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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    What is the 5 year visa for the digital nomad in Thailand?

    The Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) is a great option for digital nomads, remote workers, and freelancers who want to stay in Thailand for a long time. This multiple-entry visa is valid for five years, allowing stays of up to 180...

  • Covid-19 “hospitel” isolation in Thailand to end September 1

    Covid-19 “hospitel” isolation in Thailand to end September 1

    One option for Covid-19 patients with no or mild symptoms in Thailand is to check into a hotel designated for Covid-19 isolation, known as a “hospitel,” but not for much longer. The remaining “hospitels” are set to change back to regular hotels on September 1, according to the Director-General of the Department of Health Service Support Dr Thares Krasaniyarawiwong. The…

  • Pre-op trans men’s anger after Bangkok breast removal broker scams them out 4 million baht

    Pre-op trans men’s anger after Bangkok breast removal broker scams them out 4 million baht

    Five pre-op transgender men approached a lawyer for help after a breast removal surgery broker scammed them out of 4 million baht. The born females who identify as men are just five of about 25 to have made complaints about the broker, a transgender man, who took their money, and booked surgery but did not pay the clinic for the…

  • BKFC THAILAND 3: Moment of truth set for September 3

    BKFC THAILAND 3: Moment of truth set for September 3

    Press Release Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) Thailand presented by Singha is set to return with an electrifying third event on Saturday, September 3, 2022, live from the world-famous Rajadamnern Stadium in Bangkok. The event is set to begin at 6:00 PM ICT/11:00 AM GMT/7:00 AM EST, and will be available worldwide on the BKFC app. Book for the event…

  • Opposition to Thailand govt hosting former Sri Lanka president

    Opposition to Thailand govt hosting former Sri Lanka president

    The former president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is expected to travel from Singapore to Thailand today to seek temporary shelter. But an international relations expert suggests the Thai government shouldn’t host an official ceremony to welcome the ex-leader as the issue is politically sensitive. The 73 year old Rajapaksa was pressured to leave his position as president of Sri…

  • UPDATE: Thailand introduces fine for not wearing seat belt in the back seat

    UPDATE: Thailand introduces fine for not wearing seat belt in the back seat

    UPDATE: The Royal Thai Police will go easy on people who break the new seat belt law “in the early phase” according to Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau Pol. Maj. Gen. Jirasan Kaewsaeng-ek. The officer confirmed yesterday that from September 5, the driver and all passengers – including those in the back seat – are required by law…

  • Modernform opens up a space of inspiration at its new home on Soi Sukhumvit 49

    Modernform opens up a space of inspiration at its new home on Soi Sukhumvit 49

    Press Release Modernform Group Public Company Limited, Thailand’s leading office and home furniture brand, invites everyone to find inspiration to fulfil their lifestyle needs at its new showroom, which is unlike anything you have seen. To create its new showroom, the brand has turned a heritage house into a lifestyle community right in the heart of Bangkok. Based on a design…

  • Robots now serving people at Thai restaurant chain

    Robots now serving people at Thai restaurant chain

    Robots are now serving people at a Thai restaurant chain. S&P, the bakery and restaurant chain, is using robots as a way to cope with skyrocketing costs while keeping its prices down. Each restaurant usually employs 10 staff. S&P’s operator company, SET-listed S&P Syndicate Plc, currently operates 460 production hubs around the country. Its goal is to operate 480 by…

  • Woman faces jail for trafficking girls after karaoke raid in Thailand

    Woman faces jail for trafficking girls after karaoke raid in Thailand

    A Thai woman faces a ten-year prison term and a heavy fine after police raided a karaoke bar and found scantily-clad underage girls serving alcohol in the Lat Yao district of central Thailand. Acting on complaints from residents nearby, officers from the Department of Provincial Administration (DPA) law enforcement team burst into the Ran Theederm karaoke bar at Moo 11…

  • Jungceylon undergoes renovation to become a one-stop shopping paradise

    Jungceylon undergoes renovation to become a one-stop shopping paradise

    Press Release “Jungceylon Shopping Center is renovating the shopping mall’s basement by allocating space and introducing new exciting shops to meet the lifestyles of Thai and foreign customers,” stated Mr Prawit Janyasittikul, Chief Executive Officer of Jungceylon Shopping Center Patong Phuket. The ‘Jungle Building’ inside Jungceylon has a total basement area is over 7,000 sqm. The food bazaar located in…

