Thailand News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, and lifestyle—get breaking updates from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. Stay informed on Thai society, economy, tourism, and expat life with The Thaiger.
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Sponsored 5 ways retirees in Thailand lose money (and how to stop it)
Retiring in Thailand can be affordable and enjoyable, but many retirees lose money due to common mistakes. High living costs, scams, and unexpected expenses can quickly drain savings. There are five ways that retirees in Thailand can lose money and...
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Yingluck flies to Dubai – “Dubai flight was pre-planned”
“Yingluck reportedly flew from London on Wednesday, just a day after the media reported the Thai government’s extradition request to the UK government.” Former PM minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s flight from London to Dubai on Wednesday had nothing to do with the Thai government’s extradition request to the UK. This explanation from a Pheu Thai Party member yesterday. The flight was…
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Tuk Tuk rally on August 18-19 with an Ayutthaya period costume twist
The Ayutthaya provincial administration is holding a tuk tuk rally on August 18 and 19 to promote tourism to the historical site. Ayutthaya governor Sujin Chaiyachumsak said up to 250 teams of contestants can take part in the rally, for which the application fee is 1,000 baht. At least one member of the team must be dressed in an Ayutthaya…
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NCPO ‘damaged the image of the country’ – Future Forward party
PHOTO: The Nation By Panarat Thepgumpanat and Amy Sawitta Lefevre In a tense stand-off between the establishment and the ‘new guard’, Future Forward party’s brash young leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, is firing verbal missives at the NCPO. Reuters is reporting that the new Thai party, headed up by auto-parts billionaire Thanathorn, and aiming to shake up politics, hit back at the ruling…
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Villagers try to lynch top policeman’s son in Phetchabun re-enactment
Re-enactments, where a person, who has admitted their guilt, is taken to the scene of the crime to re-enact it, often in public view, is a common practice in Thai police investigations. Video footage on the Thai Rath Facebook page shows the moments when a top policeman’s son was taken on one of these re-enactments, this time for a horrific…
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Deadly link: Puppy factories and rabies
(12 minute read) A media release from soidog.org The panic over rabies that erupted at the beginning of this year seems to have died down. Fourteen people have died; dozens of dogs were poisoned and thousands more died after being incarcerated in government pounds as officials across the country stumbled to stamp out the spread of the disease. Yet absolutely nothing…
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Event Round-Up with The Sponsorship Experts – August 2018
by Paul Poole The running craze continues in August with races held throughout the country. The month starts off with Bangkok Airways Phuket Marathon 2018 on August 5 where runners can choose between three distances, 21, 10 and five kilometres, and CIMB Thai Triathlon for ASEAN Day 2018, also on August 5. Perfect for beginners, the event allows participants to…
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Happy Birthday Thaiger – One year old today
Acute self indulgence today as we announce our first major milestone for thethaiger.com. We’re one year old. It was on August 1, 2017 that the fledgling Thaiger company took over the reins of the 23 year old Phuket Gazette and started posting under the new management. Only two weeks before we had received the keys to the toy box and…
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Greedy Nakhon Ratchasima Facebookers get scammed out of 1 million baht
Beware the scammers who are now diversifying onto social media in order to con their prey. Same old tricks just new platforms. This time ten Facebook users in Nakhon Ratchasima. The ten have filed a complaint with police this morning (Wednesday), claiming they had handed over about one million baht to a woman who had promised high yields (of course)…
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Karen spiritual leader Ko-ee gets Thai ID card. Only had to wait 107 years.
