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‘Boonrod’ plucked out of the Gulf of Thailand, 220 kilometres offshore
The story of a lucky dog. But how did he get there? by Nicola Stow via VIRAL PRESS Workers onboard a Thai oil rig noticed a dog’s head poking above the ripples as she was paddling around the Gulf of Thailand on Friday. The rig was 22o kilometers off the coast of Songkhla. It’s understood the Aspin dog, named Boonrod (Thai for…
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Parents offer reward to find the suspected killer of their innocent son
by Khanitta Sitong The parents of a Mathayom 4 schoolboy, shot dead in Trang’s Muang district last December, are offering a 50,000 baht reward to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of the 51 year old suspect. He was the innocent victim when bullets, intended for someone else, hit and killed him instead. Police say they have…
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Stateless Thais can now apply for birth certificates and Thai ID
PHOTOS: The Nation “Rootless” people, born in Thailand but abandoned at birth – so without any Thai identification number or household documents – are now permitted to file for a birth certificates and apply for Thai nationality. The new laws have been published in the Royal Gazette, effective this week. The new edition of Civil Registration Act also allows these…
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Day Five: Total three deaths in Phuket – ‘Seven Days of Danger’
As reports are tallied for the fifth full day (April 15) of the ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road and marine safety campaign, there were a total of 4 road accidents, including 3 injuries and 1 death on the day. The dead woman was 20 year old Kunwaree Hemmin who has died at the scene after a motorbike accident in Pakhlok…
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French President Macron vows to rebuild Notre-Dame following fire
The Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris has suffered a colossal fire that even caused the Gothic spire of the historic church to crash to the ground as firefighters battled to get the blaze under control. 400 firefighters battled to control the blaze and at least save the building’s iconic front towers. They finally gained the upper hand as midnight approached in…
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Pro-democracy coalition remains positive following weekend glitch
by Kai Chanwanpen The see-saw continues as the anti and pro-junta groups continue to tussle to form a coalition government. Meanwhile the Election Commission (EC) is no closer to announcing the allocation of Lower House seats… three weeks after the vote! They maintain that May 9 is the day they will announce the results although this deadline has been muddied…
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Princess Chulabhorn recovers after cataract surgery and back pain treatment
The Palace is reporting that HRH Princess Chulabhorn is recovering satisfactorily at Ramathibodi Hospital after cataract surgery and treatment for back pain. The medical team at the hospital report that the Princess’s back pain had eased satisfactorily so that medication will now be taken orally, instead of intravenously, until April 30. The Princess underwent cataract surgery on March 22 and…
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American Alex Dion in custody over murder of Thai national – Sydney
PHOTO: Wachiro “Mario” Phetmang – Facebook An American father, charged with the murder of a Thai man in western Sydney last year, is set to remain in custody until his next court appearance in June. Australian police have charged 38 year old Alex Dion with murder of a Thai national – the body found bound and gagged on a Sydney roadside. He…
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“Racial profiling and xenophobic” – a rant against Dual Pricing
“Yet another example of Thailand’s racial profiling and xenophobia towards foreigners.” A post by ‘Despondant Foreigner’ on ThaiVisa has again brought up the ongoing saga of dual-pricing. Dual-pricing is the difference in entry fees, or even some restaurant prices, between ‘locals’ and expats, foreigners and ‘farang’. The rules are applied in a lumpy fashion at various tourist hot spots around…
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Navy files report against ‘seasteading’ structure off Phuket
The Royal Thai Navy has filed a report against an American/Thai couple for their ‘seasteading’ structure off the coast of Phuket. Read more about the concept and structure HERE. The ‘seasteading’ couple, that have set up a structure some 15 nautical miles south east of Phuket’s southern coast, are the subject of an official complaint by the Thai Third Naval Area…
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PM backs Khao Kwan Foundation in cannabis research
