Thailand
- Thailand Election News
Another week of negotiations and still no clear coalition emerges
PHOTO: The Nation – Palang Pracharat pose for a show of unity amongst complete turmoil Democrats walking out of meetings, deals made then broken days later, pending court cases over MPs’ eligibility – it’s never a dull day in Thai politics as we stumble towards a new parliament. Here are the current important milestones you need to know about… •…
- Northern Thailand News
Weather warnings issued for Thailand’s north, central, east and upper south
Residents from the upper south to the north of the country are being warned to brace themselves for heavy monsoonal rains over the next couple of days. The Thai Meteorological Department announced in an alert this morning that there is a monsoon trough across the North and the upper Northeast for Thursday and Friday. “The confluence of the southeasterly wind…
- Tourism News
Thailand travel tax. Good idea but…
by Don Ross – ttrweekly.com “The changes to the law came into effect on May 20. Now, the panic button has been pressed. A workable package and collection process needs to be hammered out and fast.” Thailand is looking to introduce a tourist tax, either on arrival or departure, that will be, according to officials, used to fund accident insurance and…
- Health
Thailand’s sex crime laws toughened
GRAPHICS: Nation Graphics Thailand is toughening its sex crime laws related to rape in a bid to better curb sexual assault crimes. For example, sexual attacks against children below the age of 13 will result in life imprisonment under the tougher law, while penalties will double for rapists who share recordings of the assault. The new law also recognises sexual…
- South Thailand News
Villagers taken in under martial law for questioning over Yala shoot-out, Southern Thailand
PHOTO: Charoon Thongnual Security officials have interrogated 18 people living near the site of this week’s clash between soldiers and suspected insurgents in Yala’s Yaha district. “They were brought in for questioning under martial law as authorities intend to go after the unidentified gunmen in Monday’s clash,” a source said yesterday. The Nation reports that the gunfight lasted several hours…
- Phuket News
Netizens say the policeman’s drunk. Police chief says he ‘is sick’. VIDEO
A video clip of a policeman falling off a motorcycle onto the footpath on the roadside has gone viral in Thai social media. Netizens say the Phuket policeman was clearly drunk but the local police chief maintains ‘he was just sick’. The video clip of the policeman shows he was on a motorbike and was losing his balance. The incident…
- Thai Life
Anti-Junta Thai rappers receive international human rights award
…but don’t expect to be getting a letter of congratulations from the Thai PM. The anti Junta rapper group ‘Rap Against Dictatorship’ has won the 2019 Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent, awarded by the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, the band has announced on its website. Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent is an award established in 2012 by…
- World News
ASEAN group calls for end of judicial ‘harassment’ of Thai MPs
The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, based in Jakarta, is calling on Thai authorities to end what they describe as harassment of the Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. They’ve also asked the ruling Junta to stop their efforts to undermine anti-military parties in the new Thai parliament. Charles Santiago, Chair of APHR and a Member of Parliament in Malaysia…
- Koh Samui News
Stellar fleet line-up on Day 1 of Samui Regatta, Thailand
Samui Regatta is a highlight event on the regional regatta circuit that attracts a high calibre fleet of boats and sailors from around Asia to enjoy some top racing off the tropical island, followed by nightly prize-givings on the beach. “Regattas don’t get much better than this” was the consensus at last night’s official opening of the 18th Samui Regatta,…
- Thailand News
Thailand’s hero of the day: Phitsanulok big-biker ‘Tik’
PHOTO: Itthiphon ‘Tik’ Petchphibunpong – Daily News Kudos to Mr Big Bike, as he’s been nicknamed, the hero of the moment, who took matters into hand to help a family needing urgent help and was stuck in traffic in Phitsanulok in northern Thailand. 28 year old ‘Tik’, aka. Itthiphon Petchphibunpong, was riding his bike in heavy traffic when he was…
- Technology News
5G: Welcome to instant internet
5G will change everything. What 2, 3 and 4G have improved on, 5G will revolutionise and open up even more online possibilities. The internet-of-things will become the virtual internet of everything! 5G’s lightning speed will operate in almost real time – so fast it will actually be almost 200 faster than a human’s usual reaction time. But most of us…
- Phuket News
UPDATE: Ancient cannon found off Koh Racha aged from Rattanakosin period
An object found near Koh Racha Noi off Phuket’s southern coast yesterday is believed to be ancient cannon from the Rattanakosin period (1782-1932). An investigation has been launched after the object, similar to an ancient cannon along with an accompanying ‘base’, was found underwater just off the coast of Koh Racha Noi. Read more about the discovery HERE. Divers from the…
- Northern Thailand News
Mother disappears after abandoning newborn in rubber plantation
FILE PHOTO A mother is on the run after delivering her own baby boy in a hut on a Loei rubber plantation yesterday, just a day before her husband, who was in custody for two years, was to be released. Loei is in far north-east Thailand near the Laos border. The baby, with its umbilical cord still attached, was found…
- South Thailand News
Woman killed, nine injured in seven-vehicle pileup in Nakhon Si Thammarat
A woman has died and nine others injured in a pileup involving four pick-up trucks, a sedan and two motorcycles on a road in Nakhon Si Thammarat this morning. Police say the accident happened at 9am on the Nakhon Si Thammarat-Pak Phanang road in front of the 17th regional office of the Government Saving Bank in Tambon Pak Nakhon, Muang…
- Phuket News
One dead, many injured in Phang Nga bus crash
PHOTOS: Newshawk Phuket One person has been found dead while many others have sustained injuries in a Phang Nga bus collision this morning. Newshawk Phuket reports that emergency responders were notified of the incident this morning on Phet Kasem Road, southbound, in Borsane, Thapput in Phang Nga. The collision was between the the tour bus and a silver pick-up. Both…
- Tourism News
Four southern islands to be closed to tourists during monsoon
