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 Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?
Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
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Taiwan considers rebranding its flag carrier, China Airlines
Taipei is considering changing the name of its flag carrier: China Airlines. Perhaps an opportunistic excuse to distance itself from any anti-Chinese ‘Covid’ fallout or just a political ploy whilst China has, well, other things to worry about at the moment. It seems the Covid-19 pandemic has reignited calls to change the name after the airline sent a series of…
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Can air-con spread Covid-19?
A research letter published by Guangzhou Centres for Disease Control in China looked at 10 coronavirus cases of 3 families who ate in adjacent tables at the same time. The study proposes that droplet transmission by the restaurant’s air conditioning system was increased. The initial patient arrived from Wuhan and dined at the restaurant with 3 family members. Two other…
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Canadian students create hotline to cheer up quarantined elderly
Quarantine might not be so terrible for Gen X, Y, or Millennials with subscription services such as Netflix, HBO Go, Amazon Prime and other streaming services, plus fads like TikToc, et al to keep them busy. But for the elderly, isolation can be quite lonely. Canadian High school students wanted to change that by creating a hotline that plays pre…
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China moves to second phase of successful vaccine trials
An adenovirus vector vaccine clinical trial in China has successfully concluded its first phase, and a more intensive second phase studying hundred of patients in now taking place. It is the first Covid 19 vaccine that has entered phase two of clinical trials, according to the WHO. A 84 year old man in Wuhan was vaccinated Monday, becoming the oldest…
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US President halts funding for WHO – VIDEO
At over 600,000 cases, the US has more Covid-19 infections than any other country. Now, the US President Donald Trump has now announced a cut in US funding for the World Health Organisation, the UN agency tasked with fighting the outbreak worldwide. In a press briefing at the White House Rose Garden yesterday, he said he had instructed his administration to…
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Singapore issues permanent ban for breaking curfew
Twenty four work pass holders had their work permits cancelled and are now permanently banned from working in Singapore for breaking Covid 19 “circuit breaker” rules. The foreign workers were caught eating, drinking and socialising in groups near Tuas View Square in Singapore’s western region. The Ministry of Manpower stepped up inspections of dormitories to ensure safe distancing measures are…
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Fire in Kanchanaburi sends foul smoke over Burmese border
Yesterday, a large area of the province of Kanchanaburi was engulfed in stinking toxic smoke after a garbage fire ripped through a 3-rai (51,667 squared metres) garbage dump in the district of Sangkhlaburi, right on the Burmese border. The garbage tip is located next to a sugarcane farmer’s village. 2 fire trucks were sent by Kanchanaburi officials to extinguish the…
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Still here, there and everywhere. The Beatles bringing joy 50 years after break-up.
BTS, Bangtan, RM, Jimin, V, Jin, Suga, J-Hope and Jungkook The Beatles may have broken up 50 years ago, on April 10, 1970. But the music is still bringing happiness around the world, to the generation that were around when the Fab Four were at the pinnacle of their career, and to a new generations who are just making the…
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Indonesian cases spike, 24 doctors have now died
The Indonesian archipelago has announced its highest daily increase in Covid-19 coronavirus cases. There has also been a concerning rise in the deaths of doctors and health workers at the frontline of the national fight against the disease. Statistics have doubled in the last week. The 218 new coronavirus cases took the number overall in Indonesia to 2,491. The 209 confirmed…
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Tiger in Bronx Zoo tests positive for Coronavirus
Nadia, a four year old female Malayan tiger, has tested positive for Covid-19 according to the Wildlife Conservation Society of the Bronx Zoo in the US. She, her sister Azul, two Amur tigers, and three African lions all developed a dry cough but are expected to recover. This positive Covid-19 test for the tiger was confirmed by USDA’s National Veterinary…
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No, 5G does NOT cause coronavirus
“About the only similarity between 5G and the Coronavirus is that you can’t see them. And that’s about it!” The Thaiger enjoys a good conspiracy theory as much as the next person – hey, maybe Francis Bacon really DID write all of Shakespeare’s works, and maybe we’re all ruled by lizard people – but mostly, in the 21st century we’ll…
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China enters suppression phase in battle against Coronavirus
There are now so few coronavirus cases in China that some days authorities don’t have any new cases to report. China has gone from reporting thousands of cases a day back in February to reporting a handful each day now. Recently new cases are slightly higher, but almost all of them are imported cases from travellers recently returning from abroad.…
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Malaysia’s coronavirus cases will peak in mid-April: WHO
Today, The World Health Organisation has announced that the number of coronavirus cases in Malaysia is expected to peak in mid-April as there appears there are signs of a flattening of the infection curve. Malaysia is now ranked the highest number of known infections in Southeast Asia with a total of 2,908 confirmed cases with 102 patients that are in intensive…
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Panama’s separation of the sexes to fight coronavirus
A new, rather unconventional strategy is being rolled out in the Central American nation of Panama to fight the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. Separation of the sexes. Beginning yesterday, only women are allowed to leave their homes to buy necessities, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Men are allowed to venture outs to run errands on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.…
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Chiang Mai chokes as fires rage in the north of Thailand
Northern Thailand is choking under a toxic shroud and it’s not getting any better. Air pollution across the upper North remains “at critical levels,” in many areas, including some of the main population centres. Authorities are monitoring almost 400 active hotspots in Chiang Mai alone yesterday. The air quality didn’t improve this morning, with IQAir recording “very unhealthy” air quality…
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British PM Boris Johnson tests positive for Covid-19
