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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Prepare for delays in re-opening international borders
“The third or fourth quarter of 2020.” That’s as precise as deputy PM Somkid Jatusripitak could say when Thailand would re-open its borders for foreign tourists. “…priority will be given to those arriving from coronavirus-free areas.” Mr. Somkid says that relaxing inbound travel restrictions is the first step to kickstart Thailand’s tourism industry. “The government has to be prudent in…
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Man slashes Pattaya shop owner with knife after being refused alcohol on credit
A man has been arrested after allegedly using a knife to attack a Pattaya shop owner who refused to provide him with alcohol on credit. Police in the Banglamung district were called to the premises in Soi Chaiyapruek 2, according to a report in The Pattaya News. There, they found shop owner, 24 year old Mr Surachai, with knife wounds…
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Reopening of Thailand’s beaches and gyms draws huge crowds
It’s a week into Phase 3 of the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and, following last week’s reopening of Chon Buri’s popular beaches, today it’s Phuket’s turn. It remains to be seen if the inclement weather (during the morning), and the south west monsoon waves, will keep the crowds at bay along the island’s famed west coast beaches. As of this…
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Foreigner arrested after selling fake tickets to tourists
A Russian man was arrested yesterday afternoon after allegedly selling fake tour tickets to tourists in Patong. 34 year old Leonid Lurkovskii targeted his scheme at Russian customers and was selling fake tours along with an equally fake receipt. The arrest followed a representative of Royal Palace tours filing a complaint with the Patong police. He accused Mr Iuraovskii of…
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Former local politician allegedly shoots woman over land argument
A woman was shot and killed last night after an argument with a former local politician over land she had purchased from him in Lampang, Northern Thailand. Former deputy chairman of the local tambon administration organisation, Sawat Khammuangchai, is charged with premeditated murder, according to Bangkok Post. The 62 year old former politician had sold land to 56 year old…
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Former employee of Buriram dog shelter accuses owner’s wife of harassment
A former employee of a dog shelter in Buriram province, northeast Thailand, says she has had to leave her home and go into hiding after being harassed by the wife of the Frenchman who set up the shelter. Her claim comes after the couple were accused last year of forcing shelter employees to sit in dog cages, claiming it would…
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38 Thai nationals in Egypt test positive for Covid-19
The Thai Embassy in Cairo says 38 Thai citizens have tested positive for Covid-19 so far, only 1 of whom has fully recovered. A report in Thai PBS World says that, over the weekend, the embassy carried out health screening on 220 Thai nationals due to fly back to Thailand yesterday. It also screened 10 other Thais who were on…
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“It’s a misunderstanding” – alcohol watchdog following 50,000 baht penalty rumour
Alcohol opposition groups have rushed to deny a rumour circulating online that merely posting a photo of beer or using the word “beer” online could result in a 50,000 baht fine. The “fake news” started doing the rounds after a beer delivery company announced it had been fined for violating Thailand’s Alcohol Control Act. Chuwit Jantharot from The Prevention Network…
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Thai woman doesn’t fall for romance scam
A man posing as a wealthy English pilot tried to flirt his way into getting 24,000 baht transferred into his account. Luckily the Thai woman he was trying to romance wasn’t buying it. Police say the “English pilot” is a common romance scam, stealing hearts and money from plenty of gullible Thai women. The romancer (aka. scammer) and the woman met…
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Bangkok schools to cut class sizes
Bangkok schools will need to shrink classes down to 20 students per class with a maximum of 400 students per day to ensure social distancing and prevent the return of the coronavirus. There are 437 schools under supervision from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, or BMA. Schools with more than 400 students will need to split students into two groups or…
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Thai Airways pushes back resumption of international services to August
Thai Airways, with more problems than most airlines at the moment, has pushed back its resumption of international services from the start of July to August. Maybe the flight schedulers know something the rest of us don’t….? The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has pushed back the resumption of international flights twice already. The current ban will finish on June…
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Music supergroup BTS donated $1 million to ‘Black Lives Matter’. Their fans responded.
