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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Is tap water in Thailand safe to consume?
Wondering if you can drink the tap water in Thailand? From brushing your teeth to filling up a bottle, it’s helpful to understand a few basics. Tap water safety in Thailand varies by location, and while some people use it...
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Chiang Mai: Thai shoe thiefs caught red-handed at Wat Doi Suthep
Uproar yesterday following video showing a Thai man and woman stealing a Chinese tourist’s expensive shoes at Wat Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. Daily News reports that the mum and dad, with their child, were caught on CCTV at the temple. Mum takes off her shoes and these are put in a bag by the father. Then they come back and…
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Krabi: Chinese tourist drowns at Railay Bay
After all the heavy monsoonal weather along our coasts in recent days, we’re lucky we haven’t had more reports of risky swimmers getting into difficulty. Sadly, Krabi has reported a drowning. Thai Rath reports that a 32 year old Chinese tourist staying in the Railay Beach area drowned after ignoring officials’ warnings not to go into the water. The report says…
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Pretties, 500 World Cup punters and ‘influencers’ arrested over illegal betting
It was only a matter of time before we’d have some arrests related to illegal betting during the World Cup. Among 500 suspects being rounded up, police are also summoning 20 ‘influencers’ who have been posting on Facebook about the ‘Net Idol’ betting page and attempting to persuade youth to engage in soccer betting. Police have arrested 484 suspects – including…
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Krabi’s coastline damaged by strong winds and heavy waves
Strong winds and waves have damaged the Koh Kwang Beach in Krabi during the reason crazy monsoon weather. Somsak Tabbut, a village head man of the Baan Koh Kwang village in Muang Krabi inspected the beach this morning. The damage runs all along 800 metres of the beach. Khun Somsak says, “Every monsoon period, every year, strong wind and waves…
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Chiang Mai: 33 year old found hanged in Nong Pa Khrang
A man has hung himself in a Chiang Mai apartment. On June 19, police were informed about a body found at a residence in Nong Pa Kerang, to the east of the Chiang Mai city centre. The deceased, later identified as 33 year old Worawut Srichaiwong, was found hanged from window bars. There was reportedly no sign of assault injury…
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Summer solstice – the longest day of the year in Thailand
It’s a special day of the year and we’re glad the sun is out so we can enjoy it. And, if all is well, we’ll see more sunshine today than any other day of 2018. So what will you do with all the extra daylight? The summer solstice is today (June 21) – the longest day in the northern hemisphere.…
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Chiang Rai: Province tackling pineapple oversupply
It’s not only Phuket where the popular fruit crop, pineapple, is in oversupply. A glut is causing prices to drop, but not only in the southern provinces. In Chiang Rai the provincial government is taking a pro-active approach to try and support farmers through the short-term supply/demand problem. Chiang Rai Governor, Narongsak Osotthanakkorn has told Thai media that both short-term…
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Some stingray and sawfish species now declared ‘protected’
PHOTO: Green sawfish. Survival, Self Sufficiency and Sustainable Living Some types of the stingray and sawfish family will now be declared as protected species. The Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has now declared eight types of stingray and three types of sawfish as protected. The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Gen Surasak Kanchanarat issued a ministerial announcement to…
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Executed 26 year old had grilled chicken and rice for final meal
In the wake of Thailand’s first execution in nine years, a few more details have emerged about the prisoner’s last moments and of his family. According to witnesses, the first man to be executed in Thailand in nine years was calm during the last few moments of his life. Identified only as Thirasak by authorities, the 26 year old remained…
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mu Space wants to send your name to space
Space and satellite company mu Space is sending its first experimental payload beyond the Earth’s atmosphere and it wants to include a list of space fans’ names on it. The Thai-based company is encouraging the public to write their names on a signature board installed at mu Space’s booth (Experiencing Zone 4) during the Techsauce Global Summit. The event is…
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Sadvertising: The art of making us cry and selling stuff
“Sadvertising is a consumer advertising trend in which ad creators are using a certain set of strategies to play on people’s emotions and touch off feelings of sadness, melancholy or wistfulness. Touching or emotional advertising has become increasingly popular in recent years as companies work to create strong emotional ties around their products. This is based on a belief that…
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2.8 million tourists visit Thailand in May
Tourist arrivals in Thailand gained 6.3% to 2.8 million in May 2018. This compares to May tourist arrivals in 2017. The Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Sports, Pongpanu Svetarundra, said the majority of visitors last month were from East Asia, followed by Europe, South Asia, and the United States. Pongpanu said the Chinese remained at the top of international arrivals. For…
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Khon Kaen: 5 year old girl dies after being left in a locked pick-up
Khon Kaen Governor Somsak Jangtrakul is assisting with aid and grief counselling to the family of five year old Kabinta “Nong Yam” Kehphuang, who died last Monday after being inadvertently left inside a locked pickup truck in sweltering heat outside a school for eight hours. The girl’s death – the eighth such fatality since 2012 – prompted her teacher, 32…
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Measures to control the use of herbicides being developed
The Biotechnology Alliance Association (BAA) recently held a meeting to develop measures to control the use of certain herbicides before proposing them to the Department of Agriculture (DOA). The BAA meeting looked into the use of paraquat, chlorpyrifos and glyphosate herbicides and how to use them in the farming industry. Experts from educational institutions, health and agriculture-related organizations also participated…
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Missing Ranong woman found after Saturday’s flash floods
The Thaiger reported about a woman who went missing on Saturday night amongst the torrential rain when the pick-up truck she was in got caught in a flash flood. Sadly, she was found dead. Searchers have recovered the body of the Ranong woman who was a passenger in a pickup truck that had been swept into a canal. The four-day…
