Tara Abhasakun
- Thailand News
Saudi Arabia will have flights to Thailand available starting February 28
After Thailand and Saudi Arabia patched things up last month after decades of cold relations, flights from Saudi Arabia to Thailand will be available starting on February 28. Thai International Airways also plans to have direct flights between Bangkok and Riyadh in May. Thai tourism authorities have set a lofty goal of 20 billion baht from an expected 200,000 Saudi…
- Thailand News
BA.2, Covid-19 “stealth” subvariant of Omicron spiking in Thailand
The so-called “stealth” subvariant of Omicron, BA.2, has now surged to make up 18.5% of new Covid-19 cases in Thailand. A top and vocal Thai virologist says that although the symptoms of BA.2 are no more severe than BA.1, it spreads faster. The Public Health Ministry says BA.2 is called a stealth variant because PCR tests don’t always detect it.…
- World News
Songkhla man arrested on suspicions of trafficking Burmese migrants to Malaysia
Following last month’s arrest of 31 Burmese migrants trying to cross through Songkhla province into Malaysia, police have now caught a man suspected of trafficking them. Yesterday, police in Sadao district arrested Saiyid Ratdaewa after finding him in a house he was renting. Police say they found that Saiyid was a job broker for migrants seeking jobs in Malaysia. Police…
- Thailand News
Korean hotel exec found dead in Kanchanaburi, cause not yet known
A Korean hotel executive was found dead in a a hotel in Tha Muang district of Kanchanaburi province yesterday morning. The medical team hasn’t yet found the cause of his death, and his body showed no signs of struggle. The executive, Kim Kyoung Cheon, was 38 years old. The person to find Kim was a hotel cleaner who had knocked…
- Thailand News
Thailand will purchase stealth jets if United States okays
Thailand will purchase Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth jets if the United States approves it. In January, Thailand set aside US$413 million for four jets, but one Thai air marshal said Thailand wants to buy as many as eight. A US State Department spokesperson said the department doesn’t confirm or comment on proposed transfers or sales until congress has been formally…
- Thailand News
Jaguar car explodes into flames on Bangkok expressway
Bangkok police are investigating why a black Jaguar car exploded into flames on the Charlerm Maha Nakhon Expressway last night. The driver and passengers escaped and weren’t physically hurt, but they were traumatised. The driver said they smelled diesel fumes, then saw smoke, and then the car lit on fire. He said he didn’t leave the car in any suspicious…
- World News
Test and Go might extend to land and sea tourists, cruise ships
Thai officials are considering letting tourists use Test & Go to enter Thailand through land and sea, if they follow the same rules as those travelling by air. Last week, the Covid-19 Situation Administration Centre considered a proposal to accept tourists entering Thailand through the Nong Khai border checkpoint in the Northeast, and tourists on sea cruises. The CCSA told…
- Thailand News
Rights groups urge United States to ban fishing nets made by Thai prisoners
A December investigation by the the Thomson Reuters foundation discovered that jails across Thailand are illegally forcing prisoners to make fishing nets for private companies, including those that export to the United States. Former prisoners Reuters interviewed said guards beat them, disallowed them to shower, and pushed back their release dates if they didn’t meet strict targets. Now, Thai and…
- Thailand News
DDC says Covid-19 vaccine side effects, allergic reactions rare
A director from Thailand’s Department of Disease Control says there have been very few cases reported of side effects from Covid-19 vaccines. The director told the Bangkok Post out of the 120 million vaccine doses given so far, only 79 people have had allergic reactions. 43 were from Sinovac, 22 from AstraZeneca, 11 from Pfizer, and three from Sinopharm. Out…
- Thailand News
Thai officials talk of replacing second PCR test for Test & Go entry with ATK
Day 5 requirements of Thailand’s Test & Go entry scheme has been discouraging some potential tourists from travelling to Thailand. Not only is a second RT-PCT test needed on the fifth day of their stay (the first test on arrival), but travellers are required to book a night at a hotel approved by the Safety and Health Administration while the…
