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.
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Rain in most parts of the country forecast this week
All the water pistols and buckets of water over Songkran have done the job. It’s been raining around most of Thailand since the Thai New Year 2018, and there’s more to come. The TMD (Thai Meteorological Department) expects that the capital and several rural provinces will experience more rainfall from today up to the weekend. Bangkok and its vicinity have…
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Phnom Penh Post sold to Malaysian media investor
The Phnom Penh Post has been sold to Sivakumar Ganapathy, a Malaysian investor and executive at a public relations firm that has previously done work for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government. Sivakumar, who is the executive director of Malaysia-based Asia PR, said in a press release distributed to staff on Saturday that he intends to maintain the newspaper’s editorial independence.…
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22 year old killed after female driver speeds through red light in Chumpon
PHOTO: Daily News Police were called to the scene of an accident on the Asia Highway in Lang Suan, Chumpon on Saturday night. They found 22 year old Kampanat Pin-Ek dead in the central reservation. Nearby was his Honda Click motorcycle. He had been dragged 50 meters under the front wheel of a Bangkok registered Vigo pick up driven by…
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Activists challenge the Thai PM with three demands
Pro-election activists threatened to march to Government House on the fourth anniversary of the 2014 coup if the ruling junta fails to respond to their call for an election in November. The NCPO seized power on May 22, 2014 in a bloodless coup on the premise that it needed to stop Thai’s protesting violently in the streets of Bangkok. The…
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Malaysian PM in a fight for his political life
Just south of Thailand there is a looming political showdown that is likely to reshape Malaysian politics, no matter what happens at Wednesday’s polls. It’s the country’s 14 election since independence. On one side a politically-stained, long-sitting incumbent trying to cling onto power. On the other side an opposition led my the incumbent’s former mentor – the 92 year old Mahathir…
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Thailand’s drowning in a sea of plastic
By Piyaporn Wongruang In February last year, a patch of plastic trash almost 10 kilometres long was seen floating off the coast of the Gulf of Thailand in Chumpon province, prompting a wake-up call about the plastic pollution problem which has become increasingly serious in recent years. Tara Buakamsri, Thailand country director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, which campaigns against pollution,…
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Kanchanaburi seeks recognition of the Death Railway as a World Heritage Site
Kanchanaburi is pushing for its historically significant Death Railway to become a World Heritage Site. A public hearing was held yesterday at the River Kwai Hotel in the western border province to hear the views of local residents. The event was presided over by Kanchanaburi Governor Jirakiat Poomsawat. Almost 52 per cent of local residents backed a proposal by a…
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One night in Bangkok – 45 arrested for drugs and 91 for street racing
It’s been a busy night in Bangkok with nearly 140 people detained or arrested over street racing and others testing positive for illicit drugs at just one late night venue. Ninety-one motorcyclists and pillion riders were arrested las night (Friday) in an ongoing crackdown on street racing in the capital. Pol Maj-General Surachet Hakpal, the deputy commissioner of the Tourist…
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Co-ordinated attacks across the South today
Suspected ethnic Malay insurgents bombed power poles and burned tyres on the roads of five districts of Narathiwat early on Friday, police said. This follows a similar attack this morning in Yala where mobile phone towers were torched along with the same burning of tyres on main roads. The perpetrators also hung cloth banners criticising the Thai government. Police say…
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Cap seals being phased out
PHOTO: Thai Travel News The Pollution Control Department has sought cooperation from 7,000 water bottle manufacturers to stop using plastic cap seals within a year, in order to reduce plastic waste. The department has also sent letters to 19 ministries, the Food and Drug Administration and the Federation of the Thai Industries to seek their cooperation in promoting water bottles…
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10th ‘X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner’ sting – another 63 foreigners arrested
In what’s becoming a regular weekly announcement, Pol Maj-General Surachet Hakpa from the national tourist police says another 63 foreigners have been arrested last night in the latest ’10th X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner’ sting. As before, the searches have focussed on international schools and language schools. General Surachet says five were arrested for overstaying their visa – one Lao, one Indian, one…
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Couple arrested over Facebook luxury goods scam
A couple has been arrested for allegedly stealing an ID card which they used to set up a fake retail business selling luxury goods through a Facebook page without delivering the goods. The arrest of 34 year old Napat Jun-anporn and 24 year old Suthiwat Mansathit was announced yesterday (Thursday) after they were apprehended at their home in Pathum Thani’s…
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French man killed trying to stop a fight in Bangkok
PHOTO: Thai Visa Sanook website is reporting today (May 3) that police were notified that a foreign man had been stabbed to death at a bar in a guesthouse in Phra Nakhon, Bangkok. See story here Sanook Witness at the scene told police that a Thai man named only as ‘Pae’ was drinking alcohol with his girlfriend last evening until…
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Homesick Chaiyaphum worker (and his dog) bikes 500 kilometres
A homesick Chaiyaphum man was spotted cycling home from Sattahip in Chon Buri with his pet dog. In a viral video clip and Facebook post by a reporter in Prachin Buri, 39 year old Kaen Homsanthia, is seen riding his bicycle on the Kabin Buri-Pak Thong Chai road in Prachin Buri, just to the north-east of Bangkok, yesterday (Wednesday) with…
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Huge narcotics haul seized from four major drug operations
Police said four successful recent drug busts had led to the confiscation of a huge haul of narcotics, including more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, three kilograms of highly concentrated hashish oil, over 100,000 methamphetamine pills, some 5,300 grams of crystal methamphetamine and 850 grams of ketamine. Deputy police chief Pol General Chalermkiat Srivorakhan and Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) head…
