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5 best wine bars in Bangkok offering rich and quality wine
It’s wine o’clock! Whether you’re all about fruity reds, sweet whites, or funky naturals, Bangkok has many great spots to sip your favourite varieties. But with an array of options to choose from, and the constant rise and fall of...
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New variant could dampen Thailand’s reopening enthusiasm
Thailand was the first country in Asia to more fully reopen to foreign travellers, and it is seeing a slow recovery, with more bookings for hotels, and new faces along shopping strips and markets in the country. November 1 was the launch of the Thailand Pass and a broader reopening to fully vaccinated travellers and tourists from 63 low-risk countries.…
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UPDATE: Latest news on Omicron – what we know
World travel destinations are moving to block flights from up to 10 African countries following the discovery of the Omicron Covid-19 variant this week. Officially, the new variant is designated B1.1.529. This is the latest information about the current status on Omicron. The new Covid-19 mutation was first reported to the World Health Organisation on Wednesday this week, by scientists from…
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Hello Thaiger
Formed in 2018 as a digital rebrand of The Phuket Gazette, one of Thailand’s largest and most well-known English language regional print newspapers, The Thaiger expanded beyond local Phuket news, going nationwide. Our Thai language offering was launched just a year later and has long since surpassed the readership of the English news, with local Thais coming to read about…
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Will Iraqi Kurdistan’s youth turn to religious extremism next?
Over the past few days, there has been yet another indicator of how dissatisfied the people of Iraqi Kurdistan are with their leaders. Thousands of demonstrators, many of them students, took to the streets in the semi-autonomous northern Iraqi region to demand the restoration of financial stipends local authorities stopped paying around 2014. During the protests, security forces used a…
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Songkhla prepares for tourism across the Southern land border
Despite having the second most daily Covid-19 infections in the country today with 441 and becoming the 6th most infected province overall, the Deep South border province of Songkhla is preparing to reopen in December and bracing for a surge of overland international visitors. Local tourism operators are saying they expect around 10,000 tourists from Malaysia and Singapore per week…
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French expat being denied re-entry to Thailand over repeated criticism of the Thai monarchy
One of Thailand’s long term French expats Yan Marchal is being denied reentry to Thailand. He says he is being expelled to Paris from Bangkok, as soon as tonight, for being a long term critic of the Thai government and Monarchy. Yan says he could appeal the ‘deportation’. “I have been advised to fly out rather than to expose myself…
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COVID-19 SATURDAY: 6,073 infections, 32 deaths, provincial data
Today, the CCSA reported 6,073 new Covid-19 infections, down 486 since yesterday, and 32 Coronavirus-related deaths, half as many as yesterday. Since April 1, in the latest wave of the virus in Thailand, a total of 2,072,086 confirmed Covid-19 infections have been reported. In the 24 hour period since the last count, the CCSA has reported 6,538 recoveries, up 337…
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Omicron causing concern, Thai authorities ban travellers from 8 countries
Countries around the world are pushing back against the latest strain of Covid-19, now officially called by its Greek alphabet name ‘Omicron’, or B.1.1.529 if you want to be scientific. Potentially, the new variant is more a transmissible coronavirus and was first recognised by South African health authorities. Now, a number of countries are already banning travellers from several southern…
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Amnesty International under investigation for defending activists
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha announced that Thai authorities have opened an investigation into human rights group Amnesty International after they spoke out against the prosecution of anti-government protesters. An opposing group of protesters who are devoted to the monarchy called for Amnesty International to be barred from Thailand. On Thursday, the group of royalists gave the government a letter saying that…
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New Covid-19 strain named “Omicron” and a variant of concern
Omicron is the new Covid-19 to watch out for, having just received its Greek name and the highest category of classification, “variant of concern”. The B.1.1.529 strain, recently uncovered in southern Africa and already seeing some spread, was given the Omicron name and classified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation yesterday. From least worrisome to most…
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CCSA sticks with plan to reopen bars on January 16
This article was revised on Monday, November 29. Despite hopes from millions of tourists around the world and millions of bar, club, and nightlife staff and owners throughout Thailand, the CCSA is sticking with plans to allow the bars to reopen on January 16. The CCSA had a meeting yesterday that revisited and revised several rules for entering Thailand and…
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“Omicron” – a new Covid variant triggers travel alarms as flights disrupted
A reminder today that there is still more steam left in the Covid-19 coronavirus. Just as the world started to peek from behind the curtain of uncertainty, another Covid “variant of concern”, named Omicron, has been discovered. The World Health Organisation says Omicron has a large number of mutations, and early evidence suggests an “increased reinfection risk”. Officially, it is…
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AfricaLink on Air — 26 November 2021
The new southern African COVID “super variant” sparks a global scare +++ Kenya launches its 10-day mass vaccination campaign +++ Sierra Leone indicts a key opposition leader +++ Zambians raise concerns over increased alcohol consumption SOURCE: DW News
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Germany’s new Africa policy holds few surprises
The word “Africa” only appears four times in the coalition deal unveiled this week by the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the business-focused Free Democrats (FDP), which will form Germany’s next government. That’s considerably less than 15 times “Africa” appeared in the coalition treaty between the previous government of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the SPD,…
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Bangladesh’s BNP opposition party in dire straits as leader’s health deteriorates
Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister and arch-rivalof current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was admitted to the critical care unit of a Dhaka hospital early this month after her health deteriorated. The 76-year old former prime minister and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been suffering from several chronic and life-threatening diseases. “She has chronic liver disease,…
