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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  • Trailer collides with sedan on highway in Bangkok

    Trailer collides with sedan on highway in Bangkok

    PHOTOS: FM 91 BKK A trailer and truck has collided with a car on a highway in Bangkok today. Traffic Police say the incident blocked some parts of the road causing traffic to tail back for many kilometers. FM 91 BKK reported that the truck-trailer had collided with a car on the Rama IX Bridge southbound causing traffic delays for several…

  • Car torching is ‘under investigation’

    Car torching is ‘under investigation’

    SCREENSHOT: Moments after the arsonist sets fire to the car by Teeranai Charuvastra – Khaosod English At this stage, Police are declining to say whether they have identified the man who was filmed torching a prominent activist’s car in Bangkok (video below). Supporters of Ekachai Hongkanwan, who was assaulted a week ago by masked men just, are blaming the latest attack…

  • Slapped airport security worker praised for showing restraint

    Slapped airport security worker praised for showing restraint

    A female airport security officer, who was slapped by a South Korean woman after she asked if the tourist would submit to a routine pat-down at a security post at Suvarnabhumi Airport, has been praised by an airport executive for not retaliating or responding negatively. The incident took place on Saturday night at Suvarnabhumi Airport while the Thai worker was…

  • BNK48 singer apologizes for wearing shirt emblazoned with a Nazi swastika

    BNK48 singer apologizes for wearing shirt emblazoned with a Nazi swastika

    Two foreign envoys representing the Israeli Embassy in Thailand have openly expressed dismay after a member of the pop all-girl singing group BNK48 was wearing a T-shirt bearing a Nazi swastika. The sister band of Japan’s AKB48 issued an apology yesterday to match the tearful one delivered earlier by 20 year old singer Pichayapa “Namsai” Natha. “It was a bad…

  • Don’t drink and ‘sleep’ – Thai driver caught napping at the wheel

    Don’t drink and ‘sleep’ – Thai driver caught napping at the wheel

    PHOTO: Daily News Online A video posted online today shows a car being driven by a man who had reclined the driver’s seat and was claimed to be sleeping while the car was still moving. The car appears driverless as the driver was slumped out of sight. The post was on the Facebook page of “Narawut Nakama Thongsong”. He spoke…

  • Thailand Tourism Forum 2019 – Reflections #1

    Thailand Tourism Forum 2019 – Reflections #1

    PHOTO: Thailand Tourism Forum 2019 One of the key points made at the recently concluded Thailand Tourism Forum 2019 in Bangkok, was the country’s over reliance on mass tourism. Jesper Palmqvist of STR presented full year hotel data for Phuket which showed signs of recovery, yet highlighting the full impact of the drop in Chinese business after the July boat…

  • Four dead and at least five injured in Bangkok crane failure

    Four dead and at least five injured in Bangkok crane failure

    Four workers were killed and five others injured when the top part of a crane broke off and fell on them at a condominium construction site on Bangkok’s Rama 3 Road this afternoon. The fallen section of the crane hit the fifth floor of a building in the Lumpini Park Riverside project. Four male workers were killed on that floor…

  • Crane topples in Bangkok killing four, many others injured

    Crane topples in Bangkok killing four, many others injured

    PHOTOS: มาด เซอร์., Klong Prem ShinSuwan / FM91Trafficpro A crane has toppled at a construction site in Bangkok today. The incident has already been responsible for the death of four people while many others have been injured. FM91 Traffic pro is reporting that at 1.09pm a crane, inside a construction site in Yan Nawa, Bangkok has toppled and fallen down.…

  • Authorities play down air pollution problems in Bangkok

    Authorities play down air pollution problems in Bangkok

    The capital’s air pollution situation has worsened today as the quantity of the dangerous PM2.5 particles has risen for the first time to code-red status of above 90 micrograms per cubic metre of air at many locations. Nearly 10 Bangkok areas at 7.15am this morning were flagged “code red”, which is triggered when inhalable particles with diameters generally sized at…

  • Avengers theme park closes in Bangkok after only 7 months

    Avengers theme park closes in Bangkok after only 7 months

    Usually anything to do with the Avengers is a license to print money. But not in the case of Southeast Asia’s first Marvel Entertainment theme park. The park, constructed at the Mega Bangna Shopping Centre in south-east Bangkok, is going out of business after just seven months. Despite the fanfare when it opened in June 2018, the themed attraction didn’t…

