World News
World news, global politics, business, technology, and culture—stay updated with breaking stories, international trends, and major events. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for global news.
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Sponsored 9 most common health issues covered by insurance for expats in Thailand
Thailand is a popular destination for expats due to its affordable lifestyle and excellent healthcare system. However, settling in a new country often brings health concerns. To ensure you’re covered for the most common medical needs, understanding what expat health...
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Deserters from Burmese military confirm Rohingya massacres
2 army deserters from Myanmar have testified on video to the ritual slaughter of the country’s Rohingya Muslims, by order of the nation’s military – the Tatmadaw. 33 year old Myo Win Tun and 30 year old Zaw Naing Tun, are now believed to be in the custody of the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands, after fleeing to Myanmar’s…
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Thailand is the fourth most searched-for destination for your next holiday
Since early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has stopped us from taking our holidays, or doing much travelling at all. But as travel restrictions ease, which destinations are coming out on top for our post-lockdown holidays? Official-esta.com has dusted off the calculator and checked the Google Search Volume data for the search terms “Flights to X” and “Holidays in X” to…
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Trials of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine paused after participant falls ill
Late-stage trials of a promising-sounding Covid-19 vaccine have been put on hold while researchers check out the exact cause of illness in one participant. The vaccine, being developed by Oxford University in the UK, in partnership with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, was in phase 3 trials, involving 30,000 participants. Volunteers were drawn primarily from countries with high numbers of virus cases,…
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A Land Bridge or the Kra Canal for Thailand?
OPINION by guest writer Tony P Restall Why the land bridge idea will never work Much has been written about the long-proposed Thai or Kra Canal and the on and off decision to proceed, or not. Over the recent years several high-level committees have examined the economic benefits to establish a water connection by means of a canal linking the East…
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Tak hospital doctor pleads for medical supplies to treat Burmese Covid patients
A hospital doctor in the northern province of Tak has taken to Facebook to plead for donations of medical supplies and personal protective equipment. Nattagarn Chuenchom works in a state-run hospital currently treating Covid-19 patients from neighbouring Myanmar, which is experiencing a small surge in virus numbers. The current total of cases in Myanmar is 1,419. Yesterday another 166 cases…
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Chinese official rules out return of China-Thailand tourism anytime soon
China is not yet ready to welcome international tourists, says a senior embassy official in Bangkok. Speaking to Nation Thailand, Yang Xin from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China to Thailand, says that, while domestic tourism has resumed in China, the country is not yet ready to open its borders to foreign tourists, nor is it encouraging its…
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London to New York in under 4 hours – Will there ever be another Concorde?
We’d flown in propeller-powered planes, then jets. Supersonic was the next evolutionary step in flying people around the world as the 1960s came to a close. Now, 50 years after Concorde’s early flights, supersonic flight is again just another aviation pipe dream as we pack into our cheap ‘flying buses’ which are not much different from the first successful commercial jets…
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3 returnees to Thailand reported as “re-infected” with Covid-19
There has been 6 new cases of Covid-19 announced in Thailand today. But 3 of the men, all Thais, were previously infected but had been certified “virus-free” before their flights from Singapore on Friday. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration today announced that the men, aged 43, 53 and 56, tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Thailand just 2 days…
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Singapore Yacht Show postpones yachting showcase again
In February this year, the Singapore Yacht Show was the first international yacht show to have to postpone its annual event, but the organising team and all its other stakeholders were optimistic that the worst of the newly-arrived Covid-19 pandemic would have gone away by October. The Thailand Yacht Show and the Singapore Yacht Show are the biggest regional showcases…
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BTS looks to a Grammy nomination after scoring their first Billboard #1 single
After scoring South Korea’s first-ever #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, K-pop supergroup BTS now says it’s set its sights on a standalone performance at next year’s Grammy Awards, perhaps even a nomination or an award. BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) are RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, and have fought over their 7 years together to…
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‘The Batman’ star, Robert Pattinson, tests positive for Covid-19 in the UK
Robert Pattinson, filming in the UK for the upcoming Batman film, has reportedly tested positive for Covid-19, just days after shooting for the much-anticipated movie had resumed. Warner Bros. said in a statement to AFP… “Filming is temporarily paused. A member of ‘The Batman’ production has tested positive for Covid-19, and is isolating in accordance with established protocols.” There was no…
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50 tonnes of dodgy durian seized and destroyed in China
In a move that will attract thanks from 1000s of westerners, China has destroyed nearly 50 tonnes of illegally imported durian, valued around 5.5 million baht. The durians had been smuggled into China. Shiokou, a border town in Cao Bang Province in Vietnam, was where the dodgy durian was intercepted. The land port has been operating since 1792 and plays…
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Former Italian leader Berlusconi tests positive for Covid-19
Silvio Berlusconi, the colourful and often divisive former leader of Italy, has tested positive for coronavirus, following a trip to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. The tourist hot-spot has experienced a surge in new cases in recent weeks, thought to be a result of holidaymakers descending on the island, as is normal every August. His personal doctor at Milan’s San…
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Another school closed after Covid-19 scare
Another school near the Burmese border, along western Thailand provinces, temporarily closed down after students came in close contact with those who crossed the border and reported a “fever,” although no traces of the coronavirus have been detected or confirmed at this stage. The Ban Kui School in Kanchanaburi closed after some of their students came in contact with people…
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Australia falls into a recession, global economies at a loss
“Our record run of 28 consecutive years of economic growth has now officially come to an end. The cause: a once-in-a-century pandemic.” Just about everyone hit from the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses closed. Many lost their jobs. Paychecks were cut. Economies across the globe slipped into recession and Australia is now added to that list. The country reported it has sunk…
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Philippine president says “kill the drug traffickers”
“If it’s drugs, you shoot and kill. That’s the arrangement.” Philippine police have been ordered to kill those caught trafficking drugs. Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte said publicly during a Cabinet meeting that he wanted a revised crackdown on the country’s drug trafficking. The country’s leader is known for his strong anti-drug and hard-ball stance on drug dealing and trafficking, backed…
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When will the world open up again for travel?
