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.

  • Sponsored

    What do you need before moving from the US to Thailand?

    The Thaiger key takeaways The most common medical emergencies for expats in Thailand include motorcycle accidents, tropical diseases, and food or water-borne illnesses. Air pollution and heat-related conditions like heatstroke also pose serious seasonal health risks, especially in northern and...

  • Schoolgirl receives warning letter after violating school rules by wearing a wedding dress | Thaiger

    Schoolgirl receives warning letter after violating school rules by wearing a wedding dress

    A schoolgirl received a warning letter from her school for violating the rules by wearing makeup and a wedding dress to advertise a wedding studio owned by her family. The story went viral on social media with netizens slating the school. The owner of the Nong Mee Wedding Studio in the central province of Lopburi shared pictures of his sister…

  • Oil tanker explosion in Thailand kills 8 people, 1 dog, injures 4, impacts 128 | Thaiger

    Oil tanker explosion in Thailand kills 8 people, 1 dog, injures 4, impacts 128

    UPDATE Officials have recovered eight bodies from the wreckage of the oil tanker which exploded and caught fire at Ruammitr Dockyard in the Laem Yai district of Samut Songkhram province in central Thailand yesterday. Divers from the Dhammarasamimaneerat Foundation are no longer searching for bodies as the total number of people missing was believed to be eight. At least five…

  • Five airlines launch direct flights between Phuket and China this week | Thaiger

    Five airlines launch direct flights between Phuket and China this week

    Five airlines are launching direct flights between China and Phuket in southern Thailand this week. The services will connect Phuket to Shanghai, Nanjing, and Chengdu. Today, Phuket will welcome three direct flights from Shanghai on Spring Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, and Juneyao Airlines. All three services will fly daily. Juneyao Airlines’ inaugural daily direct service from Nanjing will also land on…

  • 66 year old monk accused of raping 12 year old novice | Thaiger

    66 year old monk accused of raping 12 year old novice

    A 66 year old monk is on the run from a temple in the central province of Prachin Buri after being accused of raping and sexually abusing a 12 year old novice for more than six months. The scandal emerged after the novice visited a hospital due to a complaint about an anus infection. The 12 year old was sent to…

  • Drowsy driver crashes sedan into cyclists killing 1, injuring 10 | Thaiger

    Drowsy driver crashes sedan into cyclists killing 1, injuring 10

    A drowsy driver fell asleep behind the wheel of his sedan and crashed into a group of cyclists on the road in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. One cyclist was killed and 10 were injured. A security camera on the Nakhon Si Thammarat-Surat Thani Road in the Sichon district clearly shows the incident that happened at 7am on…

  • Deputy PM pledges to increase state welfare benefit to 700 baht | Thaiger

    Deputy PM pledges to increase state welfare benefit to 700 baht

    Not to be outdone by Pheu Thai Party (PTP) election promises Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon pledged to increase state welfare scheme benefits if he becomes prime minister in May. The PTP, led by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, vows to increase the daily minimum wage for Thai workers to 600-baht, introduce a 25,000-baht salary for graduates by 2027 and reduce utility…

  • US cruise ships seeking English-speaking Thais for over 1,000 jobs | Thaiger

    US cruise ships seeking English-speaking Thais for over 1,000 jobs

    US cruise ships are on the hunt for Thai employees who can speak English, Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin said yesterday. Suchart said CTI Group Worldwide Services Inc has 1,500 job vacancies for Thais who are at least 21 years old. The jobs, which include 37 positions, will pay between 19,618 to 87,176 baht per month, plus tips. Positions are open…

  • ACD commander dedicated to revitalising corruption battle | Thaiger

    ACD commander dedicated to revitalising corruption battle

    The Anti-Corruption Division (ACD) in Thailand says they currently changing to transform it into a high-calibre unit that can combat corruption effectively. A team of ACD officers recently arrested Rutchada Suriyakul Na Ayutya, the director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. The scandal made headlines and the ACD became the centre of attention, causing its commander…

  • Two Thai men die in unrelated road accidents hours after both winning the lottery | Thaiger

    Two Thai men die in unrelated road accidents hours after both winning the lottery

    Two Thai men were killed in unrelated road accidents in different regions of Thailand last night. Both of them had won the lottery earlier that day. In Chiang Mai, 40 year old Thitibodin [surname reserved] lost control and fatally crashed his motorbike into an electricity pole just after midnight outside the Chiang Mai Provincial Land Transport Office on the Chiang…

  • Bangkok to become brighter, greener, cheaper after street lights upgrade | Thaiger

    Bangkok to become brighter, greener, cheaper after street lights upgrade

    Bangkok Metropolitan Administration plans to improve the city’s streetlights. The Department of Public Works reported it will replace 25,000 of the capital’s 400,000 high-pressure sodium (HPS) light bulbs with light-emitting diodes (LED) to make Bangkok brighter, greener, and cheaper. Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt told the media on Tuesday, January 3 about the plan to change the city’s street light bulbs…

