Hot News
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Soldier murders teacher, dumps her body in pond in central Thailand
Yesterday, police found the body of a 40 year old teacher who had been missing for 15 days. Ning’s body was found tied down with bricks at the bottom of a pond at a soldier’s house in Phetchaburi province, central Thailand. “Teacher Ning”, and her gray Toyota Reva 4X4, went missing on May 26. Police from Kaeng Krachan Police Station…
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Central Pattana’s 10 billion baht investment in 37 new hotels
Central Pattana is launching 37 hotels in 27 provinces in Thailand with 4,000 rooms, valued at a total of 10 billion baht, under the Centara Hotels and Resorts brand. The kingdom’s largest retail property development and investment company aims to hire about 3,900 people across the country in the process. The company will focus primarily on second-tier locations, as it…
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Sixteen tonnes of confiscated cannabis to be returned to drug offenders in Thailand
In Thailand, police are giving drug offenders their cannabis back. Now that the plant is no longer considered an illicit narcotic, Thailand’s Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) plans to return 16 tonnes of confiscated marijuana to its original owners, according to the board’s Secretary General Wichai Chaimongkol. The stockpiled cannabis is valued at 110 million baht. Yesterday, all…
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Suvarnabhumi increases check-in counters in preparation for high season tourists
Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport is increasing the number of check-in counters in preparation for an upcoming surge of tourists. But the ‘surge’ is still a few months away. The nation’s capital city is expecting around 70,000 travellers to arrive per day, and for it to increase to 100,000 people per day during the high season. Suvarnabhumi Airport General Manager, Kittipong Kittikachon,…
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Pink pineapple is illegal in Thailand, smugglers face jail time
A type of genetically-modified pink pineapple is being illegally sold in Thailand, according to a warning issued by Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture yesterday. The ministry urges the public to keep a vigilant eye out for unusual fruit and report anyone involved in the illicit pink pineapple trade. Costa Rican company Fresh Del Monte has been cultivating ‘Pinkglow’ pineapples, which are…
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Former police inspector in North Thailand scammed, loses retirement funds
A scam gang, pretending to be police, have tricked a former police inspector in North Thailand into handing over all of his retirement money, totalling 1.8 million baht. The former inspector, who lives in Lampang province, said the scammers called him on June 1, claiming to be from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. The scammers told the former inspector…
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Thailand’s tourist entry charge delayed until Q4
Tourist tax, tourist surcharge, call it what you want. The Tourism and Sports Ministry yesterday said that they need more time before the 300 baht tourism “fee” is introduced. The tourism fee was penciled in for discussion at this week’s cabinet meeting but the ministry withdrew the proposal. Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, Tourism and Sports Minister, says fee collection for tourists arriving…
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Officials raise awareness on World Oceans Day in Patong
A Thai official spoke about threats to the country’s oceans at an event marking World Oceans Day yesterday in Patong. Thailand’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Varawut Silpa-archa, led the event titled “Revitalization: Collective Action for the Ocean” at Loma Park in Patong Beach. Thailand’s Department of Marine and Coastal Services hosted similar events in 10 coastal provinces. Varawut…
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More than 100,000 people register to grow cannabis at home in Thailand
Today is cannabis decriminalisation day, and the people of Thailand have wasted no time in registering to grow their own cannabis plants at home. Thailand’s FDA revealed that, so far, more than 100,000 budding cannabis growers have registered via the ‘Plook Ganja’ website and mobile application. To legally grow cannabis or hemp at home, Thai people do not need to…
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Employment at Thailand’s venues slowly picks up following nightlife reopening
Aspiring bartenders can dream again, because now that Thailand’s nightlife is ‘officially’ back on, venues are slowly employing again. The country’s pubs, bars, karaoke bars, massage parlors and other venues are picking up the pieces after having to lay off employees during the Covid-19 pandemic. This news comes after Thailand stopped requiring such venues to call themselves ‘restaurants’ on June…
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Woman beats 3 year old step daughter to death in Phuket
A 3 year old girl was beaten to death by her step mother in Phuket on Sunday evening. The child’s father was present when the incident happened but did not intervene. Both the step mother and the child’s father have now been arrested. On Sunday evening, Chalong Police Station received a call from Chalong Hospital to say a 3 year…
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Governor to introduce intelligent transportation system to resolve Bangkok’s endemic gridlock
Newly elected Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt intends to introduce an innovative “intelligent transportation system” to fix the city’s endemic traffic congestion. The 56 year old governor says he is going to introduce a highly sophisticated technology program to put an end to Bangkok’s perpetual transport problems and resolve the outcome within a year. Chadchart is in the process of putting…
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What to know before taking the BTS Skytrain and MRT Metro
The BTS Skytrain, and MRT Metro (mostly underground) are lifesavers in Bangkok’s heavily congested traffic, but taking public transportation in a new country can be daunting for tourists or people moving to a new place. By using the fast, air-conditioned trains, you can avoid being stuck in the crazy traffic, taxi drivers demanding high rates, and the vast yet difficult-to-navigate…
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More than 3,000 ‘cannabis convicts’ to be released from Thai prison tomorrow
Tomorrow, 3,071 prisoners locked up for cannabis-related drug crimes will be released from prisons all over Thailand. Thailand’s Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin ordered the Department of Corrections to release the prisoners tomorrow, June 9, when cannabis will be delisted as a Category 5 narcotic. Currently, there are 4,075 inmates in Thailand convicted of marijuana-related offences. A total of 3,071 of…
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Joe Ferrari: From high profile police chief and luxury vehicle collector to a life in prison
Former Nakhon Sawan provincial police chief, Thitisan Utthanaphon, aka. Joe Ferrari, was in the media spotlight today after he was sentenced to a life in prison for the torture and murder of an alleged drug trafficker. The 41 year old, along with six of his colleagues, was caught torturing a man to death on a CCTV camera leaked on Thai…
