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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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UN election monitors spread across Bangkok and beyond
PHOTOS: The Nation Foreign observers representing the United Nations have fanned out across the capital and its outskirts today to monitor the long-delayed election. Today’s national election, the first since 2011, is also the first since the military-backed NCPO seized power in May 2014. Four four-member teams wearing pale-blue vests were assigned to polling stations in Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Pathum…
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Chiang Mai ‘s tourism holds up despite smoke and smog
by Siriarpa Kamjan, ttgasia.com Chiang Mai’s current poor air quality and smoke haze is raising concerns on the potential impact on tourism as Thailand’s Songkran water festival approaches. Smog has been a yearly occurrence in Northern Thailand, but this year the situation appears to be the worst with Chiang Mai topping the air pollution ranking and the media tracking daily…
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2,821 days
It’s been 2,821 days between July 3, 2011 until today, March 24, 2019. July 3, 2011 was the last time Thais voted in a general election. That time Pheu Thai, led by Yingluck Shinawatra, won 265 seats in the 500 seat parliament. It was only the second time in Thai history that a single party won more than half of the seats…
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His Majesty urges Thais to elect ‘good people’ in today’s election
His Majesty the King has quoted from a speech delivered by his father, the late King Bhumibol, to urge voters to elect “good people” to rule the country. The Royal Household Bureau announced at 8.44pm that His Majesty had instructed the Lord Chamberlain to quote from a royal speech delivered by King Bhumibol at the sixth gathering of National Boy…
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Hazardous: Chiang Mai again leads the world in air pollution
Chiang Mai is back on top of the world’s list of most air-polluted cities, according to the AirVisual.com website. AirVisual reports at 1.45pm that the air quality index (AQI) of Chiang Mai on Saturday stands at 471 (##!!??!!) , much higher than the 100 AQI safety standard (the WHO lists the safety limit as 50 on the AQI scale). It’s…
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Ban on alcohol for 24 hours, starts today at 6pm
Thais go to the polls tomorrow (Sunday) for the first time since 2011, which also means there will be a 24 hour alcohol ban this weekend, starting this evening. Alcohol sales and distribution will be forbidden from 6pm on Saturday to 6pm on Sunday. Officials say weddings, parties and other celebrations can still be organised for these dates but there…
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Everything you need to know about tomorrow’s vote
by Kanjana Lao, Nation Graphics Seven million new eligible voters will impact the outcome of tomorrow’s election, the first since 2011. The many new young voters, and the new election system, means that an outcome is very difficult to predict. But here’s Thai Election 2019 1.01 for newbies, thanks to The Nation.
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Deputy PM promises ‘no coup’ after the election
Thailand’s Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan is hosing down speculation that there could be another coup after the March 24 general election if the votes don’t support the pro-military parties. Responding to questions about his role in maintaining peace and order around this Sunday’s election, General Prawit says there is “nothing to worry about”, including the situation in the three southernmost provinces of Yala,…
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Some election results out by 8pm Sunday night
More than 92,000 polling stations will be operating this Sunday for the national poll to elect a new Government. Seven million new voters, eligible since the last poll in 2011, will make a new impact on the election results making predictions more complex than in the past. Election results will start dribbling out of smaller polling booths just an hour…
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800 million baht of drugs seized in three recent busts
by Jessada Chantharak Police have seized a total of eight million methamphetamine pills, 2,070 grams of crystal methamphetamine and 1,546 grams of cocaine with an estimated street value of 800 million baht from three recent drug busts. Four suspects were arrested and a fifth was killed during arrest. The report from the national police deputy commissioner Pol General Chalermkiat Srivorakan.…
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Foreign Affairs denies attempts to extradite Thaksin from Hong Kong
PHOTO: The happy couple and ‘dad’, in HK for tomorrow’s wedding The director of the foreign affairs department of the public prosecutor’s office in Thailand says media reports that the Thai officials are trying to extradite former PM and fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra in Hong Kong, are wrong. Daily News reports that Chatchachom Akkhapin says there was no truth in stories…
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Future Forward’s Thanathorn demands an apology from conservative Nation TV
The Future Forward Party leader is demanding an apology from Nation TV for broadcasting an edited voice clip that makes it appear like a conversation between him and former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra. “I am demanding Nation apologise to me and the people who heard this content,” he said when given a chance to respond on Nation TV yesterday. Nation…
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Thaksin is in Hong Kong. Thailand wants to extradite him.
The exiled former Thai PM, Thaksin Shinawatra, is in Hong Kong to be part of the wedding party in the marriage of his youngest daughter Paetongtarn ‘Ing’ Shinawatra to a commercial pilot, Pidok Sooksawas. Thai authorities are seeking the extradition of the exiled former PM from Hong Kong, according to local HK media. Many of the powerful Shinawatra clan are…
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Choosing sides. Abhisit Vejjajiva will have to choose after Sunday.
