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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Starting a new life abroad is exciting—new culture, new lifestyle, and new chances to grow. But living far from home also means taking steps to protect your health in unfamiliar surroundings. Without the right coverage, even small health issues can...
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Royal birthday holiday upcoming July 28-31, and again August 12
We are entering royal birthday season, as this weekend marks July’s second long holiday weekend in celebration of the king’s birthday, followed just two weeks later by the Queen Mother’s birthday. His Royal Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun will celebrate his 70th birthday on Thursday, July 28, prompting a holiday to be extended on Friday to create a four-day holiday…
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Chinese kingpin of transnational call centre gang arrested at Bangkok airport
A Chinese man wanted for trafficking Chinese people across borders to work in call centre gangs in Laos and Cambodia was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on Saturday. Chief of Police Suwat Chaengyordsook received a call on Friday, July 22, warning him that a Chinese fugitive wanted on an Interpol ‘Red Notice’ would be travelling to Suvarnabhumi Airport in…
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Armed robber makes off with 160,000 baht from Phuket Tesco
Bank robberies are generally violent affairs, with lots of drama, some shots fired, and an injury or death. But this wasn’t the case when a stick-up occurred yesterday afternoon at a Tesco Lotus department store in Phuket. The cheeky armed robber wandered into the store in the Rawai area of Muang district shortly before 1pm and casually made off with…
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Aviation industry eyes 33% recovery this year, 100% in 2024
Airports of Thailand (AoT) says the aviation industry is making steady progress in recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and is forecasting a full recovery by the end of 2024. The AoT believe that in a year and a half, airplane and passenger traffic will finally recover to the levels they were at in 2019. The current prediction is that flight…
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Thailand says 40 year old smallpox vaccines are effective against monkeypox
Thailand has a stockpile of smallpox vaccines in cold storage which were produced more than 40 years ago in 1979 and 1980. Not only are the vaccines still effective against smallpox, but they are 85% effective against monkeypox too, according to Thailand’s Department of Medical Sciences (DMS). The vaccines could be used in the instance that the global monkeypox outbreak…
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Loan shark avenges debtor with fermented fish in northern Thailand
A loan creditor broke into a woman’s home in Phetchabun province, northern Thailand, and spread fermented fish all over her house and belongings. Police say the “loan gang” could be prosecuted for breaking and entering if they are found gill-ty of the crime. A 45 year old single mother filed a complaint at Bueng Sam Phan Police Station yesterday after…
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4 tips about buying a condo in Thailand
Buying property in Thailand requires some good advice and a bit of reading-up before plunging yourself into the hundreds of opportunities, around the country. Condos, which a foreigner can own the freehold, have the potential to yield a good profit for your investment. Most condos have relatively low maintenance costs and the ability to use the property for residential or…
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Thai government agrees to continue subsidising diesel prices past July
The Oil Fuel Fund board has resolved to keep diesel prices around Bangkok and immediate provinces at 34.94 baht per litre until the end of July. The government, via the OFF Board, have been subsiding the country’s diesel prices since they started to rocket due to the current global fuel price crisis. The government, or specifically Thai taxpayers, have been…
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UPDATE: Health officials test 19 for monkeypox after contact with fugitive
UPDATE: All 19 people who had close contact with Thailand’s first ever recorded monkeypox case have all tested negative for the monkeypox virus. All 19 people will isolate for a total of 21 days and will then be tested again to confirm they have not contracted the virus. The 27 year old Nigerian national travelled to Thailand eight months ago…
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Government scheme helps elderly Thais become social media influencers
More elderly Thais are using social media than ever before, but very few consider themselves ‘content creators.’ Government agency Thai Media Fund has started a digital training scheme to help Thailand’s aging population use the internet more effectively and generate their content, so they can use social media to turn their passions into profit. Almost 78% of Thailand’s 70 million…
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Outbound tourism rebound slowed by Covid-19, rising costs
The number of tourist arrivals into Thailand is slowly picking up, but tour operators are nervous about the near future outbound travel, with economic and health worries still a factor in worldwide travel. The president of the Thai Travel Agent Association said that the beginning of the rebound of outbound tourism has been kneecapped by a surge in new Covid-19…
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“Payments” made to “buy” support of independent MPs – Thammanat Prompau
After surviving another censure motion against him and the members of his government, the Thai prime minister now faces a more serious accusation – making alleged payments of up to 100,000 per month to parliamentary members from smaller independent political parties to secure their votes in parliament. The Setthakij Thai Party leader Thamanat Prompau alleged that some of the smaller…
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French Muay Thai boxer resigns over death of opponent
Yesterday, French Muay Thai boxer Anthony Durand announced his resignation from the sport following the death of his opponent Phanphet Phadungchai. Phanphet suffered a brain haemorrhage after being knocked out by Anthony during a fight on July 15. The 25 year old boxer entered a state of brain death following the injury and received life support for nine days before…
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Body of missing Thai – Belgian tourist found in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand
Rescue teams have found the body of a Thai – Belgian tourist who went missing after a white water rafting accident in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, on Friday. The body of 30 year old Nicholas Hinckxt was found in the Mae Taeng River in Mae Taeng district at around 2pm yesterday, some 10 kilometres away from where his boat capsized.…
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Thailand upgrades monkeypox alert to national level
Thai officials are on guard for monkeypox. The country has upgraded its monkeypox alert to the national level today. Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called an emergency meeting today after the World Health Organisation declared monkeypox a Global Health Emergency. This news comes after a Nigerian man, who was the first person recorded with monkeypox in Thailand, escaped to Cambodia.…
