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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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    Thailand health insurance that covers chronic conditions: What expats need to know

    The Thaiger key takeaways Managing chronic conditions in Thailand requires health insurance that covers specialist visits, medications, tests, and hospital stays. Cigna offers high-coverage plans with access to top hospitals, direct billing, and telemedicine support for convenient long-term care. Expats...

  • 6 Thais accused of procuring young girls for sex trade in Ratchaburi | Thaiger

    6 Thais accused of procuring young girls for sex trade in Ratchaburi

    Today the superintendent of Human Trafficking Suppression Division 5, reported that they have arrested 40 year old Sasirat who has been accused of procuring young girls for the ‘flesh’ trade in Ratchaburi province for over 10 years. The woman was named in an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court on June 15 for allegedly procured girls aged below 15…

  • New ‘Progressive Movement’ party plans to take on local elections | Thaiger

    New ‘Progressive Movement’ party plans to take on local elections

    Thailand’s elections may look a bit different as some candidates, who normally campaign in local elections, are banding together to form a new ‘Progressive Movement.’ The move comes despite the Constitutional Court banning its founder, Thanathorn Juangroogruangkit, along with other executives, for 10 years after being involved with the Future Forward Party that was disbanded earlier this year. The banning…

  • Thailand’s major tourist islands may open soon to foreign travellers | Thaiger

    Thailand’s major tourist islands may open soon to foreign travellers

    Next month, 5 of Thailand’s major tourist islands may open up to foreign travellers. Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao are getting ready for potential visitors from overseas, albeit small numbers to start as the borders are slowely prised open. While a trip to a Thai island may sound nice after months of lockdown, officials…

  • Thailand’s hotel industry pushing ahead with recovery | Thaiger

    Thailand’s hotel industry pushing ahead with recovery

    Optimism is building in some corners of the hospitality industry as Thailand pushes ahead with it Covid-19 recovery phases. Occupancy rates in at least Bangkok and Phuket are likely to bottom out soon with the lifting of travel restrictions, according to JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group. Thailand’s hotel industry is now entering a recovery phase following the country’s decision to issue a…

  • Police arrest man who allegedly recorded women using a public toilet in Bangkok | Thaiger

    Police arrest man who allegedly recorded women using a public toilet in Bangkok

    Police have arrested a man who allegedly recorded a video of a women while they were both using the toilet in a Bangkok petrol station’s public restroom. The woman looked up and noticed a mobile phone taped on the ceiling while she was using the toilet. The woman reported it the petrol station owner. Police later arrested 23 year old ‘Sa…

  • Man arrested for killing a wild elephant in southern Thailand | Thaiger

    Man arrested for killing a wild elephant in southern Thailand

    A wild elephant was shot and killed by a local at a national park in southern Thailand’s Prachuap Khiri Khan over the weekend. Police arrested the alleged shooter who is now facing charges of killing a protected animal and possessing an unlicensed firearm. Kui Buri National Park officials say this is the fourth wild elephant this month that has died…

  • The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has approved extending the Emergency Decree | Thaiger

    The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has approved extending the Emergency Decree

    The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has approved the proposal from the National Security Council last week to extend the emergency decree until the end of July. The decision was made at a meeting this morning with PM Prayut Chan-o-cha and other relevant officials. Read more about last weeks proposal HERE. The CCSA says the extension was necessary because the…

  • Phuket’s Sirinat National Park to open again from Wednesday | Thaiger

    Phuket’s Sirinat National Park to open again from Wednesday

    Sirinat National Park, along the west coast of the north end of Phuket, is set to re-open on Wednesday, according to the province’s deputy governor, Wongsakorn Numchukan. It follows the re-opening of other national parks around the country 2 weeks ago after a 2 month shutdown initiated to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus. And as with re-openings elsewhere,…

  • Pathumthani police vow to wipe out loan sharks | Thaiger

    Pathumthani police vow to wipe out loan sharks

    Police in Pathumthani, north of Bangkok, pledged to eliminate the loan shark network in the area after a borrower was assaulted in the Rangsit municipality and ended up spending 2 months in ICU. 63 year old Weerapat, a merchant, told police he suspects the attackers were men working for a “Mrs Millionaire.” The victim had borrowed 80,000 from her in…

  • Online “Global Pride” marks 50th anniversary of gay pride movement | Thaiger

    Online “Global Pride” marks 50th anniversary of gay pride movement

    Half a century after the first Gay Pride march, the world’s LGBT community and its supporters took many of their events online yesterday in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although some activists still took to the streets to mark the event, much of the movement’s focus was channelled into Global Pride, a 24 hour online event broadcast live online. One…

