- Crime News
3 arrested in Nong Gina abduction, trafficking suspected
New developments bring a twist in the strange case of Nong Gina, the 2 year old girl abducted by a Burmese man who claimed he left her in a cave as a sacrifice to nature spirits. As reported yesterday, the Mirror Foundation suspected more sinister trafficking reasons for the abduction, and police have now taken three people into custody for…
- Phuket News
Phuket: 2 deaths, 1 Sandbox infection, bed occupancy passes 80%
In the last week, Phuket has seen 13 fatalities due to Covid-19 with 2 new deaths reported today, as well as one new Phuket Sandbox international traveller infected. The daily infection numbers have declined for the third day in a row to 211, and the rolling 7-day infection numbers also fell slightly despite the island marking its 11th day in…
- Politics News
PM Prayut ousts Thamanat Prompow and Narumon Pinyosinwat
Just days after defeating a vote of no-confidence that spawned suspicions of a rift in the party, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has ousted controversial Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Thamanat Prompow as well as Deputy Minister of Labour Narumon Pinyosinwat, who was a spokeswoman for Prayut before her 1 year tenure at the Labour Ministry. The command was issued yesterday…
- Crime News
2 hospital data breaches on Monday exposed patient data
Two prominent hospitals were the victims of data breaching hackers in the last few days with each hospital having over 40,000 patients’ personal information at risk. On Monday, Phetchabun Hospital had the personal data of 46,000 of their patients compromised while Bhumirajanagarindra Kidney Institute Hospital had the data from 40,000 patients stolen in parallel attacks. The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau…
- Phuket News
Saliva Covid-19 test kits not accepted for entry into Phuket
The Phuket Provincial Public Health Office is warning people arriving in Phuket that any antigen test kit they use as proof they don’t have Covid-19 needs to be a nasal cavity swab, and not merely a saliva test. The health officials warned they will not issue confirmation documents for ATKs that only use saliva and those who arrived with those…
- World News
NUG announces defensive war to battle Myanmar coup forces
In Myanmar, the National Unity Government made up of deposed former leaders announced a defensive war in the name of the Burmese people, but other countries are urging peace to allow humanitarian efforts to continue. The NUG formed a shadow government to represent the people of Myanmar in the wake of the February military junta that took over claiming election…
- Chiang Mai News
Foundation suspects darker motive in missing girl’s kidnapping
After a bizarre case where a baby known as Nong Gina disappeared on Monday and was thankfully recovered unharmed yesterday, the suspect later admitted to leaving her at a cave in the forest as a sacrifice to spirits that had spoken to him. Now an organisation that helps find missing people is casting doubt on the story, saying they suspect…
- Phuket News
Phuket police raid gambling den in Wichit, arrest 15 people
In Cape Panwa, Wichit late last night, Phuket police raided and shut down an illegal gambling den and arrested 15 people there. The raid came just after midnight early this morning or late last night as Region 8 Police captured 14 people, all aged between 44 and 58 years old. The police also confiscated hundreds of green cards and orange…
- Thailand Weather Updates
Pattaya rocked by heavy rains and floods with more predicted
Pattaya has been pummelled by heavy rains over the past few days causing local flooding in roads and neighbourhoods around the area. And weather forecast calls for more torrential downpours over the next few days. Around Pattaya and Bang Lamung, roads flooded last night and locals spent the day cleaning up the messes of the night before. The heavy rains…
- Covid-19 News
FDA considering Sinopharm vaccine for children over age 3
The Food and Drug Administration said that it will consider a request by Sinopharm’s local representatives in Thailand to use their vaccine for children age 3 and older. Biogenie Tech Co is the distributor of the Sinopharm vaccine within Thailand and they have requested permission to lower the age group the vaccine is approved for from 18 years old to…
- World News
El Salvador: first country worldwide to make bitcoin legal tender
Cryptocurrency has been making inroads at gaining more and more mainstream acceptance, but this week marked a new major milestone. El Salvador just became the first country worldwide to accept bitcoin as legal tender, on Monday purchasing 400 bitcoins at a price of US $21 million. The announcement caused such a swell of interest, the country’s cyber wallet system was…
- Covid-19 News
Thailand averages a 20% Covid-19 infection rate over 40 days
Following trends over the last 40 days, Thailand has seen an average of about a 20% infection rate for those tested for Covid-19. Looking at data from 288 authorised testing labs around Thailand (of 375 total) on just September 4, a total of 40,007 people were tested and 8,804 were confirmed to be infected with Covid-19. That equates to a…
- Phuket News
“Green” Covid-19 cases to move to Phuket community isolation centres
The Phuket Provincial Public Health Office Chief Dr Kusak Kukiattikoon has stated the province will deal with the struggle to maintain available hospital beds by moving mildly affected “green” Covid-19 patients into home quarantine and community isolation centres. Phuket has been adding hundreds of hospital beds every week, with 200 beds added yesterday, to keep up with the rising Covid-19…
- Chiang Mai News
Missing baby girl found by cave she was brought to as a sacrifice
In Chiang Mai, a toddler, who has been missing since Sunday evening, has reportedly been found. A man allegedly admitted to kidnapping the girl, who is almost 2 years old, and leaving her outside a cave as a sacrifice to the spirits of the mountains and forest. She was found in a hut just outside the cave. The 44 year…
- Phuket News
Phuket update: 30 total Covid-19 deaths with 10 in the last 4 days.
