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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Moving to Thailand offers plenty of excitement and adventure, but the local healthcare system can be complex to navigate as an expat. From unique health risks to high costs at private hospitals, having a comprehensive health insurance plan is essential....
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NCPO and NLA members resign to take up positions as senators in next parliament
Members of the current Cabinet and the National Legislative Assembly, who are hoping to become senators in the new parliament, are expected to resign as the NCPO prepares senatorial appointments for royal endorsement by the end of this week. Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam says that the NCPO will submit its list of 250 appointed senators by this Friday. He said…
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Junta and government looking to unwind some orders made since 2014
The junta and the government are scheduled wind back orders and announcements originally issued by the junta but which are no longer considered necessary – some of them issued back in 2014 when the Junta took control in May of that year. Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam passed on the news earlier today. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha said the junta and the…
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Prayut tentatively embraces China’s Belt and Road strategy for Thailand
Thai PM’s appearance at the second Belt and Road Initiative forum in Beijing last weekend suggests the luke-warm relations between China and Thailand persist. Whilst both nations portray a strong willingness to progress in their financial partnerships there is still a gulf between the two country’s preferred outcomes in the deals they are forging. Last time Beijing snubbed the Thai…
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Summer storms forecast for the central and north of Thailand
The Thai Meteorological is warning provinces in the North, Northeast, Central and East about the threat of ‘summer storms’ until Monday. The latest storm warning was issued at 5am today. The Thai department said the thunderstorms were being caused by a high pressure system from China that covers the upper part of the Northeast and the South China Sea, while…
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Thailand event round up – May
with The Sponsorship Experts Those with a love for shopping should head to Pattaya for the Thailand One Stop Shopping Expo Pattaya, on until May 5. With more than 47,000 square metres of floor space, TOSSE Pattaya is Thailand’s largest shopping expo with departments showcasing everything from Wedding, Electronics, Garden & Pet Baby & Family and Fashion. The Samui Regatta…
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Weather warnings for northern and central summer storms
The Thai Meteorological Department yesterday has announced some more weather warnings for summer storms in upper Thailand and the South China Sea. From May 3-6, a high pressure system from China will extend to upper Thailand and the South China Sea. The southwesterly prevailing winds in upper Thailand will strengthen and the weather continue to be hot over upper Thailand.”…
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Cabinet announces 13.2 billion baht handouts, also property and tourism stimulus
The Thai Cabinet has given the go ahead to 13.2 billion baht in social welfare spending to low income-earners. The payments would go to parents with children still in school, disabled people and farmers. The same meeting also announced tax packages to boost the real estate and tourism sectors. A spokesperson for the PM’s Office says that under the welfare card…
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Thailand’s first Rabies death for the year
PHOTOS: PR Office The first death from rabies this year was in Surin, north of Thailand. The Public Relation Department today reported that Dr. Suwannachai Wattanaying- Charoenchai, Director-General of the Department of Disease Control says, “We were notified that a 32 year old man in Surin has died from rabies.” “Before he died he was being treated for fever and was…
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Phuket Airport passenger arrivals dip
by Bill Barnett, c9Hotelworks.com To date, 2019 is shaping up to be a slightly volatile year for tourism to the island. Passenger arrivals at Phuket International Airport rose 1% year-on-year in January, but took a step backwards in February with a substantial 6% decline. While we are still early in the year, overall visitor arrivals to Thailand on a country-wide…
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EC dogged by new controversy after poll re-run in Nakhon Pathom
Five times they counted and five times they got different results. The re-run of the election and the counting of votes in Nakhon Pathom, west of Bangkok, couldn’t have gone worse for the Election Commission, coming under fire from all directions over irregularities, forced recounts and hundreds of small errors in the counting process. The credibility has come under renewed…
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Thai Cabinet extends waiver of Visa On Arrival fees
Thailand’s Cabinet has extended the waiver of the fees for ‘visa on arrival’ for some foreign tourists to Thailand. The waiver of the 2,000 baht VOA fee will be extended to at least October 31. The fee had previously been waived until January 14 this year in a bid to boost tourism. It was then extended until April 30 and has…
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Buyback Option at VIP KATA Condominium by Phuket9
Phuket9 Company announces a buy-back option for VIP KATA Condominium Project with a rental return of 56% over 8 years. The first two buildings of VIP KATA Condominium were launched in July 2018. After one month in August 2018, Phuket9 commenced construction of the second phase – 2 more buildings including 209 apartments, 2 common swimming pools, rooftop gardens, restaurants and a kids club.…
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New iMac models – same, same but 2.4 times faster
by Paisal Chuenprasaeng “The all-in-one design looks elegant and sleek. Everything – display, processor, graphics, storage and memory – is contained inside one simple enclosure.” More powerful yet just as slim and sleek as earlier models, Apple’s new iMac is now powered by 8-core Intel 9th-generation processors and its graphic horse power is unleashed by superfast Radeon Pro Vega graphics.…
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56 elephant skeleton fragments found in a Chon Buri mine
PHOTOS: DNP 56 bones from an elephant skeleton have been found inside a mine area in Chon Buri yesterday. The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) reports that officials and veterinarians yesterday examined the 56 skeleton fragments of a male elephant found inside a mine in Chon Buri, just 300 metre from a protection zone. The elephant was…
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Tourist arrivals stagger and drop 1% – March figures
What goes up must go down, or at least falter occasionally. Newton’s law of gravity applies to just about everything, including’s Thailand’s rise and rise of tourist traffic. At some stage the numbers will actually (horror!!) start to plateau and even go down. For the first quarter this year the numbers have actually stalled. The Kingdom suffered a combined drop in…
