- Thailand Protest News
20,000+ CCTV cameras in Bangkok are here to stay
More than 20,000 CCTV spy cameras have been installed in Bangkok and its environs in the guise of security for the APEC summit, according to national police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas. Damrongsak chaired a meeting on security and traffic on Thursday to follow up on “APEC security” operations with more than 30 agencies. The summit takes place today and…
- Entertainment
Joyland cleared for cinema screenings in Pakistan
Joyland, the Pakistani film portraying a romance between a married man and a transgender woman was cleared for cinema screenings in Pakistan Wednesday, reversing a ban imposed on filmgoers by the nation’s censors. Loved by critics and audiences alike, Joyland was nominated for the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival and is expected to be Pakistan’s entry at next…
- World News
Thailand takes delivery of Textron T-6C turboprop trainers
Thailand has taken delivery of its first Textron Aviation T-6C Texan II turboprop trainers, for use in training or as attack aircraft. Two T-6Cs have been delivered to Royal Thai Air Force Kamphaeng Saen northeast of Bangkok. A welcoming ceremony was attended by US Ambassador Robert Godec. Thailand desperately needs more military aircraft if the war against Myanmar’s drug billionaires…
- World News
BOGOF Tesla+house offer fails to excite New Zealand homebuyers
A BOGOF Tesla+house offer fails to excite New Zealand homebuyers. A homeowner in New Zealand is offering a “free” Tesla to anyone who buys his house. The house – a seven-bedroom, five-bathroom monstrosity – has been on the market for weeks. The Kiwi house price bubble is well-and-truly burst. Inflated prices fell more than 10% in October alone, the 11th…
- World News
Songkhla hotels demand longer opening hours on Malaysian border
Longer opening hours for a controversial night entertainment strip which borders Malaysia in Ban Dan Nok, Songkhla, will boost the local economy and attract visitors according to the Hatyai Songkhla Hotels Association, who have a lot to gain if the change goes ahead. Association president Sitthiphong Sitthiphatprapha said Ban Dan Nok had been left out of tourism promotions, despite many…
- Transport News
Rich pickings – Emirates to offer first-class vegan meals
In celebration of World Vegan Day on November 1, and to please members of the growing vegan community rich enough to travel first-class, Emirates Airlines now offers first-class vegan meals. Unfortunately, the fanfare around plant-based meals will not be heard by ordinary passengers in a coach who will still have to order in advance or eat (or avoid) the mystery…
- Environment News
Dying elephant Muthu Raja’s misery continues in Sri Lanka
The misery of the dying elephant Muthu Raja is set to continue in Sri Lanka as local politicians blame one another for the creature’s plight and the head of the national zoological association declares that everything is fine. Minister of Agriculture and Wildlife Mahinda Amaraweera has told the Secretary to the Ministry Chandra Herath to take whatever steps are necessary…
- Entertainment
Pakistani love story Joyland triggers rabid transphobia
Joyland, a movie made in Pakistan, is about a young married man who falls in love with a transgender woman. The movie won a prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and will represent Pakistan in next year’s Academy Awards. But a week before the film was due for release at home, Pakistani withdrew its certification. Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, a…
- Crime News
Gambling den security guard says no shoot out occurred
A security guard robbed during a shoot-out last week at a Samut Prakan gambling den has reported to the police. Wutthipong Khotsaen was wanted for unlawful possession of a weapon and discharging it illegally in a public place. The 28 year old Wutthipong reported to Muang police station, on Monday. The shoot-out came to light when the community Facebook page…
- World News
Asia at the FIFA World Cup, Part 2 – The Best
As Thai football fans scratch around for a team to follow at the FIFA World Cup and the government scratches around for a billion baht to pay for it, what makes one country so good at the beautiful game, and the country next door bad? South Korea are the best at football in East Asia, with Japan not so far…
- Visa Information
Thailand to issue one-year visas for medical tourists
Thailand is trying to attract more rich tourists by promoting itself as a destination for medical treatment, with hospital operators such as Bangkok Dusit Medical Services and Bumrungrad Hospital among the companies expected to profit the most from the new visa. The latest attempt to lure so-called high-quality visitors comes with just as many unfathomable restrictions as previous attempts to…
- Hot News
‘Follow the gourd!’ – Steve Jobs sandals take on religious significance
The bizarre cult of Steve Jobs claimed another victim yesterday when an unnamed “collector” squandered US$220,000 (7.8 million baht) on a pair of Jobs’ dirty old sandals, the latest of Jobs’s relics to come under the hammer. The “well used” brown suede Birkenstocks dating to the mid-1970s set a record for the highest price ever paid for a pair of…
- Cannabis News
What are they smoking? More tweaks to cannabis rules
Small changes to the rules on the sale and use of cannabis have been made in the face of intense lobbying from vested interests about recreational marijuana use. In June, Thailand became the first country in Asia to decriminalise the use of cannabis, while introducing legal controls including banning sales to people under the age of 20. Cannabis liberalisation was…
- Pattaya News
Threesome couple retaliates against victim’s story
The man accused of forcing a woman into a long-term sexual relationship with him and his wife has denied the woman’s accusations while confirming most of her story. Accompanied by his wife, the man travelled to Bangkok on Friday evening to give his side of the tale following bizarre accusations against the couple. The couple claims the woman chose to live…
- Entertainment
Spielberg’s ‘Terminal’ man departs CDG forever
The man who lived in Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport for 18 years and was the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s film The Terminal died yesterday in his “beloved” airport. Merhan Karimi Nasseri suffered a heart attack at the airport around midday. Police and a medical team were quickly on the scene but could do nothing to save him. Karimi Nasseri was…
- Health
