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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11 Bangkok students arrested over fatal knife attack
11 students have been arrested after Saturday’s fatal stabbing of a 21 year old student from the College of Industrial Technology at King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok. Four teenage girls are being held as witnesses during the investigation. The 11 male students are to be charged with murder and assault. The four girls, ages 16 and 17, are friends with…
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5 metre King Cobra interrupted lunching on a monitor lizard in Krabi
Volunteer snake catchers from the Phitak Pracha rescue foundation were called to a house in Krabi. The owner of the Krabi house arrived home and heard her dogs barking. She went to investigate and found a five metre King Cobra making a meal out of a water monitor lizard. Anantaya Phonbamrungwong told Thai Rath that the tail of the water…
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TAT governor predicts Thailand tourism will bounce back in second half of 2019
Yuthasak Suphasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand says all is good for tourist arrivals in Thailand. He predicted that 9.7 million foreigners were expected to visit in Q3 (July to September), up 7% year-on-year. He reported that trends show that domestic and foreign tourists will be spending 820 billion baht. That would be 9% up on the same…
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13 Bangkok passengers refused entry into Thailand by immigration police
PHOTO: Naew Na Region 2 immigration police at Suvarnabhumi airport report that they denied entry to 13 foreigners who weren’t able to provide proof of funds to support their travelling whilst visiting Thailand. Immigration officials claim the ‘tourists’ were not visiting Thailand for tourism. Apart from not being able to provide evidence of sufficient funds, the arriving passengers didn’t have…
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“No water crisis in the Chao Phraya basin” – Irrigation Department
PHOTO: Bhumibol Dam in Tak when full, now holding only 4% of capacity The Royal Irrigation Department is assuring farmers and residents in the central and north-east that there is no risk of Thailand of severe water shortages. This is despite little rain in some areas during the annual wet season and the low levels of the Chao Phraya River…
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Spanish tourist falls to his death at a waterfall trail on Koh Samui
PHOTO: Thai PBS A Spanish tourist fell to his death as he attempted to walk down from a waterfall on Koh Samui. The incident happened on Saturday and police believe the man’s death was an accident. Friends told police that 26 year old David Alejandro Rocamudi Conesa became separated from their group as they were exploring the Na Muang 2…
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Bangkok – that sinking feeling
The mighty Chao Phraya runs through the central plains and down into the flooding delta before heading out into the Gulf of Thailand. Great place for a city. Not surprisingly Bangkok suffers floods whenever the big rains come with most of the low-lying land around the delta only averaging around 1.5 metres above sea level. Whilst the city used to…
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Bangkok hosts ASEAN Foreign Ministers meetings from today
The 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting starts today. Representatives from more than 30 countries will attend the meetings. The regional talkfest is being held at Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Centre. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai will chair the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and co-chair the Post Ministerial Conferences with the Dialogue Partners and other meetings. Other meetings include the…
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Expat group petitions Thai immigration to abolish TM30 form
A group of expats, representing foreigners living in Thailand for many years, has prepared a petition for affected expats to sign, before they present it to Thai Immigration and government officials. They are requesting changes to the enforcement of the controversial TM30 form. There is a link to their website at the bottom of the page where you can sign the…
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Super Poll report card on the first days of the new Thai Parliament
A Super Poll has published results of Thai’s thoughts on the first few days of the new Parliament. • 72% say they gained nothing from the debate in parliament on the government’s policy statement • 78.6% admit they did not believe political parties would fulfil their election pledges. • 27.2% of the respondents said they have benefitted from the debate…
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Thai Airways needs restructuring to survive
Store your tray table and buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride at Thai Airways. The airline’s president Sumeth Damrongchaitham say Thai Airways needs complete restructuring if it is to survive in the highly competitive aviation business. Sumeth said that under the restructuring, Thai Airways will focus more on the international market and link up with other members…
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Lights, camera, blog. TAT reaches out to online millennials.
PHOTO: Where in the World is Nina? With pressure on tourism authorities to come up with new ways to lure tourists to the Land Of Smiles and rebrand the tired ‘Amazing Thailand’ promotion, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) have come up with the ‘Thailand Village Academy’. Stepping firmly into the world of online bloggers and social media, the TAT…
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Xayaburi Dam owners say they’re not responsible for dry Mekong River
PHOTO: The Laotian Times CK Power, operators of the new Xayaburi Dam in Laos, are denying their dam tests (running from July 15 until tomorrow) are responsible for the low water flows in the Mekong River. The tests were a lead up to full scale production of electricity from October this year, most of which will head to Thailand. Fingers…
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Durian drives southern economy with new Chinese 700 million baht factory
A Chinese company has invested 700 million baht to establish a durian processing factory in Songkhla’s Thepha district. The establishment of the Kunming-based company in southern Thailand is an indication of the growing love for durian in China and a growing export potential for the ‘love-it-or-hate-it’ fruit. Manguwang Food Company will employ up to 1,200 workers at its 700 million…
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Happy Birthday to His Majesty the King
Happy Birthday to His Majesty the King, the first birthday celebrations of Thailand’s monarch since his Coronation in May. The government has organised religious and celebratory events in Bangkok and around the country today to honour His Majesty the King on his 67th birthday. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will lead government dignitaries and state officials in a rite offering alms…
