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Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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Thailand to adopt stricter firearm controls amid rise in gun-related crimes
Thailand is adopting stricter firearm controls amid a rise in gun-related crimes. The Cabinet is set to draft a firearms act which deems all privately owned firearms and ammunition must be registered with a government agency. According to The Star, the draft act was approved on Tuesday. Government spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek confirmed the news adding that the current measures in…
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Bangkok police officer shot by SWAT team dies in hospital
UPDATE #4 The mentally disturbed police officer who was shot by SWAT officers at his home in the Sai Mai district of Bangkok after a 27-hour standoff passed away from his injuries in hospital yesterday. After firing more than 50 shots over the course of the siege, Pol. Lt. Col. Kitikarn Sangboon was shot three times by the SWAT team…
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Pod of dolphins makes an appearance in Phang Nga
A pod of dolphins made an appearance in Phang Nga‘s Mu Ko Surin National Park in the Khura Buri district, much to the delight of tourists. A tour boat was travelling through the park when the captain spotted the dolphins. The captain slowed the speedboat to let the tourists admire the creatures. The dolphins stayed to hang out around the…
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Lime growers in central Thailand pick up guns to patrol for thieves
Lime growers in central Thailand aren’t playing around when it comes to protecting their produce. Lime growers in Kamphaeng Phet province are picking up guns after thieves snatched their limes in broad daylight. The farmers have formed an armed patrol unit to protect their lime gardens from theft after unprecedented price hikes. Retail prices for lime in Bangkok and major…
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Ancient Buddhist stupa emerges from Mekong river in Thailand
A Buddhist stupa believed to be over 700 years old has emerged from the Mekong River between Laos and northeast Thailand. Buddhists are flocking to Nong Khai province in Isaan to catch a glimpse of the sacred structure, which has emerged as the river’s water level has drastically fallen as Thailand enters the summer season. Phra That Lah Nong –…
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Car crashes into Phuket power pole, two children and an adult injured
A car crashed into a power pole in Phuket on Monday night, injuring two children and an adult. The sedan crashed into a power pole on Chao Fah – Suan Lueang Road in the Wichit sub-district of the main city district. Rescuers arrived on the scene to find the sedan damaged in the middle of the road. The power pole on…
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Bali to ban foreigners from renting motorbikes
Governor of the Indonesian island of Bali, I Wayan Koster, said that foreigners will soon be banned from renting motorbikes and scooters on the island. He said he will request all motorbike rental shops to ban foreigners from using their services. The governor has had enough of foreign tourists violating traffic rules… “As tourists, act as tourists, using the vehicles prepared…
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Pattaya officials discuss motorcycle taxis and other issues plaguing Walking Street
Pattaya officials, police, and business owners on Walking Street held a meeting yesterday to discuss motorcycle taxis and other issues plaguing the street. One of the main issues discussed was the complaints of motorcycle taxi riders driving in pedestrian areas. The city officials have planned to move them to nearby areas. Garbage disposal was also discussed at the meeting. It…
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Bangkok expats raise over 350,000 baht for charity with football event
A group of German-speaking expats presented a Bangkok charity with a cheque of over 350,000 baht on Monday. The money had been raised at a football fundraiser in January. The group of expats are called the Thai.Ger Supporters. The 12th annual THAI.GER Charity Soccer Event was held on January 28 at the Ruamrudee International School- Swiss Section, a German-speaking school…
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Suicidal teacher arrested for swindling students of over 2 million baht
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday arrested a 43 year old fraudster who tried to commit suicide. The suspect, reportedly a teacher from a high school in the Prawet district of Bangkok, swindled over 2 million baht from 40 students by luring them into buying tour packages to Japan. The arrest came after one victim shared the issue on Twitter.…
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‘Discipline’ vs science: 5.30am school start in Indonesia
The early bird catches exhaustion. Starting school early in the morning has been found in numerous studies to result in a lack of sleep and decreased focus among students. In 2014, a landmark study suggested that school should never start before 8.30am. Additionally, a 2017 study found that starting classes at 10am led to a 20% improvement in the national academic…
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Attacker slashes Burmese worker, reportedly over drunkenness
An unidentified attacker slashed a Burmese gas station worker in Chon Buri on Monday morning, reportedly over the worker’s drunkenness. Police and rescuers rushed to a gas station in the main city district at around 7am, after they were alerted of a serious assault. They found the worker, Myaung Paing, lying in a pool of blood at the gas pump.…
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Bangladeshi man arrested for trying to enter Singapore by walking along Causeway
A Bangladeshi man was arrested after trying to enter Singapore through the Causeway train tracks. Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) arrested the man after he was spotted walking along the tracks. Upon reprimanding him, police say he was not carrying any identification or travel documents. According to Channel News Asia, the ICA wrote about the situation on Facebook. “The man…
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Phuket taxi driver praised after returning Louis Vuitton bag to tourist
A Phuket taxi driver is being praised after returning a 150,000 baht Louis Vuitton purse to a Chinese tourist. The Phuket Info Centre, operated by the Phuket office of the Ministry of Interior, posted about the incident. According to Phuket News, the post was titled, “Good deeds must be admired.” The Centre said the bag was returned to the tourist…
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Phuket gets green light for Songkran water splashing
Phuket has been given the green light for water splashing festivities during the upcoming Thai New Year of Songkran. The president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation, Rewat Areerob, confirmed the good news after a three-year break of no water splashing. The official celebrations will be held in Phuket Town on Dibuk Road, in front of the Limelight Avenue shopping…
