Hot News
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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Sponsored Is private health insurance in Thailand worth it? Real costs vs risks explained
Thailand has a strong healthcare system with both public and private options. Public hospitals offer affordable care, but many people, including expats, choose private health insurance for faster service, modern facilities, and more treatment choices. To decide if private health...
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Court suspends Chao Phraya promenade project
A court has ruled that Bangkok City Hall’s project to build a promenade along both sides of the Chao Phraya River is illegal, and on Wednesday ordered a temporary suspension of works. The Administrative Court ruled that the 14 billion baht project, which comprises two elevated walkways complete with a bicycle lane running for 57 kilometres along both sides of…
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Northern Thailand warned to brace for stormy weather
Thunderstorms and high winds are forecast for Thailand’s North and Northeast. The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) is warning northern and northeastern provinces to brace for stormy weather from tomorrow to Thursday. DDPM director-general Monton Sudprasert said yesterday that high pressure from China and strong winds from the west will create thunderstorms, high winds and harsh weather. Provinces…
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Makha Bucha Day – Why does Thailand have a public holiday?
For Thai buddhists the day is a day of reflection and visits to the temple. For many others it’s a day of alcohol abstinence. In fact there is always a 24 hour alcohol ban imposed on the day, from midnight to midnight. Buddhist commemorations make up a number of the public holidays on the Thai calendar, among them is Makha…
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Biker decapitated in Lampang
Police and rescue services in the northern Lampang province were confronted with a gruesome scene after the driver of a Kawasaki Z650 hit a metal lamp post in the middle of a downward section on the Lampang-Chiang Mai superhighway. The biker’s head, out of its helmet, was on one side of the road, his body on the other. The biker…
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Drought disasters plague the nation
Between October 17 and yesterday, drought disasters were declared in 116 districts across Thailand, legally obliging the government to provide assistance, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) reports. The disasters were in 20 provinces – Chiang Rai, Phayao, Nan, Uttaradit, Sukhothai, Phetchabun, Nong Khai, Bueng Kan, Nakhon Phanom, Sakon Nakhon, Kalasin, Maha Sarakham, Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Nakhon…
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Disabled Canadian man robbed in Pattaya
A paraplegic Canadian man was robbed in Pattaya yesterday evening, reportedly by a Thai woman. 46 year old Ryab Boumer filed a report with Pattaya City Police alleging the theft of his wallet containing 50,000 baht. A Thai witness, 21 year old Wanchai Chinpeng, told police that he recently met Boumer, who hired him as a caretaker to help him…
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New bikes must meet Euro 4 emissions standards
A new government policy, which will take effect on March 29, requires all new motorbikes sold in Thailand to meet Euro 4 emissions standards. Officials of the Thai Industrial Standards Institute met yesterday with representatives of more than 40 motorbike manufacturers, including Honda and Yamaha, informing them of the requirements. The measure is intended to help tackle Thailand’s PM2.5 dust…
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2 crushed as truck overturns in Suphan Buri
Two men were crushed to death when tractor-trailer truck overturned in Suphanburi province in central Thailand yesterday. Horrific CCTV footage showed the moment the truck, carrying animal feed, overturned, crushing the two, who were travelling on a motorcycle with a sidecar. The deceased were identified as 64 year old Montha and 56 year old Phra Manop, a monk at the…
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Thai government scraps Mekong blasting project
The government has officially abandoned a controversial plan to blast rapids on the Mekong river in Chiang Mai province. The Chinese-led dredging and blasting plan, initiated in 2001, met with fierce opposition from locals and environmental groups, and the Cabinet agreed to scrap it at a weekly meeting on Tuesday. The plan was to enable ships to carry goods from…
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4 foreigners, 2 Thais nabbed in 3 drug busts
Four foreign nationals and two Thais have been arrested in three separate drug seizures involving heroin, ecstasy pills, cocaine, MDA, LSD and marijuana. The first bust saw two Taiwanese men arrested yesterday while trying to smuggle 15 kilograms of heroin out of Thailand in instant noodle packages and powder cans. The two, identified as Li Chun Hui and Li Chai…
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Prawit defends police chief promoting his own son
Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday that there is nothing illegal about the police commissioner promoting his own son to a senior police rank despite not meeting all of the criteria. The Royal Thai Police Office insists that Chanant Chaijinda was promoted on merit, and not because he’s the son of national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda. The RTPO was responding…
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Pattaya Floating Market cleans up its act to prevent Coronavirus
Pattaya’s Floating Market has been vigourously scrubbed down in an effort to increase hygiene and prevent the potential spread of the Novel Coronavirus. Staffers cleaned the entire venue from top to bottom yesterday. Surface areas were cleaned with disinfectant and alcohol spray. Every vendor in the hundreds of booths and stalls took part, to make sure potential tourists know the…
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Army officer wounded in Chiang Mai firefight with drug runners
A firefight with drug smugglers in Chiang Mai province’s Chiang Dao district has left an army officer wounded and in hospital. A patrol was dispatched to a border village in Chiang Dao on Sunday, after a tip-off. The informant said drugs would be brought across the border through the Nong Kalang pass. Early yesterday a group was spotted coming from…
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Bangkok halts construction of electric rail and highrises for 3 days
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration today ordered a 3 day suspension of the construction of seven electric train lines, highrise buildings and roads throughout Bangkok, in order to reduce PM2.5 pollution. The Pollution Control Department reported this morning that 39 areas in Bangkok and four in its suburbs were found to have high levels of PM2.5 particles, measured to be…
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Police officer murdered, mutilated