  • Algerian tourist arrested over tourist thefts in Bangkok

    Algerian tourist arrested over tourist thefts in Bangkok

    PHOTOS: Immigration Bureau An Algerian male tourist has been arrested after pick pocketing tourists at a BTS Station in Bangkok. Immigration Bureau report that 46 year old Algerian man, SOFIANE YASSAAD CHERIF, has been arrested after pick pocketing other tourists last Friday. Cherif entered the Kingdom as 60 days tourist on December 2. Cherif has chosen foreign tourist victims as…

  • Australian and Thai transnational drug smugglers drop the ball

    Australian and Thai transnational drug smugglers drop the ball

    PHOTO: The Nation How much heroin can you smuggle in eight (car) shock absorbers? Apparently close to 4 kilograms. A joint Thai-Australian drug suppression operation called Taskforce Storm has yielded results and arrested two transnational heroin smugglers. Police identified the two as 38 year old Canadian Stephens Blair and 27 year old Thai Pahon Sivasirikaroon. The pair were apprehended when they…

  • Bangkok smog: Diesel buses and vehicles key problem

    Bangkok smog: Diesel buses and vehicles key problem

    by Wichit Chaitrong “The problem is the estimated 2.5 million diesel-powered trucks and buses still on city roads.” Experts are saying this morning that, given the problems in recent weeks with Bangkok’s smog, the national government’s pursuit of a “low-carbon economy” has fallen short of needs. They are recommending higher taxes on “dirty fuel” and a reduction in the number of…

  • Belarusian ‘Anastasia’ will be in Moscow detention another 3 days

    Belarusian ‘Anastasia’ will be in Moscow detention another 3 days

    Anastasia Vashukevich, aka. Nastya Rybka, the Belarusian model/sex-educator/Instagramer who spent a year in a Thai jail awaiting last week’s Court case, and was then deported, remains in a Moscow jail as of last night after the presiding judge decided to extend her detention by 72 hours. She was arrested at Moscow airport on Thursday after being deported from Thailand on…

  • Bangkok smog: Police get out their hoses

    Bangkok smog: Police get out their hoses

    by Kornkamon Aksorndech Traffic police and volunteers sprayed water at four locations in Bangkok this morning in a bid to curb the dust and smog pollution. Pol Maj General Nithithorn Jintakanon, commander of the Traffic Police Division of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, presided at the dispatch of 150 police officers and volunteers from his headquarters on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road. They chose…

  • Club raid in Bangkok. Everyone detained tested positive to drug use.

    Club raid in Bangkok. Everyone detained tested positive to drug use.

    PHOTOS: The Nation Another Bangkok night spot is is being threatened with closure after an early morning raid found it open too late, unlicensed and with patrons stocked up and pumped up with illicit drugs. A team from the Provincial Administration Department and other officials raided the 56 Arena Music Hall on Charoenrat Road in Bang Kho Laem district, south…

  • Bangkok smog: Sunday awakes to another day of ‘unhealthy’ air in the capital

    Bangkok smog: Sunday awakes to another day of ‘unhealthy’ air in the capital

    As promised, Bangkok and the central region have been battling with enduring smog this weekend. On Friday the Thai Meteorological Department warned of smog and haze continuing over the weekend in parts of the capital and in nearby Pattaya due to a weakening cold front in the north of country, bordering Laos. Given the fingers pointing at Bangkok’s old buses,…

  • Experience the creative vibe during Bangkok Design Week with Airbnb

    Experience the creative vibe during Bangkok Design Week with Airbnb

    Thailand is a hub of creativity; a country filled with artisanal culinary gems and art galleries that boasts creativity and innovation allowing cultural tradition to sit comfortably alongside the embrace of new ideas. Thailand never tires, and Bangkok remains popular, with Airbnb seeing an influx of guests during festivals and events such as Bangkok Design Week, which returns for its…

  • Bangkok’s weather is not helping the smog problem

    Bangkok’s weather is not helping the smog problem

    PHOTO: Thai PBS The Thai capital’s air pollution is expected to remain bad, and maybe even get worse, over the seven days. The TMD (Thai Meteorological Department) has forecast the onset of low pressure from China which will keep the city’s PM2.5 dust particles hovering in the area and not dispersing, or being blown or washed away. But the Deputy…

  • Bangkok smog: Predicted to worsen over weekend

    Bangkok smog: Predicted to worsen over weekend

    Bangkok’s air pollution is expected to worsen today following slight improvements in weather conditions and some rain last Tuesday and Wednesday. Fewer locations reported fine particle dust beyond safe levels yesterday, while the Meteorological Department is issuing warnings about a high-pressure area hovering over Laos and the Northeast that will bring temperatures down by 1 to 3 degrees Celsius in…

