News
Stay up-to-date with the latest news from across Thailand and beyond with The Thaiger. Our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from this stunning part of the world, covering a diverse range of topics, including local politics, business, culture, and tourism. Keep yourself informed about the Kingdom’s rich history, stunning landscapes, and thriving expat communities, as well as updates on events, attractions, and transportation.
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Sponsored How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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The Pattaya to Hua Hin bridge. Government discusses 900 billion baht investment.
The government is looking into a so-called “Thai Bridge” that would connect Pattaya to Hua Hin, an estimated 900 billion baht investment. The project would be part of the Eastern Economic Corridor development plan aimed at improving the transportation and infrastructure in Thailand. The 900 billion baht investment is expected to take 10 years to financially implement, according to chairperson…
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UPDATE: Covid-19 visitor entry around the region
Around the region there are many countries starting to re-open their borders to allow some business or diplomatic visitors, even tourists, to enter their national borders. The situation is changing frequently and we’d urge you to contact the national embassies in your countries before making any concrete arrangements or paying money for airfares or accommodation before you clarify the situation,…
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8,000 homes inundated in Nakhon Ratchasima after 2 days of torrential rain
The Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is urging emergency services and the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in the Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima, in Thailand’s north east, to urgently attend to the suffering of the region’s flood victims. Flooding has cut electricity and water supplies to several areas around the district. 8,000+ houses have been flooded after the overflowing…
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UPDATE: 18 dead, 44 injured, bus collides with train in Chachoengsao
A bus has collided with a train next to Khlong Kwaeng Klan railway station, killing 18 passengers and injuring 44. The incident happened just after 8am this morning. The chartered bus was carrying some 60 factory workers to a Buddhist ceremony and was crossing a railway track when it was struck by a freight train headed to Samut Prakhan, south of…
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New Bangkok BTS line to start running in December
A new Bangkok public transport monorail extension, the BTS Gold Line, is expected to start running before the end of the year. The scheduled run is the first phase of the BTS Gold Line to be rolled out along the Chao Phraya River in the Bang Phlad district. The new 1.72 kilometre BTS line will link Krung Thon Buriskytrain station…
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Attackers of hospital emergency ward receive prison sentences
Attackers of a hospital’s emergency ward in July have received prison sentences from the Samut Prakan Court. The 2 men attacked medical staff at the emergency ward at Vibharam Chaiprakarn Hospital in Phra Pradaeng district, south of Bangkok, on the night of July 19. The incidents were due to 2 rival gangs fighting with members showing up at the hospital…
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74 Thais in quarantine after Burmese truck driver tests positive for Covid-19
74 Thais are now in quarantine after coming in close contact with 2 Burmese truck drivers, who had since tested positive for Covid-19, in Thailand’s northwestern Tak province. According to an unnamed, female doctor’s Facebook post yesterday, all 74 Thais were given PCR tests and told to enter home quarantine for at least 14 days, and are being monitored by Thai…
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2 new cases, Covid-19 update (Sunday)
Thailand’s CCSA has reported 2 new cases of Covid-19 today, with a Thai soldier returning from South Sudan included in the daily report of new cases. The total of Covid-19 positive cases in Thailand sits at 3,636 with reported deaths remaining unchanged at 59. The 36 year old Thai soldier tested positive on his 4th test on Friday after returning…
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UPDATE: 18 dead, 44 injured, bus collides with train in Chachoengsao
A bus has collided with a train next to Khlong Kwaeng Klan railway station, killing 18 passengers and injuring 44. The incident happened just after 8am this morning. Earlier it was reported in Thai PBS World that 20 people had died. The incident in Chachoengsao province, about 50 kilometres east of Bangkok, occurred as passengers were on their way to…
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Timeline of a pandemic – the early days of Covid-19
