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.
-
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...
-
Fierce snowstorm pounds Japan, disrupts public transport
A fierce snowstorm is pounding Japan after starting its wrath on the Sea of Japan coast one day ago, disrupting public transportation. The snowfall caused five trains on the Yamagata Shinkansen line to be suspended due to fallen trees and pantograph problems. The line runs between Tokyo and the northeast city of Shinjo. Meanwhile, one train from Tokyo to Yamagata…
-
UK Tesco accused of using slave labour in Thailand
The UK’s Tesco supermarket chain is being accused of using slave labour in Thailand. According to a Guardian investigation, Burmese workers who made jeans for Tesco Lotus in Thailand, allegedly worked 99-hour weeks. And, their received wages were allegedly too low to make the cut legally. The investigation also found that their working conditions were considered quite harsh. Tesco faces…
-
Animal activists call for ban on US monkey imports
Animal activists are calling on the US government to ban imports of primates for laboratory use after a government report revealed that deadly pathogens entered the country through imported monkeys from Cambodia. The report detailed that between 2018-2021, six cases of Burkholderia pseudomallei were identified in such imported primates from Cambodia. The rare but deadly disease has a mortality rate…
-
Phuket pickup truck accident injures three people in front of school
A Phuket truck accident injured three people in front of a school on Thursday. A pickup truck overturned and crashed into another pickup truck in front of Thai Rath Wittaya School on Wichit Songkram Road in Kathu district. CCTV footage of the incident found that the driver of a black pickup truck lost control at a curve before overturning and…
-
ASEAN members to allegedly hold non-official meeting on Myanmar situation
ASEAN members are allegedly being invited to join an open-ended consultative meeting concerning the situation in Myanmar on December 22. Thailand is allegedly hosting the meeting, according to an anonymous source for Teak Door. The source says the meeting is not an official ASEAN meeting, but rather an initiative to update and exchange views informally among colleagues interested in and…
-
Buddha statue in Cambodia will be world’s 3rd tallest
The owner of the hotel group in Cambodia is taking on a big challenge. A big, tall challenge. The owner of the Sokha Hotel Group in Cambodia has pledged to build one of the world’s tallest Buddha statues. His scheme would see the construction of a 108-metre tall Buddha on Bokor Mountain. While news coverage in the Phnom Penh Post,…
-
Man allegedly assaults woman in Pattaya after she refuses to provide him with services
A man allegedly assaulted a woman in Pattaya after she refused to provide him with services. The woman, 30 year old ‘L,’ reported the incident to Pattaya police early Friday morning. L said the she met the man at a bar and agreed to drink and provide what she called entertainment services for 2,000 baht. The Pattaya News reported that…
-
Body of Canadian man washes up on beach in southern Thailand
The body of a 63 year old Canadian man washed up on a beach on the mainland of Surat Thani province in southern Thailand yesterday evening. He went missing from Koh Pha Ngan island six days ago. At 8pm, officers from Khanom Police Station rushed to Khanom Beach after a decaying body was discovered on the shore in front of the…
-
POLL: Thai politics unchanged, honesty and transparency wanted
A new poll shows that most people in Thailand don’t believe that politics have really changed much. They like responsible, honest politicians and hate people who break promises and abuse authority. They want their political parties to be honest and transparent with a clear goal. Corruption is the biggest issue they want to be tackled. Poll respondents said that they…
-
Shakira speaks up for young Iranian football player on death row
Shakira, Shakira! Prominent figures across the globe are speaking up about the plight of Iranians, and the latest to do so is music sensation Shakira. On Saturday, Shakira tweeted her support for Amir Nasr-Azadani, a young Iranian football player sentenced to death after protesting. Twenty-six year old Nasr-Azadani was arrested in Isfahan last month, after taking part in a protest…
-
Aussie cops bust billion-baht meth shipment
Aussie cops have busted a billion-baht meth shipment, charging two senior members of the drug ring and taking them into custody. The two members were charged in Taiwan over an alleged plot to import 30kg of methamphetamine into Australia hidden inside 3D printers. Australia is in the grip of what authorities have called an “ice epidemic”. They say the drug…
-
Best Christmas Movies, Ever!
