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Thailand hot news, breaking stories, crime, politics, tourism, and business—stay updated with in-depth reports and exclusive interviews on the latest events across the country. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Thailand news source.

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    See the best of Northern Thailand this winter on a budget

    The Thaiger key takeaways Peak season brings higher prices, but smart planning and local know-how can help you experience Northern Thailand affordably. Chiang Mai, Pai, and Chiang Rai offer plenty of free or low-cost attractions, from temples and canyons to...

  • Columbia Pictures’ Aquaverse theme park opened today | Thaiger

    Columbia Pictures’ Aquaverse theme park opened today

    Columbia Pictures’ Aquaverse finally opened today, welcoming the public to the theme park and water park. The movie and television company selected Thailand to create its first theme park, choosing Pattaya because of its proximity to U-Tapao Airport, high-speed trains, and easy transportation. The park opens to patrons of all ages daily from 10am to 6pm. The grand opening today…

  • Possessing 5 methamphetamine pills might soon be considered drug dealing in Thailand | Thaiger

    Possessing 5 methamphetamine pills might soon be considered drug dealing in Thailand

    Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha suggests making changes to the law so that anyone possessing five or more methamphetamine pills should be considered a ‘drug dealer’ and therefore serve a much longer prison sentence. The comments come after PM Prayut declared a war on drugs in response to the mass killings at a daycare centre in Nong Bua Lamphu…

  • Men with 1 meth pill arrested in Phuket’s zero-tolerance policy | Thaiger

    Men with 1 meth pill arrested in Phuket’s zero-tolerance policy

    Authorities have been cracking down on drugs and guns since the daycare centre massacre, enacting new restrictions and ramping up enforcement. Police in Phuket are now following a zero-tolerance policy and last night arrested three men for carrying as little as one meth pill. The Thalang Police Chief in Phuket ordered the new zero-tolerance programme and instructed the police force…

  • 3 men jailed for insulting PM Prayut & Deputy PM Prawit | Thaiger

    3 men jailed for insulting PM Prayut & Deputy PM Prawit

    Three men face eight months in prison for spreading fake news about Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan. The incident happened four years ago in 2018 when Prayut served as Thai PM and Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), and while Prawit served as the Deputy PM and Defence Minister. A court…

  • Thai PM demands investigation into lost 50 million baht budget | Thaiger

    Thai PM demands investigation into lost 50 million baht budget

    Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha urged Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan to investigate the disappearance of a 50 million baht government budget. PM Prayut attended the Cabinet meeting at the Parliament House of Thailand yesterday to discuss the flood situation across the country. At the end of the meeting, the Deputy Minister of the Finance Ministry, Santi Promphat, suggested PM Prayut…

  • Actresses, politicians, and women around the world cut hair in solidarity with Iran | Thaiger

    Actresses, politicians, and women around the world cut hair in solidarity with Iran

    Women around the world are cutting their hair in solidarity with Iranian women fighting for their rights. Iranians have been protesting continuously ever since a young woman died on September 16 after being arrested by the country’s “morality police” three days before. The woman, 22 year old Mahsa Amini, was arrested for supposedly not wearing her hijab properly, with her…

  • Antisocial neighbour jailed for smashing up car | Thaiger

    Antisocial neighbour jailed for smashing up car

    A reign of terror from an antisocial neighbour takes a short break after he was jailed for smashing the windscreen of a car owner with a gun. The pest’s unruly behaviour has caused chaos for years in a village in the Bang Bua Thong area of Nonthaburi province near Bangkok The neighbourhood nuisance, 38-year-old Jeerasak Khaosook, held his wife and child…

  • Open road ahead – tourism board gives tips to travellers going it alone | Thaiger

    Open road ahead – tourism board gives tips to travellers going it alone

    A new self-drive tourism manual for ASEAN contains need-to-know information on driving in each country, as well as suggested tour routes, available for free download here. The guidebook was collectively produced by the 10 ASEAN countries. In Thailand, the Department of Tourism was the main coordinator. Yuthasak Supasorn, the Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor, said the manual for ASEAN’s self-drive…

  • Thai army chief vows no coup after polls | Thaiger

    Thai army chief vows no coup after polls

    Thailand’s chief of defence forces is vowing that there will be no military coup after the country’s next general election on May 7, 2023. Chalermpol Srisawat remarked on a reaction to reporters’ questions about how the military will respond if the elections produce a shift in the political landscape. He says the armed forces have no role in politics, but…

