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. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.

  • 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....

  • Old Phuket Town Sunday market launches no-smoking campaign

    Old Phuket Town Sunday market launches no-smoking campaign

    The Phuket City Municipality is launching a no-smoking campaign for the weekly Lard Yai Sunday market on Thalang Road each Sunday night. The Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwansuppana says, “We are concerned about the danger of cigarette smoking, especially secondhand smoke that can be inhaled by other people, including children. Tourists and local residents in Old Phuket Town will be…

  • Thaiger Radio News – Wednesday

    Thaiger Radio News – Wednesday

    Listen to the daily news from The Thaiger, anytime, anywhere.  

  • 32 year old attacks ex, then abducts and rapes her

    32 year old attacks ex, then abducts and rapes her

    PHOTO: Sanook Sanook is reporting that Prachuap Khiri Khan police have arrested a 32 year old man who allegedly attacked and raped his ex girlfriend after she posted on social media that she had a new lover. Fresh out of jail after serving a three year sentence over a murder, police say that Chaiwat was drunk and armed with a…

  • Deputy Tourist Police chief is now Prawit’s assistant spokesman

    Deputy Tourist Police chief is now Prawit’s assistant spokesman

    Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also defence minister, has made Tourist Police Deputy Chief Surachete Hakphan his assistant spokesman. The appointment has been effective since Sunday. Surachete Hakphan, aka ‘Big Joke’, has been the poster-boy for the government as they round up over-stayers, call-centre gangs, scammers and other trans-national crime gangs. The deputy PM’s Spokesman Kongcheep Tantrawanich announced…

  • February. Yes, probably, maybe…

    February. Yes, probably, maybe…

    PHOTO: The Nation The Thai PM has endorsed a statement made by Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam over the weekend that February 24 is the first possible date an election can be held. He says there is no justification for a general election to take place before that date. Speaking to reporters after the mobile Cabinet meeting in Chumphorn, the prime minister repeated…

  • Cindy Sirinya Bishop to attend Café del Mar Family Fun Fiesta charity event

    Cindy Sirinya Bishop to attend Café del Mar Family Fun Fiesta charity event

    On Saturday, September 8, Cindy Sirinya Bishop is attending Café del Mar’s Family Fun Fiesta Fundraiser. Families are welcome to a day of fun and games to support Phuket Has Been Good To Us. There will be many activities for the kids – face-painting, bubble-making, circus class, dancing lessons, pool party, drumming sessions, piñata-making and much, much more. The Guest…

  • Woman dies after being bitten by centipede

    Woman dies after being bitten by centipede

    A 69 year old woman has died after being bitten by a centipede in Chanthaburi, east of Rayong near Trat. Thanet Puapae said at the funeral of his mother, Samnao Puapae, that she had died the day before of complications caused by the centipede bite. Thanet said his mother was selling kanom chin (Thai-style curried noodles) in a local temple…

  • Former Krabi City Mayor fights for Koh Poda

    Former Krabi City Mayor fights for Koh Poda

    A former Krabi City Mayor is again fighting for Koh Poda after the court dismissed his appeal. The Civil Court Region 8 has dismissed the case after former Krabi City Mayor Chuan Pukhaoluan, who claims he ‘owns’ land on Koh Poda in Krabi, sued three officials of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) for eviction and illegal…

  • Thai woman takes out guard and four cars after parking fine outside Chiang Mai airport

    Thai woman takes out guard and four cars after parking fine outside Chiang Mai airport

    A Thai woman, aged around 40, took out her anger on cars and security personnel outside the domestic terminal of Chiang Mai airport yesterday afternoon. Apparently she was angry that she had been clamped then fined for parking in the drop-off area. Witnesses say the woman had parked illegally outside and gone into the terminal. According to the Sanook report, announcements…

  • Getting THAT ‘plane’ pic at Phuket Airport

    Getting THAT ‘plane’ pic at Phuket Airport

    The Phuket International Airport runway is built right on the beach, Nai Yang Beach. The actual runway, running east/west, finishes about 150 metres before the actual beach. So, when planes are landing from the west they come down really low over the people on the beach just before it touches down. Pilots like to land fairly close to the start…

  • 50,000 baht fine and 3 months jail for driving without a license – transport law upgrades