  • Police raid illegal Chinese electronic waste warehouses | Thaiger

    Police raid illegal Chinese electronic waste warehouses

    Police raided three warehouses after receiving an air pollution complaint from locals in Pathum Thani province near Bangkok. Officers found a huge amount of electronic waste in the warehouses and discovered that two of them were operated illegally by Chinese citizens. Police from Lam Luke Ka Police Station and officers from the Pathum Thani Provincial Industry Office raided the three…

  • Court rules 8 years in prison for Thai man who dumped model’s body in Bangkok condo lobby  | Thaiger

    Court rules 8 years in prison for Thai man who dumped model’s body in Bangkok condo lobby 

    Thailand‘s Court of Appeal upholds an eight-year prison sentence for a man convicted of abducting an unconscious woman and dumping her dead body in the lobby of his condo in Bangkok over three years ago. In September 2019, models Rachadech “Nam Un” Wongtabutr and Thitima “Lalabelle” Noraphanphiphat were both hired to provide entertainment at a house party in Bang Bua…

  • Goddess of Victory: Nikke ad slammed for depicting Thai gamers as horny fat boys | Thaiger

    Goddess of Victory: Nikke ad slammed for depicting Thai gamers as horny fat boys

    Gamers in Thailand have slammed a video featuring a fat Thai boy becoming aroused while playing Goddess of Victory: Nikke. The video was released in November 4 last year to much acclaim in the gamer community. Goddess of Victory: Nikke is an immersive sci-fi RPG game, where you can recruit and lead a squad of anime girls who specialize in…

  • Tourism Authority of Thailand uses momentum of last year’s campaign to strengthen 2023 travel direction | Thaiger

    Tourism Authority of Thailand uses momentum of last year’s campaign to strengthen 2023 travel direction

    The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is using momentum from last year’s ‘Visit Thailand Year 2022’ campaign to direct this year toward a “meaningful travel direction.” According to The Pattaya News, the press release by the TAT details new concepts and enhanced efforts to continue the milestone achievement of last year’s campaign. The ongoing “Visit Thailand Year: Amazing New Chapters” is…

  • Injured whale shark swims up to boat for help in southern Thailand | Thaiger

    Injured whale shark swims up to boat for help in southern Thailand

    National park officials in Krabi province, southern Thailand, are searching for an injured whale shark in need of urgent medical assistance. Yesterday, a six-metre long whale shark swam to the surface to visit a longtail boat near Koh Hong island located inside Than Bok Khorani National Park in Krabi’s Mueang district. As cold-blooded whale sharks rarely venture out of deep…

  • Sea nomads take struggle over alleged land encroachment to Bangkok | Thaiger

    Sea nomads take struggle over alleged land encroachment to Bangkok

    Sea nomads are taking their struggle over alleged land encroachment to Bangkok. The nomads are part of the Moken minority, a group of semi-nomadic Austronesian group that lives in Thai coastal provinces and inhabits over 800 islands in the Andaman Sea.  Today, a group of Moken people from Koh Lipe rallied in front of the Treasury Department, demanding justice over…

  • Perverted teacher sacked after sending video of underage sex acts to school chat group | Thaiger

    Perverted teacher sacked after sending video of underage sex acts to school chat group

    A perverted teacher who had sex with underage children in Nakhon Ratchasima and accidentally sent videos of the acts to a group chat has been sacked while a police investigation is underway. The teacher allegedly tried to commit suicide when the news broke. The unnamed arts teacher at Non Sungsritani Secondary School in Non Sung district in Nakhon Ratchasima, Isaan,…

  • Thai farmer makes 1 million baht per month selling buffalo semen | Thaiger

    Thai farmer makes 1 million baht per month selling buffalo semen

    A farmer in Kalasin province in northeast Thailand makes 1 million baht every month by selling semen from one special water buffalo named “Big Billion.” Water buffalo (“kwai” in Thai language) breeders all around the kingdom pay high prices for the semen of Big Billion, a ‘textbook’ Thai water buffalo worth 30 million baht. Breeders use Big Billion’s seed to…

  • Silicone strips seized stopping safety-sacrificing surgeries | Thaiger

    Silicone strips seized stopping safety-sacrificing surgeries

    Officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) teamed up with police on a raid of several plastic surgery clinics and a manufacturer’s warehouse to confiscate a large number of counterfeit silicone pieces. The joint operation was announced on Monday by the FDA Secretary-General and the Deputy Chief of the Consumer Protection Police Division (CPPD). Previous raids had been carried…

  • Chinese man falls to death from Pattaya hotel | Thaiger

    Chinese man falls to death from Pattaya hotel

    Tragedy struck Pattaya when a Chinese man fell to his death at a hotel late last night. Police and rescuers found the body of 33 year old tour agent Chen Pu Lin in a pool of blood on a walkway of the Mantra Pura Hotel in Bang Lamung district. Lin was dressed only in his underwear.  Investigators also found blood…