The most critical time in the Covid-19 story is obviously early January this year, when either confusion or a lack of concrete knowledge, caused delays in public information about the seriousness of a possible new coronavirus. It was, indeed, a novel coronavirus, difficult to identify without a history or a published RNA sequence for comparison. In the last weeks of…
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Bangkok police warn protesters not to block King’s motorcade in October 14 protest
Bangkok police are warning political demonstrators not to block His Majesty the King’s motorcade in their upcoming protest event on October 14. Thailand’s King is set to preside over the graduation ceremony for Level 6 and 9 Pali scholars at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Thailand’s deputy national police chief, Damrongsak Kittiprapat, says to cope with the demonstration, police…
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Minor International Chairman calls for major overhaul of Thailand’s ASQ
Minor International’s outspoken Chairman, Bill Heinecke, has penned an open letter to Thailand’s Public Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul. The thrust of the letter is that the current ASQ and general quarantine requirements and restrictions, is making any recovery of the country’s tourism and hospitality industry. Minor hotels have already serviced 2,500 guest as part of the Thai government’s Alternative State…
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China’s economy expected to grow 1.6% in 2020 – World Bank
Much the world is currently seeing continuing surges of new Covid-19 cases, some countries are well into their 2nd wave. Meanwhile China is quietly getting it’s industrial engine and economy going again as new cases. In fact China’s number of ‘active cases’ has been dropping since April, and now is fewer than 200 total cases across the country. Along with…
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Air Asia diversifies from an airline brand to e-commerce powerhouse
Airasia.com has revealed its greatly extended new online brand identity online as “ASEAN’s super app”, completing what it calls a “transformation from digital airline to comprehensive lifestyle platform”. The airasia.com ASEAN super app combines a host of related online experiences in a “faster and more convenient user experience” with over 15 types of products and services under 3 main headings…
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Burmese truck driver tests positive for Covid in Tak province
A Burmese truck driver has tested positive for Covid-19 in Thailand’s northwestern province of Tak. The driver and his assistant arrived yesterday at a market in the Thai province’s Mae Sot district, to purchase goods to deliver to clients in the Myawaddi Township, just over the border in Myanmar. The Myawaddi governor says the driver was taken to a hospital…
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6 new cases of Covid-19 in Thailand, only 1 displaying symptoms
Thailand has announced 6 new cases of Covid-19 today, with only one person showing symptoms, according to the CCSA. 2 Thais and 4 foreigners make up the positive diagnoses, raising the total number of cases confirmed in the kingdom to 3,634. The 1st case was a 57 year old Japanese employee from his home country who arrived on September 26…
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Is it time for Thailand to restart its tourist industry? – SURVEY
It’s been 10 months since the first murmurings of a novel coronavirus emerged in China. Since then there’s been an unprecedented effort to control or contain the disease by governments around the world – some more successful in their efforts than others. Covid-19 has also had more words written about it, more conspiracy theories and more debate than any other…
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Thai berry-pickers from Sweden and Finland return home after salary windfall
Thai berry-pickers from Sweden and Finland have returned home after striking the jackpot during the prime picking season. The Thai labourers have reportedly earned almost 800 million baht in the last 3 months. Thailand’s Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin says the workers arrived back today and were happily not empty-handed. “Today, 895 Thai labourers returned home via Suvarnabhumi Airport, 365 of…
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“Low-risk” tourists could see quarantine period cut in half upon arrival
Low-risk tourists entering Thailand under the Special Tourist Visa could see mandatory quarantine period cut in half down to 7 days, according to the Public Health Ministry. Tanarak Plipat, the deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control under the ministry says the current quarantine system, however, must be “redesigned” if such measures are in place. “Seven-day quarantine is possible…
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Chiang Mai’s economic losses to reach 100 billion baht due to Covid-19 pandemic
Chiang Mai’s economic losses are estimated to reach 100 billion baht after Covid-19 ravaged the city’s tourism industry. The Bangkok Post reports that Varodom Pitakanonda, the president of The Chiang Mai Chamber of Commerce, says the city’s revenue from tourists “contracted severely this year due to the coronavirus”. “Now, we are pinning our hopes on government stimulus packages to salvage…
