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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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Member of committee to ban farm chemicals quits in protest over U-turn
PHOTO: Assoc. Prof. Jiraporn Limpananont Pongspaj Samranvejporn – Thai PBS World The Thai Industry Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit is being challenged over his claims of a “unanimous vote of support” to overturn the decision to ban the controversial agri-chemicals. A member of the National Hazardous Substances Committee, that oversaw the original ban on the agri-chemicals paraquat, chlorpyrifos and glyphosate, has resigned in…
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Major fire averted after resident leaves the chicken cooking in Pattaya
PHOTO: The Pattaya News Disaster has been narrowly avoided after a fire started in an electric skillet at a condo in Pattaya, filling the building with smoke and terrifying adjacent residents. Pattaya City police were notified of the fire at 9pm Tuesday, at a condominium primarily for local Thais. Firefighters and police rushed to the scene to find smoke gushing from…
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German busted for 5 day overstay in Pattaya
Five Chonburi immigration officers have arrested a 45 year old German man outside a hotel in Pattaya. “Bert E” had overstayed his visa by five days and was handed over to Pattaya police. The immigration police are now making examples of even minor transgressions of the visa rules. The five-man task force was sent by the chief of Chonburi immigration, who…
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US President Trump signs bill protecting Hong Kong rights
PHOTO: Voice of America Despite fears in some corners that he would attempt to veto it, President Trump has signed into law a US bill in support of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. It’s a move that is unlikely to assist in the current negotiations as the trade war between China and the US continues. AFP reports that Trump had…
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Over 50% of businesses ignoring orders on wastewater release into central Thailand canal
PHOTO: Iloilo Wanderer The Pollution Control Department says over 50% of businesses are ignoring orders regarding the discharge of wastewater into Klong Saen Saeb. The canal connects Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river with the central Thailand provinces of Prachinburi and Chachoengsao. The Nation reports that between 2016 and 2019, over 289 establishments out of 600 have stuck to the rules issued…
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Pattaya taxi drivers attacked by group of Grab drivers
Taxi spats are now turning into taxi wars over challenges to ‘turf’ long established by traditional taxi services in Thailand, now under pressure from the newer app-based services. The most recent scuffle in Pattaya where over 10 Grab drivers have allegedly attacked a group of regular taxi drivers. Reports by Thai-language 77kaoded and The Pattaya News say the incident took…
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New car stolen by mystery man from vehicle service centre
PHOTOS: Sanook.com A woman has filed a police report at Huamak police station in Bangkok after her newly-purchased car was stolen from a service centre where she had dropped it off for repairs. Thai Residents reports that the 27 year old woman, Nantawan, has also filed a complaint with the Office of the Consumer Protection Board. She claims she brought…
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“New” committee reverses ban on farm chemicals
The Thai government will lift the proposed ban on the herbicide glyphosate, and delay the ban on paraquat and the pesticide chlorpyrifos for six months. It’s an astonishing turn of events given the extensive public debate and insistence by some government ministers that it WON’T reverse the ban under any circumstances. Just two days ago Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s…
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300 flee over border to Thailand from fighting in Myanmar
PHOTO: Facebook\Day SA About 300 ethnic Mon people have fled from Myanmar into Thailand to escape fighting near their village, between Burmese troops and Mon rebels, according to a border source. Joint forces of Myanmar’s army and the Karen Border Force on Wednesday engaged the rebel army near the Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai border. The incident happened in…
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Bangkok City Hall launching walking streets around the city next month
PHOTO: Khao San Road – Upsplash Walking streets are the new rage in Bangkok. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is planning three temporary walking streets in Bangkok as a trial and to stimulate tourism in the areas. The locations are Silom, Yaowaraj and Khao San roads. The projects will start on Sunday, December 13. Deputy Bangkok Governor Sakonthee Patthiyakul says that…
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Another leatherback sea turtle lays eggs in Phang Nga
Today (November 27), Dr. Thon Thamrongnawasawat posted on his Facebook about a positive update on the leatherback sea turtle eggs at Thai Mueang Beach in Phang Nga, as it seems a new mother turtle just laid eggs on the beach and the spot is quite close along the coast to the previous one. Dr. Thon said that the first mother…
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Parliament removes support banner from FFP’s offices
PHOTOS: Facebook Parliamentary officials have taken down a large signed banner supporting the Future Forward party’s leader leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from the door to the party parliamentary offices, saying it was “inappropriate.” Last week Thanathorn was stripped of his MP status by the Constitutional Court. He was stripped of status for owning shares in a media company when he registered…
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New MRT stations in Bangkok take you to the city’s historic spots
Thailand’s Mass Rapid Transit Authority, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited are inviting locals and tourists to visit attractions near four of Bangkok’s MRT stations. Attractions include China Town, temples, palaces and shopping areas. The new Wat Mangkon, Samyot, Sanam Chai and Itsaraphap MRT stations have been designed to include retro styling to…
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All national highways in Thailand to have four lanes by 2022
Thailand’s Highways Department says all national highways in the country will be four-lane roads, two lanes in each direction, within three years. Daily News says the Director-General of the Highways Department, Sarawut Songsiwilai, made the announcement yesterday. Sarawut says the expansion will mean the country’s highways are better prepared to accommodate an increase in traffic using the network. It’s understood…
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Thai exports to neighbouring countries may lose out to China
PHOTO: asia.nikkei.com The director of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce’s Centre for International Trade Studies says Thailand risks losing the export markets of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) to China within five years. Aat Pisanwanich says that between 2004 and 2018, exports from ASEAN nations to China were 4.1 times higher and valued at US$194.54 billion,…
