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 Bangtao, Phuket: The neighbourhood expats and investors are eyeing in 2025
Bangtao didn't become Phuket’s most talked-about neighbourhood overnight. For a long time, it was a quiet place on the island’s west coast where locals walked their dogs at sunrise and tourists flocked to sunbathe along its eight-kilometre stretch of beach....
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Pattaya: 19th SingSiam war games in the Gulf of Thailand
PHOTOS: trattoday.com Military exercises are taking place in the northern Gulf of Thailand between Sattahip and Koh Samui. Col. Anthony Lee, commander of Singapore’s 188th Squadron, and Rear Adm. Thawatchai Muangkham, commander of the Thai Frigate Squadron, were on site for the 19th war games at the Sattahip Naval Base. “The SingSiam games give Thai forces a chance to improve…
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Pattaya: Koh Larn survey shows tourism over-whelming facilities on island
Consultants have completed a long-awaited survey of Koh Larn’s tourist capacity. The survey says it’s the first step toward new zoning laws to protect the island’s ecosystem. Ampai Sakdanukuljit, assistant director of the Tourism and Sports Council, officially presented the Silapakorn University report his group commissioned to Pattaya Deputy Mayor Apichart Virapal, Tourism Authority of Thailand Pattaya office Director Suladda…
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Youth warned to avoid World Cup gambling trap
In the hours leading up to the kick of the 2018 Fifa World Cup, advocates against young people gambling on the football were parading in downtown Bangkok. A 2017 survey found that 2.4 million Thais engaged in football gambling valued at a reported 140 billion (yes BILLION) baht. The survey also says that 82.6 per cent of secondary student punters…
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Regional: AirAsia says MAVCOM’s ‘damaging tourism growth’
PHOTO: Sputnik International ‘Now everyone can fly,’ but not as many as AirAsia would like. They’re going into a head to head battle with the Malaysian aviation compliance body, MAVCOM. AirAsia is accusing Malaysia’s aviation body, MAVCOM, of holding back the country’s aviation and damaging tourism growth. The airline made the accusations in a rebuttal of an earlier statement released…
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National: 260,000 tonnes of electronic and plastic trash imported from China
Thai PBS is reporting that about 260,000 tonnes of trash have been imported into Thailand in the first five months of this year period this year. This compares to 116,000 tonnes imported for the whole of 2017, said This from the Customs Department spokesman Mr Chaiyuth Khamkhun. He added that, of the trash imported this year, it included 52,200 tonnes of…
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Hua Hin: 68 year old throws himself off fifth floor roof
Banmuang is reporting that a 68 year old Dutch man appears to have jumped from the fifth floor of a Hua Hin hotel. The man had been staying in the same hotel for the past month. It’s reported that many people from the next door Darun Suksa School saw the body as the school broke up for the day yesterday…
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Muslim students’ dress code ‘could be divisive’
“I am extremely worried and concerned that this move will widen rifts,” Wisoot Binlateh, the director of Sheikul Islam’s coordination centre in the South, said yesterday. Parents and academics are expressing concern over the Education Ministry’s move to leave it up to the schools and their monastic landlords to decide on the dress code for Muslim students. Thailand’s deep South,…
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Phuket marks World Blood Donor Day
The Phuket Red Cross is continuing its donation promotion under the slogan ‘Be there for someone else. Give Blood, Share Life.’ The event, held at Novotel Phuket Phokeethra in Phuket Town, was led by the Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong and his wife who is President of the Phuket Red Cross, Sudarat Plodthong. Mrs Sudarat says, ‘The International Federation of Red Cross and…
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Great Phuket Monkey Exodus of 2018: 37 more monkeys captured in Rassada
In the Great Phuket Monkey Exodus of 2018, water tanks are now being installed on Monkey Island and 37 monkeys have been captured in Rassada for sterilisation and then re-location. Yesterday (June 15), water tank were being installed on Koh Payu while 37 long-tailed macaques were caught at Soi King Kaew in Rassada. Pongchart Chouehorm, the Director of the Natural…
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60,000 counterfeit travel mugs seized in BKK raids
Most of us will have a branded 100 baht T-shirt somewhere in one of our drawers, maybe even a fake Louis Vuitton bag or wallet, or a Tag Heuer watch we haggled in a Patpong market for 1,500 baht. Fakes are everywhere in Thailand. But travel mugs? 60,000 travel mugs?! Some 60,000 plastic coffee cups, tumblers and mugs bearing brand…
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Chiang Mai: Doi Suthep homes “at risk from natural disasters”
A separate issue has arisen in the case of the controversial buildings on the slopes of Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. Building engineers are pointing their fingers at the steep slopes around structures that were initially built to be the residences of court officials in Chiang Mai province, saying they’re a potential natural disaster waiting to happen. There are “significant…
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Illegal timbers seized in Phang Nga
A team of Border Patrol Police based in Phang Nga this week have seized 13 logs inside a palm plantation in Phang Nga. The discovery came after police received tip-offs about deforestation in Khura Buri, Phang Nga. More than 20 border patrol police investigated and found 13 logs size 2.50 – 2.80 metres in the forest. These logs are now…
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Sattahip: Grisly find on rocks near Navy School
A teacher’s assistant made a grisly find yesterday around rocks near the Chumpon Navy School, south of Pattaya. Sattahip police went to investigate. The remains are believed to have been washed up from the sea and are at least one to two months old. They were found in the Bang Saray area. They consisted of the hips and legs of…
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Thai Airways to end its Samui flights this September
PHOTO: planespotters.net Thai Airways is scrapping its Bangkok-Samui flights from September this year. The airline’s been flying Bangkok to Samui, return, twice a day in a Boeing 737 carrying up to 149 passengers. It negotiated a contract with Bangkok Airways to fly the two flights into Koh Samui, which built and manages the island’s airport since 2008. At the time,…
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Bangkok: 400,000 baht spending spree and holiday with stolen ATM cards