  • King Charles III to be crowned May 6 next year | Thaiger

    King Charles III to be crowned May 6 next year

    Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles III will be crowned on May 6, 2023, at Westminister Abbey. The Palace noted that the ceremony will focus on embracing the past but also look forward to the modern world after the late Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign. Rumours have spread that the coronation will be less glamourous than the three-hour coronation of Queen…

  • Abusive husband murders estranged wife & commits suicide | Thaiger

    Abusive husband murders estranged wife & commits suicide

    An abusive husband murdered his estranged wife in the car park of a condominium in Bangkok before later committing suicide at his house in the southern province of Pattalung. The man’s estranged wife, 47 year old woman Klongkamon Sooksawat, was shot dead at the underground car park of a condominium in the Huay Kwang district of Bangkok at about 6.30pm,…

  • IMF says world economy about to hit recession | Thaiger

    IMF says world economy about to hit recession

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns the world economy will be in a recession as it downgraded global growth projections for next year. The IMF warned policymakers that a worldwide recession will occur if the fight against inflation is mishandled. The IMF’s bleak assessment comes after reviewing the World Economic Outlook report. According to The Straits Times, the report was…

  • Airline flight capacity is up, Thai tourism officials hopeful | Thaiger

    Airline flight capacity is up, Thai tourism officials hopeful

    Airline flight capacity has shot up, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. The aviation authority said that seat capacity from October to March next year went up by 74.2%, to 573,538 seats per week from the summer schedule. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is aiming to achieve the government’s goal of 1.5 trillion baht in revenue from…

  • New MRT Yellow Line monorail train starts trial run today | Thaiger

    New MRT Yellow Line monorail train starts trial run today

    The new MRT Yellow Line monorail train in Bangkok and Samut Prakarn province starts its trial run without passengers today and is expected to be fully operational by June next year. The Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) announced yesterday that the new MRT Yellow Line would be on trial today from 10am to 5.30pm. The trial is running…

  • No peace for Maddie as ‘prime suspect’ charged with historical sex offences | Thaiger

    No peace for Maddie as ‘prime suspect’ charged with historical sex offences

    The latest of so many prime suspects in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been charged in Germany with unrelated sex offences. Convicted sex offender 45 year old Christian Brueckner is accused of five offences in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. The investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance is ongoing. Brueckner was identified as a suspect in the case in June 2020…

  • Manager of famous Thai rapper ‘Illslick’ given 2 years in prison over sex scandal | Thaiger

    Manager of famous Thai rapper ‘Illslick’ given 2 years in prison over sex scandal

    Yesterday, the court sentenced ‘Lily,’ the manager of famous Thai rapper ‘Illslick’, to two years in prison with no parole for ‘luring’ an 18 year old to have sex with the rapper in Khon Kaen in northeast Thailand in February last year. Khon Kaen Provincial Court found Lily [surname withheld] guilty of “satisfying the lust of others by luring, supplying, leading…

  • Off-duty officer reportedly carried gun and “acted eratically” in Phuket | Thaiger

    Off-duty officer reportedly carried gun and “acted eratically” in Phuket

    An off-duty police officer was reportedly spotted walking around carrying a gun and “acting erratically” in a Phuket housing estate, according to residents. The residents told police they saw the Phang Nga Police officer, 27 year old Corporal Korn, at the estate in Thalang district on Monday morning. Thalang Police Chief Colonel Pisit Chuenpet said police were first alerted about…

  • As storms continue, 23 billion baht might not be enough | Thaiger

    As storms continue, 23 billion baht might not be enough

    The Thai government is to spend at least 23 billion baht (US$600 million) on helping people who have suffered in the recent flooding. According to today’s Bangkok Post, at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered all agencies involved in the flood response to speed up efforts to take care of those who suffered in the flood, and the…

  • Unhappy days! More Haagen-Dazs destroyed in cancer scare | Thaiger

    Unhappy days! More Haagen-Dazs destroyed in cancer scare

    Almost 28,000 Haagen-Dazs ice creams worth 12 million baht were destroyed in Samut Prakan Monday, even though the samples had not been found to contain a chemical linked to cancer. According to today’s Bangkok Post, the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deputy secretary-general, Weerachai Nolwachai, said on Tuesday that a number of countries in Europe had recalled Haagen-Dazs ice cream…

  • Woman arrested for operating illegal dental clinic from her car | Thaiger

    Woman arrested for operating illegal dental clinic from her car

    A woman was arrested yesterday for operating an illegal dental clinic out of her car in a parking lot outside of a shopping mall in Bangkok. Officers from the Consumer Protection Police Division (CPPD) were notified about the illegal dental clinic and its adverts on Thai social media. The fake clinic, named the Fashionable Brace Shop, by sister Ploy from…