With 234 new Covid-19 cases reported, the total infections in the Phuket Sandbox inches to nearly 6,000, deaths have seen a sharp rise on the island. 2 new deaths reported last night to bring the total to 30 Covid-19 deaths since April, a jump of 50% since Sunday. Over the last 5 months, 20 people had died of Covid-19 in…
- Technology News
Apple delays privacy-invading child abuse detection software
After huge backlash over their seemingly well-intentioned plan to fight child pornography and child sexual abuse, Apple has backed down and delayed the release of a software update that would include protection tools that many believe would invade privacy and open the door for other infringement in the future. The Silicon Valley tech giant had introduced a plan to release…
- Phuket News
Phuket Sandbox draws 28,000 travellers, 1.634 billion baht
The Phuket Sandbox has been lauded as a success and derided as a failure, but officials have released some raw data over the past few days that indicates the programme falls somewhere in between. Immigration and the Tourism Authority of Thailand have reported on total incoming travellers and their opinions, and the Economics Tourism and Sports Division of the Tourism and…
- Phuket News
Jetstar launches weekly flights between Phuket and Singapore
Now that flight restrictions are finally easing, Jetstar Asia Airways has launched a weekly flight between Singapore and Phuket. The first flight departed Singapore Friday evening and arrived at Phuket International Airport an hour and 40 minutes later. The inaugural Jetstar flight was greeted with fanfare by various airport staff including the Deputy Director of Phuket Airport Operations and Maintenance. The…
- Thailand News
GPO plans quality testing on arriving Chinese Lepu antigen kits
After a rollercoaster ride of okays, protests, pauses, confirmation, cancellation, and reinstatement, 8.5 million controversial Chinese-made Covid-19 antigen test kits are set to arrive in Thailand early next week. The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation now plans on conducting quality testing on the kits made by Lepu Medical Technology with the help of Ramathibodi Hospital to reassure people of their accuracy. The…
- Bangkok News
Department stores follow strict Covid-19 safety to remain open
In Bangkok and other dark red provinces across Thailand, department stores have finally been allowed to reopen and it seems that many are bending over backwards to follow Covid-19 safety measures in an attempt to assure they remain open. Department stores have been closed or severely restricted for months due to the Emergency decree and protective measures the government has…
- Phuket News
Phuket Covid-19: 3 Sandbox infections, no deaths, 3,000+ recovered
Today marked 3 new Covid-19 infections identified in international travellers who arrived via the Phuket Sandbox programme but saw no new Covid-19 deaths on the island and 240 new infections, down 2 from yesterday’s daily total. Another milestone was hit, this time more positive than yesterday’s surpassing of 5,000 infections in Phuket, as today saw the number of people recovered…
- Covid-19 News
Chinese Embassy condemns bad-mouthing of Sinovac vaccine
The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok has lashed out at those bad-mouthing the Sinovac vaccine and Chinese goodwill towards Thailand. In a post on Facebook yesterday, a spokesman for the embassy said that organisations and individuals in Thailand trying to discredit the vaccine are doing so without a scientific basis. The post implied that these detractors should feel some gratitude that…
- Tourism News
Tourists flood Khao Yai Park after viral video of curious bear
Attendance at Khao Yai National Park has boomed so much thanks to a viral video that they are now having to limit the number of people who can visit. People were drawn to the park after a video was posted to Facebook showing an Asian black bear visiting a food stall in the park attempting to eat an omelette and…
- Crime News
Thitisan refutes murder, argues for assault charges instead
Thitisan “Jo Ferrari” Utthanaphon, along with the other 6 police in custody now for the fatal torture of a 25 year old drug suspect, denies the charges against him and is now claiming he merely assaulted the man which led to his death. Thitisan’s lawyer met with him at Phitsanulok prison last week and dispelled rumours that his client suffered…
- Technology News
Facebook video recommendations disabled after labelling black men Primates
Facebook has disabled their topic recommendation features on videos today after the AI software appears to have mistaken black men in a video for monkeys. The video in question was from the British tabloid The Daily Mail and was title “White man calls cops on black men at marina.” But under the video where auto-generated suggestions are made to encourage…
- Eastern Thailand News
Navy rescued Cambodian man floating at sea for 2 days
While garbage in the sea is generally not a good thing, floating debris appears to have saved the life of a Cambodian man in the Gulf of Thailand off the coast of Rayong. The man was rescued today by the Royal Thai Navy after 2 days adrift at sea, clinging to debris, after falling off his fishing boat yesterday morning.…
- Phuket News
Phuket Covid-19 passes 5,000 infections, bed occupancy up 5%
Covid-19 data for Phuket was fairly stable yesterday with no new deaths, no new international Sandbox travellers infected, and the total daily cases today were 242, just 7 more than yesterday. Those new infections pushed Phuket’s total number of infections since the start of the third wave of Covid-19 to surpass 5,000 today. Statistically, the most drastic Covid-19 figure was…
- Covid-19 News
Covid-19 deaths still high, infections falling, provincial totals
The daily numbers of Covid-19 infections in Thailand have remained steady around the 15,000 mark, a drop from the peak and recent daily totals well above 20,000 infections. Today’s 257 deaths still remains a high figure but is expected to ease over time. Out of 1.26 million people infected in Thailand since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, over 1…
- Covid-19 News
Japan to donate 300,000 more AstraZeneca vaccines next week
The Japanese embassy in Bangkok made an announcement today that their government will again donate AstraZeneca vaccines to Thailand. Japan donated 1.05 million AstraZeneca vaccines to Thailand at the beginning of July and have declared that another shipment of 300,000 vaccines will be forthcoming. The second shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines from Japan is slated to arrive on September 8, this…
- Covid-19 News
AstraZeneca-Pfizer mixed vaccination to debut in October
In the battle to get access to high-quality vaccines in Thailand, October is set to see an upgrade with the initiation of administering a mix of AstraZeneca and Pfizer doses for patients. The deputy director-general of the Disease Control Department said today Thailand will receive about 10 million Pfizer vaccines arriving each month beginning in October. The government now plans…
