Thailand News Today | Grieving mother calls for Dating App Killer’s execution
Border officials, tour operators carve up latest visa run bounty Thailand News Today
Thai and Cambodian border police at Aranyaprathet and hot springs detailed rules for those who wish to extend their stay in Thailand by 45 days. The new stamp can be extended for a further month at immigration offices for 1 thousand 900 baht (that’s $50 US dollars).
The scheme is popular with Brits, European Union citizens, Americans and Australians.
Borey San, Cambodian clearance officer, said applicants must register with a Pattaya tour and minibus operator in advance of heading for the border, seemingly giving Pattaya’s numerous cowboy operators even more opportunities to rip off visitors.
The tour company must then send a copy of the passport to the border post of choice to ensure the applicant is eligible for renewal. Unregistered individuals arriving at the frontier under their own steam will not be serviced the same day and would need to spend several days or a week pending review of their application.
Most nationalities can take advantage of the visa-run scheme, but citizens of China, India and dozens of states in Africa are not welcome to participate and no individual may use the scheme more than twice a year. Though no one fully understands why Thailand remains committed to making things as difficult as possible for foreigners who wish to stay for more than a few weeks.
Jessataporn Bunnag, the owner of the Thai Visa Center located next to the Jomtien Immigration Bureau, said the system was introduced last month in an attempt by the government to reduce hassle for those who want to stay longer without applying for visas from Thai embassies in their home countries before travel.
“The important thing is to show us your passport well in advance so that you can be sure you are eligible,” he said, strangely generous advice, given the simplicity of the rules involved.
Thai Visa Center offers the service, including all costs and even lunch, for 5,500 baht (US$140), including the Cambodian entry visa worth 1,150 baht (US$30) and minibus fare.
Cambodian visa runs were not possible during the pandemic as land crossings remained closed long after airports reopened.
Phuket light rail project derailed once again Thailand News Today
The light rail project planned for the Thalang district of Phuket has been derailed once again.
Thai Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchop revealed the project will be delayed for another two years because it needs to be revised by a specialist.
The Thai Cabinet approved the project in the Thalang district of Phuket in 2016 and charged the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) to take care of the programme.
In 2019, Thai media reported that the whole project would cost about 42 billion baht, and 35 billion baht would be spent on phase one.
The final plan and design were supposed to be concluded in the same year, with fares set between 35 to 40 baht.
The first phase is planned to connect Phuket International Airport to Chalong Intersection with 21 stations stretching over 47.7 kilometres.
The second phase is to include another 16.2 kilometres to Chatchai Checkpoint.
The first phase was expected to open in 2024, however, some technical issues were found in the plan and design that needed to be fixed.
So, Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchop assigned a team to solve the problems.
According to the Daily News, hiring a new advisor for the project would push the budget up to 55.8 million baht.
An update on the beginning of construction work hasn’t been reported.
Phuket officials say contaminated seawater found last week is not a hazard
Phuket officials insist that the contaminated seawater found last week in the south of the island has not caused environmental damage.
The contaminated water was reportedly spotted near the Chalong Pier on October 13. It was spotted south of the pier leading to the Phi Phi Islands.
After the contaminated water was reported, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources inspected 79 kilometres of sea area.
The department then found an area of dirty water about 400 metres long off Koh Aeo island.
In a Facebook post, the department reported that the dirty water had not impacted marine and coastal resources.
Pollution is a major threat to Thailand’s marine wildlife. Fishing nets discarded in the ocean often kill and injure animals such as dolphins and sea turtles.
In June, a damning video caught a young sperm whale stuck in rubbish near Phuket’s Racha Island.
Also In June, Thailand’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment listed several threats to the country’s oceans.
These included pollution, deteriorating seawater quality, overfishing, and climate change. At an event for World Oceans Day in Patong,
the minister said the MNRE was “in the process of accelerating conservation work” for Thailand’s oceans.
Several groups signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Marine Waste Management.
The groups included government agencies, businesses, and local communities. Thailand News Today
Thailand finds 3 new subvariants, 4th in Hong Kong from Thai travellers
PHOTO: Three new subvariants have been found in Thailand, with a fourth found in Hong Kong in travellers from Thailand. (via Healiio)
Three new Covid-19 subvariants have been found within Thailand’s borders according to Thai scientists.