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Bangkok’s new governor requests a year to study traffic solutions for the city
Bangkok’s newly elected governor has requested a year to study how best to solve the city’s traffic problems. In a meeting with metropolitan police today, Governor Chadchart Sittipunt outlined plans to set up a traffic command centre, which will cooperate with several other institutions. These include traffic police, the Transport Ministry, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, the metro system, and…
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Locals complain of people having sex at Pattaya Train Station
Get a room! Locals are complaining of used condoms left around the tracks of Pattaya Train Station in Bang Lamung district of Chon Buri. There have been complaints about the issue as far back as December, however, police claim they have not slacked off on patrolling the station. Instead, officers from Bang Lamung Police Station say the troublemakers are having…
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Bangkok motorcycle taxi rider arrested for attempted rape and kidnap of a teenage student
A motorcycle taxi driver, Somsak Jangsat, was arrested in the Phra Khanong area of Bangkok yesterday after he tried to rape a teenage girl. Somsak tricked the 17 year old student into using his taxi service saying he would take her home after school but instead kidnapped the girl and took her to a love motel where he tried to…
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Alleged child rapist/murderer attacked during re-enactment in central Thailand
A man who allegedly raped and murdered two children in 2008 was attacked during a crime re-enactment in Khao Yoi district in the central province of Phetchaburi on Monday, reports Sanook. The suspect, 53 year old Chert Srijoon, went on the run for 14 years after allegedly raping and murdering 13 year old June and 16 year old Naen in…
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Thailand exempts entry visa for Saudi tourists allowing 30-day stay
Thailand yesterday moved a step further to its future relationship with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia when it announced a 30-day visa exemption will be available to all Saudi citizens. Saudis can now enter Thailand and stay for 30 days without applying for a visa before departure. The move comes as both nations step up to restore diplomatic relations which…
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Angry central Thai locals go bananas over poor road conditions
Residents in Ang Thong, in central Thailand, are so angry with officials in the Department of Rural Roads about the treacherous state of their roads that they have planted banana trees in the cracks of the tarmac in protest. Ang Thong locals have reported the dangerous conditions of their highways, roads and thoroughfares, to officials on a number of occasions…
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5 million Indian tourists in Pattaya this year?
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is making optimistic predictions about Indian tourists arriving in the Kingdom, this time in Pattaya! TAT officials announced yesterday that TAT expects 5 million tourists to visit Pattaya by the end of this 2022. Just last week, TAT said that its goal for the number of Indian tourists in Thailand overall was 3,000 per day…
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Thai stock market is a favorite among foreign shareholders
Last month, foreign investor confidence in Thai stocks stayed strong, with the kingdom’s stock exchange recording net inflows of nearly 140 billion baht for the sixth month in a row. International investors believe that any food shortages will have a minimal effect on the Thai economy and that the tourism sector will rebound in the second half of 2022, according…
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Hospitels close the door on Covid and hotels reopen for business as usual
With Covid-19 projected to be labelled as endemic next month, hospitels and alternate quarantine sites have resumed normal operations. Hospitels are hotels that provided rooms for people who had mild Covid symptoms. They helped ease the strain on the kingdom’s hospitals during the peak period of the coronavirus pandemic. But now the service is consigned to history, according to the…
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Policeman attacked as former Sgt major causes mayhem at a Pattaya housing project
A Pattaya policeman was seriously injured after a former senior sergeant major went on a violent rampage. Jetsadabhon Reungrit was arrested and sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment after a number of anti-social incidents at a Na Jomtien housing government project, in Chon Buri. Residents alerted security guards to a scene after Jetsadabhon began hammering on residents’ doors and…
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UPDATE: GT200 bomb detectors only good enough to be used as a ‘cat poop scoop’
UPDATE Royal Thai Army spokesperson, Santipong Thammapiya, yesterday announced that the investigation into GT200 bomb detectors has officially ended. Santipong says the NSTD had completed its examination of 320 devices, and the budget spent investigating it, and concluded that the Royal Thai Army would have to return around 3 million baht from the 7.5 million baht budget allocated to the…
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Englishman arrested in Pattaya on child pornography charges
A 45 year old Englishman was arrested yesterday in the Bang Lamung district of Chon Buri in connection with child pornography charges. The man, referred to as “William”, was previously caught by Scotland Yard Police in England on allegations of making, possessing, and spreading child pornographic material between 2008 and 2013 in the UK. But during the judicial procedure, he was…
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SRT Red Line is experiencing a spike in commuters
The State Railway of Thailand yesterday revealed passengers using the new SRT Red Line is on the up. As of last week, 14,000 people have been using the SRT Red Line on a daily basis. Back in November 2021, there were only around 2,000 to 3,000 commuters taking the train. But since the beginning of the year it jumped from…
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Bangkok taxi driver caught on video beating Chinese passenger with an iron bar
A dash cam video featuring a taxi driver who bludgeoning a man to the ground on a Bangkok road has emerged. A witness said the victim, a Chinese passenger, tried to negotiate a fair price for the service but became irate by the taxi driver and smashed his hand down on the hood of the car making the driver angry.…
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Famed cabaret show sold out as tourists flock to Pattaya after 2 years of closure
“Life is a cabaret old chum”, so sang Liza Minnelli’s character in the musical Cabaret, and it was no different in Pattaya at the weekend. Every seat was sold out at the famous Alcazar theatre after it reopened on Friday night for the first time in 2 years. Following the official easing of restrictions on entertainment venues on June 1,…
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