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.
-
Sponsored Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?
Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
-
THAIGER TODAY Thursday, March 15
Dog and cat registration may become compulsory | Premchai shows up to acknowledge charges | ONE…BIG…SNAKE | BKK Japanese restaurants reject fish from Fukushima | Mercedes invests in local electric car plant | Thanathorn’s new ‘Future’ party launched this morning.
-
21 year old arrested over assault on 82 year old following Facebook campaign
A young motorcyclist surrendered to police last night (Wednesday) evening following a Facebook campaign, which saw a reward of 60,000 baht being raised for his arrest, after he was recorded on video kicking and hitting an elderly man in Bangkok. 21 year old Narathorn Sodetiyung reportedly admitted that he had assaulted 82 year old Jaroon Maneephan after the latter knocked…
-
Monster python caught and released in Nakhon Si Thammarat
Snake catchers in Nakorn Sri Thammarat have caught a monster python. The reptile was 5.5 meters long and weighed 100 kilograms. It took ten people to hold it for the video. As you can see the python wasn’t too happy about being in the selfie. It was spotted by a rubber worker who saw it curled up by a termite…
-
Pet registration on the way
It looks like Thailand is going to get tough on people who abandon their pets and also provide better control for disease outbreaks like the current Rabies infections around the Kingdom. New laws are being proposed that will require pet owners to register and microchip their animals. This is common practice in most western countries and allows lost animals to…
-
THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, March 14
Rabies situation ‘under control’ | Motorbike driver lucky to walk away from accident | No toilets at tsunami museum | BKK motor tollways free over Songkran | Prosecution case ready over Toyota Thai Football League match-fixing | FBI attempts to interview ‘sex-therapist’ couple who ‘know things’ | Indian man and Thai accomplice arrested over visa scam.
-
Pattaya police on the hunt for ‘amorous couple’
Tourist police are trying to locate and take legal action against a foreign couple who were caught on video having sex on Dong Tan beach in Pattaya City. The couple appear in a 31 second clip that was taken at 8am on Sunday and widely shared on social networks. The video shows an unidentified man, who looks like a westerner,…
-
“Your white handsome man is really a dark skinned scammer!” Tourist police warning
The Thai tourist police have produced a Facebook warning for Thai women about Romance Scams. One of the frames shows a cartoon white man who they say is handsome and rich. But towards the end the police say that he is more than likely dark skinned and after your money. The advice says that middle aged and middle class Thai…
-
Kratom delivery kills two
A car transporting Kratom leaves crashed into an innocent pedestrian then careered into a drain, killing both victim and driver this morning (March 13) in Krabi Province. A 31 year old man from Sadao, Songkhla, Kusol Kaewrattana, lost control of his Toyota Fortuner that was transporting 30 sacks of Kratom leaves and crashed into 68 year old Lek Sae-Iew, who…
-
THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, March 13
National ban on darts boards | Premchai denied postponement to acknowledge his bribery charges | Daring escape by pick-up in Rayong | Air pollution returns to Bangkok | Boat sinks off Krabi | Disability campaigner threatens to sue BTS and BKK Authorities | Police nab a pick-up with 1,800 kg of beef; that’s one BIG BBQ!!
-
Banned! Dart board ban now in effect across Thailand. Bars urged to get boards registered.
Thailand’s ban on bars and entertainment venues allowing punters to play darts is now in affect nationwide. In January, officials in Pattaya raided bars along Soi 6 to confiscate the ‘illegal’ dart boards.Bar owners and staff were told that venues must now have a dart board license if they wanted to be able to allow customers to play the popular…
-
500kg of garbage washed onto national park beach every day
From 400 to 500 kilograms of garbage had been washed by waves onto a beach on Koh Rung in the Mu Koh Chang National Park in Trat each morning during the past week, the park chief said today (Monday). Kosit Nilrat said he had assigned 17 officials to clean up the beach at Ao Bor of Koh Rung every morning…
-
THAIGER TODAY Monday, March 12
New faces on the political scene | Rabies Epidemic Zone for Nonthaburi and Bangkok | Fire in Pattaya’s Walking Street | 27 tourists arrested on island near Ranong | Spate of drownings over weekend | Guy in hospital with amnesia, ummm, actually wanted by police… BUSTED!
-
Rabies survey shows widespread ignorance
Amid a major outbreak of rabies nationwide, including three human deaths so far this year, a survey reveals major misunderstandings among the public about the disease. The Public Health Ministry survey shows that up to 60 per cent of the nearly 12,000 people surveyed wrongly believed that rabies could be cured. Additionally, 34 per cent did not know that death…
-
Fire in Pattaya’s Walking Street. Two injured.