PHOTO: The Nation Sunday’s election will not be the end, it will only be another episode in a two-decade long drama as Thailand struggles with democracy and attempts to throw off the shackles of nearly a century of military tampering in political affairs. Thailand’s oldest political party, the Democrats, head into Sunday’s election with leader Abhisit Vejjajiva facing some tough…
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“I’m sorry” – Premchai granted bail
“There is one thing. I am sorry.” PHOTO: Thai PBS Thailand’s billionaire construction magnate says he was “sorry” after being granted bail following yesterday’s court verdict that set a prison sentence of 16 months for illegal hunting in the Thungyai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary in far north-west Thailand. Three others were also found guilty and given jail terms by the court. Yong…
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Two shot in Phuket Town beauty spa this morning
A South Korean man and Thai woman have been injured in spa shooting in Phuket Town. The two sustained serious injuries from bullet wounds after having been shot at the spa in Wichit today. Wichit Police reports that they was notified of an incident at ‘The Beauty Spa’ in Wichit at 10.30am this morning. Police and emergency responders arrived at…
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Premchai verdict and prison sentence comes just 5 days before the election
Premchai Karnasutra, once listed among Thailand’s richest people, has been found guilty in a Kanchanaburi court of poaching protected animals, and sentenced to 16 months in jail. Wildlife rangers arrested the 64 year old tycoon along with four other associates in the Thungyai Naresuan nature reserve, a world heritage site in Kanchanaburi in February last year. The incident has caused…
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Premchai imprisoned for 16 months – Kanchanaburi
PHOTO: Premchai arrives for this morning’s verdict – Khaosod English Premchai Karnasutra, the Thai construction tycoon, has been imprisoned for 16 months after the verdict on the long running case was announced in court this morning. The Thong Pha Phum Provincial Court has sentenced Premchai to 16 months in prison for weapons-related charges and conspiring to poach wildlife. The court…
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Six per cent of Thai university students have attempted suicide
Recent research reveals a disturbing finding that over 6 per cent of university students have attempted suicide. The study findings have been highlighted after several students killed themselves in recent weeks. “From research on university students’ depression during the past three to four years, it can be concluded that 6.4 per cent of students turned suicidal and tried to take…
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Court to rule on Premchai poaching case today
The Thong Phaphume provincial court in Thailand’s western province of Kanchanaburi will deliver its long-awaited verdict in the illegal hunting case on the billionaire Thai construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta today. He, and his hunting party, is charged with killing protected species. The alleged offence took place on February 3 last year in Kanchanaburi’s Thungyai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary. They were arrested by…
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EC claims yesterday’s ballots are safe and secure
PHOTO: Pattaya Mail The Election Commission says all yesterday’s ballots are secure. They’ve told a suspicious media that they, and members of political parties, are allowed to check the security of yesterday’s paper ballots at Thai Post offices and police stations around the country where they are being stored before heading to Thailand Post’s HQ in Bangkok today. The EC…
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Will it be same same but different after this Sunday’s vote?
Thailand’s military junta, which has ruled the Land of Smiles since snatching control in a coup in 2014, is now trying to bring its leader, Prayut Chan-o-cha, back as an ‘elected’ PM in next week’s election. The NCPO has cobbled together an ambitious economic plan that’s rests on a 1.7 trillion baht (US$54 billion) spending spree to revive competitiveness in…
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Thais vote today as registered absentees in the lead up to next week’s election
PHOTO: 98 year old Prem Tinsulanonda, president of the Privy Council – Bangkok Post Arlina Arshad, Regional Correspondent – Straits Times Hundreds of thousands of voters across Thailand are heading out today to cast early ballots, a week ahead the country’s first general election – the first time Thais have voted since 2011 and since the military took control in…
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Don’t drink and vote – 24 hour alcohol ban starts at 6pm
Police are out and about in Thailand’s popular tourist zones warning people that there will be an election alcohol ban starting at 6 tonight, for 24 hours. There will also be a ban next weekend as well. Nobody appears to have told the police and officials that international tourists don’t vote. “No selling of alcohol will be allowed from 6…
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Thailand’s north continues to choke under record smoke levels
PHOTO: Burn-off of plantation land and forest fires continue to blanket the north in smoke – Thailand Discovery For the fourth consecutive day Chiang Mai ranks as the world’s most air-polluted city, with an air quality index (AQI) score of 282 this morning on airvisual.com. Mae Hong Son meanwhile continued to battle multiple forest fires, and Lampang saw it Thammasat University…
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40 killed in two mosques. “One of New Zealand’s darkest days,” NZ PM
At least 40 people have been killed and more than 20 seriously injured after gunmen opened fire in two mosques in Christchurch around lunchtime today. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described the incident as a terrorist attack saying the suspects held “extremist views” that have no place in New Zealand. She confirmed that thirty people were killed when gunmen stormed…
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Wife claims husband died after being beaten up in police custody
A woman has made an official complaint after her husband died after being in police custody. The distraught wife went to Panat Nikom police in Chon Buri to complain yesterday after police called her to say that her husband had died whilst in detention. 31 year old Naruephon had earlier been arrested at his house on charges of smoking marijuana. He…
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Prayut and Thanathorn cleared to proceed with election
Future Forward’s Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and PM Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha have been cleared to proceed with the election. Future Forward’s young leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit has now been cleared by the Thai Election Commission of any wrongdoing over an alleged posting of misleading information in his biography on the party’s website. EC secretary-general Jarungvidh Phumma says that a complaint filed by Srisuwan…
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WARNING: Dengue cases four times worse than last year
A nationwide alert has gone up about a big rise in Dengue cases across the country. Hospitals nationwide are being ordered to set up emergency facilities to deal with the worrying rise in cases of dengue fever since the start of 2019. Workpoint News reports that, in January alone, there were four times as many cases of the disease compared…
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Haze and poor visibility grounds morning flights into Mae Hong Son
Poor visibility from local smoke haze and smog has forced Bangkok Airways to cancel flights between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son until at least this Saturday. Mae Hong Son in the far north-west of Thailand, on the Myanmar border. The airline says poor visibility is a result of forest fires. It has cancelled at least 10 flights because of…
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