Bangkok, November 2025: Blue by Alain Ducasse, the award-winning and Michelin-starred French restaurant at ICONLUXE, 1st Floor, ICONSIAM, celebrates its sixth anniversary this month with a visit by the legendary chef Alain Ducasse. To mark the occasion, Executive Chef Evens López has created a special Découverte Menu, honouring the spirit of creativity, precision, and harmony that have defined the Blue’s journey since its opening in 2019.
Speaking on his return to Bangkok, Mr. Alain Ducasse said: “Blue is a reflection of our philosophy — a cuisine that speaks of excellence and emotion, interpreted with sensitivity by Chef Evens López and his team. Over six years, Blue has grown with grace and authenticity, bringing French contemporary cuisine to life in a way that feels both universal and deeply personal. I am proud to see how the restaurant continues to inspire and delight guests from around the world.” Mr. Ducasse continues “When I first visited ICONSIAM, I was captivated by its ambition, beauty, and the exceptional location overlooking the Chao Phraya River. I chose ICONSIAM because it embodies the same spirit that defines our cuisine: excellence, innovation, and emotion. It offers the perfect stage to express the art of living that I wish to share with discerning diners in Asia.”
Premium New Zealand supplement brand BioActive+ has launched BioActive+ Concentrated Liquid Magtein Magnesium L-Threonate Plus, the first liquid supplement in Thailand to feature the patented Magtein complex.
The “drop-and-drink” formula is designed to help consumers tackle modern stress and support cognitive health by working directly within the brain. “Stress may be unavoidable, but managing it requires the right internal support,” said Dr. Wasana Intasang, Founder of BioActive Thailand, emphasizing the product’s goal of delivering deeper sleep, sharper memory, and emotional stability.
The core ingredient, Magtein (Magnesium L-Threonate), is highlighted for its unique ability to cross the blood–brain barrier and directly boost magnesium levels in the central nervous system. This action helps regulate cortisol (the stress hormone) and balance neurotransmitters like GABA and serotonin.
Dr. Rafea Naffa, R&D Director for Magtein, claims the patented complex is the only magnesium that directly crosses into the brain, strengthening neural connections and potentially reducing the brain’s apparent age by 7–9 years.
The company is promoting the product under the concept “Drop Blue, Full Sleep,” positioning it as a practical, daily tool for individuals with demanding lifestyles seeking improved resilience and focus.
Cyber police gather information from the Thai teen and his mother at Mueang Samut Prakan Police Station on November 23, 2025.
BANGKOK — Thai cyber police have arrested a Chinese man and are seeking two others accused of running a scheme that persuaded a 19-year-old to steal cash and valuables from his mother, causing losses of about 6.8 million baht ($209,000), officials said.
Investigators said the victim, identified only as “Mik,” was targeted through a 24-hour video call operation in which scammers posed as officials from multiple government agencies. The group allegedly convinced him he was the subject of an arrest warrant and needed to cooperate to avoid legal consequences for himself and his mother.
Police said the scammers first contacted Mik on his mobile phone and later moved the conversation to the LINE messaging app, where they sent forged documents claiming to be from cyber police and other agencies.
On November 19, while the suspects watched via video call, the teen returned home and emptied his mother’s safe. That evening, he traveled from Samut Prakan to Nonthaburi to hand over the valuables to a pickup team.
Officers question Qin, the arrested Chinese suspect, at the Cyber Crime Investigation Division headquarters on November 24, 2025.
The next morning, the scammers demanded more money. Mik then used his mother’s phone to transfer additional funds before she discovered the transactions and reported the case to Mueang Samut Prakan police, who coordinated with cybercrime investigators.
Authorities arrested a 31-year-old Chinese man, identified as Qin, in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district. Police said he admitted working with two other Chinese nationals, identified as Mr. Huang and Mr. Chang, who allegedly arranged logistics and sold the stolen items at a shopping center in Bangkok.
Police recovered gold bars worth about 3.5 million baht ($107,000), which will be returned to the family, along with other evidence including a Lao bank book and two vehicles — a Mercedes-Benz and a Toyota Fortuner.
Investigators said the operation is linked to a Chinese-run scam network in Laos. Arrest warrants for the two remaining suspects were approved on November 24. Police said they are working to track them down and urged the public to be cautious of scams involving fake officials and threats of legal action.
ONYX Hospitality Group, one of the leading regional players in Southeast Asia, is delighted to announce the launch of its 2025 holiday season campaign, “Beyond the Festivities.” Designed to create cherished memories for guests while strengthening connections with local communities, the campaign will be celebrated across ONYX Hospitality Group’s four distinctive brands: Amari, OZO, Shama, and Oriental Residence.
