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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Starting a new life abroad is exciting—new culture, new lifestyle, and new chances to grow. But living far from home also means taking steps to protect your health in unfamiliar surroundings. Without the right coverage, even small health issues can...
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Australian government warns citizens not to let down their guard as restrictions ease
The Australian government is warning its citizens not to let their guard down as some restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus are lifted. The country has had 98 deaths from around 7,000 cases to date. Given the devastating figures coming from many other parts of the world, Australia (and neighbouring New Zealand) appear to…
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Thailand rescue dog from meat trade performs on Britain’s Got Talent
A dog rescued from Thailand’s illegal meat trade brought tears to those on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent. There was silence as the story of Miracle the dog played on a screen to the audience. A photo flashed on the screen of when the dog was crushed in a cage piled high with dogs. “When the dog rescuer first saw him…
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China on alert as 17 new Covid-19 cases reported, highest in two weeks
China has recorded its highest daily increase in new Covid-19 cases since April 28, with 17 new cases. Five of those are in Wuhan, where the outbreak began in late 2019, and is the highest number recorded there since March 11. A Reuters report says that 7 of the cases recorded yesterday involve arrivals from overseas, a big jump from…
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Border patrols nab 29 Thais sneaking back from Malaysia
Border patrol police arrested 29 Thai nationals for illegal entry yesterday, as they were attempting to sneak over the Malaysian border into the Sabayoi district of Thailand’s southern Songkhla province, mostly heavily wooded forest. The group – 18 men and 11 women – rode through forests on 15 motorbikes to avoid immigration checkpoints. They were intercepted by police on a…
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Containing the misinformation virus – social media platforms race to remove ‘Plandemic’
The rush is on to remove a viral video entitled ‘Plandemic’, a conspiracy theory program which has been as viral as the actual virus it spreads false information about. The world’s leading social networks are taking down the video, edited in the style of a highly-produced documentary. But new ‘infections’ keep popping up as people with copies of the 26 minute video…
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Coronavirus pandemic reaches 4 million people infected
Across the world some 4,100,000+ people are now infected with Covid-19. The actual number is much higher but, for lack of testing and diagnosis in some countries, we may never know the exact number. Still the statistics, as varied and unreliable as they may be, still provide some general trends and provide scientists with valuable data. There has never been…
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US State Department claims China and Russia conspiring to rewrite coronavirus narrative
The US yesterday accused China and Russia of cooperating to spread false claims the Covid-19 pandemic, claiming Beijing is increasingly adopting techniques perfected by Moscow. Lea Gabrielle, coordinator of the US State Department’s Global Engagement Centre, which tracks foreign propaganda, told reporters: “Even before the Covid-19 crisis we assessed a certain level of coordination between Russia and the People’s Republic…
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Bike-riding monkey attacks, drags Indonesian toddler – VIDEO
A video showing a monkey grabbing and dragging a toddler along a street in Indonesia has gone viral, leaving netizens around the world arguing over what actually happened. Was it a simian kidnap, a monkey mucking around, or a hungry monkey with evil intentions? Asiaone reports that the incident occurred in Surabaya, Indonesia last week. The clip shows the monkey…
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Singaporean visa forger sentenced, fined, awaiting deportation
A Singaporean former-embassy staff was yesterday handed a suspended 114 months sentence by a Thai court after being convicted of 38 counts of forging Thai visa documents. When arrested by police in the northern province of Chiang Rai police on Tuesday, 26 year old David Han was found to have forged employment documents, salary slips, and certificates from universities both in…
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Thousands of cruise ship crew stranded at sea
Tens of thousands of cruise ship crew members remain stranded at sea, virtual prisoners on their ships with no clear end in sight as the Covid-19 coronavirus drags on around the globe. The cruise industry has been shuttered and shattered by the crisis, with onboard outbreaks, denial of port access and no clear idea of when guest will return and…
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Leading Philippines broadcaster shut down after clashes with Duterte
The Philippines’ leading television and radio broadcaster, ABS-CBN, has been ordered to shut down by the country’s parliament, where the majority of members are loyal to President Rodrigo Duterte. Critical coverage of President Duterte’s controversial war on drugs angered the Philippine leader, but his gripe with ABS-CBN goes back to the 2016 presidential election when he accused the network of refusing to…
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Covid-19 hotline for forgotten migrant workers
45 year old Maw la Myine is from Myanmar and works for NGO Thai Raks, educating his community about public health issues such as HIV and TB. And now, Covid-19. Maw has a gift for languages, having been a volunteer Mon language teacher to children at home. His ability to speak Thai led to him becoming a translator, liaising between…
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Airbnb slashes 1,900 staff to ride out the travel downturn
Accommodation-sharing online disruptor, Airbnb, says it’s slashing a quarter of its workforce, nearly 2,000 workers, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to shred the international travel industry. The company said that it plans to soften the blow for former employees with benefits, including providing 12 months of health insurance. Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky says the cuts are needed until…
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Business winners and losers, and the lumpy recovery
As we slowly start to emerge from enforced lockdowns, how have things changed? There have been early ‘winners and losers’ but the profound changes to our lives will now start to morph into lingering economic hardships and unpredictable business outcomes. Different countries are going to restart their economies at varying speeds and retain some restrictions and drop others, depending on…
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WHO and intelligence community awaiting evidence from US President Trump about “Wuhan lab” claims
The World Health Organisation says they’re awaiting evidence to support “speculative” claims by the US President and Secretary of State that the new coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab in Wuhan. The Five Eyes, a network involving UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada intelligence officials, say they do believe that Beijing has not necessarily been transparent about how coronavirus initially spread…
