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 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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US pedophile gets 10 years for sex with underage boys in Thailand
PHOTO: Convicted US kiddie-fiddler, Paul Alan Shapiro A 71 year old Paul Shapiro has been sentenced to 10 years jail in the US after a California Court convicted him of pedophile charges in Thailand running back as far as 2012. ThaiVisa reports that US citizen Paul Alan Shapiro was also ordered to pay $20,000 in compensation to two victims in…
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Thaiger Radio News – Sunday
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Hotel #4 for Centara Hotels in Krabi
PHOTO: Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas Krabi, another of the Centara properties along the Krabi coast Centara Hotels & Resorts, Thailand’s largest hotel group, has just signed a Hotel Management Agreement for a 180 room property on Ao Nang Beach, Krabi. The new hotel will be under its ‘Centara’ brand. Centara Ao Nang Beach Resort & Spa Krabi will…
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One in ten that die on Chiang Mai roads are foreigners
Ten percent of the people that die on Chiang Mai’s roads are foreigners. That equates to more than 1,000 foreign tourists and expats dying or being injured on the province’s road so far this year. The statistics also reveal that the overwhelming majority of deaths and injury were on motorcycles (the same as the rest of Thailand). Chiang Mai News…
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Meeting in Pattaya addresses Chinese tourism drop-off
PHOTO: South China Morning Post The Tourism Authority of Thailand, and its regional offices, are very good at painting a happy face, even as the numbers and trends are heading in the opposite direction of their planned growth in tourist arrivals. In Phuket, for example, where there’s been a big drop off in Chinese tourists, the local TAT is quoting…
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The Phoenix rises to the surface
PHOTOS: Facebook/สุรเชษฐ์ หักพาล The yacht sank late afternoon on July 5 in a short, sudden storm. Most boats would have quite capable of withstanding the wind squal and waves on the day. But Phoenix capsized and sank, taking with her 47 Chinese tourists. The full reasons are stilll being investigated. Today, the actual yacht rose from the depths of the…
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Don’t complain about the oranges. Market customer shot after complaint.
A Pathum Thani fruit vendor has been arrested today shortly after she allegedly shot and killed a customer who complained of “rotten oranges” at her market store, just north of Bangkok. Klong Luang police were alerted to the shooting at 8am inside the Iyara Market in Pathum Thani’s Klong Luang district. Police say 30 year old Saranya Saksaeng was shot…
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Tour company owner fined 2,000 baht for threatening taxi driver with sword
PHOTO: Sanook A tour company owner has been fined a mere 2,000 baht by police in Surat Thani after threatening a taxi driver with a sword. The video (below) shows 39 year old Suphakit Sindamrern the alleged owner of Buddy Travel in the Kaset market area heading to his car to retrieve a sword from the boot. Suphakit told an official…
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66 yo Austrian arrested in Chiang Mai for possessing child porn
The Thai immigration says they’ve arrested a 66 year old Austrian for downloading and possessing child porn. The Thailand Internet Crime Against Children (TICAC) division learned about someone using the Dark Web to access child porn in September. Thai police identified the person living in the Pa Daet district in the Chiang Mai city and obtained an arrest warrant. The…
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Two Khmer Rouge leaders sentenced to life in prison
PHOTO: Pnomh Penh Post A UN-backed court has found two leaders of Cambodia’s murderous Khmer Rouge regime guilty of genocide. The judgement comes four decades after the regime which oversaw what became known as the Killing Fields, was overthrown. Most of the victims of the 1975-79 regime died of starvation, torture, exhaustion or disease in labour camps. Others were simply…
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Laguna Phuket Triathlon. Kicks off today, main event tomorrow.
PHOTO: Laguna Phuket Triathlon In 2018, Laguna Phuket Triathlon celebrates the events’s 25th anniversary – Asia’s longest running triathlon. The event will be held this weekend. The event features the best international pro triathletes including world champions vying for the US$ 20,000 prize money purse. Amateur age group also have a chance to measure themselves with the world’s best or strive…
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Thaiger Radio News – Saturday
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Chiang Rai shaken but not stirred
Three minor earthquakes hit the Chiang Rai area this morning according to the Meteorological Department’s Seismological Bureau. The first quake was just before 9am with a magnitude of 3.3 with an epicentre 3.3 kilometres underground at latitude 19.70 and longitude 99.72. People say they felt the tremor but there were no injuries or damage to be reported. A 2.0-magnitude tremor followed…
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Morning collision leaves 18 injured, mostly students
Fifteen students and three adults have been injured after a cold-storage truck collided with a song-taew bus on a Phatthalung road this morning, south of Krabi province. The injured were taken to Phatthalung Hospital following the 7am incident at a curve on the Asia Highway in Moo 3, Tambon Tha Kae, in Muang district. There was high drama at the…
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Canadian and British graffiti vandals spared jail
Canadian media is reporting that a Canadian citizen and a British man have been able to avoid jail time over the spray painting of the Tha Pae historical wall in Chiang Mai. Read the original story HERE. There was 10 years jail staring them in the face after police nabbed them over the matter. But instead of ten years in…
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14 yo allegedly raped at knifepoint in Pattaya
Police in Jomtien are investigating the alleged rape of a 14 year old girl at a beach south of Pattaya last night. Police say it is a well lit area but only have information that the rapist was a 20 – 25 year old with facial tattoos. Sanook is reporting that the incident happened in a water sports zone where there…
