facebook/Patchara Joy Listening to criticism earlier last week, that Pattaya was a “rubbish infested dump”, the mayor swung into immediate action. According to We Love Pattaya, Pattaya’s mayor sent municipal cleaners t0 various areas according to a “We Love Pattaya,” campaign, in a cleanup that…
- Chiang Mai News
American spews racist and offensive slurs in Chiang Mai
MONTAGE: YouTube An apparently drunken American has smashed a shop window in Chiang Mai while ranting racist and offensive slurs at onlookers. His outbursts were filmed and widely posted on Facebook. According to a witness, she was minding her own business in front of the shop she was working in when the American began shouting and screaming at her. “I kill…
- South Thailand News
Six suspects detained for questioning over Yala massacre
ORIGINAL PHOTO: Reuters More than 200 troops and police conducted searches in Thailand’s southern border provinces on Friday night, looking for suspects in Tuesday’s brutal attack in Yala Province that killed 15. Nine suspects were arrested, but three were released shortly after checks showed they had no prior connections with the insurgency or criminal records. The rest were detained for…
- Events
Bangkok governor: One krathong per family
With the annual Loy Krathong festival coming up tomorrow, Bangkok’s governor is urging residents and tourists to help reduce the number of discarded krathongs and floating lanterns, according to Thai-language Daily News. This year’s motto from the governor is “One Krathong, One Family.” Last year, the Bangkok authorities collected nearly a million discarded krathongs from local waterways. The vast majority…
- South Thailand News
Army clarifies curfew rumours for districts in Southern Thailand
PHOTO: New Straits Times The army says now that won’t upgrade the curfew in the troubled deep South following an attack that killed 15 people on Tuesday night. A spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command says, contrary to some news reports, no curfew would be imposed at this stage. He says the Army is urging people not to panic.…
- Transport News
Thai Airways management ‘asked’, staff ‘told’, to cut expenses
PHOTO: Both management and staff likely to lose some entitlements under new policy to reduce costs In a move that will likely contribute little to the airline’s rehabilitation, Thai Airways is trying to reduce expenditures on staff travel. Meanwhile the airlines’ management is being ‘asked’ to reduce some of their expenses. The moves are part of a range of new…
- Business News
SE Asian banks slowly giving way to e-payments and payment apps
PHOTO: starbucks.com That cold, hard cash in your pocket, and the traditional shop-front banks that give it to you, are slowly being phased out and replaced with e-payments. It’s now expected that traditional banks in South east Asia will miss out on as much as US$5 billion, or 14.3% of their payments revenue by 2025. A report says they are…
- Economy News
Thai baht dips after rate cut
The baht continued losses yesterday after the Thai central bank cut interest rates. Other Asian currencies dipped as markets assess the latest details of the US-China tariff talks. The Bank of Thailand cut rates for the second time this year, with the benchmark one day repurchase rate now at a record low, as the bank tries to manage inflation and…
- Environment News
European level 4 motorbike exhaust standards coming
A new law says that motorcycles manufactured in Thailand must meet the ‘Euro 4’ level of exhaust emissions standards, according to the Office of the Prime Minister. The Cabinet approved a draft of the law yesterday. “This draft makes clear the government’s determination to solve pollution caused by motorcycles,” a spokesman said. “Thailand’s emission standard is currently only at Euro…
- Pattaya News
American fugitive remains on life support
PHOTO: MONTAGE: 77kaoded The American man who escaped from a Pattaya court has not died, according to the director of a hospital in southeastern Sa Kaeo province. Now Thai media are using the word “Coma!!” in their latest headlines. A doctor says 39 year old Bart Allen Helmus is in critical condition and remains on a respirator. ER staff confirmed to the…
- Bangkok News
Cabinet go-ahead for 3.6 billion baht spend to put electrical cabling underground
The Cabinet has approved expenditure of 3.6 billion baht to help the Metropolitan Electricity Authority speed up the moving of power lines underground in areas along MRT lines – the announcement from deputy government spokesperson Traisulee Traisoranakul. “The project length is a total of 215.6 kilometres and the MEA has finished just 46.6 kilometres, leaving another 169 km to complete.…
- Road deaths
Thai road death toll tops 12,000 in 2019
PHOTO: Motorcyclist skittled by pick-up and killed in Ranong this week – Daily News Thai media report 12,304 people have been registered as dying at accident scenes in Thailand so far this year. Academics caution that this figure only relates to those who die at the scene, and the actual death toll is far higher when when all all data…
- Pattaya News
UPDATE: American fugitive dead after shooting himself before arrest
PHOTO MONTAGE: Thai Visa Correction: Earlier report said that the American fugitive shot himself, then his wife. The Thai partner is in police custody but was not shot. The American fugitive, who shot himself just moments before being arrested by police in Sa Kaeo Province, is dead. American Bart Allen Helmus had been on the run since Monday after escaping…
- Phuket News
Russian swimmer drowns at Karon Beach
A 61 year old Russian tourist has died after getting caught in a rip at Phuket’s Karon Beach. Police say the man, whose name was withheld pending family and Embassy notification, was swimming alone at the northern end of the beach, just a few hundred metres from the “Tourist Service Centre”. He was seen struggling after currents dragged him out…
- World News
Thai security officials search for attackers after 15 killed on Tuesday in Yala
The 4th Army continues to hunt down suspects responsible for Tuesday’s brutal gun attack on a security checkpoint in Yala’s Muang district. The attack left 15 village defence volunteers dead and five others injured. The attack is believed to be a retaliation for extrajudicial killings of two insurgent suspects in Pattani’s Sai Buri district last week, according to a source.…
- Northern Thailand News
Copyright police sting, arrest 15 year old girl over krathong floats
PHOTO: Prasit Tangprasert A 15 year old girl in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima was arrested and fined 5,000 baht for making krathong baskets showing copyrighted cartoon characters. The baskets were ordered by undercover copyright police in, what appears to be, an attempt to lure the girl into infringing copyright laws. The girl, identified only as “Orm”, says her…
