Thaiger
- World News
Death toll approaches 400 in Sulawesi earthquake aftermath
Rescuers are still struggling to reach remote communities on the island of Sulawesi hit by an earthquake and tsunami just before 6pm, local time, on Friday. A spokesperson of the local disaster agency has confirmed that the official death toll is now up to 384, almost all from the coastal township of Palu as a result of a tsunami. A…
- Northern Thailand News
Pit stops laid on for race fans at MotoGP in Buriram
It’s on next weekend and Buriram is gearing up for the arrival of 100,000+ visitors. Thailand Immigration officials are also setting up home this week to handle the influx of international visitors and the teams as they arrive. But if you’re driving, take your Honda. AP Honda has agreed to provide special hospitality services and activities for visitors to the…
- Thailand News
Wet wet wet at the Phetchabun’s ‘Um Phra Dam Nam Festival’
The ‘Um Phra Dam Nam Festival’, one of the world’s most unique Buddhist festivals held annually in Phetchabun in Central Thailand. It’s scheduled from October 7 to 12 at Trai Phum temple and at the pier of Bot Chanaman temple. Translated from Thai, Um Phra Dam Nam literally means ‘diving while holding Buddha’s image’. According to local legend, the festival began when…
- World News
India has highest number of Facebook users but Singapore is Asia’s FB star
By DataLEADS – Asia News Network Facebook is the most popular social network worldwide and Asia is Facebook’s most active region in terms of active users. India has the most number of Facebook registered users not only in Asia but in the world. Facebook users in India now number 251 million, becoming the largest audience country for the social media giant.…
- Northern Thailand News
Chiang Rai hit with mild earthquake
A minor 3.4-magnitude earthquake hit Chiang Rai’s Phan district this morning. The confirmation from the Seismological Bureau of the Meteorological Department. The bureau said the earthquake had an epicentre situated about 15 kilometres underground at latitude 19.45 degrees and longitude 99.60 degrees. The epicentre was in the Doi Luang National Park. The quake was felt by residents of Phan and nearby…
- Phuket News
Thai mothers caving to superstition or private hospital wishes when having babies
by Kornwaree Panyasuppakun and Tim Newton “Many babies in Thailand are born to suit ‘auspicious days’ or the Obstetrician’s golf plans.” The expectant mother reported to the private hospital in Phuket where she and her husband had decided to have their first baby. When she walked in for her appointment with the Obstetrician the first question was when she wanted to…
- South Thailand News
Chinese woman’s death at a Hat Yai waterfall is now a murder investigation
An investigation into the mysterious death of a Chinese woman at a waterfall in near Hat Yai has now become an official murder investigation. A Chinese man has emerged as a prime suspect and Thai police also seeking evidence in China and working with Chinese police. Tourist Police Division’s deputy commander Pol Maj-General Surachate Hakparn says that he was soon…
- Northern Thailand News
Loei mothers file complaint about local abbot sexually abusing their sons
Four Loei mothers have filed a complaint with police today accusing the local abbot of a monastic centre of sexually abusing their sons. They told Khok Ngam police that the abbot in Tambon Phone Sung, Dan Sai district, had molested their sons while they were novices there. One woman (name withheld by police) says her 17 year old son was…
- Thailand News
388 suspected tuberculosis cases found at Phitsanulok prisons
Up to 388 inmates at two prisons in Phitsanulok have been found to have signs of tuberculosis. This revelation from public health officials after they performed lung x-rays on the inmates. Doctor Rattaphum Champhunot, assistant chief public health officer for Phitsanulok, says the latest x-ray examinations were performed earlier this month. At Phitsanulok Prison, 2,959 inmates received the x-ray and…
- World News
Former Mae Hong Son border police chief gets suspended jail term for pimping out underage girl
The former commander of a border patrol police company in Mae Hong Son, north-west Thailand, has been given a suspended jail term and a small fine for forcing a girl under 18 into prostitution, according to the victim’s mother. The girl’s mother, Namphet Koeyputsa, says the Mae Hong Son Court convicted Pol Lt Col Pongnarin Pongnam, former commander of the…
