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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Pattaya taxi driver knocks out foreigner
A Pattaya cabbie has flattened an unidentified foreigner, punching him in the face and knocking him unconscious. Police headed to Pattaya Soi 2 and found the 40 year old farang recovering next to the footpath after locals had dragged him off the road. Emergency volunteers treated him at the scene before transporting him to hospital. For his part, the 46…
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Protest brewing over slow response to a search for missing Thai students in the US
American authorities are facing protests if they don’t expedite the retrieval of the bodies of two Thai postgraduate students believed to have died in a car crash almost two weeks ago in California, the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles has said. Protests are planned in Fresno county, the scene of the accident, and Los Angeles, as frustration mounts with the…
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SEA Games starting on August 19
The Malaysian South East Asian Games contingent has one aim – one, one, one. The target is to win 111 gold medals and be the top gun of the 29th SEA Games, which is being hosted by the country from Aug 19 to 30. The target was announced by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin after Prime Minister Datuk Seri…
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Koh Kho Khao. The vanishing island.
Locals from the Phang Nga province’s Koh Kho Khao, just north of Khao Lak, are urging the Thai PM to help them stem the heavy erosion of their island beaches from encroaching seawater. They say their beach is vanishing as the bay has intruded a hundred meters inland along its 20-kilometer coastline. And they’re saying it’s not just the annual…
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Want to win 100,000 baht? Name the new skywalk.
In case you’ve been away or just not read the news for a few weeks, Bangkok has a stunning new walkway above the Pathum Wan intersection. It’s cost 300 million baht and taken two years to construct. But it’s now open and become the new place-to-meet-friends in the capital. But the Skywalk doesn’t have a name. The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority…
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Four hour wait to get through Don Mueang Immigration
Immigration officials are investigating how passengers had to wait for more than four hours at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok. One passenger says she took four hours and 20 minutes to clear immigration and noted than many were getting weak and suffering because of the poor ventilation. People in the queue were posting that there were only 3 immigration…
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Dissent in Paradise
EDITORIAL The recent silent protest at the country’s most prestigious university in Bangkok, THAT photo of a student in a chokehold from a lecturer and the subsequent publicity, has wider implications than just a sore neck and a university in PR panic. There’s been a lot of media blow-back on the venerated Chulalongkorn University after it was revealed a…
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Charging ahead. Electric car charging stations coming to Thailand.
The Thailand chapters of four industrial companies are pooling their resources to work towards public charging stations for the next generation of electric cars in the country. Greenlots, BMW Group Thailand, Polytechnology and the Central Group are set to launch ‘Charge Now’ in Thailand which they claim is already the world’s largest network of charging stations for electric and hybrid…
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Two Thais missing in California
Two Thais remain missing after their car was found submerged in a river at the bottom a cliff in California. Foreign Affairs representative, Busadee Santipitakswith, from the Thai consulate in Los Angeles, is working with LA Police to find Thiwadee Saengsuriyarit and her friend. At this stage we only know her friend’s name as ‘Golf’. The pair went missing last…
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Former Abbot Phra Dhammajayo fled to Europe?
Former Abbot Phra Dhammajayo may have fled the country. The DSI (Department of Special Investigations) says they have evidence that he may have bolted to Europe with the help of some of his followers. The Government raided the sprawling ‘space-age’ Dhammakaya Temple headquarters, just north of Bangkok, back in February but came out empty-handed. Authorities have vowed to bring the…
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Sakon Nakhon floods easing. Authorities worried about more rain.
The country’s disaster warning system needs to be reformed, experts emphasized yesterday, as there was no warning for the recent flash flood in Sakon Nakhon that resulted from heavy downpours and leakage in a local reservoir. Meanwhile, experts have reassured the public that there will be no big flood similar to the disaster in 2011, because there was no indication…
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Phuket hotel registration remains a challenge
Phuket is attracting an ever-increasing number of international visitors to our golden beaches and turquoise seas. But many of the millions of travellers who visit Phuket each year could be staying in unlicensed – and effectively illegal – hotels. According to a new report by hospitality consulting group C9 Hotelworks, less than a quarter of hotels in Phuket (429 out…
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‘World Day against Trafficking in Persons’. Thailand in the middle of the world’s human trafficking hot spot.
