Search Results for: Bangkok
- Covid-19 News
Covid-19 vaccine may involve 2 doses
Health experts in the US say that when a viable coronavirus vaccine is found, it may need to be administered in 2 separate doses, in order to be effective. This throws up all sorts of logistical problems, with Kelly Moore, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University, expressing concern over procurement issues and the difficulty in getting people to show…
- Crime News
60 Surat Thani women report their photos posted online soliciting sex
Dozens of women from southern villages in Surat Thani found photos of themselves shared online with messages soliciting prostitution. 1 woman says her Facebook account was hacked and messages offering sexual services were sent from her personal account. Chai Buri district police say 60 women reported their photos being used online with what looked like personal messages from them offering…
- Politics News
Government postpones controversial submarines deal
With a recent poll revealing that one of the public’s biggest concerns is the government’s decision to spend billions of baht on 2 submarines, many will welcome the news that officials have decided to shelve those plans… for now. If not the polls, the outrage on social media was a good indication about the public mood over the matter. The…
- Crime News
Protest paint-throwing incident draws mixed reactions
A singer who threw blue paint on police during Friday’s protest in front of Samranrat police station in Bangkok has drawn mixed reactions from all sides of Thailand’s political spectrum. The lead singer of the Bottom Blues Band, Chai-amorn “Ammy” Kaewviboonpant, hurled blue paint at officers during a brief commotion in front of the station, where anti-government protesters had gathered…
- Pattaya News
Unknown man severely injured in Pattaya after motorbike strikes barrier – VIDEO
A Thai man, whose identity is still unknown, was seriously injured in the early hours of this morning after his motorbike hit a road barrier in Pattaya. The incident happened at about 2:30am on the railway road near Wat Tham Samakkhi. The victim, who police estimate to be about 30 years old, hit the barrier at what appears to have…
- Covid-19 News
UPDATE: Pushback from local associations over the Thai government’s “Phuket Model”
UPDATE: Amidst the “plans” and “models” being proposed by the government to re-open Thailand to some form of general tourism (nothing confirmed yet), there’s also been some pushback from operators in some of the hardest hit areas. The government had proposed the Phuket Model as a way of kicking off tourism from early October. But the model involves a mandatory…
- Politics News
Survey: majority support students’ freedom of expression
A recent survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll, found that a majority of Thais agree with students across the country giving the anti-government”3 finger salute” and wearing white ribbons, saying that they have the right to free expression. The study was conducted August 25-27 on 1,317 people aged 15 and over, of various levels of…
- Covid-19 News
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…
- Covid-19 News
Second locally produced Covid-19 vaccine proves effective in monkey trials
A doctor at Chulalongkorn University yesterday announced that announced tests of a new locally produced Covid-19 vaccine on monkeys have proven successful. The head of the Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Disease Health Science Centre, Dr Thiravat Hemachudha, says the latest vaccine, which uses proteins from tobacco leaves, was been tested on mice and monkeys with satisfactory results and will…
- Phuket News
Worries remain over government’s “Phuket Model”
As the government has gradually eased Covid-19 restrictions, the tourism sector has high hopes for a good recovery. The resort island province of Phuket is eager to reopen to foreign tourists to help stimulate the local economy, which has been hard hit by the pandemic. The “Phuket Model” has been proposed to reopen the province in October in a “new…
- South Thailand News
Surat Thani forest ranger found dead
A member of the local forest patrol, who had gone missing after his boat struck a stump near the Ratchaprapha dam in the southern province of Surat Thani, was found dead yesterday. Thanakorn Chana-aksorn, from the Khlong Ya forest protection unit, is suspected to have suffered head injuries from the impact of the crash and subsequently drowned in the incident…
- Economy News
Bankruptcy court finds Thai Airways sunk by graft and mismanagement
“Thaworn also claims to have evidence of bribes of at least 5%, or about 2.6 billion baht, to politicians, officials and company executives…” Troubled national flag carrier Thai Airways, which has filed for bankruptcy protection and business rehabilitation, was “sunk by mismanagement and graft”, according to a court investigation. Thaworn Senneam of the Democrats revealed that the investigation focused on…
- Politics News
House committee postpones meeting on subs purchase… again
A Parliamentary committee meeting on the Royal Thai Navy’s controversial purchase of 2 Chinese submarines has been postponed for a third time, until Monday. The Democratic party vehemently opposes the purchase, saying the 22.5 billion baht would be better spent on Covid-19 relief efforts and aiding the recovery of the nation’s battered economy. Democrat MP Akkharadet Wongphithakrot, acting as spokesman…
- Crime News
New developments in “Boss” hit-and-run case
The chairman of the committee investigating the alleged mishandling of the 2012 hit-and-run case of Red Bull heir Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya has found solid evidence to prove serious problems with both the police and the prosecution. Speaking at yesterday’s committee meeting at the end of its 30 day mission, Vicha Mahakun said the findings will not only convince PM Prayut…
- Northern Thailand News
Nakhon Phanom school director in hot water over alleged toilet spycam