- Northern Thailand News
Four others rescued in Tham Luang before the Mu Pa 13
PHOTO: British cavers, Rick Stanton and John Volanthe Dramatic new stories out of a “Hidden Earth” cave-community event where it’s been revealed that the, now famous, Mu Pa 13 weren’t the only people trapped inside the caves in Chiang Rai. Two of the British divers who were part of the Tham Luang rescue effort, extracting the Mu Pa football team from…
- Northern Thailand News
12 million meth pills, half tonne of ‘ice’ seized in Chiang Rai
Been a busy day in northern Thailand as police grapple with the transporting of drugs across the borders. First, this morning there was a motorcyclist with a backpack full of meth pills. Now a much larger shipment has been intercepted. The Nation reports that Chiang Rai police have foiled an attempt to smuggle 12 million methamphetamine pills and 521 kilograms…
- Koh Samui News
4,000 pills and a 25 year old nabbed at Samui Post
A man has been arrested on Koh Samui after collecting a parcel containing 4,000 methamphetamine pills and 500 grams of crystal methamphetamine from a private post office. Acting on tips-off, troops, police and provincial officials staked out at the post office in Tambon Mae Nam and nabbed 25 year old Nattapong Nakwetcharin after he arrived to pick up the parcel.…
- Chiang Mai News
Police find bodies of Briton, Thai wife buried behind their house in Phrae
The bodies of a Briton and his Thai wife were found buried over 2 metres deep in the garden of their property in Phrae Muang district today after they went missing on September 19. The Nation is reporting that the bodies of 64 year old Alan Scott Hogg and 61 year old Nott Sudaen were found buried beside a creek on…
- Bangkok News
Road racing motorbikes collide in Bangkok – one dead, one injured
A motorcyclist has been killed and another injured when their bikes, which a witness said were racing on a Bangkok road, grazed each other early this morning. The incident happened on Sukhaphibal 5 road in Bangkok’s Bang Khen district. Police said 26 year old Yospol Aksorn died of serious head injuries after he was thrown from his black Honda CBR…
- Business News
Tourism stakeholders commit to plastic-free future at PHIST
PHIST – Phuket Hotels for Island Sustaining Tourism Forum 2018 Leading hotels and tourism groups have signed the “Phuket Pledge” at Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism Forum 2018 (PHIST) establishing a model for the future development of islands throughout Asia that embraces sustainability as a core and sets urgent goals for long-term change. The Phuket Pledge is a commitment…
- Krabi News
‘Thailand Biennale 2018’ international art festival in Krabi
The Culture Ministry’s first international art festival, the upcoming “Thailand Biennale 2018” in Krabi, will represent the biggest collaboration between the public and private sectors under the government’s “Pracharat” policy. “The Bt100-million art festival is funded and engaged in by over 50 governmental and private agencies. It’s the biggest ‘Pracharat’ project concerning art so far that the ministry has organised,…
- Thailand News
Thai PM at the crossroads
PHOTO: The Nation With the election looming (5 months away) the Thai PM is being forced to declare his cards and his intentions to run as a political party member, or not. According to The Nation, Prayut Chan-o-cha appears to have made up his mind to take a risky political journey after publicly admitting for the first time yesterday that…
- Chiang Mai News
Ambulance slams into tree in Lampang killing three
An ambulance returning to Phayao, after delivering a patient to Phitsanulok, has hit a tree in Lampang this morning, killing two nurses and the driver. Police say the accident happened at 7am on the Ngao-Phayao road in Ban Huay Oon village of Lampang’s Ngao district. The two nurses were identified as 42 year old Angsumalin Rakchat and 21 year old…
- Thailand News
Prayut remains top choice for next PM – Pheu Thai preferred party
The Thai PM has come out on top in another opinion poll as next year’s election starts to become cemented onto the February 24 date. General Prayut Chan-o-cha iss the most popular choice to be PM after the next election – but there’s doubt the political party linked to him will be a winner – according to a new poll.…
