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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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Armed robber makes off with 160,000 baht from Phuket Tesco
Bank robberies are generally violent affairs, with lots of drama, some shots fired, and an injury or death. But this wasn’t the case when a stick-up occurred yesterday afternoon at a Tesco Lotus department store in Phuket. The cheeky armed robber wandered into the store in the Rawai area of Muang district shortly before 1pm and casually made off with…
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Aviation industry eyes 33% recovery this year, 100% in 2024
Airports of Thailand (AoT) says the aviation industry is making steady progress in recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and is forecasting a full recovery by the end of 2024. The AoT believe that in a year and a half, airplane and passenger traffic will finally recover to the levels they were at in 2019. The current prediction is that flight…
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Govt wants Thailand to be No.1 in Asian business market by 2027
The Deputy PM and Commerce Minister, Jurin Laksanavisit, has set an ambitious target for Thai brands and businesses to be top of the Asian market by 2027. The Deputy Spokesperson of the PM Office, Ratchada Thanadirek, yesterday reported that Commerce Minister Jurin was working on a project called “Promoting Thai Brands to the World” to develop Thai brands and businesses…
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Thai astronomer involved in bringing amazing James Webb Space Telescope images to us
All those amazing pictures we’ve seen from the new James Webb Space Telescope do have a small Thai connection. One Thai astronomer, Dr Nicha Leethochawalit of the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, was among the first astronomers to use the new space telescope to discover the oldest and farthest galaxy ever detected. She was part of the Grism Lens-Amplified…
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Thailand says 40 year old smallpox vaccines are effective against monkeypox
Thailand has a stockpile of smallpox vaccines in cold storage which were produced more than 40 years ago in 1979 and 1980. Not only are the vaccines still effective against smallpox, but they are 85% effective against monkeypox too, according to Thailand’s Department of Medical Sciences (DMS). The vaccines could be used in the instance that the global monkeypox outbreak…
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Irrigation department warn of flooding in central Thai provinces around the Chao Phraya River
Bangkok, and 10 other central Thai provinces, are being warned by the Department of Irrigation, of overflows from the Chao Phraya which will start tomorrow in the northmost provinces. The provinces affected are Uthai Thani, Chainat, Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, Suphan Buri, Lop Buri, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, and Samut Prakan, and Bangkok. People living near the Chao Phraya River…
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Three killed during graduation ceremony in the Philippines
A former city mayor from the restive southern Filipino province of Basilan, along with her executive assistant and a university security guard, were killed in a shooting in the Philippine capital Manila. The incident occurred at the Ateneo de Manila University before a graduation ceremony that was to be presided over by the Philippines Supreme Court chief justice. Rose Furigay…
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US leads international outcry over execution of 4 Burmese anti-government activists
The US State Department has reacted to the murder of four democracy activists in a state-sanctioned execution, promising that there would be “further measures” to punish the military junta. US State Department spokesperson Ned Price called on countries to refuse to recognise the junta as Myanmar’s rightful government refuses to sell sales of military equipment to the military-controlled nation. “All…
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2 men die in tragic rail accident in central Thailand
Two men were killed in a tragic accident this morning after being hit by a train in Sara Buri province, in central Thailand. One man stumbled and fell on a rail track while trying to cross it. Another man, seeing him fall, went to assist him but they both didn’t make it and were hit by the oncoming train at…
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4 tips about buying a condo in Thailand
Buying property in Thailand requires some good advice and a bit of reading-up before plunging yourself into the hundreds of opportunities, around the country. Condos, which a foreigner can own the freehold, have the potential to yield a good profit for your investment. Most condos have relatively low maintenance costs and the ability to use the property for residential or…
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Thai government agrees to continue subsidising diesel prices past July
The Oil Fuel Fund board has resolved to keep diesel prices around Bangkok and immediate provinces at 34.94 baht per litre until the end of July. The government, via the OFF Board, have been subsiding the country’s diesel prices since they started to rocket due to the current global fuel price crisis. The government, or specifically Thai taxpayers, have been…
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Leading academics & doctors in Thailand demand govt to pause cannabis bill
Some 851 doctors and alumni of the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, launched a campaign to get the Thai government to pause its cannabis decriminalisation bill for the safety of its children. Yesterday, the President of the Forensic Physician Association of Thailand, Smith Srisont, posted a document with a list of requests to the government demanding a “cannabis…
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Government scheme helps elderly Thais become social media influencers
More elderly Thais are using social media than ever before, but very few consider themselves ‘content creators.’ Government agency Thai Media Fund has started a digital training scheme to help Thailand’s aging population use the internet more effectively and generate their content, so they can use social media to turn their passions into profit. Almost 78% of Thailand’s 70 million…
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Outbound tourism rebound slowed by Covid-19, rising costs
The number of tourist arrivals into Thailand is slowly picking up, but tour operators are nervous about the near future outbound travel, with economic and health worries still a factor in worldwide travel. The president of the Thai Travel Agent Association said that the beginning of the rebound of outbound tourism has been kneecapped by a surge in new Covid-19…
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Thailand & Cambodian netizens row over lamduan flower
A row has broken out between Thai and Cambodian netizens over Cambodia’s national flower, which is featured on posters promoting the historical Thai movie Love Destiny 2. The Thai film studio GDH uploaded the poster on its official Facebook page on Saturday inviting audiences to reserve the tickets in advance as the film would be screened in five days on…
