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President Trump claims China responsible for “mass worldwide killing”
In one of his notorious Twitter posts, US President Donald Trump once again raged against China over the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the globe, blaming Beijing for a “mass worldwide killing.” The early morning tweet yesterday, which referred to an unidentified “wacko in China”, is the latest heated rhetoric from Washington, where Trump is making attacks on Beijing a central narrative…
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Thai Airways to lay off 30% of its staff
“THAI will stop repaying all debt and start from scratch.” The government announced today that Thai Airways will have to dismiss more than 6,000 employees after entering into receivership proceedings and a debt moratorium of 200 billion baht. The Cabinet decided to push Thai Airways into a bankruptcy procedure under the Bankruptcy Act and ordered the Ministry of Finance to…
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40 year old man injured in Phuket shophouse explosion
Police in Phuket are blaming a gas leak causing an explosion that injured a man when he switched on the kitchen light at his shophouse home in the island’s east coast Rassada subdistrict early this morning. The blast blew out the shopfront windows, brought down ceiling panels and tore off roofing tiles. Police were was called to the shophouse at…
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19 kilograms of crystal meth, valued around 10 million baht, seized on Thai train
2 people are in custody and 19 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine or “ya ice” has been seized after it was discovered in their bags on an express train from Bangkok to the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat last night. 22 year old Ekkapong Kaewsa, of Bangkok, and his female companion 23 year old Methanee Suparb from Si Sa Ket,…
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Officers demand 5 million baht bribe, hundreds riot – VIDEO
All claiming to be police officers, 3 men in Southern Thailand tried to extort a man for 5 million baht so he could avoid arrest. Somehow hundreds of villagers in Surat Thani got involved and surrounded the policeman’s Toyota Fortuner, according to Thai media. A video from Thai PBS shows villagers rocking the vehicle back and forth, and the rear…
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International postal services resume to some countries
Thailand’s postal service is resuming international deliveries to a variety of destinations as the Covid-19 situation in many countries has improved and many local and national governments have eased lockdown measures. Thailand Post announced the resumption of the service on its Facebook page yesterday. EMS World service will be available in 11 countries – Bhutan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea,…
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Covid-19 update: 3 new cases including German man, no deaths (May 21)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced this morning that 3 new Covid-19 cases were found over the previous 24 hour period, but no deaths, bringing the national total to 3,037 and leaving the death toll at 56. The new cases were found in Bangkok and Chon Buri – 2 in community areas while 1, a returnee from the Philippines,…
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Global coronavirus infections top 5 million
“We still have a long way to go in this pandemic. In the last 24 hours, there have been 106,000 cases reported to WHO, the most in a single day since the outbreak began.” The Covid-19 coronavirus has infected more than 5 million people worldwide since the beginning of the outbreak, as the World Health Organisation yesterday reported highest number…
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Thai Airways union says it won’t oppose bankruptcy proceedings
“We opposed this position before but after reexamination, we have to show creditors that Thai Airways will genuinely follow the restructuring plan. Including adjustments to the board and staff.” In an abrupt reversal, the president of Thai Airways’ labour union announced yesterday that the union won’t oppose the government’s plan to reduce holdings in the airline and restructure the carrier…
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State of emergency likely to remain through June
Despite the reopening of many businesses and a loosening of the national curfew, Thailand’s national state of emergency appears set to remain in effect for at least another month, as authorities are “still not confident” about the nation’s recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, according to a military source. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha met yesterday with military top brass to address the…
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Man smashes coffee cup on policeman’s head after being told to wear a mask
A man has smashed a ceramic cup on a police officer’s head after he was told to wear a face mask yesterday in a province outside Bangkok. The officer, Thai media reports as 41 year old ‘Saroch’, was doing a routine check for coronavirus prevention, making sure vendors and business owners are abiding by emergency regulations. The Bang Nang Buat…
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Thai car production hits 30 year low
As late as last year, the automotive industry in Thailand was the largest in Southeast Asia and the twelfth largest in the world, with an annual output of around 2 million vehicles. But in April this year, Thailand’s car production hit its lowest level in 30 years – just 24,711 units – amid weak global demand, factory shutdowns and widespread…
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Pattaya massage shops petition government to be allowed to reopen
Massage shops in Pattaya are appealing for permission to reopen as the city has not recorded a new case of the Covid-19 virus for 36 days now. Their plea comes as the government considers the possibility of allowing lower body massage only, to lessen the risk of virus transmission. However, the Thai Massage Association says it would be impossible for…
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Man steals one million baht to pay off gambling debts
What would you do if you were broke and owed 800,000 baht in gambling debts? Rob a bank? Seems like the start of a movie, but that’s basically what happened earlier this week in Northern Thailand. On Monday, 2 men robbed a car at gunpoint in front of Bangkok Bank Branch in Chiang Saen and sped off on their motorbike, Thai media…
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One of the robbers in Chiang Rai arrested – VIDEO
UPDATE: Police have arrested a suspect from Monday’s robbery that took place in Chiang Saen district in Chiang Rai, when a pair of robbers stole 1.05 million baht outside a Krungthai Bank. 2 men on a motorbike managed to escape and a manhunt was ordered. Read more HERE. When officials arrived at the crime scene they found 46 year old…
