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.
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Sponsored 5 ways retirees in Thailand lose money (and how to stop it)
Retiring in Thailand can be affordable and enjoyable, but many retirees lose money due to common mistakes. High living costs, scams, and unexpected expenses can quickly drain savings. There are five ways that retirees in Thailand can lose money and...
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Man dies trying to eat a coconut in central Thailand
A Thai man died trying to retrieve a coconut from a palm tree at his home in Samut Sakhon province in central Thailand on Tuesday. Officers from Krathum Baen Police Station and rescue workers from the Ruan Katanyu Foundation travelled to a home in Moo 11 in Om Noi subdistrict to investigate the death of 45 year old Sunthorn from…
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Myanmar junta’s release of political prisoners may not be indicative of a changing mindset
Myanmar’s National Unity Government foreign minister is warning the international community over the recent military’s release of 402 political inmates. Daw Zin Mar Aung’s warning contradicted the ASEAN special envoy for Myanmar’s embracement of the act by saying such a move cannot be regarded as a change in the junta’s mindset. “I would like to warn the international community not…
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Blaze guts foreigner’s car in Phuket
A blaze gutted a foreigner’s car in Phuket’s main city district on Tuesday night. Koh Kaew firefighters rushed to the scene on Number 3013 Road to find the car engulfed in flames. It took the firefighters about 10 minutes to bring the blaze under control. The car was destroyed, but luckily the driver escaped uninjured. The cause of the fire…
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656 people arrested for illegal World Cup betting
The Royal Thai Police (RTP) have had a ball this week cracking down on illegal FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar football betting. During the first week of the tournament, the RTP arrested 656 Thai people for hosting or joining illegal football betting platforms, seizing nearly 200,000 baht from croupiers. The Assistant to the Commissioner-General of the RTP, Phanurat Lakboon, yesterday…
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Thai pro car racer fined 1,000 baht for writing-off Ferrari worth 25 million baht in Bangkok
A skilled professional car racer faces a 1,000 baht fine after smashing a friend’s precious red Ferrari worth 25 million baht (US$695,000) into a tree in Bangkok yesterday. The driver, Nawin “Gaga” Yasri, was sent to hospital with a back injury while the expensive car is a write-off. An officer from Don Mueng Police Station rushed to Phahonyothin Road in…
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Wild elephant electrocuted to death in eastern Thailand
A wild elephant was electrocuted to death at a jackfruit plantation in the middle of the jungle in Chachoengsao province in eastern Thailand yesterday. A farmer installed electric wires around his farm to prevent his jackfruit from being stolen by elephants. At 1pm yesterday, officers at Tha Thakiab Police Station were informed that a wild male elephant was found dead…
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Singapore cruise ship arrives to sample Patong’s delights
A cruise ship from Singapore anchored off Patong yesterday morning, bringing 3,000 passengers for a brief visit to the jewel in Phuket’s crown of insalubrity. The Genting Dream, owned by Resorts World Cruises, arrived around dawn. The ship is on a five-day cruise out of Singapore and had stopped at Penang in Malaysia before arriving in Phuket, so passengers obviously…
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Dead body of unidentified transwoman found in canal near Bangkok
A local fisherman found the dead body of a transwoman floating in a canal in Pathum Thani province near Bangkok. Her identity is unknown. Officers from Klong Luang Police Station were notified of the dead body in Song Canal in the Klong Luang district of Pathum Thani yesterday at 2pm. The body was spotted floating under a wooden house along…
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Thai visitors to Japan up fourfold
Thai visitors to Japan are up 26,000. The number of Thai people holidaying in Japan increased from 7,600 in September to 34,000 this month as Japan ended its Covid-19 restrictions and eased visa rules. At least a million Thais are expected to visit in 2023. President of the Thai-Japan Tourist Association Anake Srishevachart expects Japan to welcome more than 100,000…
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Keeping it ‘reel’ as giant catfish season casts of in Thailand
Local fishermen were keeping it “reel” this week as the annual giant catfish catching season cast off at the Kaeng Krachan Dam in Phetchaburi province in the central part of Thailand. Giant catfish season in Thailand lasts two months and the nation’s fishermen are allowed to set their reels going from November 20 to January 20. But it isn’t open…
