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New Rules Cut Visa-free Stays to 30 Days
Starting September 15, the 60-day visa exemption for 93 countries disappears and a shorter allowance will take its place. Sixty countries/ territories will go back to 30 days, Seychelles and Mauritius get 15, and 21 nations will lose visa-free entry altogether. Existing deals still cover China, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Laos, Macao, Mongolia, Russia and Vietnam. Land-border crossers using the 30-day exemption face a new limit of two entries each calendar year, with Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore exempted. That change is a direct shot at the visa-run circuit that has kept some long-stay expats legal on paper for years.
Read more: TAT News (gazette rules), Jerusalem Post, VisasNews (countries list)
Data Center Permits Frozen On Diesel Stash Find
Officials found about 200,000 liters of unlicensed fuel at a data center building on Rama IX Road, more than thirteen times the 15,000-liter “no-permit-required” limit. The Department of Energy Business made a police complaint, and Bangkok has frozen three data center applications while it figures out how the fuel got there. Government spokeswoman Rachada Dhanadirek said some operators have been applying for construction permits as warehouses, then installing servers and running the buildings as data centers in a bid to get around rules. The PM has put Deputy PM Ekniti Nitithanprapas in charge of a new Data Center Board to write a rulebook for clean energy, water, urban planning and safety, data security, and community impact instead of leaving the job split between ministries.
Read more: Nation Thailand (new board), Thai Enquirer (investment context)
Tourism Revenue Tops a Trillion
Thailand has already banked more than a 1 trillion baht from 20.81 million foreign visitors. China is still at the top of the source-market list with 3.52 million visitors, followed by Malaysia at 2.63 million, India at 1.53 million, Russia at 1.18 million, and South Korea at 765,842. Late-August numbers were a little shaky. Weekly arrivals fell almost 12 percent to 491,456, with Chinese visitors down almost a quarter (although Malaysians were up almost 19 percent). Officials expect the next week to look similar as summer holidays wind down in Europe and East Asia.
Read more: Khaosod English
US Sailors Find Pattaya, Police Sweep Soi 6
The USS Abraham Lincoln pulled into Laem Chabang covered with rust and mottled paint after a marathon 286 days at sea, and its 5,000 sailors and Marines surged ashore with nine months of unspent salary. Mayor Poramet Ngampichet thinks each visitor's daily spend will be between 1,000 and 3,000 baht (~$30 - $90), and said the five-day stop should throw about $3 million into the local economy. Police prepared for the visit with an overnight beachfront sweep that resulted in 25 arrests for public prostitution, though the mayor insisted the operation was not related to the Americans' arrival. Soi 6, Soi 6/1 and Soi 7 have been declared off-limits to crew, but Walking Street is open with a giant illuminated sign welcoming the carrier.
Read more: Independent (admiral), The National (escort ships), The Guardian (crew conditions), BBC (shopping), Ynet (crew restrictions)
Jailed Activist Stops Water After Bail Denied
Activist Promsorn Veerathamjaree stopped drinking water on August 31, two months into a hunger strike to demand bail on charges of royal defamation. His mother had suggested the court employ an electronic monitoring bracelet, monthly check-ins, a curfew, a travel ban, or a court-appointed guardian so her son would be able to care for his father, who has Alzheimer's and other conditions. The Supreme Court denied the request. A prison psychologist has spoken with Promsorn, and prison volunteers check on him twice a day. He is facing six counts of royal defamation, including two that are currently before the Supreme Court and two in an Appeal Court.
Read more: Prachatai English
Runners Lap the Election Commission for 229 Senators
More than a hundred protesters ran 2.29 kilometers around a track inside the Election Commission's building, throwing balls into boxes labeled with senators accused of buying their way into office in 2024. Organized by legal watchdog iLaw, the sports-day protest also featured badminton nets held down by boxes featuring the faces of Bhumjaithai cabinet ministers connected to the scheme. The Election Commission's investigation committee found grounds to refer all 229 suspects to the Supreme Court, whereupon a sub-committee cleared them despite public phone logs, money transfers, and witness testimony. The Human Rights Lawyers Association said the commission has a duty to prosecute wherever reasonable evidence of fraud exists, but apparently there is little political will to do so.
Read more: Prachatai English
Korean Air Signs On to Fix Black Hawks
Korean Air and state-owned Thai Aviation Industries signed a teaming agreement in Busan to manage depot maintenance of Royal Thai Army UH-60 Black Hawks. The hopes is that the agreement can be later expanded to cover other aircraft in the military fleet. Korean Air brings five decades and more than 5,500 military aircraft worth of depot maintenance work, in addition to a UH-60 manufacturing history since 1991. Thai Aviation Industries brings the local network and infrastructure, and will get technical training and standardized procedures in return. Korean Air thinks Thailand could / should be a base for getting other Southeast Asian military MRO clients.
Read more: UPI
TAGTHAi Wallet Live at Five Bangkok Malls
TAGTHAi's Easy Pay is now in service at ICONSIAM, Siam Paragon, Emporium, EmQuartier and MBK. The app allows foreign tourists top up in baht, scan Thai QR codes at the till (via KBank rails), and collect a 300-baht Bangkok Pass discount in addition to a free 150-baht BTS One-Day Pass on same-day spending. Might be worth checkin out if you’re visiting the city.
Read more: TAT News
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
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