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 How one hospital visit in Thailand could cost more than your whole trip
Thailand is a favourite spot for travellers who want to enjoy more while spending less. From cheap street food to low-cost hotels and fun attractions, it’s easy to stretch your budget here. But there’s one thing many people don’t think...
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Heavy rain kills 2 elephants at a Thailand national park
Tragedy hit Khao Yai National Park this week when park rangers discovered the carcasses of two dead elephants among the rocks near Heo Narok Waterfall. Access now has been closed to the waterfall in Nakhon Ratchasima Province as rangers try to remove the bodies. Khao Yai National Park chief Chaiya Huaihongthong yesterday revealed that the elephants died as a result…
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Cheapest All You Can Eat Buffet in Thailand | Lumpini Park
You must try this buffet located at Lumpini park in Bangkok, Thailand. Possibly the cheapest all you can eat buffet in Thailand, it has a wide variety of choices to choose from before or after you visit Thailand’s first ever public park. Join Natty and Jay as they try this buffet and visit Lumpini park and show you all it…
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US $6.1 million paid for rare Gorgosaurus dinosaur skeleton
Got a couple of million dollars to blow and loved the latest Jurassic Park movie? You just missed your chance to own a rare dinosaur skeleton, as a rare Gorgosaurus fossil just sold at auction for US$6.1 million. The high bid was the fifth most expensive dinosaur sales ever. Sales like this are rare as most countries consider fossils from…
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Opposition to foreign land ownership in Thailand
The government scheme to allow foreigners to buy one rai of land may have been met by enthusiasm in the expat community but not everyone has welcomed the idea. The Interior Ministry’s proposal to allow foreigners to own a bit of land if they invest 40 million baht is seen by many as a short-term fix to the kingdom’s economy…
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37 million baht fines issued to Cambodian contraband thieves
Customs and excise chiefs revealed they will be handing out fines of 37 million baht after seizing contraband worth about 6 million baht on the Cambodian border. Excise officials, soldiers, and police yesterday captured almost 39,000 packs of various foreign cigarettes near a canal on the Cambodian border in the Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo. They were discovered in 49…
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Happy Birthday to His Royal Majesty King Vajiralongkorn
The Thaiger joins the nation of Thailand in wishing a very happy birthday to His Royal Majesty King Vajiralongkorn as he marks his 70th birthday today. Celebrations have taken place around the kingdom to celebrate the royal milestone as the king becomes a septuagenarian. Born in Bangkok at Ambara Villa, Dusit Palace on this day in 1952, HM the king…
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Thailand’s second case of monkeypox recorded in Bangkok
A Thai man in Bangkok has tested positive for monkeypox, becoming Thailand’s second recorded case of the virus since the global outbreak began in May this year. At 2.30pm today, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul revealed that the positive result from Wachira Hospital in Bangkok had been confirmed by the Ministry of Health. The 47 year old Thai man started…
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Loan sharks steal Pattaya mother’s electrical items
Cruel loan sharks have stolen a single mother’s electrical appliances after she failed to keep up with repayments on a high-interest loan. The woman from Chon Buri now can’t cook for her children, store food in a fridge or watch television because they were stolen by the heartless thugs. Orawan Chunaka reported the burglary to the police and confessed she…
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Southeast Asian Arts Forum 2022 is ready to rock n roll
If the arts, sustainability, and storytelling are your thing then you’re in luck because the Singaporean-based Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts is hosting a Southeast Asian Arts Forum 2022. The two-day hybrid forum, on August 4 and 5, kicking off at 1pm Bangkok time, wants to highlight where the arts stand in terms of sustainable practices in Southeast Asia. The…
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Study reminds that Long Covid, not just death, a hazard of infection
Much of the debate over the continued importance of the Covid-19 pandemic focuses on the milder variants lowering the death rate even when infections are on the rise. But Long Covid – the long-term effects of an infection that can last for weeks or months or longer – is an often overlooked, but potentially major, problem now and in the…
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Tenfold tourist increase due after Thailand-Saudi route opens
Thailand is expecting a tenfold increase in visitors from Saudi Arabia after the launch of the Bangkok to Jeddah route on August 19. Deputy government spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek estimates that the upcoming launch of the direct air route between the holy city of Mecca and the Kingdom of Thailand’s capital city will push up the number of visitors from 30,000…
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Thai celebs join Olympic Day Walk-Run fun at Pattaya Beach
A number of famous Thai celebrities have signed up to make an appearance at the Olympic Day Walk-Run of 2022 at Pattaya Beach in Chon Buri. The final of the Olympic Day Walk-Run of 2022, which is scheduled to kick off at 6pm on Saturday, September 10, will be attended by Thai actors Phakin “Tono” Khamwilaisak, and Nuttanicha “Nicha” Dungwattanawanich,…
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Elderly man hit with 10,000 baht electricity bill in central Thailand
An 88 year old man from Kamphaeng Phet province in central Thailand couldn’t believe his eyes when his most recent electricity bill amounted to almost 10,000 baht. Family members and neighbours are contesting the bill on behalf of the old man, who had to take out a loan to pay for his electricity this month. Grandpa’s bill from the Metropolitan…
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Illegal massage therapists from Thailand arrested in Malaysia
Malaysian police swooped in to arrest the author of a sex syndicate trafficking Thai massage therapists in and out of Malaysia. The man was one of 28 people apprehended by the Malaysian Immigration Department as part of a three-day operation from July 21 to 23 around Johor Bahru. Immigration Director General Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud revealed the 40 year…
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Lulo Rose: Largest coloured diamond in 300 years found in Angola
What experts believe to be the largest coloured gemstone unearthed in 300 years, the “Lulo Rose” is a beautiful pink diamond that weighs in at an impressive 170 carats. Discovered at the Lulo alluvial diamond mine in the African nation of Angola, it was announced to the world by the Australian-based Lucapa Diamond Company that owns the mine on Wednesday.…
