Thailand News
Discover the most recent and relevant news from across Thailand on The Thaiger’s National News page. Covering a wide range of topics, including politics, business, crime, and lifestyle, our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
Stay informed about the latest developments in Thai society, economy, and culture, as well as updates on travel, tourism, and expat life. With The Thaiger, you’ll never miss out on the essential news that matters to you.
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Expats arrested after posing for selfies while handling protected sea creatures
A Dutch man and a Hungarian national are in custody after picking up protected sea creatures while diving off Koh Pha Ngan in the southern province of Surat Thani. Nation Thailand reports that the Hungarian man, named as Attila Ott, is a scuba diving instructor, who owns the Pink Panther Scuba Dive Club on the island. The Dutch man has…
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Eva Air pushes back Phuket flights to July 2021
A new timetable from Taiwan’s Eva Air indicates a delay to the planned resumption of direct flights between Taipei and Phuket, which had recently been tentatively pencilled in for March 2021. The new schedule now lists the flights as operating from July 1 next year with the airline’s website taking bookings from that date. The delay is indicative of the…
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Evidence of Thai Airways’ corruption, mismanagement, sent to Finance Ministry
The Finance Ministry has received 18 documents that show evidence of corruption and mismanagement at Thai Airways. The evidence was submitted by a Transport Ministry panel on corruption, pending a full investigation into “shady dealings” at the battered national carrier. The airline is currently undergoing a rehabilitation process, having filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. It’s understood the former…
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A glimmer of hope for expats unable to satisfy minimum income requirements
September 26 looms as a dark day for many foreigners who have been unable to sort out a way to either leave the country or stay in Thailand. But at least one Thai immigration office appears to be discussing some leniency in this crazy time. Phuket Immigration has specifically addressed the issue for foreigners on a non-immigrant B (Business) visa…
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Thai condo developers clearing inventory rather than starting new projects
“With waves of uncertainty and financial stress crashing into the market from the COVID-19 pandemic, most residential property developers have decided to postpone their plans.” CBRE, the international property consultants, reports that most Thai developers are postponing the launch of new condo projects to focus on clearing existing stock. Discounting completed projects to generate quick revenue as a financial lifeboat…
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Health Minister insists chemical ban must stay, as farmers plead for compromise
As disagreement continues over the current ban on paraquat and chlorpyrifos, Thailand’s farmers are calling for a compromise. Both paraquat (herbicide) and chlorpyrifos (pesticide) were popular in Thai agriculture until a controversial ban this year. But the farmers, who support a proposal by the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry that the ban be overturned, say the proposed alternatives simply don’t work.…
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Popular Thai teenage game streamer killed in motorcycle crash
A well-known teenage game streamer died after he crashed his Ducati motorcycle while riding with a group of his friends. The 17 year old, Chanon Chuchart, made videos playing popular games like Grand Theft Auto V. He has more than 11,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel Omnuay Studio and his Facebook has more than 100,000 followers. Witnesses told local TV…
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Home-grown cannabis bill ready for parliament review
Cannabis could be grown at home, if a draft revision to the Thai Narcotics Act is passed. Those who want to grow cannabis, both for personal use or to sell, would need permission from the Food and Drug Administration. The bill is ready to be reviewed by parliament. Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul says he is going to keep pushing…
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Thailand is prepared for a 2nd wave of the coronavirus, health officials say
Thailand is prepared for a second wave of the coronavirus, according to the country’s public health officials. While there hasn’t been any local transmissions recently, numbers are on the rise in other countries and Thailand’s hospitals have stocked up on supplies to be prepared for any potential second outbreak of Covid-19. A 29 year old British woman tested positive for…
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MP proposes opening casinos in Thailand, legalising online gambling
A Thai politician is pushing for the legalisation of gambling and proposing Thailand open casinos at popular tourist destinations like Bangkok and Phuket, saying that it would increase tax revenue. A leader of the Thai Civilised Party Mongkolkit Suksintharanon says he wants to start a committee to research plans for so-called entertainment complexes which would have a casino, hotel, theme…
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90 day Thai Immigration reporting deadline passes
Today was the last day to update your 90 day report if you weren’t doing the reports during the visa amnesty Thai immigration set the end of today as the deadline for foreigners, with current visas, to do their 90 day report. Otherwise fines will be imposed. You had to report, or update, your residential address before the end of…
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Phuket man arrested for posing as a monk, asking for money
A man allegedly posing as a monk to solicit donations and 3 others allegedly involved in the scam were arrested by Phuket police. Some complaints regarding the fake monk had reached the governor. Police say they found a man dressed in the orange robe and 3 others sitting in the back of a pickup truck with a bag full of money.…
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Families call on government for answers to alleged activist abductions
Families of those who were allegedly abducted while abroad are calling on the government to give answers to the missing cases. The families gathered together yesterday in remembrance of those they lost from enforced disappearances. Recently, protests sparked after the June disappearance of Wanchalearm Satsaksit who was living in exile in Cambodia. Surveillance footage shows Wanchalearm, a Thai Monarchy critic,…
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Thai critics abroad get threatening packages
Threatening packages have been sent to 3 Thai critics of the monarchy that live overseas including well-known Thai journalist Jom Petchapradad and Red Shirt activist Phontip Weeden who both live in Los Angeles in the US. Another who received a package was Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a Scottish journalist and writer of the 2014 book “A Kingdom in Crisis,” which is…
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Royalist group says it will fight any changes to Thai Constitution
