Hot News
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Sponsored Long-term life in Thailand? 5 reasons private health insurance pays off in the long run
Thailand is a great place for expats and retirees, offering a warm climate, affordable living, and rich culture. However, healthcare can be tricky for foreigners since they aren’t eligible for public health coverage, and private care can be expensive. Private...
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Thailand’s Civil Aviation Authority announces health and safety regulations
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand says airlines must continue to follow health and safety regulations as the country has seen a 3rd wave of the Covid-19 virus. Its the third time the CAAT have introduced restrictions on in-flight services since airlines were grounded in April last year. The authority says new guidelines to take effect today include… • Maintaining…
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Thailand looks at proposal to make it easier for expats and long-termers
Thailand is looking to make it easier for expats and long-term visa holders to stay in the country. The Immigration Bureau is hoping to boost investments and the economy once the pandemic is over. The proposed changes could do away with 90 day reporting requirements which have been well-received by expats. Recently, the online website to report 90 day check-ins…
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Burmese students to hold Bangkok cultural event to support Civil Disobedience Movement
Burmese students in Thailand are holding an art and culture concert to raise awareness and funds for the Civil Disobedience Movement. The concert, called “Myanmar Spring,” will be held on April 24 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. The event will help fund the movement, which has staged protests over the February 1 coup in Myanmar by the military.…
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A Thailand Covid update that you won’t read in the news
Tim Newton goes through some of the moving goal posts regarding Thailand’s Covid situation RIGHT NOW. Vaccines for expats, what will happen after Songkran, provincial restrictions, new quarantine requirements. Reading the tea leaves and reading between the lines, Tim provides his personal opinions on many issues expats and foreigners in Thailand are worried about at this time.
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2 emergency decrees provide businesses financial help
Thailand enacted 2 new emergency decrees today aimed at providing assistance to businesses and reducing default interest rates to help people affected by Covid-19. A deputy government spokeswoman confirmed the needed action was critical to protect and aid entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises during the time of pandemic-driven economic crisis. The goal was to combat unfair interest rates on…
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37 Thai provinces now imposing restrictions for travel from Bangkok and some surrounding provinces
37 Thai provinces, out of 77, have now imposed a 14 day quarantine on travellers from Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathum and Samut Prakan – basically Bangkok and surrounding provinces. These provinces are now considered Red Zones under maximum control . Expect more provinces to follow with restrictions for people from these provinces around Bangkok, and the Capital itself.…
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Environmentalists criticise Netflix fishing doco for inaccuracies and misinformation
As Thailand accuses a Netflix documentary of using outdated and inaccurate information about the country’s fishing industry, a number of global environmental experts are echoing similar criticisms. According to a report in Coconuts, Seaspiracy has been slammed for being full of inaccuracies and twisting the science behind the damage to the world’s oceans, minimising the role of climate change and…
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1st day of Songkran road safety campaign – 356 injuries, 25 deaths
The Songkran road safety campaign is off to a moderate start with a reported 25 deaths and 356 injuries across Thailand on Saturday. The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department director-general reports that there were 348 road accidents in the country on the first day of the campaign. Though the figures don’t sound like an achievement, they are actually a fair…
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Songkran activities cancelled in Ayutthaya due to Covid-19
After the recent outbreak of Covid-19 across Thailand, in a large part due to entertainment activities, Thailand’s former capital city of Ayutthaya has now officially cancelled all Songkran festival activities for the upcoming holiday. All events previously planned to mark the Thai New Year’s holiday between April 13 and 15 have now been called off. An urgent declaration by the…
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Condolences from Thailand to UK on Prince Philip’s death
The leaders of Thailand have sent messages of condolences to their British counterparts following the death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on Friday. His Majesty King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand has sent a message of condolence to Prince Philip’s widow, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, released by the Thai Royal Household Bureau, stating that the King and…
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Many Thais ‘skipping’ Songkran due to the recent clusters
It’s Songkran, but not as we know it. This weekend Thais start to head back home for this year’s extended national holiday. Last year the celebrations were cancelled altogether, amid Thailand’s initial lockdowns. So this year, partly aided by the mid week dates of Songkran, the government added extra days, that are topped and tailed by weekends. So, many Thais…
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7 Thai dogs find a new home in California
7 stray dogs from Thailand have immigrated to the United States as one California woman attempts to rescue as many Thai dogs as possible. Melissa Bacelar is the owner of The Wagmor Luxury Pet Hotel and Spa, along with its offshoot pet adoption service, Wagmore Pets. Located in Studio City, a neighbourhood in Los Angeles bordering Hollywood, the pet hotel…
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Tourism officials slash Songkran travel expectations by half
The TAT, ever the optimists regarding anything tourism related, even domestic tourism, predict that the Bangkok clusters that have emerged in the week before the Songkran break could reduce traffic and spending by up to half. Today the CCSA is reporting 789 new infections and one additional death. 522 were local infections, mostly walk-ins to Bangkok hospitals, 259 were discovered through…
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Thai Airways cuts another 4,250 staff, offering them early retirement
4,250 Thai Airways employees have been pushed into an early retirement after failing a screening process for remaining employees. The process was a necessary result of the national airlines’ dire financial situation and current debt restructuring program. Remaining staff are being forced into new, leaner contacts. The 13,554 remaining Thai Airways staff went through the screening program. 9,304 passed, according…
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Privatising Covid vaccines – Thai government gives private hospitals the go-ahead to buy vaccines