PHOTO: Thai PBS Spiritual leader of ethnic Karens of Kaeng Krachan forest in Phetchaburi, 107 year old Ko-ee Meeme, registered for a Thai identity card at the Kaeng Krachang district office yesterday after he was granted Thai citizenship. On hand to witness the ID card registration were Mrs Tuenjai Deethet, a member of the National Human Rights Commission, and children,…
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“I am not a security threat” – Thanathorn Joengrungruangkit
PHOTOS: The Nation Thanathorn Joengrungruangkit, the acting leader of the new Future Forward Party has reported to the Technology Crime Suppression Division to defend himself against allegation filed against him by the NCPO over a Facebook live streaming event, deemed to be critical of the military government. Colonel Burin Thongprapai of the NCPO’s legal affairs department has accused Thanathorn of…
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Thai officials make official request for Yingluck’s extradition
The Thai Government has made an official request to the UK for the extradition of fugitive former PM Yingluck Shinawatra for prosecution back in Thailand. The Thai Embassy in London sent a letter dated July 5 to the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office with attached copies of the Supreme Court verdict in the case against Yingluck along with her arrest…
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Young Thai man falls for the old 1000 baht penis enlargement scam
PHOTO: Sanook Ouch! Men, take note. Women, laugh at the stupidity of some members of the male sex. Thai media Sanook is reporting the topic of penis enlargement – a hot topic in Thai social media including some very dodgy methods of, ummm, increasing the dimensions of the penis. A picture, of what appears to be a school child undergoing…
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33 households evacuated in Nan – more landslides feared
PHOTO: Thai PBS As floods and torrential rain continue to plague northern Thailand, including neighbouring regions in Myanmar and Laos, 33 households in a mountainous village in Bo Klua district of the northernmost province of Nan have been ordered to immediately evacuate to a temple five kilometres away for fear that they might be struck by a landslide. Bo Klua…
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Thaksin claims election delays in birthday comments – UK
Thaksin Shinawatra, the fugitive former Thai PM, is still firing missives in exile – this time in comments his 69th birthday in London. A spokesman for the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) yesterday insisted that there was no change in the schedule for the next election. Maj-General Piyapong Klinphan debunked speculation by former PM Thaksin Shinawatra about a change…
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Local rains in Nan and Trat cause devastation – seven killed two missing
Heavy rains in northern Thailand and on the Cambodian border in Trat are causing local emergencies. At least seven villagers have been killed and two others missing after heavy rains triggered a mudslide from a mountain into their valley village in the Bo Klua district of Nan province this morning Saturday). The landslide occurred at the Ban Huay Kham in…
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Clawing back the tiger population
(10 minute read) The plight of the Indochinese Tiger is a particular passion for The Thaiger. As a leading sponsor of SaveWildTigers.org we applaud all the work being done in Thailand and around South East Asia in support of the survival of the species. By Piyaporn Wongruang Ahead of the Global Tiger Day on Sunday, July 29, lead tiger researchers and…
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GPS tourists trackers and mandatory travel insurance – BKK travel fair seminar
PHOTO: South China Morning Post Two great suggestions at a Bangkok travel fair, both aimed at making things easier for Thai authorities without improving safety for tourists. At the Thai Chic Travel Fair seminar held in Bangkok yesterday (Wednesday), officials suggested that making it a mandatory requirement for all foreign visitors to Thailand to have travel insurance would ease the…
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New Thai stamps to commemorate HM The King’s 66th birthday
HM The King is featured on a new set of stamps issued by Thailand Post. The national post office has issued the new stamp featuring His Majesty the King to commemorate his 66th birthday anniversary this Saturday. The stamp features the King in army uniform and is priced at 10 baht, or 20 baht including an envelope. Thai PBS reports that…
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60 year old German arrested for 19 year overstay
PHOTOS: Thai Tourist Police Pol Maj Gen Surachat Hakparn, deputy commissioner of the Tourist Police Bureau and the popular face of Thai crime-fighting, has announced the arrest of another 35 foreigners who were caught for visa offences, illegal entry and other crimes. This week’s roll out of the ‘X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner crackdown’ has netted what is believed to be one…