  • The Minister for Putting-Foot-in-Mouth

    The Minister for Putting-Foot-in-Mouth

    The Deputy PM, Prawit Wongsuwan, luxury watch lover and Defence Minister, is now becoming notorious as the Minister for Putting Foot in Mouth. Thailand’s deputy PM, talking to the media about the attack on the Thai hotel in Nairobi where 14 people were killed, said it was “good enough” that no Thais were killed in the terrorist attack. Addressing reporters…

  • Bangkok smog: Police on the lookout for dirty exhaust from vehicles

    Bangkok smog: Police on the lookout for dirty exhaust from vehicles

    by Khanathit Srihirundaj It’s either a knee-jerk reaction, media stunt or something we hope to see a lot more of. Checking vehicles with plumes of dirty smoke coming out of their exhaust. To help curb fine-particle dust pollution in Bangkok, traffic police have increased the number of checkpoints where they will check vehicles spewing black exhaust smoke. The number of…

  • Bangkok smog: Chatuchak school closes for the rest of the week

    Bangkok smog: Chatuchak school closes for the rest of the week

    A kindergarten in Chatuchak, to the north of central Bangkok, has suspended classes because of air pollution that has landed Bangkok in the top 10 list of worst-polluted cities. Bangkok still lags far behind some of the world’s most polluted cities, including the Afghani capital Kabul (at 576), Delhi in India (306) and Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar (300). But the Top 10…

  • Crisis meetings in Bangkok today over smog solutions

    Crisis meetings in Bangkok today over smog solutions

    PHOTOS: The Nation Urgent meetings are being held in Bangkok today to address the acute smog problems in the capital. The Pollution Control Department and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration are gathering today in their latest efforts to battle with the persistent smog while dust particles continue to blanket the capital with smog levels alarming locals and causing tourists to cancel their…

  • Bangkok smog to hit Thailand in the tourism pocket

    Bangkok smog to hit Thailand in the tourism pocket

    Bangkok’s air pollution problems will take a hefty toll on the Thai economy unless authorities can effectively clear the city’s air and find some long-term solutions to smog. A Kasikorn Research Centre analysis says the smog could cost Thailand 6.6 billion baht in losses for the healthcare and tourism sectors due to the impact of air pollution. The analysis says…

  • Weather for January 16

    Weather for January 16

    Bangkok Morning clouds followed by afternoon sun. High 33ºC. Winds NE at 10 to 15 km/h. Chiang Mai Generally clear. High 30ºC. Winds ESE and variable. Phuket Afternoon showers. High 31ºC. Winds NNE and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Ko Samui Thundershowers. High 25ºC. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 40%. Pattaya Partly cloudy. High 32ºC.…

  • Smog settles in as a chronic Bangkok problem

    Smog settles in as a chronic Bangkok problem

    Air pollution? What air pollution!? Bangkok residents will have to put up with smog until early March, as high levels of PM2.5 particles settle over the capital for many more weeks, or months. Though pollution has become a cause of grave concern to citizens, relevant authorities are yet to introduce significant measures – let alone declare the capital a pollution-control…

  • The big ‘fake’ Indian wedding

    The big ‘fake’ Indian wedding

    A police crackdown had led to the arrest of 28 people involved in a marriage scam for Indian nationals who seek to stay in Thailand long term. The suspects include a 53 year old Thai-Indian man who acted as a marriage broker and prepared the documents needed, while the other 27 are Thai women who were allegedly paid 8,000-10,000 baht…

  • Cloud seeding: Making fake rain in Bangkok

    Cloud seeding: Making fake rain in Bangkok

    In an effort to tackle the serious air pollution problem in Bangkok, the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation plans to deploy rainmaking planes to seed clouds and create ‘fake’ rain (it’s actually real rain but induced artificially). “Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds by dispersing substances into the air that…

  • World Health Organisation: More people killed by air pollution than by AIDS, malaria

    World Health Organisation: More people killed by air pollution than by AIDS, malaria

    by Pratch Rujivanarom Authorities are launching all-out efforts to battle persistent smog in Bangkok, as dust particles continued to blanket the capital. Meanwhile a WHO (World Health Organisation) report says air pollution kills more people than AIDS and malaria combined. Authorities have been including cleaning roads more often, spraying water into the sky, trying to produce artificial rain and enforcing…