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 to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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Update list of high/medium/low risk countries for travelling to Thailand
Update: Under the “Phuket Sandbox” and “Samui Plus” travel models, travellers not only need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to be eligible to enter Thailand under the schemes, but they also need to be travelling from countries classified by Thailand’s Department of Disease Control as a low to medium risk for Covid-19. The DDC posts a new list on…
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Rare, giant barking deer makes appearance in Cambodia
A rare deer, known as a “giant barking deer” was seen in Cambodia, says Cambodian officials today. The muntjac (AKA barking deer), an endangered species, was seen, and photographed via hidden Camera in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park in the Ratanakiri province, in northeast Cambodia says environmental spokesperson Neth Pheaktra. The barking deer mainly live in the hill ranges of Lao…
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Anutin says health system won’t collapse despite shortages
After senior doctors said the Covid-19 outbreak situation was critical and suggesting a one-week lockdown in Bangkok, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul reassured people that the health system will not collapse. With a rise in new Covid-19 infections, available hospital beds are getting scarce and there are shortages of medical staff, despite the reassurances of Anutin.…
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Ethiopia: Deadly Tigray airstrike further alienates western allies
Eyewitnesses are adding more details to what started as a rumor about one or more explosions with dozens of civilian casualties in the village of Togoga in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region. “When the military jets bombed our area, many of us fell to the ground,” Negasi Berha, a Tigray resident who was being treated at Ayder Hospital, told DW. “We…
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Why is it so difficult to live with HIV in Uganda?
We will call this young man Patrick. The 26-year-old lives on the outskirts of Kampala. His daily life is filled with discrimination. Patrick was born with HIV. The virus created barriers to living in his community. Thousands of HIV-positive people suffer the same stigma. There are about 1.3 million people living with HIV here. UNAIDS reports progress in fighting HIV…
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Man allegedly steals almost 300,000 baht from monk
Police in Si Racha, a district south of Bangkok on the Gulf of Thailand have arrested 21 year old “Constitution” and have charged him with “snatching” and stealing at night from a monk. The monk was relaxing at a “motorcycle resting place”. “Constitution allegedly stole the monk’s cell phone and managed to extract a password for a bank app from…
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Illegal cigarette shipment busted, valued at 30 million baht
Naval officials and other police agencies have seized illegal cigarettes valued at 30 million baht. The officials seized a boat that had been used to transport the goods. 1,900 boxes with 475,000 packs of cigarettes were discovered. Allegedly, the smugglers were trying to move their shipment without paying tax. Thai media reports that government agencies had received information from a…
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Pair allegedly steals phone cards valued at 240 million baht
Yesterday, 2 people have been arrested for allegedly stealing prepaid phone cards. Collectively, they caused north of 200 million baht in damages. The two phone card nabbing suspects are 43 year old Naret Chamnong and 46 year old Phatcharalak Waenwong. They are both former employees of a mobile phone operator. Police searched 2 locations yesterday in Bangkok and Saraburi, a…
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Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine approved for emergency use in Thailand
It’s been rolled out successfully around the world for several months now, with a seemingly high efficacy rate. And now, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has finally been approved in Thailand. The Food and Drug Administration has confirmed that the mRNA vaccine has been approved for emergency use in the Kingdom. mRNA vaccines work by instructing cells in the body to make…
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1 dead 99 unaccounted for in Florida building collapse
What that tells you is…. nothing like this was foreseeable Last night, a building collapsed in Miami, Florida. 1 person is reported dead, dozens are missing, and 99 people are unaccounted for. 102 people have been located, so far. It is unknown how many people were in the building when it went down. A search and rescue effort is currently…
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Airlines participate in trials of IATA Travel Pass app
A number of airlines worldwide are participating in trials of a Travel Pass app from the International Air Transport Association. TTR Weekly reports that at Montréal-Trudeau airport in Canada, Air France is trialling the app for outbound flights until July 15, just one of a number of airlines testing it globally. The app is designed to ease passengers’ concerns about…
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A bed in the sky: Shanghai opens world’s highest luxury hotel
China’s largest city has just opened the world’s highest luxury hotel – and it doesn’t come cheap. The J Hotel in Shanghai has a restaurant 120 floors up and wealthy travellers (who don’t suffer from vertigo) can enjoy personal butler service 24 hours a day. The hotel is located on the top floors of the Shanghai Tower, in the financial…
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Phuket officials in last-minute scramble to fix sandbox hiccups
The president of the Phuket Tourist Association says clarity is needed around a number of issues if the island’s July 1 re-opening is to proceed smoothly. According to a report in the Bangkok Post, Bhummikitti Ruktaengam says confusion over tracking apps and vaccine certificates are just 2 of the issues that need to be sorted out. The sandbox scheme was…
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Slovenia: Trapped in the spirit of the past after 30 years of independence?
