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.
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Anti graft body raises concerns about contract bidding at Suvarnabhumi
“The private anti-graft watchdog called on Thai media and the public to keep a close watch on the conduct of the company calling for bids.” The Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand is expressing concerns over alleged lack of transparency in two major contracts under review at Suvarnabhumi Airport. In a statement issued yesterday, the private anti-graft watchdog called on Thai media…
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Lion Air flight slips off Borneo runway, landing in poor conditions – VIDEO
Another PR disaster for Lion Air, luckily no fatalities in this latest incident. A Lion Air Boeing 737 with 189 people on board has skidded off a Borneo runway as the pilot tried to land during heavy rain. The Lion Air flight was coming in to land at the Supadio International Airport. The aircraft was carrying 182 passengers and seven crew…
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Swedish man runs amok on Phuket’s main road
Police and rescue services were called to Phuket’s main arterial north-south road where a 57 year old Swedish man was running around the road and darting in front of traffic. Police speculate that, as his visa was running out, he may been on a suicide mission. They’ve also revealed that he is mentally unstable. Daily News reports that Thalang police,…
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Snakes! 2,000+ snakes seized in Thai-Laos border sting
182 baskets containing 2,730 rat snakes and cobras – worth 1 million baht in total – have been intercepted as they were about to be smuggled out of Thailand and into Laos. Mukdahan Wild Animals Checkpoint officials were joined by personnel from other agencies in confiscating the reptilian cache. Mukdahan is located on the far north-eastern Thai-Laos border Following a tip-off…
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Airbus scales back in the UK and invests more in Thailand’s new aviation maintenance hub
by Supalak Ganjanakhundee Uncertainty over Thailand’s political situation is apparently less of a concern for Airbus than the political uncertainties in the UK with Brexit looming. Whilst Airbus is pulling out some of its manufacturing in Britain, the European consortium is now looking to Thailand for new maintenance and repair facilities to help service the rapidly growing ASEAN aviation sector.…
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Pattaya vendor arrested for intimidating tourists in Pattaya whilst selling fake luxury watches
PHOTOS: Tourist Police Bureau Pattaya Tourtist Police have arrested a Thai man selling fake luxury watches and allegedly intimidating tourists as he was doing so. The Tourist Police Bureau report that 26 year old Natthapong “Top’’ Phetsanan, a watch vendor in Pattaya, was arrested on Friday near a beach in Chon Buri. The arrest came after a video clip posted on…
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Now you can study the success of K-pop band BTS – University of California, Berkeley
PHOTO: BTS members posing with South Korean President Moon Jae In 400 million views, 500 million, 600 million. Just scroll through the group’s songbook on YouTube from the past five years and you will be watching music history in the making – a success built on a new pop genre, new ‘music business’ model and seven young South Koreans hell-bent…
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Motorbike driver files official complaint after accident from fallen cables in Kata
A motorbike driver has filed a report with police against a cable company after he became tangled up in their cabling while driving to work in Kata. 26 year old Chakaree Yawaekaree filled the report with Chalong Police against the local cable company. Mr Chakaree told Police that he was driving to work in Kata on Friday morning. When he…
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Air pollution: Cabinet asked to allocate 6 billion baht to help buy sugarcane harvesters
