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 Long-term life in Thailand? 5 reasons private health insurance pays off in the long run
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Police in Chon Buri display huge cache of seized weapon
Officers of Thailand’s Police Region 2, covering the entire eastern region, displayed a huge cache of weapons seized so far in a crackdown this month. The news was released yesterday at a press briefing at the Region 2 headquarters in Chon Buri. From July 3-9, police of Region 2, comprising 8 provinces: Chanthaburi, Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Trad, Nakhon Nayok, Prachin…
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Motorcyclist, gazing at phone, plummets from Bangkok bridge
A man is dead after plummeting 10 metres from Bangkok’s Rama 3 bridge yesterday. Police and rescue workers were called to an area below the bridge and found the body of a 43 year old motorcyclist, identified only as “Kiatpong.” Still on the bridge was his Honda Zoomer-X scooter, and there was evidence of scratches along the bridge wall. He appeared…
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Rare big cats spotted in Thai national park
The Facebook page of Khlong Lan National Park in Thailand’s northwestern Kamphaeng Phet province, report that camera traps, set up to track the population of tigers, instead managed to capture a sighting of a black panther and leopard. “The appearance of the panther and leopard prove that the forest has become more abundant and attracted the return of these animals…
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Bangkok online booze peddlers busted, 2 million baht in untaxed alcohol seized
Last week the country’s top alcohol regulator approved a draft law to ban online alcohol sales. Yesterday, synchronised raids on 2 Bangkok addresses resulted in 6 arrests and the seizure of of foreign liquor and wine valued at 2 million baht. The first raid was a house used as a distribution centre in Ram Intra Soi 61. 5 men and women…
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Education ministry bans forced haircuts for students
Just days after a teacher who forced a pupil to submit to a haircut was reprimanded and made to apologise, Thailand’s Ministry of Education has issued a letter instructing all schools under its jurisdiction to repeal the 1975 regulations regarding students’ hairstyle and length, and forbidding the arbitrary cutting of students’ hair at school. The practice has long been used…
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Covid-19 UPDATE: 14 new cases found in quarantine; biggest increase in weeks
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported 14 new cases of Covid-19 this morning, the biggest jump in several weeks. All were found in state quarantine and were imported cases by repatriated Thais; Thailand has not reported a domestically transmitted case in 47 days. Among the 14 new cases is a 9 year old who travelled with her family. •…
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Ratchaburi explosion injures 4
4 people are injured in the western border province of Ratchaburi, 1 seriously, after an explosion caused by a gas leak at a food shop in the central city district this morning. The blast occurred on the ground floor of a 3 storey commercial building opposite Boromrajonani College of Nursing, according to police, who were notified at around 6:30am. Firefighters…
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“Travel bubbles” to require minimum 2 week stay
“Travel bubble” tourists who visit Thailand during its soft and timid reopening phase, tentatively scheduled for August, may have to spend 14 days in designated areas. Then, a negative test for Covid-19 after 2 weeks would free them up to go anywhere in the Kingdom. Thailand’s tourism and sports minister says he’s met with PM Prayut Chan-o-cha about creating travel…
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Thai Airasia ponders second Bangkok hub
Despite reports that Air Asia’s future is in doubt, Thai AirAsia says it’s considering making Suvarnabhumi airport its new hub, alongside its already established hub in Don Mueang Airport, to increase revenue and broaden its traveller appeal. The executive chairman of Asia Aviation, the largest shareholder of TAA, says the airline is conducting a feasibility study on the move to…
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“I already lost heart years ago” – Thailand’s economic Tzar ponders his fate
Thailand’s Deputy PM and leading economic advisor, Somkid Jatusripitak, has acknowledged his fate if PM Prayut Chan-o-cha decides to reshuffle the cabinet. “A decision to shake up the cabinet is the prerogative of the prime minister.” “I have been prepared for a long time. I am old now. I already lost heart years ago.” Mr Somkid has long been proclaimed…
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Posters of missing persons removed by Ubon University security
Prompted by the abduction of Thai activist Wanchalearm Satisakit in Cambodia, a student group called “Kob Plerng” (คบแพลิง) at Isaan’s Ubon Ratchatani University put up a string of posters of people assumed to be abducted by the Thai state. They were removed by university security this week. Ubon Ratchatani is one of the four major city centres in Isaan, north…
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Quotas for returning Australians to be halved amid Melbourne outbreak
As Australia struggles with a new Covid-19 outbreak in Melbourne, Australian PM Scott Morrison has announced that from this Monday he’s cutting the number of Australians allowed to reenter the country by half – from 8,000 to only 4,000 daily. He says the move is needed to devote resources to countering the “very concerning” domestic virus surge. Authorities there have…
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Combined force arrests 107 illegal Cambodian migrants within a day
Immigration officials in Sa Kaeo province, together with border police and the Thai military, have arrested 107 illegal immigrants since yesterday. Sa Kaeo lies about 200 kilometres east of Bangkok at the Cambodian border. The commander of the Burapha Armed Forces (Tigers of the East) – the nickname of the military clique attached to the 2nd Infantry Division, the Queen’s…
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Over 1,400 arrested, fined for illegal motorbike races in Udon Thani
In a move reminiscent of last week’s public shaming in Chon Buri, police in the northern province of Udon Thani have hired a local steamroller to destroy hundreds of illegally modified motorcycle mufflers. More than 1,400 alleged street racers were arrested and almost 370 motorcycles seized in a week long crackdown on illegal racing in the province. Udon Thani’s police…
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Thai sports minister optimistic about Olympic boxing gold
Thailand’s minister of tourism and sports says he’s optimistic that Thai boxers will win a gold medal at next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games (if the Games are held at all). Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn visited the national team’s training camp at the National Sports Training Centre in Saraburi province, northeast of Bangkok. He was accompanied by the governor of the Sports Authority…
