Hot News

Stay updated with the latest Hot News in Thailand, featuring in-depth reporting and analysis of local events and goings on! We bring you breaking news, in-depth reports, and exclusive interviews covering a wide range of Thailand-focused topics, from Crime and Politics to Tourism and Business.

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  • Thai man arrested for shooting a foreign man at a Patong resort

    Thai man arrested for shooting a foreign man at a Patong resort

    Though few details are available now, a Thai man was taken into custody by Patong Police early this morning for allegedly shooting a foreign man in a resort. The incident took place around 2 am at a resort along the Patong Beach Road and police arrested the local man just outside the resort around 4am. The victim’s condition is currently…

  • Digital assets as payment requires more regulation in Thailand

    Digital assets as payment requires more regulation in Thailand

    After studying the risks and benefits of using digital assets and cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services, a coalition of financial bodies have decided that more regulation is necessary in Thailand. The Ministry of Finance, along with the Bank of Thailand and the Securities and Exchange Commission, have partnered together to assess the regulation needed for crypto usage in…

  • Blue and Purple MRT lines testing contactless payment from Saturday

    Blue and Purple MRT lines testing contactless payment from Saturday

    Public transportation in Bangkok like the MRT, BTS, buses and boats have been working their way towards a contactless payment system, and this Saturday the first trial runs will begin. The guinea pig for the contactless payment using Visa or MasterCard will be the Purple Line and Blue Line of the Mass Rail Transit system. Beginning on January 29, commuters…

  • Thailand and India strengthen relations, plans to work together on trade, tourism

    Thailand and India strengthen relations, plans to work together on trade, tourism

    After a break, Thailand and India plan to work together on trade, maritime activity, and tourism. In an interview with the Bangkok Post, India’s ambassador in Thailand said it was important to remember the overlaps between the two countries in culture, language, and religion. Earlier this month, the Indian embassy launched a competition for the best logo promoting bilateral relations…

  • Thailand will raise 12% fewer pigs this year, livestock department says

    Thailand will raise 12% fewer pigs this year, livestock department says

    Thailand’s livestock department says farmers will probably raise 11.8% fewer pigs this year. Already, male pig breeders have dropped 41.1%, while female breeders have dropped 11%. The department general said this is because of economic conditions during the pandemic, and also farmers not having too many pigs in case of disease outbreaks. There are 107,000 pig raisers in the country,…

  • QR code can now replace a physical driver’s licence

    QR code can now replace a physical driver’s licence

    The Department of Land Transport is getting modern, introducing a QR code people can keep on their mobile phone to replace a physical Thai drivers licence. Drivers will be able to screenshot a “DLT QR licence” and use the image of the QR code as a substitute for any sort of physical card. The process to get a QR code…

  • Fake news: report it, don’t share it, urges PM and government

    Fake news: report it, don’t share it, urges PM and government

    PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is urging people to report fake news rather than share it, especially regarding Covid-19. He says that misinformation shared online through social media is causing confusion in the residents of Thailand and people should help to weed out bad information so facts are more clear and easier to find. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society has…

  • Tourists turn their backs on Rayong over 330 baht antigen testing requirement

    Tourists turn their backs on Rayong over 330 baht antigen testing requirement

    Tourists have hit back at the eastern province of Rayong after officials imposed a mandatory antigen testing requirement on all visitors. According to a Nation Thailand report, all arrivals in the province must have a negative antigen test result, certified by a doctor, no more than 72 hours before arrival. Tourists have expressed their anger on social media, with most…

  • Police investigate driving speed of officer in fatal bike collision with pedestrian

    Police investigate driving speed of officer in fatal bike collision with pedestrian

    Bangkok police investigating the speed of a “big bike” involved in a fatal collision with a woman on a zebra crossing say they expect to reach a swift conclusion. Dr Waraluck Supawatjariyakul, an ophthalmologist with the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University, died when she was struck by the Ducati bike as she used a zebra crossing on Phaya Thai…

  • Thailand’s Test & Go registration opens on February 1

    Thailand’s Test & Go registration opens on February 1

    Registration for Thailand’s (almost) quarantine exemption program known as Test & Go, part of the broader Thailand Pass online re-entry process, is reopening next week after being closed for the past month. Starting at 9am on February 1, fully vaccinated travellers from any country can apply for a Thailand Pass QR code to enter with (almost) quarantine-free travel, but there…

