BANGKOK – Following the release of a viral video showing a group of Indian tourists fighting with a group of Thais on Thursday, Pol. Col. Navin Teerawit, superintendent of Pattaya Police Station, said on December 29 that officers questioned three of the seven people in the video.
Officials also questioned all of the Thai individuals in the video and filed their criminal records before freeing them.
The incident occurred on Thursday morning at Pattaya Beach Soi 13, Nong Prue Subdistrict, Bang Lamung District, Chonburi Province, according to witnesses.
According to witnesses, a group of Thai men and women sat drinking alcohol as a group of Indian tourists strolled down the beachfront sidewalk. An Indian woman stepped in and slapped a Thai woman. She also called out to her friends to come over and help her.
Two groups of individuals are seen chasing each other in the centre of the road in the clip. They attacked each other with sticks over a metre long, belts, glass bottles, and iron ladles, causing passing cars to stop, and no one dared to stop them because they were scared he might be injured as well.
According to the police officer, the inquiry indicated that the stories from both sides were contradictory. The Indians said that a Thai woman first splashed them with beer. The Thai woman claimed she had been drinking when the Indians walked in and asked to buy her services by speaking insultingly, so she splashed beer. Then an Indian rushed up behind her and attacked her. As a result, a brawl broke out.
Officials are still waiting for the results of both sides’ physical examinations before proceeding with the charge.
MR.Ryan Hill, MD Partnership Markets, Asia of CAMPARI GROUP (3rd from left) and MR.Robert F. Maurer Loeffler, Vice President Operations & General Manager – Centara Grand At CentralWorld (Middle) together launched “CAMPARI SUNSET OPENING NIGHT”. CAMPARI, Italy’s iconic red apéritif, and Centara Grand at CentralWorld launched a new spot to sip and savour Italian-inspired and classic drinks while enjoying the stunning sunset above the city at Sunset Lounge, located on the 56th floor at Red Sky Bar.
From Left:
Carla Porter
Nishsha Boonyagorn
MR.Ryan Hill, MD Partnership Markets, Asia of CAMPARI GROUP
MR.Robert F. Maurer Loeffler, Vice President Operations & General Manager – Centara Grand At CentralWorld
Katreeya English
MR.Unnop Kaewputtal, EAM, Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld
Italian-inspired drinks, timeless classics and creative signature concoctions, and more while soaking up the scenery as the skies change the colour from one of Bangkok’s best spots.
Don’t miss the new and elevated Italian cocktail experience above the Bangkok skyline at Sunset Lounge. It is open daily from 17.00 – 01.00 hrs. Reservation is highly recommended at 02 100 6255.For more information, please visit https://www.bangkokredsky.com/
ABOUT CAMPARI Campari, the iconic, unforgettable Italian red spirit sitting at the heart of some of the world’s most famous cocktails. Campari was founded in Milan in 1860 by Gaspare Campari, and pioneered by his son, Davide, who created something so distinctive and revolutionary that its secret recipe has not been altered since. Vibrant red in colour, Campari’s unique and multi-layered taste is the result of the infusion of herbs, aromatic plants and fruit in alcohol and water.
As well as being unique and distinctive, Campari is extremely versatile, offering boundless and unexpected possibilities. As a source of this passionate inspiration since its creation seen through its founders’ creative genius, artists in different fields and the world’s best bartenders, Campari stimulates your instincts to unlock your passions, inspiring limitless creations.
ABOUT CAMPARI GROUP Campari Group is a major player in the global spirits industry, with a portfolio of over 50 premium and super premium brands, spreading across Global, Regional and Local priorities. Global Priorities, the Group’s key focus, include Aperol, Appleton Estate, Campari, SKYY, Wild Turkey e Grand Marnier. The Group was founded in 1860 and today is the sixth-largest player worldwide in the premium spirits industry. It has a global distribution reach, trading in over 190 nations around the world with leading positions in Europe and the Americas.
