Hot News
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Sponsored 9 most common health issues covered by insurance for expats in Thailand
Thailand is a popular destination for expats due to its affordable lifestyle and excellent healthcare system. However, settling in a new country often brings health concerns. To ensure you’re covered for the most common medical needs, understanding what expat health...
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Thailand is the fourth most searched-for destination for your next holiday
Since early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has stopped us from taking our holidays, or doing much travelling at all. But as travel restrictions ease, which destinations are coming out on top for our post-lockdown holidays? Official-esta.com has dusted off the calculator and checked the Google Search Volume data for the search terms “Flights to X” and “Holidays in X” to…
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Not so fast! Phuket’s plans to reopen slow down
“We have to rely on domestic tourism demand for now because we can’t reopen our borders yet. Some people in the area still haven’t accepted the idea… It doesn’t mean that we’re pulling the plug on the plan though.” Phuket is not going to be back up and running as soon as expected. Plans to let international tourists back in…
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A new flaw detected on Boeing’s 787 as company’s problems mount
The problems at Boeing are starting to stack up, at a time when few airlines are ordering new planes and going through their current orders to see which order they can cancel. Boeing has now disclosed another problem with the construction of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft that could cause further delays on aircraft deliveries, and provide another headache for the…
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Leaked transcript allegedly shows attempt to get Red Bull heir off the hook
A report published by Thai-language outlet, Isra News, allegedly contains a leaked transcript of 2 police officers and a public prosecutor discussing how to change the recorded driving speed of Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya. The Red Bull heir was accused of killing Bangkok police officer, 47 year old Wichian Klanprasert, in 2012, by crashing his Ferrari into the officer’s motorbike, dragging…
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Phuket airport sees increase in domestic arrivals over long weekend
The general manager of Phuket airport, Thanee Chuangchoo, says domestic arrivals were on the up over the course of the recent 4 day holiday. The long weekend, from September 4 to 7, was brought in to replace the annual Songkran holiday in April, cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The jump in domestic arrivals will have provided some…
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Investigation ongoing following armed robbery of Chinese tourists in Pattaya
Police are continuing their investigation after a gang broke into a luxury property in Pattaya and robbed the Chinese residents at gunpoint. The original report said the thieves stole around 10 million baht worth of cash and valuables. This amount has now been revised by officials, who estimate it at around 3 million baht. The incident took place in the…
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Phuket Airport prepares for eventual launch of tourist pilot project
Phuket Airport carried out a trial run yesterday, going over all the steps necessary to admit tourists under the much-discussed, not-yet-happening, off-and-on “Phuket Model”. The plan to use Phuket as a pilot, to test a limited return of international tourists, was set to launch in October but has now been postponed. The brakes were applied when Thailand recorded its first…
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UPDATE: Motorbike taxi drivers have an alleged turf-war shootout
Motorbike taxi drivers allegedly had a turf-war shootout in front of a shopping centre in Samut Prakan, just southeast of Bangkok. The motorbike taxi drivers, known as “win” drivers, were allegedly fighting over a location for a win base outside the mall. No one was injured and the drivers took off shortly after shots were fired. The Big C shopping…
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Deputy Finance Minister dismisses doubts over his educational qualifications
The President of the Engineering Association of Thailand has called on Kim Chaisaensook, Associate Professor of Bangkok’s Ramkhamhaeng University, to respond to allegations that Deputy Finance Minister Santi Prompat was dismissed from the faculty for cheating. Tortrakul Bunnag made the call in a Facebook post, after a suggestion from Santi that he is qualified to replace former Finance Minister Pridi…
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Holiday weekend road death toll: 59
Road deaths surged during the holiday weekend. 59 people were killed in road incidents and 365 people were injured, according to the Transport Ministry. From last Thursday to Monday, a total of 405 road incidents were reported across Thailand. 116 of the incidents involved motorcycles and 31 out of the 59 deaths involved motorcycles. Many of the crashes and collisions were…
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Bangkok taxi driver stabbed, crashes into other cars
A Bangkok man has allegedly jumped into the backseat of a taxi and , once the taxi got going, started stabbing the driver early this morning, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a motorbike and other cars. A man in the Thonburi district ran into heavy traffic on Charunsanitwong road. He tried opening the…
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Holiday weekend boosts tourism, brings in 8.8 billion baht
The extended 4 day holiday weekend circulated 8.8 billion baht in revenue after months of limited travel due to the coronavirus pandemic… the upbeat report from the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The drop in international tourism has crippled local economies dependent on the industry. The holiday weekend was a major boost. The Friday and Monday public holidays were announced as…
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Woman held on suspicion of murdering disabled father
Police in the central province of Lopburi have apprehended a woman they suspect is responsible for murdering her disabled father. The arrest comes after the 63 year old man’s body was found by the side of the road, not far from his home. Officers believe his daughter had help from a friend and speculated that substance abuse may have led…
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Anti-corruption officials call on PM to reveal details of “Boss” inquiry
The Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand is calling on the Thai PM to disclose the findings of a recent inquiry into the handling of the “Boss” case. The hit-and-run case against Red Bull heir, Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya, has been mired in controversy for years, and a decision in July to drop all charges was greeted with uproar around the country. The…
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Activist vows university rally will take place, with or without permission
The political activist Parit Chiwarak, aka. “Penguin”, says a rally planned for September 19 at Thammasat University will go ahead, even if permission is refused from the University’s management. The gathering is set to take place at the university’s Tha Phra Chan campus in Bangkok, with Parit saying he expects around 50,000 people to attend. Khaosod English reports that the…
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Protest leaders Anon and Panupong freed from jail on court order
Two prominent anti-government protest leaders have now been released from Bangkok Special Prison, where they were being held on charges of violating their bail conditions. The human rights lawyer, Anon Nampa, and political protester Panupong Jaadnok, have been in and out of prison in recent weeks and, while out on bail, addressed the crowd at an anti-government rally, thereby breaching…
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Minister eases local concerns over Phuket tourism plan
The Minister of Tourism and Sports has rushed to reassure Phuket locals who have voiced concern over a tentative plan (now postponed) to re-open the province to foreign visitors. Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn says there may have been some miscommunication, as he reassured Phuket residents that they would not be forced to accept any tourism plan. The minister, along with a…
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Splitting atoms in the Big Bang – a day in the Big Mango
OPINION by Bill Barnett of c9hotelworks.com Despite the global pandemic, Bangkok’s rapid-fire megacity growth trajectory has remained largely in place. While life in Covid-19 times is a bit like sparring with wild gangs of chaos monkeys in a dead-end ally, thankfully one of the singular guilty pleasures of these strange times is the ability to at least travel domestically. Last…
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Chinese official rules out return of China-Thailand tourism anytime soon
China is not yet ready to welcome international tourists, says a senior embassy official in Bangkok. Speaking to Nation Thailand, Yang Xin from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China to Thailand, says that, while domestic tourism has resumed in China, the country is not yet ready to open its borders to foreign tourists, nor is it encouraging its…
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London to New York in under 4 hours – Will there ever be another Concorde?
