Hot News
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Sponsored How to choose the perfect family-friendly property in Phuket
Phuket has long attracted visitors from around the globe with its golden beach and lush green hills. Many come for a holiday and leave captivated, often deciding they want a piece of the island for themselves. That’s why, despite fluctuations...
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Businessman murdered in front of family in southern Thailand
A businessman in Thailand’s southern Trang province is dead after being shot down in home Tuesday in front of his family. Police say the murder occurred about 9:35pm. Thai media report that 32 year old Suchart Kongpeng was eating watermelon with his family when hooded gunman in a white shirt broke into the house and opened fire with a 12-gauge…
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Thai stocks tumbles, SET drops nearly 6%
Thailand’s stock exchange, the SET, plunged yesterday along with the region’s other bourses. The index dropped amid concerns over the growing global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. The SET dived 74.57 points, or nearly 6%, to 1,175.32 points. This all happened shortly after the open in a turnover of 9 billion baht. The SET50 index, Thailand’s top 50 listed companies, faired even…
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Thailand News Today, Wednesday, March 11, 2020
400 billion baht stimulus announced to boost Thai economy Yesterday’s Thai cabinet meeting gave the greenlight to a new stimulus package. The government expects the approved 400 billion baht to reduce the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. Last week’s 2,000 baht cash stimulus proposal, which was largely roasted in Thai social media after being proposed by the economic ministers,…
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Thailand cancels visas-on-arrival and some visa exemptions for 21 countries
On top of all the changes announced in the past few days for passengers arriving in Thailand, today the government has announced an additional measure. The Thai government has now cancelled the automatic granting of the visa-on-arrival for 18 countries as well as cancelling visa exemption for three other countries in additional efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.…
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Police intercept huge meth shipment and a tonne of marijuana
The Narcotics Suppression Bureau have reported a number of cases in the Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand. Both dugs cases involve a truck and an attempt to hide the illicit drugs in large sacks which were packed with dog food. In the first case, 38 year old Jiradech Isipriya from Chiang Mai as well as 3 other members of a…
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Chiang Mai gets world podium positions two days in a row, for air pollution
Hot AND polluted. Chiang Mai scored the top position again as the most air polluted city in the world yesterday, according to AirVisual.com. Today it has lost the top spot, but only just. Today’s temperature will again soar close to 40C with the rest of the week continuing to sizzle with almost no respite from the wind (forecast below). Saturday’s…
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Hotting up in northern Thailand
Hot, damn hot! The Thailand Meteorological Department says that a “thermal low” currently covers upper Thailand, while westerly winds prevail over the region, making the weather hot to very hot in some parts of the North, the Northeast, the Central and the East regions. Unpredictable weather and hotter days are normal for this time of the year leading up to…
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Thai Airways passengers, flying from ‘at risk’ destinations, now require health certificates
Thai Airways is now demanding passengers, departing on their planes from China, Italy and South Korea, to Thailand, provide the national airline with health certificates before they can receive their boarding passes. The announcement was the airlines’ latest reaction to the growing coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. Here’s The Thaiger’s daily Coronavirus update HERE. The new compliance relates to Thai flights out…
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Worst case scenario – Thailand loses 10 million tourists this year
Thailand’s tourist industry could be decimated in the wake of the world coronavirus outbreak. Tourism accounts for an estimated 16% of Thailand’s total GDP. The Tourism Authority of Thailand governor, Yutthasak Supasorn, says that, in a worst case scenario, Thailand could bleed 10 million of it’s projected 40 million tourist arrivals this year. He says his estimates were based on…
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Thai PM Prayut quashes 2,000 baht handout package
Easy come, easy go. Well that was quick. Last Friday’s announcements for 2 x 1000 baht handouts to poorer Thai citizens has been quashed by the PM. Prime Minister Prayut officially shelved plans to hand out the cash to low income earners. Last Friday the Finance Ministry made the announcement for a new round of stimulus packages to prop up…
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Kitten killer arrested in Chiang Mai
The internet is abuzz with outrage and indignation as netizens and animal lovers express their outrage over a man in arrested in northern Thailand for adopting kittens, then killing them. Officers in Chiang Mai arrested the man, identified as Waitaya Kadpab, on animal cruelty charges for adopting and killing up to 12 kittens. Authorities told Thai media that several people…
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Pattaya cop, volunteers busted for extortion, abduction
A police officer and four local police volunteers been arrested for extortion and abduction in Pattaya. Captain Wuttikorn Plodprong, a deputy investigator of the Pattaya City Police and the four volunteers for police were arrested Saturday, and are now in custody at the local remand prison. The arrest comes after relatives of an accused drug dealer reported to the Chon…
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Thai minister says aide not involved in massive mask-hoarding
Responding to a report on Facebook, the Thai Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thamanat Prompow admitted today that his assistant met a man who was reported to be hoarding face masks, but he denied they discussed the mask trade. The post alleged that Thamanat’s close aide had a hoard of 200 million medical masks for resale to China. He said…
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Village leader slain in drive-by shooting in South
Gunmen in Pattanni province in Thailand’s restive South shot dead an assistant village headman while he was exercising at a children’s playground yesterday. Pattani and its neighbouring provinces are home to Thailand’s Southern Conflict. The drive-by shooting occurred at playground in front of a football field in Ban Prawae of tambon Yarang. Witnesses say Chanwit Kaso, assistant headman of Ban…
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Thais reject the Government’s cash giveaway scheme
A new Super Poll survey shows that 71.2% of respondents disagree with the Government’s recently announced plans to hand out two 1,000 baht monthly cash give-aways to low income earners. The new economic stimulus package was announced last week by the finance ministry to help cushion the impact of the sagging economy and threats from the COVID-19 outbreak. A spokesperson…
