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Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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Sponsored See the best of Northern Thailand this winter on a budget
The Thaiger key takeaways Peak season brings higher prices, but smart planning and local know-how can help you experience Northern Thailand affordably. Chiang Mai, Pai, and Chiang Rai offer plenty of free or low-cost attractions, from temples and canyons to...
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Wealthy Thai woman arrested over dodgy weight-loss pills in raids across the country
PHOTO: Daily News An extensive police operation has led to the arrest of wealthy operator of a business selling alleged weight-loss products. The woman has also been charged with possession of controlled substances. Of the 13 targeted locations in Bangkok, one was the luxurious home of Wirairat Udthong on Soi Pattanakan 42 in the Suan Luang district. Wirairat was charged…
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Demolition order for illegal balcony at luxury villas in Ao Sane
PHOTO: Chatchanon Na Thalang A demolition order has been issued for an illegally constructed balcony, which also leads to a pool and spa, at the controversial villas being constructed overlooking Ao Sane beach near Nat Harn. Rawai Municipality put a halt to construction activities on the villas last week after Rawai officials noted that the balcony was not part of…
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Phuket 1988: Thai expat digs out his old Super 8 movies
David Barrett gets out his Super 8 projector for another film night – this time we see Patong in 1988, already quite developed even though mass tourism was still more than a decade away. The few high-rise are certainly not cluttering up the skyline at this time. David is sharing his early Super 8 movies with us as we wallow…
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Some airlines ground the Boeing 737 MAX 800 aircraft “as a precaution”
Airlines around the world that fly the new Boeing 737 MAX 800 model are starting to ground their fleets of the new next-gen aircraft. China’s aviation regulator have already ordered local airlines to stop flight with the 800 MAX model after an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft of the same model crashed yesterday morning. The aircraft is relatively new to the skies,…
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Despite the dangers, Thai police chief says ‘OK’ to pickup passengers over Songkran
SCREENSHOT: GamerGirl566 (video below) Police are not going to impose restrictions for people riding in the back of pickup trucks over the Songkran holidays this April. The national deputy police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul has said it’s OK for passengers to ride in the tray space at the back of pick-ups “as long as they are deemed safe”. Last year suggestions…
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Body recovered of a man who jumped off Sarasin Bridge last Thursday
The body of a man, who was seen jumping off Sarasin Bridge last week, has been found and recovered off the coast of Rawai in Phuket’s south. Kok Kloi Police in Phang Nga were notified about the man jumping off the bridge that links Phuket to the mainland (southbound) last Thursday. Read more about the man jumping off Sarasin Bridge HERE.…
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Ethiopian Airlines crash – a second new Boeing 737 falters after take off
PHOTO: A brand new Boeing 737 Max 800 for Ethiopian Airlines All 157 people on board the Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa that crashed yesterday morning have died, the airline has confirmed. The airline said in a statement… “We hereby confirm that our scheduled flight ET 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi was involved in accident today.” The plane is…
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Will Asian airlines allow female flight attendants to leave the make up and tight clothes at home?
Some regional airlines, principally AirAsia and Vietnam’s VietJet Air are being criticised for putting young female flight attendants in tight-fitting clothes or revealing outfits either on the job or in promotional videos. The local online ‘outrage’ follows an announcement this week that Britain’s Virgin Atlantic has dropped a requirement that female flight attendants wear makeup. This sees Virgin join other major…
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Top 5 Phuket (and Thailand) hotel trends for 2019
by Bill Barnett Moving through high season in 2019, hoteliers are starting to look for strategies for the rest of the year in order to not be reliant only on volatile mass markets. The following is C9 Hotelworks read on key trends for the year. Pressure On Demand – Good Hotels Perform, Others Left Out Diving into the numbers, the reality is that…
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American all smiles after getting nabbed over convenience store theft
A 54 year old American has been caught stealing from a convenience store in Chiang Mai. Gregory Paul Burke was captured on camera at the Muang police station grinning over the matter. Staff at the store in Khotchasan Road, Chiang Mai, caught him stuffing two big bags of instant coffee, some chewing gum and a pack of sushi into his…
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Krabi woman fakes death to avoid “loan sharks”
PHOTO: Sanook A 30 year old woman named Sudawan, who went online to post pictures of herself, apparently dead with cotton wool stuffed up her nose, has now been located. Relatives went to the police because they did not believe she was dead. They told police that they thought she went into hiding after finding out she had to pay…
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Bangkok woman gives birth in the back of a taxi!
