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 Digital nomading in Chiang Mai? What US$1,000 a month really gets you
Chiang Mai has become a popular destination for digital nomads due to its low living costs, rich culture, and active remote work community. The city offers affordable housing, tasty food, reliable internet, and many co-working spaces, making it a great...
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Thailand’s road carnage is getting worse
The Thai government is reporting that deaths on Thailand’s roads are getting worse despite efforts to fix the issue. The secretary of the National Health Security Office gave horrifying statistics for victims of road accidents, but it’s widely believed that these are only a fraction of the actual numbers of those killed, maimed and injured on the Thailand’s roads. Thailand…
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Pattaya residents voice frustration over traffic problems and road closures
PHOTO: Love Pattaya News Residents in Pattaya are venting their frustration to the media as a succession of events and work projects continue to cause traffic problems in the city. The Pattaya News says it has received numerous complaints and seen many comments and posts on social media as work continues to move power cables underground and install a drainage…
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8,600 lanterns to be launched during Chiang Mai’s Yi Peng festival
Today is Loy Krathong and there is nowhere else in Thailand that does it as well as Chiang Mai. The Choeng Doi subdistrict, to the north east of Chiang Mai city, will continue to hold the Loy Krathong and Yi Peng lantern festival until November 12, as the area does not come under prohibited zones due to flight services. Chitipon…
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Nakri weakens to a storm as it heads into Laos
Typhoon Nakri weakened as it crossed the Vietnam coast on Saturday night/Sunday morning. It has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, and now to a storm as it weakens and moves inland toward southern Laos. Despite a lot of rain and strong winds in central Vietnam, no bad damage or injuries have been reported at this stage. The storm will…
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Rare giant manta ray sighted off Phang Nga
“We rarely see manta rays of this size around here, and I’m so glad to have seen one.” A rare five metres wide giant manta ray has been spotted near Koh Ta Chai, north of the Similan Islands group, off Phang Nga province. The photos came from Somporn Kaewmaneechote, a diving instructor with Sea Turtle Diver Company. Somporn said the…
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Police tracking down Mercedes driver who wouldn’t give way to an ambulance – VIDEO
MONTAGE: Daily News Police are tracking down the driver of a Mercedes Benz who gave ambulance drivers ‘the finger’ after refusing to give way to the screeching sirens of the ambulance trying to get a patient to hospital. The ambulance travelling between Phyathai 2 and Phyathai Hospital (Sri Racha) in central Bangkok on Saturday. The relatives of the patient described the incident as…
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Stabbed Korean still recovering from 17 stab wounds in Pattaya
PHOTO: Bangkok Post A South Korean man stabbed in a quiet South Pattaya soi during on October 24, says he’s still receiving medical care and remains in hospital. Sanook reports that Thai tourist police, together with the local Pattaya police, have failed to bring the 38 year old assailant, called “Park”, to justice (Park is a very popular name in South Korea).…
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Storm Nakri weakens, but is dumping heavy rains on the Central Highlands in Vietnam
PHOTO: National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting “Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific have cancelled or delayed a number of domestic flights that criss cross the affected region.” Tropical storm Nakri has now crossed Vietnam’s coast around Binh Dinh to Khanh Hoa provinces. The slow-moving system is weakening as it moves north west. The storm is expected to further weaken into a tropical depression…
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11th species of dinosaur discovered in north east Thailand
Thailand’s Mineral Resources Department says they’ve unearthed fossilised bones believed to belong to a species of mid-sized carnivorous dinosaur previously unrecorded in Thailand. Called the Vayuraptor nongbualamphuensis, it is the 11th dinosaur species to be discovered in the Phu Wat excavation pits in Phu Kao-Phupandam national park in the north-eastern province of Nong Bua Lamphu, between Khon Kaen and Udon…
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300 Bangkokians victims of the ‘copyright’ extortion scam
