Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suchart Chomklin has ordered relevant agencies to deploy helicopter support immediately for controlling and extinguishing forest fires in the Khuan Khreng peat swamp area of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, following continuous fires that began on August 11, 2569, with multiple flare-ups reported. Suchart instructed close monitoring and urgent fire suppression, particularly in the low-water peat forest zones where smoldering fires and underground combustion pose a significant risk of widespread propagation. He authorized helicopter deployment to support ground personnel with aerial surveys and water-dropping operations, while emphasizing personnel and public safety. The Southern Forest Fire Control and Operations Center, part of Protected Area Management Office 5 in Nakhon Si Thammarat, reported fires across multiple locations in the Bo Llo and Talesai wildlife sanctuaries between August 11-14, with some being recurrent fires showing continuous dark-line activity requiring close vigilance. Following Suchart's orders, the Aviation Operations Center dispatched helicopter number 1106 to the Southern Regional Operations Base in Nakhon Si Thammarat on August 15, 2569, at 08:00 to prepare for and support aerial reconnaissance and water-dropping missions in the Khuan Khreng peat swamp area. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will continue monitoring the situation and coordinate ground and aerial personnel to rapidly control the fires, prevent escalation, and minimize impact on communities and local ecosystems.

At 3:20 a.m. on August 15, 2025, Lieutenant Wichian Jaisanklang, an investigator with Mueang Lampang Police Station, received a report of a motorcycle crash into a power pole that killed two people near the entrance to Ban Pa Hiang on Old Hang Chat Road in Bo Haew subdistrict, Mueang district, Lampang province. Rescue workers from Lampang Rescue Association and hospital emergency staff responded to the scene.

At the crash site, officers found a blue Honda Wave motorcycle registered in Lampang province lying on its side along the roadway. The front of the vehicle was severely damaged, with a blown-out front tire. Nearby, a steel power pole bore heavy impact marks. Two bodies of 20-year-old men were found at the scene; both were residents of Wiang Tal subdistrict, Hang Chat district, Lampang province.

The emergency doctor and police officers conducted a preliminary autopsy before Lampang Rescue Association personnel transported both bodies to the forensic pathology department at Lampang Hospital for further processing. Police are currently gathering evidence and examining the accident scene to determine the true cause of the crash before taking legal action and notifying the victims' relatives.

ONE Championship featherweight champion Niko Carrillo knocked out Chinese newcomer Zhou Jieqiang in the second round during his debut kickboxing bout at ONE Fight Night 46, held on August 15 at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium (Rama Intra) in prime time for American audiences. The co-main event featured 27-year-old Niko Carrillo from Scotland making his first appearance under kickboxing rules in ONE, taking on 26-year-old Chinese newcomer Zhou Jieqiang. Carrillo controlled the bout from the start with aggressive striking before sending Zhou to the canvas with a knockout victory in the second round, marking an impressive debut in kickboxing competition.