- Thailand News
Elephant crossing! 35 new road signs warn Kanchanaburi drivers not to hit elephants
After a pickup truck hit and killed an elephant on a Kanchanaburi highway in January, 35 new elephant crossing signs have been posted along that highway, a wildlife sanctuary chief told the Bangkok Post yesterday. Elephants regularly cross this highway, Highway 1399, to move between different feeding areas. The signs warn drivers that the speed limit is 60 kilometres per…
- World News
Expats want to leave Hong Kong- but that’s an expensive thing to do
After two years of Covid-19 restrictions and political crackdowns in Hong Kong, expats there want to leave. But doing that costs a lot of money in shipping, and pet relocations. It’s not just finances that keep Hong Kong Expats from moving. People who move often have to wait months after shipping their belongings to actually receive them. Hong Kong has…
- Thailand News
Firefighters rescue woman from burning coffee shop in Phuket
Firefighters rescued a terrified woman from a burning coffee shop in Phuket yesterday afternoon. The woman couldn’t move because she was frozen in shock. Even though about 70% of the building was damaged, no one was injured. The firefighters took almost an hour to stop the fire, and police and firefighters both are now investigating what started it. The coffee…
- Thailand News
Public Health Ministry opens sexual health centre in Bang Rak, Bangkok
In the midst of a rise in STD infections, Thailand’s Public Health Ministry held an opening ceremony yesterday for a new sexual health centre in Bang Rak district in Bangkok. The centre, called Bang Rak Medical Centre Building, is part of Bang Rak Hospital complex on Sathorn road. Some of the centre’s services will include test-and-go services for STIs, and…
- Thailand News
Move Forward MP accuses government of hiding spread of African Swine Fever
A Move Forward MP accused the government of covering up the spread of African Swine Fever in a parliamentary debate yesterday. The MP, Padipat Suntiphada, said ASF spread across the country in 2020 as a direct result of the government covering it up when it first hit in 2019. When the disease was first discovered, 300,000 pigs died either from…
- World News
Karen soldiers from Myanmar clash with Burmese army on Thai border
Soldiers from the Karen National Union and People’s Defense Force attacked the Burmese army with mortar guns and grenade launchers in Palu village in Myanmar on the Thai-Burmese border yesterday. A reporter for Nation Thailand said the Burmese army fired back with their own mortar guns, and called for backup help from a helicopter dispatched to shoot at the enemy…
- Technology News
How internet-addicted are Thais? A new report finds out.
You guessed right, Thais are more internet-addicted than the average person around the world. A report by an analyst group called DataReportal found that in 2021, Thais spent an average of nine hours and six minutes a day on the internet. The global average was almost seven hours per day. Out of that time, an average of five hours and…
- World News
Cambodia delays internet gateway activists say would “devastate” free expression
The Cambodian government decided to delay implementing an internet gateway that would funnel all web traffic through a state-controlled entry point. Cambodia’s secretary of state for the Telecommunications Ministry said the gateway, which was supposed to be implemented yesterday, is being postponed because of Covid-19. The country’s foreign affairs department attacked foreign media for criticising the gateway, but activists and…
- Thailand News
Phuket governor attends Makha Bucha Day ceremony
The governor of Phuket went to a temple ceremony for Makha Bucha Day yesterday. The governor and other Phuket officials dressed in white and listened to a monk give a sermon about how to apply the principles of Buddhism to their everyday lives. Buddhists often call these principles Dhamma. Attendees later paraded around the ordination hall three times as an…
- World News
It’s official: Vietnam will reopen to tourists on March 15
In a move made three months earlier than planned, Vietnam will completely reopen to tourists starting March 15. Visitors to the country will still have to quarantine for 24 hours, and test negative for Covid-19 before departure and upon arrival. The Vietnamese government said in a statement that the reopening is part of its new response to controlling Covid-19, which…