    50,000 baht fine and 3 months jail for driving without a license – transport law upgrades

    Thai Rath are reporting that proposals are in the pipeline for a large scale revamp of fines and jail terms for Thais without driving licenses. They claim that the top police say road behavior needs to change and that they’ve had enough. The transport ministry is recommending the changes for two out of date laws that date back to 1979. This…

  • Singaporean’s house catches fire in Hat Yai

    Singaporean’s house catches fire in Hat Yai

    PHOTOS: Manager Online A fire has partially destroyed a two storey luxury house occupied by a Singaporean in Hat Yai. Manager online reports that the fire took control of the house in the City Park housing estate on Phonpichai Road in Hat Yai, Songkhla. The Mittaparb Samakkee Hat Yai rescue foundation arrived at the scene, followed by firefighters from the…

  • Motorbike driver killed in Thepkasattri road

    Motorbike driver killed in Thepkasattri road

    A motorbike driver has died after colliding with a pickup truck last night (August 20). The incident happened near the new Honda Marine showrooms and offices on Thepkrasattri road, southbound, at about 11.45pm last night. Rescue workers and police arrived at the scene to find a damaged motorbike on the road. Nearby they found the body of a motorbike driver…

  • Flood watch on Phetchaburi, Nan, western provinces

    Flood watch on Phetchaburi, Nan, western provinces

    An update on the flood situation in many parts of the country. PHOTOS: The Nation Phetchaburi Water levels in the Phetchaburi River are rising dangerously from the overwhelmed Kaeng Krachan Dam. The dam is now 109 per cent full and 22.46 million cubic metres of water are being released every day into the river. “The river’s water level has already…

  • Malaysian investigators arrest human trafficking ‘kingpin’

    Malaysian investigators arrest human trafficking ‘kingpin’

    PHOTO: Mass graves discovered in southern Thailand mid-2015 The Malaysian Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has arrested a person they allege is the godfather of a human trafficking ring that ran boats to carry people from Bangladesh to Malaysia. “Mohammad Asem, also a business teacher at Tejgaon College in Dhaka, and his cohorts have raked in a lot of money, evident…

  • Pattaya ‘sex orgy’ hotel named; party sponsored by Singha

    Pattaya ‘sex orgy’ hotel named; party sponsored by Singha

    The hotel at the centre of claims it hosted a sex orgy has been named as the A-One The Royal Cruise in North Pattaya. Earlier story from The Thaiger HERE. On Monday morning, the resort’s police chief and local authority supremo were met by hotel executive Somchai Ratana-ophat, who admitted that the party had taken place at the hotel on…

  • Sea turtle has laid eggs on Nai Thon Beach after ten years

    Sea turtle has laid eggs on Nai Thon Beach after ten years

    A sea turtle laid a clutch of eggs at Nai Thon Beach yesterday (August 19). The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) reported that a one metre green turtle laid eggs on Nai Thon Beach in front of Trisara Hotel. Four more nests have also been found near but no eggs have been laid over the weekend. The eggs haven’t…

  • Lights, camera, action – Soi Dog

    Lights, camera, action – Soi Dog

    Soi Dog Foundation has arranged a dog photo contest, ‘Snap for Stray’, which is open to both professional and amateur photographers with any kinds of digital camera – DSLR to mobile phone. The contest aims to reflect the beautiful perspective of stray dogs through the lens by letting the contestants choose their model dog from Soi Dog Foundation. The dogs…

  • Dirt-dishing Belarusian model pleads not guilty in Pattaya court hearing

    Dirt-dishing Belarusian model pleads not guilty in Pattaya court hearing

    Anastasia Vashukevich, aka Nastya Rybka, is back in the news after appearing in court today and entering a not guilty plea. She was pleading in relation to the illegal ‘sex training’ classes she and others ran in Pattaya, the world class family resort town. The Belarusian model sparked global intrigue after claiming she had dirt on several Russian politicians who…

  • A rat found in a bag of fermented fish

    A rat found in a bag of fermented fish

    Phuket consumer protection officials inspected Phuket’s main department store in Rassada after a customer found a dead rat inside a packet of Thai fermented fish (Pla ra) products. A team of officials from the Office, headed by Somnuek Halem, inspected the large department store in Rassada after the news had already gone viral in social media. Officials found that all…

