Thailand News
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Is private health insurance in Thailand worth it? Real costs vs risks explained
Thailand has a strong healthcare system with both public and private options. Public hospitals offer affordable care, but many people, including expats, choose private health insurance for faster service, modern facilities, and more treatment choices. To decide if private health...
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Thailand’s heavy rain is coming back
After a brief break, Thailand’s heavy rain is coming back with a vengeance for the rest of this week. The Thai Meteorological Department said there should be heavy to very heavy rain throughout most of the kingdom from today, July 20, until Sunday, July 24. This includes the North, Northeast, Central, East, and South regions. Those living near the coast…
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Labour minister warns Thai women of trafficking in UAE ‘jobs’
Thailand’s labour minister is warning women about sex trafficking in some fake job opportunities in the United Arab Emirates. The minister, Suchart Chomklin, said yesterday that many Facebook ads invite women to apply for jobs in a spa massage, marketing, personnel management, and gambling websites in the UAE. Surchart said that these ads offer high returns and payment for airfares,…
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Electric vehicles are now available to rent in Phuket, Thailand
Phuket has entered a new era of sustainability by welcoming the island’s first ever rentable 100% electric vehicle (EV). Tourists can rent the Nissan Leaf from SIXT Thailand and cruise around Phuket without producing any harmful emissions at all. SIXT Thailand partnered with InterContinental Phuket Resort on the project, who have installed a series of EV charging stations compatible with…
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Plan underway to screen Thailand’s no-confidence vote
Four universities and four free TV channels in Thailand are working together to find a way to screen this week’s censure debate for the public. The idea is to give the nation’s citizens a vote on each cabinet member’s performance from 6pm on Friday, the last day of the censure motion. The vote result won’t be taken into account, but…
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Thailand’s iconic Maya Bay to temporarily close again
Thailand’s iconic Maya Bay – located on Koh Pi Pi Leh in Krabi province – will be off-limits to tourists for the duration of August and September for another period of environmental restoration. The bay, made famous by “The Beach” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, reopened to tourists on January 1 after a three and a half year closure. All tourist activities…
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Thai police deny ever using Pegasus spyware on dissidents
After a bombshell report revealed that dozens of Thai democracy activists were targeted by an Israeli spyware programme called Pegasus over the past two years, Thai police forces are denying that they ever had any hand in the spyware. The Deputy National Police Spokesman said that Pegasus spyware was not used to hack anti-government dissident’s mobile devices, despite claims in…
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US thug gets 5 years for brutal assault of Thai model in subway
The serial offender who launched a violent attack on a Thai model in a New York City Subway will be jailed for five years after pleading guilty. Thug Kevin Douglas admitted second-degree robbery for the brutal assault of Bew Jirajariyawetch while she waited at the 34th Street-Herald Square station for a train home on November 22 last year. Douglas struck…
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2 workers die, 2 injured in Bangkok electrocution tragedy
Police have launched an investigation into the death of two electrical workers and serious injury to two other men who were electrocuted in a sewer near Wat Bang Nai Temple. The three electrical workers, 37 year old Direk Intarangsee, 23 year old Warawut U-Nath, and 26 year old Thosapol Faksawat, yesterday were installing an electrical system inside the sewer in…
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UPDATE: Couple narrowly escapes death as steel beam falls onto Bangkok expressway
UPDATE: The construction company responsible for the steel beam which fell onto a busy Bangkok expressway has agreed to pay 300,000 baht in compensation to the couple inside the pickup truck, which was flung into the air when it collided with the beam, as seen in the dashcam footage below. The couple – Sarawut Warapieng and Moree Warapieng – went…
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Lottery ticket vendors stage a protest against the new digital lottery app
With the rush to a digital, and more convenient form, of legal gambling in Thailand, the Government Lottery Office appears to have thrown the lottery ticket vendors under a bus. Now the ticket vendors are fighting back in a protest calling on the GLO board to resign and increase quotas for the thousands of private citizens and small street-side shops…
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Thai PM hits back at opposition “try and bring back Thaksin”
“I know you may admire some people who previously held this position and praise them for doing a better job than me. That’s fine. Just bring them back if you can.” The first day of the no confidence debate saw some fiery exchanges between the PM and the opposition MPs goading him on his record and time as premier. Prime…
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Tourism associations meet with Thai PM urging more assistance
A consortium of 12 tourism associations from around Thailand are calling on the government to simplify the current tourism stimulus schemes saying the situation was urgent. They told the Thai PM on Monday that they remained “sceptical” of the complicated web of programs that will do the intended job of stimulating travel – domestic and international. One of the representatives,…
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Two-faced kitten born in northern Thailand
A kitten with two faces was born in Lampang province, northern Thailand, on Sunday. Two-faced kittens – also known as “Janus cats” after the two-faced Roman god Janus – don’t generally live longer than a day. However, this tiny Janus kitten is doing considerably well so far and is drinking milk from both mouths, said the kitten’s owner. One side…
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Pro-Prayut James Bond “008” posters mocked by opposition
A pro-government Facebook page, Priang News, (เปรี้ยง) which created several James Bond-type 008, No Time to Die posters, in support of Cabinet members during this week’s censure debate, has been mocked by the opposition. Priang News created posters saying PM Prayut Chan-o-cha will not be “killed” stating the Bond movie No Time to Die and using the hashtag #FightEveryProblem. Pheu…
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No confidence debate – Day one. Opposition attacks Anutin over botched cannabis laws.
