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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1,000 baht for 841 Km. 400 baht for 6 Km. Let’s do the maths.
PHOTO: File photo Posting from ‘Bewildered’ in a Facebook post this morning… (Edited) “I arrived in Phuket 7am this morning after taking the overnight bus from Bangkok. It’s been a loooong time since I’ve done that, and I was impressed. I travelled on the VIP bus for just under 1,000 baht. Big seats, lots of leg room and decent drivers.…
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Fire in Phuket town destroys four houses
Another fire following a string of fires over the past week in Phuket. The fire started in a sofa shop near Komarapat Intersection in Phuket Town and has destroyed four houses causing damage valued at approximately 1 million Baht. Before noon today (February 15), Muang Phuket Police received a report about a fire on the side of Thepkasattri Road, near…
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Muslim paramilitary soldiers injured in Yala bomb attack
Two Muslim paramilitary soldiers were severely injured in a bomb attack while they were escorting a group of teachers to a school in Yala province on Thursday morning, police said. Police said Muslim insurgents had detonated an IED hidden along the main road in Bannang Sareng village in Muang district at 7.30am. A team of seven paramilitary soldiers on four…
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Phi Phi’s Maya Bay to be closed this June. Or maybe not…
According to AFP, Maya Bay is going to be closed in June this year. “The once-pristine Thai bay which became a tourist magnet after the 2000 movie “The Beach” will be closed to boats for several months to prevent further damage to its coral, an official said Wednesday. Hordes of tourists flock daily to Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, February 15
‘Heavy traffic is causing pollution in BKK’ – Genius! | Thaksin and Yingluck now in HK | Witness of Australian ‘manslaughter’ in Pattaya speaks up | Changes to the collection of immigration data | UK Foreign Secretary jokes about Thailand’s sex tourism | Thailand mums are wanting smaller families | Encoached buildings on Koh Phi Phi being demolished.
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Keeping track of foreigners in Thailand – new e-passport data to be used
The Immigration Bureau and the Interior Ministry have been instructed to speed up the implementation of a single-platform online database of foreigners entering and leaving the Kingdom. The order was given by Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan when he chaired the meeting of the fifth government committee in charge of bureaucratic reforms at Government House. “The single platform database would…
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Yingluck lobbying for a chat with Japanese PM
National Legislative Assembly whip Somchai Sawangkarn has revealed that a diplomatic source in Japan told him Yingluck Shinawatra has been trying to meet Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The source also told Somchai that the fugitive former premier was also seeking to meet old business and political connections in Japan and planned to call a press conference in late February…
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Six buildings demolished for encroaching national park land on Phi Phi
A hundred officers from Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, police, military and Office of Forestry demolished houses and shops located next to the national park booth. The team expect the full demolition to take 3 days. “It started in 2014 when the officers discovered the land encroachment. The man who claims to own the land, Aran Rothakan,…
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THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, February 14
Another Chinese tour bus crash on the notorious Patong Hill | Pollution levels starting to fall in BKK | UN Refugee Chief speaks out about repatriation of Rohingya | Thai Education Minister apologises to Prawit | British government questions Thailand over prison conditions | Three white tiger cubs get their first public outing | And where do all the Valentine’s…
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Phuket airport increases domestic passenger seating
200 more seats have been installed for domestic travellers to solve the crowding issue while new ventilators have also been installed. The waiting lobby for the domestic departures has been expanded from 2,000 square metres to 5,000 square metres with 200 more chairs starting from today (February 14) onward. The ventilators have been installed as well. The expanding of the…
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Fourth drug courier arrested at Phuket Gateway
A 24 year old from Nakhon Si Thammarat, Jakrit Paipong, was arrested yesterday (February 13) at the Phuket Gateway Thachatchai checkpoint while carrying drugs to be distributed in Phuket. The van driving from Nakhon Si Thammarat to Phuket was stopped for a search and a military officer found Jakrit acting ‘suspiciously’. The officer looked into his bag and found 167…
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Six drug dealers arrested in major Krabi sting
Krabi police, along with Police Region 8 officers, have arrested six drug dealers from one of the biggest networks in the south and seized their assets, worth approximately 26.5 million Baht. The drug dealers arrested include 40 year old Kriangsak Rangsiyangkul from Bangkok, Nan Saung Kham from Myanmar, 34 year old Pornsawan Dindaeng, 22 year old Pitchsinee Patimin, 26 year…
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Going Gold – Thai/US Cobra Gold military exercises kick off
FILE PHOTO: Cobra Gold The biggest U.S. force in years has joined thel military exercise in Thailand on Tuesday despite controversy over the Thai junta’s invitation to neighboring Myanmar’s army – the Tatmadaw army has been accused of ethnic cleansing in the Rhakine state of Myanmar. The US scaled back attendance at Cobra Gold, Asia’s largest multilateral military exercise, after…
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Krabi Abbot calls for justice over allegations
Phra Taweelert Raktaweesin, the Deputy Abbot of Wat Klong Son in Krabi, is calling for justice after being accused of having a sexual relationship with women – an accusation he is denying. Nong Talay patrol police, together with local media, inspected the famous temple of the district today (February 13) after receiving reports from locals that the monk has had…
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83 year old man accused of raping four year old
An 83 year old man was arrested in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Muang district this morning over an accusation that he allegedly raped the four year old daughter of an in-law niece on February 2. The girl sustained such serious injuries from the alleged rape that she had to be treated at Maharat Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital, and was only discharged…
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Thaksin and Yingluck in Japan – Deputy PM
Deputy PM, Defence Minister and luxury watch enthusiast, General Prawit Wongsuwan, says that former PMs Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra are currently in Japan. Without further elaboration, Prawit added that he has ordered responsible agencies to look into the matter. He was speaking in Vientianne during his official visit to the country at the invitation of Lao government. Photos of Thaksin…
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Third drug dealer arrested at Phuket Gateway checkpoint this month
Police have been having a good run at the Phuket Gateway Thatchatchai checkpoint lately intercepting small-time drug dealers and couriers. A 25 year old man from Phang Nga, Chalermsak Matchawate, was arrested with 585 amphetamine pills and 0.109 gram of heroine last night while traveling on a bus to Phuket. The Hat Yai – Phuket tour bus stopped at the…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, February 13
American hands himself into police over Pattaya ‘manslaughter’ | Phuket market bans smoking | UK’s Foreign Secretary visits Thailand | Road death statistics continue to rise | Coal plant protestors go on hunger strike | Greenpeace says stop BKK smog at the source.
