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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Sponsored 5 ways retirees in Thailand lose money (and how to stop it)
Retiring in Thailand can be affordable and enjoyable, but many retirees lose money due to common mistakes. High living costs, scams, and unexpected expenses can quickly drain savings. There are five ways that retirees in Thailand can lose money and...
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Cheap plane tickets go on sale today and tomorrow in Bangkok
Today and tomorrow discounted plane tickets will be on sale at Bang Sue Grand Station in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district at the event ‘Transport United for Happy Journey,’ hosted by Thailand’s Ministry of Transport. The ministry is hosting the event at Gate 1 from September 15-16 to stimulate tourism, exchange knowledge about transportation facilities and make travelling around in Thailand more…
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Cannabis bill quashed by vote in House
A newly-proposed cannabis bill has been quashed as the Thai House of Representatives voted on its withdrawal. The bill was shot down after a 198 to 136 vote in the House. Lawmakers say the bill needs to be revised as its wording was regarded as “loose and could potentially expose youth to health risks.” The bad news is that if…
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Green Expo Returns to PHIST, Southeast Asia’s Leading Sustainability Forum
Press Release Banpu NEXT, is a leading smart energy solutions provider in the Asia Pacific under Banpu PCL. As the long-term partner in clean energy technology, Banpu NEXT creates total Smart Energy Solutions to help customers across industries and stages of business operation and achieve their ESG/SDG goals and build up values and opportunities for sustainable business growth while bringing…
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Swiss Student Alumni Association honours late King Bhumibol
The Swiss Student Alumni Association has honoured the late King Bhumibol’s memory with a life-sized, bronze bust. The statue is now overlooking Lake Geneva in the western city of Lausanne. Bhumibol studied and lived in the canton of Vaud for 18 years, with authorities saying that he helped establish a friendship between Thailand and Switzerland. The bust of the late…
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Khon Kaen Police give residents iron rods to protect themselves
Cash-strapped Khon Kaen Police launched a new initiative to help protect residents from violent drug addicts and psychiatric patients. They have supplied communities with long iron rods to control them. Khon Kaen Police admit they have been forced into the measures because the province lacks police officers. Pattaya Police introduced a similar initiative in June. The Commander of the Khon…
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Standard taxi fee of 45-50 baht agreed but more at Thai airports
A taxi fare increase of about 45 to 50 baht was proposed by drivers in Thailand yesterday while standing or idling in traffic is expected to be fixed at about five baht per minute. The President of the Thai Public Taxi Association, Sadit Jaitiang, reported yesterday that the association met with the Deputy Director of the Land Transport Department, Sirirat…
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VIDEO: Pervert picks the wrong woman to secretly film in the bathroom in Thailand
A Thai man snuck into a women’s public bathroom in Chachoengsao province, eastern Thailand, on Sunday and secretly filmed a woman while she was in the cubicle. He picked on the wrong woman, as it turns out the victim has a black belt in Taekwondo. The whole incident was captured by CCTV. The 28 year old woman, Ms. A (pseudonym)…
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Bangkok sex workers hold Q&A at Patpong Museum
Curious to find out more about the world’s oldest profession? Do sex workers enjoy their work? Do they have a partner outside of working hours, and do they think prostitution should be legalized? All of these questions and more will be answered by two Bangkok sex workers at the Patpong Museum on Saturday, September 17, from 5-8pm, where you are welcome…
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Pro-wakeskater gets fine & suspended jail term for surfing in Bangkok floods
UPDATE #2 Thanyaburi Provincial Court handed pro-wakeboarder and pro-wakeskater Daniel “Tao” Grant a 5,000 baht fine and a one-month suspended jail term for his wakeskating stunt in the Bangkok floods. The 24 year old watersports champion was found guilty of causing danger to and obstructing traffic for wakeskating on the flooded Phahon Yothin Road outside Bangkok University last week. After…
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Court to decide fate of suspended Thai PM Prayut on September 30