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Broke Russian family deported from Indonesia for busking – VIDEO
A Russian couple and their young child have been deported from Indonesia, after a video of them busking illegally at a market on Lombok island went viral. Coconuts reports that officials did not charge them with violating the conditions of their visa, with the Head of the Mataram Immigration Office saying he understood the family had been caught up in…
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Local markets in Asia retreat as US President Trump talks up revised trade war
Steep losses are the order of the day as local markets follow the lead from a sell off in New York after US President Trump foreshadowed a new round of trade sanctions on China. The US President and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have openly accused the Chinese government that the Covid-19 started in a lab in Wuhan, and that…
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Number of Covid-19 cases passes 3.5 million worldwide
The number of Covid-19 cases around the world yesterday passed the 3.5 million mark, with a worldometers.com tally confirming 84,004 new cases in the last 24 hours. However, the growth in new cases is finally starting to slow down – flattening the curve. Nearly a quarter of a million people have now died from the virus, with Europe and the…
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Hello world! Kim Jong-un resurfaces after 20 day absence
Dispelling recent rumours that he was in a “vegetative state” or even dead after an apparent heart attack and a botched surgery, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has resurfaced and made his first public appearance after a 20 day absence. Well, either him or a very good replica. North Korean state media reported today that he “celebrated the completion of…
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Malaysian authorities round up migrant workers over Covid-19 fears
After the recent debacle in neighbouring Singapore, Malaysian authorities are locating undocumented migrants to contain potential spread of Covid-19. Already around 700 migrants and refugees have been detained in the capital Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia does not formally recognise refugees, regarding them as illegal migrants. Singapore’s recent surge in Covid-19 case numbers has been mainly from migrant workers living in cramped…
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Antiviral Remdesevir has “significant effect” – VIDEO
The controversial antiviral drug Remdesevir got a boost today after Dr Anthony Fauci, the most trusted voice in the US when speaking of Covid-19, announced the drug has has a “clear-cut” effect in helping Covid-19 patients recover. “The data show that Remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery, proving that a drug can block…
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Crocodile attacks and kills 55 year old fisherman in Indonesia
A crocodile was hunted and killed after it attacked and ate a 55 year old fisherman. Reports reveal that villagers at Riau province Indonesia, on the central eastern coast of Sumatra facing the Strait of Malacca, got together to help to catch the crocodile. When the crocodile was eventually captured and killed, the villagers then cut open the crocodile’s belly to…
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South Korean fire kills 38 workers – VIDEO
According to reports, at around 1:30pm local South Korean time, a fire at a warehouse in Icheon killed 38 construction workers and left another 10 injured. The fire was reported at a warehouse that was under construction in the city of Icheon, 80 kilometres south of the capital). Local news sources report that “all the victims are believed to be…
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Outgoing UN envoy claims Burmese military may be committing war crimes again
Neighbouring Myanmar’s military is committing atrocities which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the outgoing UN human rights envoy. Fighting between government troops and ethnic minority rebels has flared up again in the country’s Rakhine and Chin states. Burmese military spokesmen did not answer phone calls for comment with Reuters, nor did the official government…
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Dodgy Chinese medical supplies rejected by many countries
Countries across Europe and around the world are rejecting substandard medical supplies from China as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to sweep parts of the globe and the death toll continues to climb. Germany, Belgium and Holland have joined the ranks of other nations, including Canada, Spain and Slovakia, complaining of unreliable test kits, inaccurate thermometers and shoddy Personal Protection Equipment.…
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To wear or not to wear, that is the question. Face masks in a Covid-19 world.
The hot topic du jour is face masks – to wear or not to wear. Are they useful? Do they just make wearers ‘feel’ protected, or can they actually contribute to the prevention of spreading Covid-19, or any other virus for that matter. In Asian countries, generally, it’s become a common look, as people move around and go shopping while…
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North Korean leader reportedly in “vegetative state”
For days the government of North Korea has been tight-lipped as speculation about the health of the nation’s leader Kim Jong-un’s health spreads. Now the Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Gendai is reporting that a failed surgery has left the 36 year old in a vegetative state. American celebrity tabloid website TMZ has gone a step further and claimed he’s actually…
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Australians and New Zealanders commemorate ANZAC Day with driveway tributes
Australians and New Zealanders have stood outside their homes at dawn this morning to mark the annual ANZAC Day. This year’s tributes and salutes to the fallen who have served their countries at war have been from a distance. A new generation stood quietly at the entrance to their homes, in some cases wearing the medals of their relatives that…
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China opens 2 more border points to allow transport of Thai fruits
The director-general of the Department of Agriculture announced today that China has opened two more points at its Vietnam border to allow the transportation of Thai fruits during the Covid-19 crisis. The move comes after the existing Youyi Guan checkpoint was overwhelmed with 15 kilometre queues of Thai and Vietnamese goods vehicles. The Department of Agriculture together with National Bureau of…
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Thailand names 5 more ASEAN countries as ‘high risk’, 4 are border nations
A Ministry of Public Health announcement yesterday, signed by Deputy PM and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, and published in the Royal Gazette, claims the Covid-19 situation in 5 nearby countries is escalating. Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Myanmar have now been added to the list of countries and territories considered as high risk areas for infection. On March 6,…
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