Bangkok News
Bangkok news, politics, business, crime, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s capital. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Bangkok news source.
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BKK authorities short on solutions to smog *Thaiger Bites
By Jintamas Saksornchai Khaosod English is reporting today that authorities were scrambling to respond to worsening smog in the capital city. A government spokesman said junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha has ordered related agencies to inform people of the danger of ultrafine particles after Bangkok’s air quality this past weekend again fell to “unhealthy” levels. As of Monday morning, the international Air…
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Face mask fashion as Bangkok batters poor air quality and smog
by Kunlaphun Siripimamporn. PHOTOS: The Nation Thick morning winter fog and some heavy smog has forced many Bangkokians into wearing facemasks, even the cheap ones that will nothing to protect them from the fine particulate matter mixed into the air. People wearing masks became a common sight in inner city areas today. The pollution continued to remain at harmful levels…
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Thailand police trial mobile app to keep track of patrolling police
A new pilot project is being trialed in Bangkok by the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) to potential prevent some policemen who have found ways to skip their patrol work. Real-time tracking GPS (global positioning system) technology is being implemented via a smartphone application that must be downloaded by the officers who are assigned to conduct surveillance operations or regular patrols.…
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Bangkok in the Top 10 cities in the world with the worst air pollution
Bangkok is placed Number 9 in the world’s top 10 cities with the worst air quality, Greenpeace Thailand was quoting the US air quality index measuring pollution floating around in the air we breathe. The Thai capital is not in good company. Thai PBS reports that, on top of the list, is New Delhi with 309 on US AQI, Dhaka in…
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Kids flock to Government House and Don Mueang – Children’s Day 2019
PHOTOS: The Nation An 11 year old girl from the St Francis Xavier School in Nonthaburi was the first student to sit on the prime minister’s seat at Government House on National Children’s Day. The Nation reports that officials allowed children to form a long queue at 7.30am to have an opportunity to sit on the seat of the most…
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A ladyboy found in the backseat of a sunken car with no pants on – Ayutthaya
Daily News reports that police in Ayutthaya are baffled after a ladyboy was found dead in a car accident yesterday. The driver’s Honda City had plunged into a canal on the Sena to Lat Bua Luang Road. A rescue worker from Ruam Katanyu Foundation, Anuchart Wuthitham, was first on the scene. He found 27 year old Athitaya Phanang from Bangkok , a ladyboy, covered…
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Air quality around Bangkok is bad today
PHOTO: The Nation Bangkok’s air quality is safe again. Oh, now it’s unsafe again. Just a day after the air quality around Bangkok was declared safe, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) is blaming light winds and stale air for causing the poor air quality for Friday. PCD director-general Pralong Damrongthai says that air quality monitoring stations showed the amount of…
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BMA introduces proper pavement stops for motorcycle taxis in Bangkok
As Bangkok becomes busier, limited space for motorcycle taxi stands is becoming a critical problem with many of the crews taking up road space or spreading themselves randomly out around public pavement areas. The boys in the orange vests provide an important part of the Bangkok public transport mix but the BMA were getting many complaints. Now the BMA (Bangkok…
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Saudi teen seeks asylum as Australian foreign minister visits Thailand – Thaiger Bites
Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne is in Bangkok today after the Australian Government says it would consider giving asylum to the 18 year old Saudi woman who fled to Thailand from Kuwait, saying she feared her family, which she accused of abuse. Reuters reports that Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun refused to meet her father and brother, who arrived in Bangkok yesterday…
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Foreign man crushed under Bangkok bus in apparent suicide
“The man was wearing a T-shirt and shorts and had no identification documents.” A western man, at this stage unidentified, was hit and killed by a bus in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district. Police say it appears it was a suicide. Police say the man was hit by the bus on Phra Sumen Road in front of Wat Borworniwet. The man…
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Immigration police track down officer involved in re-entry stamp scam
PHOTO: Bangkok Post An immigration officer has been suspended without pay for allegedly permitting foreign travellers to do a re-entry without them having to actually leave the country. Immigration chief Surachate Hakparn says his department has identified the officer and have named him in Thai media. “The officer confessed to have provided entry stamps in return for 5,000 baht from…
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Saudi woman refuses to meet her father
PHOTO: Immigration chief Surachate Hakparn and other senior immigration police officers meet Saudi Arabia’s charge d’affaires in Bangkok. The 18 year old Saudi young woman who fled her family in Saudi Arabia has refused to meet her father. The father, who flew in today and is taking the evening flight back to Riyadh, met with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) officials…
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Saudi: Time to update 40 year old immigration laws – Surachete
by Suriya Patatayo Immigration Chief Surachate Hakparn says he planned to update immigration laws that have been in force for at least 40 years. He says the Thai immigration police bureau are poised to issue a warning to Kuwait Airways for allowing Saudi teen Rahaf Mohammed Al-Qunun to board a flight to Bangkok, although they claim she had insufficient travel…
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Australian minister says Saudi teen will get “very serious consideration”: Thaiger Bite
The Australian Government has given its strongest hint yet that the 18 year old Saudi woman in Bangkok would be granted humanitarian asylum. This is despite efforts by Riyadh and her family to force her return home. Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun has documented her bid to flee her allegedly abusive family with minute-by-minute Twitter updates, intensifying the global spotlight on Saudi…
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Thai prison staff sacked for collusion to murder, drugs and smuggling
PHOTO: Getty Images Six prison officers have been dismissed by the Department of Corrections (DOC) following involvement in a varied and disturbing range of transgressions. Out of the six officers, one was arrested for charges of collusion to commit murder and has been sentenced to life in prison by the Supreme Court. Another was found connected to the smuggling of…
