Petch Petpailin
- Bangkok News
Bangkok motorcycle taxi rider arrested for attempted rape and kidnap of a teenage student
A motorcycle taxi driver, Somsak Jangsat, was arrested in the Phra Khanong area of Bangkok yesterday after he tried to rape a teenage girl. Somsak tricked the 17 year old student into using his taxi service saying he would take her home after school but instead kidnapped the girl and took her to a love motel where he tried to…
- Thailand News
Thailand exempts entry visa for Saudi tourists allowing 30-day stay
Thailand yesterday moved a step further to its future relationship with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia when it announced a 30-day visa exemption will be available to all Saudi citizens. Saudis can now enter Thailand and stay for 30 days without applying for a visa before departure. The move comes as both nations step up to restore diplomatic relations which…
- Transport News
Angry central Thai locals go bananas over poor road conditions
Residents in Ang Thong, in central Thailand, are so angry with officials in the Department of Rural Roads about the treacherous state of their roads that they have planted banana trees in the cracks of the tarmac in protest. Ang Thong locals have reported the dangerous conditions of their highways, roads and thoroughfares, to officials on a number of occasions…
- Northern Thailand News
Restaurant feels heat from police after expanding business into bus stop
A restaurant was left with a sour taste in its mouth after being warned about expanding its business into a nearby bus stop. Local police officials were notified by a Facebook blogger, ขาเกือบพลิก, who complained that a restaurant in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen had taken over a bus stop and was serving food to customers. The Facebook page,…
- Central Thailand News
Thai thrill-seeker charged for high-jinks riding on a highway
A Thai thrill-seeker has been charged with riding his motorbike dangerously in the central province of Nakhon Sawan. The 49 year old, named Chat, was recorded on video riding with no hands down a highway and at one stage almost ran into the back of a refrigerator truck. The terrifying spectacle was recorded by another motorist who uploaded the video to…
- Bangkok News
Penny-pinching government owe 150 police officers more than 1 million baht in overtime
Government House security police yesterday acknowledged they are still owed more than 1 million baht for special overtime services from last year. Some 150 police officers, from the Supervision Division 4 of the Special Branch Bureau 3, who take care of Government House security, say they informed their superiors in the relevant departments about their missing salary but claim that…
- World News
Singapore hails Thailand a leading digital nation in ASEAN
The Digital Economy and Society Minister, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, travelled to Singapore yesterday to sign a digital partnership agreement with Singapore’s Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong. Chaiwut, together with the Thai ambassador to Singapore, and the Thai PM’s secretary, met with Gan Kim Yong and agreed to promote 8 items on the MoU agenda, including digital transformation, e-commerce policies,…
- Thailand News
UPDATE: GT200 bomb detectors only good enough to be used as a ‘cat poop scoop’
UPDATE Royal Thai Army spokesperson, Santipong Thammapiya, yesterday announced that the investigation into GT200 bomb detectors has officially ended. Santipong says the NSTD had completed its examination of 320 devices, and the budget spent investigating it, and concluded that the Royal Thai Army would have to return around 3 million baht from the 7.5 million baht budget allocated to the…
- Crime News
Bangkok taxi driver caught on video beating Chinese passenger with an iron bar
A dash cam video featuring a taxi driver who bludgeoning a man to the ground on a Bangkok road has emerged. A witness said the victim, a Chinese passenger, tried to negotiate a fair price for the service but became irate by the taxi driver and smashed his hand down on the hood of the car making the driver angry.…
- Thailand News
Cannabis penalties to be quashed from Thursday
Thailand’s Courts of Justice announced that suspects and prisoners on charges related to cannabis use and possession would be freed after cannabis and hemp are removed from the Public Health Ministry’s Category 5 drug list. But as we slowly learn the details of cannabis in Thailand, post June 9, we are learning that it’s not all clear and plain sailing…
