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Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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Pattaya pickup is pursued by two men after it causes pregnant woman to fall off motorbike – VIDEO
A video has gone viral showing foreigners driving a pickup truck that was stopped by 2 Thai guys pursuing them after reports that the pickup allegedly sped through a heavily flooded area in Pattaya, near Soi Khao Noi, causing a motorbike with a pregnant woman to get clipped, making her fall off and the motorbike crash. 26 years old Satuek Phu…
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Airports open, quarantine rules and Samui – the latest
Airports of Thailand warns domestic airline passengers to check provincial travel restrictions before they book flights. Currently, there are 5 airports fully operational – Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang), Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Hat Yai, but only 4 airlines, namely Nok Air, Thai AirAsia, Thai Lion Air and Thai Vietjet are serving them. Phuket airport was set to reopen…
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Thai public balks at Thai Airways’ 60 billion bail out
A big decision is on the horizon for Thai Airways, the beleaguered national carrier. Crucial decisions are now being discussed which will define the airlines’ future. The airline was still haemorrhaging cash well before the coronavirus crisis started grounding planes from the start of February this year. Thai Airways’ fortunes have been in a death spiral for the past decade,…
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Covid-19 update: 0 new cases, 0 new deaths (May 16)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced that there no new reported cases of Covid-19 this morning at its daily press briefing, the second time in a week. The national total remains at 3,025 cases reported since the beginning of the outbreak. No new deaths were reported either, leaving the toll at 56. The southern island province of Phuket, which…
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Phuket’s economy is more than just tourism
by Bill Barnett While Phuket’s brand and economic reality is that nearly half of its contribution to GPP (gross provincial product) comes from tourism is true, it’s important to understand that there are other generators that will aid in the island’s post-crisis recovery. The island’s real estate sector, that currently has a market value of over 100 billion baht (according…
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Government urged to investigate forced unemployment claims
A Thai labour rights group is urging the government to investigate whether some employers are abusing labour laws to avoid paying their workers during the Covid-19 crisis. The call was made during an online seminar on unemployment related to the outbreak. Some businesses are allegedly requiring their employees to seek unemployment compensation from the Social Security Fund, when they should…
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Synthetic drugs growing in east, Southeast Asia: UN report
The synthetic drugs market in East and Southeast Asia continues to expand and diversify, and the price of methamphetamine “yaba” tablets has dropped to the lowest level in a decade as the supply has surged. A report released yesterday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime titled “Synthetic Drugs in East and Southeast Asia: Latest Developments and Challenges”, warns…
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Shopping centres, department stores prepare to reopen tomorrow
Department stores, shopping centres and larger restaurants, as well as other businesses across the nation, will begin gradually reopening tomorrow after nearly 2 months of closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the national state of emergency declared to fight it. The decision to go ahead with Phase 2 of the easing of restrictions was announced yesterday, but has yet…
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University hospital unveils robots to assist in Covid-19 cases
A fleet of robots, designed and built with the assistance of Toyota Motor Thailand to reduce contact between Covid-19 patients and medical staff, was unveiled at Bangkok’s Ramathibodi Hospital yesterday. A a neurosurgeon at the hospital and head of the team that came up with the idea, presented them in a media briefing. “A prototype was developed in March, but…
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Police investigating murder of 3 year old found in Mukdahan forest
The body of a 3 year old girl, missing since Monday, was discovered on Thursday in the northeastern province of Mukdahan. A team of detectives is now investigating the and murder. A massive search involving about 500 police, soldiers, local officials and volunteers was launched when the child, Nong Chompoo, was reported missing in the province’s Tambon Koktoom. The team…
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Full list of businesses allowed to reopen this Sunday
Quick. Read it before it changes. The government has announced which types of businesses will be allowed to reopen on Sunday as it begins “Phase 2” of its 4 step plan to slowly unlock and reopen businesses closed across the country due Covid-19. Mind you this is the list published today. There’s a whole day tomorrow for everything to change…
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Thailand News Today – Friday, May 15
Maison Saigon7 new cases, all imported, no new deaths 7 new cases of Covid-19 this morning at the daily press briefing. The new cases bring the national total to 3,025 since the beginning of the outbreak. But today’s new infections are all among Thais returning from Pakistan, 6 men and a woman, aged 17-31. All are now in state quarantine.…
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‘Thai Chana’ app to help track ‘safe’ retailers in a Covid era
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society revealed the details of “Thai Chana”, (Thailand Wins) a smartphone application to facilitate safety for both customers and establishments during the Covid-19 era. The businesses must register for the QR code and place it in front of the shop on the website. Customers will log in by scanning their QR code. This can…
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Thailand Transport Company plans to restart 16 routes from May 18 onwards
Today a spokesman for the state-run Transport Company Limited, one of Thailand’s biggeest bus operators, announced it will open 7 routes in the northern region and 9 in the northeast and eastern regions from Monday onward “to facilitate the people who need to travel after the Transport Company temporarily ceased service due to the Covid-19 epidemic situation.” Here are the…
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UPDATE: Phuket airport reopening delayed, again
UPDATE: In a surprise reversal, The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has announced the postponement of the reopening of Phuket International Airport, indefinitely. Just yesterday they announced that the provincial airport was to re-open from tomorrow morning. Although Phuket has gone 13 days with no new Covid 19 infections, it was still considered a risk area that needs to be…
