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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. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.

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    5 ways retirees in Thailand lose money (and how to stop it)

    Retiring in Thailand can be affordable and enjoyable, but many retirees lose money due to common mistakes. High living costs, scams, and unexpected expenses can quickly drain savings. There are five ways that retirees in Thailand can lose money and...

  • TAT looks to draw more Japanese tourists to Thailand with new campaign

    TAT looks to draw more Japanese tourists to Thailand with new campaign

    The Tourism Authority of Thailand is looking to draw in more Japanese tourists. TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn announced that TAT will introduce a new partnership campaign in the last three months of the year called “It’s Time to Go To Thailand”. The campaign aims to increase Japanese tourists’ average spending per trip, which right now is only 6,400 baht, the…

  • Burmese beauty queen arrested in Thailand

    Burmese beauty queen arrested in Thailand

    Former Burmese beauty queen, Han Lay was arrested in Thailand today. Han Lay, or Thaw Nandar Aung, winner of Miss Grand Myanmar in 2020, gave a speech against the Myanmar junta in the Miss Grand International 2020 final in Bangkok. The 23 year old talked about the political situation in Myanmar and how the people are suffering. She urged the…

  • North Korea releases statement after being accused of selling Russia weapons

    North Korea releases statement after being accused of selling Russia weapons

    North Korea released a statement today after US officials said Russia was looking to buy weapons from North Korea. The statement claimed that North Korea had never exported weapons or ammunition to Russia, and did not plan to. It said that the United States and other “hostile forces” were spreading rumours to “pursue its base political and military aims.” Any…

  • Motorcycle taxis & app-based riders fight over passengers

    Motorcycle taxis & app-based riders fight over passengers

    An ongoing row over passengers between motorcycle taxi riders and app-based riders erupted into a brawl on Sunday on Soi Ratchada 18 in Bangkok. One motorcycle taxi rider demanded that the app-based riders give them more respect and stop random pickups on the street when motorcycle taxi services are nearby. The first fight started last Sunday, September 18. One motorcycle taxi…

  • Price hike in vegetables prior to Phuket Vegetarian Festival

    Price hike in vegetables prior to Phuket Vegetarian Festival

    Phuket is seeing a jump in its vegetable prices as the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival is coming up on September 26. The prices of many vegetables have shot up on average from five to 20 baht per kilogram. The prices on other vegetarian ingredients have bumped up as well. Vegetable prices usually increase in Phuket before and during the festival…

  • Man steals watch & diamond ring at car accident scene

    Man steals watch & diamond ring at car accident scene

    An opportunist thief was arrested today after pretending to help a driver involved in a car accident with a motorcycle rider before snatching a 6-million baht watch and a diamond ring from the scene. The driver of a Mercedes-Benz crashed into a motorcycle in front of the Poon Sub Market in the Mueng district of Pathum Thani in central Thailand…

  • Pattaya’s major roads flooded

    Pattaya’s major roads flooded

    Many of Pattaya’s major roads were flooded by heavy rain last night. Some of the affected roads included South Pattaya Road, Soi Buakhao Road, Sukhumvit Road, and Beach Road. The roads were all underwater with levels ranging between 20 centimetres to 1 metre, The Pattaya News reported. Many popular alleyways were also flooded. The floodwaters stretched onto roadside venues, forcing…

  • Thai navy buys pilotless aircraft from Israel for 4 billion baht

    Thai navy buys pilotless aircraft from Israel for 4 billion baht

    Thailand has signed a contract to buy Hermes 900 “unmanned aerial vehicles” (UAV) from an Israeli defence company, according to an announcement made today by the Royal Thai Navy (RTN). The purchase will cost 4 billion baht ($US107,003,360). The pilotless aircraft will patrol Thailand’s seas to “protect the sovereignty of Thailand’s waters and shipping routes.” The drones will also assist…

  • Lamborghini driver scrambles from scene of egg seller crash

    Lamborghini driver scrambles from scene of egg seller crash

    A Thai woman has sought the help of a lawyer to help track down a reckless foreigner who crashed his Lamborghini into her pickup truck full of eggs worth nearly 200,000 baht before he scrambled from the scene, leaving a Thai man to take the blame. Kamlai Sisaengchan had just picked up 1,400 trays of eggs, worth 190,000 baht, when…

