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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Cabbages and condoms, literally
SONGKHLA: In Bangkok there is a popular restaurant chain known as Cabbages and Condoms, brainchild of well-known activist Mechai Viravaidya (aka “Mr Condom”), who has been internationally lauded for his efforts to promote condom use as a way of stopping HIV/Aids. At the restaurant, condoms, rather than mints, are served after meals. The efforts to bring together vegetables and prophylactics…
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When relatives stay too long…
AYUDHAYA: Every family has its own unique customs, but a family in Phak Hai District recently caught national attention when it was discovered keeping the corpse of a long-dead relative in the front room of the family home. ÂCurrent guardian of the coffin, 36-year-old Samreng Yingyong, told reporters the body was that of his great-great uncle Phuangthong Lidkaho, who died…
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Beggar thinks prison is the breast way out
KHON KAEN: Having failed to get anywhere with begging, an unemployed man was arrested on June 6 after squeezing the breasts of a number of women. Like Little Tramp in Modern Times, the man claimed the act had nothing to do with sexual appetite, but was done so to get arrested and sent to prison – where he would be…
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Elite guard in alleged sodomy of senior, 71
TRANG: Police have arrested a People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) guard for the alleged rape of a 71-year-old man. The shocking announcement was made on June 11 by Thian Banthip, deputy superintendent of the Muang District Police in nearby Trang province. Lt Col Thian identified the alleged rapist as 44-year-old Phuan Thajeen, a member of the PAD’s elite “Srivichai Warriors”…
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Eggciting find for Phang Nga villagers
PHANG NGA: A wave of excitement has swept through a village in Phang Nga province over the discovery there of a giant egg of unknown origin. Maitree Yaifai, of Village 2, Tambon Kheuk Khak in Takua Pa District, said he found the egg in a dry patch of grass not far from his house when he was out fishing. The…
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30-baht pay-out for stabbing victim
BANGKOK: Stabbing victim Pairat Juntub knew he was entitled to compensation, but he was staggered yesterday at the sum he got from the government. Mr Pairat has the dubious distinction of receiving the lowest amount ever given to a crime victim. “I got 30 baht (approx 86 cents in USD),” Pairat said. “I was speechless when I saw the amount.”…
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Thief lifts trousers
BANGKOK: A shopper at Carrefour supermarket had an embarrassing journey home after a thief stole his trousers while he was on the toilet on May 8. Kasin Siriwichit, 24, reported the incident to Thong Lor Police. Mr Kasin said that around midday he went to use the toilet at the Rama 4 Rd branch of Carrefour. In the cubicle, he…
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One night, two missing members
RAYONG: Staff at Rayong Hospital had a busy night on April 27, when two men with severed penises were brought in for emergency treatment. The first patient, a 31-year-old from Pluak Daeng District, arrived at around 1am. He was bleeding profusely from a wound near what had not long before been the base of his penis. Surgeons were able to…
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Charity box bandit nabbed by The Magnet
PHUKET CITY: For a combination of stupidity and lack of ethics, few crimes in Phuket in recent years match that of a man who tried to steal a charity donation box placed on the main counter of the Phuket City Police Station on April 21.At 12:30pm that day, a police officer noticed that the charity donation box for the Foundation…
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Holy hole
NONG KHAI: Villagers in Phon Phisai and neighbouring districts have been flocking to Tambon Soem to pay respect to a mysterious hole that appeared in a rice field shortly before Songkran. Residents of Village 9 told reporters that one morning earlier this month, after a day and a night of constant rain, they heard a loud bang – like that…
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Feisty fish, painful problem
PHUKET: Doctors in Pichit Hospital were presented with a medical conundrum on March 25, when an eight-year-old boy was brought in with a climbing perch stuck up his bottom. The boy, whose name was given in media reports but is omitted here, was carried into the hospital by his 60-year-old grandmother. The boy told doctors that on the way home…
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Penis prank provokes revenge rape
UDON THANI: A man arrested on March 21 confessed that he raped his friend’s wife in revenge for falling victim to a prank while drunk last year. The suspect said that he had been planning revenge for months after the victim’s husband tied his penis to his big toe when he passed out during a drinking session. Police arrested 30-year-old…
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Thai Obama sings to a different tune
SARABURI: While your average Southeast Asian would struggle to make his way in the world as a Gerorge W Bush lookalike, America’s dashing new president is providing some exciting new career prospects for some men across the region. One Indonesian has already found fame in the Philippines owing to his uncanny resemblance to President Barack Obama. He was well compensated…
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Abbot on the run
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: Police are hunting for the abbot of a temple after he allegedly beat up his male lover in the early hours of January 23.Police were called to Wat Khuan Soong in Chawang District just before 4 am by a man who said that the temple abbot had beaten him with a chair.When they arrived at the scene,…
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Enraged Aussie pounds Bangkok police
BANGKOK: Life in Thailand can sometimes get a bit frustrating for expats when things don’t quite work out as they would in their home countries. This, coupled with the booze-heavy lifestyle enjoyed by a fair percentage of Westerners living in the Kingdom, occasionally leads to “Angry Farang Syndrome”.A prime example occurred one afternoon last month outside Thong Lor Police Station. Station…