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Cabinet reshuffle coming as 4 economic ministers resign
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha says he’ll reshuffle the Cabinet following the resignations of 4 economic ministers from the ruling Palang Pracharat Party. The finance minister, energy minister, the minister of higher education, science, research and innovation and the deputy secretary-general to the PM and secretary to the Council of Economic Ministers held a joint press conference to announce their resignations. Political…
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Mayor of Seoul dead in apparent suicide after harassment allegations
Seoul’s mayor has died in an apparent suicide the day after a former assistant made allegations of sexual harassment against him. Park Won-soon, a former human rights lawyer and potential presidential candidate, was found dead earlier yesterday on a mountain in the South Korean capital. The death is by far the most dramatic end to a #MeToo case in the…
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Rescuers remove 4 metre python from Chon Buri car
A 4 metre long python has been carefully extracted from a car in Chon Buri’s central city district. It took rescue workers around 2 hours to locate and remove the reluctant reptile. Earlier, the snake was spotted by an unnamed local motorist, who stopped traffic to let the python safely cross Bypass Road in the Huay Kapi area. Afterwards it made…
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Thai agriculture minister to take a delegation on a coconut harvesting tour
The ‘Monkey Business’ story has drawn a lot of attention following the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ companies about alleged abuse and misuse of trained macaque monkeys to pick Thai coconuts for commercial purposes. After a week of articles, videos and debate about the relative merits of using monkeys to pick coconuts, the Thai Agriculture Minister formerly invited…
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US ambassador vows to help Thailand combat human trafficking
The US ambassador to Thailand is pledging to help Thailand achieve its goal to be upgraded from Tier 2 to Tier 1 in the annual US Trafficking in Persons Report. The report divides countries into tiers based on their compliance with standards outlined in the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. Tier 1 comprises countries whose governments fully comply…
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Man high on yaba tries to stab family after not sleeping for 6 days
A man high on what Thai people call yaba (a drug containing a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine) reportedly tried to stab his wife and child after getting no sleep for 6 nights. The incident occurred in the eastern province of Chon Buri with the man saying his drug-induced hallucinations were convincing him someone was trying to kill him. Thai…
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Covid-19 UPDATE: Friday, July 10
Today the total number of Covid-19 patients in the world has nearly reached 12.4 million with over 557,000 people succumbing to the effects of the disease. Nearly 7.2 million people are registered as ‘recovered’ from their bout of Covid-19. The numbers of new cases, worldwide, is accelerating. The current hotspots are the US, Brazil, India, South Africa and Mexico –…
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Amnesty International says Myanmar bombing civilians
Myanmar is bombing its own people, according to Amnesty International. The human rights watchdog says it has evidence that indiscriminate airstrikes by Myanmar’s military, also known as the Tatmadaw, are killing civilians, including children, amid a worsening armed conflict in the country’s Rakhine and Chin States. The attacks, and other serious human rights violations, are taking place in towns and…
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Desperate Thais stuck in the UK make plea to return home
A Thai doctor based in the UK is appealing to the Thai government to allow Thai citizens currently stranded in the country to return home. Ekaphum Chamnanrabiabkij is a practising doctor in Bicester, in the English county of Oxfordshire, and has become something of a spokesman for his stranded compatriots who find themselves locked out of Thailand during the Covid-19…
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US delegation arrives, submits to Covid-19 screening
The chief of staff of the US army, General James C. McConville, arrived in Thailand today with an entourage for a 2 day trip, at the invitation of the Royal Thai Army. He has also granted permission for the publication of the results of his Covid-19 swab test. McConville and his entourage landed at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport at 10:15am…
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Facebook group names and shames “farang prices”
In days gone by, a foreigner visiting a national park or tourist site could often expect to be charged several times the price charged to a local. Now, thanks to a Facebook community naming and shaming venues that apply “farang prices” to foreign visitors, those days are, well, numbered. Members of the 2PriceThailand Facebook group are warning each other about…
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Separate tragedies across the nation
Tragedy has struck around the nation in separate incidents. In the Hat Yai district of the southern Songkhla province, the bodies of the owners of the locally well known Nattharika Furniture were discovered this morning by a relative who had been instructed to show up at the shop at 6am. In an apparent suicide pact, 55 year old Somsak, and…
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Blaze destroys part of historic Si Ayutthaya temple
Wat Chang Thong, built in the Ayutthaya period, has suffered severe fire damage last night as a blaze gutted one of its teak pavilions. Damage is estimated at 20 million baht. Police say the inferno at the temple in tambon Ko Rian, Si Ayutthaya district was reported about 9pm. The area is about 2 hours north of Bangkok city. Some…
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In the midst of re-opening, there are now new lockdowns around the world
Countries that appeared, only a few weeks ago, to have their local Covid-19 outbreaks under control – Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore for example – are now seeing new waves of the virus drawing immediate attention from officials, locking down the affected areas. They know, for now, it’s the only solution to counter new outbreaks. These mini-outbreaks in formerly ‘low-risk’ areas…
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Russian man found hanged in Pattaya shophouse
A 45 year old Russian man has been found dead in a Jomtien shophouse. The man was discovered just after midnight today, hanging from the doorknob of his third floor rented apartment. Police say he was due to leave Thailand today bound for Russia. Pattaya City Police were notified of the incident just after midnight by the landlord in Jomtien, just…
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