World News
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Chiang Mai, Thailand rated No.1 city for healthcare in southeast Asia
In a recent online survey, Chiang Mai was rated the No.1 city in Southeast Asia for the overall quality of healthcare. Two more Thai cities made the top 10, with Bangkok coming in at No.3 and Pattaya coming in at No.4. The index uses data from the website Numbeo and works out the results as follows… “Health Care Index is an…
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Justin Bieber postpones rest of world tour due to health issues
Pop sensation Justin Bieber yesterday announced that he is postponing the rest of his Justice World Tour due to health issues. Bieber had revealed earlier this year that he suffers from Ramsay-Hunt Syndrome, which has made his face partially paralysed. In an Instagram story yesterday, he wrote that performing on tour in Europe has exhausted him. He said that because…
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Japanese man makes job out of hanging out with people
Tired of sitting around waiting to find your dream job? What if sitting around could BE your dream job? A man in Japan is doing just that as he charges lonely people over 2,500 baht an hour just to hang out or accompany them. Tokyo resident Shoji Morimoto is 38 years old and has created a lucrative job out of…
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China approves world’s first inhaled Covid-19 vaccine
For those deathly afraid of needles, China is the first country in the world to approve the CanSino Biologics Inc Covid-19 vaccine, the first of its kind that is inhaled instead of jabbed. The vaccine manufacturer announced yesterday that it had won approval from the drug regulators of China to use the inhalant that they recently created as a booster…
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Nirvana naked baby album cover subject loses lawsuit
Perhaps the most famous naked baby of the 90s, the iconic photo that graced the cover of the seminal Nirvana album “Nevermind” has been the subject of a lawsuit that was just dismissed. Spencer Elden is not a household name, but most people who were teens or in their early 20s in the early 1990s remember the photo of him…
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Sri Lanka’s ex-president leaves Thailand, returns home
The ex-president of Sri Lanka finally left Thailand and returned to his home country. The former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had initially planned to return to Sri Lanka on August 24, but his return date ended up being yesterday, September 2. Gotabaya has been on quite a journey ever since 100,000 angry protesters forced him to flee Sri Lanka on July…
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Burmese junta sentences former UK ambassador to 1 year in prison
After the Burmese junta arrested a former UK ambassador to Myanmar, along with her husband, on August 24, the junta yesterday sentenced them to a year in prison. The former ambassador, Vicky Bowman, is the director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business. She served as the UK’s ambassador to Myanmar from 2002-2006. Her husband, Htein Lin, is a Burmese…
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North Korea throws shade at “US puppet” human rights leader
North Korea is up to its hate-mongering tactics again. Today, the country called a United Nations special rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights a “puppet of the US.” An unnamed spokesman for the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an English statement on state-run media… “We had already made clear our principled stand that we neither recognize nor deal…
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India hit by unusually heavy rainfall
India experienced unusually heavy rain for the month of August, the country’s state-run weather office reported on Wednesday. Last month’s rainfall was 3.4% above India’s average. In July, India’s rainfall was 16.8% above average. The heavy rainfall has caused floods to wreak havoc across the country. This week, about 700 tribal people in the western state of Maharashtra were forced…
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Laos-China high-speed railway to bring increased trade opportunities
The high-speed railway from Laos to China is full steam ahead as Laotian authorities say they hope it will increase trade opportunities for the region. The link, known as the Vientiane-Boten railway was opened late last year on December 3, as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Now, the railway operates daily to offer more economical travel, cutting travel…
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1 in 5 foreigners undocumented in South Korea
Data supplied by the Justice Ministry today revealed that one out of five foreigners in South Korea is living in the country illegally. The report states that about 400,000 foreigners are living undocumented in the Southeast Asian country, its highest in two years. It is believed the number of illegal foreigners staying in Korea rose from 388,000 last December to…
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Cambodian politician leads apocalyptic cult
A Cambodian politician has started an apocalyptic cult. The president of the League for Democracy Party, Khem Veasna, claims that he is a reincarnation of the Hindu god Brahma. The so-called “Brahma” has now “prophesised” that massive biblical-level floods will swallow up all of the Earth, except for his farm in Siem Reap province. Quite a few people believe Khem,…
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Former Soviet Union premier Mikhail Gorbachev dies aged 91
Former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev died last night aged 91. The Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow stated, “Gorbachev died this evening after a serious and long illness.” He will be buried in Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery next to his wife Raisa, who died in 1999. Tributes have been poured in for the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner. UN chief Antonio…
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Study: Balinese monkeys use stones to get their rocks off
Monkeys in Thailand need to step up their game. A, er, handy new study of monkeys in Ubud, Bali discovered that local macaques monkeys frequently rub or tap themselves with stones as a form of masturbation. The study was published in this month’s academic journal Ethology (because publishing it elsewhere might get you on a sex offender registry) and showed…
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Groups of 8 or more dining in Hong Kong required to Covid test
A new Covid-19 regulation that came into effect yesterday in Hong Kong is drawing ire from groups of diners and restaurants. The new rule requires all members of any group of eight or more dining in restaurants to present a photo of a negative Covid test taken within 24 hours of dining or a text message confirmation of a negative…