- Thailand News
Government official expects Thailand’s first monkeypox case to happen at Pride Parade
A government official expects Thailand to record its first monkeypox case on Sunday at the nation’s first official Pride Parade in Bangkok. The Bangkok Naruemit Pride Parade, which will traverse the length of Silom Road, starts at Maha Uma Devi Temple on Pan Road, at 4pm. The parade plans to bring together the LGBTQ community, activists and allies, and help further…
- Thailand News
Woman feared prison if she took photos of burglary due to new PDPA law
A Thai woman witnessed thieves break into a neighbour’s house but didn’t take any pictures of the burglars for fear of going to prison under the new Personal Data Protection Act. The 23 year old admitted she was too scared to take photos of the criminals’ faces because she was afraid of being sued under the new PDPA law which…
- Bangkok News
Car shot by unidentified gunman on road near MBK in Bangkok
A motorist is in shock today after an unidentified teenage gunman shot at him while he was driving near MBK shopping mall in Bangkok. Chawinroj Ritmangkornsook travelled from Samyan, down Phaya Thai Road, and stopped to park his white Toyota Yaris at the Rajamangala Institute of Technology Uthentawai Campus, when he witnessed the teenager walking close to the institute’s fence…
- Bangkok News
Former Deputy Bangkok Governor says the city has already spent most of the 2022 budget
The Deputy Leader of the Democrat Party and former deputy Bangkok governor, Samart Ratchapolsitte (2004 – 2006), said Bangkok has only of 94 million baht left in its budget, and it might be insufficient for the new Bangkok governor Chandchart Sittiphun to achieve his announced policies. According to the media, Bangkok receives a budget of around 80 billion baht per…
- Pattaya News
4 Thai Police under investigation after sending woman to jail for growing 1 cannabis plant
Four Thai police officers from Sri Racha Police Station in Chon Buri have been sidelined from their present positions as senior police conduct an investigation. The 4 police arrested a woman who grew one cannabis plant at home and sent her to jail for a night. 56 year old Pornpimon Prakobpon was arrested at a rented house in the Sri…
- Politics News
Pattaya City Mayor election to be re-held in some districts after ballot papers go missing
Chon Buri Provincial Election Commission has announced the cancellation of the Pattaya City mayor’s election result on May 22 because ballot papers had gone missing from polling stations in 2 sub-districts. The new election in those sub-districts will be held on June 12. After 10 years of suspension of mayoral elections, the Pattaya City Mayor election was held on May…
- Central Thailand News
Thai man buys 12 pairs of Converse as offerings to god of wealth
A Thai man has bought 12 pairs of Converse sneakers and offered them to the god of wealth in the central province of Ang Thong after his wishes came true. Other locals are now copying the idea, helping the god have his own shoe collection. Yesterday, the media reported that they found a display case placed in front of the…
- Tourism News
Transport Ministry expects 22 million travellers will pass through Thai airports in 2022
The Transport Minister, Saksayam Chidchob, says every airport in Thailand is ready to welcome more travellers entering from June 1. The Minister also set a target expecting 22 million travellers to enter this year. So far, the number has just clicked over the 1 million mark (mid-May). Yesterday, Saksayam visited Suvarnabhumi Airport for for an official before the changes to…
- Thailand News
Deputy PM insists using Thai numerals to keep “uniqueness”
Following a campaign on Change.org to remove Thai numbers from official documents, Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam said it was “an absurd controversial topic”. He insisted that Thai numbers might be complicated, but it is the way to maintain Thai uniqueness. Thai numerals are written in Thai script in formal documents, not the Arabic numerals used in many other countries. A Thai…
- Thailand News
PM Prayut insists no plans to drop face-mask requirement in Thailand
Thailand’s PM and Defense Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, insists that Thailand has no plans to drop the requirement to wear face-masks. The PM asked the spokesperson to emphasise this point to the residents saying wearing masks was still “a necessary behaviour”. Last week, the Permanent Secretary of the Public Health Ministry, Kiattiphum Wongrajit, said that the ministry proposed to adjust the…
