- World News
Facebook won’t build data centres in countries with bad human rights records, except Singapore
Mark Zuckerberg promised in a lengthy blog post that the company wouldn’t build data centres in countries with poor human rights. But he chose to ignore Singapore’s track record in human rights, declaring the city-state home to Facebook’s first data center in Asia to “serve everyone.” “As we build our infrastructure around the world, we’ve chosen not to build data centres in…
- Hot News
American tourist attacked by gang on Koh Phi Phi
An American photographer and blogger says he was injured after being attacked by a gang of men on Koh Phi Phi this week. Stephen Trimble revealed on his Instagram account that he was walking along the beach when he spotted a girl’s possessions being stolen while she was swimming. He says he yelled at the man to stop. The man…
- World News
UPDATE: Thailand grounds Thai Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX fleet
… and US pilots report their problems whilst flying the 737 Max 8 model aircraft. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand says it is suspending the use of the Boeing Co’s 737 MAX 9 due to safety concerns. The regulator said it will temporarily suspend the use of Thai Lion Air’s Boeing 737 MAX 9s for seven days, starting tomorrow…
- Business News
Honda projects lower motorcycle sales for 2019
Honda Motor Company, the manufacturer of nearly 80% of Thailand’s motorcycles, is projecting another annual loss this year. New motorcycle sales this year are forecast to drop nearly 4% year on year to 1.72 million units. The forecast is unchanged from its January projection. The baht’s appreciation against the US dollar is leading to fluctuations in exports and lower prices…
- Thailand Election News
Alcohol ban this weekend and the following weekend of the election
There will be a 24 hour alcohol ban this weekend as well as on the weekend of the general election on March 24. Sunday, March 17 will feature a day of pre-voting where alcohol sales and distribution will be forbidden from 6pm on Saturday, March 16 until 6pm on Sunday, March 17. That will precede the ban on the following…
- Pattaya News
Pattaya tourist loses a leg in collision with pickup
PHOTO: Naewna News A 58 year old tourist from Kazakhstan has lost his leg in a collision with a pickup truck in Pattaya. The Thai driver of the pickup told police that the tourist on a PCX motorcycle suddenly cut in front of him attempting to make a turn into a soi, resulting in a collision. The Sawang Boriboon foundation…
- South Thailand News
Bryde’s whale family sighted off Chumphon coast – VIDEO
PHOTOS: กรีน นำเที่ยว ดำน้ำเกาะเวียง A family of three Bryde’s whales has been sighted off Chumphon in the Gulf of Thailand. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources is reporting that a family of three Bryde’s whales was sighted between Koh Weng and Koh Rang off the Chumphon coast. There were two mature Bryde’s whales and a baby Bryde’s whale calf.…
- Pattaya News
Police ignore motorbikes and trucks illegally using Pattaya underpass
By Jetsada Homklin When Pattaya’s Central Road bypass tunnel eventually opened, police were vigorous in their enforcement barring motorcycles and large trucks from using the new underpass. But that didn’t last long. Pattaya Mail is reporting that tourists and residents both have complained that large numbers of motorcyclists are speeding through the tunnel with little fear of being stung with…
- Hot News
Two Nigerians arrested, one still at large, over investment scam
PHOTO: INN News Immigration chief Lt-Gen Surachate Hakparn has announced the arrest of two Nigerian scammers who posed as officials at a financial institution to defraud investors. They were also found to have overstayed their visas. Arrested were 55 year old Emmanual Olichagew and 41 year old Friday Ochiaga at a rented room in Bangkapi, Bangkok. Surachate says that a…
- Phuket News
Truck crash in Rawai pulls down power lines causing six hour blackout
PHOTOS: PEA A truck accident in Rawai has caused a blackout in Rawai for over six hours. (Some residents from Rawai contacted The Thaiger explaining that the power was off for 12 hours, not six as claimed by the PEA.) The Phuket Provincial Electric Authority reports that at 9.30pm last night a truck accident pulled down two power poles. The…
- Hot News
Only the US and Canada left flying the Boeing 737 Max aircraft*
The US and Canada remain the only two country’s left flying the Boeing 737 Max 8 model aircraft in any substantial numbers (*there are a few smaller airlines and nations but very few remaining). Otherwise most of the world’s aviation authorities have either grounded the planes or closed access to their airspace for the operation of the popular new Boeing…
- Thailand News
Who is grounding Boeing’s 737 Max 8 planes?