The Group’s growth strategy aims to combine organic growth through strong brand building and external growth via selective acquisitions of brands and businesses. Headquartered in Sesto San Giovanni, Italy, Campari Group owns 23 plants worldwide and has its own distribution network in 25 countries. The Group employs approximately 4,300 people. The shares of the parent company, Davide Campari-Milano N.V. (Reuters CPRI.MI – Bloomberg CPR IM), have been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since 2001. For more information: www.camparigroup.com
ABOUT RED SKY BAR Reach for the stars at Red Sky Bar, the Centara Grand at CentralWorld every day. Fifty-six floors above the city it offers a stunning 360-degree vista of the skyline as far as the eye can see. Above you are only dark, star-studded skies, below you are the hustle and bustle of the busy city. Recline on comfy lounge beds and sofas as you partake of our exceptional compilation of liquors, fine wines, signature cocktails, and cigars.
Relax as the resident DJ swings through an eclectic playlist of rhythm. Daily and glorious sunsets are served complimentary most days. Enjoy the high life daily only at Red Sky Bar.
People look up at Christmas lights as crowds stroll around downtown Lisbon's Chiado neighborhood, Saturday evening, Dec. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
The world population grew by 75 million people over the past year and on New Year’s Day it will stand at more than 8 billion people, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday.
The worldwide growth rate in the past year was just under 1%. At the start of 2024, 4.3 births and two deaths are expected worldwide every second, according to the Census Bureau figures.
The growth rate for the United States in the past year was 0.53%, about half the worldwide figure. The U.S. added 1.7 million people and will have a population on New Year’s Day of 335.8 million people.
If the current pace continues through the end of the decade, the 2020s could be the slowest-growing decade in U.S. history, yielding a growth rate of less than 4% over the 10-year-period from 2020 to 2030, said William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution.
The slowest-growing decade currently was in the aftermath of the Great Depression in the 1930s, when the growth rate was 7.3%.
“Of course growth may tick up a bit as we leave the pandemic years. But it would still be difficult to get to 7.3%,” Frey said.
At the start of 2024, the United States is expected to experience one birth every nine seconds and one death every 9.5 seconds. However, immigration will keep the population from dropping. Net international migration is expected to add one person to the U.S. population every 28.3 seconds. This combination of births, deaths and net international migration will increase the U.S. population by one person every 24.2 seconds.
PM Srettha Thavisin talked with the reporters in the media room in the Government House on Tuesday, December 27, 2023.
BANGKOK – Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, a Liverpool Football Club fan, spoke with media about English Premier League football ahead of Arsenal’s game against West Ham United on Thursday night, predicting that the Gunners would win West Ham and surpass Liverpool at the top of the standings.
However, he made another error in his prediction when Arsenal lost 0-2. He had previously predicted that Liverpool would win 5-0 against Manchester United, but the result was a 0-0 draw.
PM Srettha shared his opinion after speaking with reporters and learning that many of them were Manchester United football fans: “Manchester United has only heart but not much skill.”
In the game that Manchester United overcame to win against Aston Villa after being 0-2 by a goal, he woke up to go to the bathroom between 3 and 4 a.m. and still saw the score at 1-2, but at the end of the game it turned out to be a 3-2 win, which could be overcome by fighting with the heart.
“Why does the Manchester United team need a defensive midfielder to score goals? That is not possible. Manchester United is a team valued hundreds of billions of dollars, but who is the striker’s name? Who can say? “No one knows,” he explained. When the reporter mentioned Hojlund’s name, the PM joked that Hojlund, who scored, was so thrilled that he cried.
Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund celebrates scoring their side’s third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Aston Villa at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)
When asked if he would go to cheer on football at the Anfield stadium of Liverpool Football Club in England at the end of the season, PM Srettha answered it would not be proper if he went in the position of Prime Minister.
Before coming to politics, Srettha once spent £10,000 for a UEFA VIP package card, which includes accommodation at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, to watch Liverpool play Real Madrid in the 2018 final, which Real Madrid won.
CHONBURI – On December 28, at 4:30 p.m., Sattahip police officers were alerted that a Frenchman was acting strangely. He injured himself inside the house, which is located at Village No. 9, Bang Saray Subdistrict, Sattahip District, Chonburi Province, so they rushed there to join the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation officials and the Sawangrojanathammasathan Foundation Rescue Unit.
Mr. Stephane, 51 years old and of French nationality, was walking around with a sharp knife at the time, pendant on his own chest, and yelled for the police to leave the house.