As expected, today’s censure debate in the Thai parliament has kicked off with the opposition targeting Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Last week opposition parties revealed their tactics to attack the Bhumjaithai party leader, who brings some 60 votes to the coalition table. Today they launched straight into their attacks on the mercurial deputy PM who has championed the decriminalisation…
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MP warns Thais to be wary after fake job agency scams 50 women
The Minister of Labour warned citizens to be wary after a group of Thai women were swindled out of thousands by a fraudulent job agency. Suchart Chomklin acknowledged he was aware of scams on a number of Facebook accounts that are advertising attractive job positions in places such as the United Arab Emirates where they are promising one thing but…
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VIDEO: Couple narrowly escapes death as steel beam falls onto Bangkok expressway
Dashcam footage reveals the terrifying moment a heavy steel beam fell 20 metres through the air onto a busy expressway in Bangkok. The beam landed just metres in front of an oncoming pickup truck which was flung into the air as the wheels collided with the beam. Miraculously, the couple inside the pickup truck came out of the incident unharmed.…
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Study: vaccines prevented nearly half a million deaths in Thailand
Since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, 31,031 people have died in Thailand from the virus, but a research team suggest that it could have been much worse without vaccines. The team from Mahidol University suggested that, without a vaccination programme in place, Thailand would likely have seen another 490,000 deaths. The MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis compile…
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5-day holiday weekend brings predictable surge in Covid-19 infections
While it was entirely predictable, Thailand rejoiced at the chance to get away for a five-day weekend, ignoring warnings from medical professionals, and now the country is seeing a spike in new and serious Covid-19 infections. The Department of Disease Control released figures showing that the number of people infected with severe Covid cases that require ventilators is rising again.…
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British hero hails US film director’s depiction of Thai cave rescue
Cave hero Richard Stanton believes movie director Ron Howard was the perfect choice to capture the raw emotion of the dramatic rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded grotto in Thailand. The Oscar-winning filmmaker has retold the climactic tale from four years ago of the cave rescue in a new movie, “Thirteen Lives,” which premiered last…
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Four-legged chicken turns heads at Big Bum Farm in northeast Thailand
A farmer in northeast Thailand discovered a four-legged hen in his coup and locals won’t leave it alone. The genetically unusual chicken is believed to bring good luck and might even reveal next month’s winning lottery numbers, according to locals, some of whom visit the chicken every day at – and this is no joke – “Big Bum Farm” in…
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Human Rights Watch calls on Thai protesters on hunger strike to be released
From Human Rights Watch… (Published as provided) Thai authorities should immediately drop the charges and release pro-democracy activists detained for insulting the monarchy (lese majeste), Human Rights Watch said today. Two of the activists, Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom and Nutthanit “Bai Por” Duangmusit, have been on a hunger strike since June 2, 2022, to protest their pretrial detention at Bangkok’s Central…
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Thailand could generate up to US$65 billion in tourism revenue next year, says TAT
Yesterday, the Tourism Authority of Thailand said the country’s tourism industry could generate up to US$65 billion, or 2.38 trillion baht, next year. The revenue could equate to around 80% of pre-pandemic tourism revenue, said Governor of the TAT Yuthasak Supasorn. Comparatively, the TAT expects Thailand to actualise 1.5 trillion baht in tourism revenue this year. Yuthasak expects Thailand to…
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Doubts over Thailand’s 2028 completion date for high speed rail link
Despite last week’s announcement that the high-speed railway from Bangkok to the Laos border would be completed by 2028, there remain lingering doubts about whether the Thai government is fully committed to the project, valued at about US$12 billion. Questions are being raised about perceived benefits to Thailand or how the government can recover any of the costs. The new…
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Thai anti-corruption body names names over Thai Airways Rolls Royce engine scandal
Part of the debacle Thai Airways finds itself in now harks back to poor decisions made 30 years ago with some “expensive” aircraft engine purchases. Since then there have been numerous investigations and serious charges levelled against Rolls Royce over payments made to Thai Airways personnel. Rolls Royce has since settled over the case following an investigation by the British…
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Thai PM faces uncertain outcome as censure debate kicks off today
The four day censure debate kicks off today, with the Thai PM and his cabinet ministers, targeted for censure, confident they will emerge unscathed. The actual no confidence motion will be put to the vote on Saturday after four days of drilling from opposition MPs. The weekly Cabinet meeting was moved back to yesterday to accommodate the week of parliamentary…
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Freshmen forced to dance naked at university hazing ritual in Thailand
Electrical engineering students from a private university in Bangkok’s Nong Khaem district were allegedly forced to dance naked in front of women during an off-campus “hazing” ritual. Twitter user @RedSkullxxx posted a video of the incident online on Saturday with the caption… “This is an off campus hazing ceremony for fourth-year electrical engineering students from Southeast Asia University. In which…
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Thai military commanders asked to explain secret budget used by senior officers
Senior officers from the Defence Ministry, and the Royal Thai Armed Forces, say its nearly 2,000,000,000 baht budget would be used reasonably to protect the country. But members of the Extraordinary Committee asked about the secret budget and urged senior officers to reveal more detail about the plan to the public. The Extraordinary Committee met this morning to consider the…
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Kanchana Buri Skywalk to open in old town next year
Kanchana Buri is hoping to boost their tourism numbers higher by lifting their tourists higher with a 15-metre tall skywalk. The project has been in the works for a long time, with construction woes delaying the opening again and again, but the bridge with its scenic views is now set to be opened at the beginning of 2023. The skywalk…
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Pegasus spyware found on phones of activists in Thailand
A new report has revealed that dozens of Thai democracy activists were targeted by an Israeli spyware programme called Pegasus during the height of intense anti-government protests over the past two years. The joint report, by the Thai NGO iLaw, Digital Reach, and The Citizen Lab, claims that the phones of 30 activists, academics, lawyers, and NGO workers, mostly connected to civil…
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