News
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Tougher screening for public transport drivers
Beginning on March 1, applicants for licences to drive public transport will have to submit a medical certificate in a form approved by the Medical Council of Thailand. The Department of Land Transport announced this week that the aim is to standardise its processing and increase efficiency in screening out people with health conditions that prohibit them from driving. Department…
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Kalasin rape, shooting suspect turns himself in
The 29 year old suspect, who allegedly shot a male third-year university student in the cheek in Kalasin’s Na Mon district early on Tuesday morning before abducting and raping a female sophomore student, has surrendered to police this afternoon (February 16). Rubber tapper Thisanu Phonarat, surrendered to Kam Moung police officers at a gas station belonging to his elder sister.…
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An Xin tour bus crashes in Phang Nga killing the driver, injuring 19
A Chinese tour bus of An Xin Tour Company has crashed into an electric pole on Phetchakasem Road in Phang Nga today (February 16) killing the driver while injuring Chinese passengers. The tourists booked with CNR Travel were heading to the Ban Tha Noon Pier. At the scene of the accident on the Phang Nga – Takuatung route in Krasom…
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More drug dealers arrested at Phuket Gateway
Five busts in two weeks. Three more people have now been arrested at Thachatchai checkpoint at the Phuket Gateway with 16.6 grams of methamphetamine and 542 amphetamine pills at just after midnight (February 16). The two men and one woman include 34 year old Anuchit Buathong from Phuket, 31 year old Mana Changnam from Krabi and 29 year old Nattaya…
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Thailand Kite Festival returns to Hua Hin in March
PHOTO: Peter Lynn Kites The ever-popular Thailand International Kite Festival is set to take to the skies on March 23-25, 2018 at the Army Non Commissioned Officer School, Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan. Fancy Kite Show: This year, the event will see 20 kite-flying teams from around the world, including Switzerland, Germany and France. The displays of beautiful kites from all…
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National manhunt after rape, shooting suspect evades police
An arrest warrant has been issued for a 29-year-old suspect accused of shooting a male third-year university student in the cheek in Kalasin’s Na Mon district and abducting and raping a female sophomore student. The female student was later released in a Phuphan forest early Tuesday morning. Thisanu Thonarat was described as armed and dangerous, Kalasin police chief Pol Maj-General…
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Police suspect illegal abortion clinic in Hua Hin
Prachuap Khiri Khan police are gathering evidence to apply for a court’s permission to search a clinic suspected of providing illegal abortion services in Muang Hua Hin municipality, following Tuesday’s discovery of four foetuses in garbage bins near a convenience store in Soi Hua Hin 68. Hua Hin superintendent Pol Colonel Sitthichai Srisopacharoenrat said police were tracking a male suspect…
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Mystery woman drowns off Phang Nga beach
PHOTO: komchadluek.net A woman, over the age of 60 in a black swimsuit, drowned on a beach north of Phuket on Tuesday. When emergency responders arrived at Khuk Khak Beach in Takuapa district, Phang Nga, the woman was already deceased. A security guard at the hotel fronting beach the woman was swimming tried to apply CPR before rescuers arrived, but…
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Fire in Phuket town destroys four houses
Another fire following a string of fires over the past week in Phuket. The fire started in a sofa shop near Komarapat Intersection in Phuket Town and has destroyed four houses causing damage valued at approximately 1 million Baht. Before noon today (February 15), Muang Phuket Police received a report about a fire on the side of Thepkasattri Road, near…
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Muslim paramilitary soldiers injured in Yala bomb attack
Two Muslim paramilitary soldiers were severely injured in a bomb attack while they were escorting a group of teachers to a school in Yala province on Thursday morning, police said. Police said Muslim insurgents had detonated an IED hidden along the main road in Bannang Sareng village in Muang district at 7.30am. A team of seven paramilitary soldiers on four…
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Phi Phi’s Maya Bay to be closed this June. Or maybe not…
According to AFP, Maya Bay is going to be closed in June this year. “The once-pristine Thai bay which became a tourist magnet after the 2000 movie “The Beach” will be closed to boats for several months to prevent further damage to its coral, an official said Wednesday. Hordes of tourists flock daily to Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi…
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Brush fire destroys old worker’s camp in Kathu
An old worker’s camp on fire just behind the Shell petrol station in Phra Phuket Kaew Road, adjacent to the Anupas car service centre. No one was in the dwelling at the time. The fire spread quickly to adjoining bush land but two fire crews attended quickly and brouht the blaze under control within 20 minutes. Police believe there was…
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Keeping track of foreigners in Thailand – new e-passport data to be used
The Immigration Bureau and the Interior Ministry have been instructed to speed up the implementation of a single-platform online database of foreigners entering and leaving the Kingdom. The order was given by Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan when he chaired the meeting of the fifth government committee in charge of bureaucratic reforms at Government House. “The single platform database would…
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Yingluck lobbying for a chat with Japanese PM
National Legislative Assembly whip Somchai Sawangkarn has revealed that a diplomatic source in Japan told him Yingluck Shinawatra has been trying to meet Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The source also told Somchai that the fugitive former premier was also seeking to meet old business and political connections in Japan and planned to call a press conference in late February…
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Six buildings demolished for encroaching national park land on Phi Phi
A hundred officers from Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, police, military and Office of Forestry demolished houses and shops located next to the national park booth. The team expect the full demolition to take 3 days. “It started in 2014 when the officers discovered the land encroachment. The man who claims to own the land, Aran Rothakan,…
