News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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Sponsored 9 most common health issues covered by insurance for expats in Thailand
Thailand is a popular destination for expats due to its affordable lifestyle and excellent healthcare system. However, settling in a new country often brings health concerns. To ensure you’re covered for the most common medical needs, understanding what expat health...
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Storm Nakri weakens, but is dumping heavy rains on the Central Highlands in Vietnam
PHOTO: National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting “Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific have cancelled or delayed a number of domestic flights that criss cross the affected region.” Tropical storm Nakri has now crossed Vietnam’s coast around Binh Dinh to Khanh Hoa provinces. The slow-moving system is weakening as it moves north west. The storm is expected to further weaken into a tropical depression…
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Police arrests forger of fake Thai ID and driving licences in Bangkok
PHOTO: TNA A special Thai task force has announced arrest of a serial forger, 28 year old Thongchai Apiyangkoon. Thongchai was offering customers fake Thai ID cards for 5,000 baht, fake Thai drivers’ licences for 4,000 and even fake migrant cards for 3,000 baht. Police raided his room in Ramkhamhaeng in eastern Bangkok after investigating the Facebook site, “Ku Do Kung”.…
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11th species of dinosaur discovered in north east Thailand
Thailand’s Mineral Resources Department says they’ve unearthed fossilised bones believed to belong to a species of mid-sized carnivorous dinosaur previously unrecorded in Thailand. Called the Vayuraptor nongbualamphuensis, it is the 11th dinosaur species to be discovered in the Phu Wat excavation pits in Phu Kao-Phupandam national park in the north-eastern province of Nong Bua Lamphu, between Khon Kaen and Udon…
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300 Bangkokians victims of the ‘copyright’ extortion scam
Following last week’s fine from someone calling themselves a ‘copyright agent’ (in that case the use of Japanese cartoons on Krathongs for today’s festival), more than 300 people in Bangkok alone say that have faced payment demands from other alleged “copyright agents.” Vendors already fined by such agents are seeking the Justice Ministry’s help to countersue and get their fines…
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Police suspect land dispute in double murder in Chiang Rai
PHOTOS: Chiang Rai Times Chiang Rai police are investigating a husband and wife that were murdered in the province’s Chiang Saen District last Wednesday. When arriving at the property, police found the bodies of a husband and wife, both with strangulation marks on their necks. There was no sign of a struggle and nothing was stolen. Their pick-up truck and…
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“Pattaya’s a rubbish infested dump” – Mayor swings into action
PHOTO: “Add some rubbish bins if you want to known as a tourist city” – Facebook/Patchara Joy Listening to criticism earlier last week, that Pattaya was a “rubbish infested dump”, the mayor swung into immediate action. According to We Love Pattaya, Pattaya’s mayor sent municipal cleaners t0 various areas according to a “We Love Pattaya,” campaign, in a cleanup that…
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American spews racist and offensive slurs in Chiang Mai
MONTAGE: YouTube An apparently drunken American has smashed a shop window in Chiang Mai while ranting racist and offensive slurs at onlookers. His outbursts were filmed and widely posted on Facebook. According to a witness, she was minding her own business in front of the shop she was working in when the American began shouting and screaming at her. “I kill…
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New eyesight for the Thaiger – modern lens exchange surgery in Thailand
Tim Newton is the lead writer and editor of The Thaiger English. Healthy, happy, busy and no feeling that I’m actually 61 years old. But there I was, about to undergo eye surgery that would rid me of my annoying reading glasses and give me an equivalent of the vision I had when I was a lot younger. Luckily there…
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Six suspects detained for questioning over Yala massacre
ORIGINAL PHOTO: Reuters More than 200 troops and police conducted searches in Thailand’s southern border provinces on Friday night, looking for suspects in Tuesday’s brutal attack in Yala Province that killed 15. Nine suspects were arrested, but three were released shortly after checks showed they had no prior connections with the insurgency or criminal records. The rest were detained for…
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Bangkok governor: One krathong per family