PHOTO: Thai PBS Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is instructing the Public Health Ministry and leading tertiary educators to support the Khao Kwan Foundation in the research and development of cannabis oil for medical purposes. His support is a rebuke of over zealous Narcotics Control Board officials who raided the Foundation last week, seizing the cannabis and extract oils on the…
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Taxi bike driver asks for death penalty after murder of pregnant stepdaughter
by Supachai Phetchthewee A 57 year old motorcycle taxi driver has admitted to beating his seven-month pregnant stepdaughter to death out of jealousy. He told police he killed her at her home in Bangkok on April 11 and is asking the court to give him the death penalty for his crime. Phumjai Leungthong, who then allegedly tried to commit suicide on…
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Day Three: Songkran road deaths show a dramatic drop
There has been 1,665 traffic accidents, with 174 deaths and 1,728 people injured in the first three days of the Songkran ‘seven days of danger’ (Thursday, Friday, Saturday). This equates to a significant drop from the 2018 road toll and lower even than Thailand’s average daily road deaths throughout the year. According to the WHO an average 66 people die…
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Three killed in Himalayan plane crash – Nepal
by Deepak Adhikari – PHOTO: AAP Three people have been killed and three injured after a Simrik Air place crashed into a helicopter while taking off from the Lukla airstrip near Mount Everest in north-eastern Nepal, near the border of China. The small plane was taking off this morning (Nepali time) from Tenzing-Hillary Airport, the gateway to Everest, when it hit a…
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Sea turtle returns to its nesting place – it’s now an airport!
by Philippine Daily Inquirer – Asia News Network Green sea turtles are among just a select few animals that take a long journey back to their birth place to lay the next generation of eggs. But what happens when their birth beach is no longer a nesting place but something else instead? In the Maldives, a female sea turtle’s homecoming was now…
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Phuket hotel watch – trends in 2019
by Bill Barnett of C9Hotelworks.com At the beginning of the year Phuket’s tourism and hotel sector was cautiously optimistic after a strong first half of 2018 and humbling second half. Key terms that kept popping up were Mainland Chinese, Thai Baht Appreciation, Elections and Supply Concerns. So today, with five months of performance under the belt in 2019 what are…
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Bangkok traffic police sidelined because they don’t know the road rules
PHOTO: Thai Rath The deputy commissioner of the metropolitan police Maj-Gen Jirasan Kaewsaeng-ek says some traffic police have been transferred to office duties because they didn’t know the traffic rules. Thai Rath reports that they had been on duty directing the traffic and issuing traffic violation fines but had passed no courses on what the actual traffic rules were. The…
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Phuket ‘Seasteaders’ told to pack up and go home
PHOTO: An artist’s impression from the seasteading website The ‘seasteading’ couple, that have set up a ‘floating’ home some 15 nautical miles off Phuket’s coast, are now the subject of an official complaint by the Thai Third Naval Area Command (that oversee Phuket’s security). Chad Andrew Elwartowski and his Thai wife, Supranee Thepdet are said to be in violation of…
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Severe localised storms predicted for central, north and north-east until April 16
FILE PHOTO The meteorological office (TMD) says there could be localised severe thunder storms for the entire upper area of the country until Tuesday. The north, north-east, eastern seaboard and central regions, including Bangkok and surrounding areas could all be randomly hit by tropical thunderstorms. The TMD office director Phuwiang Prakhammin has warned of rain storms, thunder and lightning, high…
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The coronation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun
PHOTO: A younger King Maha Vachiralongkorn with his father, the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej May 5, 1950. King Bhumibol Adulyadej was coronated in a grand ceremony at the Grand Palace and around the streets of Bangkok. That’s nearly seven decades ago when the last coronation took place in Thailand. The 1950 coronation ceremony began the reign of King Rama IX,…
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UPDATE: 25 year old Canadian dies after falling from Chiang Mai zipline ride