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Cyclone Amphan: Crossed the coast and now saturating India and Bangladesh
Cyclone Amphan made reached the coastline late yesterday afternoon near the Indian town of Digha, on India’s eastern coast, near the border with Bangladesh. As the storm marched up the Bay of Bengal since the weekend, strengthening, thousands of people were evacuated as a precaution for the major storm system. Millions of other have taken shelter or made their way…
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Last Covid-19 patient in Songklanagarind hospital sent home
A hospital on the front lines fighting Covid-19 in the Hat Yai district of the southern province of Songkhla has released its last remaining Covid-19 patient. The patient was sent home yesterday, after making a full recovery. According to the staff at Songklanagarind Hospital, the patient fell critically ill in his home province of Narathiwat and had to be transferred…
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More trouble for ailing Thai Airways as Airbus calls in its debts
Even as struggling national flag carrier Thai Airways strives to come up with blueprint for financial recovery, Airbus is calling in its debts on 30 aircraft rented by the airline. Thailand’s deputy transport minister says the company’s debts were checked on May 15, when documents showed that Airbus is trying to collect debts for rental of 30 airplanes as the…
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18 year old daughter allegedly raped multiple times by father
Thai media report that an 18 year old girl was raped multiple times over 8 years by her own father. The victim, identified only as “Mali,” filed a complaint with police in the northern province of Lamphun, just south of Chiang Mai, alleging that her 38 year old father ‘O’ had been raping her since she was 11 years old.…
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‘New normal’ seen in shopping malls across Bangkok
Part of the ‘new normal’, in times of Covid-19 in Thailand, involves redesigning traditional ways of doing things and changing daily life to stay safe and virus free. Today The Standard has revealed a few things that you might see in the near future. To minimise the risk of the spread of Covid-19 in elevators, engineers have created a new,…
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Chon Buri pedestrian dies in hit-and-run incident
A hit-and-run incident early this morning has left an unidentified male pedestrian, believed to be Thai, dead in Chon Buri’s Banglamung district. Police were notified of the incident at around 12:30am Authorities, emergency responders and The Pattaya News rushed to the scene to find the body of a man, believed to be Thai, estimated to be 35 -40 years old,…
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Temple closes to mark decade since redshirt crackdown
A Bangkok temple, where 6 people were shot and killed by the military during the 2010 “redshirt” political protests, has closed during the tragic event’s 10 year anniversary. A sign was put in front of Wat Pathum Wanaram saying it was closed for “disinfection,” according to Khaosod. But many see the significance of the closure relating to the events a…
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Security guard stabbed to death in Samut Prakan
A female motorbike taxi driver has allegedly stabbed a security guard to death after a quarrel at a parking building in Samut Prakan, just south of Bangkok. Police heard about the fatal stabbing of 37 year old Sathaporn Thong-In at 10am. The victim was found lying in a pool of blood and had a stab wound on the left side…
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Man’s death raises alarm about homeless during the pandemic
A homeless man died recently of pneumonia, raising the alarm of Thailand’s homelessness problem during the pandemic. A few days before he died the man, who has not been identified, went to a community pantry in Suphan Buri, just outside Bangkok, and took home just one carton of milk, according to Nation Thailand. He then developed a fever last week, testing…
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Criticism over bad English lesson in Thai online class
Thai schools are pushing for online learning to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but a recent English lesson posted online is just proof that basic English levels remain poor in the country. The video of a Thai teacher with poor pronunciation spread across the internet, with some saying she should be a student rather than a teacher. The teacher…
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Thailand scores highest for mask-wearing in survey of ASEAN nations
A survey carried out by internet-based market research firm YouGov reveals that Thais are the most likely to wear face masks and to use hand sanitiser. Khaosod English reports that the survey examined the habits of citizens from 6 ASEAN member-states and found that 95% of Thais always wear a face mask in public. (It’s currently still law to wear…
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Thai virus expert says careful consideration needed before reopening schools
Thailand’s chief virologist Dr. Yong Poovorawan, from the Faculty of Medicine at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, says reopening the country’s schools should not be a political decision. Instead, he says it should be based on science, with consideration given to the risks involved, and adequate safety measures put in place. Thai PBS World reports that Dr Yong says that while most…
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12 Rohingya arrested for illegal entry in Tak province
Police in the western Thai province of Tak, near the Burmese border, say 12 Rohingya were arrested in the Mae Sot district and charged with illegal entry. The Rohingya are an ethnic group in Myanmar. Most live in Rakhine State on Myanmar’s western coast. Myanmar is a majority Buddhist state, but the Rohingya are primarily Muslim, though a small number…
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Krispy Kreme employee allegedly fired after post about former Thai King
A man was fired from a Krispy Kreme Doughnut Thailand store after making disparaging remarks about a former Thai king. Now some people are boycotting the doughnut business for their actions. But Krispy Kreme executives deny the allegations. ‘Chaiyaporn Sornbudnak’ made a post on Facebook about King Rama IX, who died in 2016. News sites can’t even publish the man’s Facebook…
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Ex high ranking Buddhist officials convicted of embezzling millions
5 former National Office of Buddhism officials, including a former chief, have been found guilty of stealing 21 million baht from the organisation back in 2015. The Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases convicted the 5 of embezzlement and sentenced them to prison. They are also required to repay 21 million baht to the NOB. The convicted were…
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