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Vaccine passport soon to be made digital and issued for free
Thailand is planning on streamlining the proof of vaccination process by offering an e-vaccine passport for free for international travellers. The CCSA announced the plan as one of the topics covered in their meeting today which also saw the elimination of Dark Red Zones and curfews, as well as a switch from RT-PCR tests for entering tourists to the faster,…
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Bang Sue Grand Station to use only Pfizer and Moderna vaccine
The Vaccination Centre at Bang Sue Grand Station in Bangkok has announced that they will switch their operations to entirely use the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccine. The move will go into effect on November 26 and will replace the previously used vaccines in the main Bangkok vaccination centre, mainly Sinovac and AstraZeneca previously. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will…
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Phuket traffic police deny Facebook accusal of targeting tourists
After a Facebook post showing a motorbike checkpoint accused police of destroying tourism, the Phuket Provincial Police fired back. The post was made in Thai in the Phuket Sandbox – SHA Plus Facebook group on Sunday and went viral as it blamed traffic police for robbing foreigners now that tourists are returning. The post was accompanied by photos of a…
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CCSA hints that some bars and nightclubs could reopen before January 16
The long awaited reopening of bars and nightclubs is still set for January 16, but a government spokesperson has hinted that they could reopen sooner. The deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nopakun Natapanu, says that the CCSA decided to stay with the plan to for January, but will allow relevant agencies to continue to work closely with…
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Easier entry for foreign tourists: CCSA approves ATK for on-arrival screening
This story was updated to include a clarification from a government spokesperson who said an incorrect date during a press briefing. Entering Thailand will get a little easier, and a bit cheaper. The CCSA approved the use of rapid antigen tests to screen international arrivals for Covid-19 starting December 16. The ATK method will be replacing the RT-PCR test, meaning…
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Thailand, 5 other countries added to Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lane list
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore today announced that travelers from Thailand, Cambodia, Fiji, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Turkey will be able to enter Singapore quarantine-free starting in mid-December Vaccinated Travel Lane scheme. Visitors from VTL countries who are fully vaccinated are able to enter Singapore without having to go through quarantine and simply have to take a Covid-19 test.…
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Heavy rain, potential flooding in the forecast for Southern Thailand
Eight provinces in Southern Thailand — Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat — have been warned by the Meteorological Department today to prepare for potentially flooding and runoff as heavy rain and strong winds continued in the Gulf of Thailand. The warning will be in effect until Tuesday, according to the weather services, adding…
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Cambodia authorities seize large shipment of cocaine from boat by Laos border
Cambodian officials in Koh Lung’s Stung Treng province managed to stop a boat carrying cocaine from Laos to their territory at 7pm Wednesday. Border police searched the vessel and found 10 sacks containing 170 packs of cocaine. Reports in local media do not clarify how many kilograms each pack weighs. According to the Stung Treng Provincial Police Commissioner, Ot Sivutha,…
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Friday Covid Update: 6,559 new cases; provincial totals
64 coronavirus-related deaths were reported by the CCSA today, raising the pandemic’s death toll in Thailand to 20,645 with 20,551 of those fatalities during the latest wave, which was first recorded on April 1. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA recorded 6,559 new Covid-19 cases and 6,875 recoveries. There are now 80,277 people in Thailand being…
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Emergency Decree extended until January 31
The Emergency Decree has been extended until January 31, giving the Thai government sweeping powers to impose measures to combat the spread of Covid-19. In its general meeting chaired by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, the CCSA decided to extend the decree due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation. The decree was imposed at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and…
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Vietnam urges to give third doses of Covid-19 vaccine
Vietnam’s Ministry of Health is urging local governments to accelerate giving out a third dosage of Covid-19 vaccines, prioritising people over 50 years old despite a recent spike in the Mekong Delta region with approximately 4,000 new infections per day. The MoH said 135.15 million of the 136 million vaccination doses received by Vietnam were distributed to various localities, which…
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Thailand to buy 30 million booster Pfizer shots
Had your booster shot yet? According to Thailand’s Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the Department of Disease Control has signed an agreement to buy another 30 million doses of Pfizer vaccines, which will be administered as booster shots in the first quarter of 2022. He added that Pfizer has given Thailand a special deal where the additional 20 million doses…
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World’s largest Ikea store opens in Philippines
The Swedish ready-to-take furniture giant has made its first appearance in Manila, Philippines by opening its largest store in the world, with a new 730,000-square-foot facility that includes a 2-story, 270,000-square-foot store, dining area, and showroom, as well as warehouses, an e-commerce centre, and a call centre. The opening ceremony of Ikea Pasay City was held at the store’s restaurant…
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CCSA revises zoning: No more “dark red” zones with nightly curfews
No provinces will be under a mandated nightly curfew starting December 1. The CCSA approved new zoning today, reclassifying several provinces on its colour-coded zoning scale based on Covid-19 infection rates and reopening measures. Under the revised zoning, there are no provinces classified as “dark red” with stay-at-home orders. Kanchanaburi, Nonthaburi, and Pathum Thani were reclassified as “blue zones,” or…
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Bangkok is back – Thailand’s capital roars back into gear
OPINION Before the pandemic, Bangkok was the most-visited city on the planet – a thriving hive of energy and activity which attracted over 22 million international visitors per year. Then, without warning, it all went quiet. Now, following the long-awaited reopening of Thailand’s borders on November 1, 2021, Bangkok is back. The city is welcoming the world’s travellers once again,…
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