The Thaiger is following up on the success of its Best Christmas Singles, Ever! This time the team selected its favourite Christmas movies. With so many films to choose from many readers may disagree with our choices and be disappointed to discover that their favourite Xmas flick is missing from the list. But it’s always a great topic to debate…
-
Hard rain stops train services in Thailand’s south
Heavy rain and high tides are bringing widespread flooding to Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Narathiwat. Red flags in Songkhla’s Chalatat Beach advise people not to venture into the 4-metre waves that are pounding the coast. In Narathiwat province, those living close to the Kolok River are ready to move themselves and their valuables to higher ground as the water…
-
Long-time Chinese overstayer goes viral asking for petrol money in Phuket
A long-time Chinese overstayer has gone viral on social media for footage of her asking for petrol money from people at a Phuket petrol station. The woman, 47 year old Fan Yang, had been overstaying her visa for a whopping 1,316 days. The footage circling on TikTok shows some of Fan’s interactions with people at the station on Bypass Road…
-
Thailand’s rescued tiger cubs fattening up, but not for the pot
Thailand’s rescued tiger cubs are fattening up nicely in Udon Ratchathani, but these guys have already been saved from the pot. Laos’ wildlife authorities are finally assisting Thailand’s search for 30 tiger cubs trafficked across the border to be fattened up and fed to sexually-challenged Chinese customers in underground Bangkok eateries. Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn, director of the Ubon Ratchathani’s National Parks,…
-
Navy ship sinks in the Gulf of Thailand, 73 rescued, 33 missing
This story has been updated. The Royal Thai Navy‘s HTMS Sukhothai sank in the Gulf of Thailand last night, around 20 miles from the coast of Prachuap Khiri Khan province, with 106 navy personnel on board. Navy vessels, tug boats and oil tankers rescued 73 crew members from the water, three of whom are in critical condition, and are still searching…
-
South Korean racer tragically killed during Pattaya’s Jet Ski World Cup
A South Korean jet ski racer was tragically killed in an accident in Pattaya on Saturday. The racer, 40-year-old Sung Won Kim, had been competing in the Water Jet World Grand Prix 2022 in Jomtien. Kim reportedly fell off of his jet ski while entering the first curve at the beginning of the race. He hit the sea forcefully and…
-
Elizabeth Hurley denies rumours she swiped Prince Harry’s v-card
British actress Elizabeth Hurley denies rumours that she swiped the Duke of Sussex Prince Harry’s v-card, although he mentions losing his ‘virginity to a beautiful, older woman in the countryside.’ Although Hurley, an English actress, has always been known for her stunning beauty, she said, “No. Not me. Absolutely not,” when responding to the rumours. The British actress and model spoke…
-
UPDATE: Irish kayaker Odhran O’Neill’s body found
Though not a lot of information has been confirmed or released yet, the body of a 22 year old Irish traveller has been recovered from the waters in Khao Sok National Park. He had been kayaking, a popular activity in the region, though the weather has been windy and rainy in the south of Thailand recently, making the waters more…
-
Largest cylindrical free-standing aquarium in the world bursts
One million litres of water and 1,500 exotic fish were splashed into a busy intersection in Berlin on Friday when the largest cylindrical free-standing aquarium in the world burst. The debris and water flooded onto a major road in the Mitte district in front of Sea Life Berlin, home of the Aquadom aquarium. The aquarium shares a building with a Radisson…
-
Heavy rains close Gulf ferries, Surin Islands for 2 days
Heavy rains, high winds and thunderstorms have ferries cancelled and areas closing down for the next few days in the south of Thailand. In the Gulf of Thailand, all ferry services between the mainland and Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao have been suspended for two days. On the Andaman Sea, the national park on the Surin Islands has…
-
Murder in the temple – don’t drink and pray
When 36 year old Banjerd Yimchoi and his friend 32 year old friend Theerayut Tumorn went to a concert at Plak Raet temple in Phitsanulok province last week, no one could have suspected how the murder in the temple would unfold. The pair had gone with their boss, construction contractor Pratheep Hinart, and started drinking heavily at his place before…
-
Northern Irishman missing in Khao Sok after kayak capsized
[UPDATE: His body has been found.] The family of a missing Northern Irishman is desperately seeking help on social media after his kayak capsized and he hasn’t been seen since. Odhran O’Neill has been travelling in Thailand and went kayaking in Khao Sok National Park yesterday afternoon. His boat capsized around 1pm and Facebook posts suggest he said that he…
-
Bail denied for celeb couple running porn and gambling websites
Bail has been denied for the former soap star and her computer programmer husband who just made sensational headlines for operating gambling and porn websites. The pair were arrested on Thursday along with an accomplice by the Crime Suppression Division and were just denied bail by the Criminal Court. Arrest warrants were issued for actress Thamolphan Phanuchitputthiwong, better known as…
-
Celebrity internet royalist arrested for fundraising fraud
Celebrity internet royalist Suvinai Pornavalai was arrested outside his Bangkok home yesterday. Members of the cybercrime unit came calling after Suvinai claimed to have raised nearly 700,000 baht (US$20,000) to pay for “a ritual” to extend the life of Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who remains hospitalised for an unspecified heart condition. According to rabble-rousers Prachatai.com, Suvinai maintains his innocence and claims to…
-
Koh Samui welcomes second cruise ship, 2,500 tourists
For only the second time in the last 3 years, a large cruise ship has arrived today at Koh Samui, four times larger than the first. After cruising came to a halt worldwide as cruise ships became the perfect petri dish for the spread a Covid-19, only one other cruise ship has arrived on the holiday island previously just three…
-
Phuket Immigration crackdown nets 138 total violations
After spending the first half of the month vigilantly and vocally cracking down on immigration violations, Phuket Immigration announced the results of its efforts. They focused mainly on people overstaying the stamp on their passports and not being registered correctly at the place where they lived. Immigration was working under the slogan of getting “Phuket to be Crime Free” running…
-
Cambodian call centre scammers rounded up on Thai border
Dozens of Cambodian call centre scammers have been rounded up by police in Sa Kaeo province. Through the website thaipoliceonline.com, police received complaints from victims duped into investing in a scam named “Amata” that promised high returns. Upon the due date, the victims were unable to withdraw any money and even went so far as to invest more. An investigation…
-
Superpowers fight for supercomputer supremacy
Sanctions designed to cripple China’s chipmakers are the US weapon of choice, as skirmishes begin in the superpowers’ fight for supercomputer supremacy. The current most-favoured US target for fear, hatred and sanctions – China’s semiconductor industry – has good reason to worry about the world’s policeman, now turned world’s store detective. The US will do almost anything to keep its…
-
Nation hosts prayers for Princess, Royal Family visits
Concrete information is hard to find in Thailand about Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati but the nation has been praying for her health after heart problems caused her to lose consciousness on Wednesday. Members of the Royal Family have been visiting her at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital since her hospitalisation. On Friday, Their Royal Majesty King Vajiralongkorn and…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.