News
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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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Former Thai PM Thaksin says lock-down was not the way to deal with Covid-19
Former, and currently fugitive, PM Thaksin Shinawatra says he believes the lock-down introduced in Thailand to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus was not the way to go. He maintains current restrictions are hurting the economy and their introduction was a mistake. Nation Thailand reports that Thaksin was speaking to BBC Thai when he criticised the measures put in…
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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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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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Workers claim Chiang Mai’s Dhara Dhevi resort owes 10 million baht in unpaid wages
A group of 70 workers, representing over 200 employees at a luxury resort in northern Thailand, have filed an official complaint with Chiang Mai’s Department of Labour and Welfare, claiming they have not been paid for 4 months. Thai Residents reports that the workers are all from the 5 star Dhara Dhevi resort in Chiang Mai, which closed its doors…
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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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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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Architecture students propose redesign and makeover of Bangkok prison
Most of Thailand’s prisons are well past their designed capacity. Living conditions for inmates are cramped and unsanitary. Now some architecture students are trying to come up with creative solutions to improve the living environment at one Bangkok prison. They’ve been working on design proposals that would make the conditions more “humane” at the Thonburi Remand Prison. “Treeward” is one design…
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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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4 alleged gang members arrested, more than a million speed pills seized
Police today announced the arrest of 3 members of a drug gang at 2 houses in Bangkok, and a fourth in the southern Narathiwat province on the Malaysian border. More than a million methamphetamine pills were seized. Police say the houses were used to store drugs smuggled from Laos. A combined team of soldiers, police and officials from the Office…
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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. The increasing vacancy trend of Grade-A office space is expected to continue, possibly until a coronavirus vaccine is in effect, according to managing director of Phoenix Property Development and Consultancy, Surachet Kongcheep. Business owners have…
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Suicide deaths during pandemic could exceed virus-related deaths
Stress with money and other worries, brought on by the pandemic, have led a significant number of people in Thailand to take their own lives. Those who have studied the subject in Thailand say the number of suicide deaths this year could exceed the number of coronavirus deaths. Scholars in Chiang Mai University studied suicide cases that took place between…
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WHO spokesman: Covid-19 may never be wiped out
As nations around the world begin gradually lifting lockdown restrictions enacted to stem the spread of Covid-19, the World Health Organisation is warning that the virus may never be completely wiped out. The virus was first detected in Wuhan in China in December last year and has now infected more than 4.3 million people and killed nearly 300,000 worldwide. The WHO’s…
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Covid-19 update: 1 new case, no new deaths (May 14)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced 1 new case of Covid-19 this morning at its daily press briefing in Bangkok. Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the CCSA, announced the new case is in Chiang Mai, which had previously been clear of new case reports for over a month. The 39 year old man had recently returned from Phuket and is…
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72 year old taxi driver disappears with millions
A elderly taxi driver has vanished without a trace after he became an overnight millionaire when he told the media a sad tale of poverty, indebtedness and lack of family support, according to one of his creditors, who is also the owner of the taxi company. Preecha Chumsombat, the owner of the Mangkorn Chao Phraya taxi rental service in Samut…
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Koh Tao residents caught without face masks made to do push-ups and jumping jacks – VIDEO
Officials on the island of Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand have come up with a novel way to punish people for not wearing face masks, still a legal requirement under the Covid-19 emergency decree when people are out in public. The Pattaya News reports that both tourists and Thais caught without protective face coverings are being made to…
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Thai carmakers slash production by 50% in 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic could cut Thailand’s automobile production by up to 50%, according to the Federation of Thai Industries. Thailand is the eleventh biggest carmaker in the world, producing more than 2 million cars last year. The FTI now expects only half that in 2020. FTI automobile club’s spokesman club’s spokesperson was speaking to Thai Enquirer: “If the outbreak is…
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One death and many sick after eating dumplings
Around 2 dozen people got sick and 1 person died sometime after they ate dumplings sold by a street vendor in Samut Prakan, a province south of Bangkok. Bacteria was found in the dumplings, or kanom jeeb, after a lab test, but health officials say they’re still not sure if the bacteria caused the food poisoning. They’re still investigating before they…
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Australian government takes on Google and Facebook over re-publishing ‘news’
A leading Australian consumer watchdog is calling for Google and other tech giants to pay Australian news outlets A$600 million (12.4 billion baht) a year under a new code of conduct ordered by the government. News Limited and Nine Entertainment have also voiced their support for the news ‘tax’. The Australia government announced plans to force Google, Facebook, and other…
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South Korea asks Thailand to remove it from list of “high risk” countries
South Korea is asking to be removed from Thailand’s list of “high-risk” countries. The list was drawn up in early March, when South Korea was second only to China for Covid-19 case numbers. It now ranks 40th, and is considered one of the countries most successful at managing the outbreak. To date, none of the 7,000 Thai citizens, who have…
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Defence Ministry to take legal action over anti-government slogan campaign
The Defence Ministry is vowing to take action after an anti-government slogan was projected onto various Bangkok monuments and buildings, including the Defence Ministry building itself, at the weekend. The Seek the Truth slogan also appeared on the Democracy Monument, at the Victory Monument BTS station and on Wat Pathum Wanaram temple. Former members of the now defunct Future Forward…
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Typhoon Vongfong closes in on the Philippines, hits coast later today
The Philippines is bracing for the arrival of Typhoon Vongfong. During Tuesday and Wednesday, Vongfong strengthened from a modest tropical storm with winds of 95 kph to the equivalent of a major typhoon. Maximum sustained winds are now up to 195 kph and the typhoon continues to strengthen as it approaches the Philippines’ coast. The only difference between a ‘hurricane’ and…
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Thailand News Today – Wednesday, May 13
Zero new cases. Covid-19 update, first time since March Very happy to announce another milestone in Thailand’s own battle with the Covid-19 virus. No new cases announced for today, the first time that’s happened since March 9. This keeps the country on track for the second phase of reopening and easing of Emergency Decree restrictions scheduled for this Sunday, but…
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Phuket government officially requests the opening of land, water and air links
The southern resort island province of Phuket will ask permission from Bangkok to reopen its airport, sea ports and permanent road access to the mainland (Sarasin Bridge) after several days with no new Covid-19 infections detected. The provincial governor says the province will ask the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand for approval to reopen the airport this Saturday. The CAAT ordered…
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Movies in a Covid world – The case for the return of the Drive In
One of the industries hard hit by the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak has been the film industry. At both ends the industry has been shuttered – the making of the movies and then the watching of the movies in cinemas. At some stage the movie making machine will chug back to life and, sometime, we’ll be allowed to go…
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Young student busted for big crimes
The Narcotics Control Board have announced the arrest of an 18 year old student at a private college in Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok, for possession of 10,000 ecstasy pills. “The student ordered 35,000 ecstasy pills by airmail from The Netherlands, paying in Bitcoin via the internet. He was arrested when the first shipment of 10,000 pills arrived. The…
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CCSA will announce list of businesses, activities that can recommence
Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration, has announced that the CCSA will likely decide on Friday on a full list of business and leisure activities which will be allowed to resume as part of the second phase of leasing Emergency Decree restrictions. The national state of emergency was declared in March to halt the spread…
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