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 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...
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Pattaya: Australian arrested for selling sex tours on yachts
“On December 31, under the name of “AUSTHAI TOURS”, he advertised a boat trip with women supplied in the waters off the coast of Pattaya.” An Australian man has been arrested who police say offered a sex tour in Pattaya. They also say they believe 49 year old Stephen Allan Carpenter is mixed up in smuggling cocaine into Australia hidden in…
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Chiang Mai: Court asked to halt Doi Suthep construction and kick out the residents
Residents living in the controversial judicial buildings constructed on the slopes of Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai will have to drive past signs saying it’s a ‘NO MAN’S LAND’ every time they enter the property. The Doi Suthep Forest Reclamation Network is asking the Court of Appeals Region 5 to stop the ongoing construction at the controversial site. “We will…
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Bangkok: First execution in Thailand in nine years
PHOTO: Thai Rath Thailand has conducted its first execution since 2009. The Department of Corrections has confirmed that a convict has been executed by lethal injection at Bang Kwang Prison in Bangkok. 26 year old Theerasak Longji was convicted of robbing and killing a person with a knife in Trang, southern Thailand, in July 2012. The victim was stabbed 24 times. A…
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Bangkok: Taxi driver returns 270,000 baht cash
The Nation is reporting that a Bangkok taxi driver found cash worth 270,000 baht in Thai, Cambodian and US banknotes in a handbag at the weekend and handed it over to a radio station, which later managed to locate the Cambodian owner and return it to him. The passenger, 24 year old Op Simony Odum, got the money back from…
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Bamboo Island in Krabi floods with rising sea level
The sea level has risen up to 30 centimetres and caused flooding at Bamboo Island (Koh Mai Pai) in Krabi yesterday (June 18). Red flags have been put along the beach. Officers of Hat Noppharat Thara – Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, stationed at Koh Mai Pai, have set red flags along the beach to prevent swimmers going into the water…
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Regional: Thailand pitching ambitious plan to co-host 2034 World Cup
PHOTO: stadiumastro.com The 2018 event has barely started and local pundits are already pondering a pitch for the 2034 World Cup, 16 years away! The Straits Times is reporting that Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are set to launch a bid to joint host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, according to reports. Speaking at an event held on June 16, Fifa…
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Visa hassles for South African teachers
PHOTO: Study Abroad By Eric Haeg According to an official announcement from the Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, citizens from South Africa, “are advised to apply for visa (sic.) at the Royal Thai Embassy or Royal Thai Consulate-General in their respective countries if they do not reside in Malaysia.” This list also includes citizens of dozens of other African, Middle…
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Chiang Mai: Controversial housing estate to be ringed with ‘No Man’s Land’ signs
The Government brokered a deal where all but four apartments would have to be removed las month. Yet people are now living in the 45 houses on the slopes of Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. So what’s going on? The Doi Suthep Forest Reclamation Network said it would post “No Man’s Land” signs around the Chiang Mai mountain housing estate…
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Controlled use of kratom and marijuana to be decriminalised
By Pratch Rujivanarom There may be a time in the near future where local police aren’t required to chase around and arrest people using kratom and marijuana, in some situation and in small quantities. Decriminalisation has worked in some countries where it is followed by solid public education. How will Thailand handle decriminalisation of these drugs? New narcotics laws to…
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Bangkok: 30 sex offenders nabbed at Thai airports since the start of 2018
Thai Immigration are reporting successes using the new Advance Passenger Processing System where warnings come up on the screens of Immigration staff as people are processed on arrival at Thai airports. Daily News is reporting that Thai Immigration says 30 sex offenders have been arrested at five Thai airports since the start of this year. They claim that this represents about…
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Chonburi: Emotions spill onto the streets during World Cup match
Where there’s a World Cup match playing at a pub, there’s going to be alcohol. And where there’s long games there’s going to be some pent-up emotions. According to Sanook, violence erupted between a group of Thai and Chinese men during the Argentina vs Iceland World Cup match on Saturday night in Phanat Nikom, north of Pattaya and east of…
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Coastal erosion experts ringing alarm bells
“This is a big problem needing urgent solution.” Erosion is eating away five metres of land every year along a combined 42 kilometre long stretch of Thailand’s coastline. The situation is now so serious that a consulting firm is proposing that the government invoke an already-passed environmental law to protect the hard-hit coasts. Kittipoj Permpul, a public-participation expert at a consulting…
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Wife missing after pickup is swept into a Ranong canal
By Kanita Seetong Storms, high winds and flash flooding have wreaked havoc across the Andaman region over recent days. Flash floods have swept a pickup into a canal in Ranong’s Suk Samran district last night (Saturday), with one of the victims missing and feared dead. Ranong’s disaster prevention and mitigation chief Kittipon Wuttipongpat said the accident happened near the Wang…
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Bangkok: Be brave to speak, get better jobs and a better social life
(Translated) Young Thais students are still being subjected to a largely rote learning style of education. But some young Bangkokians are speaking out about widening their education and life to embrace the English language as well. And some Universities say they’re on the right track. tnamcot.com is reporting that Thais who are speaking English and conversing with foreigners have big advantages…
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Thai economic growth forecast projections up to 6% – World Bank
The World Bank is looking to boost projections for growth in the Thai economy. In the last financial quarter, expansion of the Thai economy hit a five-year high. Ulrich Zachau, the World Bank’s director for Thailand and regional partnerships, says that a stable outlook and signs that Thai business is investing again domestically are among the positive factors for the…
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Is a fresh crackdown on alcohol-related sales and businesses on the way?