PHOTO MONTAGE: Thai Rath So you’re on your way to hospital with a passenger in the back of your taxi who says she’s going to have a baby – soon. Ahead there’s a lot traffic. Taxi driver Pratheep Manop said he picked up a woman aged about 25 – 30 from Pahonyothin Soi 48. She wanted to be taken to Wipharam…
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Phuket’s aircraft selfies to be moved from end of runway
PHOTO: Teerasak Saksritawee Phuket airport authorities are looking to restrict photography of aircraft from the northern end of Nai Yang beach, at the western end of the single Phuket International Airport runway. The beach has been a popular photo opportunity for visitors but is causing additional aviation safety concerns as the photography and airport traffic increase. Phuket Airport deputy director…
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Long queues and poor arrangements greet early Thai voters in KL
PHOTO: Thai PBS A long queue of waiting voters spilled out of the Thai embassy compound in Kuala Lumpur during yesterday’s early voting. Over 4,000 Thai nationals working in Malaysia turned up at the Thai embassy in KL yesterday to cast their ballots. The actual Thai election day is on March 24 but foreign embassies provide opportunities for Thai expats to cast their vote…
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Chachoengsao man killed by grenade explosion on Facebook Live
PHOTO: M79 grenades and launcher A man was killed by a grenade explosion at a border patrol police base in Chachoengsao whilst trying to catch wild chickens. Chachoengsao is directly east of Bangkok. The 28 year old, Apisit Kerdlarpphol, was killed after entering the prohibited army training zone and broadcasting his exploits live on his Facebook page. Police say they discovered…
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“Waiter, there’s a cockroach in my beer!” Drama in Pattaya
PHOTOS: Daily News Big drama in Pattaya! • A female customer has taken to Facebook to complain, despite not having to pay. • A staff member has offered her resignation. • A deputy manager denies that it was ‘their’ cockroach. • And Terminal 21 has taken it all very seriously and issued a letter promising further action. Behind all this…
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Stray dogs to be rounded up on Jomtien Beach
The Pattaya Mail is reporting that local officials have instructed Pattaya’s dog catchers to round up ‘dangerous’ stray dogs that have been roaming in packs around Jomtien Beach, south of Pattaya. Deputy Mayor Manote Nongyai and other officials visited the beach two weeks ago and confirmed the many complaints about aggressive soi dogs chasing tourists, defecating on sidewalks and “making…
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Three died, three injured in Chiang Mai road crash
Three people were killed and three others injured when their car hit a power pole on the Chiang Mai-Hod road in Chiang Mai’s Doi Lor district early today (Saturday). The vehicle overturned after it hit the pole. Emergency responders and rescuers from the Putthasawan Nopparat Foundation had to use iron cutters (Jaws of Life) to extract the bodies from the vehicle.…
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Is Thailand falling behind in the startup race? Techsauce Global Summit Bangkok
PHOTO: Oranuch Lerdsuwankij, CEO and co-founder of summit organiser Techsauce Media by Asina Pornwasin Oranuch Lerdsuwankij, CEO and co-founder of summit organiser Techsauce Media, underlined the forthcoming conference’s importance as a platform for tech enthusiasts across different industries to discuss digital knowledge, ideas and experiences. She says the summit is bringing tangible changes to the tech ecosystem across Thailand and…
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Chiang Rai motorcyclist flees police leaving behind a bag with 200,000 meth pills
FILE PHOTO 200,000 methamphetamine pills have been seized following a road chase in Chiang Rai’s Thoeng district but, again, the suspect managed to flee. A unit of rangers from the 31st Ranger Taskforce staked out at a bypass road along the Thai-Lao border in Ban Khun Huay Krai village. They say they spotted a speeding motorcycle at 9.30pm last night…
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The maths of March 24 – Thailand Election 2019