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Mayor of Pattaya expects 80,000 tourists to visit Koh Larn this holiday
Pattaya is expected to be bustling with tourists from today until Sunday, in celebration of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun’s 70th birthday today. Mayor of Pattaya Poramet Ngampichet estimates that a whopping 80,000 tourists will travel to Koh Larn island off the coast of Pattaya in the eastern province of Chon Buri during the four-day royal birthday weekend from…
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Thailand deny Uyghurs deportation to China
Fears Thailand is in the process of deporting asylum-seeking Uyghurs back to China have been denied by the government. News broke yesterday that dozens of Uyghurs from all around Thailand had been rounded up and impounded in a detention facility in Bangkok, raising fears among non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that the government plans to deport them back to China. It sparked…
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Wanted Taiwanese call centre scammer extradited from Albania to Thailand
A Taiwanese man wanted for allegedly scamming Thai victims from a call centre operation in Dubai arrived at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport yesterday afternoon to face Thailand’s justice system after being arrested in Albania in September. Tzu Yuan Kuo – or “Ayen” – was the “deputy leader” of a call centre gang scamming victims in Thailand, Japan and Malaysia from Dubai…
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UPDATE: Body of foreigner found dead in Phuket is US man
UPDATE: The foreigner’s body that was found in waters off Yanui Beach in Phuket’s main city district yesterday morning has been named as US citizen John Joseph Sheridan. The 74 year old’s body was discovered floating in the water after he apparently fell on sharp rocks and bled to death. Fisherman found Sheridan, from Pennsylvania, floating on the rocky part of the shore…
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Patient dies after the route of emergency rescue van blocked
A heartless nurse who blocked the path of an ambulance, and therefore delayed its journey to help a critical patient, is threatening to sue the emergency services and netizens who criticised her after she complained about the ambulance. The patient later died because the emergency service van did not get there in time. Tal Sulawan, a practical nurse in the…
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Killjoy scientist poo-poos Thai hermit’s supernatural power show
The video of a hermit showing off his supernatural powers by sitting in a large pan of boiling water has resurfaced after two years and gone viral. But, a killjoy scientist has dismissed the supernatural claim as nothing but smoke and mirrors. The video featuring the hermit, also a Thai tattoo artist, standing and sitting in a giant wok of…
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Thailand has 2 of the world’s most beautiful beaches, UK newspaper says
After all these years, Thailand continues to be renowned for its breathtaking beaches. Thailand has two of the “World’s 20 Most Beautiful Beaches” on a list published by UK’s Daily Star newspaper. Thailand’s Sunrise Beach was ranked in sixth place, and Maya Bay came in at 12th place on the list. Both beaches are located in South Thailand. Sunrise Beach is…
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Irony of mini coup not lost on Thailand’s Interior Minister
The irony doesn’t appear to be lost on Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda that there was something of a mini coup against him from within his party at last week’s censure debate. Gen Anupong, of course, is one of the three generals at the centre of the military coup which took place in Thailand in May 2014 along with Prime Minister…
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Sri Lanka former president’s stay in Singapore extended
After fleeing to Singapore on July 14, Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa will now be able to stay in the country until August 11, Reuters reported today. Gotabaya fled Sri Lanka after over 100,000 protestors stormed the presidential palace, demanding that he and the country’s PM resign. Since Gotabaya fled, Sri Lanka’s parliament elected former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe as the…
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Bomb explosion injures 5 students in a Thailand school
Five teenage students were injured yesterday after a ping pong bomb exploded in the classroom of a technical college in the central province of Ayutthaya. One of the students was carrying the bomb inside a school bag and when he accidentally dropped the bag at about 11am it exploded injuring him and four of his classmates. Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya…
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Indian tourist in Pattaya claims his wallet with 17,000 baht stolen
In the continuing plague of Indian tourists claiming they had high-value items stolen from them on the streets of Pattaya late at night, an Indian tourist reported that his wallet, along with 17,000 baht inside, was stolen by a transgender person. The 29 year old tourist said that he was in Central Pattaya last night at around 1am when someone…
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Foreigner’s body found off Phuket beach
A foreigner’s body was found in waters off Yanui Beach in Phuket’s main city district this morning. Even though police found an American passport with the body, they stressed that they have not yet officially identified the man. The passport is for a 73 year old man. Police also found Thai and Korean cash with the body, as well as…
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New studies show Covid-19 started in Wuhan market, not lab
Two new studies suggest rumours of a lab leak or unnatural starts to Covid-19 are likely wrong, as a Wuhan animal market appears to be the epicentre of the pandemic’s beginnings. The studies were published Tuesday in Science, an academic journal, and point to a natural transition from animals to humans as the start of Covid, not any sort of…
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Blaze breaks out at Pattaya hotel
A fire broke out on the seventh floor of a Pattaya hotel earlier this week. The blaze ripped through a storage room with electrical boxes at the LK Royal Suite Hotel on July 25. The hotel is located in Chon Buri’s Bang Lamung district. Luckily, no injuries were reported, and the fire was put out by the time firefighters arrived…
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8 common problems for Thai consumers addressed
Scam calls and texts, being cheated, pricy expenses… everything isn’t always rosy in the Land of Smiles. Now, the Thailand Consumers Council has drawn up a list of eight typical real-life issues that are decreasing the quality of life for consumers in the country. During a meeting with the Senate Committee on Human Rights, Rights and Liberty, and Consumers Protection…
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