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Sponsored Long-term life in Thailand? 5 reasons private health insurance pays off in the long run
Thailand is a great place for expats and retirees, offering a warm climate, affordable living, and rich culture. However, healthcare can be tricky for foreigners since they aren’t eligible for public health coverage, and private care can be expensive. Private...
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Anutin: US donation offer of 1 million vaccines never received
Apparently citing chain of command technicalities, Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul denied a report that Thailand didn’t respond to the US offering a donation of 1 million free Pfizer vaccines. He said no official formal notice of an offer to donate vaccines was received by his ministry. Anutin explained that the chain of command for vaccine donations involves the…
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Quarantine shortening proposed for certain situations
In an attempt to boost the economy, the National Communicable Disease Committee is proposing a shortening of quarantine periods for travellers under certain circumstances. The proposal was made in a meeting today of the committee with Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul chairing the meeting and vowing to pass on the plan to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. The…
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Afghanistan: Girls’ education faces bleak future under Taliban rule
Girls in Afghanistan will have to wait longer to resume studies at secondary schools after the Taliban announced this week that first the group must “finalize things.” They will then allow girls to return to the classroom “as soon as possible.” “In the case of schools (for female students), the Ministry of Education is working hard to provide the ground…
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Opinion: Small-scale farmers must control our food system
The Food Systems Summit in New York is supposed to come up with a global strategy to fight hunger and feed a rapidly growing world population. But it’s focused too much on the big agro industry. Corporate interests are taking center stage and expanding their influence in the UN system to an alarming extent, undermining democratic decisions. The concerns of…
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Bang Sue Station begins 150k vaccine booster shots tomorrow
Bang Sue Grand Station will begin the rollout of Thailand’s booster shot program, a third vaccine to bolster the effectiveness of those that received 2 Sinovac vaccines previously. The director of the Bang Sue central vaccination centre confirmed the rollout will begin at 11 am tomorrow. The first round of injections will be for 150,000 people who initially were vaccinated…
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PM Prayut announces a 5-point plan for the future economy
In an online meeting hosted by the National Economic and Social Development Council, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced his intention to revise Thailand’s economic and production outlook and methods. The plan looks towards future trends and the increasingly ubiquitous digital economy and aims to get Thailand in line for growing the economy now and in new sectors. The goals would…
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Khon Kaen restaurant busted for allegedly serving alcohol
Another venue, this time in northeastern Thailand’s Khon Kaen province, has been busted for allegedly selling customers alcohol. The restaurant tried to hide the fact that they were serving alcohol but proved no match for the officials that raided the eatery, yesterday. The unnamed restaurant, which is somewhere close to the Khon Kaen University, was raided by police and soldiers.…
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14 Burmese migrant workers arrested for allegedly illegally crossing the border
14 Burmese migrant workers were arrested in western Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province this morning. The Bangkok Post says they were found hiding in the forest by army patrol and police. The group was mostly men, and none had travel documents on them. When the workers were questioned, they told officials that they had been walking on natural trails from Dawei, a…
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Thursday Covid Update: 13,256 new cases; provincial totals
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported 131 coronavirus-related deaths and 13,256 new Covid-19 cases today. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA recorded 13,829 recoveries. There are now 128,367 patients being treated for Covid-19. Since the start of the pandemic last year, the CCSA has reported a total of 1,524,613 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 15,884 coronavirus-related fatalities. The…
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Pattaya Man goes looking for food, later found dead in graveyard
A man went looking for food and was later found dead in a Pattaya graveyard earlier this week. The 35-year-old man’s family says he wasn’t suffering from any illnesses prior to his death. Nongrue Police were alerted to the above-ground corpse residing at the new graveyard, which was built by the Sawang Boriboon Thammasathan Foundation. The police and local news…
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Minor Phuket entry revision: Covid-19 test within 7 days, not 3
The good news is, Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew announced that restrictions and on entering Phuket will ease on October 1. The bad news is, this hasn’t been officially enacted yet and the actual changes to restrictions are extremely minimal. According to the announcement by the governor, a meeting yesterday of the Phuket Communicable Disease Committee has decided on the following overhaul: instead…
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Grenade attack kills ranger in Pattani
A ranger was killed last night during a grenade assault on his station in Pattani, a Deep South Thai province near the Malaysian border, a region that frequently witnesses violent episodes owing to the ongoing religious separatist insurgency. The assailants had thrown 3 hand grenades just before 7:30pm at the security booth that Chanachai Yodthong was stationed at. Chanachai died…
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5 police kiosks set on fire in Bangkok, no injuries reported
At least 5 police kiosks were set ablaze early this morning in Bangkok. The Metropolitan Police have opened an investigation to determine the cause of the fires. Police discovered the kiosks had been set on fire sometime during last night’s curfew. The Central Police Forensic Division sent teams to the various kiosks, which had already had their fires put out…
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Pattaya restaurant busted selling alcohol, 15 arrested
