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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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  • Phuket conservationists butt heads with locals on coral reef | Thaiger

    Phuket conservationists butt heads with locals on coral reef

    Conservationists are fighting to stop a bay being dredged in Ao Kung in Pa Khlok, on Phuket’s east coast, as they say it will damage nearby coral reefs. A former village headman says the bay needs to be dredged because fishing boats have a hard time getting to the port at low tide. At a meeting with representatives of local…

  • Criminals pretend to be police, scam Swiss man in Phuket | Thaiger

    Criminals pretend to be police, scam Swiss man in Phuket

    Scammers went after a Swiss national living in Phuket when they pretended to be police, and told him he had to pay a fine for receiving funds through illegal activities. The “police” contacted the man, Alain, saying a FedEx package couldn’t be delivered. Since Alain was expecting a FedEx package, he listened. The story then changed to say Bangkok police…

  • BTS promotes Samsung’s ocean cleanup campaign in ‘Galaxy for the Future’ MV | Thaiger

    BTS promotes Samsung’s ocean cleanup campaign in ‘Galaxy for the Future’ MV

    In a new music video, South Korea’s BTS is promoting the recycling of ocean-bound plastics and the use of eco-conscious packaging for the new Samsung Galaxy S22 Series smartphones. The MV capped off last night’s Galaxy Unpacked 2022 event, which saw the release of Samsung’s newest devices, with an eco-friendly emphasis on their Galaxy for the Planet initiative and the…

  • Insurance companies “hesitate” to give Covid-19 insurance to foreign tourists | Thaiger

    Insurance companies “hesitate” to give Covid-19 insurance to foreign tourists

    After facing losses from Covid-19 claims from local cases, many Thai insurance companies are indicating that they are hesitant to provide Covid-19 insurance for foreign tourists entering Thailand under the current regulations. The deputy governor of marketing communications at the Tourism Authority of Thailand said only a few companies are now interested in joining the Test & Go programme, the…

  • Oil-affected Rayong beach will host Valentine’s Day event to celebrate reopening | Thaiger

    Oil-affected Rayong beach will host Valentine’s Day event to celebrate reopening

    Love will conquer all, including an oil spill off the Thai coastline. The Rayong beach where oil reached its shores last month will host a Valentine’s Day event called “Rayong in Love” to celebrate the beach’s reopening. The event at Mae Ram Phueng Beach will start on Saturday, February 12, and end on Monday, February 14. The Rayong governor said…

  • Pattaya drunks steal road signs to pay for more booze | Thaiger

    Pattaya drunks steal road signs to pay for more booze

    Three drunk men in Pattaya cut up several road signs and planned to sell the parts for money to buy more booze. Police saw the three men with hardware tools, stealing signs on main roads in the Pattaya and Banglamung area. Police arrested one man, 27, and he’s now being charged for theft. The other two men fled the scene.…

  • Thailand Pass hotlines, emails for assistance with registration process | Thaiger

    Thailand Pass hotlines, emails for assistance with registration process

    Thailand Pass hotlines were launched to assist travellers with registering for the various programs to enter the country at the moment. We know aspects of it are a pain in the arse, but for people wanting, or needing, to get back into Thailand at the moment, the Thailand Pass is not that difficult to navigate. And The Thaiger has some…

  • Songkran to be cancelled if daily Covid numbers hit 30,000 – DDC | Thaiger

    Songkran to be cancelled if daily Covid numbers hit 30,000 – DDC

    Thailand’s famous water festival Songkran might be cancelled for another year if the daily Covid-19 cases reach 30,000 cases per day, the Department of Disease Control says. The massive water gun fight, celebrating the Thai New Year, was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to coronavirus concerns. The DDC warns that Songkran, which is April 13 to 15 this year,…

  • Government cracks down hard on pork hoarders | Thaiger

    Government cracks down hard on pork hoarders

    After Songkhla authorities accused one food company of hoarding 200 tonnes of pork in January, the government is on a mission to crack down on pork hoarding. Authorities have gotten more strict about storage and receiving procedures, and inspected 24.48 million kilograms of pork. They then seized 1.07 million kilograms of it that was hoarded. Pork prices are finally lowering…

  • Travellers can register for the Thailand Pass no less than 24 hours before their trip | Thaiger

    Travellers can register for the Thailand Pass no less than 24 hours before their trip

    For those planning a trip to Thailand, travellers will need to register for the required Thailand Pass QR code no less than 24 hours before a trip, but the Thai government is highly recommending that travellers register and plan a trip at least seven days in advance as the processing time before approval can take three to seven days. For…