- Krabi News
700,000 year old fossils found in Krabi cave
A physician is urging state agencies to conduct a scientific survey of a Krabi cave where he found fossils of suspected prehistoric Java rhinos and hyenas. He believes the cave in Tambon Ao Luek Nuea could have potential to become a new archaeological site. Dr Samart Srikarn had been informally surveying Yai Ruak Cave when he came across the ancient specimens…
- Bangkok News
A man who really likes his coffee – Amazon thief surrenders to police
A former construction contractor has surrendered to police today to face charges of burglary after he allegedly broke into 30 Amazon coffee shops in petrol stations since April. 37 year old Kiartkarisorn Srikrailod from Buri Ram surrendered at Taling Chan police station at 10am this morning after police summoned him to face theft charges. Taling Chan is just west of…
- South Thailand News
Eating your way around Songkhla
by Pattarawadee Saengmanee – The Nation Weekend As we come in for landing at Hat Yai International Airport, I see clear sky reflected in the azure waters of the Gulf of Thailand. Despite the weather App warnings, the sun was out. Sightseeing is first on the agenda though and after a pleasant 40-minute drive from the airport to Songkhla Old…
- Bangkok News
‘Golden-tongued Keng’ arrested along with four other call centre scammers
Police have arrested the alleged leader of a notorious call-centre gang, known as “Golden-tongued Keng”, and four members of the gang that operated in several countries. Again, the deputy tourist police chief Pol Maj Gen Surachete Hakparn was behind the major arrest. Surachete says police tracked down and arrested 41 year old Natthawat Simbida, alias ‘Keng the Golden Tongue’, in…
- Thailand News
Four men arrested over sex act broadcast on mobile app
Four men have been arrested for broadcasting a sex act live via a China-based application. This was discussed at a media briefing today by deputy tourist police chief Pol Maj Gen Surachete Hakparn. Surachete did not identify the men or the app used. He says the four men, who are from Thailand and Myanmar, were charged with violating the Computer…
- Thailand News
Most rape cases ‘settled’ by police, says foundation
by Kornrawee Panyasuppakun – The Nation We are all familiar with Thai police ‘settling’ small misdeamours, mostly road, on the spot – acting as judge and jury and keeping many minor potential court cases away from lawyers and the Thai court system. But the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation claims that most rape case, including child rape cases, are…
- South Thailand News
Pattani Big C bombers sentenced to death
FILE PHOTO: The Nation The Pattani Provincial Court yesterday sentenced Su-ai-mee Sama-ae and Sama-ae Mamah to death for their role in the 2017 Big C department store bomb attack that injured 61 people, including children, and caused millions of baht worth of property damage. Here’s the original story of the bomb blast HERE. The attack on May 9, 2017, took…
- World News
Plastic straws to be banned in some Malaysian territories from January 1
Plastic straws are to be banned in all the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan in Malaysia from January 1 next year. Businesses which are still found to be using plastic straws in 2019 risk having their business licences terminated. Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Adnan Mohd Ikhsan says, “The ban on plastic straws is in addition to the…
- World News
Former Malay PM Najib to face up to 20 charges over 1MDB scandal
by The Star – Asia News Network Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak is expected to face “nothing less” than 20 charges under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act. A mountain of legal challenges lies ahead of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as authorities bring fresh charges against the former PM over the multibillion-ringgit 1Malaysia Development Bhd…
- South Thailand News
Policeman killed and four injured in insurgent ambush in Yala
FILE PHOTO – The Nation A policeman has been killed and four villagers injured in an apparent ambush by insurgents in Yala’s Raman district yesterday (Wednesday). Tha Thong police in Raman were alerted just after 5pm about the attack on a pickup truck at the boundary between Raman and Pattani’s Thung Yang Daeng district. When police and an Army unit…