  • Rage in Iran after young woman dies in custody, protestors killed

    Rage in Iran after young woman dies in custody, protestors killed

    Iran has been reeling ever since a young woman died after being arrested by the country’s “morality police” on September 13. The woman, 22 year old Mahsa Amini, was arrested while on holiday with her family, who had travelled to the capital of Tehran from their home in the Kurdistan region. Morality police arrested her for supposedly not wearing her…

  • Rice fields in central Thailand to be used as water retention areas

    Rice fields in central Thailand to be used as water retention areas

    The Office of National Water Resources announced yesterday that rice fields in central Thailand’s Chao Phraya will be made into temporary water retention areas after farmers finish harvesting them at the end of this month. The office’s secretary-general, Surasee Kittimthon, said that more water will be drained from northern Thailand via the Chao Phraya Dam in Chai Nat province in…

  • Guard arrested on murder of woman he has a crush on

    Guard arrested on murder of woman he has a crush on

    UPDATE The male security guard who stabbed a female colleague to death in Bangkok yesterday was arrested by police in Chon Buri today. Officers from Tung Mahamek Police Station cast their net far and wide for 57 year old Sing Jabairam who stabbed to death his 30 year old workmate, Anitta Yoosothana, in front of the Rajamangala University of Technology…

  • Trump slams fraud lawsuit as a ‘witch hunt’

    Trump slams fraud lawsuit as a ‘witch hunt’

    Former United States President Donald Trump dismissed a fraud lawsuit against him and his family as “another witch hunt” and claims the black New York Attorney General is a racist. The 76 year old former US president and three of his children, Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric, were hit by the lawsuit after an investigation into the Trump Organisation alleged…

  • Chemical leak forces school closures in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand

    Chemical leak forces school closures in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand

    Residents of Nakhon Pathom province are warned to stay indoors as a major chemical leak occurred at the Indorama Polyester Industries factory in Nakhon Chai Si district at 6.15am this morning. People from miles around reported a “foul, burning stench” emanating through the sky, originating from the plastic production factory on Petchkasem Road in Khun Kaew subdistrict. Several schools including…

  • New plans to expand Bangkok’s nightlife tourism

    New plans to expand Bangkok’s nightlife tourism

    New plans are underway to help expand Bangkok’s nightlife tourism. Bangkok Governor Chadchar Sittipunt said yesterday that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is talking to experts about decorating some areas so they can become attractions. These are mainly spots in downtown areas and riverside zones, he said. Chadchart has also announced a plan for Bangkok to become a sister city of…

  • Siblings arrested on 3.5 million baht theft in Chon Buri

    Siblings arrested on 3.5 million baht theft in Chon Buri

    UPDATE The woman victim of a 3.5 million baht robbery outside a bank in Chon Buri has been arrested and charged in connection with the case. Police have charged the woman, Prapaporn Boonmesanom, with planning the robbery with her delivery driver brother because she has huge debts. The 29 year old Prapaporn is the finance officer of a furniture factory…

  • Corrupt police chief’s 137 million baht fortune nabbed

    Corrupt police chief’s 137 million baht fortune nabbed

    A former deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 8 found guilty of fraudulent activity has had his 137 million baht fortune confiscated by Thailand’s Criminal Court for Corruption. Pol Lt Gen Somchai Nitayabowornkul was found guilty by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NAAC) on August 10 for having assets worth more than he could ever afford in relation to his rank…

  • Police lieutenant in NE Thailand reportedly kills motorcyclist in crash

    Police lieutenant in NE Thailand reportedly kills motorcyclist in crash

    Last night, a police lieutenant in northeast Thailand reportedly crashed into five motorcycles and killed one motorcyclist. CCTV footage caught the lieutenant ramming his truck into the motorcycles waiting for a traffic light at a traffic island in Buriram province. The motorcyclist killed was a 25 year old waiting to make a U-turn. After the crash, the lieutenant’s pickup truck…

  • Weakening baht is in focus as meeting called to discuss its impact

    Weakening baht is in focus as meeting called to discuss its impact

    The Bank of Thailand is scrambling to find the sources behind the weakening baht as a meeting is called to discuss its impact. Finance Minister, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, says the depreciating currency is adding to the inflationary pressures and is vowing to determine whether the decline is linked to the country’s economic fundaments. The Finance Ministry is set to hold talks…

  • Paragliding accident in Rawai puts 78 year old man in hospital

    Paragliding accident in Rawai puts 78 year old man in hospital

    At the Khao Dang View Point in the Phuket district of Rawai, a paragliding accident left a 78 year old man seriously injured. The incident took place near Naiharn Beach at a spot also called Windmill Viewpoint late in the afternoon on Monday. Officials have not released many details about the victim, only saying it was a 78 year old…