Campaign Overview
The festive season remains a key driver for ONYX’s hotels, serviced apartments, and residences across Southeast Asia (Should be Asia Pacific?), boosting occupancy, F&B performance, and guest engagement. By combining brand-led storytelling with localised experiences, “Beyond the Festivities” is designed to deepen loyalty, support community connections, and showcase ONYX’s growing regional footprint.
“At ONYX Hospitality Group, we celebrate the festive season with purpose,” said Yuthachai Charanachitta, Chief Executive Officer of ONYX Hospitality Group. “Our “Beyond the Festivities” campaign honours this joyous occasion as a time to bring people together, foster a sense of belonging, and extend our support to the communities in which we live and work. This season is not only about sharing moments with our guests but also about giving back in meaningful ways.”
ONYX Hospitality Group, a leading Southeast Asian hospitality management company with a diverse portfolio of hotels, resorts, serviced apartments, and luxury residences, has announced the soft opening of OZO Medini, marking the latest addition to its growing Malaysia portfolio and reinforcing its strategic expansion across Southeast Asia. Owned by United Malayan Land Berhad (UMLand) under ONYX management, OZO Medini is the second OZO-branded property in Malaysia, following OZO George Town Penang, and the fifth globally.
Located within UMCITY Medini Lakeside in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, OZO Medini embodies the brand’s promise of Sleep. Connect. Explore. — combining practicality with youthful energy to create a dynamic environment for modern travellers. The 198-room property brings a refreshing, contemporary accommodation option to one of Malaysia’s fastest-developing lifestyle and business districts.
A Strategic Milestone for ONYX Hospitality Group
The opening of OZO Medini strengthens ONYX Hospitality Group’s presence in Malaysia, complementing Amari Johor Bahru, Amari Kuala Lumpur, Amari SPICE Penang, Shama Suasana Johor Bahru, and OZO George Town Penang. It highlights the Group’s commitment to sustainable regional growth and its goal of becoming the best medium-sized hospitality management company in Southeast Asia.
ONYX Hospitality Group, – a key regional player, and a prominent management company in Southeast Asia, specialising in hotels and resorts, serviced apartments, and luxury residences under the Amari, OZO, Shama, and Oriental Residence brands, has strengthened its position as a leader in Thailand’s wellness sector with two major national distinctions. The group’s signature spa brands — maai Spa and Breeze Spa — have been honoured with the Nuad Thai Premium Award 2025 and the Thai Spa Premium Award, achieving prestigious Platinum and Gold classifications that recognise outstanding service, quality and professional standards.
Presented by the Department of Health Service Support, Ministry of Public Health, the awards honour outstanding spa and Thai massage establishments that exemplify the highest standards in health, quality, and service excellence.
The award-winning categories include:
2025 Thai Premium Massage Award: maai Spa at Amari Pattaya; Breeze Spa at Amari Bangkok, Amari Hua Hin, and Amari Phuket
Platinum Thai Premium Spa Award: maai Spa at Amari Pattaya; Breeze Spa at Amari Hua Hin and Amari Phuket
Gold Thai Premium Spa Award: Breeze Spa at Amari Bangkok
Authorities assist tourists onto high-clearance trucks after rising waters cut off access to hotels in Hat Yai on November 23, 2025.
HAT YAI — Thai authorities evacuated more than 400 tourists from flooded hotels in Hat Yai on Sunday as heavy rains continued to swamp parts of Songkhla Province, officials said.
Tourism and Sports Minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol said on November 24 that agencies worked with embassies, hotel operators and local officials to locate stranded visitors and move them to safety. The Royal Irrigation Department deployed large trucks to ferry both foreign and Thai tourists from inundated areas to temporary shelters, she said, adding that food and water supplies were being provided.
Sudawan also voiced concern about preparations for the SEA Games, which Thailand is set to host December 9–20. Songkhla is one of three host provinces, and flooding has affected the planned Muay Thai venue. Backup sites in the province have been readied, and other sports can resume once waters recede, she said.
Tourists board government trucks during a mass evacuation from 17 flood-hit hotels in Hat Yai on November 23, 2025.
Authorities said 402 tourists from 17 hotels were transported to Hat Yai Municipality shelters on Sunday, with some taken onward to the city’s bus terminal. Malaysian visitors were escorted to the Sadao border checkpoint to catch buses home.
Officials have updated the Singapore Embassy, the Malaysian Consulate and the Indonesian Consulate on the situation and ongoing relief efforts.
Travel platform Agoda reported in July that Hat Yai has continued to rise in popularity as a tourist destination during the first half of 2025, particularly among visitors from Malaysia and Singapore. The city ranked among the top three best-value destinations in Asia for the second consecutive year.
