Thailand News

Thailand news, politics, business, crime, and lifestyle—get breaking updates from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. Stay informed on Thai society, economy, tourism, and expat life with The Thaiger.

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    9 most common health issues covered by insurance for expats in Thailand

    Thailand is a popular destination for expats due to its affordable lifestyle and excellent healthcare system. However, settling in a new country often brings health concerns. To ensure you’re covered for the most common medical needs, understanding what expat health...

  • Burmese migrant killed in bus crash on way to make merit

    Burmese migrant killed in bus crash on way to make merit

    Tragedy struck yesterday as Burmese migrant workers made their way to make merit to mark Asanha Bucha at Wat Hua Thanon in Sadao district, in southern Thailand. One woman was killed and another 10 were injured when their minibus was hit by a truck. Witnesses to the accident at 5.35pm, in front of the Sadao Rubber Industry factory on Kanchanawanich…

  • Bangkok plans to give city’s hawkers a roof over their heads

    Bangkok plans to give city’s hawkers a roof over their heads

    Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt has turned his attention toward the city’s cluttered street vendors as his never-ending crusade to clean up the capital continues. The 56 year old city chief revealed the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is preparing to set up hawker centres as a permanent solution to the chaotic street vendor stalls strewn throughout the city. Hawker centres are…

  • Motorbike burns to a crisp in Bangkok road accident

    Motorbike burns to a crisp in Bangkok road accident

    A teenager is injured after crashing his motorbike into the barrier on the Vibhavadi Rangsit Road in Bangkok at around 1am. The young man said he bounced off the barrier and was flung more than 10 metres through the air. His red Honda PCX instantly set on fire and burned to a crisp. At around 1am, officers from Vibhavadhi Police…

  • Thailand gets into gear with 234 billion baht road investment

    Thailand gets into gear with 234 billion baht road investment

    The Ministry of Transport got into gear yesterday and agreed to invest in five road construction projects worth about 234 billion baht to make life easier for Thailand’s car owners. The Ministry of Transport signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Highways (DH), Department of Rural Roads (DRR), and Expressway Authority of Thailand (Exat), to oversee the first…

  • Objections to chemical castration law in Thailand

    Objections to chemical castration law in Thailand

    Objections have been raised to a controversial new law being pushed through by the Thai Senate that allows sex offenders the choice of having their prison sentences reduced if they agree to chemical castration. The Thai Senate approved the bill on Monday but the act hasn’t become law just yet. The legislation was first passed in the Lower House in March…

  • Football fans scramble for FREE Liverpool – Man U tickets in Bangkok

    Football fans scramble for FREE Liverpool – Man U tickets in Bangkok

    So many seats were available for tonight’s Liverpool versus Manchester United match in Bangkok that Rajamangala Stadium announced via Facebook that they would hand out free tickets to “The Match” at 3.30pm today. Football fans who forked out up to 25,000 baht per ticket are furious. Both teams have huge fan bases in Thailand, so everyone expected that the 59,000+…

  • SOS & Allianz Ayudhya hungry to feed Thailand

    SOS & Allianz Ayudhya hungry to feed Thailand

    Scholars of Sustenance joined hands with Allianz Ayudhya to launch Thailand’s first Cloud Food Bank in a bid to redistribute over 600 tons of surplus food by the end of the year. Bangkok-based SOS is an international food rescue foundation committed to feeding people suffering from starvation while Allianz Ayudhya is a leading Thai insurance company with a conscience. Globally,…

  • Communication cables set fire in Bangkok

    Communication cables set fire in Bangkok

    At around 7am this morning, communication cables caught fire causing a big blaze in Bangkok. The fire occurred at Soi Lad Phrao 111 in Khlong Chan subdistrict, Bang Kapi district. No injuries were reported. Firefighters from Hua Mak Fire Station received a notification of the fire at 7.21am and rushed to the scene. The firefighters successfully extinguished the fire. When…

  • Rise in holiday travel matches rise in severe Covid infections

    Rise in holiday travel matches rise in severe Covid infections

    The 5-day holiday weekend is driving up tourism numbers, but there also seems to be a rise in patients with severe Covid-19 infections that the Department of Disease Control says will likely increase from holiday travel. This warning came from the epidemiology director of the DDC, who laid out increases in severe coronavirus infections as well as those who require…