PHOTO: chiangmainews.co.th A 25 year old Canadian tourist fell to his death yesterday after a zipline ride failed in Chiang Mai. Police say the tourist fell to his death while riding a zipline in the forests at the Flight of the Gibbon in Mae Kam Pong. Police believe that his safety locks broke, causing him to drop 50 metres into a…
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Day Two: Songkran Seven Days of Danger
PHOTO: Thai PBS The Songkran road toll has now jumped to 105, with more than 1,000 injured on Thailand’s roads. The latest stats reported by the Centre for the Prevention and Reduction of Road Accidents. This includes incidents from days one and two in the seven day annual accident reporting campaign. Thai PBS reports that the centre reports 57 people were killed…
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Businessman could face death penalty for DUI murder of policeman
PHOTO: Daily News A leading Bangkok businessman faces the death penalty after being charged with murder for the death of a top Crime Suppression Division policeman and his wife last Thursday night. Pol Col Jatuporn Ngamsuwitchakun died at the scene in his Suzuki Swift. His 44 year old wife Nutchanat died later in hospital. Their 16 year old daughter Piyapha…
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Sacred water drawing ceremony led by Bangkok Governor
PHOTO: The grand parade was just part of the lead up ceremonies for the forthcoming Coronation of His Majesty – Thai PBS Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang has led city officials in a ceremony to draw water from a pond at the Haw Sastrakhom, a small building inside the Grand Palace. The ceremony is part of the lead up to the forthcoming royal…
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East Sulawesi rocked by 6.8 magnitude tremor – tsunami warning
A strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake rattled eastern Indonesia yesterday triggering a tsunami warning, soon retracted, sending panicked residents fleeing to higher ground. The quake struck off the east coast of Sulawesi island near where a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and tsunami around the city of Palu killed more than 4,300 people in September last year. Indonesia’s disaster agency issued a tsunami…
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Day Two: First death in Songkran ‘seven days of danger’ in Phuket
PHOTOS: Newshawk Phuket As reports are tallied for the second full day (April 12) of the ‘Seven Days of Danger’ Songkran road and marine safety campaign, one death was reported yesterday plus four injuries in four road accidents. There have been no marine incidents reported. The person who died was a 26 year old Burmese man, Ye Min Aung, who…
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60 million baht in damages as investigations continue into Patong fire – VIDEO
Songkran in Patong awakes to reveal extensive damage and destruction from last night’s beach road blaze. A fire started from a faulty electrical transformer in a loud and spectacular short-circuit, quickly escalating to engulf nearby roadside shops, causing damages estimated at 60 million baht. Firefighters and emergency responders arrived at the scene of the growing fire at 7:40pm around Banana…
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The four days of Songkran. Do it like a local.
Over four days of festivities, Songkran officially begins on April 13 with each day focusing on different activities and traditions. April 13 – Wan Sangkhan Lohng On this day residents clean their houses in preparation of the New Year’s festivities and the Chiang Mai Songkran parade. This procession involves the passing of revered Buddha images and parade floats through the…
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The ‘Fun Police’ crackdown on posting ‘lewd’ Songkran pics and video
The Thai police have become Thailand’s fun police today as they warn Songkran revellers against posting photos of scantily clad people, or ‘invitations’ to consume alcohol’… pretty much everything you see during the madness of Songkran festivities in the main tourist hot spots. “No photos, video clips of live broadcasts of nudity, lewd acts or inviting consumption of alcohol should…
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Patong transformer short-out escalates into massive shop fire – VIDEO
PHOTOS & VIDEO: Phuket Traffic Office People were hastily cleared from around Banana Walk and Patong’s Beach Road was closed off as emergency crews battled to bring a growing fire under control. What started as a simple electrical short in a roadside transformer, quickly escalated into an inferno engulfing nearby roadside shops and nearby buildings. https://www.facebook.com/tim.long.9235199/videos/10156093448431516/ Firefighters and emergency responders…
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