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 Hot Phuket property deal: Arise Vibe launches limited offer on only four units, now from 2.5m baht
Phuket's property market is full of big names and high prices, but some of the most exciting opportunities are happening just outside the spotlight. That’s where you’ll find Arise Vibe. Set in Si Sunthon, one of Phuket’s fastest-growing areas, this...
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Khao San Road vendors petition the BMA to postpone renovation
Street vendors in Bangkok’s chaotic ‘backpacker central’, Khao San Road, are lobbying the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority’s (BMA) plans to give the popular tourist street a makeover and clear stalls that have clogged up the sidewalks for decades. Read the earlier Thaiger story HERE. A formal letter has been submitted to Bangkok’s governor Aswin Kwanmuang. Vendors have been resisting attempts by…
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Digital technology is drastically reshaping Thai media
“…journalism has never died despite the disruption. It’s just that media organisations and reporters are unable to survive because they cannot adjust to changes.” The Thaiger is a news and information portal, just one of a growing number of ‘disruptive media’ replacing traditional media and news outlets. It would be a very brave businessperson (with deep pockets) in the 2019…
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Esso’s pumps out cleaner fuels and petrol station makeovers
Esso is launching a new line of gasoline and diesel fuels, produced with its new Synergy Fuel Technology that they claim offers 30% improved cleaning ability and engine protection. Esso says the additional benefits include improved acceleration and engine response. The Thai Esso team also says they are investing in more attractive and brighter service stations. The Synergy Fuel Technology…
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Red light cameras start fining Bangkok drivers from September 1
Smile, you’re on the new red light camera. The new CCTV and software systems to catch red light runners and jumpers will be ready this Sunday, September 1. There are 30 cameras now stationed at intersections around Bangkok. Pol Col Kitti Ariyanon reports that “everything is 100% ready” and the cameras are able to catch people violating the red lights at…
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Bangkok Airways opens new lounges at Phuket Airport
Bangkok Airways has opened up its new passenger lounge at the Phuket International Airport domestic terminal, offering Bangkok Airways passengers somewhere to sit, relax and snack while waiting for their flights. The popular Bangkok Airways lounge has been missing since the old domestic airport had a man-over in the past two years. There are now three lounges, separating the Premier…
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BTS, Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift and Ariande Grande – winners at 2019 VMAS
In the pop music world you’re on top if you win at the 2019 VMAs, the annual MTV Video Music Awards show. The annual award show has had its ‘moments’ – with Madonna’s onstage kiss with Britney Spears in 2003 and and Kanye West storming the stage in 2009 to tell Taylor Swift that her award should have gone to Beyonce. This year…
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New rules to fine bad practices with tour guides and tour companies
PHOTO: Tiger Tours Thailand The Tourism Department is hoping to fast-track the penalising of unregistered and illegal tour guides and the tour companies using them. The Department will propose amendments to the tourism business and tour guide act so that penalties will be able to be imposed on violators more expediently. Thaweesak Wanitcharoen, director general of the Tourism Department, says…
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Japanese ringleader of fraudulent call centre arrested in Thailand
PHOTOS: Tna.mcot.net Immigration police have arrested 30-year-old Jinnai Yamato at a resort in the Bang Rak district of Bangkok. Thai police have been looking for him for over 4 months, after it was discovered he was wanted in Japan and was believed to have fled to Thailand. He first came to the attention of Thai police following the arrest of…
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“Useless”. Probation Department’s rented monitoring devices don’t work.
