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New ‘Hanuman’ unit formed to act as a SWAT team in special situations
The Crime Suppression Division of the Royal Thai Police has set up a new SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team to replace the former police commando unit. That has now been moved under the Ratchawallop Royal Guards Command. The new SWAT unit title “The Hanuman Unit”, after the monkey god Hanuman, is currently staffed by 40 officers under the command…
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New MRT stations in Bangkok take you to the city’s historic spots
Thailand’s Mass Rapid Transit Authority, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited are inviting locals and tourists to visit attractions near four of Bangkok’s MRT stations. Attractions include China Town, temples, palaces and shopping areas. The new Wat Mangkon, Samyot, Sanam Chai and Itsaraphap MRT stations have been designed to include retro styling to…
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All national highways in Thailand to have four lanes by 2022
Thailand’s Highways Department says all national highways in the country will be four-lane roads, two lanes in each direction, within three years. Daily News says the Director-General of the Highways Department, Sarawut Songsiwilai, made the announcement yesterday. Sarawut says the expansion will mean the country’s highways are better prepared to accommodate an increase in traffic using the network. It’s understood…
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Thai exports to neighbouring countries may lose out to China
PHOTO: asia.nikkei.com The director of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce’s Centre for International Trade Studies says Thailand risks losing the export markets of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) to China within five years. Aat Pisanwanich says that between 2004 and 2018, exports from ASEAN nations to China were 4.1 times higher and valued at US$194.54 billion,…
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Recreational drug users warned over dangers of ‘Magic Paper’ hallucinogen
PHOTO: reddit.com Thai medical officials are warning about a recreational drug known as “death stamp” or “magic paper”. The Nation reports that the deputy director-general of the Department of Medical Services, Dr Manus Photaporn, says the drug is popular with foreign tourists and involves the use of lysergic acid diethylamide (commonly known as LSD or acid). “Magic paper is basically…
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Mother and two year old escape Pattaya blaze
A mother and her two year old son have survived a blazing apartment fire in Pattaya. Firefighters were called to the apartment building just off Third Road, near a popular coffee shop. They arrived to find an intense fire destroying the entire top floor of the building. It took around twenty minutes to control the fire which started near the roof.…
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Driver busted with 3 million methamphetamine pills from Chiang Rai
SCREENCAPTURE: YouTube Police in Northern Thailand have arrested a lorry driver for trafficking almost 3 million methamphetamine pills from Chiang Rai province, destined for Bangkok. Police told the media they arrested the man after a tip at a checkpoint in Lampang province. The driver was identified as 25 year old Poramet Ruaysoongnern from Nakhon Ratchasima in north-eastern Thailand. Police said, after…
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Washington says Myanmar may be stocking chemical weapons
PHOTO: Reuters Myanmar is ignoring a convention banning chemical weapons and may have a stockpile left over from the 1980s… this claim coming out of Washington. A senior US State Department official told the annual meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that Myanmar may still have weapons at a “historic” facility where mustard gas was once…
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10 months later, no action to catch Bea’s murderer – Phuket
PHOTO: Dimitrios ‘Dim’ Chairopoulo, wanted and believed to be living in Greece “We are all in desperate need of some answers so that justice can be served for the family.” It’s been over 10 months since the murder of a local Phuket beautician 43 year old Niramon ‘Bea’ Aewkaew. But her alleged Greek murderer Dimitrios ‘Dim’ Chairopoulos remains on the…
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MD on the run – arrest warrant out for owner of company constructing petrol station in Phuket
PHOTOS: Phuket Hotnews The owner of a company responsible for the collapsed petrol station under construction in Thalang, Phuket, is on the run. Seven people died and two others injured when the concrete pillars gave way to a concrete slab, crushing those below. Chuchart Plasuwan is the 44 year old MD of the The Blue Phuket Co Ltd. The incident…
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Pattaya CCTVs weren’t working along busy soi to identify snatch and grab thieves
PHOTO: Ruk Siam News Pattaya City Hall say that all their CCTV cameras along a busy Soi were working on the night a Russian family were robbed. Not a single camera in the area of Soi 14 to 16 Na Klua, Banglamung, was working when a Russian family were robbed last night. According to the police report, two men on a…
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Over 500 complaints lodged against fake Thai tour agent
…who scammed victims out of 31 million baht. A fake package tour agency who used social media to scam customers out of a total of 31 million baht now has 514 complaints lodged against it, with 100 complaints lodged with the Vice Minister of Justice yesterday. The complaints were lodged at the ministry’s offices in Chaeng Watthana, Bangkok. The Nation…
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Thailand signs 3 MoUs with South Korea during PM’s visit
PHOTO: Thai PBS World Thailand has signed three MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with South Korea during PM Prayut Chan-o-cha’s official visit, taking place from November 24-27 for the 2019 ASEAN – Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit. Thai PBS World reports that the three agreements were signed yesterday, the first being between Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education Science, Research and Innovation…
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Chinese man stabbed to death in Bangkok office
PHOTO: khaosod.co.th Police are investigating the death of a Chinese man found murdered at his visa service office on the first floor of a Bangkok apartment in Huai Khwang. Police found 54 year old Fang Yang Zen dead, face down at a blood drenched table in the office. There were more than ten cuts on his face and neck, and a…
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Deer found dead in Thai national park – 7 kilos of garbage found in stomach
PHOTO: Thai Residents Thailand’s love affair with plastic, coupled with a casual attitude to littering, appears to have claimed another wildlife victim. The body of a wild deer has been found with an astonishing 7 kilograms of garbage in its stomach. The deer was found at a national park in Nan province, northern Thailand. Thai Residents reports that the deer…