In the wake of Sunday’s crash of an Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 737 Max series aircraft, the second crash in a ‘similar’ situation to one six months earlier off Jakarta, several of the world’s airlines have now grounded the planes as a precautionary measure. At this stage both Thailand and India have not grounded the aircraft. China’s fleet of some 97…
- Bangkok News
He’s an Aussie now. Hakeem al-Araibi becomes Australian citizen.
PHOTO: Hakeem al-Araibi says “I’m an Aussie now” and is happy to be safe Hakeem al-Araibi, the former Bahraini football player and refugee caught up in a diplomatic tug-of-war in Thailand between Australian and Bahraini officials for two and a half months, has become an Australian citizen. He became an Australian citizen along with 200 other people at a ceremony…
- Thailand News
New trend ‘Challenge for Change’ rubbish cleanup
PHOTO: We Don’t Deserve This Planet A Facebook page named ‘We Don’t Deserve This Planet’ is running a campaign ‘Challenge for Change’ for rubbish cleanups. The site is an international page. The Facebook page says “Let it be trending!” with the hash tag #ChallengeForChange. “Here is a new #Challenge for all. Take a photo of an area that needs some cleaning or…
- Hot News
UPDATE: Regulators ground the Boeing 737 Max 8, but not in Thailand
PHOTO: Thai Lion Air won’t be grounding their Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft The digital flight data recorder for Flight ET302 from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya was located yesterday morning Citizens of 35 countries are among the 157 people killed, including 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians and eight passengers each from China, Italy and the US Multiple…
- Covid-19 News
Covid-19 Coronavirus UPDATE: Global pandemic, Italy cases soar, new Chinese cases plummet
As the World Health Organisation declares the Covid-19 coronavirus a global pandemic, there are now 126,380 cases, resulting in 4,634 deaths, with 68,310 people fully recovered. The focus of new outbreaks has moved away from China and to the European continent and the US. The current death rate is 3.7%. Here are snippets of the latest news from around the…
- Thailand Election News
“Nothing to do with the election” – Deputy PM Prawit
Senior government security officials are claiming the series of bomb blasts last weekend in the southern provinces of Phatthalung and Satun are related to insurgency activities in the predominantly Muslim region. They say there is no connection with the upcoming election and that the timing is just co-incidence. The South has been racked by violence from an ongoing insurgency since…
- Bangkok News
Police wrestler avoids jail but gets a hefty fine
PHOTO: Daily News Bangkok’s Dusit Court has fined a Honda City sedan driver 8,500 baht for four offences related to an incident caught on video last week. The video showed Pol Lance Corporal Thanakit Wiboonphan trying to clamp a car parked illegally in a no standing zone. Not happy about the situation, the driver argued and wrestled with the traffic policeman.…
- Thailand News
Flying motorbike ends up stuck in power lines in Surin
PHOTO: เฮฮาหน้าโรงพัก A motorbike has ended up entangled in power lines, four meters up in the air, following an incident in Surin province yesterday. Daily News is reporting that emergency responders were notified of the accident in Karbcherng last night (Sunday). They arrived to find a motorbike entangled in the electric wires four metres from the ground. Nearby they found…
- Pattaya News
Australian ‘bottles’ customer in an unprovoked attack in Pattaya
SCREENSHOT: Facebook/David Collier A customer in a bar has been attacked in Pattaya. CCTV footage shows the moment an Australia thug launched a shocking and apparently unprovoked attack on the man. As the customer was walking out of the bar the assailant gets up and whacks the man over the head with a bottle. The attacker has been identified as…
- Bangkok News
Wealthy Thai woman arrested over dodgy weight-loss pills in raids across the country