  • Europeans lost in Koh Pha Ngan forest found by tourist police

    Europeans lost in Koh Pha Ngan forest found by tourist police

    An emergency rescue party managed to find two missing tourists lost in a Koh Phan Gan forest after receiving an emergency call last night. Koh Pha Ngan Tourist Police received a call on their 1155 emergency hotline at about 8pm last night from a Spanish man and a Belarussian woman saying they were lost and couldn’t find a way back…

  • StyleCation: Latest TAT campaign aims at young domestic tourists

    StyleCation: Latest TAT campaign aims at young domestic tourists

    Forget the staycation and the workcation, “StyleCation” is the hot new awkward portmanteau the Tourism Authority of Thailand is pushing to attract visitors. The TAT has recruited top actors/singers Krit “PP” Amnuaydechkorn and Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul to promote a new campaign aimed at getting Thai people traveling around the country. “Amazing Thailand StyleCation with PP and Billkin” is the newest…

  • Thailand to consider Chinese engines for S26T Yuan submarine

    Thailand to consider Chinese engines for S26T Yuan submarine

    The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) yesterday revealed it is considering buying Chinese-made engines for the S26T Yuan-class submarine after complications in purchasing the said technology from Germany. Thailand originally turned down the offer of using Chinese-made engines for the Chinese submarine the Thai Government approved to buy in 2017 in favour of using German-made engines. But since the German government…

  • Thailand introduces fine for not wearing seat belt in the back seat

    Thailand introduces fine for not wearing seat belt in the back seat

    Not wearing a seat belt in the back seat of a car in Thailand will soon be punishable by a 2,000 baht fine. The rule will come into effect 120 after its publication in the Royal Gazette on September 5, 2022. The Royal Gazette wrote the new rule into the Road Traffic Act (No.13) 2022, published on May 7. The…

  • Thailand’s new narcotics laws offers drug offenders treatment

    Thailand’s new narcotics laws offers drug offenders treatment

    The Thai Cabinet yesterday introduced a new set of narcotics laws, downgrading a number of acts to give people a second chance if they have committed minor offences. Some drug offenders will be offered drug treatment instead of prosecution. Yesterday, the prime minister’s deputy spokeswoman, Traisuree Traisaranakun, reported that the Cabinet approved the new laws under the Narcotics Act. The…

  • Toad travels from Thailand to Wales in student’s suitcase

    Toad travels from Thailand to Wales in student’s suitcase

    A university student was toad-ally shocked when an unfamiliar amphibian jumped out of her suitcase in Cardiff, Wales, in the UK, having travelled over 6,000 miles from Thailand. Hannah Turian recently completed her second year studying psychology at Cardiff University and went to Thailand to volunteer in a school during the summer break. After travelling for 35 hours, she finally…

  • US’s Chips & Science Act good news for Thailand’s car industry

    US’s Chips & Science Act good news for Thailand’s car industry

    The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) made it known yesterday that they feared China’s trade embargo with Taiwan would affect business in Thailand, particularly in the automobile industry. The FTI said the car industry was anxious China would deny Taiwan the raw materials Thailand needed to make semiconductors that the Thai transportation business is dependent on. Those fears remain in…

  • Policeman poses as Buddhist monk to trick drug dealers in central Thailand

    Policeman poses as Buddhist monk to trick drug dealers in central Thailand

    A policeman swapped his tight, zip-up uniform for saffron robes last week in a cunning plan to lure two drug dealers to arrest in Ratchaburi province, central Thailand – but he also broke the law in doing so. Villagers in Ban Pong district complained to police that Ya Ba, a cheap version of Methenamine, was being sold at a famous…

  • Thai minister insists minimum wage increase is not electioneering

    Thai minister insists minimum wage increase is not electioneering

    The Labour Minister, Suchart Chomklin, insists the government’s promise to increase the minimum wage in Thailand by 5-8% this year is not electioneering. With an election due in March next year cynics could be forgiven in thinking it is a government ploy to buy or win votes. Suchart denies this is the case. The Labour Minister said the government is…

  • PM warns Thailand to brace itself for potential flooding

    PM warns Thailand to brace itself for potential flooding

    Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha warned Thailand to brace itself for another deluge of water this month. The 68 year old PM ordered governors in provincial areas to prepare for potential flooding after weather forecasters predicted more heavy rainfall until the end of the month. Thailand witnessed a heavy taste of what is to come over the past 24 hours after…

  • Local hero predicts building collapse, saves countless lives in eastern Thailand

