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 Thailand vs. the West: What expats save on healthcare each year
Healthcare in Thailand is much cheaper than in Western countries, making it a great choice for expatriates looking for affordable medical care. Both public and private healthcare options offer high-quality services, with savings of up to 80% on procedures like...
-
Constitutional Court orders investigation of 32 MPs in media share row
The Thai Constitutional Court has agreed to accept a petition against 32 MPs from the military-aligned coalition over alleged media share holdings. But the Court has allowed the MPs to continue their parliamentary duties. This dispensation was not offered to anti-junta politician Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from the opposition Future Forward Party who is being investigated over the same allegations. The court…
-
Electricity mains upgraded in Pa Klok, Phuket
Phuket’s Provincial Electricity Authority is warning residents that their electricity supply will be disrupted in parts of Pa Klok tomorrow (June 28) as they carry out work installing new high-voltage cables. The Thalang Branch of the PEA say the affected areas will be from to Ban Bang Rong Mosque to the Weerasatri Anusorn School on Soi Thala and areas nearby…
-
Lost and found: 5.4 million meth pills and ‘ice’ discovered in Chiang Mai cave
PHOTOS: Maesai news online 5.4 million methamphetamine pills and 185 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine have been found hidden in a cave north of Chiang Mai. A border patrol police and Army troops from the 5th Cavalry Taskforce in the Chiang Dao district found the drugs in a cave in Ban Tham Klaeb in Tambon Ping Khong yesterday while patrolling the area. The…
-
Military escort motorcycle rider smashes into Bangkok taxi – VIDEO
The shocking moment when a military officer on motorbike, escorting a high-ranking Army official travelling in a black Mercedes, collided into a Bangkok taxi, at 1.22pm yesterday. He was an officer with the Military Police. The Toyota taxi with Bangkok plates was making a right hand turn into the Khet Pom Prap Sattru Phai centre in central Bangkok. The injured…
-
16,467 kilograms of drugs destroyed on International Day against Drug Abuse
PHOTOS: The Police Magazine Thailand 16,467 kilograms of drugs were destroyed on the annual International Day against Drug, valued around 20 million baht. The Police Magazine Thailand reported yesterday, the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, that drugs has been destroyed by Ministry of Public Health at Bangpa, an Industrial Estate in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. Drugs destroyed…
-
Beach vendor nabbed after stealing from Pattaya tourist
PHOTOS: Pattya Message A Pattaya beach vendor has been caught by a local and foreign beach-goers after stealing from a tourist on Jomtien Beach in Pattaya. Pattaya City Police were notified of the incident yesterday on Jomtien Beach. The suspect had already been bailed up by Thai and foreign tourists at the beach. A 66 year old German female tourist…
-
Thai car manufacturers upbeat about sales
PHOTO: Chevrolet’s proposed SUV ‘Blazer’ to replace the Captiva Car sales for the first five months of this year stood at 437,722 equating to a year-on-year rise of just over 9%. Sales for May alone were 88,097 units, up 3.7%. But May’s growth slowed from the double-digit rise that the sector experienced between January and April, 2019. • By brand sales…
-
Thai government announces hotel license amnesty
by Bill Barnett, c9hotelworks.com In a significant move by Thailand’s government, a hotel licensing amnesty program has been announced on a nationwide basis. Clearly pressure by hotel owners amidst an large-scale influx of non-licensed accommodation has spurred the action. Leading international legal advisors Baker McKenzie Thailand have issued an information alert on the program which we are publishing in full,…
-
Progress on Phang Nga’s new international airport
by Bill Barnett, c9hotelworks The AoT (Airports of Thailand) planned international airport in Phang Nga, set to be part of a triangle of international airports serving the Phuket, Phang Nga, Khao Lak and Krabi tourist zones, is poised to move past another development milestone. The mooted private airport has now been binned and the AoT-operated airport project is now forging…
-
75 tonnes of marijuana and Kratom destroyed in Nakhon Phanom
