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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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    Top 10 reasons for expats to get a comprehensive health insurance in Thailand

    Moving to Thailand offers a prospect full of excitement and adventure, but in the same vein, if any injuries were to occur (and god forbid it does), the local healthcare system can be confusing at first glance for many expats...

  • Russian airline Aeroflot resuming flights from Moscow to Phuket | Thaiger

    Russian airline Aeroflot resuming flights from Moscow to Phuket

    After halting flights due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Aeroflot is now planning on relaunching service from Russia to Phuket. The Russian airline will start its daily flight service from Moscow to Phuket on October 30, to shepherd Russians to the tropics to escape the cold of winter. Earlier this year, Aeroflot was joined with other Russian airlines in…

  • Flooding chaos in Phuket | Thaiger

    Flooding chaos in Phuket

    Yes, Thailand’s monsoon season is still here, and Phuket has been hit by the latest round of flooding chaos. After heavy rain poured down on the island province, cars were slowly driving through high floods in the main city district yesterday. Many people have come to Phuket for the long holiday weekend, which has added to the traffic problems. Traffic…

  • Pattaya transgender foundation concerned about stereotypes following thefts | Thaiger

    Pattaya transgender foundation concerned about stereotypes following thefts

    A foundation in Pattaya is concerned about stereotypes against transgender people. This news follows a series of thefts against Indian tourists this year, many by transgender people. Most of the thefts involve transgender people snatching gold necklaces off tourists’ necks. However, there was also an incident this week when an Indian tourist said a transgender person stole his wallet. One…

  • Drunk Russian man smashes glass door on Pattaya gogo bar | Thaiger

    Drunk Russian man smashes glass door on Pattaya gogo bar

    After not being able to pay his tab in a Pattaya gogo bar, a drunk Russian tourist went on a rampage, smashing the bar’s glass door and punching a security guard. The incident took place at Dolls, a girlie bar on Pattaya Walking Street late last night involving a 25 year old Russian man identified only as Viago. Pattaya police…

  • Thailand Cabinet appoints a moral guardian | Thaiger

    Thailand Cabinet appoints a moral guardian

    Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda probably breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as the Cabinet embarked upon a mini reshuffle. There was something of a mini coup against Anupong from within his party at last week’s censure debate and it was expected he would be replaced by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha after he received the most no-confidence votes with 212. But…

  • Thai pop star flees to UK after fearing for her safety in Thailand | Thaiger

    Thai pop star flees to UK after fearing for her safety in Thailand

    A controversial pop star from Thailand has relocated to the relative safe haven of the UK after fearing for her life. Constant fears of being incarcerated because of the clash between the kingdom’s conservatism and her contentious musical lyrics have driven Peeralada Sukawat from her homeland. It’s been something of a meteoric rise for the 29 year old musician, known…

  • Travel packages mired by pricey airfare, slowing tourism recovery | Thaiger

    Travel packages mired by pricey airfare, slowing tourism recovery

    Many that have been eagerly awaiting the full reopening of Thailand and the return of tourism, did not anticipate the severe cost of airfare and travel packages that has come with it. Now, tourism recovery in Thailand is threatened by the staggeringly high cost to fly, pricing many would-be travellers out of the trip. The president of the Thai Travel…

  • 10 million baht kidnapping of businessman by Chinese crooks is comedy of errors | Thaiger

    10 million baht kidnapping of businessman by Chinese crooks is comedy of errors

    The botched 10 million baht kidnapping of a Vanuatu businessman by three Chinese gangsters had the hallmarks of a blockbuster comedy movie stamped all over it. The hostage and ransom demand situation may not have been funny to the businessman and his girlfriend but the situation was pure slapstick and would not look out of place on the silver screen.…

  • Heavy rain kills 2 elephants at a Thailand national park | Thaiger

    Heavy rain kills 2 elephants at a Thailand national park

    Tragedy hit Khao Yai National Park this week when park rangers discovered the carcasses of two dead elephants among the rocks near Heo Narok Waterfall. Access now has been closed to the waterfall in Nakhon Ratchasima Province as rangers try to remove the bodies. Khao Yai National Park chief Chaiya Huaihongthong yesterday revealed that the elephants died as a result…

  • Children falsely accuse village drunk of murdering 6 year old in central Thailand | Thaiger

    Children falsely accuse village drunk of murdering 6 year old in central Thailand

    Yesterday evening, a 6 year old boy drowned in a lake in Lopburi province in central Thailand. The boy’s 7 year old brother and 5 year old friend told police that an alcoholic man who lives nearby strangled the child and held his body under the water until he died. However, the police’s investigation reveals that the children’s accusation is…

