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.
-
Sponsored 12Go introduces Japan Rail Passes to enhance travel accessibility for international travellers
For those who have travelled throughout Thailand, 12Go is a well-known provider of various trips, though the platform itself has a much wider reach. Ranging from buses to planes, 12Go is undoubtedly a leading booking platform for travel throughout the...
-
Our oceans are key to fighting climate change
by Amélie Bottollier-Depois and Marlowe Hood “There are at least three types of actions humans can take to help repair the damage and ensure that oceans don’t turn from friend to foe.” Humanity must heal oceans made sick by climate change and pollution to protect marine life and to save itself, experts warned days before the release of a major…
-
US vaping-related illnesses surpasses 500
The links between vaping and critical lung disease appear to becoming more frequent and obvious although health authorities are struggling to find the ‘smoking gun’ that is the actual cause of the current list of cases. More than 500 people have been diagnosed with vaping-related breathing illnesses. An eighth death has also been reported. The US Food and Drug Administration says…
-
Southern Thailand smog well above safe levels
PHOTOS: Charoon Thongnual – The Nation Hat Yai, the main city in Songkhla, has been among the worst hit by the smog engulfing parts of southern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The business district of Hat Yai has been hard hit with PM2.5 particles exceeding the safety standards of 50 (set by the World…
-
British Instagrammer locked up in “filthy Bangkok cell’ over missing passport pages
A British model has had a “misunderstanding” with Thai immigration officials after being locked up for 24 hours when it was discovered there were two pages missing from her passport. The model departed Scotland last Sunday for a flight to London before heading to Bangkok. According to mirror.co.uk, Lacey Montgomery-Henderson, from Glasgow, says she was treated ‘like an animal’ during…
-
South Korean serial killer identified after 33 years
PHOTO: The Korea Herald “Between 1986 and 1991 more than two million police officers were mobilised to try and find the person who raped and murdered women south of Seoul.” South Korean police have identified a suspect in one of the country’s most notorious serial murder cases more than 30 years after the killings. Between 1986 and 1991 more than two million…
-
Indonesia’s President Jokowi says he is “embarrassed” by fires
PHOTO: Singapore, days before the 2019 Grand Prix – DL Dozens of people have now been arrested over their alleged involvement in Indonesia’s massive forest fires. Thousands of hectares of rain forest and plantations have been burned, with the smoke and haze drifting in neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand. Dedi Prasetyo, Indonesia’s National Police spokesman has confirmed 185 people…
-
UAE boycott bites – Qatar Airways reports $639 million loss
Qatar Airways has hit turbulence posting a net loss for the year to March 2019 of $639 million. The airline blame the losses on key markets closing their airspace to Doha. Qatar Airways currently operates flights to three destinations in Thailand, with services 35 times a week to Bangkok, 14 times a week to Phuket and daily to Krabi. The…
-
Tragedy strikes Hannah Witheridge family again as sister dies from serious illness
ThaiVisa shares a tragic report from the BBC today that the sister of Hannah Witheridge, murdered on Koh Tao in 2014, has passed away after battling a serious illness. It’s understood that Laura Daniels, aged 30, died in hospital on Monday. The nature of the illness has not been disclosed. The family say they have had their “hearts broken” following…
-
Mixed response on Asian markets to US Fed reserve decision today
“Global markets have spent most of this month rising on bets that central banks, led by the Fed, will move to a softer monetary policy…” Asian equities are mixed this morning, with attention now turning to the US Federal Reserve’s key policy decision later today. Meanwhile investors remain skittish watching developments in the Middle East after the attack on Saudi…
-
Talks with the community will begin next week, says Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam
Thai PBS World shares a Reuters story that reports on planned talks between the Hong Kong government and the community, set to begin next week. The reports says Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has repeated her calls for the violence to end, with the city having been gripped by protests for over three months now. The demonstrations began in…
