Thai Examiner - Thailand's news for foreigners

by Thai Examiner

Season 1

Thai Belgian man’s body found in Chiang Mai river on Sunday after horror water rafting incident

30-year-old Nicolas Hinckxt, a computer programmer, who worked in Belgium and was of Thai Belgian descent with a Thai mother, was in the country on holiday with four friends who arrived on June 24th last. His wife was also in Thailand with him before tragedy struck last Friday afternoon. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/24/belgian-body-found-nicolas-hinckxt-after-rafting-incident/ James Morris reports from Chiang Mai.

S1 · E139

Jul 30, 2022

4:21

Recreational use of pot to be recriminalised as Minister warns abuses are undermining his plan

The decriminalisation of marijuana is turning into a major problem for the government with chaos in ministries and agencies responsible including an anxious request to police for enforcement of an older law. On Wednesday, Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul, the architect of the drive to decriminalise the drug, told reporters unequivocally that recreational use of cannabis was still illegal as his ministry attempted to get police to enforce a 1999 law while the minister himself promised that legislation before parliament would again make cannabis as a recreational drug strictly illegal and open the way to effective police enforcement. In the meantime, Mr Anutin warned those abusing the hiatus between legal measures, that they were undermining the signature project of his Bhumjaithai Party in government. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/30/recreational-pot-cannabis-use-to-be-recriminalised/ Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok and Nakhon Phanom.

S1 · E138

Jul 30, 2022

18:15

Second case of monkeypox in Bangkok identified in a 47-year-old who had sex with foreign men

City’s public health services and officials are monitoring all public health facilities to identify possible new cases and track the activities of those who may be infected by the disease. It comes as a top medical practitioner in Phuket, where the first case was detected last week, wants the government to allow lower-level laboratories to be allowed to test for the disease. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/28/second-case-of-monkeypox-in-bangkok/ Carla Boonkong reports from Bangkok and Phuket.

S1 · E137

Jul 28, 2022

6:09

Mysterious African monkeypox sufferer arrested after illegally crossing the border into Cambodia

Monkeypox patient captured in Cambodia: African Osmond Chihazirim Nzerem identified a Chiang Mai language school as linked with his stay in Thailand on arrival last October but the Deputy Governor of Phuket, Pichet Panapong, on Friday, told reporters that he had overstayed his visa in Thailand by 4 months after arriving in the kingdom on October 21st last from Abuja, Nigeria. On Saturday, the Head of the Department of Disease Control, Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, said the man appeared not to have been a normal tourist and after he have crossed Thailand’s border into another country with authorities believing he had help from others to avoid working with officials. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/23/african-monkeypox-case-nigerian-arrested-in-cambodia/ Carla Boonkong reports from Sa Kaeo Province and Phuket.

S1 · E136

Jul 28, 2022

7:54

British Airways snubs Bangkok in favour of elite travellers to Singapore as Thai Airways rises

As the government put off indefinitely its foreign tourism levy, this week, one of the country’s most successful conglomerates, Minor International (MINT) announced the addition of 60 new hotels and 10,000 rooms to its portfolio. This is positive news as a mild recovery is underway in foreign tourism with a key focus now on the improvement of flight connectivity amid fears that it may be as late as 2026 before the industry sees a return to normality with top executives in Thailand hoping that this will happen two years earlier by the end of 2024. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/27/british-airways-snubs-bangkok-for-singapore/ James Morris reports from Bangkok.

S1 · E135

Jul 27, 2022

12:51

Desperate Myanmar junta executes 4 including a former MP and pro-democracy activist by hanging

Human rights groups have noted since a junta official confirmed in early June that the death sentences on the men would be carried out, that the number of people on death row has risen sharply to 114 with fears that the military regime in Nay Pyi Taw is using the death penalty and Monday’s executions as a way to intimidate the public which overwhelmingly supports the ongoing violent resistance to its rule being waged by the armed forces of the legitimate government of the country formed from elected MPs, the National Unity Government (NUG). https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/26/myanmar-junta-executes-4-including-ex-mp/ Joseph O' Connor reports from Yangon and Bangkok.

S1 · E134

Jul 26, 2022

13:45

Tourist levy hits further turbulence with fears it could harm airline’s effort to boost flight numbers

The fee will provide automatic insurance cover with 11.3% of the money from it going to pay for limited medical insurance coverage for visitors with a ceiling of ฿500,000 for 30 days after they first enter Thailand while 88.7% will go to a fund to be used by the government to develop foreign tourism infrastructure in the kingdom. However, ongoing efforts to implement the proposal have repeatedly been stalled or postponed since 2019 and even before this, similar moves in 2006 and 2013, all fell through. Many observers feel that the likelihood of a General Election being called between now and the end of 2022 as well as the pressing and critical economic need to boost foreign tourism numbers with increased international flight connections and frequency into Thailand may see the plan being postponed yet again. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/18/tourist-levy-or-fee-hits-further-turbulence-airline-flights/ James Morris reports from Bangkok.

S1 · E133

Jul 19, 2022

12:44

Skeletal remains of a Canadian tourist who arrived on July 6th found on a vacant Pattaya brush site in the city

Girlfriend told Pattaya Police that she had not heard from her boyfriend since he arrived in Thailand and headed straight to Pattaya to begin his holiday in the kingdom. Officers are awaiting a post-mortem being conducted in Bangkok. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/16/remains-canadian-man-glenn-vernon-found-in-pattaya/ Carla Boonkong reports from Pattaya.

S1 · E132

Jul 19, 2022

3:32

Central bank reassurances as ex-minister raises loan quality with China’s economy in trouble

Top Thai bank official Dr Daranee Saeju this week assured reporters that Thailand’s strong financial position made it impervious to speculation and was quite unlike the position in 1940 and 1997. It comes as the baht hit a new 16-year low on Friday amid concerns about second-half GDP growth and the performance of the economy with deeply disturbing reports from Beijing as the western world grapples with inflation and the fallout of the Ukraine war which the World Bank has predicted will lead to a return of 1970s era stagflation. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/15/central-bank-assurances-as-the-baht-slips/ Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok.

S1 · E131

Jul 16, 2022

19:14

Young mother who pimped her child arrested, 2 men linked with the case already facing charges

The mother of the child identified by police as Ms Chantra has pointed the finger at a 33-year-old man who was also arrested on Tuesday, as the mastermind behind the criminal enterprise which saw her make pornographic videos for sale online. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/13/young-mother-who-pimped-her-child-arrested/ Carla Boonkong reports from Saraburi and Bangkok.

S1 · E130

Jul 16, 2022

6:08

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