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Royal Caribbean offers cruises to Thailand & other Asian locations in 2023
Royal Caribbean has announced a new series of Asian cruises on their ship ‘Spectrum of the Seas,’ setting sail in 2023 and 2024. Beginning in Singapore, travellers can set off on cruises for 5, 7, 9 or 12 nights, visiting various locations in Asia including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. Guests can choose from cruises which make stops…
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Divers in Singapore find 8 dead blacktip sharks
In the waters of Pulau Hantu, islands just south of Singapore, divers made a gruesome and heartbreaking discovery: the lifeless bodies of eight young blacktip sharks who appeared to have died from wounds to their gills. Sharks are rare to spot in the area, so it was especially gut-wrenching to discover them dead. The divers who discovered it were shocked…
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Popular Phuket-Penang route relaunched by Firefly Airlines
A popular route for expats is back in operation now Firefly Airlines recommenced its flight route between Phuket and Penang. On Friday, the trip resumed for the first time in over two years since being grounded, like so many other flights and routes, by the Covid-19 pandemic. The flight will run four times per week connecting the two popular island…
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VIDEO: Brazillian footballer thanks the wrong girlfriend in an interview
A Brazilian football player might have put a foot in his mouth this week when he was asked in an interview if he wanted to give a tribute to someone. The goalkeeper, Kainan, gave a seemingly noble reply. He said… “To my girlfriend, who’s working now, Thank God, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. Grazi, a hug to you!” But Kainan’s…
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Moderna suing Pfizer for using their tech in Covid vaccines
After Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine brought in US$22 billion so far this year compared to Moderna’s US$10.4 billion, Moderna is suing Pfizer, claiming they copied technology in developing their vaccines. Moderna, a decade-old company that had been pioneering mRNA technology long before Covid-19, had said at the start of the pandemic that they wouldn’t enforce related patents to help the world…
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US spits dummy out in China tit-for-tat airline row
The childish rattle-throwing, tit-for-tat games continue between the United States and China with the US declaring it is banning 26 flights to China in response to the mainland suspending some US flights for importing Covid-19. The US spat its dummy out in objection to China revising its Covid policies. The mainland stated on August 7 that if 4% of passengers…
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Former UK ambassador and husband reported detained in Myanmar
The former UK ambassador to Myanmar and her husband have been detained in Yangon, two anonymous sources reported today. A spokesperson for the Burmese junta did not answer calls from Reuters seeking comment on the situation. A British embassy spokesperson has said the embassy is concerned about the arrest. She said… “We are in contact with the local authorities and are…
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Hong Konger stuck in Myanmar pleads for help after being kidnapped in Thailand
A man from Hong Kong has contacted an anti-trafficking NGO pleading for help. He says he is currently detained and being forced to work as a scammer in Myanmar after he was kidnapped in Thailand. The man, 30 year old John, says he has been trapped for three months so far, and “escape is not an option.” John said he…
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Domino’s Japan delivers pizza to summit of Mt. Fuji
A Domino’s Japan delivery driver went to extreme lengths to deliver a pizza to a hungry hiker at the summit of Mt. Fuji, the country’s tallest peak at 3,776 metres. The delivery fee amounted to the equivalent of almost 1,000 baht, which seems modest considering it took the Domino’s guy almost six hours to walk up the active volcano to…
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Floods wreak havoc on northern India, killing over 30 people
Floods are wreaking havoc on two of India’s northern states, destroying homes and leaving people stranded. Since August 19, at least 32 people in Uttarakhand state and Himachal Pradesh state have been killed in floods and landslides, often due to houses collapsing in the floods. In the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, 27 people have been killed, and six were…
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Former Malaysia premier starts 12 years in the slammer
A federal court in Kuala Lumpur yesterday rejected an appeal by the former prime minister of Malaysia, that he had done no wrong, and sentenced him to a 12-year jail term for playing a part in a multi-million dollar graft. It was reported he was sent to Kajang prison, south of the Kuala Lumpur capital. Najib Razak, who served as…
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Tourism Malaysia visits Songkhla and Bangkok to lure Thais
As Thailand has lured more and more Malaysian tourists across the border for short-haul holidays, Malaysia started marketing tourism to Thai people as soon as the borders began to open again after the Covid-19 pandemic. Thailand added more train services across the border at Padang Besar into the country and Malaysia welcomed tours sent by Thai travel agents. Malaysia overtook…
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Cambodia aims for 1 million tourists in 2022, has 740k already
As Southeast Asia reopens and scrambles to attract international tourists, Cambodia has announced triumphant numbers from the Ministry of Tourism, declaring over 740,000 tourists from abroad between January to the end of July this year. The swell of tourists is about 22.5% of the number of travellers pre-pandemic, but a 560% increase over figures for the first half of 2022.…
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LGBTQ+ community hail Singapore’s gay sex repeal
The LGBTQ+ community hailed Singapore’s announcement to end the ban on gay sex as “a win for humanity.” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the decision, that the city-state will repeal the law that bans gay sex, on national television last night. The 70 year old PM said they would abolish the law as he believed it “is the right…
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Terrorists kill at least 20 in Somalia hotel attack
Terrorists have shot and killed at least 20 people in a hotel in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu on Friday, and have wounded at least 50 others. Two security officials were among those injured at the attack at the Hayat Hotel, one of whom was an intelligence chief. The Al Qaeda-affiliated group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in…
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