  • Thailand’s FDA plans “Cannabis Sandbox” entry scheme for tourists

    Thailand’s FDA plans “Cannabis Sandbox” entry scheme for tourists

    A “Cannabis Sandbox” entry scheme is being discussed to draw in marijuana enthusiasts from overseas. Yes… we said cannabis. But don’t get too excited. When the government talks about cannabis, they mean parts of the plant with low (very low) traces of the psychoactive component THC. The Thai Food and Drug Administration mentioned the idea of a “Cannabis Sandbox” for…

  • CCSA clarifies details on Test & Go, registration opens at 9am on February 1

    CCSA clarifies details on Test & Go, registration opens at 9am on February 1

    Registration for Thailand’s quarantine exemption scheme known as Test & Go is reopening next week after being closed for the past month due to the emergence of the Omicron Covid-19 variant in Thailand. Starting at 9am on February 1, fully vaccinated travellers from any country can apply for a Thailand Pass QR code to enter with (almost) quarantine-free travel, but…

  • Domestic tourism stimulus scheme gets 9-billion-baht budget approval for phase 4

    Domestic tourism stimulus scheme gets 9-billion-baht budget approval for phase 4

    The government’s domestic tourism stimulus scheme enters phase 4 from February, with Cabinet approving a 9-billion-baht budget. “We Travel Together’ (Rao Tiew Duay Kan) will run until July, according to a government spokesperson. According to a Thai PBS World report, participants can benefit from a 40% discount on hotel rates, up to a maximum of 3,000 baht a night and…

  • Prayut’s Saudi Arabia trip a ‘breakthrough’ after 30 years of tense relations

    Prayut’s Saudi Arabia trip a ‘breakthrough’ after 30 years of tense relations

    PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is currently in Saudi Arabia in an effort to restore Thai-Saudi economic and diplomatic relations. Experts say the trip, which is the first government trip between the two countries after 30 years, is a huge breakthrough after three decades of tense relations between the two countries. Relations first turned cold in 1989 after the Blue Diamond Affair…

  • Death of Bangkok doctor on zebra crossing highlights danger of Thai roads – again

    Death of Bangkok doctor on zebra crossing highlights danger of Thai roads – again

    In the last World Health Organisation report into road deaths in Southeast Asia and Asia, it probably won’t come as a surprise to learn that Thailand came top. According to the 2018 report, the kingdom had an average of 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people. This compares to 26.4 in Vietnam and 23.6 in Malaysia, followed by Myanmar (19.9), Cambodia (17.8),…

  • Police officer charged in fatal big bike collision with pedestrian enters monkhood

    Police officer charged in fatal big bike collision with pedestrian enters monkhood

    A police officer who hit a woman with his Ducati bike as she was on a zebra crossing has been ordained as a monk. According to a Bangkok Post report, 21-year-old Narawich Buadok chose to enter the monkhood to make merit for the killing of Dr Waraluck Supawatjariyakul last Friday afternoon. The Bangkok ophthalmologist was mown down as she was…

  • Thailand Wellness Sandbox entry launching in coastal districts of Hua Hin, Cha-am

    Thailand Wellness Sandbox entry launching in coastal districts of Hua Hin, Cha-am

    In an effort to draw in a tourist base focused on health and wellness, the Thailand Wellness Sandbox entry programme is launching in the coastal region of Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Hua Hin district and Phetchaburi’s Cha-am district. These locations were selected for the first tier of the Wellness Sandbox project. Officials are looking into adding more destinations later on. The…

  • Police officer charged following death of Bangkok pedestrian hit by speeding bike

    Police officer charged following death of Bangkok pedestrian hit by speeding bike

    A Thai police officer has been charged with multiple offences after his speeding Ducati bike collided with a Bangkok doctor on a zebra crossing. The charges, filed by Phaya Thai district police, include reckless driving and not stopping for pedestrians at a zebra crossing. Dr. Waraluck Supavatjariyakul died after being hit by Naravich Buadok’s bike as she crossed Phaya Thai…

  • Government to make more Covid insurance options available to foreign tourists

    Government to make more Covid insurance options available to foreign tourists

    The Thai government wants to offer more Covid-19 insurance options to foreign tourists whose own insurance doesn’t cover hospitels or hotel isolation in cases of asymptomatic infection. According to a Bangkok Post report, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand says officials are in talks with the Office of the Insurance Commission. Yuthasak Supasorn says premiums could start at…

  • Thailand tourism industry hopeful with the return of Test & Go

    Thailand tourism industry hopeful with the return of Test & Go

    With the reintroduction of the Test & Go program, that allows fully vaccinated people to enter Thailand with a Day1 and Day 5 PCR test, businesses in the tourism industry are hopeful for a more sustained growth in international travellers from February and beyond. The program was reinstated, albeit with some revisions that were not met with a particularly welcoming…

  • New Sandboxes announced, but are they redundant after February 1?