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UPDATE: Saudi embassy in Bangkok distances itself from al-Qunun story
“Al-Qunun says she doesn’t want to meet with her father or brother.” The Thai immigration police chief yesterday met with Saudi Embassy officials in Bangkok as Saudi Arabia tried to distance itself from accusations that it tried to block a young woman trying to flee her family and seek asylum in Australia. Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport from…
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UPDATE: Father and brother traveling to Thailand to speak to Saudi 18 year old
The father and brother of a the Saudi 18 year old, whose plea for asylum is making international headlines, are travelling to Thailand later today to give their accounts to the UN refugee agency, the Thai Immigration police chief said on Tuesday. But Immigration Chief, Surachet Hakparn says, if they wished to speak to Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, who ran away…
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Saudi woman remains under UN care in Thailand
From VOA News reporters Thai authorities say a young Saudi woman, stopped in Thailand as she tried to flee to Australia to seek asylum, has now left the Suvarnabhumi Airport and is under the care of the local UN refugee agency. “She is under the care of the UNHCR now but we also sent Thai security to help take care…
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Superheroes and mega malls – The Thailand Tourism Forum 2019
Record attendance at Thailand’s largest annual hospitality event discovering how the tourism and transport sector is getting a massive makeover. The Thailand Tourism Forum (TTF) returns for its eighth edition on January 21, 2019, with an agenda focusing on the mega-projects that are currently transforming the tourism landscape in Bangkok and beyond. Running under the theme “Managing Tourism – Ensuring…
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Allegedly negligent bus driver fined 5,000 baht, six dead get 30K compensation
Daily news has reported on the aftermath of a tour bus that crashed in Pathum Thani over the weekend. Pathum Thani is the province neighboring Bangkok to the west. As relatives of the six dead came to collect the bodies of their loved ones at Thammasat Chalermprakiat Hospital news arrived that the Department of Land Transport was likely to fine…
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UPDATE: Standoff at Suvarnabhumi – Thai Immigration reverse decision
Speaking at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport where Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun is refusing to board a flight back to her family that she fled in Saudi Arabi, Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn says now that Thailand has reversed it’s thinking on the matter and will not deport her against her will. “If deporting would result in her death we definitely won’t do…
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UPDATE: Saudi teen barricades herself in Bangkok airport room to avoid deportation
PHOTO: Sophie McNeill A detained Saudi 18 year old Rahaf Mohhammed al-Qunun remains barricaded in her room at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. She has locked herself in her room to avoid being deported, as earlier today as she was supposed to leave on a 11.15 am flight back to Kuwait this morning. Now she refuses to leave her room until…
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Warnings issued after hydrogen-filled balloon explodes in car
A six year old boy has been engulfed in flames and seriously injured in a hydrogen balloon accident in Nakhon Pathom, west of Bangkok. Three people were injured on January 2 when a single hydrogen-filled party balloon exploded inside a car. The incident has prompted the Disease Control Department (DCD) to issue a warning and guidelines for reducing the risk.…
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Saudi teen fleeing family abuse seeking asylum in Australia, detained in Bangkok airport.
PHOTO: Sophie McNeill (Twitter) A young Saudi woman is being held at Bangkok’s main international airport after she fled from her family and attempted to make it to Australia. The girl, 18 year old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, was on a family holiday in Kuwait when she decided to run away. She was on her way to Australia but has been…
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Taxis are leading concern for tourists visiting Thailand
Tourist police say that Taxi’s continue to be one of the most pressing issues for tourists visiting Thailand. In 2018, 12,679 taxi drivers were arrested by police, of which 5,668 drivers refused to pick up passengers, compared to 1,681 last year. 3,408 drivers refused to use their fare meter, compared to 255 last year and 1,659 who were overcharging, where…
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English teacher arrested after inner city organic marijuana farm raid
A 46 year old English language teacher has been arrested for allegedly operating an organic marijuana farm and selling the produce online. He was arrested today after a raid on a four level building in Bangkok’s Phayathai inner city district. Police say that on the third floor of the building, officers found five litres of cannabis oil, 50 plastic pots…
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Suicide at Bangkok’s Terminal 21 shopping mall as Italian man jumps from escalator
PHOTO: Living + Nomad 44 year old Federico Maistrello fell to his death yesterday after jumping from an escalator at Bangkok’s Terminal 21 shopping mall. CCTV footage of the incident shows the Italian man coming down the escalators from the sixth to the fifth floor when he decided to jump. He fell in full view of shoppers in the central…
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“Don’t go to Thailand” – another Chinese social media firestorm
PHOTO: Thai Rath Thai Rath is reporting that officials from the Tourist Assistance Centre have made a visit to the female Chinese blogger who lost her left arm in a road accident on the way from Bangkok to Koh Chang. The story has produced another firestorm of criticism in Chinese social media with headlines like “Don’t go to Thailand”. The…
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National death toll rises to 236 – Day Four in the “seven dangerous days”
A total of 236 people have killed and 2,265 others injured in 2,194 road accidents after number were released for the first four days of the New Year holiday period’s “seven dangerous days”. The tally includes deaths and injuries from last Thursday up to Sunday night. Chiang Mai and Nakhon Ratchasima had the highest cumulative fatalities of 12 deaths each,…
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New Year weather around Thailand
It might be the middle of the annual high season but the ‘high season’ weather isn’t co-operating. Although generally fine weather has been the trend in the past few days there are a few unseasonal fronts coming to different parts of the country, according to the Thai Meteorological Department. In the central/southern provinces, including around Hua Hun and Gulf islands…
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