Thailand

Thailand plans to allow foreign visitors to quarantine in local hotel facilities in a bid to revive its dormant tourism sector. The plan is initially planned for April or May in five provinces, including Phuket and Krabi, says Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn. Visitors would usually stay there for between one and three months.

Tourists would then have to be quarantined there for 14 days. But if there is a negative corona test after three days, they are allowed to leave their rooms and move freely around the hotel complexes. In 2020, tourism revenues in Thailand had plummeted by more than 80 percent to just under $11 billion (about 9 billion euros).

Thai police have arrested the head of a child modelling agency after more than 500,000 indecent images of children were found on computer hard drives.

Danudetch "Nene" Saengkaew, 23, has been charged with child sexual abuse and downloading child abuse images.

Investigators say the images were found in a raid on the Nene Modelling Agency, north of the capital Bangkok.

The raid was the culmination of a months-long operation that began with a tip-off from Australian police.

Sydney's Lowy Institute assessed the Covid-19 response of 98 countries on six different criteria – including cases, deaths and testing – and ranked New Zealand's response to the virus the best. The other countries that made the top 10 are Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Cyprus, Rwanda, Iceland, Australia, Latvia and Sri Lanka. The United States, Mexico, Colombia and Iran and Brazil were in the bottom five, with Brazil being ranked at the bottom.

In order to allow wider use of marijuana for medical purposes, Thailand's Narcotics Control Board has voted to remove cannabis plants from the list of Category 5 narcotics.

However, growing marijuana is only allowed if a permit is granted by the FDA to ensure alignment with government agencies.

Thailand's justice minister, Somsak Thepsuthin, has stated that tests that turned purple in the presence of ketamine hydrochloride reacted the same to trisodium phosphate -- a chemical that can be used as a food additive and cleaning agent which is all that had been found so far. Previously Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board had announced seizing $1 billion worth of what they thought to be ketamine.

According to a proclamation in Thailand's new Royal Gazette, the sale and possession of 102 substances classified as Category 2 drugs by the 1979 Narcotics Act may be sold or used under very specific limitations. Possession and use will be granted to governmental organizations, approved pharmacies, and health workers such as pharmacists, dentists, and veterinarians for the purposes of producing approved medical formulas or approved research.

The regulatory shift is similar to that made in the wake of December 2018 legislation that cleared the way for medical marijuana. Included in the new regulation, which will come into effect in July 2021, are opium, fentanyl, codeine, cocaine, and other substances.

Before the start of new protests by the Thai democracy movement, head of government Prayut Chan-o-cha has branded the demonstrations as "illegal" and announced determined action against the activists. The authorities must bring the protests under control, Prayut said in parliament on Monday.

Pro-democracy students wanted to march in front of the German embassy in Bangkok on Monday afternoon in protest against King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

The German Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has stated that Germany has "made it clear that politics concerning the country of Thailand should not be based on German soil" and that the Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn would be "permanently" under review while he is Germany.

The King has spent part of the Covid-19 lockdown in Germany in a luxury hotel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and owns a property in Bavaria.

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered Thursday in Bangkok defying the authorities that had issued a decree banning demonstrations. The pro-democracy demonstration eventually dispersed several hours after the 6 pm curfew.

The government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha has been the main target of the demonstrations, but protestors have also aimed at Thailand's monarchy.

In the biggest anti-government demonstration since the coup in 2014, over 10,000 Thai protestors have moved to the street. Over the past months students had started publically voicing criticism against the powers of the monarchy and the government.

The student activist Patsalawalee Tanakitwiboonpon addressed the crowd with the demand to get "a new election and a new parliament from the people". Opposition parties claim that the elections in 2019 had been under conditions that ensured that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha stayed in power.

Tinder announced Wednesday that it has begun testing the ‘Face to Face’ chat feature in the U.S., Brazil, Australia, Spain, Italy, France, Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Peru and Chile.

In a press release, Tinder says: "We recently surveyed our members in the US, and half of them have had video dates with a match off Tinder in the past month. Not only that, but 40 percent of Gen Z members wanted to continue using video as a way to decide whether to meet IRL in the future - even once their favorite date spot is open again"

The new feature was promised as a way Tinder evolves its business in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

The European Union has named 14 countries whose citizens are deemed "safe" to be let in from July 1, and the only Latin American country is Uruguay.

As infection rates in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are still high, their nationals will face travel restrictions.

The current list is formed by Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the King of Thailand also known as Rama X, has booked the entire Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl. The hotel got a special permit to host the king and a part of his entourage because they form a "single, homogenous group of people with no fluctuation", but 119 members of said entourage have been sent back to Thailand due to suspicions of the coronavirus. The group includes 20 concubines and numerous servants, but it is unclear if the king's four wives are staying at the hotel as well.