Thailand’s Finance Ministry was asking cabinet for approval of a 6 billion baht budget to help the government tackle the northern and north-eastern smog and air-pollution problems. The funds would be distributed by the state-run Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to help farmer cooperatives and farming communities to buy sugarcane harvesting machines. BAAC manager Mr. Apirom Sookprasert says that…
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Motorbike driver dies after colliding with sedan on Thepkasattri Road, Phuket
A motorbike driver has died after colliding with a sedan driven by a Russian driver who was allegedly making a “risky” U-turn on Thepkrasattri Road in Koh Kaew yesterday. The incident happened at 3.30pm yesterday. Police and other emergency responders arrived to find a white sedan, a motorbike and a pickup truck. The motorbike driver had sustained serious injuries –…
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Weather for February 18
Bangkok Generally clear. High 32ºC. Winds S at 15 to 25 km/h. Phuket Generally clear. High 31ºC. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chiang Mai Generally clear. High 34ºC. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Pattaya Morning thunderstorms. High 31ºC. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 km/h. Chance of rain 80%. Hua Hin Generally clear. High 32ºC. Winds…
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Summer scorcher heading our way – winter was ‘unusually’ warm
“Thailand’s summer starts this Thursday.” The Thai Meteorological Department is forecasting “an extraordinarily hot and arid summer” for Thailand from this Thursday, the official start of Thailand’s summer – the HOT season (Thailand leaps from a cool winter straight into its local summer season). Seven provinces in the North and western regions are expecting extreme heat between 40-44C. Phuwieng Prakhammintara,…
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Suspect arrested over 12 year old’s rape last Wednesday
by Supachai Phetchthewee, Khanathit Srihirundaj “Samruay initially confessed to police that he had raped the girl because he became sexually aroused after taking drugs.” A 42 year old suspect, wanted for the alleged rape of a 12 year old girl in an abandoned building in Bangkok’s Bang Kapi district last Wednesday, has been arrested and taken into custody. ‘Samruay Jitcheun’ was arrested…
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Woman falls to her death from Bangkok hotel
A Portuguese woman has died after an incident at a Bangkok hotel in the Maha Preuktharam sub-district this morning. The 24 year old was found dead around at 8am Sunday morning after falling, or jumping, from a sixth floor open deck of a the hotel. Bang Rak police deputy inspector Pol Captain Thanapat Suwannak says the body of the foreign tourist, later…
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Tham Luang caves closing for retrieval of all rescue equipment
Chiang Rai’s Tham Luang caves, the scene of the international cave rescue last July, will close to all visitors from February 19 to allow Thai Navy SEALs to enter and recover equipment left in the cave after the rescue mission. The mission, which captured the attention of media around the world and changed the young men’s lives forever, extracted 13…
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Uighur escapees captured and back in Mukdahan jail
Seven undocumented Uighurs, who escaped from an immigration facility in northeast Mukdahan, on the Laos border in far north-east Thailand last week, have been recaptured. Pol Colonel Sith Sirikangwalkul, the acting Immigration chief for the region, says that one was recaptured on Tuesday (February 12), the same night everyone escaped, and two more were found in a forest two kilometres away…
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Fake visa stamp gang arrested in Nonthaburi
PHOTO: Immigration Bureau Two Thais have been arrested over fake visa stamps being used at a foreign employment agency in Nonthaburi, northern Bangkok, yesterday. The Immigration Bureau reports that the Nonthaburi Immigration Office was notified of the allegedly fake visa stamps. Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn led a team of officials to search CBS World Company, a foreign worker employment agency.…
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Amnesty for possession of cannabis in Thailand?
