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    5 ways retirees in Thailand lose money (and how to stop it)

    Retiring in Thailand can be affordable and enjoyable, but many retirees lose money due to common mistakes. High living costs, scams, and unexpected expenses can quickly drain savings. There are five ways that retirees in Thailand can lose money and...

  • Loan shark shoots debtor 8 times in the head in southern Thailand

    Loan shark shoots debtor 8 times in the head in southern Thailand

    A loan shark chose revenge over repayments on Sunday when he shot a debtor eight times in the head outside a tea shop in Songkhla province in southern Thailand. At 8pm, officers at Khuan Meed Police Station received a call that someone had been shot dead in the Chana district. Police found the body of 42 year old Chusit [surname…

  • BMTA replaces mushroom seat on Bangkok public bus

    BMTA replaces mushroom seat on Bangkok public bus

    UPDATE The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) today apologised to the city’s passengers after a story of mushrooms growing out of a public bus seat went viral on Thai social media. The picture of the mushroom-growing seat, posted by political activist Jatuporn “New” Saenueng, drew complaints from Thai netizens. The BMTA responded to the criticism on its official Facebook page…

  • Janitor finds young man’s corpse on fire behind school in NE Thailand

    Janitor finds young man’s corpse on fire behind school in NE Thailand

    Police have launched a murder investigation after the body of a 23 year old man was found at a school last night in Buriram province in northeast Thailand. His body was badly burned and the smell of oil pervaded the crime scene. At 8.30pm yesterday, a janitor started his shift at Ban Salangthon school when he noticed a “burning stench.”…

  • TAT going green to smash a Guinness World Record

    TAT going green to smash a Guinness World Record

    The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is calling on all diving enthusiasts to help smash an official Guinness World Record. The TAT wants tourists and residents to get involved in their Go Green Active drive, a conservation diving event at Phuket’s famous Patong Beach between November 18 and November 20. The TAT wants to set a new Guinness World Records…

  • PM Prayut declares war on drugs to prevent mass shootings in Thailand

    PM Prayut declares war on drugs to prevent mass shootings in Thailand

    Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha declared a war on drugs and a clampdown on gun control laws after a massacre at a daycare centre in northeast Thailand sparked urgent calls for change on Thursday. A former police sergeant facing trial for drug charges murdered 37 people – including 24 children under six years old – at a daycare centre in…

  • Pickup driver arrested after killing Bangkok road sweeper

    Pickup driver arrested after killing Bangkok road sweeper

    UPDATE Police arrested a pickup driver involved in the hit-and-run incident that killed a Bangkok road sweeper yesterday morning. Officers managed to get the man after the driver took his vehicle to get repaired at a local garage in the area. Police revealed three pieces of evidence were left at the scene, a black bumper bar and broken parts from…

  • Hot to trot at the Pattaya Bikini Beach Race?

    Hot to trot at the Pattaya Bikini Beach Race?

    Are you hot to trot? Do you have a bikini bod to die for or just an average Joe or Jane who likes to keep fit and have a good time? Well, you’re in luck because the Pattaya International Bikini Beach Race 2022 ticks all of those boxes. Men and women of all shapes and sizes are welcome to take…

  • Thais arrested for making 9,000 fake US0 bills

    Thais arrested for making 9,000 fake US$100 bills

    Cyberpolice today reported that a Thai man and a Thai woman were arrested for making fake US$100 bills worth US$900,000 or 34 million baht. A United States Secret Service officer from the US Embassy in Bangkok ran a check over the bills and reported that they were very realistic. The Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, Torsak Sookwimon, reported…

  • Room to shroom on Bangkok public buses

    Room to shroom on Bangkok public buses

    A fungi picture of mushrooms growing out of the seat of a public bus in Bangkok has gone viral on Thai social media. Some netizens made fun of pictures saying shitake happens while others were more serious saying enough is enough, time to refurbish Thai public buses. Political activist Jatuporn “New” Saeoueng posted the picture of the mushrooms growing out…

  • Thai man arrested for posing as police officer

    Thai man arrested for posing as police officer

    A Thai man was arrested on Friday after he tried to fulfil his dream job – impersonating a police officer. The 30 year old man, Kamfon Kunlachart, in full police uniform, reported himself ready for work to the superintendent at a police station in the Din Daeng district of Bangkok at 9.30am on Friday, October 7. Kamfon met with the…

