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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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Dengue fever on the rise in Isaan
While the country is slowly getting a handle on containing the coronavirus pandemic, the Isaan region is tackling a bout of dengue fever. There’s been a rise of the mosquito-borne illness in Nakhon Ratchasima with 737 cases. Local health volunteers have ramped up initiatives to prevent the further spread of the disease. Abate sand granules are being used to kill mosquito…
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Survey shows Thai citizens facing crippling hardship due to Covid-19
A new poll carried out by a team from Bangkok’s Suan Dusit Rajabhat University proves what most already know: Thai people are facing unprecedented financial hardship as a result of the lockdowns associated with the Covid-19 virus. A quarter of respondents say they have fallen into debt. The Bangkok Post reports that people are struggling due to a combination of…
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Hot in the north, wet in the south, cyclone in the Bay of Bengal
Hot conditions, along with thunderstorms and gusty winds, are the feature of weather in the north east and eastern regions over the next few days. There will also be some additional wet weather for southern provinces on the west coast, due to the extensive storm system, which has now been named Cyclone Amphan, in the north part of the Bay…
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4 people and 3 dogs rescued from Phitsanulok forest
Four members of the Phitsanulok’s Wang Thong district community, along with their 3 dogs, have been found after being lost since May 12. The group, who had been lost in the Phitsanulok forest for five days, were spotted by a police helicopter yesterday. Pol General Krisana Pattanacharoen, the deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Police, said that the helicopter reported the…
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Phi Phi’s Maya Bay won’t reopen until fully rehabilitated
Maya Bay, Krabi’s main tourist attraction since it was featured in the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio film ‘The Beach’, will remain closed as natural rehabilitation of the beach and bay continues, after vast areas of coral were destroyed by excess tourism and boat traffic. Indefinitely. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment says that in future boats will not be allowed…
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Nakhon Si Thammarat gangster arrested over murder of wife’s lover
Police in the southern Thai province of Nakhon Si Thammarat have arrested a 32 year old local gangster and drug dealer for the murder of a 41 year old criminal associate last Tuesday. The incident took place in the evening, on the side of the road in the Klai sub-district of Tha Sala district. They identified the suspect as Sunathorn…
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Southern provinces face heavy rains from Cyclone Amphan
The Thai Meteorological Department said in its bulletin today that Thailand’s 6 southern provinces on the west coast, are expected to experience heavy rains, from tomorrow until Wednesday, due to the influence of developing Cyclone Amphan. While the storm won’t make landfall in Thailand, it is currently battering India as it barrels northward through the Bay of Bengal. “The cyclone…
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Samut Prakhan student severely injured in suicide bid
A 23 year old student at a prominent private university in the province of Samut Prakhan, just south of Bangkok, is in critical but stable condition after jumping from the fifth floor of her dormitory in an apparent failed suicide attempt. The student is now in recovering from her serious injuries in hospital. Police were informed of the incident at…
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Thai Airways ponders bankruptcy as it enters rehab
Thai Airways, which turns 60 years old this month, recorded a net loss of US$66 million in 2017, US$361 million in 2018 and US$374 million last year. As the airline contemplates getting its grounded planes back in the air, it’s now confronted with a PR disaster at home as the government ponders a bailout valued around 60 billion baht, around US$1.8…
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Covid-19 update: 3 imported cases found in quarantine (May 17)
Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, reported 3 new Covid-19 cases at this morning’s press briefing. All 3 are returnees, male students – 1 from Pakistan and 2 from Egypt. The new cases bring the national total of infections to 3,028 as the nation begins relaxing emergency restrictions and reopening shopping cetnres and other businesses.…
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Unidentified foreigner arrested in Nonthaburi drug sting
77kaoded reports that police in Nonthaburi conducted a drug sting at a petrol station on Tiwanon Road late last week. They arranged to buy 20 grams of cocaine for 100,000 baht from a foreigner identified only as “Mike”, who arrived on a Yamaha motorbike. But as officers revealed themselves outside the petrol station toilets Mike realised his situation and ran off.…
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Mukdahan border police seize 480 kilograms of marijuana
In a third major seizure in a matter of days, border patrol police seized 480 kilograms of compressed marijuana on the banks of the Mekong River in the northeastern province of Mukdahan. Authorities estimate the street value of the marijuana to be at least 10 million baht. A village head and 2 other accomplices were arrested, police told a media…
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Cambodia discharges last Covid-19 patient, no new cases in a month
Thailand’s neighbour Cambodia has had no new Covid-19 cases for a month and its last patient has recovered and left hospital, leaving the country with 0 cases. But no easing of restrictions related to the virus, including school closures and border entry checks and quarantines, was mentioned in the statement from the Cambodian Ministry of Health. Cambodia’s last reported new…
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Bangkok City Hall allows 10 more types of business to reopen
The Bangkok Municipal Administration, aka. City Hall confirms that more businesses in the city will be allowed to reopen today, including most shops at malls, in keeping with the second phase of the nationwide relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions. A BMA spokesman says its communicable disease control committee had eased restrictions on 10 business types. The businesses allowed to reopen are……
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PM looks for an exit from the Emergency Decree
Deputy PM Wissanu Kreangam says that PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha is ordering an in-depth comparison of the legal measures that can be used to control Covid-19 if the government revokes the state of emergency. The Emergency Decree, issued back on March 24, gave the PM and the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration extraordinary powers – implementing curfews, travel restrictions, restricting provincial governors…
