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.
-
AOT sets up checkpoints to check passengers from Wuhan, China for virus
“Passengers with any suspicious symptoms detected during the initial screenings after landing will be quarantined for medical examinations.” Airports of Thailand says they are monitoring a the detection of some cases of viral pneumonia from Wuhan flights coming out of China. They say that six airports are now ready to cope with the situation by setting up international communicable diseases…
-
US manufacturing activity falls to lowest level in a decade
PHOTO: teletrader.com “The data show American factories remain plagued by pullbacks in business investment at home, softer demand throughout the world and, until recently, an escalating trade war between the U.S. and China.” US manufacturing had a tumultuous year in 2019 with the weakest monthly performance for a decade, with orders shrinking and factories continuing to roll back production. The…
-
Seawater v Freshwater in Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River. The seawater is winning.
The Office of National Water Resources is holding an urgent meeting today, with other Bangkok water agencies, including the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority to discuss the worsening salination problem in the Chao Phraya river. They note that that the back flow of seawater into the river is now threatening the city’s tap water supply. High tides, rising sea levels, a worsening…
-
Mystery Phitsanulok prisoner deaths to be investigated
PHOTO: Mishvo in Motion An investigation has been launched into the deaths of four prisoners in the northern province of Phitsanulok over the New Year holiday break. A spokesman says that The Thai Corrections Department has created a panel to investigate the deaths, which happened in close succession. Officials say the four prisoners showed symptoms related to food poisoning, such as…
-
Phuket 2020 – predictions by Bill Barnett
by Bill Barnett, c9hotelworks.com In a series of articles we are pondering what may happen around Thailand over the next twelve months. Bill Barnett is in the ears of the country’s many hotel operators and chains. His consultancy, c9hotelworks.com, shares some perspectives about Thailand’s largest island. All too often I am approached and asked what’s going to happen to Phuket in the…
-
Turtle egg thieves raid a leatherback turtle nest in Phang-nga
PHOTOS: กรมทรัพยากรทางทะเลและชายฝั่ง Thieves have stolen almost all of the eggs from a fresh nest of a rare leatherback turtles along a Phang Nga beach in southern Thailand. The incident happened on late Friday or early on Saturday. The mother turtle had come ashore in Khao Lampi-Hat Thai Muang national park to lay her eggs. Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat, marine biologist and…
-
Record numbers flock to Khon Kaen flower festival
PHOTOS: 77kaoded.com A record high of over 300,000 visitors flocked to the annual flower festival in the north eastern province of Khon Kaen this year, averaging around 30,000 a day. The “Amazing International Flower Festival 2019” was held at Bueng Thung Sang Health Garden, from December 17 to January 3. Although the festival officially ended on Friday, the city will keep…
-
Finnish man arrested over Suvarnabhumi bomb threat
PHOTO: Skytrax Police report that an investigation has been opened into a bomb threat made to Suvarnabhumi International Airport. A man remains in detention over the matter. The threat was made on the evening of January 1, with a call implying that a bomb had been placed inside the airport The airport regularly receives bomb threats, and has security protocols in…
-
Three busted for human trafficking Lao minors
PHOTO: Rayong Police Police have busted a karaoke and brothel in the eastern province of Rayong, arresting two men and a woman for pimping five underaged Lao girls. They were arrested on December 25 at a karaoke bar in Pluak Daeng district, according to Bangkok Post. Police told media that the accused, 44 year old Surasek, 29 year old Sornsawan, and…
-
Thailand charges towards an electric car future, with a few speed bumps
Thailand has the biggest automotive industry in Southeast Asia and the 12th largest in the world. Most of those coming out of Thai factories, well just about all really, are standard internal combustion engines with a few ‘hybrid’ models sprinkled in there as well. The hybrids include electric motors and charging systems which saves fuel and load on the petrol engines. But there…
-
Thai water officials warn local authorities to get ready for shortages
The Office of the National Water Resources is warning that water stored in the country’s large and medium size dams is now dropping to the minimum useable level, urging measures from local agencies to ease the impact on the public. This warning goes out with another three months of dry season hanging over Thailand’s head. The annual ‘wet season’ kicks…
-
Thailand Yacht Show returns to Phuket January 9 – 12
The Thailand Yacht Show takes place at Phuket’s Royal Phuket Marina from January 9 – 12 taking advantage of the island’s peak visitor season. It’s the fifth edition of the show that started at the Ao Po Grand Marina five years ago and then merged with the Phuket Yacht show three years ago. If you’re in and around the island…
-
This year’s new year road toll in Thailand 20% lower than last year
This year’s Thai New Year holiday road toll has dropped 20%, compared to the same 7 days last year. In fact it’s the lowest level since 2015. But 373 people still lost their life over the “seven days of danger”, that encompassed the new year traffic and days before and after, as people returned to work. The “seven days of…
-
Retiring in Thailand, most of the things you need to know
Please note: The information in this document is provided as a guide only. You should always check the latest information with a Thai Immigration official or professional visa agent. Thailand remains a popular world location for retirees – the beaches, climate, access to good medical care and great food. There may be a few more potholes in the roads and…
-
Hackers moved the Google location for Phuket’s popular Promthep Cape
A house at the Huay Namthor village in the Muang district of Phuket has been getting some additional visitors since December 31. Tourists, using Google Maps to find the popular attraction of Laem Promthep (Promthep Cape), the southernmost spot of the island, have been ending up 4 kilometres away from their intended destination. The location pin had been moved by…