The global scientific community believes that the subvariants in the group found in the kingdom will become the dominant strains of Covid within the next few months.
A separate strain, XBB, was found in three passengers from Thailand in Hong Kong, despite the variant not being identified in the kingdom yet.
The BF.7, BN.1, and BA.2.75.2 subvariants were found through genomic surveillance in studies conducted by Ramathibodi Hospital’s Centre for Medical Genomics.
They were found in samples that were gathered from people within Thailand, though not in big numbers according to the National News Bureau of Thailand.
There was only one case of the BN.1 subvariant found, two people infected with the BF.7 subvariant, and three infections of the B.2.75.2 strain.
The three strains are all related as part of a subvariant group of the Omicron variant that swept the world previously.
These are newer strains from a group that also includes the BQ.1.1, BA.2.3.30, and XBB subvariants, the last of which was recently found in Hong Kong in travellers from Thailand.
The Department of Disease Control is pursuing information through International Health Regulations about those travellers.
Few details have been released about the three passengers, including if they were Thai natives or foreigners and if they were originating in Thailand or just passing through in transit.
Hong Kong has found 29 XBB infections so far, with 24 of them caught upon entry at the international airport.
The remaining five were identified within two days of their arrival into the special administrative region.
The majority of those infected were from Singapore where Covid infections have nearly quadrupled in the past week and are predicted to rise to double or triple agaishortlyre.
The XBB strain found in those Thai passengers has not yet been uncovered within Thailand’s borders, and authorities are stepping up efforts to detect it. Health officials have ordered samples be taken from travellers from Hong Kong,
Singapore, and other XBB-infected nations. And Thai PBS World reported that international airports are increasing general monitoring.
These new subvariants have between 200 and 2,000 infections in the GISAID database that tracks the pandemic worldwide,
but scientists believe they will surpass the BA.5 subvariant as the dominant strain soon. They worry most about the ultra-resistant BA.5.2.1.7 and BF.7 strains.
Those subvariants have been proliferating in Asia, Europe, and North America and are worrisome because they evade antibody treatments, vaccines, and previous infections. Thailand News Today
Grieving mother calls for Dating App Killer’s execution Thailand News Today
PHOTO: Mother of victim calls for Dating App Killer’s execution. (via Thairath)
After being told her daughter had been seriously injured, a distraught mother relied on contact and details from her daughter’s new boyfriend.
He said there had been a robbery and her daughter was in bad shape, in the hospital and needing money for treatment. She sent all her money and then sold her gold necklace to send more.
Her daughter was in such bad shape she was too weak to take phone calls until her mother got word from her boyfriend
that she had died in Sirirat Hospital and that she would need to borrow money to pay for her funeral.
When the grief-stricken mother asked to see photos of her newly deceased daughter, the boyfriend went silent, stopped answering calls, and disappeared.
That’s because there was no robbery. Her boyfriend, now known as the Dating App Killer, made the whole story up.
The robbery, the hospital stay, the daughter too weak to take calls… all fabricated. The only true part tragically was that the mother’s only child was dead.
Not at the hands of a thief, but rather through intense torture and abuse the boyfriend himself had inflicted over a month as
he held her captive in a rented room in Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok. The 59-year-old woman had just one daughter,
who had two children from a previous relationship. According to ASEAN Now, the 26-year-old had just gone to Bangkok for work when she met the Dating App Killer.
Now that heartbroken mother who once praised the man for taking care of her daughter at the start of their relationship is pulling no punches in calling for his punishment.
and she is advocating for the Dating App Killer to suffer the same way her daughter suffered at his hands. “He should be shot by firing squad or beaten to death.”
The daughter was found dead by Bang Yi Khan Police in a rented apartment, having suffered broken ribs, a fractured spine,
and a broken skull. Her funeral is being held in the Amnat Charoen district of Muang where her mother spoke to the press to demand justice.
The killer had moved on and was repeating his brutal crime.
He was arrested in Phatthalung where police found him with another woman with similar injuries from beatings and torture.
She had been held captive for a month after meeting the man on a dating site the same as his last victim.
Authorities expect there may well be more victims of the Dating App killer yet to be uncovered. Thailand News Today
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