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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Sponsored Long-term life in Thailand? 5 reasons private health insurance pays off in the long run
Thailand is a great place for expats and retirees, offering a warm climate, affordable living, and rich culture. However, healthcare can be tricky for foreigners since they aren’t eligible for public health coverage, and private care can be expensive. Private...
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‘Clean.’ Overcrowded Krabi prison declared drug-free
A random inspection at Krabi prison has turned up no drugs. Officers, led by Phang Nga Prison Chief Soonthorn Detrak and Krabi Prison Chief Yingpinyo Morapan, began the search at 4:30pm last Friday. Chief Soontorn says, “This is a special raid by the Region 8 Prison. Areas searched included personal lockers of all inmates as well as sleeping quarters, the…
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Khon Kaen: Playtime turns into horror with 9 yearly girl shot
PHOTO: File Photo By Kritmet Loho The shooting took place while the girl was playing with two boys, ages 10 and 11, at a house in Tambon Moung Wan. A Khon Kaen physician is pleading with parents to keep weapons away from children after a 10 year old boy accidentally shot and seriously wounded a nine year old yesterday (Sunday).…
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UPDATE: Today’s Chiang Rai cave search timetable – 12 missing
A rescue team, which now includes a Navy SEAL unit, are continuing search for the missing 12 young footballers and their coach. The 13 have been trapped inside a cave in Tham Luang Khunnam Nang Non Forest Park in Mae Sai district since Saturday. A flash flood that hit the area prevented the missing group from leaving the cave after…
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Pattaya: Thai woman falls to death from apartment building
A Thai woman has died after falling from a room on the fifth floor of a Pattaya apartment early on today (Monday). Police are holding her Australian boyfriend for questioning following the incident at 2.30am at Min Mansion in Tambon Nong Plue, Bang Lamung district. Police say 28 year old Wilawal Poolsukserm fell from her room and died on the way…
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Bangkok: Abhisit urges NCPO to lift ban on political gatherings
PHOTO: The Nation Democrat party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva is urging the NCPO to lift their ban on political activities and gatherings. He notes that the junta shouldn’t be worried that national security could be compromised as a result of the lifting of the ban as it has all the powers to deal effectively with anything deemed a security threat. Abhisit points out…
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Two arrested in Phuket drug crackdown
The Phuket City Police have arrested two suspects found with kratom on Saturday (June 25). Police arrested 51 year old Watcharin ‘Gor’ Saeiw at a house in Phuket Town. He was found with many small bags of kratom weighing about 3 kilograms. Watcharin was taken to the Phuket City Police Station where he has been charged with illegal possession of Category 5…
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Update: Rescue in Chiang Mai – 11 teenagers and their coach missing in cave.
The 11 missing teenagers and their football coach are still believed to be still alive but remain trapped inside the innermost sections of the cave where they’re believed to be safe but separated by flooding waters. Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osotthanakorn headed to the Thamluang-Khunnam Nang non park in Mae Sai district to supervise the continuation of the search and…
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Update: Man ‘dismembered ex-girlfriend’ – Bangkok
By Kornkamol Aksorndech After a head and mutilated body parts were found in Bangkok’s north-eastern suburbs on Saturday morning police went to work to find the perpetrator of the crime. It took them less than 24 hours. Original story HERE. UPDATE: The former boyfriend of a woman whose mutilated body was found on a remote road in Bangkok’s Klong Samwa…
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Search continues for 12 teenagers and their football coach
A post-football training visit to a Chiang Rai cave by a group of 12 teenagers and their football coach has turned into a nightmare with all of them still missing. As the search operation continued into Sunday for the 12 youths and their 25-year-old football coach, who are missing after visiting a cave in the Tham Luang-Khunnam Nang Non Forest…
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Thief steals heroine statue sword
A thief has stolen a sword which was part of a statue of Phuket’s Heroines in a temple in Thalang. A facebook user ‘Prasong Trairat’ posted a photo on his personal Facebook yesterday (June 24) with a message reading “The sword of the grandmothers (reference to the heroines’ name by locals) disappeared last night. The thief is not aware of…
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Man found dead in Thalang bathroom
A Thai man has been found dead inside the bathroom of his house in Thalang yesterday (June 24). The Thalang Police were notified of the incident at a house at the Prompan Housing estate in Paklok yesterday afternoon. Police and rescue workers arrived at the scene to find the body of a 27 year old man lying on the floor.…
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Indonesia: Selamat Datang. Work here? Then learn the language.
