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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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?...
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Taxi OK project in Krabi
Following its implementation in Bangkok last month, ‘Taxi’ OK’ is now coming closer to Phuket. The latest taxi ‘Taxi OK’ campaign has been launched in Krabi, aiming to ensure that no passenger would be rejected no matter where they request to travel to, amongst other new improvements to taxi services. Krabi Land Transport Office Chief, Laddawan Chinnasatian, said today (January…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, February 6
Chinese year brings 18% rise in tourists year-on-year | A new ban from the ‘fun police’ | Tokyo Stock Market opens down 4% today | Smog a problem for Central and Northern Thailand | Woman survives awful crash in north-east | Van and pick-up crash in Krabi kills one, injures 10.
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Facebook page reveals soldiers were ordered to distort online poll
The Junta could have shot itself in the foot after an online information operation targeting websites and social media has been revealed. Analysts say “this casts the Government’s credibility in a bad light, which could eventually lead the public to lose trust in the military government”. The military has been thoroughly embarrassed in its attempt to distort a poll held…
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Property boom – firms acquire land worth nearly 100 billion baht
Twelve listed property firms have announced investment budgets worth between 98.04 and 99.04 billion baht to acquire land to develop residential projects worth between 385.15 billion and 385.64 billion baht during 2018, according to a survey by The Nation. Over half of the investment budget from the firms will come from their initial cash while others will issue debentures worth…
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Saucy coffee shop PR stunt backfires
Police are considering pressing charges against the owner of a coffee shop in Chon Buri’s Sattahip district, who posted a video clip and photos of two models wearing not much more than a barista apron and underwear while serving coffee to customers. The photos and video clip, meant as an advertisement to attract more visitors to the coffee shop, have…
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Coal power plants shelved for at least three years
The Thai Ministry of Energy has decided to put on hold two coal-fired power plant projects in Krabi and Thepa district of Songkhla for three years pending additional environmental and health impacts assessments and environmental impact studies. Energy Minister Siri Chirapongphan says the ministry would inform the cabinet its decision to put off the two controversial projects and, at the…
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Students satirise Thai politics in annual pre-game parade
Chulalongkorn and Thammasat University students took the opportunity at the traditional football match between the country’s two oldest universities this afternoon (Saturday) to mock prominent political figures. The students used the pre-game parade to satirise the luxury watch scandal involving Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan. They also targetted what they saw as double standards in the judicial system and the…
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January’s national road carnage up 65% – year on year
With the Christmas/New Year road madness out of the way it’s now time to assess the road toll numbers for the first month of the year. After all the publicity leading up to the Christmas/New Year period the numbers are sure to drop. Right? No. In January 2017, 947 died on Thailand’s roads. For January 2018 the number jumped to…
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Woman escapes an alleged sexual assault in a BKK mall
A woman escaped an alleged sexual assault by a Bangkok mall security guard on Thursday morning thanks to the timely aid by passers-by, according a Thai user of Facebook, who shared a video clip of the incident and told the story as a precautionary tale. A Facebook user named “Atom Kamolphu” warned that women should beware going alone to public-access…
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Southern police uninjured as Narathiwat bomb detonates
By Narong Nuansakul Police patrolling an area in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district to safeguard teachers narrowly escaped injury on Thursday morning when a roadside bomb exploded near them. Only the wooden planks of a kerbside stall, which absorbed the force of the blast, prevented serious harm. Ethnic Malay insurgents are suspected of detonating the bomb at 8am on Highway 4084…
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Butt out on 24 Thai beaches
Officials on Thursday began strictly enforcing a ban on smoking on beaches, with offenders facing a possible year in prison and a 100,000 baht fine. The Marine and Coastal Resources Department announced a strict ban on smoking at 24 beaches in 15 provinces to begin with. The aim is to protect the environment, such as by reducing the number of…
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Thaiger Today February 1
Smoking ban enforcement starts today | Yingluck’s assets seized | British Embassy sold in BKK for record amount | Lunar eclipse put on a show, but not in Phuket | ‘Last kiss’ for French and Thai murder plotters | Government uses strategic lawsuits to quell dissent.
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Activists report Thepa power plant concerns to UN
Representatives of the Thepa coal-fired power plant opposition group went to the UN offices in Bangkok yesterday to report their concerns about the project. The group also emphasised in a statement that it would continue its prolonged peaceful demonstration in front of Government House every day until the government definitively revokes the 2,200 megawatt coal-fired power plant project in Songkhla’s…
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Graham needs a triple bypass. Doesn’t have health insurance.
The plight of a British man highlights the risks for foreigners living in Thailand without health or medical insurance. Story by ThaiVisa… Graham Briar, who uploads videos about life in rural Thailand to his YouTube channel Graham & Pie, urgently needs a triple heart bypass operation but with no medical insurance and not enough money to pay for surgery he…
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Frenchman confesses to murdering Italian love rival. Re-enactment yesterday.
