Bangkok News

Bangkok news, politics, business, crime, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s capital. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Bangkok news source.

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    How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?

    Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....

  • Bangkok woman gives birth in the back of a taxi!

    Bangkok woman gives birth in the back of a taxi!

    PHOTO MONTAGE: Thai Rath So you’re on your way to hospital with a passenger in the back of your taxi who says she’s going to have a baby – soon. Ahead there’s a lot traffic. Taxi driver Pratheep Manop said he picked up a woman aged about 25 – 30 from Pahonyothin Soi 48. She wanted to be taken to Wipharam…

  • Chachoengsao man killed by grenade explosion on Facebook Live

    Chachoengsao man killed by grenade explosion on Facebook Live

    PHOTO: M79 grenades and launcher A man was killed by a grenade explosion at a border patrol police base in Chachoengsao whilst trying to catch wild chickens. Chachoengsao is directly east of Bangkok. The 28 year old, Apisit Kerdlarpphol, was killed after entering the prohibited army training zone and broadcasting his exploits live on his Facebook page. Police say they discovered…

  • 88 arrested and being sent to ‘attitude adjustment’ on March 11

    88 arrested and being sent to ‘attitude adjustment’ on March 11

    88 motorcyclists have been arrested along with 92 bikes, illegally modified, seized. The arrests relate to road racing in the, now, weekly Bangkok roadside crackdowns. This week police set up checkpoints on roads under the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Police Division 2. A media conference was held this morning, just after midnight, to announce the results of the operation. Police say…

  • Is Thailand falling behind in the startup race? Techsauce Global Summit Bangkok

    Is Thailand falling behind in the startup race? Techsauce Global Summit Bangkok

    PHOTO: Oranuch Lerdsuwankij, CEO and co-founder of summit organiser Techsauce Media by Asina Pornwasin Oranuch Lerdsuwankij, CEO and co-founder of summit organiser Techsauce Media, underlined the forthcoming conference’s importance as a platform for tech enthusiasts across different industries to discuss digital knowledge, ideas and experiences. She says the summit is bringing tangible changes to the tech ecosystem across Thailand and…

  • Bangkok rolls out new ‘user-friendly’ bus stop signs

    Bangkok rolls out new ‘user-friendly’ bus stop signs

    The Bangkok Governor says the installation of 30 new “user-friendly” bus stop signs around the city will help save people from getting lost. Aswin Kwanmuang says the idea was presented during Bangkok Design Week last year by a civic group called May Day. Both sides of the signs show the numbers of the buses on the route, emergency phone numbers and…

  • Shooting yourself in the foot, literally – Suvarnabhumi police station

    Shooting yourself in the foot, literally – Suvarnabhumi police station

    A gun cleaner has shot himself in the leg outside Bangkok’s main airport police station. The 40 year old gun cleaner, Damrongkiat, a trader who sells uniforms and insignia to police and cleans their weapons, had already worked on three guns at the time without any problems. Next it was a Glock 9mm. Damrongkiat says he forgot to remove the…

  • Bangkok gold shop thief gets away with jewellry valued at 3 million baht

    Bangkok gold shop thief gets away with jewellry valued at 3 million baht

    by Kittipong Maneerit A gold shop at a Big C in Rama 4, Bangkok’s Khlong Toei district, was robbed yesterday afternoon.Police are searching for a man in his mid-30s, wearing a shaggy wig, who stole gold ornaments worth a combined 3 million baht.The thief is described by police as about 35, 170 centimetres in height, heavyset and wearing a wig…

  • Government considers blanket alcohol bans on April 13

    Government considers blanket alcohol bans on April 13

    There’s a 24 hour ban on alcohol on the weekend preceding AND the actual election weekend this month. And next month is Songkran with the Government mooting possible blanket bans on Songkran day, April 13. This year the Government says they want an alcohol ban on the biggest annual holiday for Thais. It’s also part of the week when there…

  • Constitutional Court dissolves Thai Raksa Chart party and bans party members

    Constitutional Court dissolves Thai Raksa Chart party and bans party members

    The Thai Constitutional Court has ordered the dissolution of Thai Raksa Chart Party for naming Prince Ubolratana, a member of the Royal Family, as its prime ministerial candidate. The Court claims this action undermined Thailand’s constitutional monarchy. The court has also banned all 14 members of the party’s executive board from politics for 10 years in a stunning decision that…