The body of a police officer was found in the northeastern province of Kalasin yesterday. He had been stabbed to death and his body severely mutilated. Police later tracked down and arrested 45 year old Amornlak Jitkoh, a Kalasin native, who had fled and hidden in a forest in Nakhon Ratchasima province. He was persuaded to surrender and return to…
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Police chase, arrest two women with 300 kilograms of compressed marijuana
Authorities in the northeastern Nong Khai province arrested two women yesterday and seized 300 kilograms of compressed marijuana. The two were captured after trying to run a police checkpoint. Police told reporters the arrests came after a tip-off that marijuana would be smuggled from neighbouring Bung Kan province, once a part of Nong Khai. It was to be transported to…
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Light winds across Thailand and cooler weather in the Northern hills
Watch out for some fog in the hills around the north of Thailand, a continuation of the smog problems in the city and a chance of thunderstorms during the day in parts of the south. A high-pressure system over upper Thailand and the South China Sea is weakening that will cause morning fog as well as cooler weather in some…
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China now battling an outbreak of bird flu in Hunan
On top of the growing Coronavirus outbreak and efforts of authorities to contain the spread, Chinese officials have now reported a case of the potent H5N1 bird flu in Shaoyang city in central China’s Hunan province. The province is south of Hubei but the outbreak of bird flu is unrelated to the Wuhan coronavirus. Avian influenza, aka. H5N1, avian flu…
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Government to extend the “Chim Shop Chai” stimulus program this month
The government is set to roll out a new phase of last year’s successful Chim Shop Chai (Eat Shop Spend) stimulus program to promote domestic spending. The measure is also intended to encourage investment by businesses in an economy hampered by a slowdown in tourist arrivals as a result of the ongoing Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak. The package, to be implemented…
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Three people dead in road incidents south of Bangkok
Three people are dead following two separate accidents in the Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan, south and east of Bangkok’s centre. The first incident occurred around 7.30pm on Saturday night on the Bang Na-Trat highway. A married couple were killed after their motorcycle was run over by a six wheeled truck. The couple were identified as 58 year old Somchai…
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Hazy days and Sundays – Bangkok has fifth highest air pollution in the world
“Unhealthy”. That about sums up the air Bangkokians are breathing this morning, a situation almost completely avoidable but allowed to continue by the Thai Government. Bangkok is in bad company today with other polluted cities in Asia – Lahore, Hanoi, Delhi and Dhaka – as the fifth most polluted city in the world, a headline the Thai Government would prefer…
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Phuket’s governor appeals for calm, issues warning over fake virus news
Amid the flurry of news stories about the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak, Phuket’s Governor Phakaphong urged people this week to beware of fake news and reports that don’t cite their sources. “Fake news has been shared on social media, making people worried and damaging Phuket’s tourism image. Please check before believing it, reduce the panic.” One report that went viral this…
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Phuket’s Laguna launches Singha “Obstacle Trail Run”
Singha has announced that its “Obstacle Trail Run,” presented by Laguna Phuket, will launch on Saturday, May 2. Called “Keng,” meaning “to excel” in Thai, the race will be Singha’s first beach obstacle trail event and mark the beginning of the brewery’s “Obstacle Trail Series 2020.” The announcement comes as sports events across the region and around the world face…
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Police catch serial bag and gold snatcher in Pattaya
Pattayans and tourists can breathe a little easier with the arrest of a serial gold and bag snatcher who preyed on both Thais and foreign tourists. Pattaya police report that 25 year old “Beer” was arrested Thursday. CCTV helped nab the suspect, who was responsible for many snatch-and-grab thefts in Pattaya. He snatched a gold necklace from a Thai woman on…
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Brexit – a personal diary
Opinion by David Skelcey Friday, June 24, 2016 I woke up in my caravan at Glastonbury Music Festival, headed to the toilet and while doing my business read the news I was dreading. The Leave campaign had won the Brexit referendum by 51% to 49%. After getting dressed and kissing my sleeping partner and kids goodbye I headed off to…
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Grab plans to be in 30 Thai provinces this year
Grab, the everyday-everything-travel-food-delivery-super-app, has kicked off 2020 by announcing its expansion plan to second-tier cities and provinces across Thailand through a new, innovative business model using Mini-Grab Centres (Mini-GCs). The move will see it extend its presence to 30 of Thailand’s 76 provinces before the end of 2020 and help increase the benefits of Thailand 4.0 and the digital economy…
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Pattaya tour group businesses shutting up shop for a month
Tourism businesses in Pattaya, that cater specifically to the Chinese market and tour groups, are preparing to shut down for a full month. Despite technically being the high season for tourism, and the middle of the Chinese New Year annual holidays, the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak has already had a profound impact. The Chinese tourists who managed to get…
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2nd annual Thailand Game Expo opens at BITEC in Bangkok
AIS and M Vision have kicked off the 2nd Thailand Game Expo at the BITEC centre (Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre) in Bangna. 700,000+ visitors are expected to attend the Expo this year, which runs through to this Sunday (February 2) and product sales tipped to top 2 billion baht. The event is organised by AIS eSports. Alistair Johnston, the…
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Two Thais arrested for spreading fake coronavirus news
The Thai government says that two people have been arrested for posting fake news about the outbreak of the Wuhan Novel Coronavirus. Buddhipongse Punnakanta, the minister of the digital economy, says his ministry’s “Anti-Fake News Centre” collaborated with the police to arrest Thitima Kongthon at her Bangkok house after she posted on Facebook that a patient infected with the virus died…
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1 killed in 8 vehicle pileup in Prachin Buri
One man is dead and another seriously injured after an eight vehicle pileup last night at a traffic light on a major highway in central Thailand. The crash involved four transfer trucks, two pickups and two cars in Prachin Buri City. One victim said she was slowing down to stop at a red light when an 18 wheel trailer truck…
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