  • Second jogger poisoned in Nonthaburi park | Thaiger

    Second jogger poisoned in Nonthaburi park

    Officials in Nonthaburi, just northwest of Bangkok, were sent to Makut Rommayasaran Park in the government complex, to survey sites for the installation of more surveillance cameras yesterday, after 2 joggers were poisoned, apparently by someone tampering with their water bottles. According to provincial police, 2 joggers fell unconscious after drinking water from their own water bottles, which had been…

  • 3 arrested for rape, death of teen schoolgirl | Thaiger

    3 arrested for rape, death of teen schoolgirl

    Police in Kanchanaburi, the largest of Thailand’s western provinces, have arrested 2 young men in connection with the rape and unexplained death of a teenage schoolgirl. They apprehended the pair yesterday after obtaining warrants. The 2 face charges of depriving a schoolgirl aged under 18 of parental care and also performing indecent acts. 21 year old Phakhin Chanyiam and 18…

  • Animal sedative found in runner’s water bottle | Thaiger

    Animal sedative found in runner’s water bottle

    A potentially deadly dose of an animal sedative was found in the water bottle of a runner who was hospitalised and claimed he’d been poisoned after he left it unattended. A chemical analysis of the water in the bottle concluded that, indeed, it was contaminated with a high concentration of the horse tranquiliser Xylazine The analysis was conducted by a…

  • Government agency issues guidelines to help Thailand’s souvenir suppliers | Thaiger

    Government agency issues guidelines to help Thailand’s souvenir suppliers

    Thailand’s Department of Industrial Promotion says it is working on ways to help the country’s souvenir makers recover from the devastation wreaked by the Covid-19 lock-down. Speaking to Nation Thailand, Nattapol Rangsitpol, director-general of the DIP, says the latest advice complements the government’s stimulus campaign Tiew Pan Suk (Trips to Share Happiness), aimed at boosting domestic tourism and the local…

  • 2 women arrested for human trafficking | Thaiger

    2 women arrested for human trafficking

    Police have arrested 2 Thai women for luring Thai girls into prostitution in Dubai. The girls were told they’d work as masseuses, but instead were forced into prostitution. Immigration police reported the arrest of 28 year old “Rissraporn” and 25 year old “Aranya” on charges of human trafficking. The suspects would “sell” girls to buyers in Dubai. The girls were…

  • Redshirt activist acquitted, freed after nearly 4 years | Thaiger

    Redshirt activist acquitted, freed after nearly 4 years

    Activist Thanet Anantawong has been acquitted of national security and computer crime charges after being detained for almost 4 years. He was charged over 5 Facebook posts made in 2015, criticising the now defunct National Council for Peace and Order, and the army. The posts were critical of the late Privy Council president and former PM Prem Tinsulanonda, and the…

  • Citylife magazine employee hacks editor’s bank account, steals 4 million baht | Thaiger

    Citylife magazine employee hacks editor’s bank account, steals 4 million baht

    Police arrested a Chiang Mai-based English magazine employee yesterday for allegedly hacking and stealing nearly 4 million baht from her editor’s account. On Friday, Citylife Media Group editor-in-chief Pim Kemasingki noticed that her bank account only had 24 baht left, millions short of what she should’ve had. After requesting a bank statement from the Siam Commercial Bank, Kemasingki received a call…

  • Police arrest man for robbery on 4 year old warrant | Thaiger

    Police arrest man for robbery on 4 year old warrant

    A man who allegedly posed as a police officer and stole a motorbike was arrested in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Southern Thailand after being on the run for nearly 4 years. There’s been a warrant for his arrest since 2016 for robbery charges. The 32 year old man, Thai media reports as ‘Beer’, along with 3 of his friends, allegedly stole…

  • Heroin making a comeback among Thai teens | Thaiger

    Heroin making a comeback among Thai teens

    As if the spike in synthetic drugs coming from the so-called Golden Triangle weren’t enough, authorities report that heroin is making a comeback in Thailand, especially among teenagers, who are often unaware of the dangers, including HIV and hepatitis C. The Office of the Narcotics Control Board reports rising numbers of teens aged 15-18 admitted to rehab programs for heroin…

  • Bangkok buses to ease social distancing requirements in Phase 5 as schools reopen | Thaiger

    Bangkok buses to ease social distancing requirements in Phase 5 as schools reopen