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Wanted killer dies of unknown causes
An infamous killer, long sought by police, died this morning of “an unspecified illness” at a house in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. A team of police officers and a doctor from the district hospital went to the house after being informed of the death of the wanted hit man, identified as 49 year old Yuthana Chukaew, known…
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Ayutthaya mother and son drug gang, police seize 5 million meth pills
A mother and son, suspected to be part of a larger central Thailand drug gang, have been arrested after 5 million methamphetamine pills were discovered inside a rented rooms in Prainracha, Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok. Officials searched the property on March 6, noting that there were two bedrooms in bad repair with sacks of pills strewn around the rooms. Sacks…
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100 kilograms of crystal meth wash ashore in Thailand’s southeast
It’s been a busy week for the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), as police in Trat province seized 100 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice,” found washed ashore on two beaches. Nineteen packets of the drug were found on Koh Mak beach, and another 81 packs on Koh Kut beach. Trat is the easternmost province along the Thai…
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Help is on the way: 100 billion baht stimulus package passed
Eyeing the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on the nation’s already battered economy, the government yesterday approved a stimulus package, anticipated to cost more than 100 billion baht. The package was approved in a meeting of the Council of Economic Ministers, led by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, and will be forwarded to the cabinet for approval on Tuesday. After the…
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Forecast: steamy in the North, stormy in the South
The weather department’s forecast is for hot weather for upper Thailand today, as a high-pressure system from China covering the South China Sea weakens. Meanwhile southerly and the southeasterly winds will bring humidity from the South China Sea to the area. Thundershowers are likely in parts of the lower North, the Northeast and the Central and East regions. The weak…
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No Songkran for Pattaya this year
Pattaya’s mayor today confirmed that Pattaya is cancelling virtually all official Songkran activities for this year due to concerns over the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. This includes the Wan Lai Festival scheduled for April 19, the single biggest event on the city’s calendar, which attracts up to a half million tourists, both Thai and foreign, in what many consider Thailand’s wildest…
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2000 baht handouts for low-income Thais
Thailand’s Council of Economic Ministers today endorsed a Finance Ministry proposal to provide low-income Thais 2000 baht each via an e-payment channel. Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana said after a meeting this afternoon that there will be a 1000 payment for two consecutive months for low-income earners, farmers and freelancers. The number of people eligible has yet to be calculated. The…
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Government launches “Have problems, consult the PM” charm offensive
Thailand’s government yesterday launched a new program, dubbed “Have Problems, Consult the PM,” to allow the public to voice grievances and problems directly to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Prayut welcomed groups representing farmers, civil society and independent entrepreneurs at Government House. The PM told them that the program is his own initiative at a time of challenges, including Thailand’s economic…
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Major corporations join the fight against plastics
by Ghislaine Bovy Reduce. Re-use. Recycle. The public is now fully aware of the gigantic plastic pollution issue. They know it’s time to act and act now. Many of us have already “gone” into using reusable plastic bags, refillable bottles and buy fruits and vegetables in bulk instead of in individual plastic bags, small shops don’t give you a plastic…
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Health minister won’t say why quarantine order deleted, Facebook account inactive
Health minister Anutin Charnvirakul yesterday declined to explain why he removed an order requiring people arriving from 9 countries and 2 Chinese territories designated as high risk areas for the Covid-19 virus to be placed in self-quarantine. According to the quickly deleted document posted on his official Facebook page (now inactive), the nine destinations are “disease areas” and people arriving…
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Students say they were bilked as long distance “technical school” closes
Students of a Thai technical school are crying foul after the “college” shut down without bestowing them with their diplomas. They allege the college charged expensive tuition fees then shut down. One student, 27 year old Suchada Krahothong, said she paid 50,000 baht for a one year course at the college, advertised as a “special program.” But despite regularly attending…
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March 2020, the Thai month of cancellations
March will end up as the long month of cancellations. With Songkran looming, one of the busiest times for travel in Thailand, and increasingly one of the biggest annual tourist magnets to the Kingdom, cancelling Songkran would take Thailand into unchartered tourism and economic territory. Fears, real or imagined, are forcing companies and governments to assess their risks associated with…
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Thailand’s Koh Phangan full moon party cancelled
…until further notice. The next Full Moon Party, scheduled for March 8, has been cancelled. The memo from the Mayor of Koh Phangan says that the hugely popular monthly party has been cancelled due to fears associated with the Covid-19 virus. The memo also says that there will no further monthly parties until fears over the outbreak pass. The cancellation…
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Thai tourism ministry proposes 5 billion baht in tourist stimulus packages
Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says he will propose new domestic travel stimulus packages valued at 5 billion baht this Friday. The Minister says the aim is to cushion the impact of the coronavirus for the tourism service sector across the country. The Minister says that domestic tourism is “the priority during this difficult time. The government should implement…
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Finance ministry announces new stimulus packages and tax breaks
Thailand’s Finance Ministry has announced a raft of new stimulus measures to help prop up parts of the Thai economy suffering under the impact of the coronavirus. They say the measures will assist “all sectors of Thai society currently affected by the Covid-19 situation”, which arrived at the same time as an economic slowdown, an export slump and drought. The…
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