  • Intoxicated Phuket man carries chicken around all night long

    Intoxicated Phuket man carries chicken around all night long

    An intoxicated Phuket man had a wild night carrying around something rather… random. The man was caught on Saturday morning after walking around carrying knives and a chicken all night long on Coconut Island off the main city district. Police caught the man, 37 year old Jaran, who had reportedly scared residents. Jaran had two knives, a chicken, and an…

  • Thai man robbed by cannabis dealer at knife-point in Pattaya

    Thai man robbed by cannabis dealer at knife-point in Pattaya

    A Thai man filed a complaint with police after he was allegedly forced to strip naked as he was being robbed at knife-point by a cannabis dealer in Pattaya. The suspect was arrested but denied all allegations, saying they were friends and he would never rob a friend. Anukun Sichan filed the complaint at Mueng Pattaya Police Station yesterday at 8pm.…

  • “Black Sunday” flash mob protest on Bangkok BTS

    “Black Sunday” flash mob protest on Bangkok BTS

    Protesters staged a flash mob against PM Prayut Chan-o-cha on a Bangkok BTS train yesterday, The Standard reported. The demonstrators held placards with messages including “Prayut may be some people’s hope but he is the despair of the nation.” The protesters were dressed in black, and some also wore black sunglasses. The flash mob’s leader, Sombat Boonngamanong, said the “Black…

  • Police let off CNN reporters with 5,000 baht fine over invasive massacre reporting

    Police let off CNN reporters with 5,000 baht fine over invasive massacre reporting

    Deputy police chief ‘Big Joke‘ has done a 180 degree turn on CNN, letting off reporters with just a 5,000 baht fine (US$132) each for their invasive coverage of the daycare centre massacre in Nong Bua Lamphu province in northeast Thailand. On Saturday, Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn insisted on prosecuting two members of CNN staff for breaking into the crime…

  • Bangkok road sweeper dies in hit-and-run

    Bangkok road sweeper dies in hit-and-run

    The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is to pay 1.6 million baht in compensation to the family of a road sweeper who died in a hit-and-run incident on Kanchanapisek Road in the capital yesterday. The driver is on the run and there was no CCTV camera footage at the scene. The 59 year old woman road sweeper, Somsi Yimchalam, was hit…

  • Bangkok taxi driver miraculously unharmed after tree falls on his car

    Bangkok taxi driver miraculously unharmed after tree falls on his car

    A Bangkok taxi driver miraculously escaped unharmed after a tree came crashing down on his taxi during a storm, Sanook reported on Friday. The driver parked his car along the gate at Chulalongkorn University, as he waited for his girlfriend who worked there. The driver was in his car during the heavy rainstorm when suddenly, he heard the loud sound…

  • Debt, drugs and death in Phatthalung midnight murder mystery

    Debt, drugs and death in Phatthalung midnight murder mystery

    The story has emerged in today’s Bangkok Post of a Phatthalung woman who was making her way to the hospital after escaping the clutches of her abusive husband. Already in a state of shock, 26 year old Dararat Songnui was further traumatised by the site of her husband’s corpse by the road. Suphamit Chandee had been stabbed to death. A…

  • Phuket International Airport predicts 30,000 passengers daily

    Phuket International Airport predicts 30,000 passengers daily

    High season is starting this month in Phuket, and the airport is predicting up to 30,000 travellers per day. The increase in air traffic to the popular tourist destination coincides with the airport’s 34th anniversary. And to celebrate, passengers and flights – both domestic and international – are ramping up. International carriers such as Aeroflot from Russia, Pegasus Airlines from…

  • Andaman Sea coast set for UNESCO recognition

    Andaman Sea coast set for UNESCO recognition

    Three conservation areas on the Andaman Sea are to be nominated for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recognition by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa. As the islands prepare to welcome tourists on October 15, Varawut was inspecting a maintenance and waste collection project on Koh Miang of the Similan Islands in Phangnga province. Reports in…

  • Phew! No drug use in Phuket clubs – Police

    Phew! No drug use in Phuket clubs – Police

    After receiving complaints from area residents about illicit drug use in bars and clubs in Phuket Town, police officers inspected entertainment venues. On Friday, the inspection took place to check various bars, nightclubs, and other nightlife entertainment venues after online complaints went viral. The inspection saw around 20 police officers from Phuket City Police and the Mueang Phuket District Office check…