-
Police in pursuit of Hua Hin man writing on a woman’s underwear
PHOTO: Thai Rath …we should clarify that the woman wasn’t wearing the underwear at the time. Hua Hin has a creative freelance writer on the loose who has been choosing the medium of women’s underwear to share his words of wisdom. But the messages have been salacious in content and causing a great deal of distress for the owner of…
-
Starbucks Thailand introduces paper straws from next Monday
The Thai operators of Starbucks Coffee says it will provide paper straws to customers at all stores across Thailand starting next Monday, January 6. The announcement is most likely in response to the national mood to reduce usage of single-use plastic items although the local Starbucks franchise say the announcement has been in the pipeline for the past year. Starbucks…
-
First meteor shower of the year to be visible January 4th
PHOTO: Artists impression. In truth there could be up to two meteors per minute at the peak, but you’ll need to be in a very dark location to get the best from the experience. Set the alarm and boil the kettle for a wake-up coffee. The year’s first meteor shower will grace Thailand’s skies on January 4, according to the…
-
31 Thai provinces bracing for “severe drought”
The drought situation across nearly half of Thailand is about to get worse. The water levels in the Mekong River is at its lowest level since 1992 and the Provincial Waterworks Authority is warning 31 provinces to prepare for severe drought this year. Thai PM Prayuth Chan-o-cha is expressing concern over the situation and instructed officials to distribute water to…
-
Ex-PM Thaksin reunites with daughter on New Year’s Eve
Former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra, who’s been in self-imposed exile since being ousted in a 2006 coup, has appeared in a photo with his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra posted on her Facebook page on New Year’s Eve. The accompanying message said that she is again celebrating New Year with her father abroad and that she misses her mother, siblings and three…
-
“Not ordinary rain” – Jakarta floods break records, 21 dead
PHOTO: Arsi Agnitasari/The Jakarta Post At least 21 people are now thought to have lost their lives in the flash floods and landslides in and around Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, today. More heavy rain is forecast, compounding the situation. The victims have ranged in age from 8 to 82 years of age. The heavy rains stated falling on Jakarta and nearby towns…
-
50 year old British man dies at scene after fireworks explosion in Pattaya
PHOTO: dailymail.co.uk A British man died after a firework exploded in his face just after midnight during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Pattaya. 50 year old Gary McLaren died at the scene after a large cylindrical firework he was trying to light exploded. He was a tourist visiting Pattaya for New Year. He had visited Thailand before and arrived just…
-
New road projects around Thailand in 2020
PHOTO: Nation Thailand The Thai Department of Highways plans to spend 124 billion baht during the next 12 months with five of the projects already budgeted and ready for the tender process. Contracts are expected to be signed in May for those projects. There will be a 16 kilometre eastern bypass around Nong Khai, just south of Vientiane and the…
-
17 year old reports to Chon Buri police that she was molested and raped
PHOTO: khaosod.co.th A 17 year old girl is safe after a potentially dangerous situation ended well thanks to her intuition to call a relative. The teenager ‘met’ a man online and they had been talking on the Line application for many months. But their two versions of events are not quite the same… According to her report to police, the…
-
Vietnamese woman arrested using someone else’s passport documents
The Immigration Police have arrested a Vietnamese tourist posing as someone else. Immigration Police at Suvarnabhumi Airport report that on December 31 a foreigner, holding a passport with ID that didn’t look anything like her, tried to check in with the dodgy documents. Officials intervened and apprehended the girl when she was trying to use the passport to check-in with an…
-
Day Five – Bangkok the most deadly province for NY road toll
The death toll for Thailand after the first 5 days of the 7 day road safety campaign was up to 256 out of 2,529 road incidents. This includes 12 road deaths in Bangkok, the most of any province The figures from the Directorate Centre to Prevent and Reduce Road Accidents. According to their stats, 42 people died on New Year’s Eve…
-
EssilorLuxottica fraud linked to merger friction of the Euro eyewear giants
PHOTO: Global Retail Alliance Latest info on the fraud at a Thai factory making lenses for the multinational eyewear conglomerate, EssilorLuxottica. The newly merged Italian-French manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses, frames and sunglasses says it was the target of a 190 million euro (6.3 billion baht) fraud at a Thai factory as an ongoing power struggle over the 2017 merger of the…
-
Greenback falls below 30 baht to the USD
The Greenback has dropped below 30 baht against the US$, its strongest position in six years. The currency closed at 29.88 baht to the dollar yesterday. But Thai officials say the drop through the 30 baht barrier is not a concern and more of a ‘blip’ than an ongoing trend to increase its value against the Dollar. At 4pm this…
-
Over 400 arrested for drink-driving in Kalasin province during holiday campaign
PHOTO: 200 drink-drivers ended up in court after being arrested on NY Eve – INN News More than 400 people have been arrested for drink-driving in the northeastern province of Kalasin alone over the holiday period. This, an appalling result during the first four of Thailand’s “7 Dangerous Days” safety campaign over the Christmas/New Year holidays. The drivers were caught…
-
British tourist killed in Pattaya fireworks incident
PHOTO: The errant firework cylinder that police believe was the one that exploded in Mr. McLaren’s face – The Pattaya News A British tourist has died after fireworks exploded adjacent to where he was standing during New Year celebrations in central Pattaya. Police were notified at 12:30am and rushed to the scene. The 51 year old man, named by police as…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.