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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Government ramping up its plans to control Thai media
The military government’s so-called “agreement of truth” will likely include a mechanism to oversee media in the name of ensuring the press “act responsibly to society” by following an imposed code of conduct and professional morality. The agreement will likely require approval from major political parties before being put into practice. But the same mechanism will also help protect media…
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Send in the cavalry. Extra immigration staff being sent to Don Meuang and Suvarnabhumi
About 200 immigration officials from immigration offices around the country are being rallied and sent to the beleaguered Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang international airports in the hope of coping with the incoming traffic. Both airports have been shamed into action after social media posts have snapped photos of hordes of unprocessed incoming tourists waiting to be processed by Immigration officials.…
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Belgian couple fleeced of 100 Euro by ‘police’ in BKK
A Belgian couple are claiming they were detained and robbed by Bangkok police on the last day of their holiday. 28 year olds Maxime Kempeneer and Noel Borgs are making big news in Euro social media. According to their story, the robbery happened on August 10. Maxime says the couple had been backpacking and were in Bangkok to catch their…
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Six day ultimatum – Cambodia to Laos.
Cambodia’s PM has issued a six-day “ultimatum” to Laos – to remove a group of troops who have allegedly trespassed across their border, or face a military response. “We don’t want to have a dispute with Laos, but we also cannot allow the situation remain like this anymore,” said PM Sen, adding that he was running out of patience with…
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Phuket security at ‘maximum’. Seven southern provinces warned.
Security is being ramped up in some southern provinces today including Phuket, Trang, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phangnga and Krabi. Police have put the security level at ‘maximum’ reflecting their concerns over possible violent anniversary attacks after last year’s bombings and arson on August 11 and 12. Ten bombs went off and five fires broke out…
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Don Mueang Airport immigration processing times. Idea #78.
The ideas are coming thick and fast now, a week after an estimated 4,000 passengers had to wait nearly five hours to be processed at Don Mueang Airport, the capital’s secondary airport catering mainly for budget airlines. last Saturday night. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is ordering Royal Thai Air Force officers to help speed up the process at airport immigration…
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Pattaya taxi driver knocks out foreigner
A Pattaya cabbie has flattened an unidentified foreigner, punching him in the face and knocking him unconscious. Police headed to Pattaya Soi 2 and found the 40 year old farang recovering next to the footpath after locals had dragged him off the road. Emergency volunteers treated him at the scene before transporting him to hospital. For his part, the 46…
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Protest brewing over slow response to a search for missing Thai students in the US
American authorities are facing protests if they don’t expedite the retrieval of the bodies of two Thai postgraduate students believed to have died in a car crash almost two weeks ago in California, the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles has said. Protests are planned in Fresno county, the scene of the accident, and Los Angeles, as frustration mounts with the…
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Koh Kho Khao. The vanishing island.
Locals from the Phang Nga province’s Koh Kho Khao, just north of Khao Lak, are urging the Thai PM to help them stem the heavy erosion of their island beaches from encroaching seawater. They say their beach is vanishing as the bay has intruded a hundred meters inland along its 20-kilometer coastline. And they’re saying it’s not just the annual…
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US Embassy in Bangok offers condolences
The US Embassy in Bangkok has expressed condolences to the families and friends of the two Thai students that appear to have been involved in a tragic accident in California. In its two-sentence statement, the Embassy said: “We are closely following the situation and express our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the two Thai students involved in…
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Want to win 100,000 baht? Name the new skywalk.
In case you’ve been away or just not read the news for a few weeks, Bangkok has a stunning new walkway above the Pathum Wan intersection. It’s cost 300 million baht and taken two years to construct. But it’s now open and become the new place-to-meet-friends in the capital. But the Skywalk doesn’t have a name. The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority…
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Four hour wait to get through Don Mueang Immigration
Immigration officials are investigating how passengers had to wait for more than four hours at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok. One passenger says she took four hours and 20 minutes to clear immigration and noted than many were getting weak and suffering because of the poor ventilation. People in the queue were posting that there were only 3 immigration…
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Charging ahead. Electric car charging stations coming to Thailand.
The Thailand chapters of four industrial companies are pooling their resources to work towards public charging stations for the next generation of electric cars in the country. Greenlots, BMW Group Thailand, Polytechnology and the Central Group are set to launch ‘Charge Now’ in Thailand which they claim is already the world’s largest network of charging stations for electric and hybrid…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, August 4
Phra Dhammajayo fled to Europe?, all quiet after Day One of new Patong parking restrictions, salvage attempt for car rented by two Thai students missing in US, Airport Director refutes claims in a FB post and more rain on the way for flood-inundated north and northeast.
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Two Thais missing in California
Two Thais remain missing after their car was found submerged in a river at the bottom a cliff in California. Foreign Affairs representative, Busadee Santipitakswith, from the Thai consulate in Los Angeles, is working with LA Police to find Thiwadee Saengsuriyarit and her friend. At this stage we only know her friend’s name as ‘Golf’. The pair went missing last…
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Former Abbot Phra Dhammajayo fled to Europe?