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Six Kalasin state officials sacked over alleged drugs involvement
The governor of Kalasin province, north-east Thailand, Kraisorn Kongchalard, has terminated the employment of six state officials and employees while proceeding with serious disciplinary charges against them involving drugs. A monthly meeting of Kalasin kamnans and village headmen on Wednesday also saw participants undergo urine tests for substance abuse as a proactive measure. Kraisorn instructed all 18 district chiefs and…
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British man dies in fall from Pattaya condo
A British man has fallen to his death from the 18th floor of a Pattaya condominium early today (Wednesday), in what is believed to have been a suicide. Pol Lt Col Kamol Uppakarat was alerted at 1am about the death at a luxury condominium in Tambon Na Klua in Chon Buri’s Bang Lamung district. The body of 68 year old…
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Bryde’s whales thrill tourists off Chumpon coast
People along the shore of Pathiu district in southern Chumphon province have been treated to the sight of a pair of Bryde’s whales today (Tuesday). The whales – commonly referred to as Bruda whales because of the pronunciation of the Norwegian name Bryde – surfaced repeatedly for about an hour near Koh Ran Ped and Koh Ran Kai, about…
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Two race shoot-out brings 2018 Top of the Gulf Regatta to an end
PHOTOS: Guy Nowell The 2018 Top of the Gulf Regatta has lived up to its reputation for delivering close and competitive racing, and this year the weather made the racing even tougher. Over the past four days sailors have experienced everything from moments of becalm to 25 knot squalls, thunder and lightening, and blue skies indicative of sailing in the…
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Not this year – PM rejects activists calls for a 2018 election
The Thai PM is playing down rallies by pro-democracy groups planned for this month to press the NCPO to hold the long-delayed election this year. Prayut Chan-o-cha is insisting that the election would have to be held next year following a conclusion by the junta-appointed legislative assembly to delay the implementation of the MP election laws. “I have told the…
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Lights, camera, MONEY – Thailand’s earnings from foreign film makers
PHOTO: PRLog.org. Behind the scenes, filming The Hangover Part II on Phang Nga Bay. Figures are out from the Department of Tourism showing that revenue from foreign film productions shot in Thailand generated 799 million baht in only first quarter of 2018. The Director-General of the Department of Tourism, Anan Wongbenjara, Department Director General Anan Wongbencharat, says that a total…
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Tenants and landlords. Things change from today.
If you rent property in Thailand there are new guidelines for tenants and landlords that come into effect from today. Mostly good news but there are a few exceptions that you will need to be aware of. The days of the unscrupulous landlord may be partly over. With thanks to Thailandproperty.news and Tilleke & Gibbons, leading south east asian lawyers, here’s a…
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One man dead and 3,300 homes damaged by a week of storms
File photo The toll on property has been heavy following a week of storms around the central, north-east and northern regions. One man has died and more than 3,300 houses damaged by windstorms and thunderstorms from April 23-28. According to the director-general of Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, windstorms struck 32 provinces, 84 districts, 172 tambon and 393 villages,…
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Seven year old Trang Twins marry in a big ceremony
Translated from Thai Tharaporn and Tharapong – seven year olds – are the children of Natthapong and Pilanthana Pankhong who own a big agricultural equipment supply firm in the southern Thai town. The twins were married in a lavish ceremony. Some 1000 guests turned up for the ceremony that is held to satisfy old beliefs that by so doing the…
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Day Three: Top of the Gulf Regatta 2018
PHOTOS: Guy Nowell All the fleet are playing catch-up in their respective series after two days of unseasonal weather in the Gulf of Thailand and race officers on the keelboat and multihull, dinghy and Optimist courses were eager to get going today. Two quick windward/leewards for all in classes 1-6 (keelboats, multihulls) and two quick races for the dinghies (classes…
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Peeling back the red tape – Thailand 4.0
A committee tasked with propelling needed reforms under the Thailand 4.0 policy on Monday heard progress updates from state bodies in a meeting chaired by PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha. A series of measures must be implemented to aid in the nation’s digital transformation including, this August, cancelling state agency requirements for photocopies of the Thai national ID card and household…
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The Good Shepherd Phuket Learning Centre requires urgent funding
The fate of the Good Shepherd Learning Centre Phuket is a matter of concern. The Centre has an urgent need to obtain sustainable funds to continue operations as its initial period of regular, committed funding will cease in May 2018. At The Good Shepherd Learning Centre they provide basic education i.e. science, mathematics and language skills in Thai, Burmese and…
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Police look into deaths linked to Lyn-brand weight-loss products
Fresh on the heels of an investigation into Magic Skin beauty products, police are now looking at another well-known brand, Lyn, after its weight-loss products were allegedly found to contain two dangerous substances. Deputy national police chief Pol General Weerachai Songmetta says the products might contain the appetite suppressant Sibutramine and the laxative Bisacodyl. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)…
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Dutch tourist falls from ladyboy’s condo balcony
PHOTO: Ivy Residence Pinklau, Hipflat.co.th A Dutch tourist has fallen to his death from a condo room of a ladyboy he had just met at a drinking party on Khao San Road, Bangkok early this morning. The tourist has been identified by his driving licence as 21 year old Salmans Rik W F. Police say he fell from the room of 37…
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Huge rally in Chiang Mai protesting judges’ homes on Doi Suthep mountain
PHOTO: Chiang Rai Times Around 1,000 people have rallied in Chiang Mai yesterday to protest the homes being built for Thai judges on forested land on Doi Suthep mountain. The protest is one of the largest protests against the government ever staged. Public frustration has been mounting over the project since aerial images started circulating on social media earlier this…
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