“Dreams are allowed today, tomorrow is a new day” are words etched into the historical memory of Slovenians, also known as Slovenes. On 25 June 1991, they were uttered by Milan Kucan, then president of the Yugoslav Socialistic Republic of Slovenia and subsequently twice president of independent Slovenia. On that day, Slovenia declared its independence and officially separated from Yugoslavia.…
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TAT claims 1,500 travellers arriving in Phuket July 1
The much-maligned and restriction heavy Phuket Sandbox plan might open with a bang, as the Tourism Authority of Thailand announced that 1,500 people would arrive on July 1. The governor of TAT said that international flights scheduled to arrive in Phuket on the first day of reopening have 1,500 tickets booked so far. The island intends to welcome back the…
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EU condemns Ethiopia’s deadly Tigray airstrike
Eyewitnesses are adding more details to what started as a rumor about one or more explosions with dozens of civilian casualties in the village of Togoga in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region. According to health workers, who spoke to international media outlets mostly on the condition of anonymity, an airstrike hit the village market on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 50…
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Biden-Ghani meeting: Afghan president makes last-ditch effort to stop Taliban gains
US President Joe Biden will host his Afghan counterpart, Ashraf Ghani, and other high-ranking Afghan officials, at the White House on Friday. The meeting is taking place at a crucial time for Afghanistan. NATO forces have already started pulling out from Afghanistan after their two-decade presence in the war-ravaged country. The withdrawal of all foreign troops is expected to be…
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Tokyo Olympics: A month to go, protesters intent on postponing games
Atsuko Nagayama is so angry that she is physically shaking. Standing with around 250 protesters in front of the headquarters of the Tokyo metropolitan government, she is holding a simple homemade placard with the words: “Cancel the Olympics.” “It is much too dangerous to go ahead with the gamesbecause we know that there are many variants of the coronavirus already…
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Apple Daily journalists say ‘press freedom is dead’ in Hong Kong
Hours before Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, announced Wednesday it would cease operations once and for all, dozens of its journalists arrived at the printing plant early Thursday morning to observe the last edition roll off the press. Emily, who joined the paper in 2019, said she had been on the front lines of the 2019 pro-democracy protests…
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Covid-19 round-up for expats 3: Are countries helping Thailand?
With so much information swirling around the reopening of Thailand and the international tourism and vaccine distribution for foreigners, we thought we’d round up some updates for our readers about what your home country says about if you should travel to Thailand and how they are helping with a vaccine and the Covid-19 situation inside the Kingdom. The information in…
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Covid-19 round-up for expats 1: Should you travel to Thailand?
With so much information swirling around the reopening of Thailand and the international tourism and vaccine distribution for foreigners, we thought we’d round up some updates for our readers about what your home country says about if you should travel to Thailand and how they are helping with a vaccine and the Covid-19 situation inside the Kingdom. The information in…
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Myth busted: Drinking alcohol does not kill Covid-19 – VIDEO
With the latest wave of Covid-19 infections, spreading quickly from clusters at Bangkok bars and nightclubs to provinces across Thailand, nightlife venues were the first to close and will probably be the last to reopen. Alcohol bans at restaurants in provinces with high numbers of active Covid-19 cases are also likely to stay in effect for a while. Thailand’s move…
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Power outages coming to Kathu, again
Electricity will be temporarily cut in parts of Kathu, Phuket tomorrow, announced the Provincial Electricity Authority. Further work is being done to install high voltage cables. Affected areas the westbound section of Phra Phuketkaew Rd, from Kathu intersection to Si Kor intersection. The power will only be out from 9 am to pm. The PEA apologises for any inconvenience not…
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List of countries by Covid-19 risk level, classified by Thailand’s DDC
Under the “Phuket Sandbox” and “Samui Plus” travel models, travellers not only need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to be eligible to enter Thailand under the schemes, but they also need to be travelling from countries classified by Thailand’s Department of Disease Control as a low to medium risk for Covid-19. The DDC posts a new list on the…
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Phuket police raids nab suspects for allegedly having guns, drugs, kratom
Yesterday, a raid in Phuket grabbed 5 alleged drug dealers. They confiscated over 1,000 Yaba pills (meth), crystal meth, guns and ammunition. One man was also arrested for allegedly having kratom leaves. According to the police report 33 year old Theerasat ‘Jack’ Onrat was arrested for allegedly possessing 940 yaba pills. Police confiscated his mobile phone and his pickup truck…
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Antivirus legend John McAfee apparent suicide in Spanish prison
Software pioneer and wanted fugitive John McAfee died by suicide in a Spanish prison cell on Wednesday after the country’s High Court authorised his extradition to the United States on charges of tax evasion and fraud. McAfee’s lawyer said the antivirus titan died by hanging and could not stand any more time in jail in the Brian 2 penitentiary outside…
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Thursday Covid Update: 4,108 new cases; provincial totals
Thailand’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration recorded 4,108 new Covid-19 cases today, a rise in the daily case count over the past few days. The uptick in cases is “quite alarming,” according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Natapanu Nopakun, who gives the daily CCSA report in English. There are now 39,517 active Covid-19 cases in Thailand. There are currently…
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Bar girls in Pattaya arrested for allegedly violating Covid restrictions while live streaming
Yester evening in Pattaya, 29 out of work “bar girls” (and one foreign national) were arrested by Chon Buri police. They allegedly broke Covid-19 rules as they gathered in a small area to live stream performances for overseas customers. The entrepreneurs were allegedly filming themselves either solo or in groups as they danced and “interacted” with guests for virtual drinks…
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Police arrest suspect who allegedly killed Covid patient and 7-Eleven clerk
Police have arrested the suspect who allegedly shot and killed an employee at a Bangkok 7-Eleven and then broke into a Pathum Thani field hospital, killing a Covid-19 patient early this morning. 23 year old Kawin Saengnilkul, a former special forces soldier, was reportedly holding a person hostage at a relative’s home in Ranong when the police arrive at the…
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Multiple Bangkok hospitals stop Covid testing, citing fear of insufficient beds
Multiple hospitals in the Bangkok area have stopped doing PCR swab tests for Covid-19. Their rationale is that if some test comes back positive, there won’t be beds for the patients. Other hospitals have “scaled down” the swab tests because their staff is too busy, says Dr Suppachok Kirdlarp. Dr Thiravat Hemachudha, head of the Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Diseases…
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