Bars in Walking Street Pattaya were in flames last night (Saturday) after a transformer exploded in the packed red light district. Two tourists were rushed to hospital. Witnesses say there was a large explosion around 10pm. The blaze quickly spread to neighbouring bars as motorbikes parked on the street burst into flames as well. Dozens of bars in a plaza…
-
90 arrested, 74 motorcycles seized in crackdown
Bangkok police arrested 90 motorcyclists and pillion riders and seized 74 modified motorcycles in a crackdown on street racing on Bangkok’s streets. At the end of the operation on Friday night, tourist police deputy chief Pol Lt-General Surachet Hakpal held a press conference at 2.30am early on Saturday on the main ground in front of Tesco Lotus Extra on Rama…
-
Nearly 1300 houses damaged after week of ‘freak storms’
The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation says that summer storms have damaged 1,293 houses in 24 Thai provinces. And one person has been killed as a result of the storms, primarily in the north-east and central provinces. The storms have hit the 24 provinces between March 5-8. The director-general, Chayapol Thitisakdi, says summer storms have hit 189 villages in 57…
-
Briton dies on bus from Bangkok to Phetchabun
A Thai passenger was horrified to discover Thursday night that he had sat for hours next to a dead British passenger on board an air-conditioned bus from Bangkok to Phetchabun. 61 year old Michael Richarddeen was discovered dead in his bus seat at 7.30pm when the Bangkok-Phu Rua bus stopped at a Phet Prasert bus parking point on Saraburi-Lomsak…
-
Rama X banknotes go into circulation from April 6
The first banknotes bearing a portrait of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn will be issued on April 6, Chakri Day. The Bank of Thailand announced on Thursday that, in accordance with permission granted by the palace, it would release banknotes bearing an image of King Rama X that day in the denominations of 20, 50 and 100 baht 500 baht…
-
Accelerating Rabies vaccinations in Trang
There have been three deaths in Kalasin province linked to Rabies. And some suspected cases around Bangkok. The vaccination program in Trang brings it all a bit closer to home. Phairoj Intharasri, chief livestock officer in the southern province, said Muang, Huay Yod, Palian and Wang Wiset districts have been on rabies alerts since late February or March. His office…
-
Has Alexa been laughing at you?
Voice recognition personal assistants are all the rage at the moment, sometimes with hilarious results. Alexa is a offering from Amzon and might be having the last laugh. (By the way Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos was found to be the world’s richest man in a Bloomberg article today). Anyway, Amazon is promising to keep virtual assistant Alexa from spontaneously cackling,…
-
THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, March 7
Outgoing tourism will rise to 10 million this year | Rabies precautions in BKK | Thai Cabinet waters down the fines for illegal foreign workers | Premchai’s wife will be charged for owning elephant tusks | Bank of Thailand has laid down the foundations for banking agents | Aussie firefighter helping out in Lampang | Krabi residents support closing down…
-
E-commerce sites will be blocked if they don’t pay local VAT
Do you shop online? Plenty do, and increasingly retail is heading offshore and the main winners are Thai Post. A legal loophole, allowing foreign e-commerce companies to avoid paying Thai VAT, may soon be plugged with new legislation. But the Thai Revenue Department is threatening to block giant foreign e-commerce websites if they don’t pay VAT taxes in the future,…
-
THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, March 6
More details about alleged ‘tapes’ from Belarus escort | ‘Freak storms’ for central and northern Thailand | Latest in ‘furious aunties’ case | Smog ‘very bad’ in north | 69 year Dutchman and 19 year old Thai in custody over prostitution and human trafficking | Labour Department being asked to ‘fast track’ migrant registration | Krabi Airport runway repairs on…
-
What does Anastasia Vashukevich know?
PHOTOS: Instagram The raid on a ‘sex seminar’ in love-making in Pattaya last week has grown into an international story of intrigue with links to the ‘Russia-meddling-in-US-election’ ongoing investigation. A Belarusian escort, with close ties to a powerful Russian oligarch said from behind bars in Bangkok, yesterday that she had more than 16 hours of audio recordings that could help…
-
Conservation group to protest if Premchai charges not pursued
The Seub Nakhasathien Foundation has threatened to stage protests if police fail to pursue the charge of deliberately killing wildlife against construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta. “Definitely, there will be people taking to streets in that case,” Sasin Chalermlarp, the conservation group’s president, said on Monday. He spoke after a perceived delay in the police investigation into allegations that Premchai and…
-
THAIGER TODAY Monday, March 5
Thai police getting a ‘make-over’ | Outrigger resorts being sold to Singha Estate | New flights, new locations meanwhile Thai Airways struggling | Parents being urged to watch kids while swimming | 79% approve of poll next February | 40 year old hunter shoots relative.
-
Thai Airways continues to struggle against newer, nimble competitors
Fierce competition and rising fuel costs are said to be the main cause of Thai Airway’s tough last year. Thai’s operating profit for the last year was down nearly 30% to 2,856 million baht. This included the parent airline and all its subsidiaries. The main culprit, according to TTR Weekly, was a 24.2% increase in fuel prices for its planes.…
-
Over 40 new parties registered in one day
By Kas Chanwanpen As many as 42 groups of people requested to establish new political parties on the first day of pre-registration organised by the Election Commission (EC) yesterday. The EC’s head office at Government Complex was full of energy as hundreds of prospective party founders and their supporters lined up to reserve the names and logos of new parties.…
-
Train derails at a Trang construction site
State Railway of Thailand officials and workers were clearing the tracks today (Thursday) after a Bangkok-Trang express train derailed this morning a few kilometres from the Trang Train Station. No one was killed or injured in the incident, railway engineering official Chairat Duansung said. The derailment, which led to the 14-car train’s last carriage going off the tracks, took place…
-
Pattaya detained Belarusian escort says she has dirt in the Trump-Russia case
A Belarusian woman who was arrested in Pattaya over the weekend is seeking assistance from the United States, claiming she has information about links between Russia and US President Donald Trump, the Washington Post has reported. Anastasia Vashukevich, an escort service worker from Belarus – who became well known after filming a yacht trip with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.