Category: Thailand

Finding Hidden Bangkok

Arriving in Bangkok can be an intimidating experience. Riding in the back of a little taxi through heavy traffic making its languorous way along the elevated freeway that winds from the airport toward Sukhumvit, the skyline looms. So many skyscrapers, stretching as far as the horizon. At their feet, a dense and endless web of…


Thailand to Start Human Trials on COVID-19 Nasal Spray This Year

Thailand’s National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology is expecting two COVID-19 anti-viral nasal sprays to enter human trials by the end of this year. Deputy government spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek said on Wednesday the nasal sprays are based on adenovirus and influenza and testing on mice has provided promising results. The first phase of human…


Thai Man Charged With Killing, Robbing Swiss Woman

BANGKOK—A suspect in the death of a 57-year-old Swiss woman on Thailand’s tourist island of Phuket was charged with murder and robbery, police said Sunday. The suspect, Teerawat Thothip, a 27-year-old Thai man living in Phuket, confessed to the killing and even spoke by telephone at a police press conference to admit his guilt and…


Thai Police Investigating Death of Foreign Woman in Phuket

BANGKOK—An investigation is underway in Thailand after the body of a Swiss woman was found Thursday at a secluded spot on the southern island of Phuket. Thai media reported that the woman’s partially clothed body was lying face down in a rock crevice near a waterfall and appeared to have been concealed by a sheet….


Evacuations Ordered After Thai Chemical Factory Explodes

BANGKOK—A massive explosion at a chemical factory on the outskirts of Bangkok early Monday killed at least one person, injured dozens more, and damaged scores of homes, while prompting the evacuation of a wide area over fears of poisonous fumes and the possibility of additional denotations. Dense clouds of black smoke continued to billow from…


A Whale of a Time in Thailand

I’ve spent plenty of time over the years on or around Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River, its banks lined with historic buildings, hotels, temples, and restaurants, and its waters a thoroughfare for commuting ferries and barge traffic—so much to explore and ideal for a sundowner at a bar. But I’d never been to its final destination,…


Virus Outbreaks at Thai Factories Threaten Export Sector, Recovery

BANGKOK—A series of coronavirus outbreaks in Thai factories is raising concerns that the export sector could be hit hard, threatening to further undermine an economy as it struggles to recover from the lockdowns’ crippling blow to the crucial tourism industry. The virus has swept through over 130 factories, including those supplying international brands, with more…


US Citizen in Thailand Charged With Murdering Thai Wife

BANGKOK—Police in Thailand said Friday they have charged a U.S. citizen from the state of Colorado with murdering his pregnant Thai wife. Jason Matthew Balzer, 32, was interrogated Friday in the northern city of Nan where he had lived with Pitchaporn Kidchob, said police Lt. Col. Somkiat Ruam-ngern. The murder charge carries a maximum penalty…


Thousands Flee to Thailand After Burma Army’s Air Strikes on Villages: Activist Group, Media

About 3,000 villagers from Burma’s (also known as Myanmar) southeastern Karen state fled to Thailand on Sunday following air attacks by the army on an area held by an ethnic armed group, an activist group and local media said. Burma’s military launched air strikes on five areas in Mutraw district, near the border, including a…


Thai Court Gives Record 43-year Sentence for Insulting King

BANGKOK—A court in Thailand on Tuesday sentenced a former civil servant to a record prison term of 43 years and six months for breaching the country’s strict law on insulting or defaming the monarchy, lawyers said. The Bangkok Criminal Court found the woman guilty on 29 counts of violating the country’s lese majeste law for…