Living as an expat in south east asia has enough challenges, with paperwork, immigration demands, visas, visa runs, cultural differences. For businesspeople it can be increasingly demanding with requirements for ‘owning’ and running a business. Imagine, in Thailand, if having to learn the Thai language was an actual requirement. Many of us living here enjoy learning the local tongue, but…
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Chiang Rai: Rescue operation looking for 11 footballers and a coach trapped in a flooded cave
11 teenage footballers, along with their coach, have been stuck in a flooded Chiang Rai cave since last night (Saturday). Rescuers have been trying to get to the team who are trapped in a flooded cave in the region’s Mae Sai district. The cave is located in the Tham Luang-Khunnam Nang Non national park. The footballers are all from the Tambon…
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Chiang Mai: European tourist catches Legionnaires’ Disease in hotel
A European tourist, his nationality has not been named, has succumbed to the Legionnaire bacteria in a Chiang Mai hotel. A public health official in the northern city admits that the tourist went down with Legionnaires’ Disease after staying in Chiang Mai. He says that foreigners tend not to have resistance to the legionella bacteria that causes the condition. But added that…
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Bangkok: Crackdown on Grand Palace scammers
Another crackdown. This time, on one the oldest tourist scams on the books. Bangkok Post reported that 87 people were rounded up in an operation around the Grand Palace in Bangkok following complaints of foreign visitors being pressured into purchasing unwanted services. “A total of 87 people were arrested in the operation of which 68 were booked for violating traffic regulations…
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Pattaya: Russian on overstay, and his wife, arrested for stealing motorbike
Pattaya Police have arrested a Russian man after stealing a motorbike from a Hungarian in the seaside party town earlier this month. 26 year old Vladimir Zhulabrev allegedly stole a motorbike belonging to retired Hungarian doctor 71 year old Gabor Tamas Pethoe while it was parked outside a condo in the Nong Prue area on June 10. Police arrested Zhulabrev…
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Bangkok: 13 billion baht of drugs – up in smoke
The Thai Food and Drug Administration is about to incinerate 6,322 kilograms of confiscated drugs. It will be a bonfire valued at around worth 13 billion baht ($395 million) to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26. The big fire will be fuelled by 5,514 kilogram of methamphetamine pills, 486kg of crystal meth, 108kg…
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Crackdown on mediums and fortune tellers
PHOTO: CIB commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Thitirat Nongharnpitak The Police from the Crime Suppression and Technology Crime Suppression divisions are embarking on a nationwide clampdown on mediums, clairvoyants and fortune-tellers. they’re especially concerned about those who claim they have connections with members of Thailand’s royal family. The Central Investigation Bureau commissioner say that most mediums are engaging in activities to fool the gullible…
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Phuket Surf Series 2018
The Tourism Authority of Thailand, Phuket office, in collaboration with Surfing Thailand and the Phuket Surfing Club, is hosting the Phuket Surf Series 2018 from June to October this year. A media briefing was held yesterday at SurfHouse Phuket in Patong in spectacular sunshine. Just across the road, at Patong Beach, the monsoon surf was surging into the west coast…
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Phuket: Andaman Hotelier and Tourism Fair 2018
The event is being held on June 22-24 from 10am to 9pm at the Central Festival Home Work’s side under the concept Green and Innovation. The event was officially opened on June 22 by Phuket Vice Governor Thawornwat Kongkaew and Deputy Director of the Phuket Office of Tourism Authority of Thailand Montri Manator. They say the Fair aims to support and…
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Bangkok: Female’s head and body parts found in bags north-east of city
PHOTOS: Thai Rath The mutilated body of a female has been found in the Soi Klong Samwa, in the north-eastern outer suburbs of Bangkok. Minburi police, forensic experts and members of the Por Teck Tung Foundation headed to the location where the body was found. In a shoulder bag, wrapped in a black rubbish bin liner, was the head of…
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Phuket: Two arrested in Rawai over illegal football gambling
Two Thai men have been arrested in Rawai after they were found to be illegally gambling on World Cup football matches. Yesterday afternoon a team of officials from the Chalong Police arrested 55 year old Gosri ‘Boon’ Rueangrit and 30 year old Sriwawut Rueangrit at a house in Rawai. Police seized four books of loan lists from Gosri, a bank…
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How much would you pay for a plastic amulet?
