Tara Abhasakun
- World News
Cambodian officials consider new border pass scheme for Thais to Siem Reap
Cambodian officials are looking to boost tourism, and are mulling over a potential new scheme for Thais who live in provinces bordering Cambodia. The idea for the potential new scheme was brought up at a meeting on Monday. The scheme would allow Thais who have an official residence in any of the seven bordering provinces to travel by land to…
- World News
At least 11 children killed after Burmese junta shoots at school, UNICEF says
It has been reported that helicopters belonging to the Burmese junta fired shots at a school in the central Sagain Region on September 16. UNICEF says that at least 11 children were killed and 17 were injured at the scene. UNICEF said that at least 15 other children from the school were missing. A junta spokesperson said the army had entered…
- Pattaya News
Pattaya burglar snatches over 50,000 baht from Chinese expat
A burglar managed to snatch more than 50,000 baht from a Chinese woman in East Pattaya on Sunday. The crook smashed the victim’s window and rummaged through the closet of 40 year old Ming Liang Xu. The burglar stole 50,000 baht from the pocket of a pair of her trousers and another 1,000 baht left on a nightstand. The thief…
- Crime News
Former Thai policeman swindles gold shop, jailed for third time
A former Thai policeman was arrested in Bangkok on Friday night after he swindled a gold shop. The former policeman, 62 year old Thana Charoennakha, tricked a shop owner in northeast Thailand’s Mukdahan province. Police said Thana first asked the shop owner for a bank account number so that he could transfer money to buy some gold ornaments. The owner…
- Bangkok News
Experts suggest solutions to Bangkok’s limited flood retention space
Bangkok’s small amount of green space means the city has limited spaces that can be made into flood retention areas. Meanwhile, the country’s heavy rainfall continues to cause chaos. Some experts are suggesting innovative solutions to the problem. An associate professor at Chulalongkorn University says the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration needs to use incentives for land owners to offer their land…
- Crime News
Thailand’s “popcorn gunman” is out of jail after shooting 8 years ago
A Thai shooter known as the “popcorn gunman,” who killed a person and injured three others in 2014, has been released from jail. The man, Vivat Yodprasit, had shot the four people in Bangkok’s Lak Si district during demonstrations against the Yingluck Shinawatra government. Vivat became known as the “popcorn gunman” because photos showed him firing from a rifle hidden…
- Pattaya News
Burmese worker falls to death in Chon Buri
There’s been another incident of a foreigner tragically falling to their death, this time in Chon Buri province. The 41 year old Burmese construction worker, Kying Ngwe, had been working on a new project to build a stairway down Chon Buri Grand Canyon in the main city district. It was there that Kying fell to his death yesterday. A friend…
- Northern Thailand News
Heroic teen risks life to save boy electrocuted in NE Thailand flood
A teenager in northeast Thailand risked his life to save a young boy who was electrocuted while wading through a flood. The 12 year old boy had been near a power pole near a school in Udon Thani province on Friday. The teenager, 19 year old student Atthachai Argudom, went in to rescue the boy and ended up suffering electric…
- Phuket News
Shrines preparing for Phuket’s upcoming vegetarian festival
Phuket‘s annual vegetarian festival is right around the corner, coming up on September 26 to October 4. Now, city workers and volunteers are helping Chinese shrines prepare for the festival. Yesterday, teams helped scrub the forecourts of the main shrines participating in the celebration, including the Pud Jor and Jui Tui shrines in the main city district. Phuket’s Vice Governor…
- Phuket News
Hundreds of Phuket public school students receive scholarships
Students at a public school in Phuket are being given more educational opportunities. With funding through various charities and foundations, 418 scholarships were given to students at Satree Phuket School yesterday. The total amount of scholarship money provided added up to almost 1.5 million baht. The president of the foundation organising the scholarships spoke at a ceremony in the school’s…
- Krabi News
Navy rescues foreign passengers in Krabi after yacht trip goes wrong
A yacht trip has gone wrong for a group of foreign passengers in the southern Krabi province on Thursday. The yacht broke down in the middle of the sea, although it is still unclear what caused the yacht to break down. The passengers were left waiting for help from the Royal Thai Navy. Fortunately, the navy arrived on the scene…
- South Thailand News
Thai immigration authorities arrested over alleged bribes in illegal fishing case
A group of Thai immigration authorities has been arrested in an alleged bribery case involving illegal fishing that happened last year. The 11 individuals include six immigration police, and five other immigration officials working at marine border and disease control checkpoints. The Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn, announced their arrests yesterday. The group has…
- Bangkok News
Eager customers line up for iPhone 14 in Bangkok
Eager customers are crowding Bangkok’s two Apple stores for the new iPhone 14. Since yesterday, tech enthusiasts have been lining up at the stores in Iconsiam, and Central World. Other IT retail shops have also been boosted by iPhone customers. The chief executive of Copperwired said that its pre-booking quotas for the iPhone 14 ran out faster than those of…
- Pattaya News
Kyrgyzstani woman found dead in Pattaya reported trouble with Chinese gangster
A Kyrgyzstani woman who plunged to her death in Pattaya yesterday had previously reported problems with a Chinese gangster. The 30 year old woman died after falling from a hotel balcony. This was after she had recently filed a report to Pattaya police saying she was defrauded by a Chinese gangster to be a prostitute. An American man had owned…
- Pattaya News
After viral fight, Chon Buri police insist Bang Saen is not a ‘savage city’
After a vicious fight between a group of young male college students went viral on social media, Chon Buri police insisted that Bang Saen is not a “savage city.” A Facebook video showed a large group of grown men brutally beating a group of college students in the early hours of Wednesday morning. It shows two of the students being…