A Thai pro-monarchy group has issued a manifesto in which it pledges to oppose any changes to the 2017 Thai Constitution. The Thai Pakdee group’s policies include protection of the institution of the Thai Monarchy, no constitutional amendments, and strict enforcement of existing laws, including the prosecution of individuals who offend the Monarch or the Thai Royal Family. Thai PBS…
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Government postpones controversial submarines deal
With a recent poll revealing that one of the public’s biggest concerns is the government’s decision to spend billions of baht on 2 submarines, many will welcome the news that officials have decided to shelve those plans… for now. If not the polls, the outrage on social media was a good indication about the public mood over the matter. The…
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Survey: majority support students’ freedom of expression
A recent survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll, found that a majority of Thais agree with students across the country giving the anti-government”3 finger salute” and wearing white ribbons, saying that they have the right to free expression. The study was conducted August 25-27 on 1,317 people aged 15 and over, of various levels of…
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Second locally produced Covid-19 vaccine proves effective in monkey trials
A doctor at Chulalongkorn University yesterday announced that announced tests of a new locally produced Covid-19 vaccine on monkeys have proven successful. The head of the Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Disease Health Science Centre, Dr Thiravat Hemachudha, says the latest vaccine, which uses proteins from tobacco leaves, was been tested on mice and monkeys with satisfactory results and will…
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Surat Thani forest ranger found dead
A member of the local forest patrol, who had gone missing after his boat struck a stump near the Ratchaprapha dam in the southern province of Surat Thani, was found dead yesterday. Thanakorn Chana-aksorn, from the Khlong Ya forest protection unit, is suspected to have suffered head injuries from the impact of the crash and subsequently drowned in the incident…
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Plan on the table to allow Europe’s ‘snowbirds’ into Thailand for up to 9 months
Another day, another ‘plan’ flown up the pole to see if it will catch some wind. This time a prominent health provider claims the government is developing a new ‘visa’ for sunseekers. If adopted it could allow foreigners to stay in Thailand on a long-stay visa for up to 9 months. Nothing has been finalised as yet but Boon Vanasin, the…
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House committee postpones meeting on subs purchase… again
A Parliamentary committee meeting on the Royal Thai Navy’s controversial purchase of 2 Chinese submarines has been postponed for a third time, until Monday. The Democratic party vehemently opposes the purchase, saying the 22.5 billion baht would be better spent on Covid-19 relief efforts and aiding the recovery of the nation’s battered economy. Democrat MP Akkharadet Wongphithakrot, acting as spokesman…
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Covid-19 update: 1 new imported case, no deaths (29 August)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported a single coronavirus today – an asymptomatic returnee from the Netherlands in state quarantine – bringing the total in Thailand to 3,411 since the outbreak began. A CSSA spokesperson said said the new case is 30 year old employee who arrived in Thailand on August 15 and stayed at a state quarantine facility…
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Spokesperson says “Phuket Model” won’t be enacted nationally anytime soon
The deputy government spokesperson Traisulee Traisoranakul said yesterday that the so-called “Phuket Model”, the island’s proposed “safe and sealed” program to reintroduce tourism from October, will not be implemented in the near future and rolled out to the rest of the country. She also encouraged Thai people ti “go on vacation to help the local economy”. She made no mention…
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Bangkok police say they’ll charge “rioters”
Bangkok police say they’ll press charges against pro-democracy activists who caused chaotic scenes in support of their colleagues yesterday, even throwing paint on some officers. Supporters of the pro-democracy activists who arrived at Samran Rat police station to acknowledge charges stemming from a rally on July 18, broke police barriers and 1 of them threw a container of paint at…
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Debate rages behind closed doors on allowing return of foreign tourists
The debate over allowing foreign tourists back into Thailand is heating up, even as plans are being made for the “Phuket model” and airlines cautiously begin announcing charter flights for long-stay foreign tourists later in the year. Thailand has gone nearly 100 days without a confirmed locally spread case of Covid-19, putting it in a tough spot compared to countries…
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New lease on life for 7 of Thailand’s budget airlines
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha today threw a lifeline to 7 of Thailands’ domestic low-cost airlines, beginning with the injection of 24 billion baht in soft loans for the struggling aviation sector, battered by the Covid-19 pandemic. Representatives of Thai Air Asia, its long haul division Thai Air Asia X, Thai Smile, Thai Lion Air, Thai Viet Jet, Bangkok Airways and Nok…
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Human Rights Watch talks protests, democracy and foreigners attending protests
The Thaiger spoke to Brad Adams, the Asia Director for Human Rights Watch about some of the challenges of the current Thai government and the protests that are showing no signs of abating. Do you think the student movement, alone, will be enough to press the Thai government to make meaningful changes? The students are playing a leading role in…
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19 year old arrested for allegedly recruiting teens for prostitution
A 19 year old woman was arrested for allegedly recruiting young girls on social media for prostitution. Police say some of the girls that she recruited for sex work were teenagers. Some of them as young as 15 years old. The woman used Twitter to lure the girls in and provide them with prostitution work. Police did not report the…
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Satellite captures flood devastation in Thailand’s lower-north
The devastation wreaked by heavy floods in Sukhothai and Phitsanulok, provinces in the lower-north of the country, can be seen from space. A report in Nation Thailand says an Italian satellite, Cosmo Skymed-1, has captured photos that show over 125,000 rai of land is submerged as a result of heavy rainfall in the area. PHOTO: Nation Thailand Around 100,000 rai…
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Pro-democracy activist mounts campaign near Bangkok memorial
Political activist Jatupat Boonpattararaksa has started a campaign he’s calling “Camp Not Jail” near a Bangkok memorial that commemorates pro-democracy activists who were killed in a 1973 rally in the capital. Jatupat, commonly known as “Pai Dao Din”, has erected a number of tents, where he screens documentaries about democracy to attract the attention of passersby. Nation Thailand reports that…
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