Thailand’s public health officials find sex drug in herbal medicine
Thailand’s public health officials have been told to recall a herbal medicine after it was found to contain Tadalafil – a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction. The Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted tests on a batch of Jiu Jeng Pushen Jiao Nang manufactured by Jong-Thai Jianming Eiw Ea Group Ltd. and found it to contain much stronger…
- Crime News
Ayutthaya gold robbery suspect is former local politician
Ayutthaya gold robbery suspects involved in the 2-million-baht (US$55,000) raid on a bullion shop at a shopping mall in the Sena district were rounded up by police overnight. In news which will shock many readers, one of the alleged robbers turns out to be a local politician. Investigators from provincial police region 1 and Ayutthaya police swooped on two of…
- Phuket News
Phuket prison cookery contest stirs the taste buds
Inmates at Phuket prison have been learning new cooking skills and taking part in a cookery contest to prepare them for release. Street Food Cooking Contest to Build a Career (Season 2) event, organised by Phuket Provincial Probation Office concluded the food and nutrition department of Phuket Polytechnic College Thursday. Judging the contest, Phiphat Wongteerakijkosol, director of the probation office,…
- Crime News
More civil servants fall victim to Thailand’s drug ‘war’
Twenty-one civil servants in Khon Kaen tested positive for drugs during a recent campaign in Thailand’s “war” on drugs. More than 760,000 pills, many weapons, explosives and rounds of ammunition were seized during raids at 900 locations in the province in the previous four weeks, said Governor Kraisorn Kongchalard. Some 192 suspects were arrested for firearms offences with 180 weapons…
- China News
Xi confirms he’s coming to APEC summit
The Chinese foreign ministry officially confirmed that President Xi Jinping will visit Thailand from November 17-19 and take part in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. A statement by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said… “At the invitation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha of the Kingdom of Thailand, President Xi Jinping will attend the 29th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand…
- China News
Bullet train in fake “ambassadorial residence” shocks cops
Police were shocked when they searched the “ambassadorial residence” of the fake Chinese diplomat with a false ID card collared in his fake consulate yesterday. As the police seize assets of Chinese gangs operating in Thailand, the arrest of a middle-aged businessman in the heart of the city would hardly make the headlines. Except this businessman is accustomed to being…
- Covid-19 News
Covid-19 vaccines for 18 million vulnerable people
The National Vaccine Committee is to provide Covid-19 vaccines to 18 million vulnerable people next year, including medical staff and health volunteers. The government has provided 143 million vaccine shots in the past two years, saving an estimated 500,000 lives. COVID-19 infections appear to be on the rise again, especially among those who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated, while…
- Hot News
Is your sacking really necessary? Elon Musk’s ship of twits sails on
Head twit Elon Musk told employees your sacking is necessary. What he told Yoel Roth and Robin Wheeler, two ex-members of his new “leadership” team, no one knows. But the word is, they have jumped ship anyway, necessarily. When Musk bought Twitter last month, one of the first things he did was fire most of the board and appoint some…
- Environment News
Dangerously ill elephant returns to Thailand for veterinary treatment
Muthu Raja, a 30-year-old bull elephant who was born in Thailand, is dangerously ill and has been handed over to the Thai Embassy in Sri Lanka to be repatriated for veterinary treatment. Muthu Raja is one of two elephants given by Queen Mother Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakar to former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga back in 2001. He was chosen…
- Entertainment
Pattaya drag icon Maisie Trollette makes movie
Drag icon Maisie Trollette, a familiar sight in Pattaya’s gay clubs of 20 years ago, has made a movie. Based in Brighton UK, David Raven was hired by Pattaya clubs as an MC way back when, and is said to have raised hundreds of thousands of baht for AIDS victims, orphanages and other charities. Maisie is now 89, and the…
- China News
Bangkok police arrest fake Chinese diplomat
Immigration police in Bangkok arrested a 33 year old Chinese man, found with a fake Thai ID card, a fake police motorcycle and a fake military uniform. Shao Xiaobo was arrested at a rented building in Bangkok’s Sutthisarn area on Wednesday, the office of an unnamed commercial association. Pol Maj Gen Phanthana Nuchanart, the deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau,…
- Technology News
Primary teacher arrested for ‘schoolgirl’ porn
A primary school teacher in Samut Prakan has been arrested for selling alleged “schoolgirl porn” on social media. In some of the videos the teacher named Natdanai, aged 28, is seen having sex with females in school uniform. Natdanai has admitted to earning about one million baht (US$25,000) over the last year from the videos. Bangkok’s cybercrime force arrested the…
- Lifestyle
Show me the way to Bangkok’s best whisky bars
Like almost every Asian capital, Bangkok has no shortage of whisky bars. And like the others, they are far from cheap. But if you like hobnobbing with the uber-corrupt, or have clients who do, maybe a smokey table in the private room at the back is the place for you. Be ready to drop a lot of baht and emerge…
- World News
Kim Jong-Un sets the dogs on South Korea’s politicians
A pair of dogs given by North Korea’s tinpot leader Kim Jong-Un to South Korea’s former president Moon Jae-in in 2018 are fighting for scraps at the centre of a political row. The former president blames his conservative successor for the problem. Moon does not want to pay for food for a pair of dogs he didn’t ask for (but…
- Visa Information
Expats welcome online visa extensions?
The Immigration Bureau unveiled its online visa extension (e-extension) service on yesterday, billed as making the process less messy for expats and tourists who need more time in the country. Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, the national police chief, said the e-extension would improve visa services by allowing visitors to lodge their requests online. The move is expected to reduce corruption…
