BANGKOK — 7 June 2026, Thailand’s universal healthcare scheme will begin covering gender-affirming hormone therapy this month, the government announced on Sunday, in a move timed to coincide with Pride Month.
Ploythale Laksamisangchan, deputy government spokeswoman, said the National Health Security Office (NHSO) has already procured the medications, with distribution to 50 service providers expected to begin no later than 10 June.
The benefit package covers eight hormone medications across four categories: oral and topical female hormones, injectable male hormones, oral anti-androgens, and central hormone-suppressing injections. Coverage also extends to health check-ups, mental health consultations, and laboratory tests including hormone levels, liver function, kidney function, and metabolic screening.
Ploythale said eligible service providers include civil society private clinics, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration public health centres, and selected government hospitals. She advised patients to follow announcements from the NHSO and relevant authorities for updates on participating facilities.
She also cautioned that hormone therapy carries physical and psychological side effects that may lead to future health complications, and stressed that patients must receive comprehensive consultation and ongoing care from specialists before beginning treatment.
The gender-affirming care package has been formally incorporated into the Gold Card universal coverage scheme.
PATHUM THANI — 7 June 2026, A German man was found dead at his home in Pathum Thani province on Sunday morning, his body discovered with a plastic bag over his head connected to a nitrogen tank, in circumstances police are investigating.
Frank Wolk, 59, was found by his wife sitting in a chair in a former servant’s room on the ground floor of their two-storey house in Mueang Ek village, Soi Ek Burapha 2, Lak Hok subdistrict, Mueang Pathum Thani district, at around 11:32.
A note found at the scene, translated by officers, read: “Whoever finds me — I do not want anyone to help me.”
Pol. Maj. Namchok Duangsuwan, an investigator at Pak Khlong Rangsit Police Station, attended the scene along with forensic officials from the Ministry of Justice and volunteer rescue workers.
Wolk’s wife, Kanya Wolk, told police her husband had appeared normal that morning. Their daughter came downstairs to do laundry and could not find him, prompting a search of the house. She eventually checked the former servant’s room and found him unresponsive in the chair.
Kanya said her husband was a German programmer who had lived in Thailand for over ten years and worked from home. She described him as introverted, preferring to stay indoors. The day before his death, he made lengthy calls to family in Germany and a friend in Thailand. Neither reported any problems.
The body has been transferred to the Ministry of Justice’s forensic institute for a post-mortem examination to determine the official cause of death.
If you or someone you know is struggling, contact the Department of Mental Health hotline at 1323, available 24 hours.
NAKHON SI THAMMARAT — 6 June 2026, A six-year-old boy died after being mauled by a pet monkey belonging to his grandfather in Sichon district, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, on Saturday.
The boy, identified as Nathan Ekkarat Srichan, was attacked by the monkey at a home in Moo 4, Thepharat subdistrict. The animal bit him in the chest, with its fangs penetrating his lung, and also bit his leg. Relatives rushed him to Sichon Hospital, but doctors were unable to save him and he died there.
Pol. Lt. Montri Lenthat, deputy investigator at Plian Police Station, received the report and travelled to the scene with rescue personnel.
The monkey’s owner, Nathan’s grandfather Jaroon, had kept the animal since it was young, tethering it between two trees beside the house on a long enough rope to allow it to climb. Officers said Nathan likely did not realise the danger and wandered too close to the animal.
A plume of black smoke is seen over the port of St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, after a Ukrainian drone attack. (AP Photo)
Residents of St. Petersburg were told not to leave their homes after a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeted Russia’s second-largest city Saturday morning, underscoring Kyiv’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia.
The attack came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin refused an offer to meet his Ukrainian counterpart.
St. Petersburg Gov. Alexander Beglov said three people sustained minor injuries in the attack. He advised residents not to go outside and warned of possible disruptions to mobile internet service, while regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said 141 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region in what he called an “unprecedented attack.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 376 Ukrainian drones.
“Last night, our drones covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometers to the St. Petersburg region — to the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that drones also hit an oil depot in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.
The renewed attack on St. Petersburg is the latest embarrassing blow to Putin’s efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.
A Ukrainian drone strike set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and hit a nearby naval base Wednesday, hours before the opening of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin’s annual showcase for investment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during a meeting with representatives of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Speaking at the forum, Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over the event in his hometown of St. Petersburg.
Putin on Friday rejected a proposal by Zelenskyy for a face-to-face meeting on the 4-year-old conflict, saying he sees “no point” in it. Thursday’s letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power, as well as some taunts about his age.
