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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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    Why 8 Atelier Residence is poised for growth: Phuket’s investment hotspot in the making

    Phuket’s residential real estate market is no longer defined only by beachfront villas and short-stay resort condominiums. The island is now seeing sustained interest from international investors targeting long-term yields, capital stability, and access to full-scale lifestyle infrastructure. Looking at...

  • Ayutthaya mother and son drug gang, police seize 5 million meth pills | Thaiger

    Ayutthaya mother and son drug gang, police seize 5 million meth pills

    A mother and son, suspected to be part of a larger central Thailand drug gang, have been arrested after 5 million methamphetamine pills were discovered inside a rented rooms in Prainracha, Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok. Officials searched the property on March 6, noting that there were two bedrooms in bad repair with sacks of pills strewn around the rooms. Sacks…

  • 100 kilograms of crystal meth wash ashore in Thailand’s southeast | Thaiger

    100 kilograms of crystal meth wash ashore in Thailand’s southeast

    It’s been a busy week for the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), as police in Trat province seized 100 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice,” found washed ashore on two beaches. Nineteen packets of the drug were found on Koh Mak beach, and another 81 packs on Koh Kut beach. Trat is the easternmost province along the Thai…

  • Help is on the way: 100 billion baht stimulus package passed | Thaiger

    Help is on the way: 100 billion baht stimulus package passed

    Eyeing the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on the nation’s already battered economy, the government yesterday approved a stimulus package, anticipated to cost more than 100 billion baht. The package was approved in a meeting of the Council of Economic Ministers, led by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, and will be forwarded to the cabinet for approval on Tuesday. After the…

  • Forecast: steamy in the North, stormy in the South | Thaiger

    Forecast: steamy in the North, stormy in the South

    The weather department’s forecast is for hot weather for upper Thailand today, as a high-pressure system from China covering the South China Sea weakens. Meanwhile southerly and the southeasterly winds will bring humidity from the South China Sea to the area. Thundershowers are likely in parts of the lower North, the Northeast and the Central and East regions. The weak…

  • No Songkran for Pattaya this year | Thaiger

    No Songkran for Pattaya this year

    Pattaya’s mayor today confirmed that Pattaya is cancelling virtually all official Songkran activities for this year due to concerns over the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. This includes the Wan Lai Festival scheduled for April 19, the single biggest event on the city’s calendar, which attracts up to a half million tourists, both Thai and foreign, in what many consider Thailand’s wildest…

  • 2000 baht handouts for low-income Thais | Thaiger

    2000 baht handouts for low-income Thais

    Thailand’s Council of Economic Ministers today endorsed a Finance Ministry proposal to provide low-income Thais 2000 baht each via an e-payment channel. Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana said after a meeting this afternoon that there will be a 1000 payment for two consecutive months for low-income earners, farmers and freelancers. The number of people eligible has yet to be calculated. The…

  • Government launches “Have problems, consult the PM” charm offensive | Thaiger

    Government launches “Have problems, consult the PM” charm offensive

    Thailand’s government yesterday launched a new program, dubbed “Have Problems, Consult the PM,” to allow the public to voice grievances and problems directly to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Prayut welcomed groups representing farmers, civil society and independent entrepreneurs at Government House. The PM told them that the program is his own initiative at a time of challenges, including Thailand’s economic…

  • Major corporations join the fight against plastics | Thaiger

    Major corporations join the fight against plastics

    by Ghislaine Bovy Reduce. Re-use. Recycle. The public is now fully aware of the gigantic plastic pollution issue. They know it’s time to act and act now. Many of us have already “gone” into using reusable plastic bags, refillable bottles and buy fruits and vegetables in bulk instead of in individual plastic bags, small shops don’t give you a plastic…

  • Health minister won’t say why quarantine order deleted, Facebook account inactive | Thaiger

    Health minister won’t say why quarantine order deleted, Facebook account inactive

    Health minister Anutin Charnvirakul yesterday declined to explain why he removed an order requiring people arriving from 9 countries and 2 Chinese territories designated as high risk areas for the Covid-19 virus to be placed in self-quarantine. According to the quickly deleted document posted on his official Facebook page (now inactive), the nine destinations are “disease areas” and people arriving…

  • Students say they were bilked as long distance “technical school” closes | Thaiger

    Students say they were bilked as long distance “technical school” closes

    Students of a Thai technical school are crying foul after the “college” shut down without bestowing them with their diplomas. They allege the college charged expensive tuition fees then shut down. One student, 27 year old Suchada Krahothong, said she paid 50,000 baht for a one year course at the college, advertised as a “special program.” But despite regularly attending…