Officers tried to negotiate with him for two hours until he regained consciousness and calmed down. He let his wife and son speak to him until he was able to regulate his emotions. The officers then returned to their respective forces.
Mr. Stephane, 51 years old and of French nationality, was walking around with a sharp knife at the time.
The Frenchman’s wife stated that her husband was stressed since the money in the house was insufficient. He had requested her to bring the house to the bank to mortgage it and take out money to spend, but the process had to wait for the bank to approve it, which took approximately 3-4 months, giving her husband distress.
She had witnessed him using marijuana before that incident, and he had then asked her to get goods for the house. When she returned, she discovered her husband stabbing himself with a knife. She was concerned that he was in danger, so she requested assistance from the authorities.
PHUKET – Mr. Fedor Kondrakov, 42, of Russian nationality, filed a complaint with the Consumer Protection Commission after being seriously injured while playing on a water slide at a popular waterpark in Phuket Province.
Through a translator, he stated that on November 10, he went down a major slide at the waterpark. There is no sign declaring the order or any particular warnings near the entrance point to the water slide, so he approached the lifeguard, who advised him to “just fold your arms across your chest.” There were no additional instructions.
Mr. Fedor Kondrakov, filed a complaint with the Consumer Protection Commission
But then he rolled down the water slide, crashed into the water’s surface, and was injured. The water park staff called an ambulance to transport him to Bangkok Hospital in Phuket for treatment.
According to the medical team, two of his vertebrae were damaged and required emergency surgery, and he had to recover at the hospital for 7 days after surgery, followed by another 7 days at a hotel in Phuket. The surgery and medical bills totaled more than 800,000 baht, and he paid for them with health insurance and personal accidents. He will have to have surgery again in 9 months, and he has no idea how much the surgery will cost.
A Russian visitor presents an X-ray film showing that two of his vertebrae were damaged and required emergency surgery.
After the incident, this well-known Phuket waterpark had not gotten in touch with him. Even during his recovery, he never had any staff visitors. As a result, he intended to file a complaint with the House Consumer Protection Committee in order to seek compensation. He hopes that this case will teach tourists to be more cautious when playing on dangerous equipment. He doesn’t want anything like this to happen to anyone else.
Mr. Naphol Boriboon, representative of the advisory group to the Chairman of the House Consumer Protection Committee, stated that he would bring up the complaint as an important agenda topic for the Consumer Protection Committee’s meeting to consider helping this tourist further.
BANGKOK – The Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Foundation, in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Ministry of Culture – Department of Cultural Promotion and B. Grimm Group Ltd. – will present a concert starting at 8:00 pm on the 7th of January at the Thailand Cultural Centre as part of celebrations for HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya, whose birthday is on the 8th of January.
This auspicious occasion will mark the start of the 2024 season and is a chance to celebrate the generous patronage of the esteemed Princess.
Performing at the event will be German-Canadian cello soloist Johannes Moser and South Korean conductor Sunwook Kim, alongside the RBSO, to play Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor and Tchaikovsky’s captivating Symphony No. 1 in G minor, popularly known as Winter Daydreams.
Johannes Moser
Johannes Moser, born in Munich, began studying the cello at age eight and became a student of David Geringas in 1997. He has performed with renowned orchestras worldwide, including the Berlin Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, and London Symphony.
Moser has received several awards; he was the top prize winner at the 2002 Tchaikovsky Competition and received the Special Prize for his interpretation of the Rococo Variations. In 2014, he was awarded the prestigious Brahms Prize. He received the ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year award in 2008 and 2017. He is recognised for his efforts to expand the reach of the classical genre and his passionate focus on new music.
Johannes Moser
Sunwook Kim’s career highlights include performances with prominent orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Berliner Philharmoniker. In addition to solo concerts, Kim’s conducting repertoire includes the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Budapest), the Georges Enescu Philharmonic and Filharmonia Śląska (Poland), the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic.
His early life involved starting piano lessons at age three, giving a debut recital at ten, and winning the Leeds International Piano Competition at age 18 while studying under Dae-jin Kim at the Korea National University of Arts.
The controversial Satan-look-alike statue of Kru Kai Kaew was finally removed from the facade of the Bazaar Bangkok Hotel, Ratchadapisek, Bangkok, on December 28, 2023.