  • Thieves rob French millionaire’s house at gunpoint in northeast Thailand | Thaiger

    Thieves rob French millionaire’s house at gunpoint in northeast Thailand

    Four thieves armed with guns and knives broke into a French millionaire’s house in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum in the early hours of Monday morning and robbed millions of baht’s worth of cash and assets. The single-story home in the Noen Sa-nga district is jointly owned by 39 year old Waritsara Poobkhonthot and her French husband Stephane Greco, the…

  • Tenfold tourist increase due after Thailand-Saudi route opens | Thaiger

    Tenfold tourist increase due after Thailand-Saudi route opens

    Thailand is expecting a tenfold increase in visitors from Saudi Arabia after the launch of the Bangkok to Jeddah route on August 19. Deputy government spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek estimates that the upcoming launch of the direct air route between the holy city of Mecca and the Kingdom of Thailand’s capital city will push up the number of visitors from 30,000…

  • Mayor of Pattaya expects 80,000 tourists to visit Koh Larn this holiday | Thaiger

    Mayor of Pattaya expects 80,000 tourists to visit Koh Larn this holiday

    Pattaya is expected to be bustling with tourists from today until Sunday, in celebration of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun’s 70th birthday today. Mayor of Pattaya Poramet Ngampichet estimates that a whopping 80,000 tourists will travel to Koh Larn island off the coast of Pattaya in the eastern province of Chon Buri during the four-day royal birthday weekend from…

  • Public Health Ministry requests, then retracts cannabis crackdown | Thaiger

    Public Health Ministry requests, then retracts cannabis crackdown

    First, it’s very illegal with harsh punishment, then suddenly it’s legal with no restrictions, then it’s banned for government, military, children, and pregnant women, then it was never intended for recreational use, and then cigarettes containing it will be banned. Now the rollercoaster that is the decriminalisation of cannabis in Thailand took another sharp u-turn as the Ministry of Public…

  • Thailand deny Uyghurs deportation to China | Thaiger

    Thailand deny Uyghurs deportation to China

    Fears Thailand is in the process of deporting asylum-seeking Uyghurs back to China have been denied by the government. News broke yesterday that dozens of Uyghurs from all around Thailand had been rounded up and impounded in a detention facility in Bangkok, raising fears among non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that the government plans to deport them back to China. It sparked…

  • Wanted Taiwanese call centre scammer extradited from Albania to Thailand | Thaiger

    Wanted Taiwanese call centre scammer extradited from Albania to Thailand

    A Taiwanese man wanted for allegedly scamming Thai victims from a call centre operation in Dubai arrived at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport yesterday afternoon to face Thailand’s justice system after being arrested in Albania in September. Tzu Yuan Kuo – or “Ayen” – was the “deputy leader” of a call centre gang scamming victims in Thailand, Japan and Malaysia from Dubai…

  • Patient dies after the route of emergency rescue van blocked | Thaiger

    Patient dies after the route of emergency rescue van blocked

    A heartless nurse who blocked the path of an ambulance, and therefore delayed its journey to help a critical patient, is threatening to sue the emergency services and netizens who criticised her after she complained about the ambulance. The patient later died because the emergency service van did not get there in time. Tal Sulawan, a practical nurse in the…

  • Police in eastern Thailand give helmets to riders caught without them | Thaiger

    Police in eastern Thailand give helmets to riders caught without them

    Police in one province in eastern Thailand is giving free helmets to motorcycle riders caught not wearing them. The deputy chief of Trat Provincial Police, along with a team of traffic police, started this new approach today. Instead of fining riders caught without helmets, the police passed out free helmets to riders passing by a school in the main city…

  • Thailand has 2 of the world’s most beautiful beaches, UK newspaper says | Thaiger

    Thailand has 2 of the world’s most beautiful beaches, UK newspaper says

    After all these years, Thailand continues to be renowned for its breathtaking beaches. Thailand has two of the “World’s 20 Most Beautiful Beaches” on a list published by UK’s Daily Star newspaper. Thailand’s Sunrise Beach was ranked in sixth place, and Maya Bay came in at 12th place on the list. Both beaches are located in South Thailand. Sunrise Beach is…

  • Irony of mini coup not lost on Thailand’s Interior Minister | Thaiger

    Irony of mini coup not lost on Thailand’s Interior Minister

    The irony doesn’t appear to be lost on Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda that there was something of a mini coup against him from within his party at last week’s censure debate. Gen Anupong, of course, is one of the three generals at the centre of the military coup which took place in Thailand in May 2014 along with Prime Minister…

