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 Answers to the most common questions about international health insurance
If you’ve been thinking of staying in Thailand long-term, you’ve probably already asked the big question, “Do I actually need international health insurance?” It’s a question that often comes up among expats, digital nomads, retirees, and even frequent travellers. Sure,...
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Thai company steps up to ease condom shortage
A shortage of condoms is one thing. A shortage of condoms while people around the world are stuck at home is another. Since a top condom manufacturer in Malaysia halted production due to the coronavirus pandemic, a Thai company is now stepping up to fill the gap. Thai Nippon Rubber Industry, the country’s biggest condom manufacturer, is increasing production by…
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Global aviation in acute crisis
by Andrew J Wood “…by the end of May 2020 most airlines in the world will be bankrupt.” Global aviation has been battered and commercial scheduled air traffic remains mostly grounded as countries enforce their lockdowns and travel restrictions. There are few signs that the end is in sight. For the largest of carriers like IAG (British Airways), United, American…
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Registration steps for travel to or from Phuket
Although Phuket is still trying to maintain strict measures to control the spread of the Coronavirus and the island is still under a modified lock down. According to local Thai media you can apply to enter or leave the island with 2 methods of registration, Thai or foreigner. OPTION ONE. Departures from other provinces, travelling to Phuket, or people living…
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Woman accidentally shot during father-son fight in Nakhon Si Thammarat
A man accidentally shot and killed his daughter-in-law during a fight with his son last night in southern Thailand. After a heated argument around 7:30 pm Sunday, a father got out a shotgun to shoot his son, but the trigger failed, Thai media reports. The son, 33 year old Niran Rakkaew, then tried to grab the in the gun from his…
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Thailand’s Covid-19 numbers, 2 from Bangkok, one in Phuket
Today at his daily press conference, spokesperson Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin reported 3 new cases of the coronavirus in Thailand, bringing the total cases to 3,031. No additional deaths were recorded, leaving the accumulated toll at 56. Dr. Taweesilp reveals that of the new cases 3 cases reported, two were a man and a woman in Nonthaburi province (north west of capital)…
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Golden Triangle drug trade thrives during pandemic
The Golden Triangle is notorious for one thing. Drugs. And while the coronavirus pandemic is crippling businesses across Thailand, the drug industry around the Myanmar-Laos-Thailand border seems to be flourishing. Actually, really well. Production of synthetic drugs coming in from the Golden Triangle is hitting record highs, the Chiang Rai Times reports. Opium and heroin production in the Golden Triangle has…
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Government claims 2010 Bangkok protest crackdown was legal
A spokesman for Thailand’s Democrat Party, currently part of the ruling coalition, says former PM and party chairman Abhisit Vejjajiva did nothing wrong in ordering the 2010 military crackdown on protesters in Bangkok. Khaosod English reports that Ramet Rattanachaweng’s comments come as activists commemorated the 10 year anniversary of the crackdown, in which around 100 people died, by projecting an…
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Hot in the north, wet in the south, cyclone in the Bay of Bengal
Hot conditions, along with thunderstorms and gusty winds, are the feature of weather in the north east and eastern regions over the next few days. There will also be some additional wet weather for southern provinces on the west coast, due to the extensive storm system, which has now been named Cyclone Amphan, in the north part of the Bay…
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Nakhon Si Thammarat gangster arrested over murder of wife’s lover
Police in the southern Thai province of Nakhon Si Thammarat have arrested a 32 year old local gangster and drug dealer for the murder of a 41 year old criminal associate last Tuesday. The incident took place in the evening, on the side of the road in the Klai sub-district of Tha Sala district. They identified the suspect as Sunathorn…
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Southern provinces face heavy rains from Cyclone Amphan
The Thai Meteorological Department said in its bulletin today that Thailand’s 6 southern provinces on the west coast, are expected to experience heavy rains, from tomorrow until Wednesday, due to the influence of developing Cyclone Amphan. While the storm won’t make landfall in Thailand, it is currently battering India as it barrels northward through the Bay of Bengal. “The cyclone…
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Pattaya motorbike taxi breaks through curfew checkpoint – VIDEO
A motorbike taxi in Pattaya broke through a police curfew checkpoint at around 10:30pm Friday. Though the curfew has now been adjusted to 11pm, at the time both the driver and his foreign passenger were in violation. The incident led to a police chase that was caught on video: Officers pursued the pair before arresting them on Sukhumwit Road. They…
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Thai Airways ponders bankruptcy as it enters rehab
Thai Airways, which turns 60 years old this month, recorded a net loss of US$66 million in 2017, US$361 million in 2018 and US$374 million last year. As the airline contemplates getting its grounded planes back in the air, it’s now confronted with a PR disaster at home as the government ponders a bailout valued around 60 billion baht, around US$1.8…
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Bangkok sting results in seizure of 221 kilograms of marijuana
Talk about being left holding the bag… police in Bangkok’s Nongjok district confiscated bricks of dried marijuana weighing 221 kilograms on Friday. According to officers at the Lam Phak She Police Station, officers, the raid was a followup to a sting operation that resulted in in the arrest of 46 year old Manop Buakareem, who had delivered a kilogram of…
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Bangkok City Hall allows 10 more types of business to reopen
The Bangkok Municipal Administration, aka. City Hall confirms that more businesses in the city will be allowed to reopen today, including most shops at malls, in keeping with the second phase of the nationwide relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions. A BMA spokesman says its communicable disease control committee had eased restrictions on 10 business types. The businesses allowed to reopen are……
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PM looks for an exit from the Emergency Decree
Deputy PM Wissanu Kreangam says that PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha is ordering an in-depth comparison of the legal measures that can be used to control Covid-19 if the government revokes the state of emergency. The Emergency Decree, issued back on March 24, gave the PM and the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration extraordinary powers – implementing curfews, travel restrictions, restricting provincial governors…