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Thai man lauded after saving drowning child in Germany
A Thai man, who works in Germany, committed an act of bravery after jumping into the water to save a drowning child. According to Thai Residents, the child accidentally fell into the water, with the Thai man jumping in after. A video that was shared on Tik Tok, showed the man and child getting out of the water after they…
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Missing woman found buried in southern Thailand forest
Nakhon Si Thammarat Provincial Police Office discovered the dead body of a woman who went missing last month buried in the forest behind Khao Lom Monastery in southern Thailand. Police believe her murder was motivated by a conflict within a drug gang. Officers from the Nakhon Si Thammarat Provincial Police Office discovered the corpse of an unidentified woman buried in…
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Singapore 2 year old girl run over, possibly by her father
Tragedy struck a family in Singapore on Monday when a two year old girl died in a freak accident. The young girl was run over by a van in a car park in the Woodlands area of the city-state, possibly by her father. Emergency services raced to the scene after the incident was reported on Woodlands Street at 2.40pm. The…
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Patong Police bust 7 for allegedly illegally processing cannabis buds
There’s been another bust in Patong over nightlife and substances. Patong Police on Monday night busted seven people for allegedly illegally processing cannabis buds. Police apprehended the seven individuals on Bangla Road, and Soi Sane Sabai. This was after the police, along with staffers from the Department of Traditional Thai medicine, inspected cannabis shops on the roads. The seven people…
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SWAT team shoots frenzied Bangkok police officer 3 times as he jumps from window (video)
UPDATE #3 The frenzied police officer who opened fire in Bangkok yesterday is seriously injured after being shot three times in the left arm, left thigh and left side of his chest by SWAT officers as he jumped out of the window holding a knife at 12.25pm. After Pol. Lt. Kitikarn Sangboon fired more than 30 continuous shots at 12:13pm,…
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Teacher reverses over and kills 8 year old girl with pickup truck at school in northern Thailand
An eight year old girl was killed when a female teacher reversed over her head in her pickup truck at a school in Phetchabun province in lower northern Thailand yesterday. At 7am, eight year old “Nong Fangkhao” was on her way to school with her grandmother in Ban Wai subdistrict, Lom Sak district, when she was struck by a female…
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Beach holiday goes wrong when Krabi dog viciously attacks tourist
A beach holiday went completely wrong for one tourist after a dog viciously attacked him in Krabi on Saturday. The tourist, 60 year old Thai national Daniel Sudjai Kutrakun, had been walking on Ao Nang Beach with his American wife to have a look at the area where his daughter plans to get married in three months. The two were…
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BREAKING: Frenzied police officer finally detained 24 hours after opening fire in Bangkok
UPDATE #2 At 12.25pm, SWAT police entered the frenzied police officer‘s house in the Sai Mai district in Bangkok and were able to detain him, more than 24 hours after he opened fire into the street. Officers entered the house upon hearing more than 30 continuous gunshots from inside the property at 12.13pm. Pol. Col. Kitikarn Sangboon was taken to…
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Resort encroaching on Navy land ordered demolished
The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) has ordered a luxury resort to cease its operations and to be demolished after an inspection found that it was illegally built on state land under the care of the RTN. The resort boasts six modified shipping containers made into pool villas and is located on a hilltop in the Samae San sub-district, Chon Buri.…
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Singapore Airlines flight grounded after bomb threat
A bomb threat led to an emergency grounding of a Singapore Airlines flight in South Africa. Singapore Airlines flight SQ478 was grounded in Johannesburg yesterday following the threat. The aircraft landed at OR Tambo International Airport and all 58 passengers and 15 crew members successfully disembarked. The plane was flying from Singapore to Cape Town and was just doing a…
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John Oliver calls out Ron DeSantis for Thai food mispronunciation (video)
Funnyman John Oliver become embroiled in a bizarre spat with Ron DeSantis when the comedian called out the Florida governor for his pronunciation of Thai food. De Santis is said to be furious with Oliver after he revealed on a late-night talk show that as a young man, the politician would purposely mispronounce Thai food as “thigh food” in order…
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Authorities scramble to find radioactive cylinder stolen from power plant in Thailand
Thai authorities are scrambling to find a steel tube containing the radioactive isotope Caesium-137 believed to have gone missing from a power plant at an industrial estate in Prachin Buri province in central Thailand on February 23. Staff noticed the cylinder was missing on Friday and filed a record at Sri Maha Phot Police Station that day. The company said…
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Phuket villager stumbles upon mother sea turtle laying 107 eggs
A Phuket villager stumbled upon a mother sea turtle as she was laying 107 eggs. Sirinat National Park said in a Facebook post that the villager, Kriangkrai Dejom, found the mother turtle laying eggs on a beach near Sai Khu Bay at around 5am on Monday. The beach is located in the Sakhu sub-district of Thalang district. Kriangkrai patiently waited…
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Frenzied police officer firing shots in Bangkok shows no signs of surrender after 22 hours
UPDATE After 22 hours of failed negotiations, the frenzied police officer who opened fire in the Sai Mai area of Bangkok at 11am yesterday has not surrendered to the police and is still inside his house on Soi Jiramakorn. At 6.50pm, SWAT officers fired tear gas into 51 year old Pol. Lt. Kitikarn Sangboon’s house. However, deputy national police chief…
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Leave Durians in Police Care project launched to stop durian thefts
The Ao Cho Police Station in the eastern province of Trat launched a project called Leave Durians in Police Care after farmers in the province lost millions of baht worth of durian fruit and their trees to thieves in the past year. The Chief Inspector of Ao Cho Police Station, Ariyachai Thima, met with durian farmers on Monday, March 13…
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