8.4 tonnes of marijuana and 67.3 tonnes of kratom leaves have been destroyed by Nakhon Phanom provincial administration officials in a ceremony to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The ceremony was held in an open field in front of the Muang district office. As part of the ceremony, officials also launched local campaigns against drug abuse.…
-
Seven injured in Khon Kaen minivan and trailer crashed
PHOTOS: Chumphae Rescue Seven passengers have been rescued after a minivan collided with a trailer in Khon Kaen, northeast of Thailand. Chumphae rescue workers were notified of the incident on Maliwan Road in Chumphae, Khon Kaen yesterday. They arrived to find the minivan slammed into the rear end of the trailer truck. The minivan’s left hand side was crushed up to…
-
New Malaysian political sex video appears on Pornhub
PHOTO: Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz, sacked and A new video clip showing Malaysia’s former deputy minister’s aide, Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz, and a man resembling the Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, has appeared on YouTube, while a nine-minute-plus full version has been uploaded to porn site Pornhub. As with earlier clips, the YouTube video (which may be removed…
-
Three arrested with over 12,000 meth pills and crystal meth in Thalang, Phuket
Three drug suspects have been arrested with a total of 12,277 methamphetamine pills and 1.8 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (ice) in Thalang. Thalang Police raided a house in Thalang where they arrested Yuttapong Kenson. Police seized 1.8 grams of crystal methamphetamine and 10,746 methamphetamine pills. Police then raided a warehouse in Srisoonthorn where they have arrested a 17 year old male…
-
Neighbours demand officials get rid of noisy and smelly birds in Hua Hin
PHOTO: Banmuang News Soldiers, police and environmentalists in central Prachuap Khiri Khan headed to a three storey property following up complaints that the building was being harvest ‘birds nests’ for Chinese restaurants. The officials couldn’t find the people involved in the premises or the harvesting for local restaurants. The local swallows, a protected species, in Thailand would be lured to…
-
17 year old dies while fishing in Krabi pond
PHOTO: View from the Khao Ngon Nak viewpoint, Krabi A teenager has drowned while fishing with a friend at a pond in a Krabi national park. The Haad Nopparat Thara-Mu Koh Phi Phi National Park rangers recovered the body of Jessada Ngafah, a 16 year old male, at 2.30am this morning. Rangers were working at an office near the Khao…
-
Retribution: Pattaya police chief transferred, foreign bar owners deported
Pattaya’s police chief has been transferred, the foreign bar owners are being deported and will be blacklisted. This has been the swift retribution for local senior police and the owners of ‘Coming Bar’ for allowing prostitution and under-age sex on their premises. In addition, the Bang Lamung district police chief says the offending bar will be shut for five years…
-
Cloud looms over 41 Thai MPs in media-shares fiasco
PHOTO: Future Forward’s Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit The Constitutional Court is sitting today to consider whether they’ll accept petitions against 41 newly elected MPs accused by the Future Forward party of breaching media shareholding rules. There are 41 Members of Parliament accused of breaching the rules – 26 from the Palang Pracharath Party, 11 from Democrats, and one from Bhumjaithai Party, Action…
-
Tsunami evacuation drill held in Patong, Phuket
The siren sounded, a tsunami was on the way and people had to evacuate from Phuket’s Patong Beach. Some people were so enthusiastic about the practice drill they started running from the beach before the siren was even sounded. Officials hailed the evacuation drill as a success. But some tourists were either bewildered by the 600 or so people that…
-
Facial recognition security push in Thailand’s South
Concerns are being raised over the move to force all mobile phone users in Thailand’s South to submit their photos for facial-recognition identification. The edict says those who fail to do so by October 31 will have their mobile phone service blocked. The Cross Cultural Foundation says the order given to Thailand’s telecom operators was ‘racial profiling’. “The use of facial-recognition…
-
SURVEY: Do you tip in Thailand?