  • Oil tanker explosion in Thailand kills 1, 4 missing | Thaiger

    Oil tanker explosion in Thailand kills 1, 4 missing

    At 9.30am, a large oil tanker docked in Samut Songkhram province, southwest of Bangkok, exploded and caught fire. At present, one person has been confirmed dead and four people are still missing. Firefighters from Mueang Samut Songkram Fire Station have got the fire under control at the shipyard Laem Yai subdistrict on the Mae Klong River. As the tanker was…

  • Android users urged not to charge phones in public in case they get hacked | Thaiger

    Android users urged not to charge phones in public in case they get hacked

    The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) is advising the public to exercise caution when charging their smartphones in public after a Thai man’s Android phone was hacked at the weekend. The CIB believe hackers have found a way of altering charging cables to steal personal information from phone users. Wisanusan Sam-pok revealed in a Facebook post on Sunday that 101,560 baht…

  • American TikTok star sues Porsche dealer in Thailand | Thaiger

    American TikTok star sues Porsche dealer in Thailand

    An American TikTok star and his Thai girlfriend filed a lawsuit against a Porsche dealership in Thailand showroom claiming that the used car they paid 13 million baht for is not only a different model than they ordered but it doesn’t work. Yesterday at 4.30pm, 39 year old Sam [psuedonym] and his wife [name reserved] met with celebrity lawyer Decha…

  • Shakhtar president donates £22 million of Mudryk Chelsea transfer fee to Ukraine war effort | Thaiger

    Shakhtar president donates £22 million of Mudryk Chelsea transfer fee to Ukraine war effort

    The president of Shakhtar Donetsk announced he is to give £22 million (886 million baht) to the Ukrainian war effort after the transfer of Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea. Shakhtar chief Rinat Akhmetov sold Mudryk to the London club over the weekend for a record transfer fee in Ukrainian football of £89m. The donation serves as a financial boost for Shakhtar,…

  • Thailand’s Chiang Mai Zoo to open -10°C snow dome | Thaiger

    Thailand’s Chiang Mai Zoo to open -10°C snow dome

    Chiang Mai Zoo revealed plans to open a -10°C snow dome to offer guests a chilly winter experience normally unavailable in sweltering Thailand. Zoo director Wuttichai Muangman revealed today that the zoo will gain a winter wonderland named “Snow Buddy Winter Land” in collaboration with Frost Management Company Ltd. Wuttichai said that zoo guests can get a real ‘winter’ feeling inside the…

  • Thailand among 25 countries with least paid leave days | Thaiger

    Thailand among 25 countries with least paid leave days

    Thailand is among a list of countries offering the least amount of days of paid leave and paid public holidays in the world, according to a new study by Resume.io. No East/Southeast Asian country whatsoever made it into the top 25 countries with the most amount of paid public holidays and paid annual leave days. Resume.io‘s study found out how…

  • Not much expected from Thailand’s gold sales this Chinese New Year | Thaiger

    Not much expected from Thailand’s gold sales this Chinese New Year

    Thailand’s Gold Traders Association (GTA) doesn’t expect much from this year’s gold sale during Chinese New Year. The new year usually draws a swarm of customers looking to buy gifts for their loved ones.  But this year, Chinese-Thai buyers will prefer to buy smaller pieces weighing one or two salung, rather than one-baht pieces, according to GTA vice-president Pichaya Phisuthikul.…

  • National Park officers in Koh Samet accused of extortion | Thaiger

    National Park officers in Koh Samet accused of extortion

    A member of Parliament accused Mu Koh Samet National Park officers of extorting nearly 2 million baht per year from public transport drivers and business owners on Samet Island in the eastern province of Rayong. Khaosod reported yesterday, that Okas Thai Party MP (or Thai Opportunity Party), Damrong Pichate, recently gave an interview to a news programme about money extortion…

  • Anna scoops Miss Universe Leadership Award | Thaiger

    Anna scoops Miss Universe Leadership Award

    Miss Universe Thailand, Anna Sueanggam-iam, may not have made the final round of 16 contestants but she did manage to scoop the Transformational Leadership Award or ImpactWayv Award. American beauty queen R’Bonney Gabriel was crowned the 71st Miss Universe 2022 on Sunday, and in doing so became the ninth US beauty to win it. Venezuela’s representative, Amanda Dudamel, was named…

  • Thai man’s android phone hacked to the tune of 101,000 baht | Thaiger

    Thai man’s android phone hacked to the tune of 101,000 baht

    A Thai man was hacked to the tune of over 100,000 baht last week. The victim insists he had not accessed any suspicious websites, taken any call centre calls or filled in any online forms but says his android phone was targeted by hackers. A number of Thai netizens revealed they too had become victims of a scammer gang and…