News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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Phuket sees over 50,000 Russian tourists in past month
Russian tourists seem to be arriving in Phuket in droves with over 50,000 of them landing on its shores in November. This month, 55,097 Russians made their way to the island province, making up its largest tourist group. The second largest tourist group in Phuket this month came from India, with 26,525 travellers, according to Phuket Immigration. The third largest…
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Hapless Bangkok gold thief gets caught at a bus stop
The award for this year’s worst gold neckless thief goes to the hapless opportunist who grabbed jewellery from a Bangkok store and tried to make a quick getaway on a slow-moving public bus. The hopeless thief was apprehended about ten minutes after the robbery at a bus stop as he waited for the bus. The thief’s relatives defended the luckless…
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Stop and smell the tulips at Floral Fair 2022 in Bangkok
Thailand’s winter season is highlighting the kingdom’s many beautiful, fragrant flowers, including in Bangkok. The fragrant Floral Fair 2022 wafts into the capital tomorrow and will last until December 10. The festival will be held at the Suan Luang Rama IX park. The Floral Fair will feature 600,000 plants. The theme will be “continuing works of art in a brilliant…
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Police seize board game after claims it could cause insurrection in Thailand
Police officers in Yala yesterday seized a fun board game called Patani Colonial Territory from a coffee shop after a government official claimed that it could cause insurgency throughout the kingdom. For conspiracy theorists, this is up there with Elvis still lives. Officers in the southern Thailand province confiscated the offending game at the Life Coffee Slow Bar in the…
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Thailand tourism may see a decline next year
Despite conflicting optimistic predictions, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is warning that Thai tourism may take a sharp downturn next year. While international travellers are flocking to Thailand now, industry experts fear that it may be a flood of pent-up demand and, by next year, all those who waited through the whole pandemic to get to Thailand will have…
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Thai govt to crackdown on cybercrime & handout free laptops to poor kids
The Thai government yesterday pledged to crackdown on cybercrime and to hand out 13 million free laptops to students from poor or low-income families. The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry announced plans to administer free laptops to children from underprivileged families over the next four years starting next year under the Smart Thailand scheme. The Smart Thailand scheme is…
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Thai officials plan to nominate historic park for World Heritage status
Thai officials are continuing to seek recognition for the kingdom’s rich heritage. The country’s World Heritage Convention Committee is collecting information for an application for the Phu Phra Bat Historical Park to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park is located in Thailand’s northeast province of Udon Thani. The site demonstrates Thailand’s prehistoric beliefs, according to Lieutenant…
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British man injured in hit-and-run incident in Pattaya
A 74 year old British man was injured in a hit-and-run incident on the zebra crossing in Pattaya. The driver is on the run. Peter Palmer was hit by a wreckless pickup driver as he crossed Jomtien Sai Song Road at 11am yesterday. Fortunately, the British man survived and is appealing to the Thai media to spread his story so…
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The WHO rename monkeypox to avoid racist stereotypes
In a bid to avoid racism and stigmatisation, the World Health Organization (WHO) is renaming monkeypox, mpox. The WHO will use mpox as a synonym for monkeypox. Both names will be used simultaneously for one year while monkeypox is phased out altogether. The move comes after the United Nations voiced concerns over the way the virus was being reported by…
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Man claims he thought illegal whale bones were wood
After being arrested for possessing parts of a whale skeleton last week, a French man in Rawai countered the charges. He claims that the person who sold him the bones told him they were made out of wood and were not real whale bones. The man, identified as Mr Alain, told police that he had no idea he had illegal…
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Pattaya’s Walk and Eat food festival coming up
Foodies in Pattaya have something to look forward to. The city’s Walk and Eat food festival is coming up, after being cancelled or restricted for years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The long festival will run from December 10 to January 29 at the Naklua fish market in Old Town Naklua. Attendees can sample tasty local dishes, and enjoy concerts…
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Sea turtle choked to death on plastic waste
The Sea Turtle Conservation Centre revealed the dead turtle that washed ashore on a Chon Buri beach yesterday choked to death on plastic waste. Veterinarians at the centre said more than two kilogrammes of waste was found inside the marine reptile when they examined it. About 100 grammes of fishing net, nylon filament, plastic and small nails and other rubbish,…
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Cowardly rapist arrested for a fifth time in Isaan
A serial rapist was arrested for the fifth time on Friday for attacking and sexually assaulting two women in the Isaan province of Ubon Ratchathani. The 41 year old man, named Pathanin Jen, an ex-convict, is also guilty of several thefts in the Isaan province. Footage emerged of Pathanin conducting a cowardly attack on a teenage girl on Sunday, November…
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Russian crewman’s hand cut off in Songkhla ship accident
A Russian crewman’s hand was cut off in a brutal cargo ship accident off Songkhla. A team of doctors and emergency nurses rushed to help the man on Saturday, according to a Facebook post by the Maritime National Interest Administration Center- Sor Chon. The Russian man, 47 year old Evgenii Kriukov, was transferred to the Songkhla Naval Base Hospital. He…
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Murderer offers 100,000 baht to netizens to cut off his EM ankle bracelet
A man found guilty of murder and tagged with an electronic monitoring (EM) ankle bracelet appealed on social media for someone to remove the EM tag and he would reward them with 100,000 baht in cash. He also alleges he bribed the police and his attorney. The murderer’s Facebook post briefly circulated on Thai social media before he took it…
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TAT holds Amazing Thailand Fest 2022 in India