Following last week’s fine from someone calling themselves a ‘copyright agent’ (in that case the use of Japanese cartoons on Krathongs for today’s festival), more than 300 people in Bangkok alone say that have faced payment demands from other alleged “copyright agents.” Vendors already fined by such agents are seeking the Justice Ministry’s help to countersue and get their fines…
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Kata Group launches new 512-room Phuket family resort – Pamookkoo Resort
Kata Group, Phuket’s oldest hotel group, is launching its eighth resort, the Pamookkoo Resort. The cost of the investment is 1.75 billion baht. The new resort is in the heart of Kata. Kata Group opened its first hotel on Phuket 40 years ago and was a pioneer in attracting the early tourists to the island’s southwest coast. The new hotel…
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Police suspect land dispute in double murder in Chiang Rai
PHOTOS: Chiang Rai Times Chiang Rai police are investigating a husband and wife that were murdered in the province’s Chiang Saen District last Wednesday. When arriving at the property, police found the bodies of a husband and wife, both with strangulation marks on their necks. There was no sign of a struggle and nothing was stolen. Their pick-up truck and…
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American spews racist and offensive slurs in Chiang Mai
MONTAGE: YouTube An apparently drunken American has smashed a shop window in Chiang Mai while ranting racist and offensive slurs at onlookers. His outbursts were filmed and widely posted on Facebook. According to a witness, she was minding her own business in front of the shop she was working in when the American began shouting and screaming at her. “I kill…
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New eyesight for the Thaiger – modern lens exchange surgery in Thailand
Tim Newton is the lead writer and editor of The Thaiger English. Healthy, happy, busy and no feeling that I’m actually 61 years old. But there I was, about to undergo eye surgery that would rid me of my annoying reading glasses and give me an equivalent of the vision I had when I was a lot younger. Luckily there…
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Officer in krathong copyright entrapment case transferred
A police superintendent in the north east province of Nakhon Ratchasima has been transferred after a sting operation in which a 15 year old girl was arrested and fined 5,000 baht for alleged copyright infringement (the original demand by the ‘officer’ was much higher but was negotiated down). Read original story HERE. The girl was approached by a man claiming…
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Six suspects detained for questioning over Yala massacre
ORIGINAL PHOTO: Reuters More than 200 troops and police conducted searches in Thailand’s southern border provinces on Friday night, looking for suspects in Tuesday’s brutal attack in Yala Province that killed 15. Nine suspects were arrested, but three were released shortly after checks showed they had no prior connections with the insurgency or criminal records. The rest were detained for…
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Army clarifies curfew rumours for districts in Southern Thailand
PHOTO: New Straits Times The army says now that won’t upgrade the curfew in the troubled deep South following an attack that killed 15 people on Tuesday night. A spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command says, contrary to some news reports, no curfew would be imposed at this stage. He says the Army is urging people not to panic.…
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Thai Airways management ‘asked’, staff ‘told’, to cut expenses
PHOTO: Both management and staff likely to lose some entitlements under new policy to reduce costs In a move that will likely contribute little to the airline’s rehabilitation, Thai Airways is trying to reduce expenditures on staff travel. Meanwhile the airlines’ management is being ‘asked’ to reduce some of their expenses. The moves are part of a range of new…
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China announces policies to lure foreign investors
PHOTO: Shanghai skyline – QANTAS Are the Chinese removing layers of ‘red’ tape? China is offering 20 new measures friendly to foreign investors, removing business restrictions to encourage a more “fair, transparent and predictable” business environment. China’s State Council released a guideline pledging to shorten negative lists and eliminate restrictions, opening up more sectors to foreign investors. The Nation reports…
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‘Nakri’ now upgraded to typhoon as it approaches Vietnam’s coast
PHOTO: en.sat24.com The former tropical storm Nakri has now strengthened to a Category 5 ‘typhoon’ as it moves across the South China Sea toward the Vietnamese coast. It is predicted to make landfall later today or Monday at the latest. Typhoon Nakri, packing wind speeds as high as 120kph at its epi-centre, was in the middle of South China Sea…