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Bat-tling the cold, Isarn style
KALASIN: While temperatures of 10 degrees Celsius may not seem so cold to expats from more northerly climes, for poor Thais living in unheated shacks without warm bedding the cold season is still a real trial.Every year charity appeals are launched to find warm clothing for poor families in the North and Northeast.Villagers in the Isarn have developed alternative methods…
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Full body massage by a real Babe
CHIANG MAI: Villagers in Sansai District’s Tambon Nong Jom have been rushing to try the services of the village’s newest masseuse – a wild boar piglet named Phalo. In exchange for occasional mackerel or a few sweets, Phalo uses his snout to massage tired limbs – reportedly with as much skill as the most expert human hands. The unusual talent…
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Youth loses face in explosive sex act
ANG THONG: Following on from last week’s report about the unfortunate Army private with the fish caught in his throat comes yet another sorry tale from a Thai youth about the perils of putting foreign objects in one’s mouth. This story came to light when an eighteen year old youth, identified only as Chai, was brought in to Wisetchaichan Hospital on December 7…
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A fish in the hand is better than two in the pond
ROI-ET: As the old proverb goes, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. As a young soldier in Isarn recently found out, the same holds true for fish in ponds. Late last month, Royal Thai Army Private Benchaphon Dangwibul told a reporter in a rather hoarse voice that on November 24 he was on a 10-day…
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A Krathong for your bong
BANGKOK: In the run up to Loy Krathong festival every year, there are a host of predictable stories in the Thai press about teens who choose to lose their virginity during the romantic, full moon celebration. Other common reports involve rampant price gouging on candles and other materials needed to make krathongs as the special day draws near. This year,…
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Curious cockroach gives traveler trauma
CHIANG MAI: At some point in their lives, most people are likely to have had some pretty unpleasant bus trips, whether on a crowded Greyhound Bus in the States or a steaming hot, jam-packed third-class “Orange Crush” hurtling though the Thai countryside. If you think your bus journeys have been hell, consider the case of one passenger from Khon Kaen…
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Cobra cocktails, roadside rat-ions
SUPHANBURI: The sight of roadside stalls selling seasonal fruit, diesel-flavored roast chicken or other comestibles is a common one on any road trip in Thailand. Along the roads of Suphanburi, however, the offerings are a bit more exotic, with cobras and field rats the current hits.On October 27, Sala Phromphim, who owns five stalls selling the unusual delicacies along the…
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Flushed condoms trigger sewage catastrophe
PATHUM THANI: Most people have been warned at some point not to flush condoms down the toilet for risk of blocking the outflow pipe and having a nasty overflowing toilet to deal with. But who has ever seen it actually happen? The management of one short-time hotel in Muang District discovered, to its chagrin, that a steady input of second-hand…
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Copulating couple cause culture shock
UTTARADIT: Government officials in Uttaradit have been put on high alert after a teenage couple was caught having sex right outside the culture office in the Provincial Hall on the afternoon of September 20. On that day, the town was packed with people coming to watch a festival being held in Phraya Phichai Dap Hak Sports Stadium, opposite the hall.…
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Drinking session takes tragic turn
SUKHOTHAI: The more dipsomaniacal among us will most likely have had the unsettling experience of coming round, after a heavy session, not quite sure where we are or how we got there.Usually, this can be rectified by stumbling out, flagging down a taxi and demanding to be taken home, hopefully before the full force of the hangover sets in.One unlucky…
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Can I have your wife?
LOEI: A long friendship ended in tragedy on the night of August 30, when a man visiting his buddy’s house without warning asked if he could have his friend’s wife.At 7 am on August 31, Pak Chom Police duty officer Thongphum Premlao received a call from a villager, who reported a dead body hidden in a banana plantation near Ban…
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Morning of the living dead
NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Anyone calling in to Wat Pa Satharuam on August 22 could be forgiven for thinking they’d stumbled upon the aftermath of a natural disaster, seeing row after row of coffins lined up on the the temple grounds.Anyone waiting a little longer, however, would get even more of a shock when, after watching the death rites, the occupants of…
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Buffalo ladyboys’ carjack capers
CHIANG MAI: If you happened to have been out drinking in Chiang Mai over the last few months and, after a few too many beers, decided to do the responsible thing and pull over in your car for a rest to sober up before weaving on home, then you may have come across the Buffalo Ladyboy Gang. The gang has…
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Sugar daddies duped by pretended pregnancies
UBON RATCHATHANI: Attractive women having relationships with much older and considerably less attractive men for financial benefit is certainly nothing new. In Isarn, however, some girls have allegedly started using an ingenious method to extract more money from their stingy sugar daddies: having their stomachs injected with chemicals to make them appear pregnant. Pukki, a 20-year-old college student from Ubon…
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Killer cobbler
PATHUM THANI: As anyone who remembers the case of the football fan shot dead in Pattaya for cheering too loudly while watching Italy’s opening match of the 2006 world cup will know, the tragi-comic overreaction is something of a staple in the Thai press. One unfortunate fellow fell victim to this trend on July 11, receiving far more than he deserved for…
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