Rescue teams transport visitors to temporary shelters as floodwaters inundate parts of Hat Yai on November 23, 2025.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Somporn Chuayaree of Prince of Songkla University’s Pattani Campus, an expert on southern weather and natural disasters, told BBC Thai that this year’s severe flooding in Hat Yai was primarily caused by unusually intense rainfall along a rain trough that passed directly over the district.
He explained that the heaviest downpours struck Khao Kho Hong, a mountain area on the eastern side of Hat Yai that is not part of the drainage route toward Songkhla Lake. As a result, large volumes of rainwater flowed straight into Hat Yai’s urban area along the mountain’s steep slopes. Combined with heavy rain that also fell directly on the city, this created the critical flooding levels seen this time.
In this Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, photo, an emergency rescue team transports an elderly woman discovered to still be alive after being considered deceased to a local hospital before her scheduled cremation at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham temple, Nonthaburi province, Thailand. (Wat Rat Prakhong Tham via AP)
BANGKOK (AP) — A woman in Thailand shocked temple staff when she started moving in her coffin after being brought in for cremation.
Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in the province of Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok, posted a video on its Facebook page, showing a woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pick-up truck, slightly moving her arms and head, leaving temple staff bewildered.
Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told The Associated Press on Monday that the 65-year-old woman’s brother drove her from the province of Phitsanulok to be cremated.
He said they heard a faint knock coming from the coffin.
“I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled,” he said. “I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.”
A relative and rescusers rush an elderly woman from Phitsanulok to a nearby hospital after she was discovered to be alive just moments before she was set to be cremated at a temple in Nonthaburi on November 23, 2025.
According to Pairat, the brother said his sister had been bedridden for about two years, when her health deteriorated and she became unresponsive, appearing to stop breathing two days ago. The brother then placed her in a coffin and made the 500-kilometer (300-mile) journey to a hospital in Bangkok, to which the woman had previously expressed a wish to donate her organs.
The hospital refused to accept the brother’s offer as he didn’t have an official death certificate, Pairat said. His temple offers a free cremation service, which is why the brother approached them on Sunday, but was also refused due to the missing document.
The temple manager said that while he was explaining how to get a death certificate when they heard the knocking. They then assessed her and sent her to a nearby hospital.
The abbot said the temple would cover her medical expenses, according to Pairat.
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Temple staff and rescue workers open the coffin after hearing knocking sounds from inside, discovering the elderly woman is still alive at Wat Rat Prakhong Tham temple, Nonthaburi province on Nov. 23, 2025.
Additional Report from Khaosod:
Doctors at Bang Yai Hospital, Nonthaburi, confirmed the elderly woman is stable with no respiratory or cardiac arrest detected. What relatives mistook for death was actually hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). She is receiving saline treatment and remains hospitalized under observation.
Wutthinarong Chanrat, Village Headman of Village 9, Ban Nam Thong Noi, Ban Dong Subdistrict, Chattrakarn District, Phitsanulok, admitted he did not thoroughly examine the woman. Knowing she had been bedridden for 2 years under her brother’s care, he assumed she had died as relatives believed and issued a death certificate so her body could be donated to a Bangkok hospital per her wishes.
Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand holds the CME Global Trophy for winning the LPGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Naples, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand capped off her best year with the biggest cash prize in women’s golf, holding off an early challenge from Pajaree Anannarukarn and closing with a 4-under 68 to win the CME Group Tour Championship by four shots Sunday for another $4 million payoff.
Thitikul won for the third time this year on the LPGA Tour, and one last birdie on the final hole at Tiburon Golf Club gave her the lowest scoring average in tour history.
This was never really in doubt when Thitikul started with a six-shot lead over Nelly Korda, the American she replaced at No. 1 in the women’s world ranking this year.
Thitikul capped off her best year with the biggest payoff in women’s golf, along with her place in the LPGA record book with the lowest scoring average in the tour’s 75-year history.
Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand hits her ball on the first green during the final round of the LPGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Naples, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
As easy as she made it look Sunday with a four-shot victory in the CME Group Tour Championship, she has memories of the road not always being so smooth.
There was that four-putt finish to lose the Kroger Queen City Championship two months ago.
“I have the ice pack put in my eyes because I cried so bad,” she said.
Then came a wrist injury last week from the firm turf at home in Dallas that left her uncertain if she could get through four rounds at Tiburon Golf Club in the season finale, much less win. She curtailed practice sessions to help.
“I think earlier in the week I just saying be able to finish four rounds of golf here just more than I could ask for already,” she said. “But standing here with the trophy on Sunday, it’s just like more than I really, really could ask for for sure.”