The shenanigans at the Kathu Temple, where Chinese tour buses are arriving daily in their droves to purchase ‘lucky’ and ‘magic’ amulets, continues. This time two Dutch tourists, interested to visit a temple and check out the alleged lucky amulets, were horrified by what they discovered. The two, who have asked us not to publish their names, visited the temple…
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Narathiwat: 40 pipe bombs seized at a checkpoint on busy highway
Police in Narathiwat have uncovered 40 pipe bombs together with other potential bomb-making paraphernalia from a pickup truck at a checkpoint. The pick-up was travelling on the Sungai Kolok-Takbai highway in the southern province of Narathiwat. Thai PBS are reporting that highway police set up a checkpoint on the main north-south highway. Around midday, a gold-coloured Isuzu pick-up approached the…
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Thai PM features on front of Time magazine’s Asia edition
Thailand’s PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is being featured on the cover of Time magazine’s Asia edition for the start of July, available on July 2. The cover carries the headline: “Democrat. Dictator. Which path will Thailand’s Prayuth Chan-o-cha choose?” General Prayuth Chan-ocha appears at ease among the lavish trappings of politics. Thailand’s Prime Minister is never far from doting courtiers in Bangkok’s…
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Thais don’t have enough savings – Gen Y, Gen X
Most working Thais only enough savings to last them about six months if they stopped working, or became unemployed. According to a study from the Customer Insights Centre of the Thai Military Bank, the premise particularly affects the Gen Y and Gen x groups. Generation X – Born: 1966-1976, Generation Y (Echo Boomers or Millennium) – Born: 1977-1994 The study is based on…
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Songkhla: Pet dog leads family to missing boy
A faithful dog has led a family of a missing five year ld boy to a Songkhla reservoir. Sadly, it turned out that the youngster had already drowned. The body of Panattha Thammaro resurfaced at about 8am this morning (Friday). The family said the boy disappeared from home at 3pm Thursday and couldn’t be found. Then at 8pm the dog, named…
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Chiang Mai: Virtual Stadium coming to Central Festival
A Virtual Stadium is coming to Chiang Mai for World Cup fans. The Central Pattana Group, together with Kasikorn Bank and Chang, are bringing what is described as the Virtual Stadium to Central Festival in Chiang Mai for just two days according to a press release. To satisfy the thirst of Thai football fans, the three organisations are transforming the…
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National: How many days over-stay?!
PHOTOS: Thai Tourist Police Bureau A 70 year old British pensioner has been named as the foreigner with the longest over-stay in the 15th round of “X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner”. the weekly national immigration crackdown. In cooperation with other agencies, Tourist Police announced the arrest of 110 foreign undesirables in 83 raids. People were busted for running romance scams, skimming operations, drug…
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Saleng driver escapes side-car gas bottle fire
A saleng (motorbike side car) has caught fire after a cooking gas leak today (June 22) in Kathu. Officers at the Kathu Municipality were notified about the incident on Phra Phuket Kaew Road near the Bang Chak Gas Station around 11am. Kathu Police and fire fighters arrived at the scene to find a Honda and its side car (saleng) on fire.…
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