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Multiple Chiang Rai schools to close after infections found
Per the Chiang Rai governor’s orders, multiple school’s in Chiang Rai have been ordered to close. Schools had reopened on Monday. The Chiang Rai governor, Prajon Pratsakul, says the following schools are doing classes online: Samakkhi Witthayakhom School Chiang Rai Technical School Chiang Rai Kindergarten School Also, schools that fall under the authority of the Chiang Rai municipality are also…
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Woman falls off building on Pattaya’s Walking Street
Last night in Pattaya, a woman fell off a building. She fell an estimated 4 metres on the well known Walking Street. The woman, whose identity is unknown, fell around 11:30 pm. Emergency responders got to the scene to see a woman they believe is Thai and about 35 years old. She was lying on the ground in a pool of…
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Refinements to the Sandbox as the countdown continues to Thailand’s reopening
Nearing the 10 day countdown to the Phuket sandbox and it couldn’t be a more important milestone for Thailand’s battered tourist industry. The official re-opening to world travellers and tourists to the tropical island in southern Thailand is a vital pilot program for the rest of the country. This week the PM proclaimed that all of Thailand will be open…
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Covid UPDATE Sunday: 3,682 new infections and 20 covid-related deaths
Today the public health department have announced 3,682 new infections of Covid-19 and 20 new deaths. 578 of today’s announced infections are from the Thai prison system. Today’s figures continue a slow rise in the daily case numbers over this week. Notably, the worst outbreaks are still occurring around Bangkok and its adjacent suburbs. Also, the southern provinces are also…
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Dole pineapple factory has 34 new Covid-19 cases, 413 total
A Dole pineapple factory in Hua Hin confirmed another 34 Covid-19 infections, accounting for most of the 45 new infections in Prachuap Khiri Khan today. The canned pineapple plant previously had nearly 400 infections. In a quarantine facility within the Dole Thailand pineapple factory, mass testing people consider to be at-risk turned up the 34 new infections. The factory in…
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Chinese Sinovac vaccine debuts in Singapore to high demand
While Sinovac is much maligned in Thailand, when it became available in Singapore yesterday, there was an overwhelming demand for the Chinese Covid-19 vaccine. Singapore has been using Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to inoculate nearly half of the 5.7 million residents on the small country so far. Despite those 2 vaccines having shown to be over 90% effective against symptomatic…
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Drug smuggler caught in Kalasin with 300 kg of marijuana
A police chase in Kalasin early this morning ended in the arrest of a suspected drug smuggler and the impounding of 300 kilogrammes of compressed marijuana. The chase took place around 2 am through the streets of the Na Khu district when police received a tip-off prompting them to attempt to pull over the car. The Chevrolet Captiva with Chon…
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Amendment to reform Constitution rejected by Parliament
A draft amendment started by Pheu Thai Party, an opposition party, to establish a Constitution Drafting Assembly has just been rejected in the parliament. The legal advisory committee to parliament rejected the amendment, which was intended as a path towards creating a new, revised charter. The section in question, Section 256 in Thailand’s constitution, would be amended in order to…
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30 million baht added to vaccine side effects compensation fund
The National Health Security Office had set up a 100 million baht fund to be used as compensation for vaccinated people experiencing side effects. Now the government has approved an additional 30 million baht to be made available as needed in the Loan Executive Decree in paying out those affected negatively by the vaccine. A previous poll showed 80% of…
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Plan for 16-week gap between AstraZeneca vaccines dropped
Thailand’s plan to milk 2 extra vaccines from each vial of AstraZeneca may have seemed shady, though the technique to do so was safe and did not reduce efficacy, but yesterday the government dropped an actual dangerous plan to cut corners and pump up their vaccination figures. A senior health official confirmed that they were giving up on a plan…
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CCSA: 120 day reopening will proceed with conditions
If you believed that PM Prayut Chan-o-cha’s declaration that Thailand will reopen in 120 days no matter what was set in stone, you don’t know much about Thailand. While the plan is still on, The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration held a meeting yesterday where they watered down the exuberant international tourism restart announcement with conditions and exceptions for the…
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Sandbox latest, CCSA says all regions reopening must reach 70% local vaccination
Discussions about re-opening Thailand have spread beyond Phuket with the latest decisions from the CCSA. Meanwhile, Phuket’s Sandbox re-opening date of July 1 looms. The main narrative out of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration is the need for regions or provinces, slated for re-opening to vaccinated overseas travellers, to have vaccinated 70% of their resident population before they can…
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Thamanat elected to role of head ‘fixer’ in Palang Pracharat party
Thamanat Prompow, still the Thai deputy agricultural minister, now has a firm grasp of the reigns of the ruling Palang Pracharat Party, the leading coalition party of the Thai government. Thamanat’s stay in an Australian prison for 4 years of a 6 year sentence on heroin trafficking charges back in the 90s, has not swayed his fellow MPs in electing…
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Juneteenth: An important holiday, that changes little
The US has made June 19, or Juneteenth, a public holiday. This second independence day, as it were, commemorates the liberation of enslaved Afro-Americans. It dates back to June 19, 1865, when Union Major General Gordon Granger proclaimed the abolition of slavery in Galveston, Texas. It brought to an end the second genocide on US soil — after the forced…
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List: China has over 50% of all foreign-owned condos in Thailand
A list was recently released to the media regarding condo ownership in Thailand and from what countries condo owners originated. Foreigners have purchased approximately 1.4 million condominiums throughout the country. Of those, the top 10 list showed that over half of all foreign-owned condos in Thailand hail from China. Nearly 730,000 condominiums throughout Thailand are owned by Chinese nationals, just…