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British PM meets divers who helped in the Tham Luang rescue
PHOTO: Independent Print Limited On Monday the Australian Governor General awarded the country’s highest accolades and medals to Aussie cave rescuers. Yesterday the British PM met with the UK contingent who were involved in the mammoth international rescue. The Evening Standard reports that PM Theresa May met the British divers who helped save the boys and their 25 year old…
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Thailand’s Rabies death toll up to 14 this year
The death of a 19 year old in Buri Ram, to the east of Bangkok on the Cambodian border, and a 55 year old in Rayong, east of Pattaya, has raised the death toll in Thailand as a result of Rabies this year to 14. Both deaths occurred over the past two weeks. Dr Suwannachai Watanayingcharoen, director general of the Disease…
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Pattaya’s “sex gurus” ordered to remain in detention as they continue fight
Ten Russian self-appraised ‘sex gurus’ at the centre of a sex-techniques course held in Pattaya in February have been ordered to remain in detention by the Pattaya Court. The Thai News Agency are reporting that eight of the ten involved in offering the course appeared in court at the end of last week. The Court asked if they admitted their crimes…
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Same-sex civil union bill ready for Cabinet in two months
A same-sex civil partnership law should be drafted and discussed before next year’s elections. Pitikarn Sitthidech, the Rights and Liberties Protection Department chief, saystThe law, allowing same-sex couples to formally register as life partners, should be drafted by September. It would then be submitted to Deputy PM and Justice Minister ACM Prajin Juntong, who would decide whether it should go to…
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Floods continue to cause havoc in the north, west and central
Floods are causing havoc across swathes of provinces across Thailand. From the north in Chiang Mai, to the west in Kanchanaburi and as far south as Prachuap Khiri Khan and Ranong. The Thai Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation chief says that the flooding has been triggered by tropical storm Son-Tinh which still sits over Laos, so far affecting 13 Thai…
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“Not for sale at any price” – Mu Pa Academy VP
In the wake of 13 of their young footballers being rescued from the Tham Luang caves, TNA reports that some of the world’s biggest football clubs are showing interest in actually buying the Mu Pa football academy. But the club’s vice president and manager Kittipong Intaechai says, despite the interest, his club is not for sale at any price. Mr…
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Elon Musk “should be put up against a wall and shot” – Mother of UK diver Unsworth
The UK ‘The Sun’ is reporting that the 88 year old mother of UK cave diver Vernon Unsworth says American tech billionaire Elon Musk should be shot for falsely branding her son a ‘pedo’. Musk twittered the insult towards the cave expert after Unsworth branded the tycoon’s offer to build a mini submarine to free the trapped Thai schoolboys a PR…
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Man ties up mother, abducts 18 year old daughter in Hua Hin
PHOTO: Thai Rath Thai Rath is reporting that Police have arrested a man who tied up a Hua Hin cleaner then abducted her daughter from a foreigner’s house. The incident happened last Tuesday in Hua Hin. The mother and daughter were working as cleaners for the house but were confronted at knife point by the intruder. The man is reported to…
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Thai officials slam foreign media for interviewing Mu Pa boys
SCREENSHOT: ABC News report Whilst the opportunist American ABC TV reporter didn’t break any laws with his interview on Friday with the youngest of the Mu Pa Academy youngsters, he did break a pact between the Chiang Rai Governor, physicians and child psychologists who asked that the media leave the boys alone. Today CNN is reporting that Thailand is accusing…
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Sangkhla Buri floods declared a disaster zone
Kanchanaburi Governor Jirasak Phumsawat has declared Sangkhla Buri a flood disaster zone to speed up help to affected villagers. The governor took the action after seven villages in Tambon Nong Lu and three villages in Tambon Laivo were hit by floods on Friday morning following heavy rains that hit 70 per cent of the district.The disaster-zone declaration allowed the provincial…
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The 21st century’s longest lunar eclipse next week
The moon is going to disappear for six hours next week in a mega lunar eclipse – the longest for the entire 21st century. In fact it will be this century’s longest lunar eclipse and will be able to be seen across Thailand on July 27-28 between 00.14-6.10 am. Thai PBS reports that the total phase of the eclipse –…
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