Today is ‘World Day against Trafficking in Persons’ – a day where we reflect on the many victims of trafficking who live among us, but have been forced into silence due to threats to their life, retaliation against their family, feelings of hopelessness, or being enslaved and physically unable to speak out. The day has special meaning in Thailand where…
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Boom Boom on the Border
On one side of the Thai/Malaysian border is Sungai Golok, on the Malaysian side it’s the town of Rantau Panjang. The two towns are separated by the Golok River and decades of furious fighting between Muslim separatists who want to reclaim some of the southern areas in Thailand under the Malaysian flag. The Thai Buddhists on the other side are…
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Wat Arun restoration enters final month
BANGKOK: Restoration work on the world-famous stupa ‘Wat Arun’ in Bangkok, which has been underway since 2013, is expected to conclude next month. The Fine Arts Department announced Friday that it would install decorative lights on the ancient structure and flip the switch from September onward. Built in the Ayutthaya period, Wat Arun is also widely known as the ‘Temple…
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Thailand ‘among top 20 most dangerous countries’ to visit
THAILAND: Thailand has been ranked as one of the 20 most dangerous countries in the world for tourists to visit, with high rates of crime and violence and ‘low reliability’ of police assistance, according to a recent survey. Of the 136 countries around the world covered by the World Economic Forum’s ‘Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report’, which was released last…
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Nation Analysis: High defense spending at expense of education, welfare
THE CONTROVERSIAL submarine deal has sparked public debate about the way the Thai Defense Ministry spends tax money on military hardware and other national-security projects. Many question whether such projects should take priority over education, public healthcare or improving the lives of the country’s millions of poor. Since the coup in 2014, the budget allocated to the Defense Ministry has…
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Bomb blast at army hospital in Bangkok injures 25
BANGKOK: Twenty five people were injured in a bomb blast at an Army hospital in Bangkok yesterday morning. A police source said an unidentified bomber attached a green vase with artificial flowers to a wall in the reception room of Phramongkutklao Hospital before a homemade bomb exploded there at 10:40am. Investigators of the Metropolitan Police Bureau obtained a picture of…
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Another foreign couple wanted for committing sex acts in public
SAMUI: Police are searching for an unidentified foreign couple who were seen ‘getting intimate’ at the side of the road at Nathorn Beach in Samui this morning. A video of the incident, about a minute and 45 seconds long, was posted on a Facebook page titled ‘Ruam Pon Khon Mui‘. The couple were seemingly unconcerned about making a spectacle, as…
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Patients treated in hallways at overcrowded Samui Hospital
SAMUI: Locals in Samui have lodged complaints about overcrowding at Samui Hospital leading to makeshift arrangements to accommodate patients in the hospital’s hallways. Patients and their families say that the hallway is hot, uncomfortable and mosquito ridden. “Currently, we only have 133 beds, but about 160 patients to cater to,” said Samui Hospital Director Dr Theerasak Virtanon. “Additionally, we have…
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Two foreigners arrested in alleged extortion sting
CHIANG MAI: Police arrested an Australian and a Dutch national in Mae Rim district in Chiang Mai yesterday afternoon, for allegedly trying to extort an Australian restaurant owner out of 1.7 million baht. The chopper-riding suspects say they are innocent. The alleged victim, aged in his 50s, told police that the duo threatened to kill his family if he failed…
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Immigration sealed for fugitive monk
THAILAND: Immigration police have been ordered to prevent Phra Dhammachayo, the former abbot of Dhammakaya Temple, from fleeing to neighboring countries, Immigration Police Bureau commissioner Lt General Nuttathorn Proesunthon said yesterday. “The ‘modern’ system and technology of the bureau, which is linked to all exit points, will help block the fugitive monk from leaving the country,” he added. The monk…
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Swiss expat admits abusing more than 80 boys in Thailand
THAILAND: Swiss authorities yesterday confirmed that a man suspected of sexually abusing more than 80 boys in Thailand will be going on trial to face numerous allegations including molestation. It was reported that some of his victims were as young as nine years old. “The unnamed man has admitted to taking thousands of pornographic pictures of the boys, but denied…
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Six killed in bus accident tied to school budget issues
PRACHIN BURI: Budget constraints may have contributed to the deaths of four teachers and two students who were killed yesterday when a double-decker bus on a school trip plunged into a ravine in Prachin Buri’s Na Di district. The accident took place on Highway 304 on the route from Nakhon Ratchasima to Na Di. The two-lane road, which is known…
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Asian black bear’s fall to death ‘explained’
THAILAND: A member of the team responsible for sending an Asian black bear back into nature said yesterday that the animal’s fatal plunge from a helicopter was an “unavoidable accident caused by sudden turbulent weather”. Thanatip Chaiyos, a volunteer photographer, was part of a mission to move the five-year-old bear back to the forest, which ended tragically last month, sparking…
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Rescued black bear falls to death from chopper
THAILAND: A wildlife activist yesterday criticized Khao Yai National Park officials for allowing an Asian black bear to fall to its death from a helicopter earlier this month during a rescue operation to return it to nature. Thongchai Saengprathum, secretary of the Khao Yai Foundation, said the officials concerned should face legal action for negligence. The bear reportedly woke up…
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Thai expats in America fear Trump
THAILAND: Illegal migrants from Thailand are living in fear in the United States as the new administration under President Donald Trump issued a new order to crack down on 11 million undocumented foreigners. The Foreign Ministry yesterday also expressed concern about the new order, warning Thai people in the US to comply with the laws of the host country as…
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Threat of mass rallies after Krabi coal plant approved
BANGKOK: Protestors have vowed to continue their campaign with mass demonstrations in Bangkok, after the controversial Krabi coal-fired power plant project finally got the go-ahead yesterday, following two years of resistance. After an Energy Policy Planning Office (EPPO) committee meeting at Government House yesterday, Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-o-cha said the new power plant was needed to ensure power stability…
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Thai PM receives death threats, orders manhunt
BANGKOK: Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan o cha today said that his government has launched a manhunt for people posting death threats against him and his Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan. “I want to ask them [who posted] where they got the information. I think Thai expatriates overseas who regularly insult the Monarchy mentioned the assassination first,”…
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Police cadet orientation marred by exam-cheating arrests
BANGKOK: TEN people suspected to have cheated in a police entrance exam in December were arrested on Tuesday morning as they attended cadet orientation at a Police Club in Bangkok. Arrest warrants were issued for at least 51 students regarding the case last month (story here). “The 10 men, accused of copying exam answers from others, were wanted on charges…
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