Crime, Courts, Calamity

BANGKOK — The pandemic brought out all sides of the Thai smile, from smirks of xenophobia to beams of charity.

RATCHABURI — It seemed like just another alcohol-soaked karaoke rager for a Ratchaburi mechanic, only this time he blacked out and woke to find his penis was no longer there.

BANGKOK — The wastewater treatment pond inside a food processing plant belonging to the country’s largest corporate conglomerate was ordered to shut down for 30 days following the deaths of five people on Friday.

NONTHABURI — After more than 60 years in a glass cabinet, a cadaver of a man executed for allegedly cannibalizing small children was cremated in a funeral Thursday, a gesture of redemption for many Buddhists.

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT — A team of crocodile hunters were searching Friday for a five-meter croc named Nadia who slipped her bonds to escape captivity a zoo in the south of Thailand.

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT — Banks, schools, shopping malls and at least one airport in the south were forced to close Thursday by the ongoing flood crisis that has already claimed six lives.

BANGKOK — Business venues like gyms and massage parlors will reopen on June 1, and the curfew hours will be shortened in response to a low number of coronavirus infections, a government official said Friday.

BANGKOK (DPA) — ​Thai border police killed five drug traffickers during a shootout near the Myanmar border, an officer said Wednesday.

PATHUM THANI — Police on Friday said they have charged the son of a famous comedian for a high-speed car crash that killed an engineer earlier this week.

For Thais, episodes of nepotism, corruption, suspicious deaths and state impunity are as familiar as a lakorn plot remade for the 100th time.