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin accepts invitation to APEC meeting in Thailand | Thaiger

    Russian President Vladimir Putin accepts invitation to APEC meeting in Thailand

    Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed his attendance at the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting which will be held in Bangkok next month from November 18-19, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs Don Pramudwinai. The Russian Federation is one of APEC’s 21 members. Putin attended an APEC summit hosted by Thailand 19 years ago in 2003. More than 30 countries…

  • Drug-addled cabbie faces jail for driving under the influence | Thaiger

    Drug-addled cabbie faces jail for driving under the influence

    A drug-addled cabbie faces time in jail for dangerous driving while allegedly under the influence of narcotics in the Kathu district of Phuket. A motorcycle rider brought to light the drug-taking cab driver’s antics after becoming a victim of his erratic behaviour on the road. The taxi driver scolded the motorcycle rider after the latter complained. He said… “Don’t butt…

  • Loan shark shoots debtor 8 times in the head in southern Thailand | Thaiger

    Loan shark shoots debtor 8 times in the head in southern Thailand

    A loan shark chose revenge over repayments on Sunday when he shot a debtor eight times in the head outside a tea shop in Songkhla province in southern Thailand. At 8pm, officers at Khuan Meed Police Station received a call that someone had been shot dead in the Chana district. Police found the body of 42 year old Chusit [surname…

  • BMTA replaces mushroom seat on Bangkok public bus | Thaiger

    BMTA replaces mushroom seat on Bangkok public bus

    UPDATE The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) today apologised to the city’s passengers after a story of mushrooms growing out of a public bus seat went viral on Thai social media. The picture of the mushroom-growing seat, posted by political activist Jatuporn “New” Saenueng, drew complaints from Thai netizens. The BMTA responded to the criticism on its official Facebook page…

  • TAT going green to smash a Guinness World Record | Thaiger

    TAT going green to smash a Guinness World Record

    The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is calling on all diving enthusiasts to help smash an official Guinness World Record. The TAT wants tourists and residents to get involved in their Go Green Active drive, a conservation diving event at Phuket’s famous Patong Beach between November 18 and November 20. The TAT wants to set a new Guinness World Records…

  • Worshippers wade through floods to get to temple in central Thailand | Thaiger

    Worshippers wade through floods to get to temple in central Thailand

    Buddhist worshipers in central Thailand are journeying through massive floods to get to their temple. The water level around the Wat Ban Phat temple in Ayutthaya province’s Bang Pa-in district is up to 1.5 metres. Worshippers are taking boats to get to the temple. Photos by Nation Thailand show temple-goers crossing a rather rickety-looking wooden walkway. The water level in…

  • PM Prayut declares war on drugs to prevent mass shootings in Thailand | Thaiger

    PM Prayut declares war on drugs to prevent mass shootings in Thailand

    Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha declared a war on drugs and a clampdown on gun control laws after a massacre at a daycare centre in northeast Thailand sparked urgent calls for change on Thursday. A former police sergeant facing trial for drug charges murdered 37 people – including 24 children under six years old – at a daycare centre in…

  • Pickup driver arrested after killing Bangkok road sweeper | Thaiger

    Pickup driver arrested after killing Bangkok road sweeper

    UPDATE Police arrested a pickup driver involved in the hit-and-run incident that killed a Bangkok road sweeper yesterday morning. Officers managed to get the man after the driver took his vehicle to get repaired at a local garage in the area. Police revealed three pieces of evidence were left at the scene, a black bumper bar and broken parts from…

  • Thais arrested for making 9,000 fake US$100 bills | Thaiger

    Thais arrested for making 9,000 fake US$100 bills

    Cyberpolice today reported that a Thai man and a Thai woman were arrested for making fake US$100 bills worth US$900,000 or 34 million baht. A United States Secret Service officer from the US Embassy in Bangkok ran a check over the bills and reported that they were very realistic. The Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, Torsak Sookwimon, reported…

  • Island in eastern Thailand listed in ‘Top 100 Green Destination Stories’ | Thaiger

    Island in eastern Thailand listed in ‘Top 100 Green Destination Stories’

    A small island in eastern Thailand has been listed in the Green Destination Foundation’s Top 100 Green Destination 2022 Stories. The island of Koh Mak is located off Trat province. The Green Destinations Foundation is based in the Netherlands, and is dedicated to sustainable tourism. Koh Mak’s story is titled, “Koh Mak, the journey to becoming the first low carbon…