Thailand News

Discover the most recent and relevant news from across Thailand on The Thaiger’s National News page. Covering a wide range of topics, including politics, business, crime, and lifestyle, our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.

Stay informed about the latest developments in Thai society, economy, and culture, as well as updates on travel, tourism, and expat life. With The Thaiger, you’ll never miss out on the essential news that matters to you.

  • Sponsored

    Working in Thailand: How expat health insurance protects your career and lifestyle

    Starting a career in Thailand can be an exciting chapter, but it also brings unique challenges, especially when it comes to health and wellness. For expats, navigating Thailand’s healthcare system and meeting work permit requirements can be difficult. And while...

  • Angry Thai man crashes car into PPRP election poster

    Angry Thai man crashes car into PPRP election poster

    An angry Thai man was prosecuted for damaging an election campaign poster belonging to the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP). He deliberately crashed his pickup into the poster. The suspect’s family revealed he was angry at the party because his request for unemployment compensation was rejected. With the General Election set to take place on May 14, every political party has begun…

  • German pedophile arrested for producing child pornography in Pattaya

    German pedophile arrested for producing child pornography in Pattaya

    Thailand’s Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) arrested a German pedophile for shooting and distributing child pornography involving his teenage stepdaughter from his home in Pattaya. The 76 year old perverted expat, Wilfried Wilms, was taken into custody on Saturday, March 18 following an alert from the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, which traced child pornography back to Wilms’s Meet4U and…

  • Thailand welcomes 5.5 million foreign tourists so far this year

    Thailand welcomes 5.5 million foreign tourists so far this year

    In the first three months of 2023, more than 5.5 million foreign tourists entered Thailand, generating over 200 billion baht for the economy, government spokesperson Trisulee Trisoranakul reported this morning. Between January 1 and March 18, 5,578,721 foreign tourists arrived in Thailand, generating 215 billion baht in tourism revenue, according to data provided by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.…

  • 3 police arrested for kidnapping Chinese man and Thai woman

    3 police arrested for kidnapping Chinese man and Thai woman

    Din Daeng Police Station apprehended three police officers from Immigration Division 1 yesterday following allegations made by a Thai woman that they kidnapped and extorted 1 million baht from a Chinese man. The three suspects denied the accusations, and one officer involved in the incident is currently on the run. According to the complaint filed by a 38 year old…

  • 2 killed and 3 rescued in boat collision near Koh Samui

    2 killed and 3 rescued in boat collision near Koh Samui

    A fishing boat and an oil tanker collided near Koh Samui, an island in the southern province of Surat Thani. Three of the five fishermen were rescued, while the other two died. The Fisheries Checkpoint Management Centre Region 7 in Surat Thani notified the relevant departments at 2.20pm yesterday that the fishing boat named Talay Nam Chok 8 (Lucky Sea…

  • SUV crashes into mall in Thailand, plummets 4 floors into basement

    SUV crashes into mall in Thailand, plummets 4 floors into basement

    An SUV last night somehow crashed into a famous mall located in Pathum Thani province, situated to the north of Bangkok, Thailand. The vehicle then drove over the railings by the escalator and plummeted four floors into the basement. The SUV driver miraculously survived the accident, sustaining only minor bleeding to the head. The crash happened yesterday around midnight at Zeer…

  • Thailand election to be held May 14

    Thailand election to be held May 14

    UPDATE Thailand’s Election Committee (EC) confirmed today that Thailand’s general election will be held on May 14, 2023. The vote will be held on May 14 with early ballots cast on May 7. Over 52 million people are required to vote. The election follows Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s dissolution of the House of Representatives, endorsed by His Majesty King Maha…

  • Revered Thai monk’s body defies decomposition 20 years after death

    Revered Thai monk’s body defies decomposition 20 years after death

    More than 20 years after revered Thai monk Luang Phu Woraphon Thawitan passed away, his body remains displayed in a glass case at his temple in Khon Kaen province, northeast Thailand. Not only has the deceased monk’s body not decomposed – defying science – but his skin has turned emerald green, reports Sanook. Yesterday, Phra Khru Sri Pattarasan, the current…

  • Hong Kong tourist narrowly survives bungee cord snapping midair in Thailand

    Hong Kong tourist narrowly survives bungee cord snapping midair in Thailand

    Distraught onlookers thought the moment a Hong Kong tourist’s bungee cord snapped after he leapt from a height of ten storeys in Pattaya, Thailand, would surely send him plummeting to his death. But, he survived. One of Mike’s colleagues went first and had a blast, and Mike was up next, raring to go. The staff tied the bungee cord to…

  • 3 police attacked by 30 vendors while inspecting product piracy at a Thai market

