- Environment News
Toyota boss pumps brakes on shifting to EVs
The boss of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, is trying to pump the brakes on the shift to electric vehicles. During a recent visit to Thailand, Toyota warned that many insiders, a “silent majority,” are quietly wondering if it is a smart move for car makers to retool exclusively for electric cars. Toyoda said… “People involved in the auto industry are largely…
- World News
‘Rescued’ scammers return home from Cambodia
The group of seven ‘rescued’ scammers who returned home from Cambodia had begged, live on air, to be rescued from a different set of scammers – this time Cambodian / Chinese. The two men and five women crossed the border in Sa Kaeo’s Aranyaprathet district on Tuesday evening, escorted by Thai embassy staff and Cambodian security officials. Only four had…
- Thailand News
Chiang Mai’s Dhara Dhevi Hotel goes on sale again
The ill-starred Dhara Dhevi Hotel Chiang Mai will be auctioned yet again this January, with the starting price dropping to 2 billion baht (US$60 million) from the 2.1-billion-baht initial price in the 2021 auction. The first round of the auction will take place at the Chiang Mai Legal Execution Office on January 27. If there is no interest during the…
- World News
UK Tesco accused of using slave labour in Thailand
The UK’s Tesco supermarket chain is being accused of using slave labour in Thailand. According to a Guardian investigation, Burmese workers who made jeans for Tesco Lotus in Thailand, allegedly worked 99-hour weeks. And, their received wages were allegedly too low to make the cut legally. The investigation also found that their working conditions were considered quite harsh. Tesco faces…
- World News
Aussie cops bust billion-baht meth shipment
Aussie cops have busted a billion-baht meth shipment, charging two senior members of the drug ring and taking them into custody. The two members were charged in Taiwan over an alleged plot to import 30kg of methamphetamine into Australia hidden inside 3D printers. Australia is in the grip of what authorities have called an “ice epidemic”. They say the drug…
- Thailand Weather Updates
Hard rain stops train services in Thailand’s south
Heavy rain and high tides are bringing widespread flooding to Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Narathiwat. Red flags in Songkhla’s Chalatat Beach advise people not to venture into the 4-metre waves that are pounding the coast. In Narathiwat province, those living close to the Kolok River are ready to move themselves and their valuables to higher ground as the water…
- Environment News
Thailand’s rescued tiger cubs fattening up, but not for the pot
Thailand’s rescued tiger cubs are fattening up nicely in Udon Ratchathani, but these guys have already been saved from the pot. Laos’ wildlife authorities are finally assisting Thailand’s search for 30 tiger cubs trafficked across the border to be fattened up and fed to sexually-challenged Chinese customers in underground Bangkok eateries. Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn, director of the Ubon Ratchathani’s National Parks,…
- Entertainment
‘Tis the season of the Grinch
The Grinch has come early for drivers across the United States, who will do anything to avoid a Christmas ticket. An Arizona driver has tried to pass off an inflatable figure of the Dr. Seuss character as a passenger in an effort to speed his journey in an unoccupied people carrier.. An Arizona state trooper noticed a car in a…
- Central Thailand News
Murder in the temple – don’t drink and pray
When 36 year old Banjerd Yimchoi and his friend 32 year old friend Theerayut Tumorn went to a concert at Plak Raet temple in Phitsanulok province last week, no one could have suspected how the murder in the temple would unfold. The pair had gone with their boss, construction contractor Pratheep Hinart, and started drinking heavily at his place before…
- Thailand News
Bangkok road rage killer waits months for revenge
Bangkok road rage killer Peerasin Kulchutisin waited months to take his revenge on a driver who beat him up after a minor traffic incident. Komsan Intharit was shot dead and his lawyer Anusorn Wichathorn injured during a negotiation at Lak Song Police Station in Bangkok’s Bang Khae district over a minor collision that led to a fight on Phetkasem Road…
- Thailand News
Celebrity internet royalist arrested for fundraising fraud