OPINION 9 months since the first outbreak in China, international borders remain mostly sealed. Most travellers, excepting certain categories, are prevented from leaving or entering in the majority of countries. The shutters went up in March and April in much of the world, a bit later in some countries, as governments and medical officials figure out how to safely re-open…
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Vietnam ready to take off, international flights start this month
Vietnam is gearing up for international flights and some trips are planned to start as early as this month. The country’s Civil Aviation Authority says they’re set to start international flights on September 15 after being put on pause for the past 5 months. The authority’s director says travellers will need to quarantine for 14 days upon entering Vietnam. Japan…
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Air Asia announce new fees if you want to check-in at the airport counter
The AirAsia Group has announced it will begin charging travellers a fee to check in at airport counters – you know, that bit in the terminal where it says “Check In’. Even better, their excuse for the new charge… in part to encourage customers to “minimise physical contact with staff during the coronavirus pandemic”. Malaysia’s AirAsia last month reported the biggest…
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Hua Hin schools close after students get fever, families crossed Myanmar border
Class is cancelled for a week at 2 schools after some students reported a high fever. School officials discovered many Burmese students and parents have been crossing the Thai-Myanmar border. The Thai government recently told immigration police to patrol the country’s natural borders such as along jungles and rivers after Myanmar reported a spike in coronavirus cases. The 2 Prachuap…
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Truck flips after police chase near the Myanmar border
A truck flipped over, critically injuring 2 people, after police chased a truck with Burmese workers who allegedly crossed the border illegally. The government recently ordered border officials to step up their patrol on Myanmar border and make sure people aren’t crossing illegally after the neighboring country reported a spike in coronavirus cases. Immigration police in the northern province Tak…
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Facebook responds to proposed media laws in Australia with a threat to ban sharing of news posts
The media wars are heating up in Australia as a battle between Facebook and other tech platforms line up against traditional media providers and the Australian Government. Facebook is now threatening to block both the users and media organisations in Australia sharing news stories, if the Australian government’s plan to demand Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc to pay for content goes ahead.…
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Thailand planning land and rail passageway, bypassing congested Strait of Malacca
Thailand hopes to shorten shipping time by bypassing the busy Strait of Malacca with a 100 kilometre highway and railway passageway. Discussions are underway to construct 2 deep seaports on both sides of the country’s southern coast, which would be linked via rail and highway. The latest proposal replaces the Kra Canal plan, which was talked about for decades. That…
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Burmese workers caught crossing the border, 2 had a fever
About a dozen Burmese workers were caught illegally entering Thailand and 2 of the them had a fever, border officers say. The bust comes after the Interior Ministry tightened security measures along the Myanmar border to stop illegal border crossings in an effort to prevent a coronavirus outbreak. The neighboring country had a spike in new cases with hundreds of…
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Thai PM orders the suspension of trade across the Burmese border in Kanchanaburi
Despite Thailand closing its international borders back in April, in reality, some of the country’s land borders are almost impossible to seal and prevent the ‘leaks’ of locals crossing over. Thailand has land and river borders with Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos and Cambodia – all with official checkpoints but also hundreds of well-worn tracks as villages casually traverse the official borders.…
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Global Covid-19 infections soar past 25 million
Covid-19 infections around the world surpassed 25 million today, with India setting a grim new record for the highest single-day rise in cases, 78,761. Roughly a million new cases have been detected globally every 4 days since mid-July, according to an AFP tally. The surge in India, a country of 1.3 billion people, comes as the government further eased lockdown…
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Chinese Coast Guard nabs fleeing Hong Kong activists
Chinese authorities have captured and arrested around a dozen Hong Kong activists from Hong Kong who were attempting to leave the former British colony by speedboat. The incident shows the intensification of Beijing’s campaign to seek out protest leaders and those resisting the Communist Party’s tightening grip there. The arrests, made last. Sunday, are the first confirmed case of such…
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UN decries “enforced disappearance”, calls for an end
The United Nations is calling on all countries in Southeast Asia to criminalise state abductions and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The organisation’s Human Rights Office says it’s “profoundly concerned” over continuing reports of enforced disappearances, after Wanchalearm Satsaksit, an activist living in exile, was abducted in Phnom Penh on June 4,…
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35 illegal migrants arrested near Burmese border
Authorities in Kanchanaburi arrested 35 illegal Myanmar migrants and their 2 drivers in the Sai Yok district of the large western province early this morning. 2 pickup trucks travelling on a local road in tambon Sri Mongkhol were stopped for a search around 3:40am at a checkpoint manned by soldiers, police and immigration officers. 15 illegal Burmese migrants were found…
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Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe to step down over health
Japan’s media today reported that PM Shinzo Abe will resign over health issues, in a shock development that will end a record-setting tenure with no clear successor decided. There was no immediate confirmation, and the reports came just hours before Abe was to hold a press conference about his health. The news sent Tokyo stocks tumbling more than 2%, the…
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