15 people were arrested at a restaurant in Bang Lamung, accused of drinking illegally in violation of Covid-19 restrictions in Pattaya. Last night, Pattaya City Police raided an unnamed restaurant in Jomtien that was suspected of selling alcohol. Officers arrived at the restaurant early in the evening to discover 9 foreigners and 5 Thai nationals plus the person running the…
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Decision on Hua Hin Hospital “dual pricing” case set for next week
Next week, Thai authorities will announce the outcome of the highly anticipated “dual pricing” case where a Dutch expat claims he was overcharged for his cancer treatment at Hua Hin Hospital. Erwin Buse, who filed the anti-discrimination suit two years ago, told ASEAN Now that the case was officially handed over to judges this week and a decision on the case…
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Lawyer and shaman duo demand police investigate Kanchanaburi temple rehab that allegedly tortured patients
Following yesterday’s news that a temple in Kanchanaburi, a western Thai province, that served as drug rehab and was allegedly abusing patients, including feeding them usually only once a day, forcing them to live in squalid conditions and torturing them; a lawyer and a shaman have requested the Crime Suppression Division police investigate and prosecute those responsible for the alleged…
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Pattaya tourism focusing on Russian and Indian travellers
Chinese travellers have been the bread-and-butter for Pattaya tourism, but with Covid-19 restrictions, The Pattaya Business and Tourism Association is focusing on Indian and Russian tourists instead for the planned reopening on October 1. The president of the PBTA had announced that while other cities and provinces have postponed reopening plans, Pattaya stands ready to reopen to international travellers in…
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Amended communicable disease law includes powers to retain curfew, order lockdowns
As the government prepares to debate the future of the emergency decree, set to expire next Thursday, a new legal amendment means some of its powers could remain. The Bangkok Post reports that the amended Communicable Disease Act gives officials the power to retain the current curfew and to impose new lockdowns. The government says the law will be used…
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Police suddenly began raiding Patong bars selling alcohol
While it’s been illegal for bars to open in Thailand and the selling or consumption of alcohol in public is forbidden, police have been looking the other way as patrons sneak beers in bars in Patong, the famous entertainment and nightlife district in Phuket. But after over a month of this occurring under the radar, police have begun raiding and…
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Officials say Bangkok could re-open from November 1, if 70% are vaccinated
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has indicated that Bangkok could re-open to international tourism from November 1, provided 70% of the population are fully vaccinated. The Bangkok Post reports that this is the first time the CCSA has used the November 1 date when discussing the re-opening of the capital. The original date given by the tourism ministry for…
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AfricaLink on Air – 22 September 2021
South Sudan President Salva Kiir mulls retiring+++Namibia’s parliament debates reconciliation agreement with Germany+++Liberians coping with floods SOURCE: DW News
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Haitian migrants at US border keep hoping
A pale yellow building next to a dusty football field in the border town of Del Rio in Texas represents hope for migrants wanting to come to the US. Those who have made it here have crossed the river and the border, and, for the moment at least, have left behind some of their uncertainty. Migrants holding brown paper envelopes…
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How has COVID impacted Pakistan’s education system?
Last week, Pakistan opened both public and private schools in various districts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with Sindh province opening its schools in August. Schools are now operating with a 50% attendance policy on alternating days due to the COVID regulations set forth by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC). Vaccinations were also made mandatory for all staff…
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Angola’s ‘traveling’ Beauty Salons
Male manicurists, or “unheiros”, are a common sight in Cuito, central Angola. Most of their clients are men aged 15 to 35. This male grooming is done by young people wanting to support families and pay for studies. SOURCE: DW News
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World in Progress: Daring to speak up
SOURCE: DW News
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Interview: Tackling tricky topics at Berlin’s Human Rights Film Festival
For more on the Human Rights Film Festival Berlin, go to: https://www.humanrightsfilmfestivalberlin.de/de SOURCE: DW News
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The men experiencing domestic violence
Reporter/Presenter: Andreas Boueke/Connor Dillon SOURCE: DW News
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Cochlear implant surgery in Uganda
Cochlear implant surgery is the last alternative for children when a hearing aid and other interventions fail. Cochlear implantation has become more accessible in Uganda. Kampala Audiology and Speech Centre is a reference institution. According to KASC, hearing impairment affects almost 12% of adults. Many Ugandans believe they have been witchcrafted and don’t seek proper treatment for their impairment. The…
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Ex-cop “Joe Ferrari,” other officers charged with violating discipline policy over suspect’s death
Along with criminal charges for allegedly suffocating a suspect to death in an attempt to extort 2 million baht, the former police station chief in Nakhon Sawan, Thitisan Utthanaphon, and six of his subordinates now face charges for committing disciplinary offenses while on duty. The Police Serious Disciplinary Review Board filed the complaint against the seven officers. According to Nation Thailand,…
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5 Pattani men arrested for allegedly posing as police officers to extort locals
5 men who were posing as police officers in southern Thailand’s Pattani province were arrested yesterday. The suspects allegedly extorted drug-taking residents or teenagers out of money or property. The Yaring police were alerted that men were portraying themselves as members of the Yaring police at a village in the Laem Pho Subdistrict. The Nation Thailand says the men dressed…
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