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5 hidden healthcare costs in Thailand and how to avoid them
Thailand's healthcare system is affordable and supported by the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) scheme, offering essential services to most citizens. However, hidden healthcare costs can surprise patients and lead to unexpected expenses. These include specialist fees, insurance gaps, emergency services,...
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Nong Nong forced to lift weights and perform for tourists at a Phuket zoo – VIDEO
A monkey has been filmed lifting weights and doing other ‘tricks’ for tourists at an unnamed zoo in Phuket. Footage was shot by people recording the video for PETA, the global animal rights group, of the monkey being forced to lift weights and do press-ups as entertainment for the island’s tourists. The monkey is an indigenous Macaque species and named ‘Ning…
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Gunman in Manila mall standoff surrenders, releases hostages
Further to a story earlier reported by The Thaiger, a former security guard has released some 30 people and walked out of a Manila shopping mall after hours of gruelling negotiations, ending a day-long hostage crisis in an upscale commercial district. The gunman, identified by police as Archie Paray, a former guard at the complex, left the V-Mall in suburban…
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Central Thai junk shop raided for recycling tens of thousands of face masks
An enterprising junk shop in the Wiharn Daeng district in Saraburi, central Thailand, is being investigated after a raid found tens of thousands of recycled face masks being prepared for packing and re-selling. According to Somsak Kaewsena, the Wiharn Daeng district chief officer, thousands of used face masks were found in washing machines, thousands more were piled up behind the…
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Mask, hand sanitiser shortages anger people across Thailand
Across the kingdom people are rattled by shortages of face masks and hand sanitiser amid the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. Public demand has skyrocketed since the announcement of Thailand’s virus-related death. The Private Hospital Association says its medical personnel are being seriously affected by the mask shortage. A new infection was reported yesterday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in…
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Thailand News Today, March 2, 2020
New coronavirus case pushes Thai total to 43 Thailand’s reported coronavirus cases has now reached 43. The new case is a 22 year old Thai woman who had been working as a driver for foreign tourists with another Thai patient. Health officials had located the woman for testing. She was already admitted for treatment at a hospital. Meanwhile another woman…
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Sacked security guard takes around 30 hostages at shopping mall in Philippines
A man has been shot and around 30 people have been taken hostage by a gunman at a mall in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Armed police and negotiators are trying to end the standoff peacefully. The situation is ongoing. The shot man is already in hospital in a stable condition. The gunman, reported to be a former security…
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Samui’s Banyan Tree Hotel acts to protect sea turtle nest
Khun Veeraphat, a waiter at Sands beachfront restaurant on Koh Samui, made a startling discovery on February 13 when he spotted what appeared to be tracks coming from the sea. CCTV footage at Banyan Tree Samui clearly showed a giant sea turtle laying eggs on the beach the night before, then returning to the water. The luxury hotel, located on the…
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Thai Moto GP in Buriram postponed over outbreak fears
Another casualty of the current coronavirus precautions, one of the biggest sporting events in Thailand – the MotoGP 2020 in Buriram. The event was scheduled for March 20-22 in Buri Ram province, north east Thailand, where it has started to gather a huge local and international following. The Deputy PM and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul made the announcement this morning.…
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What is 5G? Everything you should know about the next-gen mobile.
So what is 5G? 5G literally means fifth-generation wireless technology. The successor to 4G, the biggest changes include higher speeds, lower latency, and the ability to connect more devices at once. The benefits of 5G aren’t limited to its use. Qualcomm is predicting a $12.3 trillion economic boost worldwide, with 22 million new jobs thanks to both the infrastructure and…
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1 dead after monk rear-ends pickup in Nakhon Ratchasima
A woman is dead after a monk rear-ended the pickup truck in which she was riding in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima. Police say the incident occurred about 1:15 pm yesterday on a road along an irrigation canal in tambon Krachon. A spokesman said 24 year old Likit Chuamo was driving the pickup, taking nine people to a nearby…
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South Korea wages “all-out response” – cases exceed 4,000
“The government is now waging all-out responses after raising the crisis alert to the highest level.” South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in has announced that is government will wage “all-out responses” in response to the outbreak of coronavirus which has added 476 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total of infections to 4,212. The death toll in South…
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Panic, precautions and contradictions over Thailand’s first coronavirus death
Mild panic, and a new raft of precautions pervades the Coronavirus narrative in Thailand as we head into another week. Over the weekend the Health Ministry announced a new range of precautionary measures whilst most of Thailand’s tourist spots remain quiet – a lot quieter than usual. There was also the announcement of the first coronavirus-related death in Thailand over…
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Death of a salesman: King Power branch linked with coronavirus death is closed
King Power, Thailand’s largest travel retail group, has temporarily shuttered an outlet linked to Thailand’s first coronavirus-related death. A statement on Facebook earlier today said the branch has been closed since February 6 as part of health and safety measures, and that all its outlets have been sanitised. King Power, which holds the proprietary concession for all of Thailand’s duty-free…
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Pattaya ladyboy attacks American tourist with sodium hydroxide
Pattaya police announced the arrest of a transgender suspect who allegedly attacked an American tourist with sodium hydroxide over the weekend. Sodium hydroxide, also called lye or caustic soda, is a highly corrosive chemical that decomposes proteins at ordinary ambient temperatures and can cause cause severe chemical burns. It’s used in making wood pulp for paper and is a primary…
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Chiang Mai to see passenger numbers fall by 40% in wake of virus fears