  • March 2020, the Thai month of cancellations | Thaiger

    March 2020, the Thai month of cancellations

    March will end up as the long month of cancellations. With Songkran looming, one of the busiest times for travel in Thailand, and increasingly one of the biggest annual tourist magnets to the Kingdom, cancelling Songkran would take Thailand into unchartered tourism and economic territory. Fears, real or imagined, are forcing companies and governments to assess their risks associated with…

  • Thailand’s Koh Phangan full moon party cancelled | Thaiger

    Thailand’s Koh Phangan full moon party cancelled

    …until further notice. The next Full Moon Party, scheduled for March 8, has been cancelled. The memo from the Mayor of Koh Phangan says that the hugely popular monthly party has been cancelled due to fears associated with the Covid-19 virus. The memo also says that there will no further monthly parties until fears over the outbreak pass. The cancellation…

  • Thai tourism ministry proposes 5 billion baht in tourist stimulus packages | Thaiger

    Thai tourism ministry proposes 5 billion baht in tourist stimulus packages

    Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says he will propose new domestic travel stimulus packages valued at 5 billion baht this Friday. The Minister says the aim is to cushion the impact of the coronavirus for the tourism service sector across the country. The Minister says that domestic tourism is “the priority during this difficult time. The government should implement…

  • Finance ministry announces new stimulus packages and tax breaks | Thaiger

    Finance ministry announces new stimulus packages and tax breaks

    Thailand’s Finance Ministry has announced a raft of new stimulus measures to help prop up parts of the Thai economy suffering under the impact of the coronavirus. They say the measures will assist “all sectors of Thai society currently affected by the Covid-19 situation”, which arrived at the same time as an economic slowdown, an export slump and drought. The…

  • Chon Buri man kills neighbour with metal pipe after being refused a cigarette | Thaiger

    Chon Buri man kills neighbour with metal pipe after being refused a cigarette

    Police in Chon Buri province, near Pattaya, arrested a 32 year old Thai man on Monday for allegedly beating his 51 year old neighbour to death with a metal pipe, after the neighbor refused to give him a cigarette. Police were informed of an incident at a home in the Map Pong sub district at 9:30pm. Officers arrived along with…

  • Thailand News Today, March 4, 2020 | Thaiger

    Thailand News Today, March 4, 2020

    Man arrested with 44 kilograms of marijuana in Phuket A 60 year old man is in custody after he was found collecting 44 kilograms of dried marijuana, valued at about 400,000 baht, from a parcel delivery company in Phuket. Police told a press conference yesterday that officers were tipped off about a large shipment of marijuana arriving in Phuket via…

  • Ayuttaya man arrested with pistol, planning to shoot wife and her lover | Thaiger

    Ayuttaya man arrested with pistol, planning to shoot wife and her lover

    Police in Ayuttaya, north of Bangkok, yesterday arrested a man carrying an unregistered handgun and ammunition, who told them he was on his way to shoot his wife and her lover a a nearby mall. 45 year old Somkhid Ruennangyaem was pulled over on his motorbike for a search near Naresuan bridge in tambon Pailing, about 11am on Tuesday. Police…

  • Saudi man flees Pattaya hospital after alleged attackers show evidence of his debt | Thaiger

    Saudi man flees Pattaya hospital after alleged attackers show evidence of his debt

    A Saudi Arabian man, who was beaten by assailants in Pattaya claiming to be police, has now fled the hospital where he was being treated for his injuries. A Pattaya police spokesman has denied that any officers were involved in the brawl and says police are seeking the man, thought to be in hiding in Pattaya. The Saudi man was…

  • Man arrested with 44 kilograms of marijuana in Phuket | Thaiger

    Man arrested with 44 kilograms of marijuana in Phuket

    A 60 year old man is in custody after he was found collecting 44 kilograms of dried marijuana, valued at about 400,000 baht, from a parcel delivery company in Phuket. Police told a press conference yesterday that officers got a tip that a large shipment of marijuana would arrive in Phuket via a parcel company on February 29. On the…

  • Buri Ram MotoGP “postponed indefinitely” over virus fears | Thaiger

    Buri Ram MotoGP “postponed indefinitely” over virus fears

    In a shocking reversal, the Thai MotoGP 2020, scheduled for March 20-22 in Buri Ram province, has been “postponed indefinitely” due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul made the announcement yesterday. Despite earlier reassurances the race would go on, Anutin said the decision to suspend the event was made at…

  • Nong Nong forced to lift weights and perform for tourists at a Phuket zoo – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Nong Nong forced to lift weights and perform for tourists at a Phuket zoo – VIDEO