    Local hero predicts building collapse, saves countless lives in eastern Thailand

    A man from the Sattahip district in Chon Buri province saved countless lives on Saturday when he warned residents to quickly evacuate the precarious row of four townhouses on Soi Wat Noi road. The alert neighbour, 50 year old Saneh Wongpoon, heard creaking noises coming from his ceiling and noticed a part of the roof caving in. The row of…

  • Fans flock to free entry Pattaya Music Festival held every weekend of August

    Fans flock to free entry Pattaya Music Festival held every weekend of August

    Tens of thousands of music fans are flocking to Pattaya Music Festival this month in the eastern province of Chon Buri. The festival is held every Friday and Saturday of the month at stages in several locations in Pattaya, kicking off at 5pm. Entry is free. Festival goers are more than ready to party after the festival was postponed in…

  • Police raid Chinese porn studio in Chon Buri, 4 arrested

    Police raid Chinese porn studio in Chon Buri, 4 arrested

    A computer fraudulently bought by a Chinese man led police from Sattahip and Na Jomtien to raid a Chinese porn studio in mid-set in Chon Buri’s Sattahip district. Four suspects were arrested during the raid at the porn studio hidden in a pool villa in Sattahip district on Friday, August 5, including the 33 year old Chinese director Li, 24…

  • Aussie man plunges to death from 17th floor of Pattaya hotel

    Aussie man plunges to death from 17th floor of Pattaya hotel

    A 41 year old Australian man fell to his death from the 17th floor of his hotel balcony in Pattaya yesterday. The man, believed to be Matthew Leigh Plant from Adelaide, checked into the View Talay 6 in central Pattaya just before 7am, and an hour later his body was found dead face down in the car park. Police and…

  • Thailand has 5 BA.2.75 antibody-resistant Covid-19 sub-variant

    Thailand has 5 BA.2.75 antibody-resistant Covid-19 sub-variant

    Health authorities are now keeping a close eye on the development of five confirmed infections of the Covid-19 sub-variant BA.2.75, known to be antibody resistant. The director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences outlined all the cases and warned that the sub-variant could spread quickly if not properly monitored. “Officials are monitoring the development of the sub-variant. If the strain…

  • Red Shirts lead rally against Thailand PM on August 23

    Red Shirts lead rally against Thailand PM on August 23

    The leader of the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship, or Red Shirts, yesterday invited people to protest against Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on August 23, the day before he officially stands down as Thailand’s PM. The 68 year old prime minister is expected to resign on August 24 after two concurrent four year terms. In Section 158 of…

  • Netizens slam cannabis firm for encouraging underage users

    Netizens slam cannabis firm for encouraging underage users

    Thai netizens raised questions about the easy accessibility of a cannabis vending machine that has mysteriously appeared in Bangkok. Last Saturday, a Thai Twitter user, C.Veasarach, posted a picture of a cannabis vending machine in Bangkok, although did not state its exact location, named This Machine Is Green, with a caption that said… “Here it is… This is a vending…

  • Thai man dies of suspected heart attack in love motel

    Thai man dies of suspected heart attack in love motel

    The dead body of a 62 year old Thai man was found yesterday in a love motel near Khlong Ta Ket community in tambon Paknam in Muang district. Police believe he died of a heart attack. Hotel staff found the dead body of the man, named only as Thawi, lying on the floor of the motel room at about 9.30pm.…

  • Blood pours from Thai man’s mouth who chewed pork skewer with blades inside it

    Blood pours from Thai man’s mouth who chewed pork skewer with blades inside it

    Blood poured from a man’s mouth after he chewed a skewer of grilled pork yesterday in the Samut Prakan province in central Thailand. He found several pieces of sharp cutter blades inside the meat, which he bought from a vendor in Phra Pradaeng district. The 29 year old man, Tongpoon, bought two skewers of grilled pork – or “Moo Ping”…

  • Anutin: “If I have to be the prime minister, I will be.”

    Anutin: “If I have to be the prime minister, I will be.”

    Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul says that, if people want him, he is willing to step in as the next prime minister of Thailand. Anutin, who also has been serving as the Minister of Public Health throughout the tumultuous Covid-19 pandemic and response, said that if the citizens of Thailand want him to be their next leader, he is willing…

  • New app to help migrant women in Thailand facing abuse

    New app to help migrant women in Thailand facing abuse

    UN Women and Thai non-government organisations (NGOs) have collaborated to create a new app for migrant women in Thailand facing sexual abuse and violence. The app has been named “Smart Domestic Workers.” Smart Domestic Workers provides information on ways that migrant women can protect themselves from violence, in four languages: Thai, English, Burmese, and Khmer. Users can search for hospitals,…