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Walmart manager commits deadly shooting in US
A Walmart manager committed a deadly shooting in the US. The gunman, 31 year old Andre Bing, shot and killed six people and injured six others on Tuesday before turning the gun on himself. The incident happened in the break room of a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia. Survivors said the gunman walked into a break room and opened fire. One…
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Thailand bans recreational use of cannabis inside cafes
Cannabis shops and cafes in Thailand are no longer allowed to let customers smoke the plant recreationally on the premises anymore. On-site consumption of cannabis for medical purposes is still permitted if the cannabis is sold by a medical practitioner. The announcement was made in the Royal Gazette yesterday and is effective immediately. The announcement states that the Ministry of…
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Elon Musk sees net worth plummet by US$100 billion after Tesla shares hit record low
Elon Musk has reportedly seen his fortune cut by over US$100 billion this year, but he is still the richest person in the world. According to Fortune, the CEO of Tesla has a net worth of between US$170 billion to $182 billion, edging him slightly ahead of Bernard Arnault, the founder of luxury goods giant LVMH. Arnault reportedly has a…
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Ukraine accuses Russia of ‘terror and murder’ after missile strike kills newborn baby
Ukraine’s president is accusing his Russian counterpart of bringing “terror and murder” to his country after an alleged Russian missile strike killed a newborn baby. The missile hit a maternity unit in the Ukrainian town of Vilnyansk in the country’s southern Zaporizhzhia region. The only woman in the facility was the baby’s mother who was rescued from the building along…
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Thailand’s Public Health Minister vows to keep weed legal if he stays in office
Thailand’s Public Health Minister is vowing to keep weed free and legal so long as he stays in office. Anutin Charnvirakul told advocates for the plant that the possibility of cannabis being re-criminalised would not be possible if he is voted into office again. Anutin has been credited with starting the weed revolution in Thailand, and he continues to support…
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One-third of adult Thai citizens applied for welfare
Applications for welfare have seen a huge jump, with 22 million Thai people requesting a state welfare card in the latest round of registration. That massive figure equates to about one-third of the entire adult population of Thailand. It is a huge jump from the current 13.5 million people now carrying welfare cards in the country. The figures come after…
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Hotel loan program extended through June 2023
Hotels trying to recover from closing down for the Covid-19 pandemic are getting a little extra financial help. The Thai Cabinet has decided to extend low-interest soft loans until June 2023. The loans were created to help hotels address property repairs after many opted to close when customers dried up because the borders closed amid the pandemic. The announcement was…
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Police go after transgender sex workers, urge them not to damage Pattaya’s tourism image
Police are going after Pattaya’s transgender sex workers. Last night, a team of Pattaya Police and Tourist Police inspected Beach Road, arrested 36 suspected transgender sex workers, and took them to the station for identity recording. The inspection’s leader, Police Lieutenant Colonel Pitchaya Khiaoplueng, stressed to the suspects that they could not loiter on the beach and offer sexual services…
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FIFA warns Thailand World Cup broadcast will be cut off after illegal access spotted
The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) urged Thailand to tighten its security system on its FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 broadcast after the kingdom’s transmission access was spotted being used in other countries. FIFA warned Thailand that its broadcast will be cut off if the country cannot follow its rules and tighten its security problems. The Sports Authority of…
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Alleged Chinese drug tycoon married to Thai policewoman surrenders to police
Chinese businessman “Tuhao,” wanted on drug charges in Thailand, surrendered to police today after they raided his mansion in Bangkok this morning. The accused is married to a high-ranking Thai police officer who works for the foreign affairs division. Yesterday, Southern Bangkok Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Chaiyanat “Tuhao” Kornchayanant for “conspiring to commit drug offences and possessing…
