Thailand
- Crime News
“Boss” commission chief says Thai justice system in need of reform
Former National Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Vicha Mahakun, who led the recent inquiry into the handling of the case against Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya, says Thailand’s justice system is in need of reform. Red Bull heir and grandson of co-founder Chaleo Yoovidhya, “Boss” stood accused in a 2012 hit-and-run case that caused the death of a 47 year old Bangkok police officer who…
- Thailand News
Nonthaburi teacher allegedly beat students, witnesses may face charges -VIDEO
After a private school teacher in Nonthaburi was caught on camera allegedly beating kindergarten students, education officials are looking to press charges on every teacher that witnessed the alleged abuse and did not step in to stop her. A surveillance camera footage at the Sarasas Witaed Ratchaphruek School shows the teacher pushing the 3 year old student down to the…
- Business News
Thai Vietjet introduce new “Deluxe” product for domestic routes in Thailand
Thai Vietjet, which currently operates 13 domestic routes within Thailand, is launching a new “Deluxe” product, starting from 999 baht. The “Deluxe” tickets will include 7 kilos of carry-on and 20 kilos of checked luggage (currently an additional charge), as well as seat selection and priority check-in. Date, route and flight changes are also permitted 1 time, free of charge.…
- Visa Information
Update on rumoured extension of Thailand’s visa amnesty
UPDATE: There has been no confirmation of the rumour that was circulating earlier today. Some publications even said it was a “done thin” but that is not true. The latest developments… Speaking to khaosodenglish.com, Col. Phakkhaphong Saiubon told them that an extension should be officially announced this week and that “those who failed to renew their stay after the September…
- Pattaya News
Pattaya City council pushes for action against abandoned Waterfront condo project
The Pattaya City Council is pushing for action, any action, against the abandoned 53 story Waterfront Suites and Residence luxury condo after it has been left as an eyesore for many years overlooking the Bali Hai Pier. The Waterfront Suites and Residence is a half-finished condo project that was stalled in 2014 after safety inspectors discovered that the building’s fire escapes…
- Thailand News
Phuket police arrest 6 after finding large amounts of methamphetamine in raid
Phuket Provincial Police have arrested 6 people after finding large amounts of methamphetamine and other drugs during a raid. One suspect alone allegedly had 7.6 kilograms of crystal meth (ya ice) and over 12,500 methamphetamine pills (ya bah). 29 year old Surasak ‘Bank’ Wijit and 27 year old Panida ‘Mei’ Saeyang were arrested at an apartment car park in Soi…
- Thailand News
Phuket Muay Thai fighter is the first Thai national to compete in UFC
The upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship Fight Night event in Abu Dhabi will feature Thailand’s only national marking her third fight with the UFC, the world’s largest mixed martial arts competition. 24 year old Loma Lookboonme, from Burirram in northeastern Thailand, will fight in the event on October 3, 2020. Loma is a Muay Thai fighter who has adapted her MMA…
- Pattaya News
Helmet credited for saving student’s life after being ran over by a truck
A helmet has been credited by rescue workers as saving a young student motorbiker’s life after being run over by a truck following a collision with another vehicle. The accident, which happened in the Panat Nikhom District, of Thailand’s eastern Chon Buri province, happened after a vehicle stopped suddenly, causing the student to crash into it. The student reportedly fell…
- Crime News
Police arrest 13 illegal Cambodian migrants in Sa Kaeo border province
Police have arrested 13 illegal Cambodian migrants in the Sa Kaeo border province after a patrol team spotted some of them at 2am in the morning. The Burapha Task Force spotted 5 of the migrants in Ban Nong Phai village of Ta Phraya sub district after stopping a grey Toyota Fortuner that was registered in Bangkok. According to police, the…
- Tourism News
Phuket airport ready for tourists after finishing Covid screening labs
Phuket Airport is officially ready for tourists as authorities say they have finished installing Covid screening labs in an effort to welcome international travellers. The 5T Model for Covid-19 is being used at the airport with the goal of screening large groups of people in a quick and efficient manner. The Phuket health chief says the 5T’s stand for Target,…
- Visa Information
Thailand’s Special Tourist Visa to be approved tomorrow
The Special Tourist Visa will be ticked off and added to the Immigration department’s list of available visas on Monday. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration meeting at the start of the business week will pass the much-discussed STV which is hoped to be the first step of a wider re-opening to general tourism in Thailand. CCSA spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul…
- Expats
Koh Chang resort sues American over bad review
A Koh Chang resort is fighting back and, reportedly, suing an American citizen after posting a nasty online review on TripAdvisor. After recently visiting the Sea View Resort on Trat province island in the Gulf of Thailand, American Wesley Barnes wrote an unflattering, almost bitchy, account of his stay prompting the owner to file an official complaint over the ‘unfair’…
- Thailand News
Government to stir economy with 100 billion baht stimulus starting in October
The Thai Government is expected to stimulate the economy with 100 billion baht boost starting in October until the end of the year. The injection will reportedly come from both the people’s and the government’s spending under three stimulus measures according to the Deputy PM Supattanapong Punmeechaow. The first measure will reportedly give 14 million welfare cardholders an extra 500…
- Thailand News
“Bad Student” movement by high-schoolers continues fight against authorities
A movement, dubbed by some of Thailand’s high-schoolers as ‘Bad Student’, is advancing the fight against education authorities as students are trying to break up the country’s strict, or as they claim, archaic, education system. The movement’s name takes after a university student activitst’s book about his experiences in a government high school. The recent rebellion of students coincides with…
- Northern Thailand News
More than 1,000 pigs killed in effort to contain spread of virus in Lampang