  • Three men arrested and 1.2 million methamphetamine pills seized

    Three men arrested and 1.2 million methamphetamine pills seized

    by Kornkamon Aksorndech | PHOTOS: The Nation Three men have been arrested on suspicion on trafficking 1,214,000 meth pills in raids on two houses in tambon Bang Khamod in Saraburi’s Ban Mor district. Saraburi is north-east of Bangkok. The suspects, 34 year old Thawat Meechob, 28 year old Narin La-ongsin and 31 year old Nipat Waraput were arrested at the…

  • Woman decapitated as Bangkok bus careers out of control off bridge downramp

    Woman decapitated as Bangkok bus careers out of control off bridge downramp

    PHOTOS: matichon.co.th A 33 year old woman has died after a bus, on Route 115 in Bangkok, suffered ‘brake failure’ (sigh) on the down-ramp of a bridge in Bangkapi, Bangkok. Thai Rath describes the grisly scene as the victim’s decapitated body lay in the middle of the road and human remains splattering roadside vendors. ‘Benjawan Muangkate’ had been crushed between…

  • Cooking spotted eagle ray is OK – Fisheries spokesperson

    Cooking spotted eagle ray is OK – Fisheries spokesperson

    “The use of spotted eagle rays as a main ingredient in a reality TV cooking show is not illegal, though the aquatic animal should be conserved rather than consumed.” This from the Deputy Fisheries Department Director General Arunchai Puthcharoen. He referred to controversy over the use of eagle rays as the main ingredient in the Thai MasterChef program, raising concerns…

  • 206 motorcyclists fined 1000 baht in one hour for riding on footpath

    206 motorcyclists fined 1000 baht in one hour for riding on footpath

    “Excuse me Sir, may I relieve you of 1,000 baht for riding on the footpath?” Is it a new crackdown on motorcyclists riding on the footpaths in Bangkok? Thong Lor police say they stopped and fined 206 motorcyclists in just sixty minutes for using the sidewalk in front of Terminal 21 in Asoke. Daily News reports that police teamed up…

  • Man allegedly dumps disabled wife on Bangkok roadside

    Man allegedly dumps disabled wife on Bangkok roadside

    Police have arrested a man after his partially paralysed wife was found on a roadside in Bangkok’s Bang Khen district last night. The husband, Wichai Kasak, claims his wife got out of his car when he stopped to buy dinner. He says that he had then driven around to try to locate her before eventually learning she was at the…

  • MasterChef Thailand responds to furore on social media

    MasterChef Thailand responds to furore on social media

    “Masterchef Thailand says no law had been broken by using the ray.” After the weekend controversy over the cooking of a stingray on the Thai MasterChef program, the program has issued a statement…. The statement issued yesterday says… “the stingray used in the cooking segment on MasterChef was Aetobatus Narinari (Eagle Ray) which are commonly found and eaten as local…

  • Royal Coronation schedule takes shape

    Royal Coronation schedule takes shape

    His Majesty King Maha Vachiralongkorn has asked that his coronation ceremony should be ‘economical’ and ‘in line with Royal tradition’. The instructions have been forwarded to Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam, head of the coronation organising committee. The Coronation ceremonies will be held between May 4-6. Describing the ceremony as second only in importance to the Royal cremation of the late…

  • Event Round-Up – March 2019

    Event Round-Up – March 2019

    The month kicks off with one of Thailand’s most unique and bizarre festivals and celebrations, that of the Tattoo Festival in Nakhon Chaisi in the province of Nakhon Pathom, around 50 kilometres west of Bangkok. Held at the Wat Bang Phra temple on 2 March, the festival also goes by the name Wai Kru Sak Yant after the spiritual tattoos…

  • Taxi driver arrested for cheating South Korean tourist in Bangkok – VIDEO

    Taxi driver arrested for cheating South Korean tourist in Bangkok – VIDEO

    A taxi driver in Bangkok has been arrested after allegedly intimidating and overcharging a South Korean tourist passenger. The arrest from Tourist Police follows a user tagging the Tourist Police Bureau in a post in his Facebook post accusing a taxi driver of allegedly intimidating and overcharging the South Korean passenger using the taxi service from Siam Square to Rangsit…

  • Driver slams sedan into bedroom of house killing baby and injuring others

    Driver slams sedan into bedroom of house killing baby and injuring others

    PHOTO: Facebook / Ake Srisuwan A couple’s one year old son died and three family members were injured after a car slammed into the bedroom on the lower floor in the main city district of Pathum Thani early Saturday. The incident happened in Tambon Ban Mai around 2.30am. Pathum Thani is the province just north of Bangkok. The family, along with…

