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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    Is tap water in Thailand safe to consume?

    Wondering if you can drink the tap water in Thailand? From brushing your teeth to filling up a bottle, it’s helpful to understand a few basics. Tap water safety in Thailand varies by location, and while some people use it...

  • Thailand visa fees to be reduced to B1,000

    Thailand visa fees to be reduced to B1,000

    THAILAND: Visa fees for entering Thailand, including fees for visas on arrival, are to be reduced for three months starting on December 1. The move is intended to boost tourist arrivals, a key economic engine for the country. “The fees will be cut to Bt1,000,” the Tourism Ministry announced yesterday. The change was announced less than two months after visa…

  • Crowds fill Sanam Luang for live recording of Royal Anthem

    Crowds fill Sanam Luang for live recording of Royal Anthem

    BANGKOK: Huge crowds of black-clad mourners from across the country poured into Sanam Luang this morning to join the mass singing of the Royal Anthem in the afternoon and express their love for His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej. People holding umbrellas in the scorching sun strolled on the huge ground, waiting for the mass singing to start at 1pm.…

  • Bulletin issued on HM the King’s health

    Bulletin issued on HM the King’s health

    BANGKOK: The Bureau of the Royal Household has indicated His Majesty the King’s condition remains unstable and under close monitoring. In its 38th statement issued on the condition of HM the King, the Bureau of the Royal Household indicated that the team of doctors providing treatment to His Majesty on Tuesday diagnosed a further drop in his blood pressure, a…

  • What’s different about The Thaiger?

    What’s different about The Thaiger?

    The Thaiger is growing fast, reaching out beyond Phuket to cover the rest of Thailand as well. We will still be posting at least five stories a day for our Phuket readers but will be adding other regions of the Kingdom as well so we become a truly national portal. • In May 2018, alone, we grew our online audience…

  • The Thaiger reaches far and wide

    The Thaiger reaches far and wide

    Modern marketing is all about ‘reach’ – how many people are seeing/hearing/reading your ads – and targeting your customers. The Thaiger is an effective tool to do both. Our platforms are measurable and promise to provide you with superior effective reach at a price you can afford with a reputation and quality to match your product. Every package from The…

  • Advertising on The Thaiger

    Advertising on The Thaiger

    . WELCOME TO THE THAIGER Our website has skyrocketed in new user from 275,000 page views per month at the start of 2018 to 2.1 million page views in February 2019, representing more than 1.3 million sessions. (Google Analytics) The Thaiger crosses a number of platforms including the main website, a smartphone App, Facebook pages, YouTube Channel, Instagram, Twitter and…

  • Victim of Bangkok gang may be elderly European

    Victim of Bangkok gang may be elderly European

    PHUKET: A scan of body parts found in a refrigerator during a raid last week on a building in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 56 suggests it was an elderly European man who was dismembered by an electric saw, Dr Udomsak Hoonwichit, of Chulalongkorn University’s faculty of medicine, said yesterday. The deceased man’s DNA will be collected for identification and given to…

  • Bangkok surpasses London as world’s top destination city

    Bangkok surpasses London as world’s top destination city

    BANGKOK: The Thai capital, projected to welcome 21.47 million international inbound visitors this year, has been awarded the ‘World’s Best City Award’ for the fourth year in a row. The awards are organized by Travel and Leisure magazine. According to the annual Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index released today, Bangkok edges out second-ranked London, which is set to welcome 19.88…

  • Train bombing may derail peace talks

    Train bombing may derail peace talks

    THAILAND: Thais in the deep South continue to endure regular violent attacks, despite ongoing peace talks in Malaysia. Trains operating in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat have been suspended for 10 days after another bomb exploded on the railway line on Friday. The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) ordered the temporary suspension of train services to the three southernmost provinces in…

  • Trump or Clinton?

    Trump or Clinton?