The numbers at Chiang Mai’s international airport will fall 40% to 3.5 million in the first six months of this year if the outbreak of Covid-19 coronavirus drags on until the middle of the year. Chiang Mai airport deputy director Thananrat Prasertsri said late last week that flights to the airport during the period January 1 to February 25 dropped…
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France bans large gatherings, discourages “air kisses”
The number of coronavirus cases in France has nearly doubled and currently stands at 100, of whom 86 are hospitalised, two have died and 12 have recovered, according Jerome Salomon, the head of France’s national health service. To fight the spread of the virus, France is banning all indoor public gatherings of more than 5,000, and discouraging the public from…
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Surin teacher faces severe punishment for selling teen girls for sex
A 51 year old local schoolteacher in Thailand’s northeastern Surin province, near the Cambodian border, was among the owners of three karaoke bars caught selling the sexual services of underaged Thai girls this week. Nineteen women, thought to be sex workers, were taken into custody following raids on the bars. The businesses were closed and their owners face a range…
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Man arrested for gunshots at Nontha Buri mall “to intimidate his wife”
In a further development to a story the Thaiger reported earlier, a Thai man has been arrested for firing a gun on Friday at the Central Plaza shopping mall in Nontha Buri, just outside of Bangkok. Police responded swiftly to the shooting and no casualties were reported. “The suspect is 41 years old and he reportedly fired six shots while…
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Students say they’ll increase protests until PM stands down
About 700 students joined a rally last night in front of the auditorium at Bangkok’s Kasetsart University, vowing to escalate their protests until the government of Prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha steps down. University and secondary students have been rallying on or near their campuses since Monday to demand a rewrite of Thailand’s 2017 Constitution and transparent elections. Pro-democracy activist Parit…
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OPINION: Doomsday, the Black Swan and no fear
by Bill Barnett of c9hotelworks.com “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore” is how I am feeling on a Saturday afternoon. My senses are bruised and battered after a weeklong barrage of panic, blurring sensational bad news headlines and a mounting sense of fear amongst my fellow humans. What is clear in the grand scheme…
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Coronavirus UPDATE: China cases ease, 42 cases now in Thailand
The total confirmed cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) is now 85,217, with 2,924 people having succumbed to the disease. 39,554 people have fully recovered, approaching 50% of total cases. In Thailand there are now 42 confirmed cases with 28 people listed as “recovered”. The latest Thai victim is a 21 year old salesman whose job is said to have exposed him to foreign…
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New confirmed patient brings total to 42. Health ministry announce tough new measures.
The Thai Public Health Ministry has confirmed a new infection in the country, bringing the national total to 42. 28 patients have already recovered with no deaths recorded in Thailand from the virus. At the same time the health ministry has now designated Coronavirus Covid-19 as a dangerous communicable disease, a designation which takes effect tomorrow. The announcement gives authorities sweeping…
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Tough new coronavirus measures start tomorrow
The Public Health Ministry today confirmed a new COVID-19 coronavirus infection, bringing Thailand’s national total to 42. An announcement from the ministry designating Covid-19 as a “dangerous communicable disease” will take effect tomorrow, strengthening authorities’ ability to combat the spread of the virus. Sukhum Kanchanaphimai, the ministry’s permanent secretary, says the newest victim is a 21 year old salesman, whose…
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Australian bodybuilding champ arrested in Pattaya for illegal work, hormones
An Australian bodybuilder was arrested in Pattaya yesterday for working without a permit and being in possession of illegal hormones. Police say they received a tip from a concerned citizen that Rohan Jeffrey Reid, a well known former winner of amateur bodybuilding tournaments in Australia, was working illegally, organising and profiting from “Thai Muscle Camp” programs for foreigners. Reid allegedly…
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Coronavirus myths: Eight things you should probably already know
Two months after the first cases came to the attention of the world, a lot more is known about the coronavirus, aka. Covid-19. Here’s a few well established myths and a few scientific facts. MYTH: ‘Face masks don’t work’ Wearing a face mask is no guarantee that you won’t be infected. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets and larger…
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Lao woman kept as a slave for 9 years
The anti-human trafficking division of the Royal Thai Police yesterday arrested a Thai couple in the province of of Samut Sakhon, southwest of Bangkok, for the enslavement of a Lao woman. The couple kept the woman in a storage room and treated her as a slave for nine years. The suspects were identified as 60 year old Suchin Vipusitthikul and…
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South Korea virus cases skyrocket, approaching 3000
The World Health Organization has raised its risk alert to its highest level, as South Korea confirmed 594 more coronavirus (COVID-19) cases today, its biggest single-day increase, bringing the national total to 2,931. Three additional deaths were also reported. The Korean Centres for Disease Control and Prevention say that more than 90% of the new cases were in Daegu, the…
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World’s largest travel fair, ITB, cancelled in Berlin
Organisers of the world’s biggest travel expo, the ITB travel trade fair in Berlin, have cancelled the event over coronavirus fears. 160,000 visitors were expected to attend this year’s event. “We take our responsibility for the security and the health of our guests, exhibitors and employees very seriously. It is with a heavy heart that we have to look at the…
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Thailand News Today, February 28, 2020. Daily TV news update.
Shots fired in Nontha Buri mall There was another gunman alert in a Bangkok mall yesterday afternoon…. Police rushed to the Central Plaza mall in Nontha Buri province, just northwest of Bangkok after reports of gunshots inside the mall around 4:20 yesterday afternoon. There were no reports of death or injuries. A suspect was arrested and the mall is open…
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Thai minister Thammanat Prompao tells parliament he “never pled guilty” or “served time” over heroin drug charges
The Thai deputy agriculture minister Thammanat Prompao has re-ignited the controversy over his drug convictions in Australia by continuing to insist he “never pled guilty or served jail time for drug charges in Australia”. His claims are contrary to the evidence provided by the Australian courts. The ministers’s denial follows the disbanded Future Forward Party publishing an Australian court ruling on…
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