The much publicised murder of an Italian man, in which his Thai ex-wife and her French boyfriend have been implicated, apparently has been solved after police said the Frenchman had confessed to the killing. Pol Colonel Chaisathien Maneechak, from Bung Nara Police Station in Phichit province, said French national 34 year old Rigaux Amaury had confessed to stabbing to death…
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Drug arrest in Yala links to bigger network
Police announced on Tuesday the arrest the previous day of a local man in Yala’s Muang district and seized 30,000 “yaba” amphetamine pills valued at 2.4 million baht on the street and said they would continue to investigate to apprehend the man’s accomplices. Yala police chief Pol Maj-General Krisada Kaewchandee told a press conference that police had arrested a rubber-tapper…
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The final search – ‘Ocean Infinity’ looks for MH370
Just days after efforts to find Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 kicked back into gear, details have emerged on the man behind what has been called the “final” search for the missing aircraft. The private company Ocean Infinity has begun a 90 day search for MH370. After several failed attempts to locate the missing Boeing 777, the latest attempt by the…
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, January 29
Krabi coal fire plant hearings get no opposition | Frenchman nabbed over Italian’s murder in Tak | Thailand voted the Number One ranking of the list of Best Countries to Start a Business | Anxious wait for Thai fishing ‘yellow card’ to lifted | Wildlife Selfie Code launched | ‘Upcycling the oceans’ event pulls nearly a tonne of rubbish off…
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Workers seek help after ‘false promise’ of jobs in Australia
Fourteen workers in Chaiyaphum filed complaints with police on Monday stating that they had been cheated by a man who charged them money based on a promise to find them jobs in Australia. The workers filed the complaint at Muang Chaiyaphum Police Station at 9.30am, with the acting Chaiyaphum job-placement officer, Thawatchai Upanan, receiving the complaints at the station. The…
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Back to the future. Democrats looking over their shoulder for election candidate.
By SOMROUTAI SAPSOMBOON The future of Chuan Leekpai, the Democrat Party’s chief adviser and former leader, is the subject of speculation as some muse that he will return as its chief ahead of the next general election. The speculation stems from two separate assumptions – that the Democrats and the Pheu Thai Party may join forces to prevent the junta’s…
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THAIGER TODAY Friday, January 26
Latest announcements about Smart Visa | Re-enactment of Israeli mob hit in Samui | 3 road deaths on Patak Road, Karon in 24 hours | Police raid illegal hostels in Koh Pha Ngan | Monster drug haul in BKK | Bans on catching and eating seahorses AND official bans on smoking on some Thai beaches starts next week.
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2019 Thai election looking more likely
The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) late on Thursday passed the MPs election bill with a clause that delays it coming into effect for 90 days after its promulgation. The members voted 213 to zero with four abstentions. The bill was passed after almost 14 hours of deliberations on Thursday. In the second reading of the bill, the stipulation deferring its…
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Six illegal ‘foreign-owned’ hostels closed on Koh Pha Ngan
Troops and police arrested two foreigners and four Thais on Wednesday for allegedly running six hostels without licence on the tourist destination Koh Pha Ngan in Surat Thani province. A Dutch man and an Italian man were arrested and charged with operating hotels without licence and carrying out business prohibited to aliens. The four Thais were charged with acting as…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, January 25
THAIGER TODAY, Thursday, January 25…. The ‘S’ word in Bangkok | Why can’t our taxis work like this? | AIDS levels dropping in ASEAN | PM pleads with media to drop Prawit ‘chatter’ | Charged Israeli mobsters heading to Samui to recreate crime | Philippines volcano sparks evacuations.
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Tight security in Samui for re-enactment of Israeli hit-and-run attack
Two Israelis accused of killing a compatriot on Koh Samui will re-enact the alleged crime on Sunday surrounded by dozens of heavily armed police. 24 year old Dolev Zuarez and 26 year old Eval Bokal were arrested at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport about five hours after they allegedly killed 34 year old Maor Mallil and injured his girlfriend, Rashel Oshana,…
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Thailand’s Kane Shepherd setting the pace in the Formula Gulf Academy
Held at the billion dollar facility built on Yas Island specifically to host Abu Dhabi’s Formula One World Championship Grand Prix events, Rounds 3 & 4 were dominated by one of Thailand’s most promising young racing drivers, Kane Shepherd. Kane, who is also contesting the SEA F4 championship, was back in the UAE to gain valuable coaching from Formula Gulf…
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Thailand’s opium cultivation “down by 40%”
The cultivation of opium is on the decline in Thailand, but the illegal practice persists in several northern districts, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board reported this week. Secretary-general Sirinya Sitdhichai cited remote rural highlands in Chiang Mai’s Om Koi, Mae Taeng and Chiang Dao districts and in Tak’s Umphang, Mae Ramat and Tha Song Yang districts as places…
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UPDATE: “Gangland revenge.” Brutal murder of an Israeli man on Chaweng Beach
By Supachai Petchathevee Revenge appears to be the motive in the brutal murder of an Israeli man by his two compatriots on Koh Samui Island on Sunday. 24 year old Dolev Zuarez and 26 year old Eval Bokal were arrested at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok about five hours after they allegedly killed 34 year old Maor Mallil and injured…
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, January 22
Israeli hit squad kills one in Koh Samui | ‘Taxi OK’ App and reforms launched this Thursday | Spot checks at Chalong Pier reveal shortcomings on some boats | Couple arrested at Don Mueang after alleged murder in Pichit | Total of four arrested over Phuket Airport baggage thefts.
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