- Bangkok News
Bangkok’s Bang Khun Tien district offers free sanitary pads to students
The Bang Khun Tien District Office, near the mouth of Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river, has given away 20,000 sanitary pads to female students in 16 public schools, in line with the policies promised by the incoming Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittphun. Last Sunday, the Director of the Bang Khun Tien District Office, Pongjakarin Thawonpong, told the media that the district office…
- Road deaths
UPDATE: Compensation promised after teenage passenger killed in police chase
Following last week’s report of a teenager who was killed after the motorbike she was a passenger on crashed into a police pickup, the police officers have now promised to pay compensation to the victim’s family. No charges have been filed against the police at this stage as the case is still under investigation. On May 27, a car accident…
- Crime News
Thai woman allegedly murdered in Oman after being thrown from 4th floor of condo
A Thai woman is claiming that her Omani husband murdered her Thai friend. She claims her friend was thrown from the 4th floor of a condominium in Oman after fighting with her husband. Last Friday, the Facebook user Pawarisa Oil posted a sympathy message to her friend, saying that her friend was thrown from a building in Oman. Pawarisa said…
- Cannabis News
Smoking cannabis recreationally is still illegal, warns Department of Public Health
Cannabis smoke is a “public nuisance” and smoking it recreationally – at home or in public – is illegal, warns Thailand’s Department of Public Health. From June 9, growing cannabis plants at home will become legal, but smoking cannabis recreationally will remain a punishable offence. The only prerequisite to legally growing cannabis at home, from June 9, is downloading and…
- Road deaths
Police pickup crashes into motorbike, one teenager dead and another seriously injured
One teenager is dead, and another is seriously injured after a car accident in Pathum Thani province near Bangkok. The victims’ friends claimed that a police pickup was chasing after them and “intentionally” crashed into the victims’ motorbike, causing them to lose control and hit a guard rail. Last night, at 12.30 am, police officers from the Lad Lum Kaew…
- Northern Thailand News
Murder-suicide in north east Thailand
A man has shot his pregnant stepdaughter dead and then committed suicide at a house in the northeastern province of Buriram. The stepdaughter had just married her husband 7 days before the incident. Relatives have refused to provide additional details to the media at this stage. Yesterday, an emergency team from Hin Lek Fire Police Station was called to a…
- Thailand News
Thailand to borrow 20 billion baht to maintain fuel subsidies
The Office of Fuel Fund plans to borrow 20 billion baht to top up the country’s oil price subsidies as residents and different departments are being increasingly affected by the rising oil price. The fund is seeking inbound loans from the Government Saving Bank and Krungthai Bank. The details are expected to be clear at the end of this month.…
- Thailand News
Thais in Japan protest in front of PM Prayut’s hotel
Thais from a group named UDD Japan gathered in front of a hotel where Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha was staying to protest. The group demanded that the PM resign and release the young political activists out of jail. PM Prayut is in Japan to join the 27th International Conference on the Future of Asia or Nikkei Forum, held until the…
- World News
Man arrested for smuggling durian trees valued at 1 million baht to Laos
A Thai man has been arrested at the Customs Department’s border checkpoint in the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani. He was caught trying to deliver durian trees, valued at around one million baht, to a customer in Laos. The Head of Chongmek Customs House at the border of Thailand and Laos, Wanlop Suiraksa, told Thai media that they received leaked…
- Politics News
Thai Parliament app launched to remind forgetful MPs
To cope with meetings failing because of absence and lack of quorums, the Secretariat of The House of Representatives has developed the ‘TH Parliament’ mobile app to notify the MPs of upcoming meetings. The ‘innovation’ presumes that MPs have failed to turn up because they simply forgot… that’s usually not the case. Yesterday, Nattakarn Chochana, announced that the Information Technology…
