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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Sponsored How one hospital visit in Thailand could cost more than your whole trip
Thailand is a favourite spot for travellers who want to enjoy more while spending less. From cheap street food to low-cost hotels and fun attractions, it’s easy to stretch your budget here. But there’s one thing many people don’t think...
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, February 20
Woman NOT happy with pick-up parked over her driveway | Car chase for two Nigerians on Cambodian border | Vandals leaving their mark in Krabi | How NOT to reverse a container truck | 23 tourists stung by jellyfish | 62 year long-term resident in Pattaya giving back to his community. Coming to you from the Floating Donut in Laguna…
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23 tourists stung by ‘Bluebottles’ in Songkhla
PHOTO: National Geographic Twenty-three tourists have been stung by bluebottle jellyfish, properly referred to as the Portuguese man o’ war (Physalis physalis), at two popular beaches in Songkhla during the past three days, a senior public health official reported today. Doctor Uthitsak Hariratanakul, chief Songkhla public health officer, said the 23 swimmers were injured by the jellyfish at the Chalathat…
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, February 19
Airport has 200,000 passengers in one day | Bikie gang member locked out of Australia after visit to Pattaya | German and Thai held over under-age prostitution | Popular farang YouTuber dies | Phuket’s Ao Po Grand Marina gets dragged into Premchai investigation | Four soldiers injured in explosion in Narathiwat | 7/11 looking to introduce ‘Seven Bank’ banking in…
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Public cynical about justice for ‘influential people’ – Survey
Although the investigation into construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta’s alleged illegal hunting is ongoing, the public says they have little confidence that he will ever be punished if found guilty. Nearly two-thirds, or 64.2 per cent, of people recently surveyed believe the case, where Premchai and three others are accused of poaching and possessing wildlife in a Kanchanaburi wildlife park, will…
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Senior DSI official faces probe over alleged rape, extortion
A disciplinary investigation is to begin next week into claims that a Department of Special Investigations official took a video of him raping a 38 year old Pattaya businesswoman at gunpoint in May 2015 and then used the tape to blackmail and extort 2 million baht from the woman. Justice Ministry deputy permanent secretary Thawatchai Thaikhiew said yesterday that the…
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Tougher screening for public transport drivers
Beginning on March 1, applicants for licences to drive public transport will have to submit a medical certificate in a form approved by the Medical Council of Thailand. The Department of Land Transport announced this week that the aim is to standardise its processing and increase efficiency in screening out people with health conditions that prohibit them from driving. Department…
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Kalasin rape, shooting suspect turns himself in
The 29 year old suspect, who allegedly shot a male third-year university student in the cheek in Kalasin’s Na Mon district early on Tuesday morning before abducting and raping a female sophomore student, has surrendered to police this afternoon (February 16). Rubber tapper Thisanu Phonarat, surrendered to Kam Moung police officers at a gas station belonging to his elder sister.…
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THAIGER TODAY Friday, February 16
Gong Xi Fah Cai! | Bangkok’s pollution moves further north | New 50 kph speed zones in the capital | Alleged Kalasin rapist/shooter on the loose | Premchai’s gone missing | Authorities NOT going to close Maya Bay | Cambodian parliament introduces new laws restricting free speech | 74 year old Brit found on deserted island off Chumpon.
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Police suspect illegal abortion clinic in Hua Hin
Prachuap Khiri Khan police are gathering evidence to apply for a court’s permission to search a clinic suspected of providing illegal abortion services in Muang Hua Hin municipality, following Tuesday’s discovery of four foetuses in garbage bins near a convenience store in Soi Hua Hin 68. Hua Hin superintendent Pol Colonel Sitthichai Srisopacharoenrat said police were tracking a male suspect…
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Muslim paramilitary soldiers injured in Yala bomb attack
Two Muslim paramilitary soldiers were severely injured in a bomb attack while they were escorting a group of teachers to a school in Yala province on Thursday morning, police said. Police said Muslim insurgents had detonated an IED hidden along the main road in Bannang Sareng village in Muang district at 7.30am. A team of seven paramilitary soldiers on four…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, February 15
‘Heavy traffic is causing pollution in BKK’ – Genius! | Thaksin and Yingluck now in HK | Witness of Australian ‘manslaughter’ in Pattaya speaks up | Changes to the collection of immigration data | UK Foreign Secretary jokes about Thailand’s sex tourism | Thailand mums are wanting smaller families | Encoached buildings on Koh Phi Phi being demolished.
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Keeping track of foreigners in Thailand – new e-passport data to be used
The Immigration Bureau and the Interior Ministry have been instructed to speed up the implementation of a single-platform online database of foreigners entering and leaving the Kingdom. The order was given by Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan when he chaired the meeting of the fifth government committee in charge of bureaucratic reforms at Government House. “The single platform database would…
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THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, February 14
Another Chinese tour bus crash on the notorious Patong Hill | Pollution levels starting to fall in BKK | UN Refugee Chief speaks out about repatriation of Rohingya | Thai Education Minister apologises to Prawit | British government questions Thailand over prison conditions | Three white tiger cubs get their first public outing | And where do all the Valentine’s…
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Going Gold – Thai/US Cobra Gold military exercises kick off
FILE PHOTO: Cobra Gold The biggest U.S. force in years has joined thel military exercise in Thailand on Tuesday despite controversy over the Thai junta’s invitation to neighboring Myanmar’s army – the Tatmadaw army has been accused of ethnic cleansing in the Rhakine state of Myanmar. The US scaled back attendance at Cobra Gold, Asia’s largest multilateral military exercise, after…
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83 year old man accused of raping four year old
An 83 year old man was arrested in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Muang district this morning over an accusation that he allegedly raped the four year old daughter of an in-law niece on February 2. The girl sustained such serious injuries from the alleged rape that she had to be treated at Maharat Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital, and was only discharged…
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Thaksin and Yingluck in Japan – Deputy PM
Deputy PM, Defence Minister and luxury watch enthusiast, General Prawit Wongsuwan, says that former PMs Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra are currently in Japan. Without further elaboration, Prawit added that he has ordered responsible agencies to look into the matter. He was speaking in Vientianne during his official visit to the country at the invitation of Lao government. Photos of Thaksin…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, February 13
American hands himself into police over Pattaya ‘manslaughter’ | Phuket market bans smoking | UK’s Foreign Secretary visits Thailand | Road death statistics continue to rise | Coal plant protestors go on hunger strike | Greenpeace says stop BKK smog at the source.
