Hot News
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Domestic tourism stimulus campaign set to be extended
Officials are discussing an extension to the domestic tourism stimulus package, following the approval of additional public holidays between now and the end of the year. The extra holidays will take place between November 19 and 22, and again from December 10 to 13, as the government continues its efforts to boost domestic tourism. Thailand’s tourism industry has been left…
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Thai Vietjet introduce new “Deluxe” product for domestic routes in Thailand
Thai Vietjet, which currently operates 13 domestic routes within Thailand, is launching a new “Deluxe” product, starting from 999 baht. The “Deluxe” tickets will include 7 kilos of carry-on and 20 kilos of checked luggage (currently an additional charge), as well as seat selection and priority check-in. Date, route and flight changes are also permitted 1 time, free of charge.…
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Little has changed: 9 years after devastating floods, Bangkok remains defenceless
Parts of Bangkok remain at risk of catastrophic floods, as happened in 2011, when thousands of people were displaced and homes partially or totally destroyed. Now, 9 years later, a report in the Bangkok Post says city officials have made little progress in shoring up the capital’s flood defences, and the upper-eastern area remains as exposed as ever. Back in…
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News of American sued over bad Koh Chang hotel review has everyone talking
After news hit of an American being arrested and sued for defamation over leaving a bad review about a Koh Chang hotel on TripAdvisor, many are taking to the internet to voice their opinions on the issue. The Sea View Resort owners say it tried in vain to negotiated with Wesley Barnes after he posted the reviews, but he continued…
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Phuket police arrest 6 after finding large amounts of methamphetamine in raid
Phuket Provincial Police have arrested 6 people after finding large amounts of methamphetamine and other drugs during a raid. One suspect alone allegedly had 7.6 kilograms of crystal meth (ya ice) and over 12,500 methamphetamine pills (ya bah). 29 year old Surasak ‘Bank’ Wijit and 27 year old Panida ‘Mei’ Saeyang were arrested at an apartment car park in Soi…
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Phuket Muay Thai fighter is the first Thai national to compete in UFC
The upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship Fight Night event in Abu Dhabi will feature Thailand’s only national marking her third fight with the UFC, the world’s largest mixed martial arts competition. 24 year old Loma Lookboonme, from Burirram in northeastern Thailand, will fight in the event on October 3, 2020. Loma is a Muay Thai fighter who has adapted her MMA…
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Majority in survey say now is the time to share ideas to solve conflicts
A majority of those surveyed in a recent Suan Dusit Rajabhat University poll say now is the time to work together to solve the conflicts that are plaguing the country. The poll, known as the Suan Dusit Poll, was conducted online from September 23-25, asked for opinions on the long-standing conflicts in Thailand. 1,263 online netizens responded with a large…
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Police arrest 13 illegal Cambodian migrants in Sa Kaeo border province
Police have arrested 13 illegal Cambodian migrants in the Sa Kaeo border province after a patrol team spotted some of them at 2am in the morning. The Burapha Task Force spotted 5 of the migrants in Ban Nong Phai village of Ta Phraya sub district after stopping a grey Toyota Fortuner that was registered in Bangkok. According to police, the…
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Koh Chang resort sues American over bad review
A Koh Chang resort is fighting back and, reportedly, suing an American citizen after posting a nasty online review on TripAdvisor. After recently visiting the Sea View Resort on Trat province island in the Gulf of Thailand, American Wesley Barnes wrote an unflattering, almost bitchy, account of his stay prompting the owner to file an official complaint over the ‘unfair’…
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Government to stir economy with 100 billion baht stimulus starting in October
The Thai Government is expected to stimulate the economy with 100 billion baht boost starting in October until the end of the year. The injection will reportedly come from both the people’s and the government’s spending under three stimulus measures according to the Deputy PM Supattanapong Punmeechaow. The first measure will reportedly give 14 million welfare cardholders an extra 500…
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“Bad Student” movement by high-schoolers continues fight against authorities
A movement, dubbed by some of Thailand’s high-schoolers as ‘Bad Student’, is advancing the fight against education authorities as students are trying to break up the country’s strict, or as they claim, archaic, education system. The movement’s name takes after a university student activitst’s book about his experiences in a government high school. The recent rebellion of students coincides with…
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More than 1,000 pigs killed in effort to contain spread of virus in Lampang
The outbreak of ‘porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome’ caused the Department of Livestock Development to order the slaying of pigs in several subdistricts of Mae Tha district in the northern Lampang province. The head of the department says it has been able to prevent the outbreak from spreading out of the declared areas due to the elimination order, but the…
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Phuket’s Sri Panwa Resort’s land title deed to be investigated for legality by DSI
Back in the news again. Phuket’s Sri Panwa Resort’s land title deed is now to be investigated by the Department of Special Investigation after a petition was filed to determine whether the deed was procured legally. Veera Somkwamkid, the secretary-general of the People’s Network Against Corruption, filed the petition along with 167 pages of documents pertaining to his accusations that…
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Mother abandons 3 young children in their locked Bangkok room for 3 days
3 young Bangkok children were abandoned in a small room for 3 days after the mother allegedly visited her new boyfriend. A neighbour was taking care of the youngest of the 4 children, a 4 month old baby, but the mother never contacted anyone about her other 3 kids. The mother hadn’t returned to pick up her baby from the…
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Female prisoner on the run after escaping from Phuket Hospital
A female prisoner is on the run after escaping from Vachira Hospital in Phuket during a doctor’s appointment. 58 year old Siri Phodam allegedly escaped after asking her prison escort officer to use the toilet. But she took a long time to come back, and was found to have escaped. CCTV cameras caught her dressed in a blue hospital patient…