    3 police attacked by 30 vendors while inspecting product piracy at a Thai market

    A group of 30 vendors attacked three officers from the Ang Thong Police Station while they were conducting a product piracy raid at a Thai market in the central province of Ang Thong on March 16. The police officers later filed a complaint about the assault while the vendors claimed they thought the officers were fake police. The deputy inspector…

  • Model prisoners hired by Thai fruit exporter due to worker shortage

    Model prisoners hired by Thai fruit exporter due to worker shortage

    A fresh fruit exporting company in the central province of Chantaburi hired 30 model prisoners as factory employees to tackle the worker shortages in the agricultural sector. The director of the Tung Benja Correctional Institution in Chantaburi, Thitinai Patikabut, took 30 well-behaved prisoners to work at the Orasa Fruit Company in the Combang sub-district of the province yesterday. Thitinai reported…

  • Police free woman imprisoned by lesbian lover after a row

    Police free woman imprisoned by lesbian lover after a row

    Police last night freed a woman imprisoned by her lesbian lover after a tempestuous row in Buri Ram. The captive woman said she does not want to press charges against her emotionally charged girlfriend. Police were alerted to the confined woman’s predicament by a neighbour yesterday and a patrol car was sent to the building where she was imprisoned at…

  • Aussie dad gets into fistfight with monkeys on Ko Phi Phi in Thailand (video)

    Aussie dad gets into fistfight with monkeys on Ko Phi Phi in Thailand (video)

    An Australian dad got into a fistfight with a gang of monkeys on a Thailand beach after they attacked his one year old son. No pistols at dawn followed but it got quite feisty. Riley Whitelum and his wife Elayna Carausu, along with their two sons, were on the Ko Phi Phi Islands when the incident occurred. While relaxing on…

  • Officials in Thailand say radioactive caesium-137 is contained, scholars disagree

    Officials in Thailand say radioactive caesium-137 is contained, scholars disagree

    The radioactive caesium-137 cylinder that went missing from a power plant in Prachin Buri province, central Thailand, was found to have been melted and turned into red soot with other scrap metal at a smelting factory around 10 kilometres away from the plant, sparking major health concerns for people in the area. Whether the caesium-137 will cause health problems like…

  • Thai soldier arrested for murder of delivery driver

    Thai soldier arrested for murder of delivery driver

    A Thai soldier was arrested yesterday for the murder of the delivery driver reported in the central province of Lob Buri last week. The suspect soldier confessed that he killed the victim over a dispute that arose from a car accident that occurred last year. The 52 year old delivery driver, Akkaradate “Ek” Srisa-ard, was found dead in his pickup…

  • Bail denied for Chinese gang accused of extorting 3.2 million baht from student in Thailand

    Bail denied for Chinese gang accused of extorting 3.2 million baht from student in Thailand

    A court in Bangkok denied bail to three Chinese nationals accused of kidnapping and extorting 3.2 million baht from a Chinese student studying for a Master’s degree in Thailand. The court cited the seriousness of the charges filed against them and their high flight risk. Two Chinese men and one Chinese woman are accused of four charges including detention and…

  • Thai woman accuses RTP of kidnapping, extorting 1 million baht from her boss

    Thai woman accuses RTP of kidnapping, extorting 1 million baht from her boss

    The Royal Thai Police (RTP) are in the headlines once again for all the wrong reasons after a Thai woman accused RTP officers of kidnapping and extorting 1 million baht from her boss in the Din Daeng district of Bangkok. Police reported that initial CCTV footage revealed that two of the men in the criminal group looked similar to Immigration…

  • Thailand to build 7 new airports

    Thailand to build 7 new airports

    The Department of Airports (DOA) plans to spend 50 billion baht on the development of seven new regional airports in Thailand, in Nakhon Pathom, Bueng Khan, Mukdahan, Kalasin, Phayao, Phatthalung and Satun provinces, reports DailyNews. The department wants to boost connectivity and provide more travel options for Thais and foreign tourists. New airports around Thailand’s lesser-known locations have been in…

  • Thai MP accused of insulting the King of Thailand

    Thai MP accused of insulting the King of Thailand

    Padipat Santipada, a member of the Move Forward Party (MFP), is facing a lese majeste charge in Thailand after being accused of insulting the king in a political speech delivered earlier this month. The charge against Padipat relates to Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code. Srisuwan Janya, secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Constitution, filed a…

  • Health officals urge caution after 2 people die from eating horseshoe crab

    Health officals urge caution after 2 people die from eating horseshoe crab

    Health officials in the southeastern province of Trat issued warnings to the public after two people died from consuming mangrove horseshoe crabs. Five others have been hospitalized after eating the lethally poisonous crustaceans. Horseshoe crabs are a staple food in the region, but the mangrove variety, also known as the round-tail horseshoe crab, is highly toxic and has been blamed for…