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Chinese tourists still number one visitors to Phuket
The Deputy Director of the Phuket Tourism Authority of Thailand, Montri Manator, says, “Numbers of Chinese tourists visiting Phuket in tour groups have been continuing to decrease after the Phoenix sinking on July 5 this year.” “On the other hand, Chinese tourists who are visiting Phuket by themselves, called FIT groups (Free and Independent Travellers), has not decreased. They are…
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542 foreigners bailed up for deportation in latest crackdown
PHOTO: The Nation Another 542 foreigners have been rounded-up for deportation after raids, mostly in and around Bangkok. Police searched 262 locations around the country. Most of the illegal foreigners had been living in Thailand illegally and or committed alleged crimes. Pol Col Nithithorn Jintakanon, the acting traffic police chief, held a press conference at 2.30am this morning to announce…
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Thailand takes over the ASEAN chair for 2019
Thailand has taken over the ‘chair’ of ASEAN from Singapore, who has hosted the regional bloc for the past 12 months. The short ceremony took place yesterday following the two day ASEAN summit. The chairmanship is shared equally around the 10 member states of the south east asian trade and geo-political bloc. Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha received the symbolic gavel…
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Thaiger Radio News – Friday
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Plain packaging for cigarettes being introduced to discourage smoking
PHOTO: Example of the changes to cigarette packaging now being implemented in Thailand In the moves to modify polices relating to smokers in Thailand, some of the new legislation is directed towards manufacturer packaging Cigarette packets will soon be plain and much less attractive under the new regulations approved by the National Tobacco Products Control Committee. Public Health Minister Piyasakol…
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Marine activity banned around the charred remnants of yacht off Patong
The Phuket Marine office has banned marine vessels from going near the area where the ‘Soraya’ was destroyed on Wednesday evening. The announcement states… “The ‘Soraya’ caught fire on Wednesday night 400 metres off Patong Beach. Some parts of the yacht are still on the water surface and some parts under water. “For the best chances of navigation and to…
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Boats still banned around the Phoenix salvage zone
The Phuket Marine office is warning boats to be careful when navigating around the area where the Phoenix salvage operations are still underway of Koh Hei, south-west of Phuket. “The Phoenix salvage operations are underway south off Koh Hei at 7º42’14.6″ North, 98º23’06.9″ East. Boats must be careful when travelling from November 16 – 20 near the area.” The announcement…
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Less growth – but more engagement. Social media in Thailand.
PHOTOS: Facebook/Kla Tangsuwan Wisesight, a BKK-based social media analytics company, says social media is reaching saturation point in Thailand but that engagement is increasing. The company is forecasting that Facebook will keep on increasing, 4% in 2018, to a total of 51 million users in Thailand. Wisesight says the application of artificial intelligence will continue to root out fake accounts.…
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Kitten rescued from wall space after being stuck for three days
A kitten was rescued last night after it got stuck in a narrow five-inch wall space behind a 7-11 convenience store in Samut Prakan’s city district. Staff of a 7-Eleven shop in Bang Pu Industrial Estate called the Bang Pu 811 Rescue Unit for help. The staff say they had heard a kitten’s faint meows behind the wall for three…
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Tourist Police service centres being set up on Phuket beaches
PHOTO: TravelScams.org The Phuket Tourist Police are poised to improve marine and coastal safety by setting up service centres on Phuket beaches, starting initially with Kamala and Karon Beach. The Tourist Police Division 3 Chief Major General Unggoon Klaiklueang says, “We have been planning on the project to set up the tourist service centres at Phuket’s busiest beaches.” “The centres…
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Phuket Police officer transferred after gambling den raid
Five Kathu Police have been transferred to the Phuket Provincial Police Station after a gambling den raid. Soldiers raided a gambling den in Kathu on Tuesday night. More than 56 gamblers were arrested. Read more about the raid HERE. The order issued yesterday was signed by the Phuket Provincial Police commander Maj Gen Wisan Panmunee stating that five Kathu Police have…
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Woman sues Bangkok Phuket Hospital for 19 million baht
A Phuket woman has filed a lawsuit with the Civil Court against Bangkok Hospital Phuket for 19 million baht in compensation after an alleged error during an operation has left her bed-ridden. Nonglak Srisaeng assigned Chalermpong Klubdee, an official of the Foundation for Consumers, and Sakolrat Ritsamitchai, a lawyer, to file the lawsuit on her behalf. The lawsuit was filed…
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Australian yacht owner escapes fire off Patong
A fire has destroyed a luxury yacht moored off Patong Beach last night. The Australian yacht owner called for help before escaping from the fire engulfing the vessel. Patong Police were notified that the yacht, which had been moored off Patong Beach, caught fire around 9.20pm. Firefighters arrived near the Coral Beach Bridge which is 500 metres south of the…
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Thailand pushes for bigger ASEAN role in Rohingya crisis
by Supalak Ganjanakhundee, Singapore South East Asia’s leaders have been meeting in Singapore this week in the lead up to the next ASEAN Summit. The Rohingya crisis has been the main talking point. Thailand says it wants to take on a greater ASEAN role in resolving the Rakhine crisis, as the group grapples with the plight of 700,000 Rohingya Muslims…
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