Celebrity internet royalist Suvinai Pornavalai was arrested outside his Bangkok home yesterday. Members of the cybercrime unit came calling after Suvinai claimed to have raised nearly 700,000 baht (US$20,000) to pay for “a ritual” to extend the life of Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who remains hospitalised for an unspecified heart condition. According to rabble-rousers Prachatai.com, Suvinai maintains his innocence and claims to…
- Crime News
Chinese Pattaya nightclub owner nowhere in sight as cops seize token assets
A Pattaya Police attempt to dismantle the drug networks of a Chinese crime boss has failed to apprehend that star of the show. At least the police managed to get their hands on a few of the nightclub owner’s assets worth a paltry 50 million baht (US$1.5 million). It’s not quite as exciting as it sounds. They didn’t take the…
- Technology News
Superpowers fight for supercomputer supremacy
Sanctions designed to cripple China’s chipmakers are the US weapon of choice, as skirmishes begin in the superpowers’ fight for supercomputer supremacy. The current most-favoured US target for fear, hatred and sanctions – China’s semiconductor industry – has good reason to worry about the world’s policeman, now turned world’s store detective. The US will do almost anything to keep its…
- Environment News
Hippos swallows toddler in Uganda, spits him out again
A two-year-old boy survived being half-eaten by a hippopotamus near his home in southwestern Uganda. Iga Paul was playing near the shores of Lake Edward when the hippo grabbed the toddler and swallowed half of his body, according to the BBC. Iga was saved and has made a full recovery, police say. The hippo had the boy in its jaws…
- Entertainment
Thai soap star arrested on porn and gambling charges
Thai soap star Thamolphan Phanuchitputthiwong, better known as “Yam” Thamonphan, has been arrested along with her computer-whizz husband Phumphat Prasertwit. The celeb couple is accused, along with another man, Chetchai Hongkham, of operating porn and gambling sites, among a string of related offences. They were arrested at a house in the Bang Krui district of Nonthaburi on Thursday. Police grabbed…
- Thailand News
Temples hold prayers for recovery of Princess Bajrakitiyabha
Temples of all denominations across the country have held prayers for the speedy recovery of Princess Bajrakitiyabha, the eldest daughter of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who collapsed earlier in the week with a heart condition. Senior leaders including Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha visited the princess in hospital today to lay orange flowers, the colour associated with the princess. Princess Bajrakitiyabha lost…
- Politics News
Thailand’s submarine engine talks stall again
Thailand’s submarine engine talks have stalled again. The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) has still not decided on how to power an S26T Yuan-class submarine being assembled in China. The choice remains the same – a Chinese-made engine or an unobtainable German-made one. Germany’s embargo on sales of military equipment, which it initiated in the wake of WWII, prevented the sale…
- Tourism News
Battle lines drawn in Koh Lipe turf war
Thailand’s human rights commission (NHRC) is calling for the government to take urgent action in the Koh Lipe turf war to help sea gypsies living on the island in Satun province. The Moken are a semi-nomadic tribe that lives in Thai coastal provinces and inhabits over 800 islands in the Andaman Sea. They number less than 3,000 people. The Moken have…
- World News
River of Dreams – Lawless ‘zones’ on Thailand-Myanmar frontier
Thailand and Myanmar are friendly and close neighbours separated only by a strip of water, so the story goes. Along the Moei River, a fantastic US$15 billion (500 billion baht) city of the future, Shwe Kokko Yatai New City, is under construction. Development is well underway in Myanmar’s Karen state, perhaps the most unpleasant place in the world today, where…
- Technology News
For Tesla Thailand, all bumpy roads lead to China
For newly-minted Tesla Thailand, there’s a bumpy road ahead, and it leads back to China. Tesla began sales in Thailand, just over a week ago, offering its popular Model 3 and Model Y at prices that compete with rivals like BYD. The company staged a glitzy showcase of its plans at Bangkok’s Siam Paragon mall with vehicles to be delivered…