  • IDC predicts smartphone market in Thailand to remain stagnant

    IDC predicts smartphone market in Thailand to remain stagnant

    The Thai smartphone experienced a significant decline in 2022 and is expected to remain stagnant due to inflationary concerns, rising interest rates, and a lacklustre growth forecast for the Thai economy, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). The IDC reported that 16.6 million smartphone shipments were made in 2022, marking a 21% decline from the previous year and the…

  • 14 teens arrested after woman killed in knife attack

    14 teens arrested after woman killed in knife attack

    Police officers arrested 14 teenage boys after one of them allegedly murdered a female motorcycle rider on a road in Nakhon Sawan, in the central part of Thailand, on Saturday night. Officers from Paisaree Police Station managed to arrest the teenage gang after they fled the scene separately on March 18. The students, aged 16 to 17, go to a…

  • Thailand dissolves Parliament with immediate effect

    Thailand dissolves Parliament with immediate effect

    UPDATE Thailand‘s Parliament has been dissolved with immediate effect upon an announcement published today in the Royal Gazette. His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun of Thailand endorsed the dissolution of the House of Representatives, kicking off the election season. The Election Committee (EC) has tentatively set the date of the election for May 7, 2023, but this will be confirmed…

  • Thailand’s phanaeng curry voted No.1 best stew in the world

    Thailand’s phanaeng curry voted No.1 best stew in the world

    Global cuisine website TasteAtlas awarded Thailand‘s phanaeng curry the top spot in their updated list of 100 “best-rated stews in the world,” followed by Japanese kare (No.2) and Sichuan Hot Pot (No.3). Massaman curry also gained a spot in the top 10, voted No.8 best-rated stew in the world. Many Thai dishes made the list, including collective “Thai Curry” (No.14),…

  • BREAKING: Radioactive caesium-137 cylinder missing in Thailand was smelted, sparking health concerns

    BREAKING: Radioactive caesium-137 cylinder missing in Thailand was smelted, sparking health concerns

    UPDATE The radioactive cylinder containing caesium-137 which went missing from a power plant in Thailand was smelted in a furnace at Chow Steel Industries Public Company Limited’s smelting factory in Prachin Buri province, the governor of Prachin Buri province admitted this morning. The radioactive implications of this incident are unclear right now. Officials from the Office of Atoms for Peace…

  • Delivery riders want employee support and benefits

    Delivery riders want employee support and benefits

    Delivery riders in Thailand are calling for the next government to provide them with the same benefits as employees in other fields. Riders deal with work hazards ranging from harassment to road accidents, often without support or backup from their employers, including health insurance. Food delivery riders are often classified as “partners” instead of “employees.” This distinction results in a…

  • Sex worker prosecuted after 70 year old man found dead in southern Thailand love hotel

    Sex worker prosecuted after 70 year old man found dead in southern Thailand love hotel

    Police prosecuted a Thai sex worker after a 70 year old Thai man was found dead at a love hotel in Nakhon Si Thammarat province in the southern part of Thailand. Officers from Tung Yai Police Station were alerted to the man’s death at around 10pm last night and immediately rushed to investigate the scene along with volunteers from the…

  • Tour guides to ask PM to act on illegal foreign guides

    Tour guides to ask PM to act on illegal foreign guides

    Chinese-speaking tour guides in Thailand have called for the government to take action against illegal foreign guides who they claim are stealing their jobs. The Professional Guide Association of Thailand held a meeting on Saturday to discuss the issue and vow to escalate the issue all the way up to the prime minister. The association lamented that the number of…

  • Foreign tourist drowns at Pattaya Beach

    Foreign tourist drowns at Pattaya Beach

    A foreign tourist of unknown nationality tragically drowned at Pattaya Beach in Chon Buri province in eastern Thailand yesterday. At 2pm, the Sawang Boriboon Thammasat Rescue Foundation was informed that a foreign tourist was pulled out from the water at Pattaya Beach in Nong Prue subdistrict, Bang Lamung district. Rescue workers found a Western male estimated to be between 55…

  • Thailand to dissolve Parliament today ahead of election

    Thailand to dissolve Parliament today ahead of election

    Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has submitted a decree to dissolve Thailand’s Parliament before the upcoming election in May. The dissolution will come into effect upon its publication in the Royal Gazette, which is expected today. The decree requires approval from Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn. At 9.20am today, government spokesperson Wissanu Krea-ngam said that the date for the election will be…