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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Sponsored Common health concerns for expats in Thailand: Prevention and protection
Moving to Thailand as an expat offers adventure, vibrant culture, and an excellent lifestyle, but it also brings some health challenges that might not be familiar to you. From tropical diseases to climate-related conditions, understanding common health concerns and knowing...
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Heat, showers predicted for the North, clouds in the South
Thailand’s Meteorological Department said today that a thermal low is covering upper Thailand, while weakened southerly and southeasterly winds are bringing humidity to the Northeast, the East, the Central and the lower North. Meanwhile, easterly winds are blowing across the Gulf to the South. In upper Thailand, hot to very hot conditions prevail while fewer thundershowers are expected in the…
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Summer storm batters Prachin Buri
About 10 houses were damaged and the power supply cut off when a summer storm lashed a village in Prachin Buri province, east of Bangkok, last night. The violent storm that lashed Krok Hua Chang village in tambon Khao Mai Kaew lasted only a few minutes, but caused major damage. 65 year old Amporn Thaenghom says she was home alone…
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Airlines offered drop in landing fees and fuel excise at Thai airports
Airlines, international and domestic, have been hit hard with the impact on travel following the Coronavirus outbreak. Over the past month there’s been daily announcements of cancellations of flights and rescheduling to cope with border closures and daily changes in the coronavirus evolution. The Thai Cabinet yesterday approved a relief package which had been proposed by the Transport Ministry for…
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Police seize drug lord’s assets valued at 130 million baht
Assets valued at 130 million baht have been seized from a narcotics ring believed to be run by the drug baron known as “Chan Xue.” Suriya Singhakamol, deputy secretary-general of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), told Thai media yesterday that the assets and property were confiscated from nine sites: one in Bangkok and the rest in Chiang Rai province. Suriya…
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Cabinet approval to reduce water, power bills by 3%
The Cabinet has approved 17 billion baht in measures to tackle the Covid-19 crisis and drought. They plan on doing this by reducing water and electricity bills by 3% and returning deposits for installation of electricity meters. The Thai cabinet meets every Tuesday at Government house in Bangkok. During a ‘grace period’ of not more than six months, the cabinet…
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Northern Thailand chokes under shroud of smog
Chiang Mai may have fallen to third in the race for world’s worst air quality today, but northern Thailand is still choking under a blanket of toxic haze, and the Thai Meteorological Department has forecast “hot to very hot conditions” for the region. The department urges people in the north to “stay safe due to the very hot conditions.” Visibility…
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Thai government planning more economic stimulus packages
Economists have urged the government to expand the fiscal deficit to up to 600 billion baht, while more stimulus packages are hopefully on course to counter the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak in Thailand. Secretary to the Council of Economic Ministers, Kobsak Pootrakool, says that the economic ministers would consider extra packages as relief for certain sectors, that were hit…
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Thundershowers, more hot weather for the North
Thailand’s Meteorological Department predicted today that a thermal low covering the North will bring “hot to very hot weather” to the region. Thundershowers are forecast in the North, the Northeast, the Central and the East. Meanwhile, a high pressure system from China is covering the Northeast, the East, the Central and the South China Sea. Southerly and southeasterly winds are…
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Health minister denies racist tweets
“Many farang dress dirty and don’t shower. As hosts we have to be very careful.” Deputy PM and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul certainly knows how to grab the spotlight: just days after messages posted on his Twitter account caused a social media uproar and prompted the account to be shuttered, he has denied making the tweet. In a short…
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Smoke and mirrors, northern Thailand’s annual smog problem
Congratulations Chiang Mai. Again you are the world’s Number One. Sadly, you’re the number one in the world’s worst air pollution, again. The third time in this week alone. And, sadly, because the problem is almost completely avoidable, but not easily solved. Chiang Mai city has a PM2.5 micron reading this morning of 282, whilst just north of the city…
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Wife and sister stabbed to death in Chon Buri, second domestic murder in a day
Police in Chon Buri province are hunting a suspect who allegedly stabbed his wife and her sister to death in the central province’s Panthong District yesterday. Panthong police were notified of the incident, at a shrimp fishing pond on Panthong-Baankhao Road, at 6:30pm. Police arriving at the pond and adjacent home found it locked. They broke the bedroom door to…
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PM urges unity in the face of adversity
In a nation battered by drought, a slowing economy and the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha has appealed to the public to unite and join the government in its efforts to overcome. In a public statement yesterday, the PM said some of the measures adopted by his administration to cope with the threat of coronavirus contagion are…
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Serial thief who robbed Russian couple at knifepoint in Pattaya re-arrested
Police in Pattaya have re-arrested a thief who was involved in a robbery and knife attack on a Russian couple five years ago. A team of Pattaya City Police arrested 29 year old Thai national “Manat” yesterday afternoon. Another Thai man, 60 year old Niphon Meechaiyo, was also arrested for buying stolen items and allegedly fencing them. Police seized six…
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Old “falangs” are Pattaya beach vendors’ lifeline in coronavirus downturn
Old expats and Thais are the only thing keeping Pattaya beach vendor in business, through the coronavirus tourism downturn. One vendor, Pha Aree, who has been renting beach chairs and umbrellas for 30 years, says she’s survived more than her share of crises, the tourism downturns during the 2004 tsunami, SARS, political strife and numerous military coups. She’ll get through…
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Gold mining company found guilty for avoiding environmental report
Former director-general of the Department of Primary Industries and Mines Somkiat Phuthongchaiyarit, has been found guilty of colluding with five other parties for trying to avoid the mandatory environmental impact assessment (EIA). Secretary-general Worawit Sukboon of The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) says… “All 6 members had a hand in the unlawful approval of a request by Akara Mining Company (or…