PHOTO: Daily News An extensive police operation has led to the arrest of wealthy operator of a business selling alleged weight-loss products. The woman has also been charged with possession of controlled substances. Of the 13 targeted locations in Bangkok, one was the luxurious home of Wirairat Udthong on Soi Pattanakan 42 in the Suan Luang district. Wirairat was charged…
- Thai Life
Phuket 1988: Thai expat digs out his old Super 8 movies
David Barrett gets out his Super 8 projector for another film night – this time we see Patong in 1988, already quite developed even though mass tourism was still more than a decade away. The few high-rise are certainly not cluttering up the skyline at this time. David is sharing his early Super 8 movies with us as we wallow…
- Hot News
Some airlines ground the Boeing 737 MAX 800 aircraft “as a precaution”
Airlines around the world that fly the new Boeing 737 MAX 800 model are starting to ground their fleets of the new next-gen aircraft. China’s aviation regulator have already ordered local airlines to stop flight with the 800 MAX model after an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft of the same model crashed yesterday morning. The aircraft is relatively new to the skies,…
- South Thailand News
Bank evasive after 91 year old claims 5 million baht removed from his account
A 91 year old land owner and farmer in Chumpon claims that he’s had 5 million baht ‘taken’ from one of his bank accounts. Daily News reports that Thon Brahmjan from Tha Kham district had been to the bank, the police and government consumer watchdog Damrongtham Centre at the end of last year after the 5 million baht went missing…
- Environment News
Shoppers said ‘no’ to 237 million plastic bags at 7-11 in three months
More than 237 million plastic bags have been left unused at Thailand’s 7-eleven stores in the past three months – valued at more than 47 million baht. But the media release from CP All, the local franchise owners of 7-eleven, doesn’t announce how many plastic bags were actually used during the same period. The sole operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores…
- World News
Ethiopian Airlines crash – a second new Boeing 737 falters after take off
PHOTO: A brand new Boeing 737 Max 800 for Ethiopian Airlines All 157 people on board the Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa that crashed yesterday morning have died, the airline has confirmed. The airline said in a statement… “We hereby confirm that our scheduled flight ET 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi was involved in accident today.” The plane is…
- World News
Will Asian airlines allow female flight attendants to leave the make up and tight clothes at home?
Some regional airlines, principally AirAsia and Vietnam’s VietJet Air are being criticised for putting young female flight attendants in tight-fitting clothes or revealing outfits either on the job or in promotional videos. The local online ‘outrage’ follows an announcement this week that Britain’s Virgin Atlantic has dropped a requirement that female flight attendants wear makeup. This sees Virgin join other major…
- Chiang Mai News
American all smiles after getting nabbed over convenience store theft
A 54 year old American has been caught stealing from a convenience store in Chiang Mai. Gregory Paul Burke was captured on camera at the Muang police station grinning over the matter. Staff at the store in Khotchasan Road, Chiang Mai, caught him stuffing two big bags of instant coffee, some chewing gum and a pack of sushi into his…
- Things To Do
Top 10 things to see in Phuket, on a budget (2019)
PHOTO: The Trick Eye Museum in Phuket Town We can’t all afford to stay in the lap of luxury in five star properties, and spend our Sunday’s at extravagant hi-so brunches. Good luck to those who can! In Phuket you can have fantastic experiences that either cost you nothing or not much more. Here is, in no particular order, our…
- Bangkok News
Bangkok woman gives birth in the back of a taxi!
PHOTO MONTAGE: Thai Rath So you’re on your way to hospital with a passenger in the back of your taxi who says she’s going to have a baby – soon. Ahead there’s a lot traffic. Taxi driver Pratheep Manop said he picked up a woman aged about 25 – 30 from Pahonyothin Soi 48. She wanted to be taken to Wipharam…