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Valentine’s marriage registration at Phuket District Office
The Phuket District Office welcomed couples that came to register their marriage during the ‘day of love’. The Vice Governor Sanit Srivihok chaired the opening ceremony and was the witness for the registration of this year’s marrying couples. The first couple of this year was the Wichit sub-district chief, Chusak Ayupong, and his wife. “We expect at least 100 couples…
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Phuket airport increases domestic passenger seating
200 more seats have been installed for domestic travellers to solve the crowding issue while new ventilators have also been installed. The waiting lobby for the domestic departures has been expanded from 2,000 square metres to 5,000 square metres with 200 more chairs starting from today (February 14) onward. The ventilators have been installed as well. The expanding of the…
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Fourth drug courier arrested at Phuket Gateway
A 24 year old from Nakhon Si Thammarat, Jakrit Paipong, was arrested yesterday (February 13) at the Phuket Gateway Thachatchai checkpoint while carrying drugs to be distributed in Phuket. The van driving from Nakhon Si Thammarat to Phuket was stopped for a search and a military officer found Jakrit acting ‘suspiciously’. The officer looked into his bag and found 167…
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Six drug dealers arrested in major Krabi sting
Krabi police, along with Police Region 8 officers, have arrested six drug dealers from one of the biggest networks in the south and seized their assets, worth approximately 26.5 million Baht. The drug dealers arrested include 40 year old Kriangsak Rangsiyangkul from Bangkok, Nan Saung Kham from Myanmar, 34 year old Pornsawan Dindaeng, 22 year old Pitchsinee Patimin, 26 year…
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Another Chinese tour bus crash on notorious Patong Hill
A Chinese tour bus has collided with a car and a motorcycle then ended up slamming into the barrier walls at the bottom of the hill, on the final turn before reaching the temple at the bottom. Just before midnight last night (February 13), Patong Police received an accident report, the cause allegedly to brake failure, resulting in 5 injured.…
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Krabi Abbot calls for justice over allegations
Phra Taweelert Raktaweesin, the Deputy Abbot of Wat Klong Son in Krabi, is calling for justice after being accused of having a sexual relationship with women – an accusation he is denying. Nong Talay patrol police, together with local media, inspected the famous temple of the district today (February 13) after receiving reports from locals that the monk has had…
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83 year old man accused of raping four year old
An 83 year old man was arrested in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Muang district this morning over an accusation that he allegedly raped the four year old daughter of an in-law niece on February 2. The girl sustained such serious injuries from the alleged rape that she had to be treated at Maharat Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital, and was only discharged…
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Thaksin and Yingluck in Japan – Deputy PM
Deputy PM, Defence Minister and luxury watch enthusiast, General Prawit Wongsuwan, says that former PMs Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra are currently in Japan. Without further elaboration, Prawit added that he has ordered responsible agencies to look into the matter. He was speaking in Vientianne during his official visit to the country at the invitation of Lao government. Photos of Thaksin…
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Education Minister asked to answer for his comments over the Prawit ‘watch’ scandal
A close aide of Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan has expressed shock over a remark by Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin that apparently attacks his boss. The aide, who asked not to be named, was referring to a remark by Teerakiat that apparently criticised the country’s response to the Prawit watch scandal. Teerakiat said he would step…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, February 13
American hands himself into police over Pattaya ‘manslaughter’ | Phuket market bans smoking | UK’s Foreign Secretary visits Thailand | Road death statistics continue to rise | Coal plant protestors go on hunger strike | Greenpeace says stop BKK smog at the source.
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Waterfall encroachment opposite disputed Ao Sane villa construction
Officials from the Forest Protection Operations Centre visited Ao Sane yesterday (February 12). Cheewapap Cheewatham, Head of the centre’s Payak Prai Forest Crime Suppression Taskforce, led his team to inspect the encroached waterfall opposite the Ao Sane luxury property construction that was ordered to be suspended last year. On hand were the Deputy Director General of Department of Forestry, Internal…
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Anti-coal protestors start hunger strike
A hunger strike was started today by two groups of protestors who say they will not eat until the government permanently cancels the coal-fired power plants in the South. A total 19 activists from Save Andaman from Coal and the Network of Songkhla-Pattani Residents Against Coal-Fired Power Plants kicked off their hunger strike in front of the United Nation headquarters…
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Getting ready for the big one – Myanmar’s earthquake threat
Special report from partners Voice of America Last month, the residents of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, felt a strong bump in the night. Their national leaders in Naypyidaw, the country’s thinly populated capital, were also stirred from their sleep. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck between the two cities, in the early hours of January 12. The Southeast Asian country is…
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, February 12
‘Kra Canal’ project “not a priority” | Officals jump into action over black sludge washing into Ao Nang and Patong beaches | Student intern uncover 6.9 million baht alleged embezzlement | Student protests ‘must be handled carefully’ | Boris Johnson visits Myanmar | Cloud seeding being used to help settle last week’s BKK smog.
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Patong & Krabi wastewater ‘being tackled’
Local administration officials in Phuket and Krabi provinces are assuring people that they are trying to tackle the pollution problems in the sea at Ao Nang beach of Krabi and the sea at Tri Trang beach in Patong. Broken waste water treatment facilities are being blamed for the flow of untreated effluent from households and tourism-related establishments into the sea…
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