  • Democrat politician jumps ship to join Move Forward Party | Thaiger

    Democrat politician jumps ship to join Move Forward Party

    A prominent MP, formerly part of the Democrat Party, has resigned and joined the opposition Move Forward Party. The MP, Tawil Praisont, said he had been considering leaving the Democrat Party for quite some time because it didn’t want to decentralise local administrative organisations, especially after Thailand’s 2019 general elections. Tawil said he started to regularly meet with a Move…

  • Thai police track down, arrest suspect in bank robbery case | Thaiger

    Thai police track down, arrest suspect in bank robbery case

    Police arrested a man suspected of robbing a bank in the central province Saraburi and running off with around 210,000 baht in cash. In an expedited investigation, with local police promising to find the suspect within the week, officers tracked down and arrested 33 year old Weerachai Auttaparp at his house about 10 kilometres from the bank. Videos from the…

  • Minimum daily wage in Thailand looks set to increase to 492 baht | Thaiger

    Minimum daily wage in Thailand looks set to increase to 492 baht

    The Labour Ministry is expected to approve a rise in Thailand’s daily minimum wage from 336 baht to a flat rate of 492, according to a Nation Thailand report. The sharp increase comes just 2 years after a previous hike and is expected to mainly favour labourers. It’s understood that 2 agencies representing workers in the Tripartite Wage Committee have…

  • Phuket police have CCTV footage of fatal gangster shooting | Thaiger

    Phuket police have CCTV footage of fatal gangster shooting

    Police investigating the murder of an Indian gangster shot dead in Phuket on Friday night say they have security camera footage of the incident. According to a Bangkok Post report, officers are reviewing CCTV footage of the moment 32-year-old Jimi Sandhu was gunned down outside his villa in Rawai, in the south of the island. His body was found in…

  • Health Minister signs document removing cannabis with low-THC from narcotics list | Thaiger

    Health Minister signs document removing cannabis with low-THC from narcotics list

    The Public Health Minister Autin Charnvirakul signed a document to remove cannabis from the ministry’s list of Category 5 narcotics. It will be in effect within 120 days after the announcement from the Royal Gazette. Cannabis with a concentration of the psychoactive component THC exceeding 0.2% is still illegal. The minister says getting high off cannabis is still illegal, with heavy…

  • Police search for bank robber who stole more than 200,000 baht in cash | Thaiger

    Police search for bank robber who stole more than 200,000 baht in cash

    Police are searching for a man who robbed a bank in the central province of Saraburi and ran off with 210,000 baht in cash. Officers say they want to make an arrest within the next seven days and have offered a 10,000 baht reward to anyone who has information that leads to an arrest. Thai media says the man was…

  • Man allegedly attacks neighbour in Bangkok, claiming revenge for black magic | Thaiger

    Man allegedly attacks neighbour in Bangkok, claiming revenge for black magic

    A 47 year old man from Sri Lanka was arrested after he allegedly attacked a neighbour, smashing a glass bottle on his head and then stabbing him with the broken glass. Reports say he claimed the victim had used black magic against him to cause him pain. The victim, who is also 47 years old, says he was eating dinner…

  • China’s Tencent restores original ‘Fight Club’ film ending, cuts nudity after censorship backlash | Thaiger

    China’s Tencent restores original ‘Fight Club’ film ending, cuts nudity after censorship backlash

    In an unusual reversal of censorship, Chinese tech company Tencent has restored the original ending of the 1999 cult film “Fight Club.” The sudden turnaround comes after intense backlash from Chinese netizens who were familiar with the movie’s plot and significant negative publicity about the change in international media. But of course, they cut out the nudity, keeping in line…

  • Officers seize monitor lizards, monkeys from farm suspected of exporting to restaurants | Thaiger

    Officers seize monitor lizards, monkeys from farm suspected of exporting to restaurants

    A farm owner was arrested for allegedly raising and exporting water monitor lizards and macaque monkeys in the northern province of Phichit. Officers say they suspect the farm was exporting the animals to Cambodia, and then to Vietnam and China to be sold to restaurants, according to the commander of the National Resources and Environmental Crime Division. When officials arrived…

  • Tourism revenue hits record low across all 77 provinces in Thailand | Thaiger

    Tourism revenue hits record low across all 77 provinces in Thailand

    Tourism revenue has plummeted across each of the 77 provinces, according to data from Thailand’s tourism ministry. The Bangkok Post reports that income from both foreign and local tourism reached an historic low in 2021, dropping by nearly 70%. Meanwhile, the revenue gap between Bangkok and other major provinces remains wide. In 2021, Bangkok posted the highest revenue at 62.7…

  • Samsung builds phones with old fishing nets, bets you’ll pay premium prices | Thaiger