SCREENCAPTURES: Channel 7 Credit card theft is an ongoing cat and mouse game between criminals, bank encryption technology and lawyers fighting to recover lost funds from victims. In this case the cards were recovered and the culprits apprehended. Channel 7 report that CCTV footage from a 7/11 store in Bangkok revealed on Thai TV showed the moment when a Thai…
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Southern Insurgency: Emergency decree extended another three months
The government has extended the state of emergency in the three southernmost provinces for a further three months. The extension was announced in the Royal Gazette yesterday (Wednesday). The emergency decree covers Narathiwat except Sungai Kolok district, Yala except Betong district and Pattani except Mae Lan district. The announcement of the emergency decree in Royal Gazette states that the extension is…
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Four crew plucked out of the water after freight ship sinks in Gulf of Thailand
Four crew members of a freight ship that sank near Koh Si Chang in Chon Buri province late on Wednesday were rescued, officials said. Phithak Watanapongpaisal, director of the marine traffic and safety of Laem Chabang deep sea port, said his centre was alerted at 11.40pm that the Phattara Marine 6 boat with 72 containers had sank near Koh Thai…
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Three arrested with drugs and firearms
A team of Phuket Provincial Police this week arrested have two more drug suspects and another suspect over the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition in a separate incident. Police arrested 29 year old Chaiyachet ‘Chet’ Pollata. Police seized 1,970 methamphetamine pills, 2.8 kilograms of marijuana and eight bottles liquid kratom. Chaiyachet has been charged with possession of Category…
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Two charged over Chinese tourist assault
Two men have been charged with assault after they attacked two Chinese tourists following an argument on a speed boat yesterday (June 13). The arrests come after a video clip went viral in social along with a headline ‘Yunnan tour guide hit Chinese tourists at Nontasak Pier.’ The Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Teeraphol Tipjaroen has ordered an investigation…
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Suspect arrested with 180 kg kratom in refrigerated truck
A man has been arrested with 180 kilograms of kratom which were being transferred by a coconut refrigeration truck yesterday in Rassada. Police arrested 28 year old Tanabat Petmanee from Songkhla. They then seized 180 kilograms of kratom leaves inside his refrigerated truck. The arrest came after police received a tip-off that Tanabat was transferring kratom to Phuket. Police were…
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48 long-tailed macaques caught for sterilisation in Paklok
Some of Phuket’s monkeys are on their way to new homes off the island. But first a quick vet-check and a ‘snip’ before they continue their journey. 14 long-tailed macaques have been captured at Bang Rong Pier while another 34 long-tailed macaques have been caught in Baan Yamu, both in Paklok, central east in Phuket. The capture is the first…
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Chiang Mai: Thai man arrested for attempted rape of female tourist
A man who robbed and allegedly attempted to rape a female Chinese tourist has been apprehended at his house while he was having his head shaved before entering the monkhood. Sanook is reporting that Mae Rim cops in Chiang Mai announce the arrest of 26 year old Wuthisak yesterday and took him on a reenactment to the entrance to the…
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National: A hidden world of male sex slavery
by Rina Chandran @rinachandran. Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths A special report from Reuters outlining the hidden side of mass tourism that Thai authorities don’t like to talk about – a situation the boy’s customers would never discuss and the human casualties of the (hush, hush) male sex trade. The male sex workers often fall through the cracks of society and…
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Thailand Post. We deliver.
You can’t have e-commerce growing so quickly unless you keep your postal system up with the increase in deliveries. Who else is going to deliver your Amazon or Alibaba.com purchases? An army of postmen on Wednesday pose for the camera during a press conference to unveil the 100 Thailand Post motorcycles used in post package delivery that have been upgraded.…
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Phuket police chat to students about illegal World Cup football gambling
The World Cup starts today. So do the gambling crackdowns. The Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Teeraphol Thipjaroen says, “the World Cup football is started today (June 14) so Phuket police are strictly keeping an eye on illegal world cup gambling. “We have arrested 12 cases already involving illegal football gambling while the Phuket Tourist Police have arrested three…
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Thailand’s 10th rabies victim dies in Rayong
A 10th person has died from Rabies in Rayong according to the Disease Control Department director-general Suwanchai Watanayingcharoenchai today (Wednesday). Suwanchai said the 59 year old man died on Tuesday after being bitten by his own dog back in March. The disease control chief said most of the rabies victims had ignored calls to receive Rabies vaccination after they were…
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Satun: 59 year old man killed cleaning grenade
PHOTO: The Advertiser A man in Satun province has been killed after a grenade he was cleaning exploded. Police say the man had been keeping the grenade in his house for a year. 59 year old Prasert Chuayjit was killed in his house in Ban Tha Chin village in Tambon Klong Khud, Muang district, at around 7am this morning. The blast…
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Bangkok: 88 million baht worth of assets seized over corruption
The AMLO (Anti-Money Laundering Office) is set to confiscate assets from three former top officials of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security plus 12 other accomplices. The value of the assets is said to have a value of 88 million baht to compensate over corruption involving state funds for the destitute. Thai PBS is reporting that the decision was…
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Laguna to host Phuket Real Estate Charity Golf event on June 23
The Phuket Real Estate Association (P-REA) is holding a charity golf tournament on Saturday June 23 at Laguna Golf Phuket to raise money to support Thalang Hospital. A press conference was held by the P-REA today (June 13) at Central Festival Phuket where P-REA president Boon Yongsakul told the media about the objectives of the ‘P-REA Charity Golf Tournament 2018′. “The…
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