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Fortress Phuket remains sealed off from the mainland
A request by Phuket officials to reopen the Sarasin Bridge has been refused. The Governor has confirmed that the island will remain ‘closed’ until further notice. That includes the Phuket International Airport which was going to re-open yesterday (May 16), but 24 hours after the notice to reopen the airport on Thursday, the Civil Aviation Authority did a U-turn on…
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Ban on international travel into Thailand extended until June 30
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has today announced an extension of their current ban on international travel another month, until at least the end of June, 2020. The current ban on scheduled international flights was extended last month to cover May, up to May 31. But now the CAAT have announced the extension for at least another month. There…
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Woman arrested in Chon Buri for false police report
Police in the Si Racha area of Chon Buri province have arrested a 31 year old woman who they say has confessed to filing a false police report about her gold necklace being stolen. Wanida Srinuan alleged that, earlier in the week, she was walking by the Noen Krabk Temple when an unidentified Thai man drove by and snatched the…
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Official list of businesses permitted to reopen tomorrow (Sunday)
Further to a story in The Thaiger yesterday, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, in his capacity as head of the CCSA, has listed the business and leisure activities which can resume from tomorrow, in the second phase of Covid-19 lockdown relaxations. The list, published in the Royal Gazette yesterday so becoming law, includes… Food and drink shops or stalls in restaurants, canteens,…
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Thai public balks at Thai Airways’ 60 billion bail out
A big decision is on the horizon for Thai Airways, the beleaguered national carrier. Crucial decisions are now being discussed which will define the airlines’ future. The airline was still haemorrhaging cash well before the coronavirus crisis started grounding planes from the start of February this year. Thai Airways’ fortunes have been in a death spiral for the past decade,…
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Phuket’s economy is more than just tourism
by Bill Barnett While Phuket’s brand and economic reality is that nearly half of its contribution to GPP (gross provincial product) comes from tourism is true, it’s important to understand that there are other generators that will aid in the island’s post-crisis recovery. The island’s real estate sector, that currently has a market value of over 100 billion baht (according…
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Government urged to investigate forced unemployment claims
A Thai labour rights group is urging the government to investigate whether some employers are abusing labour laws to avoid paying their workers during the Covid-19 crisis. The call was made during an online seminar on unemployment related to the outbreak. Some businesses are allegedly requiring their employees to seek unemployment compensation from the Social Security Fund, when they should…
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Four destinations removed from Thailand’s “high risk” list
Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has removed two countries and two special administrative zones off its list of Covid-19 ‘high-risk’ countries. The destinations include China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Macau. The announcement was made late yesterday and listed in the Royal Gazette. The announcement mentioned the “effectiveness of those areas in containing the continued spread of the deadly virus”.…
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Full list of businesses allowed to reopen this Sunday
Quick. Read it before it changes. The government has announced which types of businesses will be allowed to reopen on Sunday as it begins “Phase 2” of its 4 step plan to slowly unlock and reopen businesses closed across the country due Covid-19. Mind you this is the list published today. There’s a whole day tomorrow for everything to change…
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Military school owner gets death sentence for student’s fatal beating
The owner of a private military school in Nakhon Sawan province, about 237 kilometres north of Bangkok, has been sentenced to death, and his wife and mother-in-law to life in prison, for the fatal beating of a 15 year old student. The provincial court handed down its judgement on Tuesday, ordering capital punishment for Natthaphol Thavornphibun, the owner of Ban…
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Chiang Mai expat finds newborn girl on roadside
Thai Rath reported that an American man found a newborn baby girl by the side of the road in Chiang Mai on Tuesday. The man, who gave his name as “Eric R.” was on his way home to his nearby condo when he saw a child’s arm sticking out from a cloth in the shade of a tree by some…
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Government confirms 14.5 million Thais qualify for 5,000 baht state aid
The director of the Fiscal Policy Office and spokesman for the Finance Ministry says 14.5 million Thai citizens now qualify for the government’s 5,000 baht subsidy, having passed the relevant screening criteria. Thai PBS World reports that Lawan Saengsanit says this number includes 4.4 million people who succeeded at a preliminary round of screening and have already received their first…
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National parks may remain closed for another 2 months
One positive aspect of the pandemic is the affect park-closures seem to be having on the environment, specifically some of the animals living in the parks. Looks like Thailand’s national parks might continue to be closed for at least another 2 months. All of the 133 national parks were initially closed to limit tourism and visits to those areas and…
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Former Thai PM Thaksin says lock-down was not the way to deal with Covid-19
Former, and currently fugitive, PM Thaksin Shinawatra says he believes the lock-down introduced in Thailand to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus was not the way to go. He maintains current restrictions are hurting the economy and their introduction was a mistake. Nation Thailand reports that Thaksin was speaking to BBC Thai when he criticised the measures put in…
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New app latest weapon in Thailand’s fight against Covid-19
In line with developments around the world, Thailand’s Covid-19 task force has developed a contact-tracing app as the fight to eradicate the virus continues. Coconuts reports that the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society says the app, known as Thai Chana (Thailand Wins) will be used to track people’s movements in order to easily contact anyone who may have visited…
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