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Waterfall encroachment opposite disputed Ao Sane villa construction
Officials from the Forest Protection Operations Centre visited Ao Sane yesterday (February 12). Cheewapap Cheewatham, Head of the centre’s Payak Prai Forest Crime Suppression Taskforce, led his team to inspect the encroached waterfall opposite the Ao Sane luxury property construction that was ordered to be suspended last year. On hand were the Deputy Director General of Department of Forestry, Internal…
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Anti-coal protestors start hunger strike
A hunger strike was started today by two groups of protestors who say they will not eat until the government permanently cancels the coal-fired power plants in the South. A total 19 activists from Save Andaman from Coal and the Network of Songkhla-Pattani Residents Against Coal-Fired Power Plants kicked off their hunger strike in front of the United Nation headquarters…
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Seeding the skies over Bangkok to ‘make’ rain to help with smog
The Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation Department is preparing to seed clouds above Bangkok in an attempt to ease the capital’s smog problems. Haze has spread over the capital over the past few days, causing a health hazard for vulnerable people, and leading Agriculture and Cooperatives minister Grisada Boonrach to order that rainmaking operations be carried out. Two of the…
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, February 12
‘Kra Canal’ project “not a priority” | Officals jump into action over black sludge washing into Ao Nang and Patong beaches | Student intern uncover 6.9 million baht alleged embezzlement | Student protests ‘must be handled carefully’ | Boris Johnson visits Myanmar | Cloud seeding being used to help settle last week’s BKK smog.
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Patong & Krabi wastewater ‘being tackled’
Local administration officials in Phuket and Krabi provinces are assuring people that they are trying to tackle the pollution problems in the sea at Ao Nang beach of Krabi and the sea at Tri Trang beach in Patong. Broken waste water treatment facilities are being blamed for the flow of untreated effluent from households and tourism-related establishments into the sea…
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Boom Boom on the border
PHOTO: The attractions of Thailand’s southern border town usually become apparent after sunset On one side of the Thai/Malaysian border is Sungai Golok, on the Malaysian side it’s the town of Rantau Panjang. The two towns are separated by the Golok River as well as decades of furious fighting between Muslim separatists who want to reclaim some of the southern…
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Towel party in a Phuket Town bar
Phuket authorities inspected the ‘Kanom’ bar in Phuket Town at 9.30 pm last night, after receiving a report about obscene behaviour at the premises. The promotion flyer of the bar has been shared among locals stating ‘On February 10, Towel Party at Kanom. Free Booze, Free Food all night long with pretty girls, coyotes and sexy show’. The team found…
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The man who uncovered the watch scandal
The wristwatch scandal undermining the government can be credited to one man who wrote posts on his “investigative” website about all the 25 luxury watches allegedly worn by Deputy Premier and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan in recent years. The online portal CSI LA provided convincing information that led to public uproar, including photos of Prawit wearing the watches alongside details of…
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Reuters detail work of journalists detained in Myanmar
Reuters have released a report on ethnic killings in Myanmar, detailing research done by two of its reporters currently jailed in Myanmar. The news agency details the slaughter of 10 Rohingya men in the village of Inn Din, where Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo spoke with Buddhist neighbors who reportedly admitted to killing the men and burying…
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Two Shinawatra former PMs spotted shopping in China
Photo from Instagram @ingshin Fugitive ex-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was seen in a photo with her brother Thaksin, also a fugitive ex-PM, buying chestnuts in Beijing, China. The photo was published on Matichon Online website on Saturday afternoon. The two siblings were buying chestnuts in a mall in Beijing as part of Chinese New Year celebrations on February 16, Matichon…
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Drug courier arrested at Phuket Gateway checkpoint
Last night (February 9), Thachatchai police, stationed at Phuket Gateway arrested 20 year old Prasorn Kaewpradit, from Songkhla province, with 781 amphetamine pills and 28.4 grams of methamphetamine. Prasorn was traveling to Phuket on a Hat Yai – Phuket bus and the bus was stopped by checkpoint officers. During the search, he was acting suspiciously so the officers asked him…
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Five people from Soi Paradise arrested for taking drugs
On Thursday night (February 8), Patong police headed to the entertainment avenues in Soi Paradise and found five staff and customers using illicit drugs. The team of Patong Police along with Region 8 Investigative Police, Tourist Police, Royal Thai Army and Royal Thai Navy Area 3 Officers inspected four bars, including My Way, Mo2, Zagclub and Boat Bar in Soi…
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