  • Buddhist monks save child from drowning in the Chao Phraya river

    Buddhist monks save child from drowning in the Chao Phraya river

    Two Buddhist monks from Wat Bang Sai temple, located on the waterfront in Samut Prakan province, jumped into the Chao Phraya river on Saturday and saved a child who was drowning. Once 13 year old Khanin recovered from the incident, he explained that he was swimming with his friends when the water underneath him suddenly became very cold. He said…

  • UPDATE: Woman’s corpse “naked and covered in bite marks” found in northeast Thailand

    UPDATE: Woman’s corpse “naked and covered in bite marks” found in northeast Thailand

    UPDATE: Today, police arrested the man suspected of murdering his wife, Daeng, whose body was found naked and covered in bite marks at her home in Buriram on Monday. Police detained and arrested Nithipot, aka “Dao” at a relative’s house in Huai Thalaeng district in Nakhon Ratchasima province this morning. Police brought him back to Buriram for questioning at Phutthaisong…

  • Vistara launches new nonstop Thailand – India route

    Vistara launches new nonstop Thailand – India route

    Vistara Airlines is launching nonstop flights between Mumbai and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport 5 times per week, starting next month on August 5. Vistara’s 3 cabin Airbus A320neo aircraft will operate the route on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The new route is the airline’s second service to the Thai capital. In August 2019, Vistara launched direct flights between Delhi…

  • US billion smart city gets green light in Pattaya

    US$37 billion smart city gets green light in Pattaya

    Plans to build a US$37 billion smart city in Chon Buri got the go-ahead yesterday by the Eastern Economic Corridor Policy Committee. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, who chaired the meeting, revealed the smart dream hub can be realised thanks to public and private investment in automotive, robotics, healthcare and logistics companies. The investment will create about 200,000 jobs and accommodate 350,000…

  • Thai passenger traffic and flight schedules on the increase

    Thai passenger traffic and flight schedules on the increase

    Domestic travel in Thailand is in for a good July, with two long weekends and airlines starting to add to their schedule, resuming flights and frequency that have been otherwise subdued. The Aeronautical Radio of Thailand and the International Air Transport Association are reporting an increased pace of domestic flights in Thailand, matching the general global trend. Nopasit Chakpitak, the…

  • Missing Frenchman found drowned at Ko Chang Lonely Beach

    Missing Frenchman found drowned at Ko Chang Lonely Beach

    The missing body of a Frenchman lost at sea at Koh Chang’s Lonely Beach yesterday was found this morning. The 22 year old Frenchman, identified as Ramkurran, 22, went swimming yesterday with his Spanish girlfriend, Clara Crospo Canellas, and did not return to shore. The 21 year old woman’s dead body was found at about 8.10am floating in the sea…

  • Man in northeast Thailand pays 3.9 million baht dowry… for a buffalo

    Man in northeast Thailand pays 3.9 million baht dowry… for a buffalo

    The owner of a “high so” farm in Korat, northeast Thailand, gave a “dowry” of 3.9 million baht – in cash – for a 22 month old male buffalo named Chaoboonterm from Khon Kaen province. The man said he wants to breed the buffalo, which he said is a “textbook” Thai beauty. Supachai Winitphon, aka “Sia Noi” is the owner…

  • Pattaya wants to enact city’s own cannabis-control law

    Pattaya wants to enact city’s own cannabis-control law

    Pattaya’s council is already fed up of waiting for a national cannabis act to be passed, so the city has started to draft its own cannabis-control law. Pattaya’s Deputy Mayor Thitiphan Phettrakul chaired a meeting on Friday to discuss rules and regulations needed to control and prohibit the use of cannabis and hemp, especially in schools. Cannabis was delisted as…

  • “Corpse” floating in Bangkok canal turns out to be old man meditating

    “Corpse” floating in Bangkok canal turns out to be old man meditating

    Onlookers rightly called the police when they saw a stiff body floating along a murky Bangkok canal. In a frenzy, dozens of people were shouting from the canal side, but the floating man did not respond. Everyone thought he was dead. Until… A brave man jumped into the canal and waded through the mud to check whether the floating man…

  • Driver critical after collision involving 5 vehicles in Phuket

    Driver critical after collision involving 5 vehicles in Phuket

    A driver is in critical condition after a collision on a road toward Phuket International Airport involving five vehicles. The 26 year old pickup driver now in a critical state, Inyat Kendphet, tried to overtake a taxi on Don Chom Thao Road in Moo 4, Thepkrasattri, but was unable to move back into his own lane in time to avoid…