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India: COVID vaccine disparity makes inoculation a challenge
As India emerges from a devastating second wave of the coronavirus, experts have warned that the country’s slow vaccination drive and the easing of restrictions could soon lead to a third wave. The vaccination campaign, which began in January this year, aimed to inoculate 300 million of India’s 1.4 billion people by August. But by May, India had only fully…
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Made in Germany: Ukraine pendants without Crimea
S.W.W. Schmuckwaren is a company based in southern Germany that produces and sells jewelry, including gold and silver pendants shaped like the outlines of countries. They cost €22.95-€295.95 ($27-$350) and most of the countries are shaped in such a way that corresponds to their internationally recognized borders. There is one pendant, however, that is missing a region: Ukraine does not…
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Government plans 10 million vaccines for July
As vaccinations are finally picking up around much of Thailand, some areas are reporting shortages of vaccines, but the government announced plans to administer 10 million vaccines in July and every month thereafter. A senior spokesperson for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration said that the vaccines will be distributed with a priority focus on Bangkok and making sure 70%…
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Namibia’s Herero Chief Rukoro dies
Vekuii Reinhard Rukoro was born in Otjiwarongo, a farming town in central Namibia — then known as South West Africa — in 1954, a decade before the beginning of the armed struggle to rid Namibia of South Africa’s apartheid regime. He attended secondary school in Döbra, then a tiny settlement north of Windhoek before training to be a lawyer, first…
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Sierra Leone: Black Johnson Beach sold to China for industrial fishing harbor
Sierra Leone’s government cut a $55 million deal with China to finance the construction of a new harbor. The people living along the pristine beach fear losing their jobs and land. SOURCE: DW News
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How is Beijing reshaping Hong Kong through the national security law?
A day after 500 police officers raided its newsroom and arrested five executives, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily printed 500,000 copies featuring the raid and the arrest on its front page. “We must press on,” read the headline, citing a passage from the paper’s CEO Cheung Kim-hung. On Friday, police formally charged Cheung and Editor-in-Chief Ryan Law with “collusion…
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Ethiopa announces ‘period of silence’ ahead of elections
Ethiopia’s national electoral board ordered a “period of silence” before Monday’s parliamentary elections, which includes a ban on campaign rallies and new rules for local media houses. “Mass media outlets are not allowed to broadcast any kind of election-related activities during this period of silence. In addition, these institutions are not allowed to interview political party candidates,” the commission said…
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1 million AstraZeneca doses arrive, Anutin says “more” on the way
1 million more AstraZeneca doses arrived in Thailand today. They were delivered to Thailand’s Public Health Ministry and are set to be distributed throughout the country today. Or tomorrow. Says the Anutin, the Public Health Minister. Anutin says the vaccines will be sent every week. This comes from an agreement the ministry has with the company. Anutin did not provide…
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Pattaya bars plead for government help
Beer sellers of Pattaya are pleading with the government to let them open for foreign tourists. Also, to relax closure measures that apply to the entertainment businesses. Barring that, they ask for significant financial aid. The proprietors of beer-related businesses say they are suffering greatly due to the economic crisis. As per their statements to the associated press this week.…
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Department of Land Transport will reopen, issue licenses
After suspending services on April 16th due to the third wave outbreak of Covid-19, the Department of Land Transport has announced they will reopen next week. The agency will restart renewing driving licenses in issuing new licenses, as well as giving driving tests. Services are set to resume all across the country at all DLT offices on June 21, according…
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Krabi schedules 82 flights per week from late October
Despite no official legal plans to reopen Thailand to international tourism, and perhaps on the heels of PM Prayut’s surprise announcement in a speech Wednesday that he intends to fully reopen Thailand by mid-October, 8 airlines received slots for international flights into Krabi from the end of October. The allotment was determined as part of the IATA Slot Conference, this…
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Friday Covid Update: 3,058 new cases; provincial totals
Thailand’s latest and most severe wave of Covid-19, infecting 176,410 people since April 1, continues to be on a downward trend. Today, 3,058 new Covid-19 cases and 22 coronavirus-related deaths were reported by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, raising the tally since the start of the pandemic to 210,782 total confirmed cases and 1,577 fatalities. There are now 32,795…
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Worker falls off roof in Chon Buri, sustains multiple injuries
Last night, a worker suffered multiple injuries after falling off an incomplete factory roof. The tumble happened in Bang Lamung, a district in the Chon Buri province, central Thailand. At 8:30 pm emergency responders were alerted to the man’s fall at the construction site. The emergency responders and local media got to the site to find the injured worked, 31…
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PM Prayut tests negative after parliament maid has Covid-19
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha was tested for Covid-19 this morning after being exposed to someone with an infection, but was confirmed negative for the virus. The prime minister and close aides were all tested for Covid-19 after it was discovered that a maid working in a reception room at parliament had tested positive for the virus. All those tested came back…
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Myanmar: American journalist’s detention extended 2 more weeks
Yesterday, a Myanmar court extended the detention of American journalist Danny Fenster. The extension is for 2 more weeks. The U.S. State Department has strongly requested they have consular access to Danny. Frontier Myanmar says their managing editor (Danny) faces charges that could land him a 3 year prison term. The charge is reportedly often used against dissidents and journalists.…
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