The British PM has tested positive for the coronavirus. Boris Johnson says he developed “mild symptoms over the past 24 hours”, including a cough and temperature. Mr Johnson was last seen last night, UK time, as he clapped outside his home as part of a nationwide gesture thanking National Health Service staff. 55 year old Mr Johnson maintains he is now…
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Cambodia delays damming the Mekong for 10 years
Cambodia announced yesterday that it will shelve developing new hydroelectric dams on the Mekong River for the next decade. A senior Cambodian official made the announcement as Cambodia reviews its policy to seek solar energy as well as energy from coal and natural gas. The Mekong river sustains some 60 million people and flows through six countries… China, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos,…
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Thai-Malaysia border sealed
The Thai-language daily Khao Sod reported today the Royal Thai Army has ordered a shutdown of 13 temporary Thai-Malay border checkpoints to prevent the spread of the Covid 19 coronavirus . The order took effect from 5am today. The measure was taken after the Malaysian government closed the nation’s borders from today (March 18) to March 31, to contain the…
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Thai airways cancels 32 flights to 12 countries
Reports from Thai Airways International say that due to the spread of the Covid-19 disease the national airline is obligated to announce the cancellation of international flights. In order to meet the traveling needs of decreasing passengers, the airline have announced cancelled flights to and from 12 countries, totalling 32 flights. These flights include… 1. Nepal, Kathmandu, 2 flights, TG…
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Laos closes checkpoint at Thai border
Laos has closed its four immigration checkpoints near Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom province, saying it doesn’t have enough medical personnel to screen for the Covid-19 coronavirus at the four places. Immigration Police Office in Nakhon Panom province were informed that Laos would close its immigration checkpoint at Thakhek port from 2pm, until the Covid-19 situation is resolved. Also yesterday, provincial governor…
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China expels American journalists in tit-for-tat response
The Chinese government is revoking the press credentials of US journalists working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. It’s the biggest crackdown on American journalists in the past two decades. The move comes as the two superpowers feud over the narrative on the Covid-19 virus and both try to politicise the issue. US…
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Stormy skies for Boeing as Coronavirus compounds dire situation
As the world’s Covid-19 cases continue to rise, aircraft manufacture Boeing is watching its stocks slide. From around US$384 a share back in September last year to as low as US$154.84 last week. It’s since bounced back to US$170.20, but a long, long way from its peak. Most of the losses kicked in from mid-February when the extent of the…
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Manila goes on lockdown
“It’s a lockdown It’s just a matter of protecting and defending you from Covid-19. That’s about it.” Some 12 million people in the Philippine capital of Manila are now in near total lockdown after a Thursday order from the nation’s president Rodrigo Duterte banning domestic travel and an announcement earlier today of a nighttime curfew in the capital. The president…
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7 dead, dozens trapped in China quarantine hotel collapse
China’s state media are reporting that seven people died when a hotel used as a coronavirus quarantine centre collapsed last night in southeastern China’s Fujian province. The Ministry of Emergency Management says 80 people were in the building when it came down; nine escaped, while about 70 people were trapped. Of those, 43 have been pulled from the rubble and…
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Burmese military seize drugs and equipment valued at 2.02 billion baht north of Chiang Rai
The Burmese military raided a methamphetamine pill factory and warehouses in Shan State, about 400 kilometres north of Chiang Rai province in Thailand’s northeast. Soldiers seized a vast quantity of drugs, precursor chemicals and drug-making equipment worth an estimated 2.02 billion baht. A spokesman for the Burmese military said that its soldiers conducted raids on plants in Kaungkha Village in…
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Second Princess cruise ship held over virus “links”
After the nearly month-long ordeal of the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship quarantined off the coast of Japan on which more than 700 Covid-19 coronavius cases were confirmed, now a second Princess Cruises ship, the Grand Princess, is reportedly being held off San Francisco after authorities discovered “links” to the virus onboard. According to the Los Angeles Times the liner…
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Singapore coronavirus patients to have their meals, medicine delivered by robot
Patients at a Singapore hospital suspected or confirmed to be infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus will soon get their meals and medicines from a robot. What’s more, a second robot is being deployed to clean, and will chat with patients in four languages, as well as “Singlish.” Details of the use of the robot technology were outlined in Singapore’s Ministry…
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Thailand announces 4 new coronavirus cases, all from Italy or Iran
“There is still no sign of true community spread in Thailand.” Thailand has confirmed four new cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus, bringing its total to 47 since January. All were recent arrivals from Italy or Iran. Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoen, director-general of the Department of Disease Control made the announcement in a news conference today. The new cases are: A 29 year…
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UPDATE: Confusion over Thailand designating 11 destinations as ‘high risk’
Thailand’s Public Health Ministry yesterday designated 9 countries and 2 Chinese territories as high risk areas for the Covid-19 virus. He announced that visitors to Thailand from these destination are now subject to 14 day home quarantine and will have to adhere to strict health-related follow-ups. The official government post, on a Public Health Ministry letterhead, was released to the…
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Is the “footshake” the new handshake?
People around the world are changing the way they greet each other due to fears of spreading the COVID-19 coronavirus. In Beijing, the capital of the country where the outbreak began, red banners tell people not to shake hands but rather to join their own hands as a sign of greeting. Loudspeakers tell people to make the traditional “gong shou”…
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