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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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Thai DJ arrested for murder of mistress – “gun went off accidentally”
MONTAGE: Daily News A 29 year old karaoke worker, Suree Huangsila, was shot deat on Saturday night in Sattahip, south of Pattaya. She was found shot in the mouth by a 9mm gun. A well-known DJ at a nightclub in Sattahip is now in custody over the shooting of his alleged mistress. Suree was found naked and dead in a rented…
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Festival of lights will decorate 13 Bangkok bridges until October 25
PHOTO: TakeMeTour Thirteen bridges over Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River, as it snakes its way through the metropolitan areas, will be lit up in a festival that runs through to October 25. The Department of Rural Roads is decorating Rama III, Rama IV, Rama V, Rama VII, Maha Jesadabordinthanuson, Somdet Phra Pinklao, Phra Phuttha Yodfa, Phra Pok Klao, The King Taksin…
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Policeman falls asleep behind the wheel and crashes into roadside pole in Phang Nga
SCREENSHOT: Newshawk Phuket On October 12, a pick-up truck was involved in a horrific road incident on Ban Dok Daeng – Ban Bangsai, Takuapa, in Phang Nga. Luckily the driver, a local policeman, survived but was trapped inside the vehicle while emergency responders figured out how to get him out. The vehicles was in such bad shape that the rescue…
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Professor: Military government too interested in tourism – not people’s welfare
A professor of Rangsit University has criticised the previous military government for focusing too much on tourism and not enough on the welfare of the Thai people. The professor was speaking at Chulalongkorn University at a seminar discussing street stalls and urban development. She questioned the National Council for Peace and Order’s policy of clearing street vendors in all but a…
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“Eat, Shop, Spend” drive reaches registration target
Ten million people signed up for the first Eat, Shop, Spend stimulus campaign since its launch on September 23. The organisers have expressed thanks to all who have participated. The first phase of the campaign aimed to boost domestic spending by offering 10 million people a 1,000 baht voucher via the G-Wallet mobile application to spend in specific shops, outside…
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Measures outlined to reach 39.8 million tourists’ target by end of 2019
PHOTO: TAT News – Hua Hin Beach The cabinet of economic ministers has approved 18 measures with the aim of attracting 39.8 million tourists in the coming year. A government spokesperson says the measures “comprise short, medium and long-term initiatives”. They include financial and legal steps to stimulate tourism markets, such as the Amazing Thailand Grand Sale “Passport Privileges” which…
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Piyabutr warns Army Chief’s remarks will deepen national divide
The Future Forward Party secretary-general says that Army chief General Apirat Kongsompong’s remarks on politicians, academics and national security could deepen the political divide in the country and spark a “clash of generations”. Piyabutr Saengkanokkul made the remarks at a seminar where he spoke on “homeland from the democratic perspective and the role of the people in building the nation”.…
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Nigerian astronaut needs $3 million to get home
PHOTO: Lost In Space? Or lost in reality? Maybe someone will fall for it – Lost in Space’s Jupiter 2 The Nigerians have somewhat of a reputation for scams and scammers. Who hasn’t received an email offering loads of cash in return for your bank account and a moderate deposit? But this letter takes the famous Nigerian Scam to another…
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Rawai beachfront water shut-off tomorrow for mains works
The Phuket Provincial Waterworks Authority says Rawai’s mains water supply will be shut off tomorrow (Tuesday, October 15) as new water pipes are fitted in front of The Title Beach Front condo resort complex on the town’s beachfront. The mains water supply will be shut off from 9am until 4:30pm along the beachfront strip. The PWA says the areas affected…
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Finance Ministry approves stimulus package to spur tourism
PHOTO: Among other things, the TAT are organising some big concerts over the last three months of 2019. Some of the 50,000 that attended the BTS ‘Love Yourself’ stadium concert in Bangkok in April 2019. The Finance Ministry has now approved a stimulus package for the last three months of the year to boost Thailand’s tourism sector. The aim is…
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Journey back to Tham Luang in ‘The Cave’ – VIDEO
PHOTO: Tom Waller on site during the filming of The Cave – AFP Determined divers racing against time. Rising waters threatening lives. 12 teenagers and their soccer coach trapped inside for two weeks. A remote cave that most had never heard of. The stuff of a Hollywood drama, except that it’s all true and happened in Chiang Rai last year. Now…
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Tale of two cities – Hua Hin vs Pattaya
by Kornrawee Panyasuppakun Property buyers looking to buy a seaside villa or condo in a coastal town in Thailand, relatively close to Bangkok, confront one question – should I buy a property in Hua Hin or Pattaya? And rightly so, because these two choices have similar aspects. Both have kilometres of coastline, good beaches, and are just a couple of…
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Thailand’s growth forecasts for the rest of 2019 slashed again
Following their most recent meeting, the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking has announced Thailand’s economic growth this year has been revised downward to between 2.7 – 3.0% from the previous projection of 2.9 – 3.3%. It has also revised down its prediction of this year’s exports to between minus 2 – 0%. The committee says the revised…
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Typhoon Hagibis kills 11 in Japan, rescue underway with up to 100 missing
“Hagibis smashed into the main Japanese island of Honshu around 7pm Saturday as one of the most violent typhoons in recent years, with wind gusts of up to 216 kilometres per hour (134 miles per hour).” by Hiroshi Hiyama and Natsuko Fukue Japan’s military is racing to help people trapped by flooding after powerful Typhoon Hagibis as it ripped across…
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Bhumjaithai ministers will quit if herbicides are not banned
Lobbying is intensifying over a final decision to ban three controversial herbicides – paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos. With farmers, agri-business interests, environmental activists and social media all putting pressure on decision-makers to sway their decision, the biggest pressure is from within the ruling Palang Pracharat government. Increasing pressure is now being applied to the National Hazardous Substances Committee after the…