- Northern Thailand News
Police seize 2.5 billion baht in Mekong drug raids
Police seized almost 2.5 billion baht worth of assets after raids across eight provinces in northeast Thailand. The Narcotics Control Agency piloted the arrest of the Mekong Spirit Network, a large drug trafficking group. Deputy national police chief Chinnaphat Sarasin said drug squad officers raided 30 locations across eight provinces. During the raids, they seized 2.5 billion baht (US$70 million) in…
- World News
‘Bus full of prostitutes’ disgusts Berlusconi’s Monza millennials
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi plans to arrange “ a bus full of prostitutes” for his Monza side if they manage to beat top Serie A rivals. At a Tuesday Christmas dinner with the Monza players Berlusconi, 86 years old, said… “If you win against one of these top teams, I’ll bring a bus of whores into the locker…
- Technology News
Toyota ‘launches’ electric Hilux in Thailand
Toyota has debuted, but not debuted, an electric version of its popular Hilux pickup in Thailand. Little is known about the specs, with Toyota Thailand glossing over battery size and power output details in a launch that was, to say the least, low-key. The assembled press corps was able to enjoy schmaltzy speeches and powerpoints from teary-eyed executives, without the…
- World News
Smuggled wildlife goods pouring out of India
The porous borders between Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand, plus a growing private aviation market make fighting wildlife smuggling close to impossible, according to ThePrint. The emergence of cryptocurrencies has also led to an increase in all kinds of illegal trade. Some of the most smuggled wildlife goods out of India passing through Thailand are red sanders, ambergris,…
- Bangkok News
Who is Khru Yun, ‘angel of child protection,’ accused of abuse?
For the last four decades, Montri “Khru Yun” Sintawichai has been known as the “angel of child protection” – but that changed recently. Now, he is facing charges of child abuse, child labour and even human trafficking. Montri denies all the allegations made against him. He said… “I’m hurt, but I’m not going to give up social work.” Thaipbsworld tells…
- Crime News
Biggest joke – Big Joke fired as puppet master Chuvit pulls strings
National police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas has relieved Pol Gen Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn of command of the “Tuhao” investigation and taken control of the investigation into the crime syndicates run by Chaiyanat Kornchayanant. Big Joke has been fired apparently to appease “supergrass” Chuvit Kamolvisit, who appears now to be the de facto leader of the investigation. Damrongsak said…
- Phuket News
Patong deckchair touts must double capacity to survive
Patong’s deckchair touts – the legal ones – want local authorities to double the number of chairs and umbrellas, claiming that the existing quantity is insufficient to meet demand on Phuket’s Patong Beach. Only 10% of Patong Beach has been allocated to about 60 small-time operators, as part of a new attempt to limit their operations along the entire beach.…
- Crime News
Demon drink – new kid on the block kills neighbour with stick
Yet another Thai man killed a “friend” “by accident” over a “misunderstanding,” this time involving alcohol, for a change. A Buriram man who did not like being asked to pay for his booze has admitted hitting a drinking buddy over the head with a nailed stick but says he did not expect the blow to kill him. Nang Rong police…
- Expats
Cambodian assault victim – ex-wife of Australian boss denies involvement
The ex-wife of an Australian man whose Cambodian employee was assaulted by two Polish men last month has been forced to deny any involvement in the shocking crime. Katanyuta Oche, 49 years old, of Nakhon Ratchasima, told reporters that she heard in media reports that she was accused of involvement in the case in Pattaya. Katanyuta denied knowing the Polish…
- Hot News
License plate lottery – Today’s lucky number is 45,090,000
The Department of Land Transport’s license plate lottery – and auction of what they laughingly describe as “auspicious” vehicle licence plate numbers – on Saturday produced the highest-ever winning bid at 45.09 million baht (US$1.3 million) for plate number 9 Kor Kor 9999. On Saturday a total of 64 plates were up for auction and another 237 will be offered…