    Samsung builds phones with old fishing nets, bets you’ll pay premium prices

    Your next Samsung smartphone will certainly come with a hefty price tag, despite presumably less premium materials. But you can feel good about it because, who knows, you might be saving the whales. In a Sunday press release on their website, Samsung announced it has created a new material “made with repurposed ocean-bound discarded fishing nets,” which it plans to…

  • Calls for campaign to teach drivers to stop at red lights (yes, really) | Thaiger

    Calls for campaign to teach drivers to stop at red lights (yes, really)

    The secretary-general of the Medical Council of Thailand has called for a campaign to educate Thai drivers about the need to stop at red lights and pedestrian crossings. In a post on his Facebook page, Ittaporn Kanacharoen says drivers need to be taught about the rights of pedestrians and the need to give way at zebra crossings and red traffic…

  • Fear of back taxes preventing some businesses from participating in government co-payment scheme | Thaiger

    Fear of back taxes preventing some businesses from participating in government co-payment scheme

    Signs are popping up outside restaurants and shops across Thailand, advising customers that they don’t accept payment via the government’s 50/50 stimulus scheme. Thai PBS World reports that a number of businesses are refusing to participate in the Khon La Khrueng (Let’s Go Halves) subsidy scheme, fearful that the government will come along and claim back taxes further down the…

  • Cash, safes, passports seized from Phuket villa in “gangster” murder investigation | Thaiger

    Cash, safes, passports seized from Phuket villa in “gangster” murder investigation

    Following the murder of an alleged gangster in Phuket, police have seized a number of items from the Indian man’s rented villa. According to a Bangkok Post report, investigating officers have removed 2 safes, 2 passports, and 700,000 baht in cash from the villa in Rawai, in the south of the island. The 32-year-old victim, named locally as Mandeep Singh,…

  • UPDATE: Spotify removes over 100 old Joe Rogan Experience episodes | Thaiger

    UPDATE: Spotify removes over 100 old Joe Rogan Experience episodes

    Streaming service Spotify has now removed 113 episodes of the highly popular Joe Rogan Experience from its platform. It follows an apology from Joe Rogan, for using racial slurs on his podcasts and comes just 2 weeks after another controversy regarding criticism of apparently misleading Covid-19 guests and conversations. The Instagram apology isn’t directly related to the mounting criticism over some…

  • VIDEO: Phuket police search for 2 gunmen over shooting death of Jimi “Slice” Sandhu | Thaiger

    VIDEO: Phuket police search for 2 gunmen over shooting death of Jimi “Slice” Sandhu

    Police are still investigating the shooting of a former “gangster” who had been deported from Canada 6 years ago. 32 year old Indian Jimi “Slice” Sandhu, was gunned down while getting out of his red SUV around 10pm on Friday night in Rawai, Phuket. He was a former ‘person-of-interest’ for police in British Columbia, Canada, referred to as a “gangster”…

  • In Bangkok, almost 90% of cars, motorbikes, public vehicles still don’t stop at zebra crossings | Thaiger

    In Bangkok, almost 90% of cars, motorbikes, public vehicles still don’t stop at zebra crossings

    A health organisation and a road safety organisation teamed up to study how many cars, motorbikes, and public vehicles stop for pedestrians at 12 zebra crossings in Bangkok. They found that altogether, 89% wouldn’t stop. For motorcycles, the rate was 92% of 6,449 motorcycles that wouldn’t stop. For cars, the rate was 86% of 7,619. For public vehicles it was…

  • Do you legally have to wear masks in Thailand? | Thaiger

    Do you legally have to wear masks in Thailand?

    With the Covid 19 pandemic came the wearing of masks as the new normal in Thailand, and many other countries around the world. Some people are fine with wearing masks whilst other remain strongly opposed to it, for a variety of reasons. Whether you like it or not it is “strongly encouraged” to wear a mask in Thailand. But do…

  • Petrochemical firm apologises for oil spill in Rayong | Thaiger

    Petrochemical firm apologises for oil spill in Rayong

    The oil firm that is responsible for an oil spill off the coast of Rayong along the eastern Gulf of Thailand e on January 25, has now apologised for the spill. Although the estimated amount of spilled oil was over 50,000 litres, the firm insists it was only 47,000. The firm, Star Petroleum Refining Company Limited, 60% owned by the…

  • UPDATE: Gunmen shoot dead a deported Canadian ‘gangster’ in Rawai, Phuket | Thaiger

    UPDATE: Gunmen shoot dead a deported Canadian ‘gangster’ in Rawai, Phuket

    A former British Columbia “gangster”, who was deported from Canada 6 years ago for “serious criminality”, has been shot to death in Rawai, Phuket. 32 year old Jimi “Slice” Sandhu, was gunned down while getting out of his car around 10pm last night. Sandhu, who the Vancouver Sun report was affiliated with the ‘United Nations’ gang, was the alleged owner…