We’d flown in propeller-powered planes, then jets. Supersonic was the next evolutionary step in flying people around the world as the 1960s came to a close. Now, 50 years after Concorde’s early flights, supersonic flight is again just another aviation pipe dream as we pack into our cheap ‘flying buses’ which are not much different from the first successful commercial jets…
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PM denies government split over toxic chemical ban
As officials continue to debate a recently-introduced ban on paraquat and chlorpyrifos, the PM, Prayut Chan-o-cha denies the government is split on the matter. He points out that coalition governments will always have differing viewpoints and that such differences will not affect the administration’s overall unity. Currently Glyphosate hasn’t been included in the ban. “Our core priorities are public health…
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Phuket launches app, passengers rate taxi drivers
How was your taxi ride? Passengers will soon be able to rate their Phuket taxi drivers using a new smartphone application. The province’s project “Hello Taxi Happy Phuket” involves 300 drivers aimed at maintaining standards like fair pricing. Customers will be able to rate their ride experience on the app and driver’s will be scored on their service. So, if…
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Returning happiness back to the Thai people. So how’s that going?
OPINION “The flames are rising. Let us be the ones who step in, before it is too late.” Lyrics from the Prayut-penned ditty which was written to help “heal” Thais after the May 2014 coup. The event, some 6 and a half years ago now, brought then-General Prayut Chan-o-cha to the helm of the good-ship Thailand. Following the writing of a…
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Domestic tourists give Pattaya a boost over holiday weekend
There has been some respite for Pattaya’s battered tourism sector over the 4 day long weekend, as domestic tourists visit the city for the extended break. The public holidays on Friday, September 4, and Monday, September 7, are replacements for the Songkran festival that was cancelled in April as a result of Covid-19. But the water fights were put on…
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Students gather at Education Ministry, issue ultimatum
“Thai education has made us puppets. We are not robots of the system; we are the youth and have the right to express ourselves.” The Education Ministry in Bangkok has been chosen as the stage for another student rally, with around 300 young people, from 50 schools, gathering there yesterday afternoon. The students have been repeating their 3 key demands,…
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Phuket re-opening could be postponed
The Tourism Authority of Thailand says plans to re-open Phuket to foreign tourists could be delayed as a result of the country’s first local case of Covid-19 in over 3 months in Bangkok. TAT governor, Yuthasak Supasorn, was speaking as officials visited the island to meet with local businesses and discuss disease prevention measures and preparations for a scheduled October…
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National parks may close annually to recover wildlife
Environmentalist think Thailand’s national parks need to take a break. They’re considering closing the parks once a year to give wildlife time to rehabilitate. Since many parks have been closed during the coronavirus pandemic, wildlife has returned to areas, according to Environment and Natural resources Minister Varawut Silpa-archa. By closing the parks for a 2 to 4 months out of…
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Thai traffic jam as tourists wait for the Koh Chang ferry
There’s been a traffic jam in, of all places, Trat, as impatient domestic tourists waited for the ferry to head to Koh Chang from the mainland. The island was invaded by Thais getting out of town for the long LONG weekend and, despite the forward bookings, the traffic police and ferry operator weren’t ready for the onslaught. The long weekend…
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Chicken or the beef? Thai Airways opens up pop-up restaurants serving their airline food.
“Please return to your seat, pull down your tray table and prepare for the in-flight catering.” If you can’t make money by flying people on jets, set up a restaurant selling your airline food instead. Now Thai Airways has transformed its old cafeteria in Bangkok into a pop-up restaurant serving, well, the same airline food they used to serve during flights.…
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2 foreigners arrested for allegedly selling illegal guns, grenades
Police arrested a Singaporean and an Indonesian man for allegedly selling illegal guns, explosives and ammunition after police found bullets, grenades and handguns in a condominium in Bangkok’s Huay Khwang district. The Singaporean man, known as 26 year old Bink, and the Indonesian, known as 32 year old Aiden, are facing charges of possession and selling of guns and explosives without…
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