“About 10,000 people are being vaccinated around Thailand, on average, with 14,000 people being vaccinated each day in Phuket.” Private hospitals and institutions have been given the official go-ahead to purchase up to 10 million doses of approved Covid-19 vaccines. The purchases will be in addition to what the Thai government is also doing. The major sticking point, despite the…
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Attendance on the wane for Thai democracy protests
While protesters against the Thai government are continuing as they have for endless months, attendance is lessening in the face of crackdowns, coups and Covid-19. The throngs of 10,000 plus protesters, mostly energetic youth, that waved The Hunger Games 3 finger salute and demanded change in Thailand last summer have thinned to a few thousand or less these days. The…
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Airlines and hotels try to cope with cancellations for Songkran
Press Release Airlines and hotels are reporting cancellations from many of their customers as travellers react to the news of the new clusters and infections being detected in the provinces. Bars and entertainment venues close for 2 weeks in 44 provinces from midnight tonight, according to an order from the Thai PM. Entertainment venues in the other 35 provinces will…
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Government helps direct refunds for cancelled holiday trips
For those who are cancelling their holiday trips due to Thailand’s recent Covid-19 outbreak, the government is issuing measures to help with refunds. The Transport Ministry says people who have booked bus and rail-services between the April 9-18 Songkran holiday, can claim full refunds if they want to cancel their trips. But the ministry says people should give at least…
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Thai fishing industry officials protest controversial ‘Seaspiracy’ documentary
Thai fishing industry officials are protesting the controversial ‘Seaspiracy’ documentary as they say its information, regarding human trafficking, is outdated. The Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre spokesman Pokkhrong Monthatphalin, says the government had been cleaning up the fishing industry for years after its illegal practises were highlighted in 2015. He says Thai authorities have been trying to invited the documentary’s…
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Giant monitor lizard visits Thai 7 Eleven store, video goes viral
A giant, nearly 2 metre long, monitor lizard decided to visit a 7 Eleven store looking for food, with customers and staff wondering what he (or she) was going to do next. The lizard climbed up a fully stacked shelf of dairy products, with apparently no cares in the world, as he clumsily knocked off cartons of milk and other…
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Immigration police arrest Frenchman on drug charges, 3 other foreigners for overstay
Immigration police arrested a French man who was allegedly involved in a crime network who allegedly smuggled cannabis, and arrested 3 other foreigners on overstay charges. Police say the crime network sold cannabis to foreigners living in tourist cities in Thailand. Officers say they suspect there are more people involved in the alleged smuggling operation on the Eastern seaboard, which…
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Independent candidates polling well in Bangkok governor race
Independent candidates are trending in polls for the Bangkok governor election later this year, with undecided voters leaning independent. Undecided voters have grown to nearly 1/3 of all voters up from just under 30% in March, possibly due to voters being tired of political polarisation. The exact date of the election has not been announced yet but independent candidates have…
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Thai tourism operators slam government’s inefficient vaccine rollout
Representatives from Thailand’s tourism sector have blasted what they see as an ineffective and disorganised national vaccine rollout. Operators say the scheme will not allow the Kingdom to achieve herd immunity, with tourism possibly affected by a third outbreak. Domestic tourism was starting to recover after taking a hit during the second outbreak late last year, with Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi…
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Taiwan ready to duke it out if China attacks
Taiwan officials say they are ready to duke it out if China decides to take its military activities a step further. The announcement, made by its foreign minister, comes after China has stepped up its aircraft carrier drills near the island along with other military activities in the past few months. “From my limited understanding of American decision makers watching…
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Thailand tourism leaders come together to discuss the industry’s future
The following story was submitted by Bill Barnett, the managing director for C9 Hotelworks. The Covid-19 pandemic is the biggest global crisis tourism has ever faced. Against this unprecedented upheaval, many of Thailand’s leading hotel operators and other key players came together under the #ThaiTourismUnited banner at an event in Bangkok, creating a single unified voice to drive the Kingdom’s…
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2 Cabinet ministers self-isolating after potential Covid exposure
Thailand’s Transport Minister and the newly-appointed Education Minister are both self-isolating after contact with 2 separate Covid-19 patients. Education Minister Treenuch Thienthong is self-isolating at her home in the eastern province of Sa Kaew, after receiving a visitor who subsequently tested positive for the virus. According to a Nation Thailand report, Treenuch’s visitor came to her home on Sunday to…
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Thailand hoping to be upgraded to a Tier 1 nation in anti-human trafficking efforts
Thailand is hoping its newest anti-human trafficking report will earn an upgrade from the US from Tier 2 to Tier 1. The report was submitted to the Washington’s Trafficking in Persons Report. Deputy government spokeswoman, Rachada Dhnadirek, said the government is ready to be upgraded after remaining on Tier 2 for 3 years in a row. Those nations who fall on…
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Australia sets travel bubble with New Zealand, Asian countries by August
Travel bubbles for those travelling from Australia to destinations in Asia and the Pacific region could be imposed by August. The country has already agreed on the Trans-Tasman travel bubble with New Zealand, set to start in a few weeks. Singapore is in the cards to be set up next while Australian authorities are looking into other potential bilateral agreements…
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Songkran travel okay to visit elderly relatives, not to party – Health Minister
Despite rising Covid-19 infections in Bangkok and other provinces, Thailand’s Public Health Minister says people travelling from the affected provinces during the Songkran holiday will not have to quarantine. “Although provinces have been divided into zones, designated by colours according to the infection rates, none will be locked down. People can still travel to other provinces without having to go…
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16 Thais busted running 10 illegal online gambling sites
16 web admins are in custody today after being arrested around the Buriram province today for allegedly operating 10 illegal online gambling websites. The group of Thai nationals are accused of renting a house where they secretly operated a string of websites where people could gamble online including sajoker123.com. Police received a number of complaints in March from neighbourhood residents…
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