On September 30 at 3pm, Thailand’s Constitutional Court will read the verdict on suspended Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s eight-year term limit. According to Section 158 of Thailand’s constitution, “The Prime Minister shall not hold office for more than eight years in total, whether or not holding consecutive term.” Prayut reached his eight-year limit serving as PM in August after becoming…
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Former Thai PM slams govt’s miserly 5% minimum wage rise
A day after the Thai government announced a nationwide 5% salary increase the kingdom’s former prime minister condemned it as “not enough.” The Thai Cabinet yesterday agreed to increase the minimum wage throughout the country by 5%. The highest rate is 354 baht per day in Chon Buri, Rayong, and Phuket while it is 328 baht per day in places…
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Teen escapes house fire in Pattaya by climbing balcony
A Pattaya teenager climbed down from his balcony to just barely escape a fire that broke out in his home in the early hours of Monday morning. The boy, 16 year old Poramet Soratavorn, sensed the smell of smoke when he was on the second floor of his house in Royal Park Village on Thepprasit Road. Poramet ran downstairs to find…
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Earthquake strikes in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand
At 1.03am today, a 3.6 magnitude earthquake struck Fang district in northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai province, according to the Meteorological Department. No injuries, deaths or damages have been reported. The earthquake’s epicentre in the Mae Kha subdistrict had a considerably shallow depth of 4 kilometres, causing people in the region to feel strong shaking. Strong shaking was reported in Mae…
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China Airlines opens a new route to Chiang Mai
China Airlines yesterday announced the good news that it intends to launch flights to Chiang Mai in Thailand. The bad news is that it won’t happen until next year. The Taiwan-based airline revealed on the day it reopened its borders that flights to the northern city of Chiang Mai take off on January 20 next year. Flight CI851 from Taiwan…
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Thailand orders 20th Century Fox to pay 10 million baht to restore Maya Bay
Today, Thailand’s Supreme Court ruled that Hollywood movie company 20th Century Fox – now renamed 20th Century Studios – is required to pay 10 million baht in environmental damages caused by the movie “The Beach” (2000) starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Filming for “The Beach” began at Maya Bay at the Phi Phi Islands in Krabi province, southern Thailand, in 1998. The…
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Thai govt increase minimum wage by 5% starting on October 1
The Thai Cabinet today agreed to increase the minimum wage throughout the country by 5%. The highest rate is 354 baht per day in Chon Buri, Rayong, and Phuket. The new rate will come into effect on October 1. Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin discussed the topic at today’s Cabinet meeting and it was approved. It is the first time in…
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Pro-wakeskater charged with causing danger for surfing in Bangkok floods
UPDATE Pro-wakeskater Daniel Grant has been charged with causing danger to traffic – violating Thailand’s Traffic Act and Highway Act – for his surfing stunt in the Bangkok floods on Friday. The 24 year old half-Thai, half-English watersports champion was summoned to Khlong Luang Police Station this morning to acknowledge the allegations made against him by police after they saw…
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Favipiravir: DMS says Thai Covid study contradicts US study
A top respiratory specialist in Thailand spoke out on Friday about a study in the Clinical Infectious Diseases Journal last month saying that not only does the antiviral medication Favipiravir not seem to help fight Covid-19, but it can lead to patients getting gout. Now the Department of Medical Sciences is defending the use of Favipiravir in Thailand to treat…
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Ex-con released from jail recalled to finish his porridge after gaff
An ex-con legally released seven months ago has been recalled to the jail in the northern province of Payao after a gaff by the Department of Corrections (DOC). He refuses to return. The DOC admitted they made a mistake and wrongly calculated the years of imprisonment so recalled the former convict to finish his porridge. Teeraphat Sophon was originally jailed…
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Thai VietJet to increase frequency of Japan and Taiwan flights
Thai VietJet announced the addition of flights to both the Bangkok – Fukuoka route to Japan and the Bangkok – Taipei route to Taiwan. The airline commenced the Bangkok – Fukuoka route, their only service linking Thailand and Japan, back in July. Initially, the route between Suvarnabhumi Airport and Fukuoka Airport operated three times a week. The route turned out…