Bangkok has been without a zoo since 2018. Its replacement is nearly builtLegacy300 rai of old Rangsit wetland, an hour north of the city, and the first free look lands sooner than you would think. Ask anyone who was in Bangkok before 2018 about Dusit Zoo and you will get a story. The swan boats on the lake. The queue at the hippo pool. That specific smell on a hot afternoon. Then it closed, and the city has been without a zoo ever since. Its replacement is now 92.54% built. Dusit Zoo shut in September 2018 after 80 years and the animals were moved out to zoos around the country. The plan was always to rebuild somewhere with room to breathe. That somewhere turned out to be Khlong 6 in Thanyaburi, Pathum Thani, on 300 rai of old Rangsit floodplain. Three times the size of the place it replaces. And built on an entirely different idea of what a zoo is for. Orangutans on climbing trees behind a glass viewing wall at the new Pathum Thani zoo, in an architect’s render. Image: zoothailand.org Almost nothing has bars The official framing is “Biodiversity Park” rather than zoo, which sounds like the sort of phrase a committee lands on. In this case it actually means something. Enclosures are separated from visitors by dry moats and water channels instead of fencing. The animal gets more ground and more cover. You get a sightline with nothing running through it. The renders show tapirs half-lost in forest, orangutans up real trees, a tiger stretched out by water at roughly your eye level. Whether it feels like that in 2029 is a different question. But the intent is unusually clear. A tiger resting by water in front of a viewing shelter at the new Pathum Thani zoo, in an architect’s render. Image: zoothailand.org Four continents on a floodplain Phase 2 is the ambitious half. Four continental zones: Asia, Africa, Australia and South America. Then waterfront landscaping, public space, utilities and a set of systems the operator is calling Smart Zoo. The architecture leans into the wetland rather than flattening it. A quietly good call, for a site that spent half of every year underwater. Koalas and birds in the Australian zone of the new Pathum Thani zoo, in an architect’s render. Image: zoothailand.org The part you actually want Phase 1 is 92.54% complete. The first public look is a free opening in April 2027. Full opening, all four zones, everything working, is pencilled in for early 2029. So no, not this year. Not next year either. But close enough to start paying attention. Leopards beside a waterfall in a rocky enclosure at the new Pathum Thani zoo, in an architect’s render. Image: zoothailand.org What it cost to get here Cabinet approved 10.97 billion baht across the whole project. Phase 1 broke ground in April 2023 at 5.54 billion baht, and phase 2 accounts for the remaining 4.34 billion. Eleven years will have passed between Dusit closing and the new zoo opening properly. That is a long gap for a country that runs on family travel. It goes some way to explaining why the design brief was allowed to be this big. Genuinely day-trip range Khlong 6 sits about an hour north of central Bangkok, traffic permitting. Out after breakfast, back for dinner, no hotel required. That matters more than it sounds. Most attractions on this scale ask you to commit a weekend to them. This one will not. The swan boats are not coming back. But from 2027, Bangkok gets somewhere to take the kids again. Would you drive out to Rangsit for it, or is an hour already too far? Tell us in the comments. Related news

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Images: zoothailand.org. Sources: Zoological Park Organization of Thailand, Kapook Travel, The Nation The story Bangkok has been without a zoo since 2018. Its replacement is nearly built as seen on Thaiger News.

Suriyant Leek Petchyenyingyong, a prominent ONE Championship fighter, was struck by a van and propelled nearly 20 meters while running for exercise along a roadside. He is scheduled to compete in the ring next week.

At 6:30 a.m. on August 15, 2025, Samkok Police received a report of a vehicle striking a person. The incident occurred on Khlong Prerm Road in Chiang Rak Noi Subdistrict, Samkok District, Pathum Thani Province. Emergency responders and hospital staff from Samkok Hospital rushed to assist.

When officials arrived, they found an injured person lying in a grassy area near the roadside, wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and white boxer shorts. They provided initial first aid before transporting the victim to Samkok Hospital. The injured person was later identified as Suriyant Thiannok, 29, professionally known as Suriyant Leek Petchyenyingyong, a famous Thai boxer on the ONE roster.

At the scene, a white Toyota van with Ayutthaya registration was found parked near the roadside, with a broken left front headlight and a dented front fender. The driver was present, along with two or three boxer friends of the victim.

According to initial inquiries of the boxer friends who were running with the victim, the three had been training together regularly in that area. Suriyant Leek was scheduled to fight on August 21. During the incident, the van came from behind and struck him, sending him flying more than 20 meters before landing on the roadside. The friends immediately assisted and called police to dispatch emergency services.

Police questioned the driver, 35-year-old Pattrapong, who stated he was transporting an employee back to Bangkok and was returning home to Bang Pa-in District, Ayutthaya Province. He said he noticed someone on the roadside appearing to move into his lane, and although he tried to swerve, he could not avoid the collision. After checking, he discovered the victim was a famous boxer and immediately called for medical assistance. He apologized, acknowledged responsibility, and denied being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Initial police investigation found the van driver was in the normal traffic lane, and the three runners were jogging along the roadside when the collision occurred. The driver was charged with reckless driving causing injury.