Former Abbot Phra Dhammajayo may have fled the country. The DSI (Department of Special Investigations) says they have evidence that he may have bolted to Europe with the help of some of his followers. The Government raided the sprawling ‘space-age’ Dhammakaya Temple headquarters, just north of Bangkok, back in February but came out empty-handed. Authorities have vowed to bring the…
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Phuket hotel registration remains a challenge
Phuket is attracting an ever-increasing number of international visitors to our golden beaches and turquoise seas. But many of the millions of travellers who visit Phuket each year could be staying in unlicensed – and effectively illegal – hotels. According to a new report by hospitality consulting group C9 Hotelworks, less than a quarter of hotels in Phuket (429 out…
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Congratulations Mareeya Poonlertlarp, our new Miss Thailand 2017
25 year old Mareeya Poonlertlarp is a half-Thai, half-Swedish model, and has been crowned Miss Thailand Universe 2017 at Siam Paragon Hall in Bangkok. Marayee is 183cm tall, a postgraduate in marketing from the Stockholm Business School and claims to be fluent in four languages – Thai, Swedish, English and Mandarin. She has won one million baht, a diamond tiara…
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‘World Day against Trafficking in Persons’. Thailand in the middle of the world’s human trafficking hot spot.
Today is ‘World Day against Trafficking in Persons’ – a day where we reflect on the many victims of trafficking who live among us, but have been forced into silence due to threats to their life, retaliation against their family, feelings of hopelessness, or being enslaved and physically unable to speak out. The day has special meaning in Thailand where…
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Boom Boom on the Border
On one side of the Thai/Malaysian border is Sungai Golok, on the Malaysian side it’s the town of Rantau Panjang. The two towns are separated by the Golok River and decades of furious fighting between Muslim separatists who want to reclaim some of the southern areas in Thailand under the Malaysian flag. The Thai Buddhists on the other side are…
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Thailand ‘among top 20 most dangerous countries’ to visit
THAILAND: Thailand has been ranked as one of the 20 most dangerous countries in the world for tourists to visit, with high rates of crime and violence and ‘low reliability’ of police assistance, according to a recent survey. Of the 136 countries around the world covered by the World Economic Forum’s ‘Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report’, which was released last…
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Bad 1stQ for Thai Media and Telecoms
BANGKOK: With but two exceptions, listed telecom and media companies in Thailand continued in the doldrums in the 1stQ this year, with stagnant revenue growth resulting in continued or worsening losses. According to Nielsen Thailand, ad spending in the first four months of 2017 dropped almost six percent, to 35 billion baht, from the same period last year. Analog TV…
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Nation Analysis: High defense spending at expense of education, welfare
THE CONTROVERSIAL submarine deal has sparked public debate about the way the Thai Defense Ministry spends tax money on military hardware and other national-security projects. Many question whether such projects should take priority over education, public healthcare or improving the lives of the country’s millions of poor. Since the coup in 2014, the budget allocated to the Defense Ministry has…
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Bomb blast at army hospital in Bangkok injures 25
BANGKOK: Twenty five people were injured in a bomb blast at an Army hospital in Bangkok yesterday morning. A police source said an unidentified bomber attached a green vase with artificial flowers to a wall in the reception room of Phramongkutklao Hospital before a homemade bomb exploded there at 10:40am. Investigators of the Metropolitan Police Bureau obtained a picture of…
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Patients treated in hallways at overcrowded Samui Hospital
SAMUI: Locals in Samui have lodged complaints about overcrowding at Samui Hospital leading to makeshift arrangements to accommodate patients in the hospital’s hallways. Patients and their families say that the hallway is hot, uncomfortable and mosquito ridden. “Currently, we only have 133 beds, but about 160 patients to cater to,” said Samui Hospital Director Dr Theerasak Virtanon. “Additionally, we have…
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His Majesty the King signs Thailand’s new constitution
BANGKOK: His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn yesterday signed the country’s new constitution – the 20th – giving it royal endorsement and setting in motion a process for the next general election, which is expected late next year. Through a court secretary, HM proclaimed the new charter’s promulgation in a televised royal ceremony that included local and foreign dignitaries, including Prime…
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Two foreigners arrested in alleged extortion sting
CHIANG MAI: Police arrested an Australian and a Dutch national in Mae Rim district in Chiang Mai yesterday afternoon, for allegedly trying to extort an Australian restaurant owner out of 1.7 million baht. The chopper-riding suspects say they are innocent. The alleged victim, aged in his 50s, told police that the duo threatened to kill his family if he failed…
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Immigration sealed for fugitive monk
THAILAND: Immigration police have been ordered to prevent Phra Dhammachayo, the former abbot of Dhammakaya Temple, from fleeing to neighboring countries, Immigration Police Bureau commissioner Lt General Nuttathorn Proesunthon said yesterday. “The ‘modern’ system and technology of the bureau, which is linked to all exit points, will help block the fugitive monk from leaving the country,” he added. The monk…
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Six killed in bus accident tied to school budget issues
PRACHIN BURI: Budget constraints may have contributed to the deaths of four teachers and two students who were killed yesterday when a double-decker bus on a school trip plunged into a ravine in Prachin Buri’s Na Di district. The accident took place on Highway 304 on the route from Nakhon Ratchasima to Na Di. The two-lane road, which is known…
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His Majesty strips fugitive monk of patriarch rank
THAILAND: His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun has signed a royal command to strip Phra Dhammachayo of a senior monk rank, equivalent to a patriarch. The royal command, which was signed on Saturday, was published in the Royal Gazette yesterday. The command stripped Phra Dhammachayo of the rank of Thep Yarn Mahamunee on grounds that he is wanted on a…
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