    PHUKET: It’s going to be interesting. Gerard Baker, editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, is flying in from New York to join The Wharton Club of Thailand and The Nation in presenting, on September 15, a ‘discussion’ of the unprecedented story lines behind the two candidates and how they are reshaping America and rubbing off on the world. In the…

  • Mother of man killed in Samui cries for justice two years on

    Mother of man killed in Samui cries for justice two years on

    KOH SAMUI: The mother of a German man who was killed two years ago in a bloody altercation in Koh Samui has written a letter pleading with Thai authorities to try those responsible for her son’s death, while bemoaning a lack of progress made on the case. Volker Schwartges was 46 years old when he was brutally stabbed, allegedly by…

  • Toddler killed by home-made bomb

    Toddler killed by home-made bomb

    PRACHIN BURI: A 14-month-old girl was killed and her grandmother injured when the toddler picked up a home-made bomb in their home in Prachin Buri’s Sri Maha Pho district yesterday. Police and bomb squad personnel rushed to the scene at about 10:30am. The grandmother, Jamnian Budda, 39, lost her right arm in the explosion. The child, named as Thidarat Sang-ondee,…

  • Bomb wounds eight in downtown Trang

    Bomb wounds eight in downtown Trang

    TRANG: At least eight people were injured after a bomb exploded at a walking street market in downtown Trang city today. The blast occurred while vendors were setting up their stalls along Ruenrom Road, on the same street as the Trang Provincial Justice Office, less than a block away from City Hall. Police have cordoned off the area, and are…

  • Thai weightlifter wins first gold at Rio Olympics

    Thai weightlifter wins first gold at Rio Olympics

    THAILAND: Thailand’s national anthem was played at the Olympic Games for the first time in eight years yesterday after determined weightlifter Sopita Tanasan captured the first Rio Games gold and became the fourth women’s weightlifter from Thailand to win an Olympic gold. The pint-sized lifter from Chumphon, 22, dominated the women’s 48kg event, lifting 92kg in the snatch and 108kg…

  • Thai students snag multiple awards at international math competition

    Thai students snag multiple awards at international math competition

    BANGKOK: Thai students snagged 50 prizes at the International Mathematics Contest (IMC) 2016 held in Singapore last month, returning home this week with five gold, 10 silver and 20 bronze medals. They also won 13 special prizes plus two Grand Champion awards. Thanisorn Auttawetchakul from Chulalongkorn University’s Demonstration Elementary School and Vorapas Meejitpaisarn from the Bangkok Christian College were named…

  • Bomb attacks in south ahead of vote

    Bomb attacks in south ahead of vote

    SONGKHLA: Four border policemen and a civilian were injured in a double bombing attack in Saba Yoi in Songkhla yesterday morning. Two village defence volunteers suffered minor injuries when a third bomb exploded in front of a school in Khok Pho in Pattani the same day. The policemen were injured in the first explosion at about 7am in Ban Daru…

  • 20-year-old Thai golfer makes history at British Open

    20-year-old Thai golfer makes history at British Open

    THAILAND: Twenty-year-old Thai sportswoman Ariya Jutanugarn made history on Sunday when she became the first-ever Thai golfer to win a major title at the Women’s British Open Golf Championships at Woburn Golf Club in England. Ms Ariya led confidently by six shots at this year’s event as she birdied the long second and short sixth, surviving a second-half challenge from…

  • Farmers choose solar farm over our endangered spoon-billed sandpipers

    Farmers choose solar farm over our endangered spoon-billed sandpipers

    SAMUT SAKHON: Given a choice between renewable energy and wildlife conservation, the people of Samut Sakhon have opted for a solar farm. Tractors and trucks loaded with soil were seen busily working in a field yesterday to fill a salt basin in Ban Khok Kham, where a three-megawatt solar farm project, costing about 180 million baht, is set to start…

  • Massive blaze breaks out at Bangkok cinema

    Massive blaze breaks out at Bangkok cinema

    BANGKOK: A faulty billboard was blamed for sparking a massive fire at the Major Cineplex in the Central Pinklao shopping mall in Bangkok this morning. Police said the fire broke out at 11:15 and within 20 minutes had caused the third-floor roof to collapse, just as a team of firefighters pulled out of the building. No one was trapped inside…

  • Chinese drivers entering Thailand drops to zero

    Chinese drivers entering Thailand drops to zero

    CHIANG MAI: The flow of Chinese tourists entering northern Thailand by road in their own vehicles has dried up completely after the introduction of tough new regulations making it too costly and time consuming for them. Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce deputy chief Pakaimass Viara said yesterday that no Chinese tourists have crossed the border at the R3A Highway through…