  • 126 Grand Palace taxi and tuk tuk drivers, and local vendors, arrested

    126 Grand Palace taxi and tuk tuk drivers, and local vendors, arrested

    PHOTOS: The Nation One of the biggest targets for scammers has always been the Grand Palace in Bangkok, mostly because it has such a high concentration of tourists visiting any time of the year. Google ‘scams in Thailand’ and you’ll always be reading about the creative ways taxi and tuk tuk drivers, and local vendors, have of parting tourists from…

  • 479 arrested on immigration offences

    479 arrested on immigration offences

    More than 400 foreigners plus 79 Thais, involved in a range immigration offences, were arrested after raids across Thailand this week. The Immigration Police Bureau deputy chief announced at a press conference in Bangkok today that Thai authorities carried out simultaneous searches at 227 locations. Of the 417 foreigners who were arrested, mostly from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, 248 were…

  • Sleeping woman’s lucky escape from a snake bite in Bangkok home – VIDEO

    Sleeping woman’s lucky escape from a snake bite in Bangkok home – VIDEO

    PHOTO: Screenshot from ‘นายช่าง อ้วนดำ’ Facebook A sleeping woman has narrowly escaped a snake bite in her Bangkok home this week. The video has been posted by a woman’s son with a message saying, “The incident has happened in my house this week.” The snake was identified as a python. “My mother has escaped from being bitten by a snake…

  • Persian cats perish in Bangkok apartment fire

    Persian cats perish in Bangkok apartment fire

    Two Persian cats suffocated to death during a fire in a room at the National Housing Estate in Nonthaburi’s Pak Kret district yesterday. The two cats were found barely breathing in the flat after 10 fire engines took about 40 minutes to put out the blaze. The cats died shortly after they were taken out of the room despite attempts…

  • Alleged Bangkok money truck robber arrested

    Alleged Bangkok money truck robber arrested

    PHOTOS: The Nation Police have arrested a 19 year old man who allegedly stole 7.27 million baht from a Bangkok money truck last Saturday. His accomplice is still at large. At a press conference today police announced that suspect Jirayus Suanmi was arrested yesterday (Wednesday). He allegedly robbed a money truck outside the Big C Extra shopping mall on Phetkasem…

  • UPDATE: Thai Airways resumes flights

    UPDATE: Thai Airways resumes flights

    Thai Airways has resumed flight between Bangkok and Europe today after cancellations due to Pakistan’s emergency closure of its airspace. The cancellations, announced late last night, have caused havoc for travellers hoping to fly between Bangkok and Europe on Thai Airways last night and today. Flights between Bangkok to Europe, in both directions, normally fly over Pakistan’s airspace but since…

  • 1000s of passengers stranded at BKK over Pakistan emergency

    1000s of passengers stranded at BKK over Pakistan emergency

    More than 5,000 passengers have been stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport since last night night after many departure flights were cancelled due to the emergency closure of airspace in Pakistan. Many more passengers are ending up inconvenienced today as they learn about the cancellations. The debacle is causing another PR disaster for Thai Airways with passengers complaining about lack of any…

  • Go-Jek begins services in Thailand, challenging Grab

    Go-Jek begins services in Thailand, challenging Grab

    Indonesia’s Go-Jek ride-hailing service has now started up in Thailand under the banner ‘GET’. Nadiem Makarim, the founder and CEO says they will continue to move into the regional market currently dominated by Grab. Go-Jek, Indonesian for motorbike taxis (sort of), has launched in Thailand as ‘GET’ and will concurrently build presence in The Philippines through a recent financial-tech acquisition. The launch…

  • Tour guide who can’t speak Thai arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport – VIDEO

    Tour guide who can’t speak Thai arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport – VIDEO

    A tour guide, with a license but who can’t speak Thai, has been arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport Officers are investigating the tour guide arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport this week. The tour guide has a legal guide license but was unable to speak Thai during questioning. The Tourist Police at the airport then arrested the man at the terminal. The tour…

  • Temple revellers interrupt school exam in Bangkok

    Temple revellers interrupt school exam in Bangkok

    It’s been a Dharma drama after men celebrating a next door ordination ceremony didn’t respond well to the adjacent school asking them to turn down the music. 20 men, aged 18 to 41, have turned themselves in over the course of several hours last night and this morning to deny accusations that they’d assaulted teachers and students at a Bangkok…

  • Teen fatally stabbed on Bangkok bus

    Teen fatally stabbed on Bangkok bus

    PHOTOS: RuamkatanyuA year three vocation school student has now been charged after allegedly stabbing to death a 12th grade student on a BKK bus last night. 18 year old Kamolchat Saen-aroon died at the Theptharin Hospital after being stabbed about 10 times with a knife. The quick-thinking bus driver of the No 180 bus immediately turned into the Tha Rua…