BANGKOK – The giant statue that caused a stir in Bangkok in the middle of the year when it was unable to cross the pedestrian bridge on Ratchadapisek Road on August 9 drew people’s attention to the “Kru (Guru) Guy Kaeo”, who is revered by some people as a bearer of hope and a lucky charm.
But at the end of the year, before December 30, Kru Guy Kaeo and other statues were removed from the facade of The Bazaar Bangkok hotel.
The installation of the Kru Guy Kaeo statue was an attempt to create a selling point for the hotel in the Ratchadaphisek area in the hope of attracting people to worship the sacred objects. The removal of the statues was also for business reasons.
The worship of ‘Kru Guy Kaeo’ has become trending.
The removal on the morning of December 28 was chaotic for 30 minutes when Mr. Thepparit Pansook, managing director of Kru Guy Kaeo, confronted the lawyer of Bangkok Night Bazaar Co, Ltd, the owner of the land, for refusing to remove the statues.
The statues were moved out when the lawyer of the new hotel management stated that the area of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) could not be leased. Therefore, the old management’s leasing of the area was not possible.
The statue of Kru Kai Kaew was removed from the courtyard in front of the Bazaar Bangkok Hotel, Ratchadapisek, Bangkok, on December 28, 2023.
Later, Mr. Pairoj Thungthong, Managing Director and major shareholder of Suan Lum Night Bazaar Ratchadaphisek Co, Ltd, held a press conference and stated that the installation of the Kru Guy Kaeo and other statues was done as part of the company’s reorganization plan at the bankruptcy court headed by Mr. Charn Tulyaphisitchai. The company’s board of directors did not agree with this.
The company’s board of directors then filed a lawsuit with the bankruptcy court alleging that the transfer of the land in front of the hotel to the statue for subletting was in breach of the SRT lease agreement and that there were also irregularities in Mr. Charn’s management.
The statues of deities were also removed from the hotel.
As a result, the court ordered the reorganization plan to be annulled and allowed Mr. Pairoj’s management took over the company on November 30, 2023. Mr. Charn was removed from all positions and paid a fine of 1,330,000 baht to the SRT. In addition, the installation of the Kru Guy Kaeo and other statues was also in violation of Bangkok’s laws. After this, there will be a civil lawsuit seeking additional damages.
Mr. Pairoj said the new board agreed that the statues had to be removed because Chinese tourists and people in the neighborhood were afraid. Unlike when the hotel put up cute-looking dinosaur statues that were a symbol to Chinese tourists and called the hotel “Dinosaur Hotel”
“We must remove all Kru Guy Kaeo statues because this is a hotel, not a shrine to black magic,” he said.
he statue of Guru Kai Kaew and 7 other statues have been removed from an open-air site to be placed temporarily behind the hotel Thursday, December 28, 2023.
A New Year Day ceremony at the "death railway" in Kanchanburi province.
BANGKOK – The Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Thai Chambers of Commerce, in cooperation with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), are preparing a new project to promote secondary cities with economic potential in terms of trade, investment and tourism to become major cities.
The final outcome is that 10 provinces from all 5 regions were jointly selected for the pilot promotion, namely Phrae, Lampang, Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Phanom, Sisaket, Chanthaburi, Ratchaburi, Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang.
Although some provinces that are already major cities, such as Kanchanaburi, are of the opinion that the existing economic potential should be further expanded.
Couples marry underwater in Trang province.
The project is to be launched in January 2024. Prime Minister and Finance Minister Srettha Thavisin will chair the press conference. This is in line with the government’s policy to promote tourism in order to bring the potential of all provinces to the global stage and stimulate the domestic tourism market.
The policy has four aspects: 1. promoting tourism in secondary cities, 2. promoting Thailand as a year-round high season destination, 3. accelerating the development of information services for tourists, and 4. increasing tourist spending per trip and increasing the length of stay to encourage tourists to stay longer. These are all important challenges for the revitalization of the tourism sector.
Nakhon Si Thammarat
Meanwhile, the Minister of Tourism and Sports, Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol, announced that tourism increased sharply in almost all groups of tourists between 18 and 24 December 2023, due to the consecutive holidays on Christmas Day.
A total of 796,808 foreign tourists arrived in Thailand, an increase of 120,303 from the previous week or 16.6 percent. The cumulative number of foreign tourists from 1 March to 24 December 2023 has also exceeded 27 million.