The electronic monitoring bracelets, worn by prisoners on parole to keep track of their movements, and rented from a private company, are useless. Deputy Thai justice permanent secretary Thawatchai Khaikhaeo, together with a spokesperson from the Justice Ministry, told the media that the investigating committee, set up on August 9 to probe the Chinese-made bracelets, completed its investigation last Friday.…
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Message from His Majesty the King of Thailand to be read to cabinet today
PHOTO: The Nation In what is being seen by some as a correction of his oath-taking gaffe, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha and cabinet ministers will receive a written message from His Majesty the King today. A copy of the planned itinerary mentions the cabinet swearing-in ceremony of July 16, where General Prayut omitted the final sentence of Section 161 of the…
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Burmese drug smuggler shot in northern Thailand shootout
PHOTOS: Manager Online A Burmese drug suspect has been killed in a shootout with Thai police and soldiers while attempting to ship drugs across the border into Chiang Mai’s Mae Ai district early today. The man was believed to be a fighter with the Shan ethnic group in Myanmar and a part of a group of 30 drug smugglers. A…
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MS Siam Tower opens on Rama III
The first premium office building at the corner of Rama III & Industrial Ring roads with an investment value of 2.6 billion baht. Thunsrisiam has announced the official opening of “MS Siam Tower”. The Board of Thunsrisiama and guests held the Grand Opening last Friday in the front of the office building before embarking on a walking tour on the…
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Autopsy on dead 15 year old Hawksbill sea turtle held today
PHOTO: Thai PBS World Veterinarians from the sea turtle hospital at Sattahip naval base in Chon Buri, south of Pattaya on the Gulf of Thailand, are doing an autopsy on a dead endangered Hawksbill sea turtle. The one metre long and 40 kilogram dead sea turtle, believed to be about 15 years old, was found floating near Koh Juang in…
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Tributes paid to Amitpal Singh Bajaj, killed at Centara Grand hotel in Phuket
PHOTO: Southall Sikh Temple Tributes are being paid to the British father, Amitpal Singh Bajaj, who was reportedly attacked and killed trying to protect his family at a beach hotel in Phuket. The incident followed a next door guest reacting badly to a noise complaint and allegedly barging into the family room and attacking Amitpal. Amitpal, from Southall in west…
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Leonardo’s Instagram post draws attention to Thailand’s dugongs
Hollywood star, environmentalist and Instagrammer, Leonardo DiCaprio, has posted the story of Marium the baby dugong in Thailand who died after ingesting plastic. “A beloved baby marine mammal in Thailand has died after consuming plastic and experiencing shock,” he wrote in his instagram post, referring to Thai officials’ announcement on Saturday of the death of the dugong. “The young dugong,…
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Japan’s Okinawa takes on Bali and Phuket
by Bill Barnett While Okinawa is often called the Hawaii of Japan, a changing Asian travelscape driven by low-cost airline carriers is seeing the resort destination attract a rising number of regional tourists. Last year, arrivals hit 9.84 million which is now elevating the market to the likes Asia’s twin resort icons, Bali and Phuket. Summing up the current shift…
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Phuket’s water bosses claim there will be enough water
PHOTO: Bang Neow Dam in Thalang, just a few muddy ponds Well into the second half of the Phuket wet season and the three main dams are well below capacity, Bang Wad Dam just over 13% capacity and the Bang Neow Dam in Thalang district around 5%, mostly unusable muddy ponds. The newer Khlong Katha in Chalong is at a…
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Airports of Thailand block entrance to new Central Village at Suvarnabhumi
PHOTO: The Nation Please be seated and fasten your seat belts due to severe turbulence at the front of the almost-open Central Village “luxury outlet” shopping area next to Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. A dispute between Airports of Thailand and Central Pattana, the owners of Central Village, has hit some mid-air turbulence after AOT officials set up tents blocking the entrance…
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Department of Land Transport vows to get tough on public transportation in Thailand
PHOTO: Wikipedia A major crackdown is planned on the country’s public transport, following orders from Thailand’s new transport minister, Saysayam Chidchob. It’s understood this will even include asking passengers in public transport vehicles if they feel they’re being driven safely. If they don’t, the driver can be prohibited from going any further. In addition, drivers who are found to be…