Thailand’s tourism officials held another event to draw visitors to the Land of Smiles, this time in India. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), in cooperation with Team Thailand in India, held the ‘Amazing Thailand Fest 2022’ in New Deli from November 25-27. The event was part of TAT’s campaign Visit Thailand Year 2022: Amazing New Chapters. The festival displayed…
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New direct flight between Muscat and Bangkok
The Sultanate of Oman today announced the introduction of a direct flight between Muscat and Bangkok. From Sunday, December 18, Oman’s budget airline SalamAir will fly directly between Muscat and Bangkok three times per week. Flights from Muscat depart on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, while return flights from Bangkok are scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Bangkok is SalamAir’s second…
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Elderly Australian amputee abandoned in a hostel receiving care
An elderly foreigner amputee is receiving medical care after being abandoned at a hostel in Bangkok. The 67 year old Australian woman had been dropped off at a hostel in the Bang Rak district by an as-yet unidentified foreign man. He paid for her accommodation in the hostel for two nights but after that, he could not be reached to…
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Man arrested in South Thailand for attempted murder in Phuket
A man has been arrested in South Thailand’s Phatthalung province for attempted murder in Phuket four years ago. The man, 23 year old Thanakorn Phontha, was wanted on arrest warrants issued in January and August 2018. Officers found Thanakorn in his house on Moo 7 in the Srinakarin district, after finding through an investigation that he had been hiding in…
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Pattaya motorcycle taxi rider arrested for sexually harassing Thai singer
A motorcycle taxi rider in Pattaya was arrested today after he allegedly sexually harassed his passenger, a Thai singer named Yanawut “Pearja” Jarearnartiput. The taxi rider denied the allegation claiming he touched the woman in an attempt to keep her from falling off his motorcycle. Last Saturday, November 26, 31 year old singer Pearja posted videos of the incident on…
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Pattaya International Fireworks Festival meets goal of over 100,000 spectators
The Pattaya International Fireworks Festival 2022 has come to a close, and officials say the festival was a success. Pattaya Mayor Poramase Ngampiches said the festival met its goal of bringing back tourists to boost Pattaya’s economy. As expected, the festival drew over 100,000 spectators. Although there were some major traffic delays, there were no reports of other issues during…
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Bank of Thailand to raise interest rates on Wednesday
Bank of Thailand (BOT) Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput today announced interest rates will be raised on Wednesday to deal with potential inflation increases. Governor Sethaput is expected to raise interest rates by a modest quarter-point to take the benchmark rate to 1.25% underscoring ongoing worries about growth in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. Thailand’s economy lagged its Southeast Asia contemporaries and is…
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North Korea aims to be world’s top nuclear power after missile test
After recent missile tests, Kim Jong-un says that he aims to make North Korea the biggest nuclear power on the planet according to state media reports. Yesterday the dictator of the isolated country promoted many military officers that worked to launch North Korea’s largest ballistic missile test to date. Kim previously vowed to respond to perceived nuclear threats from the…
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Naked Thai woman under influence of kratom rescued from Bang Pagong River
A naked Thai woman, reportedly drunk from a kratom drink, was fished out of the Bang Pagong River in the central province of Chachoengsao after she took the plunge to do some meditation. Residents, who witnessed the incident, told the rescue team that they saw a woman taking off her clothes before she jumped into the Bang Pagong River near…
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Bangladeshi-Burmese border conference offers model for Thailand
A Bangladeshi-Burmese border conference between security forces finishes today in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw. Does Thailand have anything to learn from the Bangladeshis who face perhaps greater problems dealing with the kakistocracy across the river? The situation on the border is tense, due to internal conflict in Myanmar, violations of airspace, terrorism, cross-border crime and the Rohingya refugee problem.…
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Pattaya hotel thieves snatch valuables from Thai and Dutch tourists
Two Pattaya thieves snatched valuables from Thai and Dutch tourists at a hotel early yesterday morning. The incident took place at an unnamed hotel on Soi Pattaya-Naklua 20 in Bang Lamung. The Dutch victim, 37 year old Christian Fuchs, said he placed 4,000 baht in cash on the table in his hotel room before he went to take a shower.…
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Thai gold necklace thief escapes arrest by swimming to Myanmar
A thief stole a gold necklace worth about 150,000 baht from a shop near a police station in Chiang Rai and then escaped arrest by embarking on a death-defying swim across a snake-infested river to Myanmar. Khaosod reported that the theft happened on Saturday, November 26, at a gold shop named Seri Phan in the Mae Sai district of Chiang…
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People of China protest on streets over mainland’s zero-Covid policy
The people of China appear to have had enough of the mainland’s zero-Covid policy. Incredibly, the usually deferential Chinese people were on the streets calling for their nation’s leader, President Xi Jinping, to stand down. It wasn’t anarchy on the mainland streets over the weekend but it wasn’t far off as hundreds of people in several major cities clashed with…
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What makes Tops Fine Food the ideal place to shop for premium food in Bangkok
Grocery shopping is usually considered a chore, but it doesn’t have to be! Tops Fine Food Thailand is changing the game by making grocery shopping an exciting experience. Tops Fine Food is Central Retail’s newest food destination that’ll enhance your shopping experience. According to Stephane Coum, Chief Executive Officer of Food Group, Central Retail, the launch of Tops Fine Food…
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Angry woman sets fire to her boyfriend’s Pattaya room
A Thai woman in Pattaya gave new meaning to the phrase “in the heat of passion.” After accusing her boyfriend of having an affair, the enraged woman set fire to his rented apartment room. The incident took place early yesterday morning in Nong Prue. At about 1.30am, Nong Prue Police were notified of a fire in a rental room on…
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