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Anti-coal protestors start hunger strike
A hunger strike was started today by two groups of protestors who say they will not eat until the government permanently cancels the coal-fired power plants in the South. A total 19 activists from Save Andaman from Coal and the Network of Songkhla-Pattani Residents Against Coal-Fired Power Plants kicked off their hunger strike in front of the United Nation headquarters…
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Getting ready for the big one – Myanmar’s earthquake threat
Special report from partners Voice of America Last month, the residents of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, felt a strong bump in the night. Their national leaders in Naypyidaw, the country’s thinly populated capital, were also stirred from their sleep. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck between the two cities, in the early hours of January 12. The Southeast Asian country is…
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Seeding the skies over Bangkok to ‘make’ rain to help with smog
The Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation Department is preparing to seed clouds above Bangkok in an attempt to ease the capital’s smog problems. Haze has spread over the capital over the past few days, causing a health hazard for vulnerable people, and leading Agriculture and Cooperatives minister Grisada Boonrach to order that rainmaking operations be carried out. Two of the…
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Southern power plant demonstrators vow to continue their protest in Bangkok
Opponents of coal-fired power plants have vowed to fight on after the Metropolitan Police designated a protest ban within a 50 metre radius of Government House, forcing the demonstrators to end their prolonged protest in front of the premises. Coal-fired power plant opposition groups yesterday insisted on their rights to stage peaceful protests and said they would appeal to the…
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The man who uncovered the watch scandal
The wristwatch scandal undermining the government can be credited to one man who wrote posts on his “investigative” website about all the 25 luxury watches allegedly worn by Deputy Premier and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan in recent years. The online portal CSI LA provided convincing information that led to public uproar, including photos of Prawit wearing the watches alongside details of…
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Reuters detail work of journalists detained in Myanmar
Reuters have released a report on ethnic killings in Myanmar, detailing research done by two of its reporters currently jailed in Myanmar. The news agency details the slaughter of 10 Rohingya men in the village of Inn Din, where Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo spoke with Buddhist neighbors who reportedly admitted to killing the men and burying…
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Two Shinawatra former PMs spotted shopping in China
Photo from Instagram @ingshin Fugitive ex-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was seen in a photo with her brother Thaksin, also a fugitive ex-PM, buying chestnuts in Beijing, China. The photo was published on Matichon Online website on Saturday afternoon. The two siblings were buying chestnuts in a mall in Beijing as part of Chinese New Year celebrations on February 16, Matichon…
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Thung Yai sanctuary chief files bribery complaint against Premchai
Chief Forest Ranger Wichian Chinwong has filed a bribery complaint against the president of Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD), Premchai Karnasuta, who is accused along with three companions of poaching and possessing wildlife at the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province. The four entered the sanctuary last Saturday before being captured by wildlife rangers on Sunday after they were…
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Lost tusk in pachyderm punch-up
Officials at Khao Yai National Park are standing by with medical gear in case more elephant bulls engage in combat over grazing rights – or over a female, as happened on Wednesday morning. Male elephants Plai Duan and Plai Sa-ard were duelling over a female from 7am Wednesday into the afternoon in the Pong Thung Kwang area. Plai Duan sustained…
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Love online costs 1 million baht
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, police are rounding up members of a gang of foreigners accused of running a “romance scam”. Accomplices are being sought after two Nigerians were arrested on Wednesday. Tourist Police Deputy Commissioner Pol Maj-General Surachet Hakpal said 31 year old Emeka Celestine Eze was apprehended at a condominium in Bangkok’s Bang Na area on Wednesday…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, February 8
Premchai house raids reveal weapons and ivory / infamous Tiger Temple to re-open / Krabi Governor says Phi Phi completely unprepared for fires / National police chief orders changes following shooting of on-duty policeman / UN will sit next week to discuss Roningya crisis.
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THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, February 7
Big fire on Phi Phi injures nine / 111 year old ‘fit and well’ in Krabi / head of Ital-Thai arrested for poaching / 11 year old girl dies after running race at school / Two youth arrested over murder at correctional facility / Police nab Hells Angel Damon Wait.
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Two charged with murder over Surat Thani Detention Centre murder
The case of a 17-year-old juvenile found strangled to death in a Surat Thani juvenile detention centre today (Tuesday) stemmed from a pre-existing dispute between two rivals, according to Sahakan Phetnarin, director general of the Juvenile Observation and Protection Department. The two teenage rivals, whose names have been withheld due to their age, have already been charged with the juvenile’s…
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