    A monkey has been filmed lifting weights and doing other ‘tricks’ for tourists at an unnamed zoo in Phuket. Footage was shot by people recording the video for PETA, the global animal rights group, of the monkey being forced to lift weights and do press-ups as entertainment for the island’s tourists. The monkey is an indigenous Macaque species and named ‘Ning…

  • Gunman in Manila mall standoff surrenders, releases hostages | Thaiger

    Gunman in Manila mall standoff surrenders, releases hostages

    Further to a story earlier reported by The Thaiger, a former security guard has released some 30 people and walked out of a Manila shopping mall after hours of gruelling negotiations, ending a day-long hostage crisis in an upscale commercial district. The gunman, identified by police as Archie Paray, a former guard at the complex, left the V-Mall in suburban…

  • Samui’s Banyan Tree Hotel acts to protect sea turtle nest | Thaiger

    Samui’s Banyan Tree Hotel acts to protect sea turtle nest

    Khun Veeraphat, a waiter at Sands beachfront restaurant on Koh Samui, made a startling discovery on February 13 when he spotted what appeared to be tracks coming from the sea. CCTV footage at Banyan Tree Samui clearly showed a giant sea turtle laying eggs on the beach the night before, then returning to the water. The luxury hotel, located on the…

  • Thai Moto GP in Buriram postponed over outbreak fears | Thaiger

    Thai Moto GP in Buriram postponed over outbreak fears

    Another casualty of the current coronavirus precautions, one of the biggest sporting events in Thailand – the MotoGP 2020 in Buriram. The event was scheduled for March 20-22 in Buri Ram province, north east Thailand, where it has started to gather a huge local and international following. The Deputy PM and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul made the announcement this morning.…

  • Pattaya ladyboy attacks American tourist with sodium hydroxide | Thaiger

    Pattaya ladyboy attacks American tourist with sodium hydroxide

    Pattaya police announced the arrest of a transgender suspect who allegedly attacked an American tourist with sodium hydroxide over the weekend. Sodium hydroxide, also called lye or caustic soda, is a highly corrosive chemical that decomposes proteins at ordinary ambient temperatures and can cause cause severe chemical burns. It’s used in making wood pulp for paper and is a primary…

  • Temperatures to rise in the North, storms predicted | Thaiger

    Temperatures to rise in the North, storms predicted

    Temperatures in the upper parts of Thailand are predicted to creep upward, due to a high pressure cell covering the North. Southerly and southeasterly winds are expected to bring humidity from the South China Sea to the East and Central regions, including Bangkok and environs, while weak easterly winds prevail across the Gulf. Thailand’s Meteorological Department predicts isolated thundershowers for…

  • Chiang Mai to see passenger numbers fall by 40% in wake of virus fears | Thaiger

    Chiang Mai to see passenger numbers fall by 40% in wake of virus fears

    The numbers at Chiang Mai’s international airport will fall 40% to 3.5 million in the first six months of this year if the outbreak of Covid-19 coronavirus drags on until the middle of the year. Chiang Mai airport deputy director Thananrat Prasertsri said late last week that flights to the airport during the period January 1 to February 25 dropped…

  • Chiang Mai has the world’s worst air quality for second straight day | Thaiger

    Chiang Mai has the world’s worst air quality for second straight day

    Virus or no, you may want to wear a mask if you’re in Chiang Mai today; as of 1:36pm, Airvisual.com has rated air quality there the worst in the world for a second day. Yangon, Kathmandu and Mumbai were close behind. The website showed Chiang Mai’s average pollution at 181, (down from 193 yesterday) meaning particulate matter less than 2.5…

  • Man arrested for gunshots at Nontha Buri mall “to intimidate his wife” | Thaiger

    Man arrested for gunshots at Nontha Buri mall “to intimidate his wife”

    In a further development to a story the Thaiger reported earlier, a Thai man has been arrested for firing a gun on Friday at the Central Plaza shopping mall in Nontha Buri, just outside of Bangkok. Police responded swiftly to the shooting and no casualties were reported. “The suspect is 41 years old and he reportedly fired six shots while…

  • Students say they’ll increase protests until PM stands down | Thaiger

    Students say they’ll increase protests until PM stands down

    About 700 students joined a rally last night in front of the auditorium at Bangkok’s Kasetsart University, vowing to escalate their protests until the government of Prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha steps down. University and secondary students have been rallying on or near their campuses since Monday to demand a rewrite of Thailand’s 2017 Constitution and transparent elections. Pro-democracy activist Parit…