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Fortress Phuket remains sealed off from the mainland
A request by Phuket officials to reopen the Sarasin Bridge has been refused. The Governor has confirmed that the island will remain ‘closed’ until further notice. That includes the Phuket International Airport which was going to re-open yesterday (May 16), but 24 hours after the notice to reopen the airport on Thursday, the Civil Aviation Authority did a U-turn on…
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Ban on international travel into Thailand extended until June 30
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has today announced an extension of their current ban on international travel another month, until at least the end of June, 2020. The current ban on scheduled international flights was extended last month to cover May, up to May 31. But now the CAAT have announced the extension for at least another month. There…
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Woman arrested in Chon Buri for false police report
Police in the Si Racha area of Chon Buri province have arrested a 31 year old woman who they say has confessed to filing a false police report about her gold necklace being stolen. Wanida Srinuan alleged that, earlier in the week, she was walking by the Noen Krabk Temple when an unidentified Thai man drove by and snatched the…
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Official list of businesses permitted to reopen tomorrow (Sunday)
Further to a story in The Thaiger yesterday, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, in his capacity as head of the CCSA, has listed the business and leisure activities which can resume from tomorrow, in the second phase of Covid-19 lockdown relaxations. The list, published in the Royal Gazette yesterday so becoming law, includes… Food and drink shops or stalls in restaurants, canteens,…
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Truck overturns in Songkhla, injuring 12
12 seafood processing factory workers were injured after the pickup truck they were travelling in burst a tyre, rammed into a roadside lamppost, and overturned. The incident occurred in the southern province of Songkhla this morning. Authorities say the crash happened on Ramot-Songkhla Road in tambon Muang Ngam. Police and rescue workers rushed to the scene to find an Isuzu…
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Airports open, quarantine rules and Samui – the latest
Airports of Thailand warns domestic airline passengers to check provincial travel restrictions before they book flights. Currently, there are 5 airports fully operational – Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang), Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Hat Yai, but only 4 airlines, namely Nok Air, Thai AirAsia, Thai Lion Air and Thai Vietjet are serving them. Phuket airport was set to reopen…
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Thai public balks at Thai Airways’ 60 billion bail out
A big decision is on the horizon for Thai Airways, the beleaguered national carrier. Crucial decisions are now being discussed which will define the airlines’ future. The airline was still haemorrhaging cash well before the coronavirus crisis started grounding planes from the start of February this year. Thai Airways’ fortunes have been in a death spiral for the past decade,…
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Covid-19 update: 0 new cases, 0 new deaths (May 16)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced that there no new reported cases of Covid-19 this morning at its daily press briefing, the second time in a week. The national total remains at 3,025 cases reported since the beginning of the outbreak. No new deaths were reported either, leaving the toll at 56. The southern island province of Phuket, which…
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Thai Airways should file for bankruptcy: former finance minister
A former Finance Minister is proposing that Thai Airways formally file for bankruptcy, so the troubled national flag carrier can use the protection of the country’s bankruptcy law to begin rehabilitation. Kla party leader Korn Chatikavanich maintains that this is a “golden opportunity” for the financially battered airline to enter administration, under the bankruptcy process, and clear the way for real,…
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Government urged to investigate forced unemployment claims
A Thai labour rights group is urging the government to investigate whether some employers are abusing labour laws to avoid paying their workers during the Covid-19 crisis. The call was made during an online seminar on unemployment related to the outbreak. Some businesses are allegedly requiring their employees to seek unemployment compensation from the Social Security Fund, when they should…
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Synthetic drugs growing in east, Southeast Asia: UN report
The synthetic drugs market in East and Southeast Asia continues to expand and diversify, and the price of methamphetamine “yaba” tablets has dropped to the lowest level in a decade as the supply has surged. A report released yesterday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime titled “Synthetic Drugs in East and Southeast Asia: Latest Developments and Challenges”, warns…
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Shopping centres, department stores prepare to reopen tomorrow
Department stores, shopping centres and larger restaurants, as well as other businesses across the nation, will begin gradually reopening tomorrow after nearly 2 months of closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the national state of emergency declared to fight it. The decision to go ahead with Phase 2 of the easing of restrictions was announced yesterday, but has yet…
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Nearly 100 million baht of methamphetamine seized in Nong Khai
General Suchart Theerasawat, Deputy Director of the Nong Khai Police station (northeastern Thailand), has put the results of a massive drug haul on display for the media. Police had confiscated 28 sacks containing illicit drugs – 5,600,000 methamphetamine tablets (yaba) and 2 sacks of crystal methamphetamine (ice) weighing 33 kilograms. The drugs had an estimated street value of 93,900,000 baht.…
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Police investigating murder of 3 year old found in Mukdahan forest
The body of a 3 year old girl, missing since Monday, was discovered on Thursday in the northeastern province of Mukdahan. A team of detectives is now investigating the and murder. A massive search involving about 500 police, soldiers, local officials and volunteers was launched when the child, Nong Chompoo, was reported missing in the province’s Tambon Koktoom. The team…
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Full list of businesses allowed to reopen this Sunday
Quick. Read it before it changes. The government has announced which types of businesses will be allowed to reopen on Sunday as it begins “Phase 2” of its 4 step plan to slowly unlock and reopen businesses closed across the country due Covid-19. Mind you this is the list published today. There’s a whole day tomorrow for everything to change…
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