  • Heavy rains leave provinces on flood alert

    Heavy rains leave provinces on flood alert

    Tropical storm Bebinca has now moved westwards into Myanmar as it continues to weaken but it’s left a trail of floods behind as home and farmland across the the north and north-east as rivers and canals swelled with the heavy rains. Around Petchaburi the situation is still perilous for residents in the wake of the Kaeng Krachan Dam. In Chiang Rai, a large…

  • Seaman dies in hotel after taking Viagra

    Seaman dies in hotel after taking Viagra

    A 58 year old man who worked on fishing boats was found dead in a Sichon, Nakhon Si Thammarat hotel room. The Sichon station chief Pol Col Chokedee Rakwatanapong told Sanook that the man’s name was Suthep, a widower who was often away fishing at sea for extended periods. Sanook reports that Suthep was dead on the floor in the…

  • Bangla lady boy caught stealing tourists’ wallets

    Bangla lady boy caught stealing tourists’ wallets

    A lady boy has been taken to Patong Police station after being caught by tuk-tuk and taxi drivers after allegedly stealing tourists’ wallets on Bangla Road early today (August 20). At about 5am this morning, taxi and tuk-tuk drivers were helping to catch a lady boy who had been allegedly stealing wallets from Republic of Czechoslovakia tourists while they were…

  • Indonesian forest fires spread smoke into southern Thailand

    Indonesian forest fires spread smoke into southern Thailand

    Smoke from forest fires in Indonesia has begun to affect areas of Thailand’s southern region, including the Hat Yai district of Songkla, where particulate levels are now considered detrimental to health. Smoke from Indonesian forest fires has shrouded much of Songkla province extending out to sea, impacting on visibility for boat operators. Songkla Fisheries Association Head, Suradech Nilubon has issued…

  • Thaiger Radio News – Monday

    Thaiger Radio News – Monday

    Listen to the daily news from The Thaiger, anytime, anywhere.  

  • Minister of Tourism follows up on Phoenix boat tragedy

    Minister of Tourism follows up on Phoenix boat tragedy

    “We have to be careful about news which might affect tourism.” The Thai Minister of Tourism and Sports, Weerasak Kowsurat, flew down from Bangkok to follow up on the PR mop-up following the Phoenix boat disaster. He spoke to the media at the Phuket Yacht Control Centre (PYCC) at Chalong Bay. Khun Weerasak says, “We have to be careful when…

  • TAT article promoting ‘friendly waves’ gets slammed

    TAT article promoting ‘friendly waves’ gets slammed

    Bad timing for the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) after they posted a feature on August 10 that promoted surfing off Phuket’s west coast beaches. Phuket is currently facing a crisis of confidence over the lack of adequate lifeguard services along its west coast beaches, battered annually by heavy seas and deadly rip tides and currents from the south-west monsoon.…

  • Private sector proposes southern economic plan to mobile Cabinet

    Private sector proposes southern economic plan to mobile Cabinet

    PHOTO: Emulating the French Riviera, but with better beaches. “The Andaman Riviera”? Emulating the famous French Riviera coast is part of a plan to promote the Andaman coastline, which includes Ranong, Phang Nga and Phuket as the star attractions and wrapping up other southern provinces into the new tourist precinct – just a part of recommendations to the mobile cabinet sitting…

  • Chinese tourist drowns at Koh Racha

    Chinese tourist drowns at Koh Racha

    A male Chinese tourist, who ignored red flags, has drowned at Koh Racha yesterday (August 19). Chalong Police were notified at 1.40pm that a tourist was unconscious after being pulled from surf just off the island’s main beach. The tourist was immediately taken on a speedboat back to Chalong Pier. The tourist was later identified as 32 year old Zhang…

  • Bangkok drug party busted

    Bangkok drug party busted

    Bangkok police have called on the Office of the Narcotics Control Board to help find the source of the narcotics that the 28 suspects allegedly used at a party on Saturday, Wang Thong Lang deputy superintendent Pol Lt-Colonel Chaowarit Ngernchalard said on Sunday. The suspects are in police custody for further interrogation and will be escorted to Criminal Court on…