- World News
Thailand to ban alcohol sales on February 16, Makha Bucha Day
Don’t we all love those alcohol bans that come time to time in Thailand! This coming Wednesday, February 16, you won’t be able buy alcohol because Thailand, along with some other south east Asian countries, will mark the Buddhist holy day of Makha Bucha Day. The day commemorates Buddha gathering with his first 1,250 disciples in the bamboo grove where…
- Thailand News
Polls show majority of parents doubt online learning, concerned about Covid-19 vaccines
An online survey conducted last week found that most parents doubt that online learning is effective for their children, and are either “dubious” or “very concerned” about kids 5-11 years old getting vaccinated. The survey questioned 1,089 parents across Thailand. The university that conducted the survey is Suan Dusit Rajabhat University in Bangkok. 66.8% of parents said they doubt how…
- Thailand News
Recent crimes in Phuket are damaging its reputation
Just when Phuket thought it was about to revive its crippled tourism economy, the recent murders, thefts, and taxi ripoffs on the Island province are scarring its public image. The most high profile recent event is the murder by two hitmen of deported Canadian gangster Jimi Sandhu at a villa in Rawai, on the southern coast of the island. The…
- Phuket News
Tourism authorities will co-host fun events in Phang Na and Krabi to boost economy
In an effort to boost tourism income in Phang Na and Krabi, the Thailand Tourism Authority is helping host some new fun events. This comes after tourist areas in Thailand have been devastated by Covid-19. The first events will be two car rallies. People will drive along a route between the two cities, and stop at various sites to tour…
- Northern Thailand News
Six police in Thailand’s Northeast allegedly demand money to release drug dealers
Six cops in Nakhon Phanom, a Northeastern province in Thailand, allegedly demanded a drug dealer to pay them money in exchange for releasing his accomplices. A Facebook page posted a photo of a man and a woman with a sack that had 200,000 methamphetamine pills in it, with an audio clip of a man who claimed to be a drug…
- Thailand News
Robbers shoot and kill customer in Northern Thailand gold shop
Three robbers fired bullets through a glass door of a gold shop yesterday in Tak, in Northern Thailand, killing one customer. The customer was a 30 year old man. He died after being rushed to the hospital. The robbers smashed another glass door of the shop with a hammer. They then smashed the showcases where the gold was being displayed.…
- World News
Thai soldiers and police arrest 246 more Burmese migrants in Kanchanaburi
Thai soldiers and police have arrested 246 Burmese migrants in 6 border areas across 4 districts of Kanchanaburi, a Western province, yesterday and today. The migrants say they paid job brokers between 15,000 and 25,000 baht to get them jobs in several Thai provinces. Thai authorities also caught 4 guides helping the migrants, and charged them with assisting illegal border…
- Pattaya News
Chon buri man says he followed crow into forest, found dead body hanging from tree
In a truly ghost movie-like fashion, a man in Bang Lamung, a district of Chon Buri province, says he followed a crow into a forest and found a dead body hanging from a tree there. The man, Somkrit, told The Pattaya News he wanted to cut trees nearby, when he saw the crow flying into the forest and heard it…
- Thailand News
Fisheries Department will temporarily halt gulf fishing for marine breeding season
The deputy director-general of the Fisheries Department announced yesterday that in coming months, four areas of the gulf will be closed to fishermen for marine breeding season. From February 15 to May 15, waters near the coasts of Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, and Surat Thani will close. From May 16 to June 14, the foot of Khao Ta Mong Lai…
- Thailand News
Thailand hopeful to draw Indian tourists with new travel bubble
Ah yes, another travel bubble proposal. This time with India. Thailand hopes to fix its plundered tourism economy by drawing in more Indian tourists with a new plan between the two countries known as the Thai-Indian Air Travel Bubble. A spokesperson for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration said the ATB will give extra convenience to people travelling between Thailand…