The outbreak of ‘porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome’ caused the Department of Livestock Development to order the slaying of pigs in several subdistricts of Mae Tha district in the northern Lampang province. The head of the department says it has been able to prevent the outbreak from spreading out of the declared areas due to the elimination order, but the…
- Pattaya News
Elderly Dutch man’s body found floating near Pattaya Beach
An elderly Dutch man’s body has been found floating near a Pattaya beach in South Pattaya after telling his wife he was going to go swimming. The 74 year old man’s wife Ms. Sukjai Bungutum, a 41 year old Thai woman, was found by rescue workers crying near his body. “My husband told me he was going to go swimming.…
- Thailand News
Thai Red Cross says “stay vigilant” as Covid can be asymptomatic yet contagious
The Thai Red Cross Society has published a new infographic warning us to stay vigilant as Covid-19 can be asymptomatic but still able to spread to others. The novel coronavirus has been spreading despite carriers having little or no symptoms. The Thai Government PR Facebook page today reports 3 new confirmed cases from people on repatriation flights and in state…
- Phuket News
Female prisoner on the run after escaping from Phuket Hospital
A female prisoner is on the run after escaping from Vachira Hospital in Phuket during a doctor’s appointment. 58 year old Siri Phodam allegedly escaped after asking her prison escort officer to use the toilet. But she took a long time to come back, and was found to have escaped. CCTV cameras caught her dressed in a blue hospital patient…
- Thailand News
Thai Chamber of Commerce urges visa amnesty to be extended after today’s deadline
The Thai Chamber of Commerce is urging the government to extend the visa amnesty for the country’s 400,000 tourists after today’s deadline but has so far been turned down. The move comes as such provinces like Chiang Mai’s immigration office sends messages giving tourists until Monday to sort out their visas (which is under the law as Saturday, the final…
- Thailand News
Sex worker support group pressures Thai government to decriminalise prostitution
A sex worker support group called The Empower Foundation is hoping to persuade the Thai government to decriminalise prostitution by seeking a 10,000 signature petition. The group, based in Chiang Mai, wants penalties for selling sex removed as it says the 1960 law harbors exploitation and corruption. Such a removal would require Thailand to withdraw the Anti-Prostitution Act which saw…
- Economy News
Deputy PM says 2 years until Thailand’s economy is back to normal
It’s going to be another 2 years until Thailand’s economy is back on track, according to Deputy PM Supattanapong Punmeechaow. At least that’s the amount of time he expects it will take to get the economy back to “normal levels” from before the coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus crisis crippled economies across the globe. The Covid-19 pandemic is already the worst…
- Thailand News
Thailand’s first cancer medicine factory expected to cut drug costs in half
The government just sealed the deal to build Thailand’s first factory to produce cancer-treating medicine and chemicals, a move that is expected to cut treatment drug costs in half. Buying imported cancer-treating drugs is expensive. Thailand spends about 21 billion baht per year on imported cancer medicine, according to Deputy PM and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. The local factory is intended…
- Covid-19 News
2 returnees in quarantine catch Covid-19 a second time
Health officials say 2 people in state quarantine tested positive for Covid-19, apparently catching the virus for a second time. A 42 year old Thai man recently tested positive for Covid-19 while in Chon Buri state quarantine after returning from Singapore. He first caught the virus a few months ago while in Singapore. He didn’t need hospital treatment and quarantined…
- Thailand News
Charter vote delayed, committee formed and Senators escape Parliament by boat – VIDEO
Thailand’s MPs and Senators have kicked the constitutional can down the road at least a month after the parliament failed to agree on charter amendments. A panel will be sent up to examine 6 motions that were proposed and debated over the past 2 days. Meanwhile, up to 2,000 protesters were gathered outside the unfinished parliamentary buildings as an act…
- Covid-19 News
Covid task force calls for extension to Thailand’s emergency decree
Thailand’s Covid-19 task force is advising the government to extend the country’s state of emergency by a further month… again. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration plans to discuss the matter next Tuesday and put it to Cabinet for consideration on Wednesday. The state of emergency, or emergency decree, which has been extended several times since its introduction in March,…
- Tourism News
Quarantine could be reduced to 7 days from November, if border re-opening succeeds
Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister says the mandatory quarantine period for those arriving from overseas could be reduced to 7 days if there is no spike in Covid-19 infections after the border re-opens to limited arrivals from October. For the minister’s part, the 7 day quarantine is merely speculation at this stage. Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says more details on the…
- Pattaya News
Pattaya men allegedly posed as police officers, extorted 50,000 baht from a woman
A group of 4 men in Pattaya allegedly posed as police officers and extorted 50,000 baht from a woman. The 20 year old woman says the men claiming to be police officers raided her condominium and a friend visiting had drugs in his possession. In the report filed with Pattaya City Police, the woman says the men asked both her…
- Thailand News
982 lèse majesté social media posts cited in police complaint
Nearly 1,000 so called lèse majesté posts on social media have been cited in a police complaint for allegedly violating Thailand’s Computer Crime Act, some allegedly criticising and insulting the Thai Monarchy. The complaints were filed by Digital Economy and Society Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta. The police report says the social media posts were shared during the pro-democracy protest over the…
- Crime News
Armed men allegedly steal more than 100,000 baht from Ayutthaya monk
Police are searching for men who allegedly robbed a monk at an Ayutthaya temple, taking off with more than 100,000 baht in cash. Thai media reports that 2 of the men have been arrested and police are still searching for the other 2 men. The monk was in his room at the Dokmai Buddhist Temple when he heard dogs barking.…