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Relatives claim magic amulet saved child’s life in horror crash that killed the rest of his family
A couple and their child were killed in a horrific car accident at the weekend, but relatives claim that a second child in the car survived, thanks to a special religious amulet. The Pattaya News reports that the accident took place in Sattahip, just outside Pattaya, when the car carrying the family crashed into a light pole at high speed,…
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Health minister: No delays on agri-chemical bans
PHOTO: CNA The Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has reiterated there will be no delay to the ban on paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos, set to come into effect next week. Anutin, also deputy PM, reasserted the Health Ministry’s backing of the National Hazardous Substances Committee ban, even though the Department of Agriculture has proposed delaying it for six months to…
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Business friend finds body parts in Bangkok refrigerator
Police have made a grisly discovery at a house in Bangkok where a woman’s dismembered body has been found in a refrigerator, and her son shot in the head. One of the woman’s business friends made the discovery and alerted police. Police attended the townhouse in the Thonburi area, on the west banks of the Chao Phraya. Inside the refrigerator…
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Airlines snubbing Thai graduate pilots
Thai pilots are having a hard time finding work after graduation despite high global demand. This from Thai Civil Aviation Training Centre’s president Piya Atmungkun. Between 600 to 700 newly graduated Thai airline pilots are now struggling to find work in the local airline industry. “International airlines are competing to offer jobs to pilots, but “our pilots find no jobs. Aviation…
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Panthongtae Shinawatra acquitted of money laundering charges
The Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct has acquitted Thaksin Shinawatra’s son, Panthongtae Shinawatra, of money laundering. The court’s verdict said they were unable to identify the source of a 10 million baht cheque he received from a friend involved in the Krungthai Bank loan scandal. Read more about the story HERE. Public prosecutors arraigned the 41 year old…
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Swiss score two firsts at the Laguna Phuket Triathlon
PHOTO: Ruedi Wild crossing the finish line in yesterday’s men’s triathlon event Strong performances by Swiss’ athletes Ruedi Wild and Imogen Simmonds game them firsts at the 26th Laguna Phuket Triathlon yesterday (November 24). Finishing first to claim his third Phuket Triathlon championship, Wild crossed the finish line at 02:21:07, just two minutes before his toughest contender, Michael Raelert of…
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All passengers rescued after cruise incident off Koh Phi Phi
PHOTOS: Phuket Hotnews At about 10am this morning (November 25), the passengers and crew of La Belle Des Ocean, a cruise that crashed into a submerged reef near Bida Nok, 3 nautical miles off Koh Phi Phi Ley, have arrived back at the Phuket Deep Sea Port. There were 150 passengers on board and the cruise was on its way…
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Gin khao! Annual monkey buffet in Lopburi Province
PHOTOS: Travel Wire Asia | INN News Monkeys in the Lopburi province in central Thailand have enjoyed an annual buffet nicknamed the Tarzan Monkey Party. The is held at the War Phra Pang Sam Yot and is a traditional celebration of the monkeys and they ability to attract tourists. There is also a local legend of an ancient monkey saving the…
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Man found dead after falling from train in Surat Thani
PHOTO: Supapong Chaolan A man has been found dead under a railway bridge in the southern province of Surat Thani. Police say he is believed to have fallen to his death from a train. A train ticket was found with the man’s belongings when the body was discovered. The man’s body, wearing shorts and a green T-shirt, was found by…
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Malaysia’s last Sumatran rhino dies
The last Sumatran rhino in Malaysia has died after a battle with cancer. The rhino, named Iman, died at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Sabah on Saturday afternoon Malaysia’s cultural and tourism minister announced that it was “…with great sadness that the Sabah Wildlife Department announces the death of Iman, the last Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia.” “The death was natural and…
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Thais are tightening their belts and spending less – survey
“Nearly 70% said they’ve reduced spending on things like travel, shopping, parties and luxury goods.” Thais are tightening their belts and reducing their spending to weather the country’s growing stumbling economy, according to a Dusit Poll survey. The poll was conducted November 19-23 and surveyed 1,174 people from across Thailand. When asked how they’ve cut back, nearly 70% said they’ve…
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Representative of the owner of collapsed building visits the victims in Phuket
PHOTOS: Phuket Hotnews On November 23, the owner of the petrol station project, where the concrete structure collapsed on Thursday, killing 7 people and injuring two, sent a representative of the project to visit the injured and the families of the deceased. The incident occurred on November 21 at about 1pm. The victims were the contractors and workers of the…
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Motorcycle thieves arrested in Patong
PHOTOS: Newshawk Phuket Patong Police arrested three men in the seaside city with motorbikes that had been stolen. It appears the group has been stealing motorcycles around Patong since November 20. The group was spotted stealing a motorcycle on Phra Metta Road in Patong. After further investigation and inspection of CCTV it was discovered that the gang conducted their thefts…
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Arrest warrants issued over Phuket building collapse which killed seven
PHOTO: Matichon Online Thalang District police yesterday issued an arrest warrant for the owner of a construction company responsible for the collapse of a building under construction in Thalang, Phuket, according to online news portal Matichon. Seven Thai and Burmese workers were killed and another two injured following the collapse of the single story concrete structure at a new petrol…
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“The greatest propaganda machine in history” – Sacha Baron Cohen slams Facebook
“The Silicon Six – all billionaires, all Americans – who care more about boosting their share price than about protecting democracy.” Speaking at the Anti Defamation League’s International Leadership summit, actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen caned Facebook and other social media as “the greatest propaganda machine in history.” Sacha was accepting an award when he opened up on his thoughts…
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