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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More students from Thailand enter China
Chinese ambassador Han Zhiqiang is making good on his promise that students from Thailand would be one of the first groups allowed to return to China when the country reopened. This week more students returned to class in China for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic closed classrooms all over the world. Han said in August his education counsellors…
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Philippine Airlines takes off to Bangkok
Philippine Airlines (PAL) today announced it will reintroduce direct flights between Cebu City and Thailand’s capital city Bangkok in December. The Philippine flag carrier made public it is to introduce a twice-weekly service, operating on Monday and Friday, which will depart from Cebu in the morning of December 9 and depart from Bangkok in the early afternoon. PAL previously operated…
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Muddy flood water can carry deadly bacteria
With rain battering much of Thailand and causing widespread flooding, authorities are warning about an unseen risk in the rainwaters. Muddy water that people are trudging through during flood times can be full of nasty bacteria that can cause illness and infections. Thai News Room reported on the popular medical Facebook page Panda Lab Doctor. The page posted a message…
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Thailand refuses to condemn Russia at UN Assembly
Thailand refused to condemn Russia’s decision to annex parts of Ukraine at the United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday. In September, Russia proclaimed its annexation of four partially occupied regions in Ukraine – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – after staging what it called referendums. Ukraine, the UN General Assembly, and their allies refused to recognise the referendums,…
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Drug Testing Police officers & Crackdown on Drugs in Thailand | GMT
Columbia Pictures’ Aquaverse theme park opened today. 3,500 police officers in Chiang Mai take drug tests. Honouring the 6th anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s death. The new MRT Yellow Line monorail train starts a trial run today. Monk ends Buddhist Lent with a bang in northeast Thailand. Airline flight capacity is up, Thai tourism officials hopeful. – all are coming…
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Big fat fraud – bear-faced cheating in Alaskan wildlife poll
Katmai National Park and Preserve have announced that Bear 747 is the winner of its annual Fat Bear Week contest. It is the bear’s second win. Tipping the scales at an estimated 635 kilograms, Bear 747 won 68,105 votes, beating first-time contender Bear 901 with 56,876 votes. Fat Bear Week is an annual tournament celebrating the park’s bears’ success in…
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Covid vaccine for children 6 months to 4 years old
Children between the ages of six months and four years old can now get a Covid-19 vaccine. The Ministry of Public Health launched a new campaign to vaccinate young children using the Pfizer vaccine at a significantly lower dosage. The same vaccine has been used in the United States for young children in the same age range. The Thai Khu…
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Possessing 5 methamphetamine pills might soon be considered drug dealing in Thailand
Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha suggests making changes to the law so that anyone possessing five or more methamphetamine pills should be considered a ‘drug dealer’ and therefore serve a much longer prison sentence. The comments come after PM Prayut declared a war on drugs in response to the mass killings at a daycare centre in Nong Bua Lamphu…
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3 men jailed for insulting PM Prayut & Deputy PM Prawit
Three men face eight months in prison for spreading fake news about Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan. The incident happened four years ago in 2018 when Prayut served as Thai PM and Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), and while Prawit served as the Deputy PM and Defence Minister. A court…
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Thai PM demands investigation into lost 50 million baht budget
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha urged Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan to investigate the disappearance of a 50 million baht government budget. PM Prayut attended the Cabinet meeting at the Parliament House of Thailand yesterday to discuss the flood situation across the country. At the end of the meeting, the Deputy Minister of the Finance Ministry, Santi Promphat, suggested PM Prayut…
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Antisocial neighbour jailed for smashing up car
A reign of terror from an antisocial neighbour takes a short break after he was jailed for smashing the windscreen of a car owner with a gun. The pest’s unruly behaviour has caused chaos for years in a village in the Bang Bua Thong area of Nonthaburi province near Bangkok The neighbourhood nuisance, 38-year-old Jeerasak Khaosook, held his wife and child…
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Monk ends Buddhist Lent with a bang in northeast Thailand
Police picked up an inebriated, half-naked monk from the side of the road in Khon Kaen province, northeast Thailand, on one of the most auspicious Buddhist holidays of the year – Awk Pansa (exit Pansa) on Monday. Buddhist monks and maechis came out of their temples for the first time in three months on Monday upon completion of a period of…
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Abusive husband murders estranged wife & commits suicide
An abusive husband murdered his estranged wife in the car park of a condominium in Bangkok before later committing suicide at his house in the southern province of Pattalung. The man’s estranged wife, 47 year old woman Klongkamon Sooksawat, was shot dead at the underground car park of a condominium in the Huay Kwang district of Bangkok at about 6.30pm,…
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Airline flight capacity is up, Thai tourism officials hopeful
Airline flight capacity has shot up, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. The aviation authority said that seat capacity from October to March next year went up by 74.2%, to 573,538 seats per week from the summer schedule. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is aiming to achieve the government’s goal of 1.5 trillion baht in revenue from…
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New MRT Yellow Line monorail train starts trial run today
The new MRT Yellow Line monorail train in Bangkok and Samut Prakarn province starts its trial run without passengers today and is expected to be fully operational by June next year. The Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) announced yesterday that the new MRT Yellow Line would be on trial today from 10am to 5.30pm. The trial is running…