  • Thailand’s cannabis cottage industry set to fly high | Thaiger

    Thailand’s cannabis cottage industry set to fly high

    Yesterday, Thailand’s Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul once again defended his decision to decriminalize cannabis. Calls to reverse or suspend the legislation, by physicians, doctors, universities, and religious groups, fell on deaf ears and hundreds of new cannabis-related businesses in the kingdom breathed a sigh of relief. The decriminalization of the drug on June 6 has led to something of…

  • Flood warning to Bangkok & 10 provinces along Chao Phraya River | Thaiger

    Flood warning to Bangkok & 10 provinces along Chao Phraya River

    The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation last night warned that Bangkok and the other 10 provinces along the Chao Phraya River need to prepare for the possibility of floods because of rising sea levels predicted from tomorrow until August 1. The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department reported at 10pm that the water level of the Chao Phraya River was…

  • Pattaya’s Jomtien Beach planning temporary vendor zone | Thaiger

    Pattaya’s Jomtien Beach planning temporary vendor zone

    Pattaya officials have plans for a temporary solution to the drama over Jomtien Beach’s vendors. Earlier this year, a new stretch of the beach was created for tourists to enjoy. But merchants, local businesses, and hawkers quickly moved onto the area setting up stalls, tables, chairs, etc., denying access to people wanting to use the sandy area. Since then, the…

  • A debt-ridden Thai woman seeks help after spiky durian assault | Thaiger

    A debt-ridden Thai woman seeks help after spiky durian assault

    A Thai woman in the northern province of Lamphun has asked for media help after she was assaulted with some durian fruit because of a loan shark debt. The woman, Duangduen, revealed she borrowed about 20,000 baht from a money lender to open a shop with a friend last year. But things spiraled out of control and the interest repayment…

  • Thai Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul forced to defend his ‘cannabis’ policy | Thaiger

    Thai Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul forced to defend his ‘cannabis’ policy

    Thailand’s Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is being backed into a corner by physicians, hundreds of doctors, foundations, universities, and religious groups over his botched decriminalisation of cannabis policy. Anutin is refusing to back down from the introduction of new laws that decriminalised cannabis on June 6, despite mounting calls for the policy to be suspended amid confusion, misinterpretation, and…

  • Bangkok governor vows to root out government corruption | Thaiger

    Bangkok governor vows to root out government corruption

    Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt yesterday revealed he is to introduce five new policies in an attempt to wipe out corruption in the capital. The 56 year old City Hall leader announced the scheme at a press conference sitting alongside members of the Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand (ACT). Chadchart acknowledged that Bangkok citizens do not fully trust City Hall in issues…

  • No more monkey business! Phuket monkeys lose tourists from monkeypox scare | Thaiger

    No more monkey business! Phuket monkeys lose tourists from monkeypox scare

    Phuket’s monkeys are missing out on their usual feedings from tourists at Koh Siray island’s monkey viewpoint. At the viewpoint, tourists usually buy fruit from vendors to feed to the roughly 200 monkeys there. But following Phuket’s recent monkeypox scare, after a Nigerian man was found to have the virus, fewer tourists are coming to feed their furry friends. Local…

  • Pheu Thai Party leader’s car kills woman crossing road | Thaiger

    Pheu Thai Party leader’s car kills woman crossing road

    A 77 year old woman in Amnat Charoen died this morning after being hit by a car carrying the Pheu Thai party leader Khathathep Tejadejruangkul. Khathathep was on his way to Ubon Ratchathani Airport to catch a flight to Bangkok where he was scheduled to attend a House meeting. But his driver, 32 year old Sergeant Wirayut Phariwong, hit Pua…

  • Samui Summer Jazz Festivals raises THB100K for island charity Sisters on Samui (SOS) | Thaiger

    Samui Summer Jazz Festivals raises THB100K for island charity Sisters on Samui (SOS)

    Press Release The recent Samui Summer Jazz Festival 2022 held in June and organised by SKÃ…L International Koh Samui, has donated Thai Baht 100,000 to its charity partner, the Sisters on Samui Foundation (SOS). Funds raised through ticket sales, venues, generous sponsors and the musicians themselves contributed to this donation. The Samui Summer Jazz Festival 2022 ran from June 7-12…

  • Thai couple killed in drink driving incident in Bangkok | Thaiger

    Thai couple killed in drink driving incident in Bangkok

    A Thai couple selling food on a footpath along Rama 3 Road in Bangkok were killed yesterday in a drink driving incident. The drunk driver was caught by residents while trying to flee the scene. The two deaths happened in front of a food court named I SEE SEE on Rama 3 Road at about 5pm yesterday. The couple who…