Responding to Putin’s dismissal of the proposed meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Saturday that things would “only get worse for Russia.”
“Failures will get more humiliating,” he wrote on X, warning that there are “no safe places in Russia that can be exempt” from Ukrainian long-range attacks, and that the intensity of attacks “will continue to grow.”
With the front line barely moving as swarms of drones hinder advances, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range strikes.
In Ukraine, one person was killed and three wounded overnight into Saturday in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as Russian forces struck three districts nearly 30 times with drones and artillery, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said.
In Zaporizhzhia, seven people sought medical care after a Russian drone strike started a fire at a parking lot, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.
Russia targeted Ukraine overnight with 272 strike drones, and air defenses shot down 249 of them, the Ukrainian air force said Saturday.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called a U.S. push for the denuclearization of North Korea an “anachronistic dream,” saying Sunday the North will steadily expand its nuclear arsenal in the face of U.S.-led threats.
The statement came a day before Chinese President Xi Jinping visits North Korea for talks with Kim Jong Un, in his first visit to the country in seven years.
“The U.S. assertion to backbite the status of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state has no legally binding force and no one will be bound by the U.S. unilateral rhetoric,” said Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s official name.
She dismissed as “false information” a U.S. announcement that President Donald Trump and Xi confirmed their shared goal to denuclearize North Korea in their summit in Beijing last month.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, left, visits a weapons factory at an undisclosed place in North Korea Saturday, June 6, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
“Some officials in the United States have failed to wake from their escapist and anachronistic dream,” Kim Yo Jong said.
North Korea has been focusing on enlarging its nuclear arsenal since Kim Jong Un’s high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019. Experts say the North Korean leader wants an international recognition as a nuclear state so that he could demand lifting of international economic sanctions on North Korea.
During a visit to a new nuclear materials production plant last week, Kim Jong Un said North Korea would bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.” On Sunday, North Korea’s state media reported Kim Jong Un visited a weapons factory the previous day and called for increasing the country’s missile production capacity 2.5 times under a five-year plan period.
In her statement, Kim Yo Jong accused the U.S. and South Korea of pushing for “ceaseless arms build-ups,” saying her brother’s push for “steadily beefing up the nuclear war deterrent for self-defense” is “an irreversible final conclusion to be carried out unconditionally.”
Analysts say Xi’s visit to North Korea is largely meant to reassert China’s influence over North Korea, whose foreign policy priority has shifted to Russia in recent years. They say Xi will likely refrain from directly raising the denuclearization issue and offer economic assistance programs during his meeting with Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has sent troops and conventional weapons to Russia to back its war efforts against Ukraine. South Korean and U.S. officials say North Korea has received economic and other assistance from Russia in return.
A Thai respiratory specialist who was critically injured in a hit-and-run by a foreign national on Ko Pha-ngan has died, nearly two weeks after the incident.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thirasak Kaewamatatwong, a pulmonologist and critical care specialist at Vimut Hospital in Bangkok, was struck by a motorcycle in the early hours of 23 May while on the island in Surat Thani province. The rider fled the scene.
The foreign national was later arrested and found to have been riding without a licence. A test found cocaine in his system. He has been charged in connection with the incident.
Dr. Thirasak, known affectionately as Ajarn Mor Ton, was transferred for urgent treatment at Ramathibodi Hospital following the crash. He died on 7 June.
Vimut Hospital announced his passing on its Facebook page, expressing deep condolences and praising his dedication throughout his medical career. “His contributions will be remembered and remain in our hearts forever,” the hospital wrote.
VIENTIANE, Laos — 7 June 2026, International rescue teams have called off the search for two Lao nationals still trapped inside a cave in Long Jaeng district, Xaisomboun province, Laos, after floodwaters and an earthquake made further operations impossible.
Five of the seven people trapped have been rescued. The remaining two were among a group of Lao nationals who entered the cave on 19 May to prospect for gold before heavy rain and flash floods cut off their exit.
Kengkaj Bongkavong, the rescue mission commander, said the operation became untenable due to uncontrollable natural conditions. The worksite sits between four mountains, causing floodwater to pour in from all directions faster than pumps could drain it. An earthquake centred 200 kilometres away also triggered a rockfall that blocked the cave entrance.
“Every person on the ground right now is heartbroken,” he said, adding that the goal had always been to bring everyone home, but the mission could not continue.
Before withdrawing, rescue teams left supplies and equipment at various points inside the cave in hopes the two survivors might find them. Pumping operations will continue to maintain oxygen levels inside the cave. Thai rescue teams began pulling out personnel and equipment on Sunday, but said they are ready to return immediately if conditions improve.