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‘Unprecedented’ Typhoon Hagibis slams into Japan
Powerful typhoon Hagibis has made landfall in Japan as torrential rain and winds have already lashed the country causing floods and mudslides. “The eye of Typhoon Hagibis made landfall shortly before 19:00 (1000 GMT) in Izu Peninsula”, southwest of Tokyo, said the Japan Meteorological Agency. Powerful Typhoon Hagibis roared towards Japan’s coast on Saturday, killing one person and bringing “unprecedented”…
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Angry driver terrifies employees at Chonburi gas station
PHOTO: Sanook.com An employee at a Chonburi gas station has told a Sanook news team how the behaviour of an angry truck driver left her and her colleagues terrified. Niracha, aged 23, used her phone to record a video of the angry customer driving at speed around the gas station and throwing alcohol bottles at another customer. Her colleague Atirut…
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Fears for 11 year old boy missing in Ayutthaya
MONTAGE: Sanook.com Fears are growing for an 11 year old boy, Ter, who has been missing from his home in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok, for over two weeks. Ter’s grandmother, Noi, reported him missing to local officials when he failed to return home from school on September 27. Thai Residents reports that Noi, who is 83 years old, has been…
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Alcohol sales ban in Thailand Sunday, October 13
A 24 hour alcohol sales ban is on for this Sunday, October 13. The day marks the end of Buddhist Lent and also coincides with the third anniversary of the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand’s revered and long-serving monarch. The ban will last from Midnight Saturday night until Midnight Sunday Night, a total of 24 hours. The ban is…
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Future Future leader Thanathorn denies interfering in Hong Kong issues
PHOTO: Thai PBS World The leader of Thailand’s Future Forward party, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, says the reaction to him being photographed with Joshua Wong, leader of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, is totally overblown and taken out of context. The picture, taken at a Hong Kong event organised by The Economist magazine where Thanathorn had been invited to speak, went viral on…
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Thai government introduces new measures to improve tourism
Proposed measures to improve tourism in Thailand have been approved in principle by the council of the economic ministers. The steps, proposed by the Tourism and Sports Ministry, are expected to be put in place before the end of 2019 and will mean an increase in the number of places and agents offering a VAT refund service to visitors to…
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Wet weekend for most of Thailand
Thunder, showers and poor weather are likely in the regions north of Bangkok over the weekend, with isolated heavy rain possible in the North, parts of the Northwest, the lower Northeast, the Central plains, the East and even the South including Bangkok and its vicinity (forecasts below). The Thailand Meteorological Department issued the warnings yesterday… Another moderate high-pressure area from…
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Thailand is facing “hybrid warfare” by “ill-intentioned politicians” – Army chief Gen Apirat
PHOTO: Screenshot – Matichon TV Thailand’s Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Apirat Kongsompong is warning that Thailand is facing what he described as a “hybrid warfare”. The ultra-loyalist Army chief says the ‘war’ is being waged by a collection of “ill-intentioned politicians”, remnants of communist ideologues and “foreign forces” against the country’s major establishments. His speech was aimed fairly and squarely at…
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Stricter controls and paperwork putting brakes on residential property market
The honorary president of the Thai Housing Business Association, Atip Bijanonda, is tipping the local residential market may fall by up to 10% this year starved of economic confidence, the global economic slowdown and the loan-to-value limits. But he also believes the situation is far from the situation leading up to the 1997 economic collapse. The Greater Bangkok residential market…
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8 injured after pickup overturns on Highway 7, Pattaya
PHOTO: Pattaya Mail 8 people have been were injured after a pickup loaded with construction workers overturned on Highway 7 in Pattaya. The 54 year old driver, Sombat Li, has told police that at 9am, on October 6, on his way to delivering the workers to a construction site in Pattaya, another car cut him off. He told police he…
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World Ganja Festival comes to NE Thailand early 2020
Following the liberalising of cannabis laws, related to medical use of the drug, marijuana is now being seen as a potential cash crop which which could benefit Thailand’s economy. The Association of Researchers of Thailand is now joining members of the public and the private sector to organise the World Ganja Festival 2020. The event will be held in Mukdahan,…
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Thai immigration’s biometrics nabs 3 more fake passport holders
Thailand’s Immigration Bureau commander says the biometric system at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport caught three foreigners carrying fake passports during the month of September. “In the first case, immigration police arrested an Iranian man, aged about 47 years, holding a French passport and travelling from Germany to Thailand. The biometric scanning showed only a 19% match between his face and passport…
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Two more Thai marine parks declared ASEAN heritage parks
PHOTO: bluestars.info “The two marine parks are Thailand’s fifth and sixth to be given the status of ASEAN heritage parks.” Two southern Thailand national parks have been recognised as ASEAN heritage parks at this week’s 15th ASEAN environment ministers’ meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the home of Angkor Wat. Warawut Silpa-archa, Thailand’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, told reporters the…
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Thailand faces renewed calls to abolish death penalty
A lobby group arguing for the abolishment of the death penalty is urging Thailand to agree to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as part of a process that would ultimately see an end to capital punishment in the country. To mark World Day Against the Death Penalty, Gothom Arya, a representative…
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Thai Airways under pressure to deliver workable business plan
Thai Airways is coming under more pressure, after being given 30 days to deliver its new rehabilitation and business plans. Thaworn Senniam, the Deputy Transport Minister, gave the instruction yesterday while meeting with the executive of the national carrier for an update on its financial status. He says the business plan must provide clear information on how the fortunes of…
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