Suriyant Leek's latest condition: Samkok Hospital's physical examination found no serious wounds or fractures, only head trauma. He was transferred to Krung Siam Saint Carlos Hospital for further evaluation. Boxer friends and his camp owner visited him closely.

Suriyant Leek Petchyenyingyong, a 29-year-old aggressive-style fighter from Maha Sarakham, is preparing to face Saw Min Min, a 28-year-old fighter from Myanmar, in a Muay Thai flyweight bout (125-135 lbs) at The Inner Circle 27 event. The match will be held at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium (Ram Intra) on Friday, August 21, and will be broadcast exclusively to members on Live.ONEFC.com from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Amid heavy criticism of IF (induction furnace) steel in recent weeks, Amorn Ungsobporn, vice chairman of the Thai Induction Furnace Metal Casting Association, has come forward to address the facts from another angle.

Amorn raises a striking question: why is technology that is legally compliant and meets Thai Industrial Standard specifications being attacked so heavily? Is this really about using regulations to eliminate competitors and allow certain capital groups to monopolize the market?

1. Blaming IF Steel for Building Collapse

Amorn states that attempting to link the building collapse to IF steel is unfair and demoralizing to workers. Thailand's Prime Minister and four leading national institutions (the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning, AIT, Chulalongkorn University, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, and the Structural Engineers Association) have concluded clearly that the cause was "defective construction techniques and design" — specifically, reinforcement steel embedment depth at shear walls falling short of legal requirements — and had nothing to do with the steel material itself. The project contractor also issued a statement confirming construction followed approved plans and materials passed all inspection and approval checks. The Structural Engineers Association tested steel samples from the rubble and confirmed they met standards at 95 percent, proving the IF system was not the root cause of the structural failure.

2. Compliance with Standards Yet Discredited

The reality is that the Thai Industrial Standards Institute issued a research report as early as 2015 confirming that IF technology has the capacity to produce steel meeting Thai Industrial Standard specifications. Current law (Thai Industrial Standard 24-2559) explicitly requires IF furnace facilities to have scrap steel sorting systems and steel purification processes such as ladle furnaces or desulfurization and dephosphorization procedures. Operators following the rules completely have reduced sulfur to as low as 0.002 percent.

From a metallurgical engineering perspective, IF furnaces operate at melting temperatures of 1,500–1,700 degrees Celsius, so nitrogen gas does not decompose and steel has higher toughness and earthquake resistance. This differs from electric arc furnaces (EAF), which exceed 3,000 degrees Celsius and risk nitrogen contamination of 80–120 ppm, creating brittle "rock candy fracture" steel.

3. Distorting News About China's IF Ban

Amorn explains that State Council Document No. 6 from 2016 has been distorted. The reality is that the Chinese government aimed to cut excess steel capacity of 100–150 million tons, so it ordered a sweeping shutdown of all "unregulated mills" (ditiao gang) that evaded taxes and failed to meet standards, combined with overall steel industry capacity reduction. For mills that operated correctly to standard but had to close for excess capacity reduction, the Chinese government paid compensation. They did not specifically ban IF technology as claimed to justify trade barriers. Today, advanced IF furnaces paired with ladle furnaces remain widely used in the international market and in China's steel sector.

4. Non-transparent Rules Punishing Law-Abiding Operators

The clearest sign of unfairness and governance concern came on 4 August 2025, when the technical committee (Committee 84) set up to urgently revise standards included multiple representatives from competing industries but had "no representative from the IF furnace association or operators — not even one." Committee 84 voted 7–6 to restrict IF furnaces in steel bar production, with the majority voting to focus on production process rather than furnace type and pointing instead to product specifications.