-
Minimum age for marriage raised to curb child brides – Indonesia
PHOTO: eNCA “14% of girls in Indonesia are married before the age of 18, and 1% are married before their 15th birthday.” – UNICEF Indonesia’s parliament will raise the minimum age for marriage to 19 in a ruling aimed to curb child marriage in the south east Asian nation. Indonesia’s House of Representatives passed the revision to the country’s existing…
-
Another 300 Chinese rounded up in Philippines fraud crackdown
PHOTO: rya.org Aliens were reportedly rounded up in eight hotels and establishments where they were caught in the act of doing their illegal activities.” Philippines immigration officials, backed by army troops, have arrested more than 300 Chinese over alleged cyber crimes, a week after a similar number were detained during a raid linked to investment fraud. The Bureau of Immigration late…
-
Smoke from Indonesian illegal plantation burn-offs causing acute problems for south east Asian neighbours
PHOTO: Visibility down to less than a kilometre at KL airport yesterday Flights cancelled, schools closed and regional environmental ministers trading insults. The minister’s fiddle whilst Indonesian islands burn. Parts of Indonesia are now opening temporary clinics to treat thousands of people suffering from acute respiratory illnesses in the smoke haze stricken regions around Sumatra island as authorities stepped up…
-
Hong Kong train derails during morning peak
“The cause of the derailment was still under investigation but there was no immediate suggestion of foul play…” A passenger train has derailed during the morning peak hour in Hong Kong. Three people were injured in the incident. Images from the scene showed three carriages had left the tracks and were zigzagged across the rails near Hung Hom station in…
-
Frantic search for missing 39 after Indian boat capsize
“The boat was carrying a total of 73 passengers, 26 have been rescued.” Indian authorities are engaged in a major search and rescue operation today to find 39 people missing after their tour boat capsized in a fast-flowing swollen river in Andhra Pradesh. Police told AFP that eight bodies have been recovered, down from a previous tally of 12, after…
-
Saudi plant attacks: Oil prices soar more than 10% in early trading
Oil prices have surged more than 10% after attacks on two Saudi Arabian plants that slashed output in the world’s top producer by half. West Texas Intermediate jumped 10.68% to $60.71 and Brent climbed 11.77% to $67.31 in early Asia trading following the blasts at facilities run by state-owned giant Aramco. Meanwhile the US President Donald Trump is blaming Iran…
-
World’s largest trading bloc to be concluded by the end of the year
The next negotiating round for the formation of RCEP will be held in Da Nang, Viet Nam on September 19-28 . RCEP is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and when negotiated and signed, will become the world’s largest and most powerful trading bloc. RCEP includes all ASEAN economies, plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. Economic ministers…
-
‘Tank Man’ photographer dies – defining photo of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests
PHOTO: Charlie Cole “Tank Man” has become one of the defining images of the 20th century, but the image remains largely unrecognised in China due to censorship of the image and the wider crackdown.” The photographer who photographed the defining image of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown – a solitary man defiantly blocking the path of a column of tanks –…
-
Officials hand out face masks whilst southern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore choke
The annual haze from intentionally lit forest fires in Indonesia is making life unpleasant in parts of Thailand’s South, with fine-dust readings (PM2.5 microns) in Songkhla and Satun at hazardous levels, over 50 microgrammes per cubic metre of air. The problem is also choking sections of Malaysia and Singapore. In Hat Yai, Songkhla, officials are handing out face masks to…
-
‘Body farm’ scientists find corpses move
Rest in peace. Apparently the ‘rest’ isn’t quite as ‘peaceful’ as we first thought. Not quite as much as zombies, but anyway… An Australian scientist has proven human bodies move around significantly for more than a year after death, in findings that could have implications for detectives and pathologists around the world. After studying and photographing the movements of a corpse…
-
Immigration police in the Philippines arrest 270 Chinese in fraud raid