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Military school owner gets death sentence for student’s fatal beating
The owner of a private military school in Nakhon Sawan province, about 237 kilometres north of Bangkok, has been sentenced to death, and his wife and mother-in-law to life in prison, for the fatal beating of a 15 year old student. The provincial court handed down its judgement on Tuesday, ordering capital punishment for Natthaphol Thavornphibun, the owner of Ban…
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Covid-19 update: 7 new cases, all imported, no new deaths (May 15)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced 7 new case of Covid-19 this morning at its daily press briefing. The new cases bring the national total to 3,025 since the beginning of the outbreak. Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the CCSA, says the new infections are all among travellers/returnees from Pakistan, 6 men and a woman, aged 17-31. All are…
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No sex for a month, Thai disease expert claims
Coronavirus survivors should wait a month before they get ‘intimate’. At least that’s what one Thai medical expert is saying. No sex for 30 days. For some, that may be worse than 14 days of quarantine. “Semen of recovering might carry the virus”, according to Veerawat Manosutthi, senior medical expert at the Disease Control Department, told Khaosod English. The claim is found…
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Government confirms 14.5 million Thais qualify for 5,000 baht state aid
The director of the Fiscal Policy Office and spokesman for the Finance Ministry says 14.5 million Thai citizens now qualify for the government’s 5,000 baht subsidy, having passed the relevant screening criteria. Thai PBS World reports that Lawan Saengsanit says this number includes 4.4 million people who succeeded at a preliminary round of screening and have already received their first…
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Thailand’s latest Covid-19 case was a tattoo artist travelling from Phuket to Chiang Mai
Thailand’s latest Covid-19 case revealed yesterday was a tattoo artist who had travelled from Phuket Province to Chiang Mai Province last Tuesday. Reports suggest that his main goal was to take his wife and son away from Phuket, being a high-risk province, but things didn’t go as planned when he ended up as the one who got infected. The tattoo…
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Singapore nurse leads Covid-19 patients in dance routine – VIDEO
A video posted online shows a Singaporean nurse at a Covid-19 isolation facility leading a group of patients in a morning dance routine. The patients are all migrant labourers now recovering after being treated for the virus. Singapore experienced an unexpected second wave of infections when over 20,000 migrant workers, all living in close proximity, caught the virus, with hundreds of…
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Marijuana valued at over 6 million baht seized in Mukdahan
Yesterday police in the northeastern province of Mukdaham announced the seizure of 616 kilograms of marijuana, valued at more than 6 million baht. Authorities say 5 suspects are in custody, identified as 46 year old Boonchu Sittithong, 20 year old Wilawan Lapphu, 22 year old Kittiphong Uttaprom, 34 year old Keng Sae Song and Somboon Chindalert, aged 43. Police got…
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New app latest weapon in Thailand’s fight against Covid-19
In line with developments around the world, Thailand’s Covid-19 task force has developed a contact-tracing app as the fight to eradicate the virus continues. Coconuts reports that the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society says the app, known as Thai Chana (Thailand Wins) will be used to track people’s movements in order to easily contact anyone who may have visited…
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Tourism sector prepares to resume business
Businesses that have been battered by the Covid-19 outbreak, especially those in the Eastern Economic Corridor (straddling Chonburi, Rayong, and Chachoengsao provinces) that rely mainly on tourism, are in desperate need of support. But the vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce says it’s still too early to predict when tourism will recover, as it largely relies on arrivals…
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US ramps up presence in South China Sea along with coronavirus rhetoric
Over recent weeks US Navy ships and Air Force bombers have undertaken high profile missions aimed at telegraphic a clear message to China that the US military intends to maintain a presence in the region. The US is ramping up military pressure on China and tensions in the South China Sea. It’s accusing Beijing of leveraging the Covid-19 pandemic to extend…
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Vongfong, aka. Ambo, barrels into Philippines’ east coast
Typhoon Vongfong (aka. ‘Ambo’ in the Philippines) has made landfall, forcing tens of thousands of people to quickly evacuate whilst in the middle of lockdown amid their local Covid-19 outbreak. The typhoon struck the Phillipines east coast islands around Samar at around noon yesterday. Around 200,000 people living in the coastal areas near Samar have been affected. Vongfong packed winds of…
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University in Korat plants more than 3,000 cannabis plants
The Suranaree University of Technology in Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima) announced today that they have begun planting marijuana trees as part of their research on marijuana based medicines. A senior official at the university, Weerapong Pairsuwan, says that “up to 3,360 cannabis will be planted, with a harvest more than 1,500 kilograms later this year.” “The plants will be used in researches…
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Thailand News Today – Thursday, May 14
Tenants bailing out of pricey Bangkok offices amid pandemic Bangkok’s high-end office district is looking more like a ghost town as the coronavirus pandemic seems to have many companies bailing out of their pricey office spaces. Business owners have had a wake-up call from employees discovering the advantages of working from home. A spokesperson from Phoenix Property Development and Consultancy…
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Alleged Burmese poachers arrested with carcasses of protected species
Forest rangers arrested 2 alleged poachers from Myanmar in the Thong Pha Phum National Park in the western border province of Kanchanaburi province yesterday. Officers seized shotguns and the carcasses of several protected animals from the suspects. The chief of the national park said the rangers caught the suspects in Hindad subdistrict in Thong Pha Phum district, which borders with…
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Leading virologist warns against enabling second wave of Covid-19
A second wave of Covid-19 infections could easily strike Thailand unless people stick to the “new normal” of social distancing, according to Chulalongkorn University’s Head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology. Posting on Facebook today, Dr Yong Poovorawan wrote that everyone is looking forward to the second phase of easing Emergency Decree restrictions now that the rate of…
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