PHOTO: Koh Kradan Four islands in the Haad Chao Mai National Park in Trang, southern Thailand, will be closed to tourists for four months starting June 1. The chief of the Haad Chao Mai national park, Narong Kong-iad, says that access to the park will be denied to tourist from June 1 to September 30 for “the nature to rehabilitate…
- Health
10 million Thais to learn CPR and other life-saving techniques
The King’s Volunteer 904 Central Coordination Centre has assigned the Public Health Ministry to provide training to 10 million Thais in basic life-saving skills, principally learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and how to use an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) machines. The ministry will formulate a curriculum for training the public in CPR and AED and publish the materials online. The project…
- Business News
Thailand cuts rubber exports in a four month moratorium
Thailand is cutting rubber exports by 126,000 tonnes next week for a four month moratorium. This is a delay in implementing the supply cut agreement with two other regional producers, according to the Rubber Authority of Thailand. Originally it was agreed that Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia would cut exports back on April 1, a date agreed by the International Tripartite…
- Northern Thailand News
Weather warnings out for parts of the country
The annual monsoon is here. Bangkok, along with 55 other provinces in Thailand, have thunderstorms forecast over the next 24 hours. The Thai Meteorological Department have issued the warnings this morning. Storms are predicted in the central and northern regions and waves in the Andaman Sea forecast up to two metres, according to the TMD. Seree Supratid of Rangsit University’s…
- Business News
Export growth expected to be the lowest in four years
Export growth for Thailand this year is is now being pegged at less that 1%, the lowest growth in four years. Mr. Ath Pisarnwanich, director of the International Trade Study Centre at the University of Thai Chambers of Commerce is saying the low growth is a result of both the escalating US-China trade war and the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement. The…
- Thailand News
Massive corals off Rayong start bleaching
PHOTOS: Thon Thamrongnawasawat Massive and aged corals have started to bleach off the coast of Rayong in the Gulf of Thailand. Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat, assistant dean of the Faculty of Fisheries at Kasetsart University and a marine biologist says, “The coral in Rayong has started to bleach. From a bird eye view we can see clearly the white coral around…
- Thailand Election News
The Election Commission awards 27 parties with seats in the new parliament
PHOTO: The Thai PM warms up for the next round of musical chairs in the new Parliament “Someone has moved the goal posts and changed the soccer ball to a golf ball.” The new Thai parliament has now officially become unworkable, and that’s before anyone even sits down to take a vote. Today the Election Commission awarded 26 political parties…
- Northern Thailand News
Tham Luang caves to be properly explored and mapped
Local and foreign cave experts have been mapping the Tham Luang-Khunnam Nang Non cave, in the Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai, to create the first detailed map of the cave complex. The mapping follows confusion during the rescue, and mentioned last week by Vernon Unsworth, over the exact location where the boys were found. Mr. Chaiporn Siripornpaibul says the project will take about two years and is intended to discover more…
- Events
Royal Coronation – Saturday morning’s ceremonies – PHOTOS
Today, May 4, is day one of the three-day Royal Coronation ceremony in Bangkok. Today, His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been anointed and officially enthroned as the 10th monarch of the Chakri Dynasty. 10.45am: The Royal Purification ceremony completes. The King proceeds to Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where the Anointment Ceremony takes place. 10.09am: His Majesty the King attends…
- Events
HM The King pardons thousands of prisoners
Six former leaders of a political group which was active over a decade ago, the People’s Democratic Alliance (PAD), are among thousands of inmates pardoned by His Majesty the King on the occasion of the Coronation Ceremony which started today and continues through the weekend and Monday. The pardons were announced in the Royal Gazette today. It said that HM King…
- Tourism News
Cabinet announces 13.2 billion baht handouts, also property and tourism stimulus
The Thai Cabinet has given the go ahead to 13.2 billion baht in social welfare spending to low income-earners. The payments would go to parents with children still in school, disabled people and farmers. The same meeting also announced tax packages to boost the real estate and tourism sectors. A spokesperson for the PM’s Office says that under the welfare card…
- Events
His Majesty marries Suthida and names her Queen, days before coronation
FILE PHOTO: Queen Suthida with His Majesty the King and Prince Dipangkorn Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn announced earlier this evening that he has married his bodyguard, Gen. Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, and named her Queen Suthida, just days before the Royal Coronation this weekend. The announcement was made tonight in the Royal Gazette. In 2014 HM appointed Suthida Tidjai, a…
- Events
A new Queen for Thailand
His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun has issued a Royal Command declaring General Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya to be Queen of Thailand, effective as of May 1st. According to the Royal Gazette, HM the King has married General Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya “legally and in accordance with Royal tradition.” The new Queen is regarded as a member of the Royal…
- Thailand Election News
Future Forward’s Thanathorn says he’s confident he will be endorsed as an MP
Thanathorn had prepared some 27 items of evidence to prove to the poll authority that he had divested his media shares on January 8, well before he registered to run in the election that took place a month later. A defiant Future Forward leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit emerged from yesterday’s marathon ‘chat’ with the Election Commission over charges he still owned…
- Thailand News
Thai business sector drops 2019 export projections by 1%
The Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade are revising down Thailand’s 2019 export growth projections from 3.1% to 2.1%. They say several unfavorable external factors are contributing to the revised outlook. Thai PBS reports that Mr. Sanan Aung-ubonkul, vice president of TCC and BoT, says that, in order to maintain the 3.1% growth projection, the value of monthly…