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Grab driver turns himself in over missing wallet: cash still missing
A Grab taxi driver has turned himself in to police in Chiang Mai police after a Dutch tourist lost 500 euros at an exchange booth in the city. The 27 year old Duct national, identified as “Edwin T.” reported to police after dropping his wallet at a booth at in the city’s Saphan Lek on Monday. CCTV showed a Grab…
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Businessman murdered in front of family in southern Thailand
A businessman in Thailand’s southern Trang province is dead after being shot down in home Tuesday in front of his family. Police say the murder occurred about 9:35pm. Thai media report that 32 year old Suchart Kongpeng was eating watermelon with his family when hooded gunman in a white shirt broke into the house and opened fire with a 12-gauge…
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Thai stocks tumbles, SET drops nearly 6%
Thailand’s stock exchange, the SET, plunged yesterday along with the region’s other bourses. The index dropped amid concerns over the growing global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. The SET dived 74.57 points, or nearly 6%, to 1,175.32 points. This all happened shortly after the open in a turnover of 9 billion baht. The SET50 index, Thailand’s top 50 listed companies, faired even…
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Thailand News Today, Wednesday, March 11, 2020
400 billion baht stimulus announced to boost Thai economy Yesterday’s Thai cabinet meeting gave the greenlight to a new stimulus package. The government expects the approved 400 billion baht to reduce the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. Last week’s 2,000 baht cash stimulus proposal, which was largely roasted in Thai social media after being proposed by the economic ministers,…
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Thailand cancels visas-on-arrival and some visa exemptions for 21 countries
On top of all the changes announced in the past few days for passengers arriving in Thailand, today the government has announced an additional measure. The Thai government has now cancelled the automatic granting of the visa-on-arrival for 18 countries as well as cancelling visa exemption for three other countries in additional efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.…
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Police intercept huge meth shipment and a tonne of marijuana
The Narcotics Suppression Bureau have reported a number of cases in the Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand. Both dugs cases involve a truck and an attempt to hide the illicit drugs in large sacks which were packed with dog food. In the first case, 38 year old Jiradech Isipriya from Chiang Mai as well as 3 other members of a…
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Chiang Mai gets world podium positions two days in a row, for air pollution
Hot AND polluted. Chiang Mai scored the top position again as the most air polluted city in the world yesterday, according to AirVisual.com. Today it has lost the top spot, but only just. Today’s temperature will again soar close to 40C with the rest of the week continuing to sizzle with almost no respite from the wind (forecast below). Saturday’s…
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Hotting up in northern Thailand
Hot, damn hot! The Thailand Meteorological Department says that a “thermal low” currently covers upper Thailand, while westerly winds prevail over the region, making the weather hot to very hot in some parts of the North, the Northeast, the Central and the East regions. Unpredictable weather and hotter days are normal for this time of the year leading up to…
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Thai Airways passengers, flying from ‘at risk’ destinations, now require health certificates
Thai Airways is now demanding passengers, departing on their planes from China, Italy and South Korea, to Thailand, provide the national airline with health certificates before they can receive their boarding passes. The announcement was the airlines’ latest reaction to the growing coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. Here’s The Thaiger’s daily Coronavirus update HERE. The new compliance relates to Thai flights out…
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Worst case scenario – Thailand loses 10 million tourists this year
Thailand’s tourist industry could be decimated in the wake of the world coronavirus outbreak. Tourism accounts for an estimated 16% of Thailand’s total GDP. The Tourism Authority of Thailand governor, Yutthasak Supasorn, says that, in a worst case scenario, Thailand could bleed 10 million of it’s projected 40 million tourist arrivals this year. He says his estimates were based on…
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Thai PM Prayut quashes 2,000 baht handout package
Easy come, easy go. Well that was quick. Last Friday’s announcements for 2 x 1000 baht handouts to poorer Thai citizens has been quashed by the PM. Prime Minister Prayut officially shelved plans to hand out the cash to low income earners. Last Friday the Finance Ministry made the announcement for a new round of stimulus packages to prop up…
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Kitten killer arrested in Chiang Mai
The internet is abuzz with outrage and indignation as netizens and animal lovers express their outrage over a man in arrested in northern Thailand for adopting kittens, then killing them. Officers in Chiang Mai arrested the man, identified as Waitaya Kadpab, on animal cruelty charges for adopting and killing up to 12 kittens. Authorities told Thai media that several people…
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Pattaya cop, volunteers busted for extortion, abduction
A police officer and four local police volunteers been arrested for extortion and abduction in Pattaya. Captain Wuttikorn Plodprong, a deputy investigator of the Pattaya City Police and the four volunteers for police were arrested Saturday, and are now in custody at the local remand prison. The arrest comes after relatives of an accused drug dealer reported to the Chon…
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Thai minister says aide not involved in massive mask-hoarding
Responding to a report on Facebook, the Thai Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thamanat Prompow admitted today that his assistant met a man who was reported to be hoarding face masks, but he denied they discussed the mask trade. The post alleged that Thamanat’s close aide had a hoard of 200 million medical masks for resale to China. He said…
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Village leader slain in drive-by shooting in South
Gunmen in Pattanni province in Thailand’s restive South shot dead an assistant village headman while he was exercising at a children’s playground yesterday. Pattani and its neighbouring provinces are home to Thailand’s Southern Conflict. The drive-by shooting occurred at playground in front of a football field in Ban Prawae of tambon Yarang. Witnesses say Chanwit Kaso, assistant headman of Ban…
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