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Bangkok police shoot out tyres in dramatic car chase
A video is going viral of Bangkok police officers shooting out the tyres of a fleeing car that did a runner at a checkpoint in Ekkamai. The incident took place last night when Thong Lor police attempted to stop a red Mitsubishi Mirage at a checkpoint, but the driver refused and tried to speed off. At around 8pm yesterday, officers…
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Pattaya bar owner makes official complaint after foreigner goes kung-fu on front door
An owner of a bar in Pattaya has filed a complaint to police after a drunk Australian smashed a bar’s sliding front door and “urinated over it”. The bar owner requested 170,000 baht as compensation which was later agreed to by the attacker. Last Saturday, Nattida Ha-im, a 28 year old female owner of a bar in Soi Bua Khao,…
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Untold stories of Herculean cave rescue in Thailand
The heroic story of the Thai cave rescue has been told a number of times. We’ve read and heard about the Two British cave divers, John Volanthen and Richard Stanton, and their Herculean efforts to rescue the 12 boys and their football coach from the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand. But what about the untold stories, the…
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Health officials test 19 for monkeypox after contact with fugitive
After a Nigerian man fled Thailand upon being diagnosed with monkeypox and was subsequently captured in Cambodia, authorities have been tracking down anyone in contact with him to test them for the disease. Health officials have identified 19 high-risk people who came in close contact with the man and have now tested all of them for monkeypox. Results are still…
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Burmese junta executes 4 democracy activists
In the first executions in Myanmar in decades, the military junta killed four democracy activists they accused of terrorist activities. The executions came after a conviction in January that took place behind closed doors. The four men stood accused of creating pro-democracy militias that fought against the military junta after it seized power last February from the democratically elected government.…
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Phuket gold necklace thief arrested, Pattaya thefts still unsolved
After an apparent rise in gold necklace snatching crime, police in Phuket have managed to nab one man accused of grabbing a necklace from a woman on her motorbike a few days ago. The necklace that was grabbed as the woman rode her motorbike was gold with a pendant attached and is valued at about 35,000. The Deputy Inspector-General of…
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Bangkok surges back above 10,000 Covid infections per day
Covid-19 infections have surged back to over 10,000 infections per day, in Bangkok alone. This time driven by the BA.5 sub-variant, and mostly identified through community testing and ATK results. Health officials also admit that many people are testing themselves at home, taking days off work and not registering their results with the health care system. Thailand’s last wave, driven…
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Body of missing Thai – Belgian tourist found in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand
Rescue teams have found the body of a Thai – Belgian tourist who went missing after a white water rafting accident in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, on Friday. The body of 30 year old Nicholas Hinckxt was found in the Mae Taeng River in Mae Taeng district at around 2pm yesterday, some 10 kilometres away from where his boat capsized.…
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Thailand upgrades monkeypox alert to national level
Thai officials are on guard for monkeypox. The country has upgraded its monkeypox alert to the national level today. Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called an emergency meeting today after the World Health Organisation declared monkeypox a Global Health Emergency. This news comes after a Nigerian man, who was the first person recorded with monkeypox in Thailand, escaped to Cambodia.…
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Project proposal for Vietnamese city to become more walkable
Ho Chi Minh City officials are on a mission to make the Vietnamese city more walker friendly. In a proposed new pedestrian street project, the city will block 22 streets to traffic on weekends. The project will be spread into three phases between 2022 and 2025. In the first phase from 2022 and 2023, streets around the International Square roundabout…
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Fun while it lasted: New resolution to ban cannabis cigarettes
Thailand decriminalised the growing, sale, possession, and use of cannabis last month with very few rules or regulations in place to manage the newly legalised drug. Politicians soon announced that they had thought the legalisation would be used mainly for medical purposes, and never intended for it to be a legal recreational drug. Now government officials are taking steps to…
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Pattaya vendors grumpy about python and homeless people bothering customers
Just a normal day in Pattaya. Vendors in Pattaya are grumpy that homeless people have been bothering customers, and a huge python added to the chaos on Friday. According to vendors at South Pattaya’s Wat Chaimongkol Market, homeless people have been sexually harassing female customers, speaking crudely to them. Many vagrants camp out on sidewalks around the market. Then on…
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Monkeypox declared a Global Health Emergency by WHO
Monkeypox has been found in 74 countries around the world, including Thailand and now Cambodia, and the World Health Organisation (WHO)has now officially declared it a Global Health Emergency. The warning is the highest rating the WHO can assign, after nearly 17,000 people worldwide have been afflicted with the disease. The chief of the WHO held a press conference where…
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Rescuers carry injured Dutch hiker down steep mountain in South Thailand
Rescuers have carried an injured Dutch hiker in a stretcher down a mountain on South Thailand’s island of Koh Pha Ngan yesterday. The man, 48 year old Jan Harm Kedde, broke his ankle after slipping and falling on a rock on Hat Khom mountain. He had been hiking with a friend. After trekking down the mountain for two and a…
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Who is growing cannabis on Parliament grounds?
The legalisation of marijuana in Thailand came with very little oversight or restrictions, but one of the few rules quickly established was that no government officials or locations could grow, sell, or consume the plant. But over 100 cannabis plants have been discovered on the grounds of the Parliament in Bangkok this weekend. On Friday, furious winds tore down a…
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