  • Gun laws in Thailand to be discussed by House committee

    Gun laws in Thailand to be discussed by House committee

    An upcoming meeting of the House Committee on Police Affairs will address gun control measures in the wake of the daycare centre massacre just days ago. The vice chairman of the committee who serves as the deputy secretary-general of the Democrat Party announced plans to consider several actions to allow more responsible gun ownership in Thailand. One idea on the…

  • Once bitten… English financial advisor who took chunk out of Thai investors

    Once bitten… English financial advisor who took chunk out of Thai investors

    Foreign financial “advisors” have been defrauding the country’s ex-pats for decades. Does seeing the arrest of Briton Mark Kirkham mean that the Thai economic police are finally catching up with them? Probably not, and why would you expect them to? Kirkham, according to financial blogger Andrew Drummond, looked every inch the upstanding member of the community on his arrest at…

  • Guns, drugs and mental health – questions for a grieving nation

    Guns, drugs and mental health – questions for a grieving nation

    Since at least 37 people were killed in Thursday’s daycare centre massacre, Thailand has been forced to ask itself some very uncomfortable questions. Gregory Raymond is a lecturer in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs researching Southeast Asian politics and foreign relations. Writing for Australia’s ABC News, Raymond identifies some areas that should be of concern to everyone…

  • Fake monks solicit cash donations for drug money

    Fake monks solicit cash donations for drug money

    In Rayong province, police raided a temple where Cambodian border hoppers were impersonating monks to collect money for drugs. Five fake monks were arrested at Wat Khao Bo Thong in the Klaeng district yesterday morning. Many others fled and got away. Residents became suspicious of the monks at the temple when they refused traditional alms like food and water and…

  • Finnish CEO detained for alleged mistreatment of 1,100 Thai berry pickers

    Finnish CEO detained for alleged mistreatment of 1,100 Thai berry pickers

    Finnish police have arrested and detained the CEO of berry company “Polarica” under suspicion of human trafficking. CEO Jukka Kristo allegedly “deceived” 1100 Thai berry pickers and housed them in “poor conditions.” This year, Kristo’s company flew around 1100 Thais to Finland to work as berry pickers – an industry that heavily relies on a foreign workforce. The CEO has…

  • Thai woman & foreign men charged for child sex trafficking in Pattaya

    Thai woman & foreign men charged for child sex trafficking in Pattaya

    Police arrested a Thai woman and three foreign men for rape and sex trafficking teenagers aged under 15 years old in Pattaya. Officers from Mueng Pattaya Police Station reported yesterday that the teenagers, aged between 12 and 15, were trafficked from Beer Bar in Soi Bua Khao on September 11. According to a Police TV report, Beer Bar secretly offers…

  • Massacre in Thailand: No drugs detected in system of daycare centre killer

    Massacre in Thailand: No drugs detected in system of daycare centre killer

    It comes as a great shock that no drugs were detected in the body of the ruthless killer who massacred 37 people – including 24 children under 6 years old – yesterday at a daycare centre in Nong Bua Lamphu province in northeast Thailand. The former policeman was dismissed from the force for failing a drug test. He appeared in…

  • Massacre in Thailand raises questions on gun control

    Massacre in Thailand raises questions on gun control

    In the aftermath of the horrific massacre at a daycare centre in northeast Thailand yesterday, questions have been raised about the kingdom’s gun control laws. The murderer, 34 year old former police officer Panya Kamrap, had been fired due to his addiction to drugs. Many Thai people have been unimpressed with Deputy PM Prawit’s response to tackling gun and drug…

  • Pakistan’s transgenders dragged back into Dark Ages

    Pakistan’s transgenders dragged back into Dark Ages

    Early last month, Pakistani Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan proposed the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights amends the Transgender Protection Act of 2018, leading to a firestorm of online abuse on both sides of the argument. Despite its desire to be known as a conservative society with strong Islamic inclinations, Pakistan is one of only a few countries with legislation…

  • Thais unhappy with Prawit’s response to daycare centre massacre

    Thais unhappy with Prawit’s response to daycare centre massacre

    The Thai people were not impressed with the insensitive statement delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan about the daycare centre massacre yesterday. Thai reporters asked Deputy PM Prawit how he planned to prevent a similar scenario in the future. He said… “What can I do about it? He is a drug addict.” Prawit offered his condolences to the victim’s…