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Warnings of heavy rain and flash floods for southern Thailand
The Thailand Meteorological Department is warning about possible heavy rain and strong winds for the south of the country as a result of the strong northeast monsoon currently over the Gulf of Thailand. The northeast monsoon started in the south of Thailand this year from mid to late October, reducing the length of the annual wet season. Many parts of…
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Mother and two year old escape Pattaya blaze
A mother and her two year old son have survived a blazing apartment fire in Pattaya. Firefighters were called to the apartment building just off Third Road, near a popular coffee shop. They arrived to find an intense fire destroying the entire top floor of the building. It took around twenty minutes to control the fire which started near the roof.…
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Driver busted with 3 million methamphetamine pills from Chiang Rai
SCREENCAPTURE: YouTube Police in Northern Thailand have arrested a lorry driver for trafficking almost 3 million methamphetamine pills from Chiang Rai province, destined for Bangkok. Police told the media they arrested the man after a tip at a checkpoint in Lampang province. The driver was identified as 25 year old Poramet Ruaysoongnern from Nakhon Ratchasima in north-eastern Thailand. Police said, after…
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Washington says Myanmar may be stocking chemical weapons
PHOTO: Reuters Myanmar is ignoring a convention banning chemical weapons and may have a stockpile left over from the 1980s… this claim coming out of Washington. A senior US State Department official told the annual meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that Myanmar may still have weapons at a “historic” facility where mustard gas was once…
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New cruise to Lan Ha Bay, Vietnam
PHOTO: sunlightcruise.com Thailand has Phang Nga Bay, Vietnam has the famous Ha Long Bay and the lesser-known Lan Ha Bay. Vietnamese cruise operator Indochina Sails has a new route starting this December, sailing from Hai Phong to the Lan Ha Bay region, northern Vietnam. They say that joining this new cruise will be more convenient for guests as the home-port…
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MD on the run – arrest warrant out for owner of company constructing petrol station in Phuket
PHOTOS: Phuket Hotnews The owner of a company responsible for the collapsed petrol station under construction in Thalang, Phuket, is on the run. Seven people died and two others injured when the concrete pillars gave way to a concrete slab, crushing those below. Chuchart Plasuwan is the 44 year old MD of the The Blue Phuket Co Ltd. The incident…
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Pattaya CCTVs weren’t working along busy soi to identify snatch and grab thieves
PHOTO: Ruk Siam News Pattaya City Hall say that all their CCTV cameras along a busy Soi were working on the night a Russian family were robbed. Not a single camera in the area of Soi 14 to 16 Na Klua, Banglamung, was working when a Russian family were robbed last night. According to the police report, two men on a…
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Over 500 complaints lodged against fake Thai tour agent
…who scammed victims out of 31 million baht. A fake package tour agency who used social media to scam customers out of a total of 31 million baht now has 514 complaints lodged against it, with 100 complaints lodged with the Vice Minister of Justice yesterday. The complaints were lodged at the ministry’s offices in Chaeng Watthana, Bangkok. The Nation…
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Thailand to export additional 1 million tonnes of rice to China
PHOTO: asia.nikkei.com The Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister says he aims to increase exports of Thai rice to China by another 1 million tonnes. The Nation reports that Chalermchai Sri-on says a second list of approved Thai rice manufacturers has been provided to China, with officials there pledging to finalise the country’s import scheme registration as soon as possible. Minister Chalermchai…
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Chinese man stabbed to death in Bangkok office
PHOTO: khaosod.co.th Police are investigating the death of a Chinese man found murdered at his visa service office on the first floor of a Bangkok apartment in Huai Khwang. Police found 54 year old Fang Yang Zen dead, face down at a blood drenched table in the office. There were more than ten cuts on his face and neck, and a…
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Deer found dead in Thai national park – 7 kilos of garbage found in stomach
PHOTO: Thai Residents Thailand’s love affair with plastic, coupled with a casual attitude to littering, appears to have claimed another wildlife victim. The body of a wild deer has been found with an astonishing 7 kilograms of garbage in its stomach. The deer was found at a national park in Nan province, northern Thailand. Thai Residents reports that the deer…
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Relatives claim magic amulet saved child’s life in horror crash that killed the rest of his family
A couple and their child were killed in a horrific car accident at the weekend, but relatives claim that a second child in the car survived, thanks to a special religious amulet. The Pattaya News reports that the accident took place in Sattahip, just outside Pattaya, when the car carrying the family crashed into a light pole at high speed,…
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Criminal Court upholds bail for former park chief Chaiwat
PHOTO: Former chief of Kaeng Krachan national park, Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn (left), and Karen activist Polajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen (right) The Criminal Court has rejected a request to withdraw the bail of former Kaeng Krachan park chief Chaiwat Limlikhit-akson and three others. The four are suspected in the murder of Karen activist Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen about five years ago. In the request…
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Business friend finds body parts in Bangkok refrigerator
Police have made a grisly discovery at a house in Bangkok where a woman’s dismembered body has been found in a refrigerator, and her son shot in the head. One of the woman’s business friends made the discovery and alerted police. Police attended the townhouse in the Thonburi area, on the west banks of the Chao Phraya. Inside the refrigerator…
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Airlines snubbing Thai graduate pilots
Thai pilots are having a hard time finding work after graduation despite high global demand. This from Thai Civil Aviation Training Centre’s president Piya Atmungkun. Between 600 to 700 newly graduated Thai airline pilots are now struggling to find work in the local airline industry. “International airlines are competing to offer jobs to pilots, but “our pilots find no jobs. Aviation…
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