Inside the ropes, she looked every bit as dominant as the No. 1 player in women’s golf.
Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand is surrounded by CME Global Trophy, the Bear Trophy and the Player of the Year Trophy following the LPGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Naples, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Staked to a six-shot lead over Nelly Korda going into the final day at Tiburon Golf Club, Thitikul held off an early challenge from Pajaree Anannarukarn with a pair of birdies early on the back nine and sailed home with a 4-under 68 and a second straight title in the CME Group Tour Championship.
That meant another check for $4 million, the largest in women’s golf, pushing her season earnings to $7,578,300. That final birdie from 10 feet allowed her to break Annika Sorenstam’s scoring record by the slimmest of margins — 68.681 for Thitikul, 68.697 for Sorenstam in 2002.
“I mean, like never, ever dreaming having that record at all,” she said. “And then one time that I can be the lowest score average in my whole career should be really amazing.”
What she didn’t know was how close it got at one point Sunday.
Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, center, celebrates after winning the LPGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Naples, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Anannarukarn, playing in the group ahead of her fellow Thai, ran off five birdies in seven holes at the start to close the gap to two shots. It remained a two-shot lead going to the back nine.
But then Thitikul birdied the 10th and the 13th, and Anannarukarn dropped a shot at the par-3 12th. The lead was back to five shots and Thitikul was home free. She just didn’t look at a leaderboard until she got to the par-5 17th, unaware that her Thai friend was on her heels.
Thitikul raised both arms when the final birdie dropped, and before long she was getting soaked with bubbly on the 18th green. Thitikul, who finished at 26-under 262, joined Jin Young Ko as the only back-to-back winners of the CME Group Tour Championship.
Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand kisses the CME Global Trophy after winning the LPGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Naples, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
The victory also assured her winning LPGA player of the year, an outcome that was already decided because Women’s British Open champion Miyu Yamashita would have had to win.
Korda, replaced by Thitikul at No. 1 in women’s golf, became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2010 to go from seven wins in one season to none the following year.
She faced long odds at six shots behind to start the day and fell further back with one bogey and no birdies on the front nine. She holed out for eagle on No. 11 and shot 31 on the back a 68 to finish third. Korda still has the mixed-team Grant Thornton Invitational and the PNC Championship with her father next month.
Asked to describe the year, Korda said, “A grind.”
“I feel like there was a lot of ups and downs and it made me grow a lot mentally, and I would say I’m just also very grateful for it because success is never linear,” she said.
Authorities question a Ukrainian man during an inspection of the luxury villa construction project on Koh Phangan, November 21, 2025.
KOH PHANGNAN — Authorities are investigating a luxury beachfront villa development on Koh Phangan, Sutat Thani Province after discovering suspicious use of Thai nominees by Ukrainian investors holding shares in two companies with combined registered capital exceeding 100 million baht ($3 million).
The investigation stems from the November 4 arrest of an Azerbaijani national for working illegally as an electrician without authorization. Further investigation revealed connections to two limited companies suspected of being the actual employers, raising concerns about nominee arrangements.
Authorities conduct an inspection at the luxury villa construction project on Koh Phangan, where units are priced at $1.8 million each, November 21, 2025.
Joint Operation Launched
Pol. Maj. Gen. Suwat Suksri, Commander of Surat Thani Provincial Police, ordered relevant agencies—including Immigration Police, Tourist Police, and Koh Phangan District Administration—to inspect the villa construction project near Koh Koma in Moo 8. The operation aimed to determine whether foreigners had violated the law and were using nominee structures.
The inspection uncovered evidence of a foreign network operating businesses illegally through nominee arrangements, using Thai nationals as proxy shareholders in the two companies with combined registered capital of over $30,870. Authorities also discovered one Myanmar national working illegally at the construction site who had entered the country without authorization. Legal action was taken against him for being a foreign national in the Kingdom without permission.
Officials inspect workers at the luxury villa construction site on Koh Phangan, where they discovered one illegal Myanmar migrant, November 21, 2025.
Thai Nominee Structure
Pol. Col. Apichat Chansomret, Superintendent of Koh Phangan Police Station, revealed that the villa construction project’s key concern is its management structure. While the managing director is Ukrainian, investigation of the shareholding structure revealed the use of Thai nominees as proxy shareholders to circumvent legal restrictions on foreign business ownership.
The project is marketing villas at prices as high as 59 million baht ($1,821,270) per unit. Currently, over 20 units are under construction. Authorities are gathering evidence to pursue legal action against all parties involved, both for illegal employment practices and violations under the Foreign Business Act.
The case highlights ongoing efforts by Thai authorities to crack down on foreign investors using nominee structures to bypass laws restricting foreign ownership in certain business sectors.