  • Thailand schedules general election for May 7, 2023

    Thailand schedules general election for May 7, 2023

    The Office of the Election Commission of Thailand (EC) tentatively scheduled the day of the general election next year for May 7. Registration for all candidates will be open from April 3 to April 7, 2023. The general election plan was announced by the EC today as the government’s four-year term of office is expected to end on March 23,…

  • Drug cartel in southern Thailand allegedly kidnaps Malaysian woman over drug feud

    Drug cartel in southern Thailand allegedly kidnaps Malaysian woman over drug feud

    Thai police are assisting Malaysian police in their search for a cosmetics agent who was abducted from her home in Tumpat in Kelantan state in Malaysia last week. Thai police believe she was smuggled across the border into southern Thailand where she is being held captive, according to a spokesperson. The New Straits Times reports that four men in a…

  • Security guard stabs woman who spurned his advances

    Security guard stabs woman who spurned his advances

    A security guard was stabbed to death by her colleague today after she spurned his advances at Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep in the Sathon district of Bangkok. The pair’s work colleagues revealed that the alleged murderer fell in love with the victim but she rejected him. The rescue team tried to save the 30 year old Anitta Yoosothana, who…

  • TAT expects Phuket Vegetarian Festival to make over 3 billion baht

    TAT expects Phuket Vegetarian Festival to make over 3 billion baht

    The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) says it expects Phuket’s upcoming annual vegetarian festival to rake in more than 3 billion baht of visitor money this year. The festival will be held from September 26 to October 4. Some 81,429 travellers on 506 international flights are due to visit Phuket during the festival. Meanwhile, 110,165 domestic travellers are due to…

  • Tangmo: ‘Speedboat gang’ to pay 2 million baht plus salary to Tangmo’s mother

    Tangmo: ‘Speedboat gang’ to pay 2 million baht plus salary to Tangmo’s mother

    Seven months after famous actress Nida “Tangmo” Patcharaveerapong fell from a speedboat and drowned in the Chaophraya River, the court has ordered all six defendants in the case to pay damages to Tangmo’s mother. Today, Nonthaburi Provincial Court ordered all six defendants – the “speedboat gang” – to pay a collective upfront sum of 2 million baht in damages to…

  • Russian man killed in Phuket motorbike crash

    Russian man killed in Phuket motorbike crash

    A Russian man has been killed after crashing his motorbike into a minivan in Phuket’s resort town of Karon yesterday. Rescuers arrived at the scene on the Karon–Patong Road to find the unconscious man lying on the road and heavily bleeding from his head. The rescuers rushed him to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead. They have not…

  • VIDEO: Taxi drivers fistfight in front of customers at Phuket shop

    VIDEO: Taxi drivers fistfight in front of customers at Phuket shop

    Several minivan taxi drivers got into a fistfight over customers outside Khun Mae Ju, a popular souvenir shop in Phuket. One man struck another in the head with an axe, and it was all caught on video. The video clip went viral on social media after people inside the shops filmed the taxi drivers exchanging punches and kicks through the…

  • Thailand’s drugs operation with Korea hailed a success

    Thailand’s drugs operation with Korea hailed a success

    Thailand hailed the success of a joint operation with Korea to stamp out drug trafficking between the two nations after their counterparts revealed they had collected a large supply of narcotics. This is the first time the Thai nation has sent agents to foreign shores to take part in such a joint operation. The Korea Customs Service (KSC) sent a team…

  • Roadside bomb blast kills police officer and injures four more in southern Thailand

    Roadside bomb blast kills police officer and injures four more in southern Thailand

    A roadside bomb blast killed one police officer and injured four more officers in Pattani province in southern Thailand yesterday. The officers were patrolling Mai Kaen district in a pickup truck when suspected insurgents hiding nearby detonated a roadside bomb in front of Mai Kaen Hospital at around 7.40pm. In the blast, the pickup truck was launched into a power…

  • SE Asia’s traffickers targeting the young and tech savvy

    SE Asia’s traffickers targeting the young and tech savvy

    Southeast Asia’s traffickers are targeting young and tech-savvy people to lure them into their devastating scams. The traffickers make adverts promising easy work and cushy benefits, drawing in thousands of young, educated victims. When the victims arrive at their destinations they are held captive and forced to work in online scam centres known as “fraud factories.” These include love scams,…