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British man arrested in Hua Hin for overstaying his visa
PHOTO: Naew Na A 22 year old British man is in police custody in Hua Hin for having overstayed his visa. An official under the command of the chief of Prajuab Khiri Khan immigration handed the man over to the police, as it is understood that he has overstayed his visa by 143 days. SOURCE: ThaiVisa and Naew Na
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Hua Hin to sterilise 600 monkeys in effort to control numbers
PHOTO: Wikipedia Thai PBS World reports that Hua Hin is launching a mass sterilisation of monkeys in an effort to manage the population. The programme is being run by Thailand’s National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation department, and will see 600 long-tailed macaque monkeys sterilised. The monkeys are in the Khao Takiab and Khan Hin Lek Fai hill of Hua…
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Norwegian out on bail following death of British man at Centara Grand Resort in Phuket
SCREENSHOT: bbc.com The bbc.com are reporting that a British man died at the Centara Grand Hotel in Phuket in a fight after telling another guest to “keep the noise down” as his wife and son tried to sleep, according to the man’s family. The details in the BBC report conflict with earlier local reports out of Phuket. The BBC report…
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Huawei technology working with the ‘smart city’ project in Phuket
Huawei Technologies impressed participants at this week’s ASEAN Smart Cities Network Conference & Exhibition in Bangkok with its white paper on smart city development in Phuket. The paper aims to drive Thailand 4.0 initiatives to pave the way for major digital and infrastructure development in Phuket, one of Thailand’s pilot smart cities, and to provide insights and guidance on an…
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Big drug seizures across the country continue
PHOTO: The Nation Over 10 million methamphetamine pills and more than 36 kilograms of crystal methamphetamne (ice) have been seized in raids around the country. Police, soldiers and Office of the Narcotics Control Board officials arrested 46 people, a cache of illegal drugs and guns during raids in nine provinces this week. The raids took place in Bangkok suburbs, and…
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Thai’s go west during rainy season – study
Thailand’s rainy season might be bad for the country’s beach hot spots but is typically associated with travel to the western regions of the country, where nature becomes its most beautiful during the period. New data from Hotels.com reveals a 26% jump in searches among Thai travellers for accommodation in the Western region over the past 12 months. The data…
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Thai finance minister confident GDP will pick up next quarter
Deputy PM Somkid Jatusripitak says he is confident Thailand’s gross domestic product will pick up in the fourth quarter as a result of the launch of 316 billion baht economic stimulus package from the Thai government. He claims the new rice price guarantee scheme will also assist the agricultural sector. The Cabinet approved the new packages at its Tuesday meeting.…
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Two people and 1,000 chickens die in Pathum Thani collision
PHOTO: คนช่วยคน จ.ปทุมธานี สายด่วน 1669 Two trailer trucks have collided in Pathum Thani, to the north of Bangkok, killing two people and around 1,000 chickens. The driver and a female passenger were heard screaming for help as their vehicle burst into flames. The chicken were being transported in the back of the truck. Police were alerted at 3.10am about the…
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Another baby dugong dies in Thailand
PHOTO: Thai PBS World The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) revealed on Thursday that Yamil, the dugong being cared for in Phuket after being found stranded on a Krabi beach, has died. It was brought to Vachira Hospital at 5.00pm for a planned endoscopy to remove a large amount of seagrass stuck in its stomach. The medical team used water…
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Dead deer found in Thai national park with 3 kilos of plastic bags in its stomach
PHOTO: Coconuts Bangkok Plastic bags continue to take their toll, and not just on marine life. A dead deer has been found in Khao Yai National Park, central Thailand, with 3 kilos of plastic bags inside it. The deer died after eating plastic bags and plastic cutlery left behind by visitors to the national park. The heart-breaking photos were posted…
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British tourist killed at Phuket resort, Norwegian charged
PHOTO: Tourist Assistance Centre A late night fight that broke out at a Karon resort has ended in a Norwegian man killing a British tourist. The fight started at 4.00am, when British national Amitpal Singh Bajaj, who was on holiday with his Singaporean wife and two young children, confronted Roger Bullman over the amount of noise coming from his room.…
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