Rescue diver Manat Artmongkol wrote on social media that the tears shed by the team were not from weakness, but from having given everything they had. “We did not fail. We did not abandon anyone. We simply reached the furthest point any human being could go,” he wrote.
Fellow rescuer Jakkrits Tangtang, known as Pound, said the team had fought as hard as they could but could not overcome nature. He added that he had personally donated 30 million kip to each of the two missing persons’ families — totalling 60 million kip, equivalent to around 90,000 baht.
CHONBURI — 7 June 2026, Police arrested four members of a Myanmar gang accused of assaulting and restraining a security guard before stealing electrical cables worth around 600,000 baht from a construction site in Ban Bueng district, Chonburi province.
CCTV footage from the incident, which occurred between 01:23 and 02:20 on 4 June, showed more than ten men surrounding a vehicle before attacking the security guard, binding his hands and feet, and loading large quantities of new electrical cables onto two waiting pickup trucks.
Investigators from Ban Bueng and Chonburi provincial police reviewed CCTV footage along escape routes and on 6 June at around 17:30, spotted one of the vehicles from the incident turning into a second-hand goods shop along the Ban Surasak–Phan Sadet Nok road. A check of the vehicle’s registration led police to a location in Khao Noi 7 alley, Moo 2, Ta Sit subdistrict, Pluak Daeng district, Rayong province.
As officers entered the alley, a grey Isuzu matching the CCTV registration drove towards them. Police stopped and searched the vehicle, finding Ye Htwe, 34, at the wheel, accompanied by his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s sister, who was holding a child.
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Interrogation of Ye Htwe led police to three more suspects: Sai Htet Aong, 27, Wai Gan, 18, and Ye Ko Lin, 34. All four confessed to taking part in the robbery. The remaining gang members, including the ringleader identified only as Maung, remain at large.
Pol. Col. Krit Masuk, superintendent of Ban Bueng Police Station, said all suspects are Myanmar migrant workers who used knives to threaten and restrain the security guard. He said the gang is believed to be linked to multiple similar incidents in areas under the jurisdiction of Khlong Kio, Nong Yai, and Pluak Daeng police stations. The four arrests were made within just two days of the incident.
CHIANG MAI — 7 June 2026, A Chinese tourist mother abandoned her teenage daughter outside a guardhouse at a luxury housing estate in Chiang Mai’s Saraphi district on Sunday morning after a family argument, prompting police to intervene.
Pol. Lt. Thanang Wannasiri, an investigator at Saraphi Police Station, received a report at 07:30 that a Chinese tourist had left her daughter outside a guardhouse near a luxury village close to Xingsheng School in Chai Sathan subdistrict, Saraphi district.
Officers arriving at the scene found a Chinese woman aged approximately 18–20 sitting alone outside the guardhouse, visibly distressed. Village staff were providing moral support while police contacted Chiang Mai Tourist Police for assistance.
The young woman told officers she had travelled to Chiang Mai with her mother and the two had argued. Her mother, unhappy with the dispute, drove her to the location and left her there before disappearing.
Tourist police took the woman to the Tourist Police office, where authorities plan to contact her mother to mediate the dispute. Officers said the matter is a family issue and they hope to resolve it through mediation. If no agreement can be reached, the case will be referred to the Chinese Consulate in Chiang Mai.
BANGKOK — 6 June 2026, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul presided over the opening of the 15th Thai Silk Festival “Thai Silk to the World” at the Royal Thai Navy Auditorium in Bangkok on Saturday evening, declaring 2026 the “Golden Year of Thai Fabric.”
Speaking at the ceremony, Anutin cited a resurgence of interest in Thai traditional textiles, particularly among younger generations, driven by the royal initiative “Wear Thai Fabric with Joy.” He also praised the international success of Thai silk through the exhibition “La Mode en Majesté — Royal Thai Dress: From Tradition to Modernity,” held in Paris under the patronage of Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya, marking 170 years of Thai-French diplomatic relations.
The festival also featured the award ceremony for the 7th Next Big Silk Designer Contest 2026, both events organised in honour of Queen Suthida on the occasion of her 48th birthday.
Anutin described Thai silk as a “cultural ambassador” that carries Thai wisdom and identity to the world, while also serving as a driver of the creative economy. He said the government is committed to promoting the Thai silk industry across all dimensions.
The festival drew participation from 72 embassies and 18 honorary consulates, with ambassadors from 36 countries taking part in a fashion show on stage. More than 79 teams from educational institutions across the country also competed and exhibited their work, bringing together over 1,000 fashion and textile students and lecturers.