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Manager of famous Thai rapper ‘Illslick’ given 2 years in prison over sex scandal
Yesterday, the court sentenced ‘Lily,’ the manager of famous Thai rapper ‘Illslick’, to two years in prison with no parole for ‘luring’ an 18 year old to have sex with the rapper in Khon Kaen in northeast Thailand in February last year. Khon Kaen Provincial Court found Lily [surname withheld] guilty of “satisfying the lust of others by luring, supplying, leading…
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Thai motorcycle taxi rider rips off Malaysian tourist
A Thai motorcycle taxi rider in the southern province of Songkla said he ripped off a Malaysian tourist because his washing machine was broken. The rider claims it is the first time he overcharged a customer after demanding 500 baht from the stranded tourist for a trip that is only two kilometres. A member of the Hat Yai Municipality Council…
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Thaksin suggests 3 month ‘amnesty’ to register illegal guns in Thailand
Ousted former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra suggests that the government hold a three month amnesty period in which illegal gun owners can register. Then, police should crack down on the illicit gun trade in Thailand, said Thaksin. Exiled Thaksin addressed the issues of guns and drugs from his home in Dubai on his weekly talk show, in response…
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Unhappy days! More Haagen-Dazs destroyed in cancer scare
Almost 28,000 Haagen-Dazs ice creams worth 12 million baht were destroyed in Samut Prakan Monday, even though the samples had not been found to contain a chemical linked to cancer. According to today’s Bangkok Post, the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deputy secretary-general, Weerachai Nolwachai, said on Tuesday that a number of countries in Europe had recalled Haagen-Dazs ice cream…
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Funeral for victims of daycare centre massacre in pictures
Three temples held royally-sponsored funeral and cremation ceremonies today for the victims of the massacre at a daycare centre in Nong Bua Lamphu province in northeast Thailand on Thursday. Toys, bicycles, flowers, fruit, and incense were laid out in front of wreaths adorned with pictures and names of the victims, who were mostly young children. Locals from over 6000 households…
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Political activist finds refuge in noodles shop after being shunned by family
A noodles shop in Bangkok has provided a safe refuge for a political activist ostracised by her family who disagrees with her views. Talented artist Thorpad Autta-a-nan uploaded a drawing to her Instagram account that some zealous monarchists may consider offensive. The drawing certainly offended her family and as a result, the 27 year old artist was shunned by her…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin accepts invitation to APEC meeting in Thailand
Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed his attendance at the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting which will be held in Bangkok next month from November 18-19, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs Don Pramudwinai. The Russian Federation is one of APEC’s 21 members. Putin attended an APEC summit hosted by Thailand 19 years ago in 2003. More than 30 countries…
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Drug-addled cabbie faces jail for driving under the influence
A drug-addled cabbie faces time in jail for dangerous driving while allegedly under the influence of narcotics in the Kathu district of Phuket. A motorcycle rider brought to light the drug-taking cab driver’s antics after becoming a victim of his erratic behaviour on the road. The taxi driver scolded the motorcycle rider after the latter complained. He said… “Don’t butt…
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Loan shark shoots debtor 8 times in the head in southern Thailand
A loan shark chose revenge over repayments on Sunday when he shot a debtor eight times in the head outside a tea shop in Songkhla province in southern Thailand. At 8pm, officers at Khuan Meed Police Station received a call that someone had been shot dead in the Chana district. Police found the body of 42 year old Chusit [surname…
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Israeli girl in stable condition after jellyfish causes cardiac arrest
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday reported that the six year old Israeli girl who suffered a cardiac arrest after being stung by a dangerous jellyfish is in serious but stable condition. The Israeli child’s heart stopped after she was stung by a poisonous box jellyfish on a beach in Ko Pha Ngan on Sunday. She received first aid on…
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Beware of snakes when the Chao Phraya river overflows, officials warn
As Bangkok and Pathum Thani prepare for the Chao Phraya river to overflow, officials warn people affected by floods to look out for poisonous snakes, scorpions, and centipedes. Water levels in the Chao Phraya river are reaching breaking point in lower central Thailand. The river is teeming with snakes which will flood into urban areas when the river overflows, warns…
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BMTA replaces mushroom seat on Bangkok public bus
UPDATE The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) today apologised to the city’s passengers after a story of mushrooms growing out of a public bus seat went viral on Thai social media. The picture of the mushroom-growing seat, posted by political activist Jatuporn “New” Saenueng, drew complaints from Thai netizens. The BMTA responded to the criticism on its official Facebook page…
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Janitor finds young man’s corpse on fire behind school in NE Thailand
Police have launched a murder investigation after the body of a 23 year old man was found at a school last night in Buriram province in northeast Thailand. His body was badly burned and the smell of oil pervaded the crime scene. At 8.30pm yesterday, a janitor started his shift at Ban Salangthon school when he noticed a “burning stench.”…
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PM Prayut declares war on drugs to prevent mass shootings in Thailand
Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha declared a war on drugs and a clampdown on gun control laws after a massacre at a daycare centre in northeast Thailand sparked urgent calls for change on Thursday. A former police sergeant facing trial for drug charges murdered 37 people – including 24 children under six years old – at a daycare centre in…
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Pickup driver arrested after killing Bangkok road sweeper
UPDATE Police arrested a pickup driver involved in the hit-and-run incident that killed a Bangkok road sweeper yesterday morning. Officers managed to get the man after the driver took his vehicle to get repaired at a local garage in the area. Police revealed three pieces of evidence were left at the scene, a black bumper bar and broken parts from…
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