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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Naked intruder gets painful lesson
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: A would-be rapist got his comeuppance on January 7, when he climbed naked through the wrong window and met his intended victim’s mother – meat cleaver in hand. Twenty-eight-year-old villager Phongphetch Bunyadisak climbed through the window of a home in his village in Muang District, allegedly after the prize-winning teenage schoolgirl who lived there. When he crawled…
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Friendly frogs draw tourists to temple
AYUDHAYA: Tourists have been flocking to a temple in the old capital district to get close to a group of tame frogs that have taken up residence in a lotus pond. The frogs sit happily on lotus leaves, allowing tourists to stroke and play with them. They even allow photos to be taken, free-of-charge. Phrakhrupradit Kijjarak, 46, the abbot of…
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Wrong corpse: cremation cut short
ANG THONG: A funeral was called to an abrupt halt on December 12 after mourners opened the coffin just before the cremation was to begin and realized they were about to burn the wrong corpse. The funeral was ostensibly for 39-year-old Prachuap Arachon, found dead of apparent heart failure in Chachoengsao at the end of October. Finding Mr Prajuap’s ID…
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Domestic dispute turns explosive
TRAT: A quarry worker and his wife were blown up after the man apparently detonated a quantity of C-4 plastic explosive during a domestic dispute on November 19. The blast, heard for up to 50km away, had villagers fearfing an invasion by the Cambodian army. Police and rescue workers found the house of Phen Buntham, 42, and his wife Saijai…
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Canine caper leaves cleric in coma
PITSANULOKE: An errant monk was caught in a compromising position on November 5 after he suffered a stroke while having sex with a temple dog behind Sam Toei Temple in Wat Thong District. Villagers were drawn to the scene by the howls of protest from the dog, which the monk had lashed to a tree. After seeing the monk in…
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Beeswax boost for beef bayonet
LAMPANG: Youths in the North have found a dangerous new way to impress the ladies: a home-made penis enlargement therapy using beeswax. The new trend came to light when a 21-year-old unnamed man checked into hospital at the end of October with a badly infected member. The man sheepishly told doctors that he had injected his penis with warm beeswax…
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Snake bite saves man’s life
SRISAKET: A one-legged fisherman fought off two ten-foot pythons he caught in his net by biting them in the throat. Fifty-six-year-old Chachawan Chaowaphithikul said the snakes attacked him when he tried to free them from his net. Mr Chachawan said he placed the net in a brook near his house every day. When he went to check it on the…
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Headless baby draws crowds
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: A family in Ron Phibun District have set up a shrine to house the body of a stillborn headless baby. The baby was the second of a pair of twin girls born to 30-year-old Saijai Sriraksa on October 14. After the first healthy twin was born, doctors noticed Mrs Saijai still had a lump in her abdomen.…
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Drunk driver chows on cops
UDON THANI: A drunk driver bit two police officers who asked him to take a breathalyser test. Police said salesman Chatsak Ploicharoen, 36, was weaving all over the road as he drove his pickup truck towards a police checkpoint in Udon Thani. Police signaled for him to stop, but he drove straight through the checkpoint. Two officers chased after him…
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Afghan judo coach loses to ladyboy
BANGKOK: The coach of the Afghan judo squad attending the Asian Martial Arts Games in the Thai capital was robbed of hundreds of thousands of baht after falling for a ladyboy he met in the notorious Nana Plaza adult entertainment complex. Assaladee Sakala, 43, told police he and his team checked into the Grand Ayudhaya Hotel Bangkok in the Ratchada area and…
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Thick thief returns car
BANGKOK: A car thief was arrested last Thursday after phoning the dealer he had stolen the car from to complain when it broke down. Car dealer Thonchok Singnuwongsa said the thief waited around his showroom until a genuine customer came in to put a deposit on a car. He then persuaded a staff member to hand over the keys to…
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Lottery players punt on one-eyed pussy
AYUDHAYA: Gamblers have been rushing to get lucky omens from the corpse of a one-eyed kitten which refuses to rot. The cat’s owner, 60-year-old Wichian Sangchai, said the kitten was the last of a litter of three born early in July in Ayudhaya, but died within minutes of being born. Mr Wichian said the kitten had only one eye and…
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Abbot claims black magic nailed him
UTTARADIT: A temple abbot was admitted to hospital after doctors found nails in his stomach for the second time in two months. Phra Athikananuwat Wisutho, 32, abbot of Wat Hat Song Khwai in Tha Pla District, was admitted to Uttaradit Hospital on July 7 after an X-ray found five 3- to 4-inch nails in his stomach. The director of Utaradit…
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Cabbages and condoms, literally
SONGKHLA: In Bangkok there is a popular restaurant chain known as Cabbages and Condoms, brainchild of well-known activist Mechai Viravaidya (aka “Mr Condom”), who has been internationally lauded for his efforts to promote condom use as a way of stopping HIV/Aids. At the restaurant, condoms, rather than mints, are served after meals. The efforts to bring together vegetables and prophylactics…
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When relatives stay too long…
AYUDHAYA: Every family has its own unique customs, but a family in Phak Hai District recently caught national attention when it was discovered keeping the corpse of a long-dead relative in the front room of the family home. ÂCurrent guardian of the coffin, 36-year-old Samreng Yingyong, told reporters the body was that of his great-great uncle Phuangthong Lidkaho, who died…