K-Pop fans, and groups, are getting behind the Black Lives Matter issue as a sweep of global attention is now on the US and the protests that are igniting around the country. Protests have erupted in cities around the world as attention is drawn to the plight of African Americans and a history of systemic abuse by police and the…
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Murder investigation launched as body of Ukrainian woman found on Koh Samui
Two weeks after she went missing, the body of a 32 year old Ukrainian woman has been found in a wooded area of Koh Samui. The discovery has prompted local police to launch a full murder investigation. A report in Coconuts says the unnamed woman’s body was found off Soi Pracharat Pattana by hotel employee Uten Wiangnon. In a statement…
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Policeman survives fall from roof in northern Thailand
A policeman in the northern province of Phitsanulok has had a lucky escape after he slipped and fell while re-arranging flags on the roof of the police station. Following a bout of heavy rain and high winds, Wichayut Srikrajang noticed the flags were in disarray and took it upon himself to fix them. However, the rain had also made the…
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Thai village official arrested for posting child pornography online
An assistant village headman was arrested yesterday after posting videos online of him allegedly raping his daughter. The US based reporting system CyberTipline alerted Thai authorities that child pornography images were posted on Twitter by someone in Thailand. Police tracked down the mobile phone used to take the photos and videos. They traced back to 36 year old assistant headman…
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22 tonnes of seized marijuana passed on to researchers
Ever wonder where all the marijuana goes after it’s been confiscated by police? Authorities just gave around 22 tonnes of marijuana they seized in drug busts to nearly a dozen universities and research facilities across Thailand to study its medicinal benefits. Medical marijuana was legalised in 2018 under strict licensing and conditions. The Office of Narcotics Control Board gave 600 kilograms…
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Police officer faces scrutiny after flying helicopter onto temple grounds
A high-ranking tourist police officer landed the department’s helicopter at a famous Buddhist temple in Southern Thailand. The senior regional officer for the Tourism Police Bureau parked the helicopter inside the compound of the Wat Chedi in Sichon, a district in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Why a car wouldn’t have been a sufficient means of transportation has not been addressed by…
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Thailand activists hold online Black Lives Matter protest
While the US is on the complete opposite side of of the world, some in Thailand joined an online protest yesterday on the Zoom video-conferencing software. Reuters says 300 Thais and foreigners joined the digital call for justice for George Floyd, a black American who died at the end of May after being pinned down by a Minneapolis police officer.…
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Inspection reveals some Bangkok massage shops flouting hygiene measures
An inspection of Bangkok massage shops has revealed that some premises are being too lax in their implementation of mandatory hygiene measures. The restrictions were introduced by the Government’s Covid-19 task force as massage shops were given the go-ahead to reopen at the beginning of June. However, checks carried out yesterday at several massage shops in the Bang Sue area…
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Supermarket delivery staff go the extra mile for bedridden customer in Bangkok
Every little bit helps… Social media users in Thailand are praising a group of supermarket employees who went the extra mile while delivering groceries to a bedridden customer in the Bang Kapi district of Bangkok. Tesco Lotus shared pictures on its Facebook page of delivery staff who took it upon themselves to clean the elderly woman’s home and garden after…
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Prison skill centres proposed to help former inmates find jobs
Finding a job can be difficult for someone who has just been released from prison. The Thai government wants to change that. They plan to build skill development centres for inmates and provide tax breaks for companies hiring ex-convicts. Minister of Justice Somsak Thepsutin spoke of the skill centre plans at a meeting over the weekend. The proposed centres are part…
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Khon Kaen Hospital director faces ‘kickback’ probe
A disciplinary inquiry has been ordered against the director of a hospital in northeastern Thailand, who stands accused of demanding kickbacks. Dr Charnchai Chanvorachaikul of Khon Kaen Hospital is accused of demanding a 5% commissions from pharmaceutical firms. The inquiry was launched after an anonymous letter sent to the public health department’s permanent secretary. On Friday Charnchai strongly denied the…
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Beer delivery company hit with 50,000 baht fine for violating Alcohol Control Act
A craft beer delivery company says it’s been fined 50,000 baht for allegedly violating Thailand’s Alcohol Beverage Control Act. Posting on its Facebook page, Beervana says it wants to warn other companies and is also petitioning for the law to be abolished, claiming it’s hurting businesses that are already struggling during the Covid-19 crisis. Under the act, suppliers are forbidden…
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Thailand’s tourism and MICE business will first reboot with low-risk countries
When Thailand’s international borders are prised open, sometime after July 1 this year (that’s the current date anyway), the first tourists and travellers are likely to come from a select group of fellow Asian nations who have had either low Covid-19 cases or been able to manage the number of cases to low, manageable levels. Countries like Vietnam, Taiwan, South…
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Buriram teen claims “God made her pregnant”
The mother of a 14 year old girl in the northeastern Buriram province was shocked, to say the least, when hospital staff told her that her daughter had told them “God made me pregnant.” The mother was even more shocked when further investigation revealed the girl’s stepfather had allegedly sexually abused her in their home. The girl is now in the…
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Health Ministry: 98% of recent Covid-19 cases imported
The Ministry of Public Health made an announcement this afternoon via social media regarding recent statistics around Covid-19 in Thailand. The gist of the statement is that all recently reported cases of the virus have been imported by Thais returning from abroad. Here is the full text… “From the reports of confirmed cases in the previous two weeks, among 64…
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Man arrested in Pattaya wearing only boxers, behaving erratically – VIDEO
Police in Pattaya responded to calls from several concerned citizens about a Thai man behaving erratically in the middle of Sukhimwit Road, Pattaya at 3:30 this morning. The heavily tatooed man, who had no ID and would not give his full name, appeared to be in his mid-30s and was wearing only boxer shorts. The man was screaming and yelling…
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Covid-19 update: 8 new cases, all imported (June 7)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration this morning announced 8 new Covid-19 cases over the previous 24 hour period. All were returnees from abroad in state quarantine, and there has been no domestically transmitted cases for 13 days, Dr Panprapa Yongtrakul, deputy CCSA spokeswoman reported. The total number of Covid-19 patients stands at 3,112 since the outbreak – 2444 domestic…
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Heavy rains, severe weather predicted for the south and east
Thailand’s worst drought in 40 years is officially over, as Thailand’s Meteorological Department today predicted continuous rains for the entire country with flash floods possible in the East and South. A low pressure cell is covering Myanmar’s Bay of Martaban while the southwest monsoon across the Andaman Sea and Thailand is growing stronger. The department predicts continuous rain over Thailand…
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Phu Quoc will be Vietnam’s ‘test’ island as it re-opens to foreign tourists
Vietnam’s Phu Quoc, the tourist island off the coast of Cambodia in the eastern Gulf of Thailand, is going to start allowing foreign arrivals on a trial basis as part of Vietnam’s roadmap to re-opening to international tourism. As an island the trial will be a more controlled rehearsal for wider re-openings to tourists around Vietnam in the future. Vietnam’s…
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