The Government is looking at a plan to grant amnesty to those who have been using, or have, cannabis in their possession, But only if they report to authorities within a given time frame. The Drug Committee approved three draft legislations for amnesty yesterday. If the drafts become law even possessors of cannabis, who are not patients or research units,…
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Hong Kong property tzars team up for new Phang Nga development “Aquella”
FILE PHOTO Two of Hong Kong’s leading entrepreneurs Allan Zeman and Richard Li are developing a mixed-use project in Thai Muang, Phang Nga named Aquella. The initial phase of the development includes a par 72, 18 hole golf course, resort pool villa residences with two to four bedroom unit configurations back of a massive land site that offers over 2.5…
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Bangkok Airlines schedules more flights out of Chiang Mai
Competition is heating up on two direct airline routes out of Chiang Mai – to Krabi and Luang Prabang in Laos. But Bangkok Airways is facing tough competition on the direct Chiang Mai – Krabi route, already served with three daily Thai AirAsia flights, while Bangkok Airways will schedule only three flights in March and up to the the end…
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Proposal to ban alcohol sales on Songkran day, April 13
Coming up with another blunt tool to help curb Thailand’s horrendous annual road toll during Songkran, the Alcohol Control Committee is proposing a ban be placed on the sale of alcohol on April 13, Songkran day. The ACC has passed a resolution to ban the sale of alcoholic drinks on the national Songkran holiday but says the proposal will have…
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Car and house loans surged in 2018
The Bank of Thailand says they’re concerned about the double-digit growth in loans for cars last year. The central bank is now monitoring the trend and will keep track of statistics for the rest of 2019. Their concerns about the Thai mortgage market the year before resulted in new regulations coming into effect this April. Loans for cars were up…
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2,810 MP candidates line up for March 24 election
107 candidates, for positions as Members of Parliament, and two prime ministerial candidates have been disqualified from running in the March Thai general election. Of the 2,917 party-list registered candidates, from 77 political parties, 2,810 candidates and 68 prime ministerial candidates from 44 parties have qualified after being checked by the Election Commission. While the EC didn’t disclose the names…
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Police to target motorbike rental shops when renters are unlicensed
Police are targeting the rental operators of motorbikes when unlicensed foreigners have motorbike accidents. Police today say they are questioning the renters of the bike involved in Sunday night’s crash on Patong Hill between a pickup truck driven by 47 year old Thavorn Glasueak and a motorbike carrying two Russians, a 29 and 31 year old. This incident happened at the…
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Another 522 law breaking foreigners rounded up in crackdown
Round ’em up. Ship ’em out. The “X-Ray Outlaw Foreigners” crackdown to rid Thailand of over-stayers and illegal workers continues with more than 500 arrested in the past week. The Immigration Police Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj-General Itthipol Itthisarnronnachai announced yesterday that a total of 522 people had been arrested at 220 different locations. Of these, 287 were charged with having…
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Phuket: Area to have water shut off for 12 days
The Phuket Water Authority (PWA) has announced that water supply in some areas of Cherng Talay will be cut from February 16 to February 28. The supply will be shut off in some areas during day and night. Water will be shut off while work is being carried out moving and replacing water pipes. Areas to be affected in area around…
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Airbus signals end to A380 production, end of an era
Emirates Airlines says it’s reducing its Airbus A380 orders from 162 to 123 aircraft. They say this follows a review of its operations and developments in aircraft and engine technologies. The A380 is the double-decker mega aircraft that was developed as a new-age rival to the successful Boeing 747 ‘Jumbo’ jet. Whilst popular for passengers with its spacious size and…
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19 injured after bus crashes into Sa Kaeo property
PHOTOS: สวยพันธุ์ไม้ ท้ายบ้าน / อาสาสมัครมูลนิธิร่วมกตัญญูจังหวัดสระแก้ว จุดวัฒนานคร 19 people have been injured after a bus plunged into a local house today. FM 91 BKK reports that the accident happened at 8.10am this morning near Wattana Nakhon District Office in Sa Kaeo, on the Cambodian border, east of Bangkok. At the scene police found 19 people injured as a result of the…
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Husband shot after wife questions “mystery” phone call
A man in Kalasin was seriously wounded with a gunshot to the head early this morning. Kalisan is in the north-east of Thailand. Daily News reports that the man’s wife says she was ‘furious’ after her husband refused to explain a mystery phone call during a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner. Somdej police arrived at the two storey house after the local Asoke…
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Update on renovations to Krabi International Airport
The Thailand Airports Authority has updated the expansion and refurbishment plans currently underway at Krabi International Airport. They report that work on a third terminal building will be completed by 2022. Manager Online reports that Amphawan Wannako, the director-general, says that work is also being done to refurbish Terminals 1 and 2, including the car parks. “When the work is…
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