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Thailand’s nonpartisan stance sensible in China-US Cold War
Thailand yesterday was urged to maintain its neutrality as tensions between the globe’s two economic giants, China and the United States, continue to gather pace. Thailand last week was criticized for maintaining a neutral stance regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict as the West continues to impose sanctions on the former Soviet state. The kingdom has been also condemned in the past…
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Alleged Thai ‘love scammer’ denied bail in Australia
A Thai national detained in Sydney, Australia, for allegedly committing “romance fraud” was denied bail yesterday. Siriluck Fatima Chimmalee is accused of stealing from men she met online through a dating app. She is facing trial for over 100 charges of fraud. Police say 30 year old Siriluck allegedly pretended to be a registered remitter and charged customers steep inflation…
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Thai Interior Minister plays down flood warnings
The Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) today announced another day of heavy downpours, flooding, and traffic chaos throughout the country and told the kingdom to brace itself. The Interior Minister on the other hand played it down and said there was nothing to worry about. The TMD made known it is 70% likely that the nation will be hit by another…
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VIDEO: King cobra slithers into closet in southern Thailand
A terrified homeowner in Trang province, southern Thailand, woke up yesterday morning to find a 2.1 metre long king cobra taking a nap in his wardrobe. He locked the snake inside the closet and urgently called a rescue team for help. At 9am, a snake rescue foundation received a request for help from a villager in Palian district and deployed…
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4 billion baht budget to tackle HIV & STDs in Thailand’s teens
Thai teenagers are more at risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV infection than adults says the Thai government and that is why it has approved a budget of nearly four million baht to tackle the issue. The Deputy Spokeswoman of the PM Office, Ratchada Thanadirek, revealed that people aged between 15 to 24 years old are more likely…
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Kayaking tourists swept out to sea in eastern Thailand, 1 dies and 1 survives
Two tourists were swept out to sea while kayaking in Rayong province, eastern Thailand, yesterday afternoon. One of the men drowned and the other clung to his friend’s body all night in the open sea until he was rescued by a passing fishing boat this morning. Three tourists, all of mixed Thai and Taiwanese nationality, travelled on holiday to Koh…
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VIDEO: Elephant kills monk in eastern Thailand
A 66 year old Buddhist monk was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Chanthanaburi province in eastern Thailand on Saturday. The terrifying moment was captured by CCTV. At 5am yesterday, a monk came out of his hut and discovered the body of Phra Prachon Suksingh outside on the temple grounds. It was clear that he had been trampled…
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Helicopter crash in Malaysia reported pilot alive, then dead
Yesterday above the skies of Malaysia, a helicopter mysteriously disappeared as air traffic control lost all contact. This morning the helicopter’s pilot was reportedly found alive in the wreckage only to be declared dead later on. At 11.37am yesterday, the helicopter took off from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, also known as Subang Airport – a secondary airport of the…
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Two oarsmen drown in race practise on the Mekong River
Two oarsmen tragically drowned on Friday while practising for the Thailand-Laos-Vietnam Long Boat Race last weekend. Their bodies were found yesterday washed ashore on a Mekong River bank in the Isaan province of Bueng Kan. More than ten boat racers were practising on the Mekong River on Friday morning in preparation for the race from Friday, September 9 to Sunday,…
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More tourists are venturing into rural Thailand, says Airbnb
Airbnb says more tourists in Thailand are opting for ‘off-the-beaten-track’ destinations, benefiting the environment and local economies. Thailand’s usual top tourist destinations are places with international airports – Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and Phuket. According to Airbnb, more tourists are venturing out of these hubs and into “lesser-known” destinations such as Koh Lanta, Trat, Pai and Cha-Am. Koh Lanta…
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