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Thailand reports increase in Covid-19 related deaths and serious cases
Thailand has reported a jump in Covid-19 related deaths, and serious cases, throughout the past week. The Public Health Ministry said this morning that there have been 2,390 more coronavirus in-patients and 29 new deaths in the past 24 hours. The numbers provided by Worldometers for today (July 24) are 2,390 new cases and 30 deaths. All the new infections…
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Muay Thai fighter dies from brain injury
There’s been a tragedy in the world of Thai boxing, commonly known as Muay Thai. After a boxer was declared brain dead last week after his opponent knocked him out in a match last week. The boxer, known as Phanphet Phadungchai, had suffered a brain haemorrhage after the fight. Phanphet’s final match was on July 15, at the Thupatemi Air…
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More heavy rain throughout Thailand today and tomorrow
Once again, more heavy rain is expected to pour down on most regions of Thailand today and tomorrow. This includes the north, northeast, central, east, and south regions. The Thai Meteorological Department says the monsoon trough is lying across the lower North, upper Central and lower Northeast of Thailand. Meanwhile down in the country’s south, there is a moderate southwest…
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Man extradited from Thailand to Australia to face murder charge
A man charged with the murder of another man in 2014 has been extradited from Thailand to Australia. The man, 33 year old Antonio “Tony” Bagnato, carried out the murder of 25 year old Bradley Dillon along with others. The suspects shot Dillon in the back three times and stabbed him repeatedly at a car park in Leichhardt, a suburb…
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11 ministers beat no-confidence vote, including PM Prayut
After intense censure debate over the past three days, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha and 10 other cabinet ministers have scraped by and survived a vote of no-confidence, maintaining their positions and avoiding censure again. The opposition had mounted a fierce three-day debate that The Thaiger has been covering each day, but the government leaders have come out unscathed. Minister of Commerce…
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Thai monkeypox fugitive believed to have swam to Cambodia
The hunt has been on for a Nigerian man that was identified as Thailand’s first confirmed monkeypox case in Phuket. He disappeared after failing to report to the hospital and a national manhunt ensued. Now the man with monkeypox is believed to have fled the country by swimming across the Sa Kaeo River into Cambodia. When this 27 year old…
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Thai opposition calls out Prayut over military spending
A leader of Thailand’s opposition has called out PM Prayut Chan-o-cha over military spending. The deputy leader of the Pheu Thai Party, Yuttapong Charasathien, criticised the government’s plans to purchase submarines and F-35 fighter jets. He said that Prayut should have scrapped a submarine deal when it became obvious that the Chinese manufacturer, China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co, couldn’t…
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Justice Minister insists Thailand winning the war against drugs
The Justice Minister, Somsak Thepsutin, insists the government is winning the war against drugs in Thailand because of the kingdom’s strict laws, despite opposition saying it is worse and out of control. Pheu Thai Party MP Manaporn Charoensri yesterday blamed the government at the censure motion for failing to control the drug situation in Thailand. The MP said drugs were…
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Thai police seize 200kg of smuggled cannabis but don’t know if it’s illegal
On Tuesday, police seized a huge amount of cannabis – 203 kilograms – which was smuggled into Thailand from Laos. Police arrested three Thai men in Bueng Kan province in northeast Thailand who picked up the cannabis on the border. Police don’t know what kind of punishment the men will be given, seeing as this is the first case of…
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Woman leaves fetus in a box at temple in northeast Thailand
A woman brought a box with a fetus inside it to a temple in Udon Thani province, northeast Thailand, on Wednesday. She told the monks she had a miscarriage and she wanted them to pray for the baby’s spirit. The woman said she would come back the next day to collect the fetus, but she didn’t come back. At 6pm…
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Group closing in on Thailand ministers involved in Pegasus spyware scandal
The group behind the ground-breaking report revealing Thai democracy activists were targeted by the Israeli spyware Pegasus program, insists they are closing in on those behind the attacks. Citizen Lab, iLaw, and DigitalReach, revealed Monday that 30 activists and academics from Thailand had their Apple iPhones hacked between 2020 and 2021 by Pegasus’ advanced software program. Today the digital security…
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UPDATE: Thailand’s first monkeypox case goes missing
UPDATE: The 27 year old man who tested positive for the monkeypox virus in Phuket has been missing since Wednesday, July 20 at 9.05pm, according to Phuket police. Despite Thai media widely reporting that the man escaped from the private hospital in Phuket where he initially presented with symptoms, he was actually staying at Patong Princess hotel when he went…
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A Mission To Unchain And Rescue The Working Elephants With Digital Art – Unchained Elephants
Thailand has long been a prized tourist destination, with people travelling globally to visit. A popular bucket list activity for many of these people is a visit to an elephant camp. For the tourists, it is a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience, being so close to such a magnificent creature. For the elephant, however, it is a lifetime’s experience of torment, fear…
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BREAKING: Thailand’s first monkeypox case allegedly escapes Phuket hospital
Edit: Inaccuracies in this story have been corrected in a recent update. Thailand recorded its first case of monkeypox yesterday. During the night, the 27 year old Nigerian man allegedly escaped from a private hospital in Phuket and drove away in a white car. Officials are currently tracking him down but his whereabouts are unknown. At present, no further details…
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6.4 earthquake strikes Myanmar and northern Thailand, 47 tremors so far
A series of earthquakes struck Myanmar’s Shan State and Chiang Rai province in northern Thailand last night and throughout the early hours of this morning. The earthquakes began at around 11.30pm yesterday and as of 7am, a total of 47 tremors ranging in magnitude from 2.4 to 6.4 on the Richter scale had occurred. More earthquakes are expected today, according…
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