The director of a school in the northeastern Nakhon Phanom province has been “moved to an inactive post” pending the results of an investigation into a video that shows him placing a camera in the toilet of a pub. The head of the primary school, in Ban Phaeng district, has been assigned to the District 2 provincial education office until…
- Chiang Mai News
Yemeni national in apparent suicide at Chiang Mai hotel – VIDEO
In a presumed suicide, a boxer from Yemen reportedly jumped to his death from his fifth floor hotel room in Chiang Mai. Police in Chiang Mai’s central district were informed of a man falling from a hotel in Sriphum subdistrict last night. At the scene, they found the body of 23 year old Ahmed “Kovid” al-Aidros, a Yemeni national, with…
- Tourism News
Spokesperson says “Phuket Model” won’t be enacted nationally anytime soon
The deputy government spokesperson Traisulee Traisoranakul said yesterday that the so-called “Phuket Model”, the island’s proposed “safe and sealed” program to reintroduce tourism from October, will not be implemented in the near future and rolled out to the rest of the country. She also encouraged Thai people ti “go on vacation to help the local economy”. She made no mention…
- Crime News
3 Nabbed for illegal online gun sales
Authorities in Thonburi, just south of Bangkok, yesterday announced the arrest of 3 Thai men for selling guns online. a GSG .22 calibre semiautomatic pistol, a .22 pen gun, a magazine and a great deal of ammunition, along with many tools. They were arrested in the Petchkasem area west of the capital. Bangkok. Police say 25 year old Sukkasem or…
- World News
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…
- Politics News
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…
- Economy News
New lease on life for 7 of Thailand’s budget airlines
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha today threw a lifeline to 7 of Thailands’ domestic low-cost airlines, beginning with the injection of 24 billion baht in soft loans for the struggling aviation sector, battered by the Covid-19 pandemic. Representatives of Thai Air Asia, its long haul division Thai Air Asia X, Thai Smile, Thai Lion Air, Thai Viet Jet, Bangkok Airways and Nok…
- Crime News
19 year old arrested for allegedly recruiting teens for prostitution
A 19 year old woman was arrested for allegedly recruiting young girls on social media for prostitution. Police say some of the girls that she recruited for sex work were teenagers. Some of them as young as 15 years old. The woman used Twitter to lure the girls in and provide them with prostitution work. Police did not report the…
- Central Thailand News
Sex doll mistaken for dead body
A sex doll in a cardboard box dumped near the side of the road was thought to be a dead body. A man who found the box quickly called emergency responders to the scene. The man found the box partially hidden in tall grass near his home in Samut Prakan, just south of Bangkok. He opened the box and saw…
- Environment News
Environmentalists concerned with rise of takeaway trash during lockdown
How much plastic do you toss in the garage bin when you’re done eating your takeaway order? An environmentalist says 1 person throws away about 1.5 kilograms of trash each day. With many stuck at home during the lockdown period, food delivery sales skyrocketed, but so did the amount of trash each person throws away. Thai environmentalists are concerned and…
- South Thailand News
2 Koh Tao divers awarded for their involvement in the 2018 cave rescue
2 foreign diving instructors in Koh Tao were honored for their role in rescuing the 13 young men from the flooded Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai back in 2018. More than 100 foreigners involved in the rescue have been granted the Most Admirable Order of Direkgunabhorn, an award granted by the Thai Monarch. A ceremony in Surat Thani was…
- World News
Border securty tightened as Myanmar virus cases surge
A significant surge in Covid-19 infections in neighbouring Myanmar has prompted authorities in the northern border province of Tak to tighten border security. More than 200 new cases have been confirmed since early last week, compelling Myanmar to shutter schools nationwide. Authorities say all border passes in the Mae Sot district and roads to the central city districts will be…
- Tourism News
TAT governor says tourism sector must learn lessons from pandemic
The governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand says the sector must take on board the lessons of Covid-19, including the need to shift to a “value over volume” tourism model. Yuthasak Supasorn says, should a second wave of Covid-19 engulf the world in 2021, effective risk management will be crucial in overcoming the challenges thrown up by the outbreak.…
- Crime News
Experts agree: “Boss” was speeding
A police panel probing the alleged mishandling of the case said yesterday that every expert who has weighed in believes Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya, heir to the Red Bull drinks empire, was definitely speeding when he hit the motorcycle of a senior policeman and dragged him some 100 metres, killing him. The panel’s deputy chairman, assistant national police chief Jaruwat Waisaya,…
- Northern Thailand News
Public concerned with costs of MRT’s Isaan project
Money is a main concern for businesses and investors involved in a project by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand to construct an electric light rail train line in the Isaan province Nakhon Ratchasima. Some say MRT should reconsider the type of train planned for the project and go for a more cost efficient option. Province’s proposed MRT Green…
- Crime News
Suspect arrested for allegedly shipping heroin to Taiwan – VIDEO
Police in Bangkok yesterday arrested a suspected member of a drug smuggling ring, believed to be shipping heroin to Taiwan, hidden in souvenirs and carried by couriers posing as visitors returning to Taipei. Officers of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, acting on an arrest warrant, nabbed Penthai Khamhom at a parcel delivery office in Huai Khwang district. A search of the…