With the annual Loy Krathong festival coming up tomorrow, Bangkok’s governor is urging residents and tourists to help reduce the number of discarded krathongs and floating lanterns, according to Thai-language Daily News. This year’s motto from the governor is “One Krathong, One Family.” Last year, the Bangkok authorities collected nearly a million discarded krathongs from local waterways. The vast majority…
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Army clarifies curfew rumours for districts in Southern Thailand
PHOTO: New Straits Times The army says now that won’t upgrade the curfew in the troubled deep South following an attack that killed 15 people on Tuesday night. A spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command says, contrary to some news reports, no curfew would be imposed at this stage. He says the Army is urging people not to panic.…
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Thai Airways management ‘asked’, staff ‘told’, to cut expenses
PHOTO: Both management and staff likely to lose some entitlements under new policy to reduce costs In a move that will likely contribute little to the airline’s rehabilitation, Thai Airways is trying to reduce expenditures on staff travel. Meanwhile the airlines’ management is being ‘asked’ to reduce some of their expenses. The moves are part of a range of new…
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‘Nakri’ now upgraded to typhoon as it approaches Vietnam’s coast
PHOTO: en.sat24.com The former tropical storm Nakri has now strengthened to a Category 5 ‘typhoon’ as it moves across the South China Sea toward the Vietnamese coast. It is predicted to make landfall later today or Monday at the latest. Typhoon Nakri, packing wind speeds as high as 120kph at its epi-centre, was in the middle of South China Sea…
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From January 1, 46 shopping centres and convenience chains stop giving out single-use plastic bags
It’s slowly happening, but the out-cry over single-use plastics is gathering pace and some of the ‘big names’ are now changing their policies. Yesterday’s announcements are certainly a step in the right direction. From January 1, 2020, major shopping malls and convenience chain stores will discontinue providing single-use plastic bags to customers. The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment…
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Thailand’s ‘economic condition index’ expected to decline in Q3
PHOTO: Culture Trip Thailand’s household economic condition index is likely to drop further due to the ongoing global economic slowdown. Another drop would make it the third this year, measured in quarters. The slowdown is impacting the domestic economy and employment, according to the Kasikorn Thai research centre. Thai PBS reports that the latest ECI report indicates that a survey…
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How to celebrate Loy Krathong or Yi Peng in Chaing Mai
PHOTO: yipengchiangmailanternfestival.com The Loy Krathong festival, known in Chiang Mai as Yi Peng, runs from today until Tuesday, November 12 It started last night at Three Kings Monument around 6pm, where 500 dancers perform terra cotta candle worship dances. People also started lighting candles around the moat and old city, a focus for the events each year. Today, November 10, it’s the…
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SE Asian banks slowly giving way to e-payments and payment apps
PHOTO: starbucks.com That cold, hard cash in your pocket, and the traditional shop-front banks that give it to you, are slowly being phased out and replaced with e-payments. It’s now expected that traditional banks in South east Asia will miss out on as much as US$5 billion, or 14.3% of their payments revenue by 2025. A report says they are…
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Phuket’s water supply running on empty
PHOTO: No, it’s not the moon, it’s Bang Neow Dam this week Phuket shuffles into the high season with meagre water reserves and no concrete, sustainable plans to meet the upcoming seasonal water demands. In April this year the local water authority shuffled uncomfortably about the crisis at the end of the 2018/2019 dry season, denying there was a problem…
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More rain for the south, cooler in the north
PHOTO: TripSavvy The Thailand Meteorological Department says the north of the country is experiencing fog and scattered showers as a result of a high pressure system over the region. Temperatures are expected to drop by 1 – 3 degrees Celsius, leading to cooler mornings, especially in mountainous areas. Meanwhile, the south of the country can expect more rain, with heavy…
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Chinese and Indian nationals arrested for fake visas, entry stamps
