- Crime News
Chaiyanat denies involvement in Yannawa pub management
The businessman under suspicion of drug and corruption offences, Chaiyanat Kornchayanant, has denied any involvement in the management of the Yannawa pub, where 104 customers, mostly Chinese nationals, tested positive for drugs during a police raid. Chaiyanat who donated 3 million baht (US$80,000) to the beleaguered Palang Pracharath Party could have landed the ruling party and one of its leaders,…
- Environment News
Korat elephants face further persecution from farmers
As if the remains of Thailand’s decimated elephant population have not suffered enough persecution, farmers in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) still refuse to live in harmony with their big grey neighbours. A local leader has called on authorities to address the problem – if it is one – of wild elephants from Thap Lan National Park invading farmland and destroying crops. Oraya…
- World News
Who blew it? Putin blames UK Royal Navy for Nord Stream blast
Russia’s defence ministry has accused the British Royal Navy of sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month, a claim that London vigorously denies. Moscow did not provide any evidence to back up its assertion, saying that “British specialists” from the same unit directed Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian Black Sea fleet in Crimea causing minor damage to a…
- Crime News
Shots fired by Bangkok police in drugs bust car chase
Plainclothes police officers fired at a car they believed to be driven by a drug dealer who was attempting to flee. The suspect remains at large. The incident took place on Phetkasem Road on Friday evening, causing panic in the area. It is the latest skirmish in Thailand’s war on drugs, triggered by this month’s day car massacre in the…
- Business News
Rich rewards offered for info on currency counterfeiters
With large numbers of fake banknotes now circulating in Thailand, especially in the north of the country, the Digital Economy and Society Ministry Saturday announced a counterfeit rewards system for those canny enough to spot the fakes and turn them in. If you come up with information on counterfeit banknotes, you can expect to be rewarded with up to 100,000…
- World News
Turkey raises terrorism red flags over nordic NATO apps
Finland and Sweden plan to join NATO at the same time, but such a united front has prompted Turkey to raise questions about both applications. The two Nordic countries applied to join the alliance in May, partly in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but have since run into trouble from Turkey. Ankara accuses the two of harbouring dissident groups…
- Pattaya News
Stealing from the Red Cross – How low can Thailand’s corrupt officials go?
Two local administration officials in Chon Buri’s Sattahip district were arrested on Friday accused of taking bribes. Barely a day, or perhaps even an hour, goes by in Thailand at this time without accusations of corruption and bribe taking against the police or government officials. In this case, the two Sattahip officials demanded that a guesthouse operator make a fake…
- Thailand News
Puffing Israeli passenger puts Bangkok flight at risk
An Israeli passenger caused a small fire on an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Bangkok yesterday. The plane was in mid-flight at the time of the incident and continued on its path as planned until it landed in Bangkok, despite the fire. The nicotine-addicted passenger had been unable to resist a fly puff on an illegal cigarette in…
- Environment News
Stockholm’s fugitive king cobra found hiding in wall cavity
While Thailand suffers a plague of serpents, driven out of their natural hiding places by recent flooding, a king cobra, broke out of a new enclosure in a Swedish zoo only days after it arrived. The frightened reptile was found early on Thursday morning, hiding only a few metres from its enclosure. The reptile escaped by squirming through a light…
- Crime News
Police raid Bangkok clinic with unhealthy attitude to sex workers
A woman has been arrested on charges of operating a health clinic as a front for prostitution in a housing estate in Bangkok. The KL Health Clinic on Soi Nuanchan in Bung Kum was a front for sex services, according to police who raided the premises yesterday. Investigators arrested the owner of KL clinic Manthira Boonnipan, 35 years old, for…
- World News
China’s ‘secret police stations’ anger Canada, Netherlands
Canada is investigating reports that secret Chinese “police stations” are operating in Toronto, amid reports of a global network used to target overseas dissidents. The Royal Canada Mounted Police is investigating “reports of criminal activity about the so-called police stations.” The revelations come days after the Dutch government said it was investigating two suspected stations. The news is also hot…
- Entertainment
Universal acclaim? Jakapong’s pageant purchase dismays rights campaigners
Thai businesswoman Jakapong “Anne” Jakrajutatip recently purchased the Miss Universe Organization once owned by fellow reality TV star Donald Trump, something described in prehistoric quarters (US broadcaster NBC) as a “phenomenal milestone.” The deal cost an estimated US$20 million (750 million baht), but who is Jakapong, and what does she want? With million followers on Instagram, the 43 year old…
- World News
Thai police hunt foreign fugitives ahead of APEC summit
There’s to be no respite for foreign fugitives hiding in Thailand, as immigration police refuse to rest in the run up to next month’s APEC Summit. Their mission? To guarantee absolute safety and security to world leaders set to gather in Bangkok for an epoch-making meeting. Three Chinese nationals and a Taiwanese man are the latest to feel the force of…
- Cannabis News
Higher than us all – Germany’s toke on the weed issue
Germany wants adults to be able to buy as much as 30 grammes of weed for recreational use and will allow everyone to grow three marijuana plants, setting a precedent that the whole of Europe may soon follow. German health minister Karl Lauterbach said… “If this law comes to pass, it would be the most liberal project to legalise cannabis in…
- Health
Lean, mean, biting machines – Are you top of the mosquito menu?