“A total of 277 people were taken into custody in the operation that Philippine officials carried out in conjunction with Chinese authorities.” Police in the Philippines have arrested more than 270 Chinese nationals following a raid on a gang wanted over a vast investment fraud that has cost victims in China millions of dollars. Agents swooped on an office building…
-
New Zealand announces tougher gun laws after mosque massacre
PHOTO: New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern – TVNZ “Under the new legislation, a registry will be set up that is designed to track ownership of every legally owned firearm in the country.” New Zealand legislators have unveiled new laws aimed at ensuring only “fit and proper” people can own guns in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attacks that killed…
-
Manila traffic jams block ambulances, patients die on way to hospital
by Cecil Morella / Joshua Melvin Gridlock in Manila is costing lives as ambulances stuck in traffic face severe delays in the race against the clock to reach the city’s hospitals, medics warn. Special lanes for emergency vehicles are not enforced, the infrastructure is outdated, and local drivers are often unwilling or unable to make way – a situation experts…
-
US trying to make ‘meaningful progress’ in US-China trade negotiations
PHOTO: CNBC by Heather Scott US trade negotiators want to make “meaningful progress” in upcoming talks with China, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, one day after conciliatory gestures by both sides boosted hopes of an eventual resolution. The slugfest between the world’s two largest economies has cast a shadow over global economic growth with both Chinese and US economies…
-
Indonesian forest fires surge, intense smoke floats over neighbours Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia
by Dessy Sagita “The number of “hotspots” has jumped sharply in Indonesia on Wednesday, according to the Singapore-based ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre.” Intense forest fires continue to rage across the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan in recent weeks. More than 930,000 hectares of land have been burned, hundreds of residents evacuated, and more than 9,000 personnel have been deployed…
-
Vietnam versus Thailand – which is the best for travel or living?
They are both beautiful countries and stand out amongst their south east asian counterparts for their food, culture and scenery. But which one is your choice for travelling or living in? Here are some introductory thoughts… Influences Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and the former king, King Bhumibol, was greatly loved and respected. His son, King Maha Vachiralongkorn, now maintains…
-
No durian at Disneyland, but outside food now allowed at Shanghai Disney
Outside food in, but durian can STAY OUT! Same with STINKY TOFU! This according to Shanghai’s Mickey Mouse. Disney’s Shanghai theme park is loosening its ban on outside food following a lawsuit earlier this year, but the home of Mickey Mouse still won’t tolerate visitors taking in instant noodles or pungent foods such as durian. A student, ‘Wang’, filed a lawsuit…
-
Doing Myanmar’s Mergui Archipelago in style
Burma Boating is set to launch monthly cruises around the Mergui Archipelago in southern Myanmar, combining two of the most sought-after activities in these pristine waters – yachting and scuba diving. The SY Dallinghoo, a 30 meter classic gaff-rigged schooner crafted by renowned US yacht designer Dudley Dix, will cast off from the port of Kawthaung in southern Myanmar once…
-
Can we defeat dengue? Mosquito trials raise hopes.
“We have seen a remarkable reduction of dengue cases after the release.” by Jenny Vaughan If you’ve ever experienced a bout of Dengue Fever, this will be welcome news. And if you live and work in the tropics in south east Asia, Dengue looms as a constant threat. Hundreds dead in the Philippines; a threefold increase of cases in Vietnam;…
-
Malaysia demands Indonesia acts on smog-belching fires
“An official in Sarawak state on Borneo is demanding Indonesia send face masks and medical supplies to Malaysia for those affected by the pollution.” Malaysia is stepping up pressure on neighbouring Indonesia to tackle huge blazes tearing through its rainforests and smothering Southeast Asia in smog, as fires typically started to clear land for crops send diplomatic tensions soaring. Burning…
Broke? Find employment in Southeast Asia with JobCute Thailand and SmartJob Indonesia. Rich? Invest in real estate across Asia with FazWaz Property Group or get out on a yacht anywhere with Boatcrowd. Even book medical procedures worldwide with MyMediTravel, all powered by DB Ventures.