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Beggar thinks prison is the breast way out
KHON KAEN: Having failed to get anywhere with begging, an unemployed man was arrested on June 6 after squeezing the breasts of a number of women. Like Little Tramp in Modern Times, the man claimed the act had nothing to do with sexual appetite, but was done so to get arrested and sent to prison – where he would be…
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Local youngster goes for granny
NAKHON PHANOM: While the sight of an old man marrying a young woman is not too unusual in Isarn, when it’s the other way round, it manages to raise eyebrows. Therefore, when word spread that 73-year-old Thongsuk Phutthawan was set to marry 26-year-old Somphon Chanthawong, 47 years her junior, it quickly drew the interest of the local press. The pair…
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Eggciting find for Phang Nga villagers
PHANG NGA: A wave of excitement has swept through a village in Phang Nga province over the discovery there of a giant egg of unknown origin. Maitree Yaifai, of Village 2, Tambon Kheuk Khak in Takua Pa District, said he found the egg in a dry patch of grass not far from his house when he was out fishing. The…
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30-baht pay-out for stabbing victim
BANGKOK: Stabbing victim Pairat Juntub knew he was entitled to compensation, but he was staggered yesterday at the sum he got from the government. Mr Pairat has the dubious distinction of receiving the lowest amount ever given to a crime victim. “I got 30 baht (approx 86 cents in USD),” Pairat said. “I was speechless when I saw the amount.”…
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Thief lifts trousers
BANGKOK: A shopper at Carrefour supermarket had an embarrassing journey home after a thief stole his trousers while he was on the toilet on May 8. Kasin Siriwichit, 24, reported the incident to Thong Lor Police. Mr Kasin said that around midday he went to use the toilet at the Rama 4 Rd branch of Carrefour. In the cubicle, he…
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Belgian member survives toothy attack
CHONBURI: A Belgian man in Pattaya early this morning suffered what might be every man’s greatest secret fear, when his Thai girlfriend bit his penis and almost severed it, police said. The 56-year-old tourist, whose name was reported in the Thai media, was rushed to the Pattaya Memorial Hospital, where doctors managed to save the organ. The hospital reported the…
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Charity box bandit nabbed by The Magnet
PHUKET CITY: For a combination of stupidity and lack of ethics, few crimes in Phuket in recent years match that of a man who tried to steal a charity donation box placed on the main counter of the Phuket City Police Station on April 21.At 12:30pm that day, a police officer noticed that the charity donation box for the Foundation…
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Holy hole
NONG KHAI: Villagers in Phon Phisai and neighbouring districts have been flocking to Tambon Soem to pay respect to a mysterious hole that appeared in a rice field shortly before Songkran. Residents of Village 9 told reporters that one morning earlier this month, after a day and a night of constant rain, they heard a loud bang – like that…
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Feisty fish, painful problem
PHUKET: Doctors in Pichit Hospital were presented with a medical conundrum on March 25, when an eight-year-old boy was brought in with a climbing perch stuck up his bottom. The boy, whose name was given in media reports but is omitted here, was carried into the hospital by his 60-year-old grandmother. The boy told doctors that on the way home…
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Monkey kills owner with coconut
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: A coconut collector in Nop Phitam District was killed after his favorite monkey dropped a coconut onto his head on February 25.Leurit Chanchum, 48, from Village 4 Tambon Krung Ching, was hired by a neighbor to collect coconuts using his trained macaque. When the monkey was up the tree, it threw down some coconuts to its owner.…
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Thai Obama sings to a different tune
SARABURI: While your average Southeast Asian would struggle to make his way in the world as a Gerorge W Bush lookalike, America’s dashing new president is providing some exciting new career prospects for some men across the region. One Indonesian has already found fame in the Philippines owing to his uncanny resemblance to President Barack Obama. He was well compensated…
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Abbot on the run
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: Police are hunting for the abbot of a temple after he allegedly beat up his male lover in the early hours of January 23.Police were called to Wat Khuan Soong in Chawang District just before 4 am by a man who said that the temple abbot had beaten him with a chair.When they arrived at the scene,…
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Enraged Aussie pounds Bangkok police
BANGKOK: Life in Thailand can sometimes get a bit frustrating for expats when things don’t quite work out as they would in their home countries. This, coupled with the booze-heavy lifestyle enjoyed by a fair percentage of Westerners living in the Kingdom, occasionally leads to “Angry Farang Syndrome”.A prime example occurred one afternoon last month outside Thong Lor Police Station. Station…
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Drug disco monk defrocked
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: In an interesting story that until now has not been reported in the English language press, a monk was arrested on November 17 after police discovered he had converted his cell at the temple into a mini disco and was having drug parties. After receiving a tip off that a monk at Wat Mukhathara, in Tambon Pak…
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Full body massage by a real Babe
CHIANG MAI: Villagers in Sansai District’s Tambon Nong Jom have been rushing to try the services of the village’s newest masseuse – a wild boar piglet named Phalo. In exchange for occasional mackerel or a few sweets, Phalo uses his snout to massage tired limbs – reportedly with as much skill as the most expert human hands. The unusual talent…
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