A new study by US researchers has found that some of us really are “mosquito magnets” and it probably has to do with the way we smell. Mosquitoes are attracted to people who produce a lot of chemicals on their skin that are tied to smell. Leslie Vosshall, a neurobiologist at Rockefeller University in New York explained… “If you have…
- Environment News
Burmese escapees rounded up in annual Florida snake wrangle
In stark contrast to the activities of a single reticulated python that recently swallowed a woman in Indonesia, a 19-year-old south Florida man has captured 28 Burmese pythons in an annual 10-day competition to rid the state of invasive species. Matthew Concepcion was among the 1,000 people who participated in the annual snake hunt, which this year “removed” 231 of…
- World News
How can Thailand win its war on drugs?
As Thailand begins the latest round of its war on drugs, Thai PBS paints a pretty bleak picture of the prospects for a quick victory. This is no metaphorical war. This is an armed struggle, with well-drilled militaries on every side. According to the news provider, the production of methamphetamine by organised crime syndicates has resulted in a sharp drop…
- World News
Thai golf superstar Atthaya goes close in S Korea
Perhaps the hottest property in women’s golf today is rising Thai star Atthaya Thitikul, one of the game’s brightest prospects. Not yet 20 years old and she has already claimed multiple victories on the Ladies European Tour. Atthaya hit a 9-under 63 on Thursday to set a tournament record at the BMW Ladies Championship at Oak Valley Country Club in…
- Environment News
Carmageddon – Bangkok’s boy racers left standing by Cheshire’s EPL stars
Wilmslow might be one of northwest England’s most desirable postcodes, but the name of the town has a simple ring of humour. Wilmslow in the heart of Cheshire sounds like the place where Monty Python sketches take place. Not exactly Purley, but close. One expects Wilmslow residents to sell insurance for a living, to be avid collectors of used bus…
- Bangkok News
No chance of parole for Bangkok’s imprisoned gorilla
After the latest round of public outcry, authorities claim for the umpteenth time that little can be done about gorilla Bua Noi, 33 years old, confined to a small cell in a Bangkok shopping mall. According to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa, the owners are free to continue doing as they please with the beast they have kept…
- Bangkok News
Local artists revive Bangkok’s historical waterside
Along Klong Bang Luang – once a busy canal in Bangkok – people are often drawn to a pagoda in the middle of an old teak house, its battered surface is covered in moss and creepers, along with some obvious traces of a bygone era. Formerly part of Kamphaeng Bangchak temple, the pagoda has been the centrepiece of “The Artist’s…
- World News
‘A Million Thanks to the Malaysians’ – for tolerating Thai trains
The “Amazing Thailand, A Million Thanks to the Malaysians” event in Kuala Lumpur thanked the Malaysian travel industry for promoting Thailand as a preferred destination. Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy governor Tanes Petsuwan said… “Malaysia has been the number one visitor source market to Thailand so far this year accounting for over 1 million arrivals from January to mid-October. This…
- Health
England set to defeat HIV virus
England hopes to become first region in the world to defeat the HIV virus, with plans for new medicines to be available across the country. Doctors believe they can prevent all new cases of HIV by 2030. People with HIV will have access to injectable forms of cabotegravir and rilpivirine, and those with drug-resistant infections will be able to receive…
- Northern Thailand News
Grand scam – Beware of fake banknotes circulating in Udon Thani
Police are warning the public against counterfeit 1,000-baht banknotes that have been found circulating in the sweaty expat paradise of Udon Thani province. Police spokesman Pol Maj Gen Archayon Kraithong said there had been several reports of counterfeit bills in the province. Two cases were posted to social media, the first involving a barbecue restaurant and another at a grocery…
- World News
But is it art? Thailand’s NFT makers turn pixels into profit
Visitors to Than Bok Khorani National Park stand at one end of a 3,000-year continuum of creative endeavour that extends from the dusty dank caves of Krabi to the high-class sale rooms of Bangkok. When Pablo Picasso died in 1973 at 91, he is estimated to have completed 13,500 paintings (not sketches and cartoons, actual paintings) and around 100,000 prints…
- Entertainment
1-billion-baht tourism stimulus back on track
While debate continues around Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s return to office, one thing has become clear: the Tourism and Sports Ministry is moving ahead with a package of measures delayed while General Prayut was suspended pending the Constitutional Court’s ruling. One proposal will allow entertainment venues to remain open until 4am. It’s estimated that Thailand loses roughly 70 million baht (US$2…
- World News
The redback is coming – China’s monetary subtext for ASEAN summit
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has surpassed the European Union and the United States to become China’s largest trading partner. With all eyes on President Xi Jinping’s presence, or otherwise, at the Bangkok summit, how does Beijing hope to promote the use of the Chinese yuan overseas? China started its ambitious yuan internationalisation plan in 2009, expanding it…
- Thailand Weather Updates
Forever flooded – how do we break the disastrous cycle?
As part of the south braces for expected seasonal floods, a vast area of the lower north, including Nakhon Sawan, Ang Thong, and Isaan, remains inundated. An editorial in this morning’s Bangkok Post asks what we can do to prevent ourselves from being washed away in the tide. Many people have drowned over the past two months, and yesterday, an…
- Thailand Weather Updates
Burmese man drowns in Phuket drain
Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers have retrieved the body of an unnamed Burmese man who fell into a canal and drowned in Chalong. The 47 year old man from Myanmar fell into the canal while watching the flooding, Phuket Info Center reported. The body was found near the floodgate, far from where he fell. According to local media, several people saw the…
- Thailand Weather Updates
In it together – Floods around the world
Hardly a day goes by without more news of death and destruction in Thailand as the monsoon season resolutely refuses to end. We are not alone. It seems like the whole world is underwater, with people washed out of their homes from Australia to Zambia. Here are some images of different people facing similar problems around the world. Australia…