  • Cruise ship port for Samui

    Cruise ship port for Samui

    SAMUI: Government officials are getting excited about making Koh Samui a hub for cruise ship tourism to Thailand. Officials met with private-sector cruise ship experts while touring a ship docked off of Samui’s gulf coast yesterday. The tour comes after last week’s announcement by the government in Bangkok that it has approved a plan to build a cruise port on…

  • Migrant parents refuse to cremate daughter

    Migrant parents refuse to cremate daughter

    KOH SAMUI: The father of a four-year-old girl killed by a pickup truck in a temple has stated he will refrain from cremating her body until his family receives compensation. In Thailand, it is customary to cremate the body of the deceased after their funeral rites are administered. The Burmese parents, Zo Ao, 49, and Cho Ma Rui, 43, held…

  • True Corp plans Thailand launch of Pokemon Go game in September | Thaiger

    True Corp plans Thailand launch of Pokemon Go game in September

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community True Corp plans Thailand launch of Pokemon Go game in September Phuket Gazette / Reuters BANGKOK: Thailand telecoms company True Corp Pcl plans to launch Nintendo Co Ltd’s smash-hit mobile phone game Pokemon GO in the country in September, a top executive at the Thai firm…

  • Thailand tourism faces uncertainty over Brexit fallout

    Thailand tourism faces uncertainty over Brexit fallout

    MARKETS across Asia are reeling after it became known this afternoon that Great Britain will exit the European Union. Investors are fleeing to more stable currencies, such as the US dollar, the Swiss Franc and the Japanese Yen, causing major upheavals in Japan whose government has been trying to devalue the Yen in an effort to increase exports and stimulate…

  • Huge haul of illegal fireworks seized in raid

    Huge haul of illegal fireworks seized in raid

    SAMUI: Police seized an illegal stockpile of fireworks estimated to be worth two million baht from a shophouse in Koh Samui this week. Police raided the property on Taweerat Road in the Bo Phut district at 5pm, after a tip off from local officials. Bo Phut Police Lt Denduang Tongsisuk said the owner, named only as Mr Off, had locked…

  • Police seize protected species from Hua Hin Zoo

    Police seize protected species from Hua Hin Zoo

    HUA HIN: A police raid at Hua Hin Zoo in Prachuap Khiri Khan province yesterday led to the confiscation of more than 100 animals, The Nation reports. The raid was launched as part of a crackdown on illicit animal trades, after investigations into the Tiger Temple lead to the discovery of animal parts and corpses (story here). The Department of…

  • “Tiger Temple’ faces possible closure, more criminal investigation

    “Tiger Temple’ faces possible closure, more criminal investigation

    KANCHANABURI: The ‘Tiger Temple’ could be permanently closed if its land use permit from the Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) is revoked, the National Office of Buddhism disclosed yesterday. With the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department (DNP) relocating all tigers from Wat Pa Luangta Bua, better known as the ‘Tiger Temple’, and finding evidence of illegal trading in…

  • One tourist killed, seven trapped in Koh Chang hotel collapse

    One tourist killed, seven trapped in Koh Chang hotel collapse

    KOH CHANG: One tourist was killed and seven others were trapped inside a two-story beachfront hotel on Koh Chang when it collapsed following torrential rains this morning. Koh Chang police commander Col Arwat Pibulsawat said the Siam Beach Hotel near Siam Beach in Kaibae Village tumbled down at 6am. He said a two-year-old child was among the trapped tourists. Rescuers…

  • Tiger bodies, parts found at Tiger Temple

    Tiger bodies, parts found at Tiger Temple

    KANCHANABURI: Wildlife officials yesterday found more than 40 dead tiger cubs in a freezer in Wat Pa Luangta Maha Bua Yannasam-panno, more widely known as the Tiger Temple. Officials from the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department (NPD) found the frozen cubs while removing 137 tigers from the temple, and relocating them to breeding centers in Ratchaburi Province, near…

  • Four suspected insurgents, one ranger killed in Narathiwat clashes

    Four suspected insurgents, one ranger killed in Narathiwat clashes

    THAILAND: Four suspected insurgents and a ranger were killed in two clashes in a mountainous area in Narathiwat’s Chanae district yesterday. The first clash occurred about 7am, when Narathiwat task force troops and rangers launched a joint operation to raid a camp of the suspected insurgents in the mountainous area behind I-Kros village in Chang Puean sub district. Intelligence agencies…