Yesterday we asked readers to tell us what they do when it comes to tipping in Thailand. We noted that a lot of people’s feelings about tipping was related to where they come from and the customs they had on tipping in their home country. The question was… To tip or not to tip? Whilst the custom of tipping is…
-
Four arrested as police intercept 572 kilograms of marijuana heading south
Four suspects have been arrested after police intercepted an attempt to smuggle 572 kilograms of marijuana from Mukdahan to Songkhla. The deputy Phatthalung police chief says that two suspects were arrested in Phatthalung in a pick-up truck carrying the drugs, along with a couple who were arrested in a car that was driving ahead to advise of any checkpoints ahead.…
-
Fire destroys restaurant on Koh Lanta, Krabi – VIDEO
VIDEO: Krabi News PHOTOS: TNEWS Fire has damaged a restaurant on Koh Lanta in Krabi province. TNews reports that fire fighters were notified of the incident yesterday on Koh Lanta in the south of Krabi. Fire fighters and a number of fire engines arrived at the scene to find the restaurant well ablaze. It took more than two hours to…
-
Teenager dies after motorbike collision in Chonburi – VIDEO
VIDEO: Padung Klahran / Pattaya Message PHOTOS: Pattaya Message A teenager has died after a motorbike accident in Chonburi. Pattaya Message reports that a Facebook user, Padung Klahran, yesterday posted a video clip from a dash cam which shows the motorbike driver losing control of his bike before colliding with barriers. The accident happened in Banglamung, Chonburi on Sunday. The…
-
Thailand Post’s no-go list
Twenty years ago postal services were thought to he going out of fashion as email and social media began to replace people sending letters in the post. But that’s all changed now as online retail services are making the world’s postal services busier than ever. Including Thailand Post. If you’re wishing to avoid problems with Thailand Post and would like…
-
49 year old Israeli, deported after dismembering wife in Bangkok, arrested in eastern Thailand
PHOTO: INN News The immigration chief told media yesterday that an Israeli man convicted for dismembering his wife and dumping her body parts back in 2004, has been caught in Sa Kaew’s Aranyaprathet district, near the Cambodian border, at the Rong Kleua market. 49 year old Eli Cohen was sentenced to life in prison in December 2004 for murdering his wife,…
-
Police raid Soi 6 bar in Pattaya, undercover prostitution and underage sex
Police in Pattaya have raided the Coming Bar in Soi 6. They allegedly uncovered evidence of prostitution and underage sex on the premises. Authorities noted that prostitution was available at the venue and had 18 women available to service customers, one girl was found to be 17 years old. The venue had rooms available above the bar for customers. A…
-
Banned. Thai airports cracking down what you can take on board
Thailand’s CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) is urging airports to more strictly enforce security regulations that would prohibit a longer list of things being taken aboard. The upgraded ban covers foods, liquids and cosmetics that are now limited to containers that have a capacity of no more than 100 millilitres (a tenth of a litre). These items will be restricted and…
-
Pedestrian and motorbike driver injured in Pattaya collision
PHOTOS: Pattaya Law Enforcement A pedestrian and a motorbike driver both have sustained injuries after an incident near Central Festival Pattaya yesterday. Pattaya Law Enforcement reports that the male foreign pedestrian sustained injuries after being hit by a motorbike in front of Central Festival Pattaya. The motorbike driver also sustained injuries as a result of the collision. They were both…
-
Truck spraying stepped up to prevent swine fever from entering Thailand
Officials at the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge border checkpoint are stepping spraying and checking trucks in an attempt to prevent African Swine Fever from spreading into Thailand from bordering countries.Officials are targeting the trucks as they return from delivering live and slaughtered pigs to neighbouring nations. Chief of the Nong Khai animal quarantine office, Jongcharoen Maksuwan, says officials ramped up the…
-
Thai Air Asia pulling the plug on its Chiang Rai-Singapore service?
from ttrweekly.com The Thai AirAsia’s direct flight between Chiang Rai and Singapore is unlikely to survive. That’s the outlook of travel website ttrweekly.com Launched early 2019 with little fanfare, the new international route was one of four direct services that use Chiang Rai as a hub. The others were direct flights to Kuala Lumpur, Macau and Phuket. So what’s gone…
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.