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Thai owner and two Chinese fined for not reporting change of address within 24 hours
PHOTO: Naew Na A Thai property owner and two Chinese nationals have all been fined for not abiding by the law that states that a foreigners’ location must be reported within 24 hours when they have changed addresses. Naew Na used the word “property” in its report so it’s not known if the premises was a private dwelling, Airbnb-style or hotel.…
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Driver killed and 10 Burmese workers injured in Tak crash
by Pipat Jongmeekwamsook A van driver has been killed and 10 migrant workers injured after the passenger van careered into a roadside ditch and hit a tree in Khamphaeng Phet in Thailand’s central west today. The 27 year old van driver was killed and 10 Burmese workers were injured when their vehicle crashed in Khamphaeng Phet’s Kosamphee Nakhon district early…
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World Bank downgrades Thailand’s 2019 GDP growth to 3.8%
The World Bank is downgrading Thailand’s growth projections to 3.8% from 3.9% for 2019. This compares to last year’s 4.1% GDP. The Bank says that export growth has shrunk to 5.7% from last year’s 5.9%. The World Bank’s senior economist for Thailand, Mr. Kiatpong Ariyapratya, says that the Word Bank also projects that Thailand’s growth rate for next year would…
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Thailand is ‘least miserable’ country in the world again
Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha says he’s delighted over Thailand’s rating as the “least miserable” economy in the latest Bloomberg Misery Index. The annual Misery Index is calculated as the sum of a country’s inflation and unemployment rates. The index compares the average of economists’ forecasts for each country. The US moved six places to 13th least miserable and the UK improved four spots to 16th least.…
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Phuket seastead being removing by Thai Navy today
Navy officers are in the process of dismantling and removing the Phuket seastead today. About 300 navy officers are currently in the process removing the structure off the south east coast of the island. The operation is expected to be done by today, according to a spokesperson. The seastead will be kept at the Phuket Deap Sea Port as evidence…
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Average hotel prices drop in Thailand in 2018
The latest Hotel Price Index (HPI) released by Hotels.com reveals no sign of a slowdown for the global travel industry. Prices are up for overnight accommodation by 3% globally in 2018 across every regional index, except for the Pacific region, including Thailand. Hotel.com has 85 websites in 34 languages, and lists over 325,000 hotels in approximately 19,000 locations. Its inventory…
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Summer storms leave 6,900 homes damaged this month
More than 6,900 houses, mostly in a patch through the central-north regions of Thailand, have been hit by summer storms since the beginning of April, according to the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department. Chayapol Thitisak, the director-general, says the department has received reports that 6,940 houses in 1,010 villages in 307 tambon of 115 districts had been damaged by storms…
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Ambulances must not exceed 80kph, except in emergencies
The Public Health Ministry’s directive to ensure ambulances keep below 80 kph only applies to non-emergency referral cases. The clarification issued today after a lot of criticism in social media. The ministry’s deputy permanent secretary, Dr Prapon Tangsrikertikul, says… “The policy has been introduced to ensure the safety of those inside the ambulances. But, of course, drivers can use appropriate…
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Twitter shares the Songkran experience – 2.8 million tweets
Thais flocked to Twitter during this year’s Songkran to share their experiences. This year’s #Songkran’s festivities generated 2.8 million Tweets from April 12-16 and the conversation peaked on April 13, around 6pm, with 71,000 Tweets per minute. The celebration of the Thai Buddhist New Year, Songkran, is a time for family. It’s the time for reflection on the past year, for…
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HM Queen Sirikit advised to stay in hospital for treatment
Her Majesty Queen Sirikit has been admitted to Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok suffering cystitis, which is an inflammation of the bladder, according to the Bureau of the Royal Household today. Queen Sirikit is the ‘Queen Mother’ of Thailand, the mother of the current King Maha Vajiralongkorn and was married to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The Queen’s doctors examined her at 6pm…
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Central Thailand hit by Songkran storms
Over 300 houses have been damaged after thunderstorms lashed seven districts of Kamphaeng Phet province, in central west Thailand, at about 8pm last night. Officials have visited the districts this morning and found 25 damaged houses in six tambon of Muang district. The storms also damaged 162 houses in seven tambon of Phran Kratai district and 92 more damaged in…
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Stateless Thais can now apply for birth certificates and Thai ID
PHOTOS: The Nation “Rootless” people, born in Thailand but abandoned at birth – so without any Thai identification number or household documents – are now permitted to file for a birth certificates and apply for Thai nationality. The new laws have been published in the Royal Gazette, effective this week. The new edition of Civil Registration Act also allows these…
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Pro-democracy coalition remains positive following weekend glitch
by Kai Chanwanpen The see-saw continues as the anti and pro-junta groups continue to tussle to form a coalition government. Meanwhile the Election Commission (EC) is no closer to announcing the allocation of Lower House seats… three weeks after the vote! They maintain that May 9 is the day they will announce the results although this deadline has been muddied…
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The coronation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun
PHOTO: A younger King Maha Vachiralongkorn with his father, the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej May 5, 1950. King Bhumibol Adulyadej was coronated in a grand ceremony at the Grand Palace and around the streets of Bangkok. That’s nearly seven decades ago when the last coronation took place in Thailand. The 1950 coronation ceremony began the reign of King Rama IX,…
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Day Two: Songkran Seven Days of Danger
PHOTO: Thai PBS The Songkran road toll has now jumped to 105, with more than 1,000 injured on Thailand’s roads. The latest stats reported by the Centre for the Prevention and Reduction of Road Accidents. This includes incidents from days one and two in the seven day annual accident reporting campaign. Thai PBS reports that the centre reports 57 people were killed…
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