by Tim Newton The views of the writer do not necessarily reflect the views of The Thaiger or its business partners. Since it was first formed in 2008, along with the previous incarnations that swept Thaksin Shinawatra to power in the early 2000s, the Pheu Thai party has remained the dominant force in Thai politics. In 2011 it brought Thaksin’s…
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Water restrictions on the agenda again as Phuket’s dams get low
The Phuket Water Authority, swinging wildly between ‘water restrictions’ and ‘there is plenty of water’, now says that water restrictions are again on the cards in a raft of suggestions being put to the Phuket Governor. The chief of the Provincial Waterworks Authority, Graisorn Mahamad, has raised the prospect of water restrictions (again) following the PM Prayut Chan-o-cha ordering water…
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Bangkok rolls out new ‘user-friendly’ bus stop signs
The Bangkok Governor says the installation of 30 new “user-friendly” bus stop signs around the city will help save people from getting lost. Aswin Kwanmuang says the idea was presented during Bangkok Design Week last year by a civic group called May Day. Both sides of the signs show the numbers of the buses on the route, emergency phone numbers and…
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47 year old shot dead in Narathiwat over drug conflict
A man was shot and killed in Narathiwat last night over an alleged drug-trafficking conflict. Police believe the death is not part of the southern insurgency that has continues to plague Thailand’s deep South for more than a decade. “But the killers may want to disguise their crime as a security case,” according to police. The shooting was reported to…
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Shooting yourself in the foot, literally – Suvarnabhumi police station
A gun cleaner has shot himself in the leg outside Bangkok’s main airport police station. The 40 year old gun cleaner, Damrongkiat, a trader who sells uniforms and insignia to police and cleans their weapons, had already worked on three guns at the time without any problems. Next it was a Glock 9mm. Damrongkiat says he forgot to remove the…
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Ocean Property launch first Phuket development
Thai real estate developer, Ocean Property, are continuing to expand outside of the capital with the launch of their first real estate development in Phuket – a townhome and modern commercial home office project “Ocean Town Muang-Ratsada”. Located in the heart of Phuket providing owners with easy access to all major infrastructure and island facilities, prices start from just 2.69…
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Netflix scores production coup with major documentary about cave rescue
The world’s leading TV streaming service ‘Netflix’ is bringing the drama of the Tham Luang cave rescue to the small screen. The 13 young football players will net around 3 million baht each, with other monies going to other volunteer services and foundations. The international rescue of the 13 young footballers, who were trapped for nearly two weeks in a…
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Bangkok gold shop thief gets away with jewellry valued at 3 million baht
by Kittipong Maneerit A gold shop at a Big C in Rama 4, Bangkok’s Khlong Toei district, was robbed yesterday afternoon.Police are searching for a man in his mid-30s, wearing a shaggy wig, who stole gold ornaments worth a combined 3 million baht.The thief is described by police as about 35, 170 centimetres in height, heavyset and wearing a wig…
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UPDATE: Arrest warrant issued for Patong taxi driver killer
An arrest warrant has been issued for the taxi driver who shot dead a fellow driver in Patong yesterday morning. The Patong Police were notified of the incident at 10.20am at a taxi stand on Phra Metta Road in Patong. Read more about yesterday’s daylight murder HERE and an update HERE. The Phuket Provincial Police Investigator Chief Col Akanit Danpitaksard says, “At…
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31 year old British man stuck in Koh Samui hospital
by Jane Tyler – Birmingham Mail PHOTOS: Facebook/Liam Workman Liam Workman, who bought a one-way ticket to Thailand to “start a new life” last December is now critically ill in a Samui hospital with brain injuries following an alleged a hit-and-run motorcycle crash. Now relatives of Liam are desperate to raise at least £3,000 (125,000 baht) for medical treatment and fly…
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