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Pattaya police caught extorting son of senior Issan policeman
PHOTO: Daily News Four Pattaya police have been caught out trying to extort payment from a person in an e-cigarette sting. But the person they were trying to get payment from was the son of a deputy police commander in Isaan, in Thailand’s north east. 24 year old Phanuwat Suban Na Ayuthaya reported the alleged extortion to Pattaya police yesterday. He…
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Over 600 foreigners arrested in southern Thailand for overstays and illegal entry
PHOTO: Manager 686 people have been arrested in southern Thailand, mostly foreigners, on a variety of offences of working illegally or being involved in human trafficking. Thailand’s Region 6 immigration reported that the people were arrested between July 1-25. Immigration reported… • 436 people have been arrested as illegal migrant workers and had illegally entered Thailand • 49 had no…
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Phuket leads the way in managed hotel residences
by Bill Barnett of c9hotelworks.com – Feature article “Hotel Residences – properties that sell individual units in the real estate market and operate as either hotels or else are branded by hospitality operators. Other often used terms are condotel, hotel branded residences and hospitality-led real estate.” Phuket’s love affair with hotel managed properties started in the late 1980’s with the…
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Thai visitors leaking to Vietnam – a personal view
by Guest Writer (who asked to be anonymous) In response to an article ‘Pattaya tourist slump – visitors leaking to Vietnam‘, a responder on The Thaiger Facebook page has provided a balanced response we thought we would share with you. Is nostalgia making us think that Pattaya and Thailand were really that great in the past or are the golden…
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Australian pair’s ‘misunderstanding’ puts Phuket Airport taxis and van services in spotlight
When Australians Kate Chipperfield and Lauren Meinties filed their complaint about a 3,000 baht van fare from Phuket Airport to Kata, they had no idea of the chain of events that would follow. Even the Thai PM got involved ordering Phuket officials to clamp down on rorts, and taxi and van drivers to stop ripping off tourists. As the central…
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Thailand’s headline inflation surged over 1% in March
“The SCB Economics Intelligent Centre has revised down its forecast for average headline inflation in 2019 to 0.9% year on year, a slight decline from the previous forecast of 1.0%year on year.” Thailand’s headline inflation surged to 1.24%, year on year, during March. This is up from 0.73%, year on year, in the previous month. Food and energy prices are the…
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Facebook removes accounts and pages because of “inauthentic behaviour”
“Facebook says the reason for the removal of the posts and accounts was because of their “behaviour” not the content they posted.” Facebook has erased over 1,800 accounts and pages from Thailand, Russia, Ukraine and Honduras in a move to counter abuses of its service and “deceptive political propaganda”. Facebook has shared examples of Thailand-based Facebook accounts, posts and pages it…
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Fights on offer as Pheu Thai MP and senator bicker in Parliament
PHOTO: @tanawatofficial It only took two days before the fingers started pointing and the first offer of a fist fight was made. Senator Kittisak Rattanawaraha, who challenged Pheu Thai MP Yutthapong Charassathien in parliament to a fist-fight yesterday, admitted he lost his patience because of Yutthapong’s continual bad-mouthing of other MPs. The Senators have all been hand-picked by the NCPO…
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HK Consulate warns Thais and visitors about weekend protests
PHOTO: China Daily Kong Kong The Royal Thai Consulate-General in Hong Kong is warning both Thai residents and visitors not to enter the areas or in the vicinity of protests planned for July 27-28 in Hong Kong. The announcement was made on their Facebook page yesterday. According to the announcement, the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Hong Kong had been informed…
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Satun fisherman arrested trying to ship 216 kilos of marijuana south to Malaysia
PHOTOS: The Nation A fisherman has been arrested trying to smuggle 216 kilograms of marijuana into Malaysia. The fishing boat had been modified for the purpose of hiding and smuggling the drugs. Officials received a tip-off earlier this week that a large batch of marijuana was being stored in Satun’s Tambon Tammalang district. Officials had learnt that a large shipment…
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Former police chief, turned MP, rails against the PM
PHOTO: Thai PBS Seri Ruam Thai party leader Pol Gen Seripisut Temiyavet, former Police Chief appointed by the NCPO, is taking the fight right up to the PM and the coalition, hinted to the media before parliament resumed todaythat he still has enough ammunition to fire at the government and, particularly, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. During his time as the Junta’s…
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Power bank explodes in backpack at Chiang Mai Airport – VIDEO
Thankfully the passenger wasn’t on a plane at the time. The woman had just arrived at the Chiang Mai International Airport. The first explosion was in her backpack which she quickly shrugged off and it fell to the ground. (Watch the video, bottom left at the beginning) Then, as security came to get a quick video of the incident on…
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Thailand’s Future Forward denies bizarre ‘Illuminati’ accusations
A lawyer and former advisor to Thailand’s chief ombudsman, Natthaporn Toprayoon has gone ‘full woo woo’ in cobbling together arguments to disband the Future Forward Party. In a petition submitted to the Constitutional Court, the lawyer has invoked fears of the ‘Illuminati’ secret society. He has accused Future Forward as being a threat to the country’s constitutional monarchy. He says…
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Patong police visit motorbike garages to warn them about illegal modifications
PHOTOS: Patong Provincial Police Patong police paid a visit to several motorcycle garages yesterday (July 25) in order to clarify that motorcycle racing is illegal and modifying motorcycles in certain ways can be illegal as well – modified exhausts, removing side mirrors, extra large tyres, air horns, etc. The police ‘drop in’ only asked for cooperation and requested owners and…
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BTS 15 baht flat rate fare is nothing new
The ’15 baht flat fare’ proposal for the BTS is nothing new. But the proposal has surfaced again as the new Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob offered the flat fee to be set for the BTS Skytrain service across Bangkok. The BTSC operates the BTS services – the Sukhumvit line from Mor Chit to Kheha and the Silom line which serves Silom and…
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