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Thai woman arrested for offering fake visa services to hundreds of migrant workers
A 45 year old Thai woman has been arrested after offering fake visa services 10 hundreds of migrant workers, valued about 7 million baht. The woman, Wassana Wongkhamjan, was arrested at her house where police found around 40 passports and receipts inside. The house was the registered address of KPS Management Company. Wassana denied the public fraud charge saying she…
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Koh Chang hotel agrees to drop charges against American “if he issues public apology over his bad reviews”
A Koh Chang hotel has agreed to drop charges against an American if he issues a public apology over his bad TripAdvisor reviews. The American, Wesley Barnes, has agreed to the conditions put forward by Sea View Resort in exchange for avoiding up to 100,000 baht in fines and a possible jail time of up to 5 years. The hotel…
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“Tourists arriving on Special Tourist Visa must be 100% Covid-free” – Tourism minister
“If there’s even a single case, we cannot continue to the second phase.” Thailand’s sports and tourism minister of says the first phase tourists arriving under the Special Tourist Visa scheme must be 100% Covid-free. Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says if this is not achieved, then the reopening plan will be halted indefinitely. Given the number of infections the have surfaced from Thai…
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Thailand News Today | Army v Twitter, Tourism interrupted, Thailand World’s #6 | October 9
Clerk calls out Thai Army for alleged corruption An army clerk is calling out the Thai Army for alleged corruption, saying he was forced to withdraw money under his name which was then falsely documented as a travel expense. The clerk at the army’s Ordnance Material Rebuild Centre posted photos of documents on Facebook, showing the withdrawal listed as a…
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Cyber policy report: Royal Thai Army recruited Twitter to “cheerlead”
The Royal Thai Army used Twitter to “cheerlead” for the Army, criticise the Future Forward Party and neutralise criticism after February’s mass shooting where an Army soldier killed 30 people and injured 57 others, according to a cyber policy report. Twitter announced 926 accounts, linked to the Royal Thai Army, have now been suspended for violating the company’s “platform manipulation”…
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The myth of native English speaking teachers in Thailand – OPINION
OPINION from guest writer Dr. Mariano Carrera There is a myth in Thailand that one must learn English from a native speaker. Propagating this myth are the many beneficiaries of the practice, which does not include learners. Ignoring research that shows to learn English, one does not need a native English speaker (NES) only emphasises the myth-makers dominance. After all,…
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Twitter takes down 926 accounts linked to the Royal Thai Army
Twitter suspended 926 accounts that are linked to the Royal Thai Army for violating the social media company’s “platform manipulation” policies. They say the accounts were “amplifying pro-government propaganda” and engaging in behaviour that targeted political opposition figures. Altogether, Twitter permanently suspended 1,594 accounts from state-linked operations in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Thailand and Russia, the company announced yesterday. Thailand…
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Anti-government activists confirm details of October 14 protest
Members of the Free People pro-democracy group have gathered in Bangkok to confirm the details of a protest planned for October 14. Human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa, one of the key leaders in the current anti-government protest movement, confirmed to those gathered at the Sanam Luang public square in Bangkok that the rally will kick off at 2pm next Wednesday.…
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Chiang Mai police investigate elderly American’s death from apparent 7th storey fall
Police are investigating the death of an 85 year old American man who appeared to have fallen out a window of his 7th floor condominium. Officers say they do not suspect foul play and there are no signs of struggle. The man’s wife speculates that her husband may have fainted while cleaning the glass. Jerry Harris Bunker has lived in…
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Condé Nast Traveller ranks Thailand in Top 20 Best Countries in the World
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is delighted to announce that Thailand has ranked #7 in a ranking of the Top 20 Countries in the World by readers of Condé Nast Traveller in the 33rd Readers’ Choice Awards 2020. Some of Thailand’s most popular locations also scored well in the prestigious listing. Italy, Sri Lanka and Portugal scored the top 3…
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