- Cannabis News
Learn how to make weed tea at Bangkok workshop
Bangkok’s cannabis lovers will get a chance to learn how to make weed tea at an upcoming workshop titled “The New High Tea.” The workshop will be held at the ASAI Bangkok Chinatown hotel on Saturday, September 24, from 5-6.30pm. It will be held in both English and Thai. The event’s page on Ticket Melon says participants will… “Learn about…
- Economy News
Thailand’s baht weakens against US dollar
Thailand’s baht has weakened against the US dollar this year. On Wednesday, the conversion rate was 36.73 baht per dollar, having been weakened by 8.8% this year. The baht hit its lowest point in 15 years in July, when the rate was 36.945 baht per dollar. The US dollar has gotten stronger due to a drop in many countries’ foreign…
- Phuket News
Police ask public to help find person who left dead baby at Phuket temple
UPDATE Police in Phuket’s Kathu district is asking the public to help track down the person who left a dead baby girl at a temple in the district. Monks found the poor newborn baby girl’s body in a plastic bag under a bodhi tree at Wat Anuphat Kritsadaram in Thung Thong on September 9. The body was already decomposing. Yesterday,…
- Pattaya News
Sneaky secretary stole millions from Thai official over years
A sneaky secretary managed to steal millions of baht from a Chon Buri official over five years, Thai media reported yesterday. CCTV footage captured 29 year old secretary Sunanta Suebkaew going through her boss’s bedroom and stealing money multiple times over five years. Sunanta’s boss happens to be the mayor of the Nong Mai Daeng sub-district, Tuangthip Phawasutchaikit. Mayor Tuangthip…
- Northern Thailand News
Volunteers transform into superheroes for fair in northern Thailand
Look out, here comes the Spiderman! Or is it? Volunteers in Thailand’s northern province of Uttaradit are dressing up as superheroes for a fruit fair held in the main city district this week from September 13-22. The volunteers are working with police to entertain children in their Spiderman, Hulk, Venom, and Captain America costumes. They are also helping children and…
- Economy News
Thai cabinet extends excise diesel tax cut for 2 more months
The Thai Cabinet is extending the country’s excise diesel tax cut for another two months after diesel prices hit Thailand hard this year. The cut of five baht per litre will be extended from September 21 to November 20. The elimination of excise tax on bio-diesel and bunker oil used to generate power will also continue from September 16 to…
- Phuket News
Monkeys barge into new Phuket resort
The monkeys are coming! Well, at least they are coming to one new resort in Phuket’s town of Chalong. The management team at the Noku Phuket resort says that monkeys have been seen on the resort’s grounds and tried to get into the guest’s rooms. Wildlife officers inspected the resort on Tuesday, with the chief of the Wildlife Education Centre…
- Crime News
More details emerge on pregnant Thai woman found dead in pond
UPDATE More details are emerging on the Thai pregnant woman who was found dead in a pond in the eastern Rayong province on Tuesday. Police revealed that the woman, 19 year old Kritsana’s panties were missing. They also found that the grey trousers she was wearing were on backwards, and she was wearing a yellow shirt. Investigators also found a…
- Tourism News
Over 5 million foreign tourists arrived in Thailand in 9 months
A Thai government spokesperson has announced yesterday that over five million foreign tourists arrived in the ‘land of smiles’ between January 1 and September 8. The total number of foreign visitors was 5,018,172, said spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) says the biggest group of tourists came from Malaysia, with 751,397 arrivals. Up next was India, with…
- Northern Thailand News
Boy in northeast Thailand dies of respiratory disease
A boy in Thailand’s northeast province of Nakhon Ratchasima died of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) on Monday. This is the first death from RSV reported this year, but a doctor from Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital warns that RSV could be more virulent this year. The doctor, Jiraruj Chomchoey, said that at least one child has been admitted to the…
- South Thailand News
Whale sharks spotted off Koh Pha Ngan in South Thailand
Environmentalists spotted a pair of whale sharks off South Thailand’s island of Koh Pha Ngan. Members of the Phangan Sea Guardian Association had gone diving when they spotted two of the gentle giants. The association’s president said that one whale shark was four metres long, while the other was six metres long. The VP, Sittiroj Kaewnongsameta, told The Phuket Express… “This…
- Pattaya News
Police crack down on Cambodian beggars with children in Pattaya
Police are looking into the case of at least two alleged Cambodian beggars in Pattaya who reportedly used minors to solicit money from tourists, according to reports from concerned witnesses. Officers and officials searched a night venue in Chon Buri’s Nong Prue District and found a Cambodian woman with a boy there. The team also found many flowers which they…
- Bangkok News
Bangkok employee sacked for “sleeping” at work when he actually fainted
A Bangkok sales assistant has been fired after fainting on the job. A colleague sent a photo of him unconscious to his boss, Thai media reported this week. The boss believed the employee had been sleeping on the job and sacked him. The man who fainted, 22 year old Srithanalert, worked as a sales assistant in a furniture shop. He…
- Pattaya News
Teen escapes house fire in Pattaya by climbing balcony
A Pattaya teenager climbed down from his balcony to just barely escape a fire that broke out in his home in the early hours of Monday morning. The boy, 16 year old Poramet Soratavorn, sensed the smell of smoke when he was on the second floor of his house in Royal Park Village on Thepprasit Road. Poramet ran downstairs to find…
- Phuket News
Phuket school director denies assault allegations
UPDATE The Phuket school director who last week was accused of physically assaulting an eight year old is denying the allegations. This news comes after a relative of the boy claimed that on September 8, the director pushed the boy’s head into a wall. He also allegedly used his hands to forcefully open her nephew’s mouth. The Phuket Provincial Educational…