    In the fifth stage of Thailand’s easing of Emergency Decree lockdown measures, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority plans to ease social distancing measures public buses to accommodate the increase in commuters after schools reopen on July 1. “In the fifth phase of the easing of Covid-19 lockdown, which will start on July 1, the government will allow schools and many…

  • Red Bull heir gets away with murder, anti-corruption officials say police neglected their duties | Thaiger

    Red Bull heir gets away with murder, anti-corruption officials say police neglected their duties

    Nothing has been done to Red Bull heir Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya who crashed his Ferrari into an officer and killing him back in 2012 and then speeding off. Now anti-corruption officials are saying that officers investigating the fatal hit-and-run accident neglected to fulfil their duties. An investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission found intention to exempt Yoovidhya from prosecution on charges…

  • Dozens arrested in money laundering and drugs case | Thaiger

    Dozens arrested in money laundering and drugs case

    61 people have been arrested in one of Thailand’s biggest money laundering cases of the year, said to be worth more than 10 billion baht. The suspects are believed to be part of a drug syndicate and money laundering network, allegedly run by a 45 year old Chinese man identified as “Chien Ma,” who was caught earlier in Bangkok. Provincial…

  • Emergency Decree could be extended a third time, through July | Thaiger

    Emergency Decree could be extended a third time, through July

    The Emergency Decree, set to expire at the end of June, could be extended by another month. Now the National Security Council is recommending extending enforcement of the decree, originally imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19, to July 31. The decree, announced on March 24 and enacted on March 26, has a legally mandated limit of 90 days, but…

  • Mandatory 14 day quarantine for international arrivals to Thailand | Thaiger

    Mandatory 14 day quarantine for international arrivals to Thailand

    Following the announcement that Thailand would once again open its doors to certain categories of international visitors, the government’s Covid-19 task force has confirmed most will have to agree to a 14 day quarantine. It’s understood the first group to be granted entry to the Kingdom from July 1 will include businesspeople, skilled workers and experts, teachers, students, and medical…

  • Baby elephants abused to “break” them for tourism- VIDEO | Thaiger

    Baby elephants abused to “break” them for tourism- VIDEO

    The plight of Thailand’s many elephants has made plenty of headlines since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak in January, especially in the North, where the many elephant camps and “sanctuaries” were the a major draw for tourist revenue until the Emergency Decree and travel ban forced many to close. To avoid starvation, thousands made the long journey back to…

  • Surat Thani “cockle wars” are over, says navy chief | Thaiger

    Surat Thani “cockle wars” are over, says navy chief

    The chief of the Royal Thai Navy says local figures wielding influence are being “neutralised” and the disruptive, sometimes violent dispute between cockle farmers and local small-boat fishermen is drawing to an end. Admiral Ruechai Ruddit says the conflict off the coast of Bandon Bay in the southern province of Surat Thani has eased, after cockle farmers began dismantling the…

  • Saraburi man arrested for firing at radio station, fleeing in stolen pickup | Thaiger

    Saraburi man arrested for firing at radio station, fleeing in stolen pickup

    Police in the central Saraburi province, about 120 kilometres northeast of Bangkok, arrested a man early today for allegedly firing a gun at a radio station and stealing a pickup truck in which he fled. Officers of the Nong Khae Police Station were informed at 6:30pm yesterday about a shooting incident at the Public Relations Department’s radio station in Nong…

  • Ambulance explodes just before patient is loaded | Thaiger

    Ambulance explodes just before patient is loaded

    An ambulance exploded in front of a Central Thailand hospital just moments before a patient was being moved into the vehicle. Fortunately, no one was injured and the medical team moved the patient away from the scene in time. But Thai media says if the explosion happened just seconds later, it would’ve been a different story. The driver had just…

  • NokScoot downsizes, airlines ask for financial help | Thaiger

    NokScoot downsizes, airlines ask for financial help

    Travel restrictions and flight cancellations across the globe have caused once busy sky traffic to go quiet as airlines are taking a battering from the coronavirus outbreak. Less of the bird-like, yellow beaked planes will be in the air as the popular budget airline NokScoot just announced it’s downsizing their fleet and laying off employees to try and keep the…

  • Potential low-risk countries to reboot Thailand inbound travel | Thaiger

    Potential low-risk countries to reboot Thailand inbound travel

    Thailand’s borders could be opened to New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan and certain cities in China. Those areas are now deemed to have a low-risk for spreading the coronavirus and being looked into as potential countries for the ‘travel bubble’ scheme. In an tourism agreement with the low-risk countries, foreigners would be allowed to enter the country, but with restrictions.…