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Airlines argue that flights only need one pilot
If we’ve learned anything from Elon Musk’s tumultuous slash-and-burn takeover of Twitter it’s that gutting essential workers can wreak havoc on a business. Or many in the airline industry have learned nothing. Airlines and international regulatory agencies are calling for the International Civil Aviation Organization to drop the requirement of two pilots per flight. They argue that commercial flights can…
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Man crashes car into elephant at Khao Yai National Park
A Thai man risks a charge of violating the National Park Act after he crashed his sedan into an elephant at Khao Yai National Park in the central province of Nakhon Nayok. The driver was hurt in the collision and sent to Pak Chong Nana Hospital to have his injuries looked at. Officers reported that they are still looking for…
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Police arrest transgender Thai women for filming and disseminating child porn online
On Monday, Thai police arrested a transgender woman in Bangkok for filming and disseminating child pornography on the LINE and OnlyFans platforms. Thailand’s Anti-Trafficking In Persons Division announced the results of their investigation today. Officers from Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau arrested 29 year old transgender woman named Saranrak – aka “Bee” – who filmed herself having sex with minors and…
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Bangladeshi terrorists who hacked American blogger to death escape
Two Bangladeshi terrorists who hacked an American blogger to death in 2015 managed to escape a crowded court in Dhaka on Sunday. Police said that bikers sprayed them with chemicals before taking away the convicts. The Islamist militants had been on death row for killing Bangladeshi-American blogger Avijit Roy. Roy referred to himself as an engineer by profession and a…
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Unswerving Covid-19 policy kills off Shanghai F1 GP
China’s dictatorial Covid-19 policy has killed off Shanghai’s return to the Formula 1 calendar next year. F1 has not visited China since 2019 and was due to return for the fourth time in 2023 on April 16. The key sticking point is that F1 staff would not be given exemptions from quarantine requirements in the event of being infected. F1 refuses…
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Chinese woman stabs Russian boyfriend’s Chinese mistress to death in Bangkok
UPDATE The Chinese woman who murdered a fellow Chinese woman in a Bangkok shopping mall toilet yesterday told police that the deceased was in a secret relationship with her Russian boyfriend. The foreign killer was found to have overstayed her visa in the kingdom, said police, adding that 36 year old Tang Jun entered Thailand on a tourist visa which…
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World Cup team captains respond to backlash over scrapped OneLove armbands
World Cup team captains are facing a backlash after ditching their plans to promote inclusion with OneLove, rainbow armbands. England and Wales team captains are now hitting back as they say players were afraid of getting booked by FIFA if they wore such armbands. Now, the captains say they are wearing FIFA-approved armbands which say, “No Discrimination.” According to BBC,…
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Patong business operators want transgender sex workers “cleaned up”
Patong business operators on Bangla Road want transgender sex workers to be “cleaned up,” in addition to food and drink vendors. The president of the Patong Entertainment Business Association, Weerawit Kreuasombat, said… “While Patong officials are now increasing safety management measures on Bangla Road, transgender prostitutes should be cleaned up too. We consistently get complaints that they are annoying and…
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Thailand and Cambodian officials agree to remove mines in border areas
Thai and Cambodian officials have agreed to remove mines in shared border areas. Cambodian PM Hun Sen instructed provincial authorities to clear the mines after partaking in the 30th anniversary of the mine action exhibition. According to Phnom Penh Post, the PM called on all relevant authorities to work with the Thai side of the border before discussing border issues…
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Indonesian earthquake death toll reaches 268 with 151 still missing
The death toll from the latest Indonesian earthquake has risen to 268, with 151 still reported missing. The quake which hit the island of Java, has injured 1,083 people according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. The quake hit the city of Cianjur on Monday afternoon, with one woman saying her home started shaking like it was dancing. According to…
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