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Thailand’s ‘economic condition index’ expected to decline in Q3
PHOTO: Culture Trip Thailand’s household economic condition index is likely to drop further due to the ongoing global economic slowdown. Another drop would make it the third this year, measured in quarters. The slowdown is impacting the domestic economy and employment, according to the Kasikorn Thai research centre. Thai PBS reports that the latest ECI report indicates that a survey…
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How to celebrate Loy Krathong or Yi Peng in Chaing Mai
PHOTO: yipengchiangmailanternfestival.com The Loy Krathong festival, known in Chiang Mai as Yi Peng, runs from today until Tuesday, November 12 It started last night at Three Kings Monument around 6pm, where 500 dancers perform terra cotta candle worship dances. People also started lighting candles around the moat and old city, a focus for the events each year. Today, November 10, it’s the…
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Thai deputy PM puts security agencies on alert for Loy Krathong
PHOTO: english-room.com The Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan is instructing administrative state agencies, including police and Army, to work closely and provide security to people during Loy Krathong celebrations tomorrow, November 11, according to Defence Ministry spokesperson Lt-General Kongcheep Tantravanich. Prawit is telling them to be well prepared to handle all possible exigencies due to accidents in water or criminal acts…
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SE Asian banks slowly giving way to e-payments and payment apps
PHOTO: starbucks.com That cold, hard cash in your pocket, and the traditional shop-front banks that give it to you, are slowly being phased out and replaced with e-payments. It’s now expected that traditional banks in South east Asia will miss out on as much as US$5 billion, or 14.3% of their payments revenue by 2025. A report says they are…
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More rain for the south, cooler in the north
PHOTO: TripSavvy The Thailand Meteorological Department says the north of the country is experiencing fog and scattered showers as a result of a high pressure system over the region. Temperatures are expected to drop by 1 – 3 degrees Celsius, leading to cooler mornings, especially in mountainous areas. Meanwhile, the south of the country can expect more rain, with heavy…
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Chinese and Indian nationals arrested for fake visas, entry stamps
PHOTO: Immigration.go.th Two Chinese nationals and an Indian couple have been detained by Thai Immigration police in two separate arrests at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thai Residents reports that the Chinese nationals were attempting to check in for a Cathay Pacific flight from Bangkok to Canada using fake Canadian visas. When airline staff got suspicious over the visas’ appearance and contacted Immigration…
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Government’s economic stimulus package generates over 10 billion baht so far
PHOTO: Fodors Travel Guide The Thai government’s campaign to stimulate domestic tourism – the Chim Shop Chai campaign – has generated over 10 billion baht so far. The Nation reports that transactions carried out through the g-Wallet app have generated 225 million baht in the Yala province alone. The southern province now ranks 10th highest for spending during the campaign.…
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Transport Ministry succumbs to increase in luggage charges for airport taxis
Items of luggage that measure 26 inches (66 centimetres) or more in length will now incur a taxi ‘handling fee’ of an additional 20 baht in an agreement reached between airport taxi drivers and the Transport Ministry. It’s understood the Ministry approved the increase after caving in to a protest by taxi drivers on Thursday. Over 100 members of the…
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Thailand’s south has partial curfew imposed from December 1
PHOTO: Sumeth Panpetch, Associated Press The government has confirmed that a partial curfew will be put in place for Thailand’s Deep South for one year from December 1. The announcement follows Tuesday night’s deadly attack by insurgents on a checkpoint in Yala when 15 people were killed. The three southern Thai provinces that border Malaysia remain a hotbed of Islamic militant…
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New Zealander and his partner found hanged at Koh Samui house
A 70 year old New Zealander and his Thai partner were found dead this week after an apparent suicide pact. Samui Police were called to the rented house in the Mae Nam area after a foreign man and a Thai man were found hanged. The foreigner was a 70 year old New Zealander, the Thai man was a 45 year…
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