PHOTO: Immigration.go.th Two Chinese nationals and an Indian couple have been detained by Thai Immigration police in two separate arrests at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thai Residents reports that the Chinese nationals were attempting to check in for a Cathay Pacific flight from Bangkok to Canada using fake Canadian visas. When airline staff got suspicious over the visas’ appearance and contacted Immigration…
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Transport Ministry succumbs to increase in luggage charges for airport taxis
Items of luggage that measure 26 inches (66 centimetres) or more in length will now incur a taxi ‘handling fee’ of an additional 20 baht in an agreement reached between airport taxi drivers and the Transport Ministry. It’s understood the Ministry approved the increase after caving in to a protest by taxi drivers on Thursday. Over 100 members of the…
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Swiss man nabbed on Koh Phangan, overstayed visa by more than four years
PHOTO: Naew Na A 52 year old Swiss expat has been arrested on Koh Phangan in violation of his visa conditions. Naew Na reports that the man had overstayed his entry visa into Thailand by over four years. Police tracked him down at a rented house on Koh Phangan, a small Gulf of Thailand island near Koh Samui. He had overstayed…
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Thailand’s south has partial curfew imposed from December 1
PHOTO: Sumeth Panpetch, Associated Press The government has confirmed that a partial curfew will be put in place for Thailand’s Deep South for one year from December 1. The announcement follows Tuesday night’s deadly attack by insurgents on a checkpoint in Yala when 15 people were killed. The three southern Thai provinces that border Malaysia remain a hotbed of Islamic militant…
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New Zealander and his partner found hanged at Koh Samui house
A 70 year old New Zealander and his Thai partner were found dead this week after an apparent suicide pact. Samui Police were called to the rented house in the Mae Nam area after a foreign man and a Thai man were found hanged. The foreigner was a 70 year old New Zealander, the Thai man was a 45 year…
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Bangkok bombing suspects make their first appearance in court
Three suspects are now in custody after being arraigned in the Bangkok Criminal Court yesterday. They had 11 charges read relating to the explosions around Bangkok in early August when the city was hosting an ASEAN Summit. The three men – 27 year old Widan Maha, 22 year old Lu-ai Sae-ngae, and 27 year old Muhammad Ilham Sa-i – were…
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German retiree bundled up and robbed in his Phuket house
PHOTO: Achadtaya Chueniran “The men ran off with two ATM cards and were able to convince the couple to tell them their PIN codes.” A 70 year old German expat has been tied up and his arm slashed during a robbery at his Rassada residence last night. Two men attacked the man, accosted his Thai wife when she arrived home, and…
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Ranger stabbed by attacker linked to southern Thailand insurgents
PHOTO: Thai PBS World A paramilitary ranger remains in a critical condition in hospital after he was stabbed by a man who tried, unsuccessfully, to steal his service rifle. The man was quickly subdued by another ranger. The attacker reportedly died following the incident. The scuffle took place yesterday near Ban Suwo defence outpost in Narathiwat. It was reported that…
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Man opens emergency exit on Chiang Mai to Bangkok flight
PHOTOS: Sanook.com A Thai Smile flight, due to leave Chiang Mai airport for Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, had to be delayed for hours after a foreigner opened one of the emergency exits as the flight was about to take off. Thai Smile are the low-cost subsidiary of Thai Airways. Thai Residents reports that the incident took place on board flight Thai…
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Slow-moving tropical storm Nakri heads towards Vietnam coast
PHOTO: NOAA Tropical storm Nakri (you know it’s serious when they give it a name), packing wind speeds up to 95 kph, is marching slowly towards Vietnam’s eastern coast. Currently it’s heading westwards between The Philippines and Vietnam. The storm is forecast to make landfall along the central Vietnamese coast this weekend. The storm is not likely to affect weather…
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Thai Airways moves flights around for Loy Krathong and New Year’s Eve
PHOTO: Chiang Mai Citylife In view of the fact that residents in northern Thailand traditionally release paper sky lanterns (khom loi) during celebrations such as the upcoming Loy Krathong festival and New Year’s Eve, Thai Airways says it will be making some changes to its schedule for safety reasons. The airlines’ Vice President of Aviation Security and Standards, Pratana Patanasiri,…
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