    New Sandboxes announced, but are they redundant after February 1?

    (All the information in this article is based on CCSA announcements last Thursday and published articles on the Tourism of Thailand website and other government media) Businesses in the entertainment, nightlife, bar and sex industry in Pattaya are breathing a sigh of relief as international tourists will, again, be able to visit the seaside party town as part of the…

  • Transportation the focus of 2022 for Thailand, with 1.4 trillion baht budgeted

    Transportation the focus of 2022 for Thailand, with 1.4 trillion baht budgeted

    Thailand is aiming to make 2022 the Year of Transportation, with 1.4 trillion baht being allocated for projects to improve travel by air, land, water, and rail. The Ministry of Transport predicts markedly improved transportation safety and timeliness, as well as an economic return of 1.6 times the initial investment. As a part of Thailand’s 20-year national strategy, the development…

  • Woman complains police didn’t pursue rape case for 5 months

    Woman complains police didn’t pursue rape case for 5 months

    A woman brought her lawyer to the Klong Tan Police Station after waiting 5 months for a response to her reporting an alleged rape at a party in Klong Toei in August. The incident took place in the Bangkok district at a hotel where the 27 year old Thai woman was hired to be a bartender. The woman said she was…

  • Plans shot down for property incentives to attract foreigners

    Plans shot down for property incentives to attract foreigners

    A proposal to attract foreigners by lengthening property leaseholds from 30 years to 50 years and allowing foreign condo ownership to increase over the 49% current restriction was shot down today by the Centre for Economic Situation Administration. The committee, headed by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, rejected those proposals but did seem open to foreigners being permitted to own up to…

  • Thumbs down for Thailand’s Test & Go Version 2

    Thumbs down for Thailand’s Test & Go Version 2

    Test & Go V2.0 has received a universal thumbs down by Thaiger readers and viewers. Or just about anywhere else in the online comments space. The rebooted, and slightly more complicated, Test & Go option, part of the three-part Thailand Pass online re-entry program, was relaunched on Thursday for travellers arriving after February 1. Initially launched on November 1, and…

  • Police sting nabs trans woman for alleged child sex trafficking

    Police sting nabs trans woman for alleged child sex trafficking

    A transgender woman accused of human trafficking and child exploitation was arrested in Phuket yesterday in a police sting. The 37 year old trans woman allegedly arranged for prostitution of children under the age of 18 online via Twitter. Local police have been searching for her after catching wind of her exploitation from her Twitter account where she went by…

  • Nippon Steel makes 3 million acquisition of 2 Thai steelmakers

    Nippon Steel makes $763 million acquisition of 2 Thai steelmakers

    Japan is making a move to invest in Thai steel. Nippon Steel Corp, the largest manufacturer of steel in Japan has announced a strategic deal to buy stakes in two major steelmakers in Thailand. The deal is reported to be worth as much as US $763 million – about 25 billion baht. The giant steelmaker has been interested in acquqiring…

  • Cannabis removal from Thailand’s narcotics list up for discussion

    Cannabis removal from Thailand’s narcotics list up for discussion

    Cannabis is a small step forward toward decriminalisation following the endorsement by the Public Health Ministry’s narcotics control committee draft miniserial announcement excluding cannabis with low THC content from the country’s narcotics list. Cannabis extracts with more than 0.2% of the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, will still be illegal. The Office of the Narcotics Control Board (not to be…

  • No early election, no Cabinet reshuffle says Thai PM

    No early election, no Cabinet reshuffle says Thai PM

    The Thai PM says he has no plans to call an early election or to reshuffle his Cabinet after 21 MPs loyal to him were pushed out earlier this week. The Bangkok Post reports that Prayut Chan-o-cha has also distanced himself from the ouster of Thamanat Prompow and 20 other MPs, who have been accused of sowing division within the…

  • Police search for drug suspects after one allegedly fired an M16 rifle at officers

    Police search for drug suspects after one allegedly fired an M16 rifle at officers

    After a gunfire exchange with more than 100 police officers, five drug suspects reportedly fled the scene as one fired an M16 rifle, evading arrest. Apparently, they had been tracked down by police and escaped arrest at least three times prior. Suspects, including alleged gang leader, 41 year old Pradit “Greg” Musikasong, are wanted on several charges. Dozens of police…