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Thai Chamber of Commerce urges visa amnesty to be extended after today’s deadline
The Thai Chamber of Commerce is urging the government to extend the visa amnesty for the country’s 400,000 tourists after today’s deadline but has so far been turned down. The move comes as such provinces like Chiang Mai’s immigration office sends messages giving tourists until Monday to sort out their visas (which is under the law as Saturday, the final…
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Thai Air Asia returns to Suvarnabhumi in addition to its Don Mueang hub
Thai AirAsia is spreading its Bangkok wings and opening up a secondary hub at the main Suvarnabhumi airport (BKK), to help broaden its attraction and bolster its bottomline. Thai Air Asia was the first airline to head back to the moth-balled Don Mueang in 2012 to re-establish the older airport after all the airlines moved across to the new Suvarnabhumi…
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Flights to nowhere. The latest ‘cunning plan’ by Thai Airways
Sort of counter-intuitive, but you get on a plane, take off, and land at the same airport. Not usually the way it’s meant to work, but that’s the latest brain child of the Thai Airways management, via their budget Thai Smile brand, who are already back in the air. The idea is to offer people who have missed the experience…
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Deputy PM says 2 years until Thailand’s economy is back to normal
It’s going to be another 2 years until Thailand’s economy is back on track, according to Deputy PM Supattanapong Punmeechaow. At least that’s the amount of time he expects it will take to get the economy back to “normal levels” from before the coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus crisis crippled economies across the globe. The Covid-19 pandemic is already the worst…
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Thailand’s first cancer medicine factory expected to cut drug costs in half
The government just sealed the deal to build Thailand’s first factory to produce cancer-treating medicine and chemicals, a move that is expected to cut treatment drug costs in half. Buying imported cancer-treating drugs is expensive. Thailand spends about 21 billion baht per year on imported cancer medicine, according to Deputy PM and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. The local factory is intended…
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Chiang Mai man charged with murdering baby daughter because he wanted a son
A man has been arrested in Chiang Mai after confessing to poisoning his 7 month old daughter. 45 year old Anuphap Jaipanya, a hilltribe member, says he was influenced by his cultural beliefs and, having 2 daughters already, had hoped for a son to carry on the family name and take over his business. The Pattaya News reports that the…
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Charter vote delayed, committee formed and Senators escape Parliament by boat – VIDEO
Thailand’s MPs and Senators have kicked the constitutional can down the road at least a month after the parliament failed to agree on charter amendments. A panel will be sent up to examine 6 motions that were proposed and debated over the past 2 days. Meanwhile, up to 2,000 protesters were gathered outside the unfinished parliamentary buildings as an act…
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Quarantine could be reduced to 7 days from November, if border re-opening succeeds
Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister says the mandatory quarantine period for those arriving from overseas could be reduced to 7 days if there is no spike in Covid-19 infections after the border re-opens to limited arrivals from October. For the minister’s part, the 7 day quarantine is merely speculation at this stage. Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says more details on the…
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Pattaya men allegedly posed as police officers, extorted 50,000 baht from a woman
A group of 4 men in Pattaya allegedly posed as police officers and extorted 50,000 baht from a woman. The 20 year old woman says the men claiming to be police officers raided her condominium and a friend visiting had drugs in his possession. In the report filed with Pattaya City Police, the woman says the men asked both her…
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982 lèse majesté social media posts cited in police complaint
Nearly 1,000 so called lèse majesté posts on social media have been cited in a police complaint for allegedly violating Thailand’s Computer Crime Act, some allegedly criticising and insulting the Thai Monarchy. The complaints were filed by Digital Economy and Society Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta. The police report says the social media posts were shared during the pro-democracy protest over the…
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Armed men allegedly steal more than 100,000 baht from Ayutthaya monk
Police are searching for men who allegedly robbed a monk at an Ayutthaya temple, taking off with more than 100,000 baht in cash. Thai media reports that 2 of the men have been arrested and police are still searching for the other 2 men. The monk was in his room at the Dokmai Buddhist Temple when he heard dogs barking.…
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70% of Phuket’s tourism businesses are closed, many for good
Most tourism businesses in Phuket have closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and they probably won’t be up and running again until foreign tourists are let back in Thailand. Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew says around 70% of tourism businesses have closed, most of them just temporarily, but some have shut down permanently. But the statistics are not quite that simple,…
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Bangkok DJ dies in high speed crash on notorious ‘death road’
A well known local DJ died early this morning in a high speed car crash on a Bangkok road bend nicknamed “Curve of 100 Deaths.” Police say his car’s speedometer was found stuck at 200 kilometres per hour. Police suspect 33 year old Annop Poonsripattana was going around a curve when he lost control of the car due to the…
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Deputy PM says “Big Joke” transfer not necessarily unlawful
Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam says former immigration chief, Surachate Hakparn, shouldn’t assume his transfer to an inactive post in the PM’s Office was unlawful. Surachate, known by the nickname “Big Joke” (given to him by Thai media) headed up Thailand’s Immigration Bureau until he was unceremoniously side-lined by the PM, Prayut Chan-o-cha last year. It’s understood he is now planning…
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Thailand’s Social Security Office forced to explain investment in Sri Panwa Phuket Resort trust fund
The Social Security Office, a department under the direction of Thailand’s Ministry of Labour, is being asked to explain its investment in the trust fund of Phuket’s Sri Panwa Phuket Resort. The demand comes as members of the opposition and political activists call for an investigation into the property’s land rights. The owner of Sri Panwa Phuket, Vorasit Issara, has…
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