The increase in tourists during the Winter Holiday period at the end of the year in Europe resulted in a total of 796,808 foreign tourists entering the country in the past week.
The top five countries of origin for foreign tourists were Malaysia, China, Russia, South Korea, and India. The number of tourists from Malaysia, India, Russia, China and South Korea increased by 35.34 percent, 12.03 percent, 7.50 percent, 7.16 percent and 6.22 percent respectively compared to the previous week.
BANGKOK – One day after the Supreme Court of Justice of a Criminal Division for Persons Holding Political Positions dismissed the charges and quashed the arrest warrant against the former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra related to the transfer of Mr. Thawil Pliensri from his post as Secretary General of the National Security Council in 2011, Yingluck’s lawyer has talked about it in detail.
Winyat Chatmontree, the lawyer for former Prime Minister Yingluck, posted a message on his personal Facebook page on December 27 about his client’s victory in the third court after many people had questions about why she was acquitted after two previous courts, the Constitutional Court and the Administrative Court of Thailand declared her guilty.
“The criminal liability requires both an act and an intent, and the charge of breach of office specifically requires a particular intent,” he said, following the Court’s political office holder section, which said the transfer wasn’t unusual.
Winyat Chatmontree, the lawyer for former Prime Minister Yingluck (centre)
Winyat added that the Supreme Court had to carefully examine and evaluate the evidence from the National Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigation to establish the facts and ensure that there was clear evidence to convict the accused.
Two important legal aspects play a role in the different outcomes: 1. legal process and 2. the intent of the law. These two factors influence how courts interpret and justify their decisions.
On May 7, 2014, the Constitutional Court found Ms. Yingluck guilty of unlawfully removing Thawil, and filling his post with one of her allies in 2011.
The complaint had been filed by senators who said Yingluck’s party benefited from improperly transferring her national security chief in 2011. She argued it was a routine transfer.
Winyat personally believes that the Constitutional Court can rule based on the law, but also takes into account the political context of the time.
Former premier Yingluck Shinawatra accepts flowers from her supporters on Aug.1, 2017 outside the Supreme Court in Bangkok.
He went on to explain that the Constitutional Court’s 2014 ruling only obliged Yingluck to resign as prime minister. In his view, the court’s reasoning for finding her guilty of interference was merely a supporting rationale or justification for the judgment.
He added that in some previous important cases, the courts accepted evidence from the investigation and trial, unlike the Constitutional Court where the defendants used favorable rulings to defend themselves in court.
The complaint was filed by senators who said Yingluck Shinawatra’s party benefited from improperly transferring her national security chief in 2011. She argues it was a routine transfer.
“However, the Constitutional Court considers the rights of the people under the Constitution, while the courts of justice judge criminal liability based on a clear criminal act in order to convict or acquit.”
Winyat also pointed out that a violation of public law does not always constitute a criminal offense. They must be separated from each other. To be guilty of an offense, there must be clear criminal liability and all the elements of the offense must be met.
Some administrative or political acts may not be criminal offenses because they are not committed intentionally or with specific intent. For example, if an official issues an administrative order that does not comply with administrative law, this is not automatically a criminal offense. Otherwise, more than half of the civil servants in the country would be in prison.
Miss Yingluck was retroactively impeached on January 23, 2014 by the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly, which voted overwhelmingly to ban her from politics for five years for allegedly failing to stop corruption in her administration’s rice-pledging policy.
She has fled Thailand since August 25, 2014, when she failed to appear in court, which sentenced her to five years in prison for corruption that occurred under her watch. She stayed and travelled with former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, her brother, and communicated with her supporters via social media.
When Thaksin returned to Thailand on August 22, 2023, Yingluck did not come home with him. She sent off her elder brother from Dubai to Singapore before Thaksin boarded his private jet to Thailand.
She sent her best wishes on Christmas Day this year and noted that it is time to thank one another. On that day, Wissanu Krea-ngam, the former Deputy PM in charge of legal affairs, said if Yingluck wants to make an inquiry for a royal pardon, she has to become an inmate first before she could apply for it, and the clemency decision is a royal prerogative.
Miss Yingluck sent her best wishes on Christmas Day 2023.