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Nakhon Ratchasima: Ten injured in Korat bus crash
Another day in Thailand. Another bus crash. This time in Nakhon Ratchasima. Ten passengers have been injured after a Bangkok-Nong Khai bus ran off the road in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Sida district early this morning (Wednesday). Police say the accident happened at 2.05am on the Mittraparp road. Ten passengers, who weren’t seriously injured by the impact, were sent for treatment at…
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Hua Hin: Bomb squad called in to check suspected grenade
A bomb disposal crew in Hua Hin was called to the Soi 6 area on Monday following the discovery of an object which locals said looked like a grenade and could have been an explosive device. Local police and military officials attended the scene next to the railway line on Soi 6 where they found an M18 smoke grenade, as…
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Pattaya: How police tracked down Aussie ‘boat orgy’ operator
So what can you buy for 3,000 baht in Pattaya these days? A 49 yer old Australian was offering trips on a boat, including x-rated side-show for entertainment, 40 baht beers, and you can film it as well. More details are emerging of the events leading to the arrest of Stephen Carpenter, an Australian national who, along with a few…
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Beijing: Kim, Xi discuss denuclearisation and closer cooperation
PHOTO: Yonhap As historic as last week’s summit between the leaders of the US and North Korea was, this week’s meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un was far more important to the long-term stabilisation of the Korean Peninsula. The Korea Herald reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping has voiced his strong support for North Korea’s commitment to…
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Response to first execution in Thailand since 2009
“According to the third national human rights master plan on the justice system for 2014 to 2018, Thailand had a road map to suspend all executions in the country by 2014, amend the Criminal Code to legally abolish the death penalty by 2017, and ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR by this year.” Yesterday’s execution of a murderer…
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Krabi to be developed as a ‘Tourism for All’ city
Relevant tourist and municipal organisations are working together to develop Krabi as a city of ‘Tourism for All’ by developing facilities for the disabled and elderly persons. Today (June 19) officials, led by the Krabi Governor Lt Col ML Kittibodee Prawit, were inspecting a pier at Pak Klong Ji Lard in Muang Krabi where tourists depart on boats to Koh Phi…
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Hat Yai: 18 students injured after school van crashes into ditch
Eighteen students were slightly injured when their school van crashed into a roadside ditch about one kilometre from their school in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district this morning (Tuesday). The accident occurred on the Hat Yai-bound Asia highway in Tambon Khor Hong. The van driver, 35 year old Yongyut Thongsalalluan, told police that he was driving the students from Songkha’s Chana…
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Pattaya: Re-invented destination? Not everyone is convinced.
PHOTO: Oriental Escape “Pattaya has reinvented itself for upscale travellers.” In recent years, Pattaya has been striving, perhaps even struggling, to show itself to be more of a upscale and family-orientated destination. Pattaya was under the spotlight again as this year’s host for the Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+), with organiser, Tourism Authority of Thailand placing an emphasis on romance…
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Ministries collaborate on rehabilitation of tourism sites
Maya Bay and Boracay Island aren’t the only tourist magnets to be suffering from too much tourist love. Thai ministries are now looking at all the tourism hot spots in an effort to find a more sustainable way forward. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has joined the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in looking for ways to rehabilitate…
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Chiang Mai: Court asked to halt Doi Suthep construction and kick out the residents
Residents living in the controversial judicial buildings constructed on the slopes of Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai will have to drive past signs saying it’s a ‘NO MAN’S LAND’ every time they enter the property. The Doi Suthep Forest Reclamation Network is asking the Court of Appeals Region 5 to stop the ongoing construction at the controversial site. “We will…
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Bangkok: First execution in Thailand in nine years
PHOTO: Thai Rath Thailand has conducted its first execution since 2009. The Department of Corrections has confirmed that a convict has been executed by lethal injection at Bang Kwang Prison in Bangkok. 26 year old Theerasak Longji was convicted of robbing and killing a person with a knife in Trang, southern Thailand, in July 2012. The victim was stabbed 24 times. A…
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Bangkok: Taxi driver returns 270,000 baht cash
The Nation is reporting that a Bangkok taxi driver found cash worth 270,000 baht in Thai, Cambodian and US banknotes in a handbag at the weekend and handed it over to a radio station, which later managed to locate the Cambodian owner and return it to him. The passenger, 24 year old Op Simony Odum, got the money back from…
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Koh Samui: British tourist apologises for insurance scam
PHOTO: Surat Thani Immigration The Daily Mirror is reporting that a British tourist is being forced to apologise after being caught out in an insurance scam while holidaying in Koh Samui. 35 year old Adesanya Olamide Omolaja had told police he was robbed at knife point by three men who stole his backpack. Omolaja claimed the robbers escaped on motorbikes with his…
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Regional: Thailand pitching ambitious plan to co-host 2034 World Cup
PHOTO: stadiumastro.com The 2018 event has barely started and local pundits are already pondering a pitch for the 2034 World Cup, 16 years away! The Straits Times is reporting that Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are set to launch a bid to joint host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, according to reports. Speaking at an event held on June 16, Fifa…
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Visa hassles for South African teachers
PHOTO: Study Abroad By Eric Haeg According to an official announcement from the Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, citizens from South Africa, “are advised to apply for visa (sic.) at the Royal Thai Embassy or Royal Thai Consulate-General in their respective countries if they do not reside in Malaysia.” This list also includes citizens of dozens of other African, Middle…
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