The Thai junta is warning that it intends to enforce harsh measures regulating the advertising and promotion of alcohol, in a move that will affect thousands of businesses throughout the country. Details of the law, which affected business claim is vague and open to interpretation, are provided below. There has been a number of raids on pubs, clubs and hotels…
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Bangkok: A car and 500 motorcycle seized in road racing crackdown
Police in Samut Prakan province, just south east of central Bangkok city, have seized a car and some 500 motorcycles in a crack down on road racing last night (Friday). Pol Maj-General Surachet Hakpal said police from 14 police stations in Samut Prakan set up road checkpoints to check for vehicles that were illegally modified for racing. They impounded a…
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Pattaya: Pump Up Dance Club raided
PHOTO: Pump Up Club/Facebook Police raided a dance club pub in Pattaya early this morning (Saturday) for remaining open past the legal closing time and arrested 19 people over alleged drug abuse. Police from Pattaya Police station and the Tourist Police division 2 raided the Pump UP Pattaya pub at 3am after receiving complaints from residents of the neighbourhood that…
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Bangkok: Another 50 foreigners arrested in weekly immigration shakedown
In the latest of the weekly crackdowns on illegal immigrants, police in Bangkok have rounded up another 50 foreigners, for overstaying their visas and entering the Kingdom without the correct documentation. The Tourist police joined forces with other police agencies to search 87 areas around the country on Friday night and arrested 50 foreigners, mostly for overstaying their visa and…
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Up in smoke. 61 million meth pills and 486kg of crystal meth.
61 million meth pills and 486kg of crystal meth, 108kg of heroin, 122kg of opium, 10kg of ecstasy pills, 5kg of cocaine and 7.3 tonnes of marijuana and kratom leaves. Raids, stings and seizures around the country have netted an astonishing amount of drugs in recent months – almost one meth pill for every single Thai! So what happens to…
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Pattaya: 19th SingSiam war games in the Gulf of Thailand
PHOTOS: trattoday.com Military exercises are taking place in the northern Gulf of Thailand between Sattahip and Koh Samui. Col. Anthony Lee, commander of Singapore’s 188th Squadron, and Rear Adm. Thawatchai Muangkham, commander of the Thai Frigate Squadron, were on site for the 19th war games at the Sattahip Naval Base. “The SingSiam games give Thai forces a chance to improve…
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Pattaya: Koh Larn survey shows tourism over-whelming facilities on island
Consultants have completed a long-awaited survey of Koh Larn’s tourist capacity. The survey says it’s the first step toward new zoning laws to protect the island’s ecosystem. Ampai Sakdanukuljit, assistant director of the Tourism and Sports Council, officially presented the Silapakorn University report his group commissioned to Pattaya Deputy Mayor Apichart Virapal, Tourism Authority of Thailand Pattaya office Director Suladda…
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Youth warned to avoid World Cup gambling trap
In the hours leading up to the kick of the 2018 Fifa World Cup, advocates against young people gambling on the football were parading in downtown Bangkok. A 2017 survey found that 2.4 million Thais engaged in football gambling valued at a reported 140 billion (yes BILLION) baht. The survey also says that 82.6 per cent of secondary student punters…
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Regional: AirAsia says MAVCOM’s ‘damaging tourism growth’
PHOTO: Sputnik International ‘Now everyone can fly,’ but not as many as AirAsia would like. They’re going into a head to head battle with the Malaysian aviation compliance body, MAVCOM. AirAsia is accusing Malaysia’s aviation body, MAVCOM, of holding back the country’s aviation and damaging tourism growth. The airline made the accusations in a rebuttal of an earlier statement released…
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Hua Hin: 68 year old throws himself off fifth floor roof
Banmuang is reporting that a 68 year old Dutch man appears to have jumped from the fifth floor of a Hua Hin hotel. The man had been staying in the same hotel for the past month. It’s reported that many people from the next door Darun Suksa School saw the body as the school broke up for the day yesterday…
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Muslim students’ dress code ‘could be divisive’
“I am extremely worried and concerned that this move will widen rifts,” Wisoot Binlateh, the director of Sheikul Islam’s coordination centre in the South, said yesterday. Parents and academics are expressing concern over the Education Ministry’s move to leave it up to the schools and their monastic landlords to decide on the dress code for Muslim students. Thailand’s deep South,…
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Leading players want charter amended after election
A symposium “Thailand’s Future Democracy: Overcoming Traps and Dreams?”was held yesterday at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan Campus. Probable players in a future political arena, Abhisit, Chaturon and Thanathorn, see the junta’s legacy as barrier to genuine democracy. The Junta-sponsored charter, which imposes curbs on politicians, remains the prime target of big political parties who aim to replace it after the…
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60,000 counterfeit travel mugs seized in BKK raids
Most of us will have a branded 100 baht T-shirt somewhere in one of our drawers, maybe even a fake Louis Vuitton bag or wallet, or a Tag Heuer watch we haggled in a Patpong market for 1,500 baht. Fakes are everywhere in Thailand. But travel mugs? 60,000 travel mugs?! Some 60,000 plastic coffee cups, tumblers and mugs bearing brand…
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Illegal timbers seized in Phang Nga
A team of Border Patrol Police based in Phang Nga this week have seized 13 logs inside a palm plantation in Phang Nga. The discovery came after police received tip-offs about deforestation in Khura Buri, Phang Nga. More than 20 border patrol police investigated and found 13 logs size 2.50 – 2.80 metres in the forest. These logs are now…
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Sattahip: Grisly find on rocks near Navy School
A teacher’s assistant made a grisly find yesterday around rocks near the Chumpon Navy School, south of Pattaya. Sattahip police went to investigate. The remains are believed to have been washed up from the sea and are at least one to two months old. They were found in the Bang Saray area. They consisted of the hips and legs of…
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