  • Father & 7 year old son shot as gang warfare erupts in Pattaya

    Father & 7 year old son shot as gang warfare erupts in Pattaya

    A 7 year old child and his father were shot as gang warfare erupted on the streets of Banglamung district at the weekend. The father and son were caught in the crossfire as two rival gangs of teenagers clashed in a Pattaya neighbourhood on Saturday night. The neck of the boy, Nong Moodaeng, was grazed by a bullet while his…

  • Driver allegedly drunk in fatal car crash in Pattaya

    Driver allegedly drunk in fatal car crash in Pattaya

    One man died and another was seriously injured yesterday in an alleged drunk-driving incident in the Sri Racha district, between Chon Buri and Pattaya. Driver Somsak Phuchanha was killed instantly after his car crashed into a road barrier causing an electricity pole to collapse onto his vehicle while driving home from a music concert yesterday morning in the Sri Racha…

  • Flash flood warning issued for 22 provinces of Thailand

    Flash flood warning issued for 22 provinces of Thailand

    Thailand’s Office of the National Water Resources warns that 22 provinces of Thailand are at risk of heavy rain and flash flooding this week, from July 11 – July 15. Areas at risk of flooding include… Northern Thailand Phayao Province, especially Chiang Kam District, Pong District, Pu Sang District and Ngao District. Lampang Province, especially Chae Hom District, Mueang Pan…

  • A jump in Thailand’s Consumer Confidence Index

    A jump in Thailand’s Consumer Confidence Index

    Thailand’s economy is slowly but surely making a comeback after being devastated by Covid-19 restrictions. Last week, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce reported that Thailand’s Consumer Confidence Index had risen. The country’s CCI rose from 40.2 to 41.6 in June, the UTCC said. This news comes after Thailand’s CCI had been in decline for several months. April’s…

  • Poll: 92% don’t earn more than their expenses, oil price main factor

    Poll: 92% don’t earn more than their expenses, oil price main factor

    A new poll revealed that over 90% of people are not earning more money than their expenses, and that, of all the expenses people are grappling with in the current economy, oil prices are the main factor they say has the greatest effect on their daily lives. The new poll, conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration, saw the…

  • Officials say Thailand’s Covid-19 cases to peak in September

    Officials say Thailand’s Covid-19 cases to peak in September

    Thai officials announced Friday that the number of Covid-19 cases in the country is expected to start rising next week. The CCSA said that in September, the number is expected to hit a peak. The CCSA added, however, that if people follow the Public Health Ministry’s suggestions to avoid crowded spaces and public gatherings, daily infections will start dropping from…

  • Prachin Buri shocked by suicide of local official’s wife

    Prachin Buri shocked by suicide of local official’s wife

    The wife of a local Prachin Buri official was found dead in a car of an apparent suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The chairman of the Tambon Administration Organisation’s wife was found lifeless inside a vehicle that was in the car park of a department store on Saturday afternoon. The gunshot and death were reported to police in Muang…

  • Indian man arrested for tearing out passport pages to hide Thai trip

    Indian man arrested for tearing out passport pages to hide Thai trip

    We all have secrets from our past, and some may go to great lengths to hide them, especially from their family or their mates. But a man in Pune, India went a little too far when he was arrested for tearing out pages from his passport before getting married to hide trips to Thailand from his wife. The man was…

  • Mobile app connects tourists to police & Thai rap song threat to national security | Weekend Update

    Mobile app connects tourists to police & Thai rap song threat to national security | Weekend Update

    TAT promotes ‘I Lert U’ mobile app to connect tourists to police, Court bans rap song for being a threat to Thailand’s national security, Thailand tourism: India No.1 country sending tourists and nearly 1 million people approved to grow the green in Thailand. All this and your questions answered on Sundays weekend update.

  • “I strongly urge the Health Minister to reveal the actual number of new Covid cases” – Thai doctor

    “I strongly urge the Health Minister to reveal the actual number of new Covid cases” – Thai doctor

    A Thai physician is calling out Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, claiming they are not publishing accurate data on the actual number of Covid-19 infections. He claims that there is a cover up of the real numbers currently being disclosed to the public. The Deputy Minister of Health Dr Sathit Pitutecha claims that the actual number of current infections is…

  • Court bans rap song for being a threat to Thailand’s national security

    Court bans rap song for being a threat to Thailand’s national security

    A rap song has been banned by the Court for being seditious and a threat to Thailand’s national security. The song, Patiroob (meaning reform), by Rap Against Dictatorship, was blocked on the YouTube platform as a result of a Ministry of Digital Economy and Society petition to the Court that it should be prohibited under the terms of the Computer…