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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  • WhatsApp stopping support on millions of smartphones – are you affected?

    WhatsApp stopping support on millions of smartphones – are you affected?

    Tech.ThaiVisa are reporting that WhatsApp has quietly announced that it will stop working on a number of iPhones and Android devices. The Facebook-owned messaging platform, which boasts 1.5 billion users worldwide, will cut off millions of users from its service within the next two years. WhatsApp announced the death knell for older smartphones in a blog post titled “support for…

  • Thai PM features on front of Time magazine’s Asia edition

    Thai PM features on front of Time magazine’s Asia edition

    Thailand’s PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is being featured on the cover of Time magazine’s Asia edition for the start of July, available on July 2. The cover carries the headline: “Democrat. Dictator. Which path will Thailand’s Prayuth Chan-o-cha choose?” General Prayuth Chan-ocha appears at ease among the lavish trappings of politics. Thailand’s Prime Minister is never far from doting courtiers in Bangkok’s…

  • Thais don’t have enough savings – Gen Y, Gen X

    Thais don’t have enough savings – Gen Y, Gen X

    Most working Thais only enough savings to last them about six months if they stopped working, or became unemployed. According to a study from the Customer Insights Centre of the Thai Military Bank, the premise particularly affects the Gen Y and Gen x groups. Generation X – Born: 1966-1976, Generation Y (Echo Boomers or Millennium) – Born: 1977-1994 The study is based on…

  • Songkhla: Pet dog leads family to missing boy

    Songkhla: Pet dog leads family to missing boy

    A faithful dog has led a family of a missing five year ld boy to a Songkhla reservoir. Sadly, it turned out that the youngster had already drowned. The body of Panattha Thammaro resurfaced at about 8am this morning (Friday). The family said the boy disappeared from home at 3pm Thursday and couldn’t be found. Then at 8pm the dog, named…

  • National: How many days over-stay?!

    National: How many days over-stay?!

    PHOTOS: Thai Tourist Police Bureau A 70 year old British pensioner has been named as the foreigner with the longest over-stay in the 15th round of “X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner”. the weekly national immigration crackdown. In cooperation with other agencies, Tourist Police announced the arrest of 110 foreign undesirables in 83 raids. People were busted for running romance scams, skimming operations, drug…

  • Politics: Yingluck’s first public message in 10 months

    Politics: Yingluck’s first public message in 10 months

    Former Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra has spoken out for the first time since she fled Thailand nearly 10 months saying thank you to her supporters for their birthday wishes. Khaosod English reports that Yingluck, who remains immensely popular among ‘red shirt’ supporters, despite her exile, said her influential brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, also treated her to two meals on the…

  • Songkhla: Army recruit, high on methamphetamine, shoots friend

    Songkhla: Army recruit, high on methamphetamine, shoots friend

    CCTV footage from Songkhla in southern Thailand shows an army recruit, on leave, in an apparent drug fueled rampage. 22 year old Jetsarin Siri was back home from Kanyaniwatana Camp in Narathiwat and was taking methamphetamine pills with his friend 26 year old Janthaya Chumchart when an argument allegedly broke out. Thai Rath reports that the man drew a gun on…

  • School teacher humiliates student over unpaid school fees

    School teacher humiliates student over unpaid school fees

    A mother is crying foul after she claims her son was humiliated by a teacher who stuck a note on his shirt saying he owed 700 baht in unpaid school fees. The names of the mother, her son and the school have been withheld although you can trace back the original post on Thai Facebook pages. The mother posted the…

  • Chiang Mai: Thai shoe thiefs caught red-handed at Wat Doi Suthep

    Chiang Mai: Thai shoe thiefs caught red-handed at Wat Doi Suthep

    Uproar yesterday following video showing a Thai man and woman stealing a Chinese tourist’s expensive shoes at Wat Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. Daily News reports that the mum and dad, with their child, were caught on CCTV at the temple. Mum takes off her shoes and these are put in a bag by the father. Then they come back and…

  • Krabi: Chinese tourist drowns at Railay Bay

    Krabi: Chinese tourist drowns at Railay Bay

    After all the heavy monsoonal weather along our coasts in recent days, we’re lucky we haven’t had more reports of risky swimmers getting into difficulty. Sadly, Krabi has reported a drowning. Thai Rath reports that a 32 year old Chinese tourist staying in the Railay Beach area drowned after ignoring officials’ warnings not to go into the water. The report says…

  • Pretties, 500 World Cup punters and ‘influencers’ arrested over illegal betting

    Pretties, 500 World Cup punters and ‘influencers’ arrested over illegal betting

    It was only a matter of time before we’d have some arrests related to illegal betting during the World Cup. Among 500 suspects being rounded up, police are also summoning 20 ‘influencers’ who have been posting on Facebook about the ‘Net Idol’ betting page and attempting to persuade youth to engage in soccer betting. Police have arrested 484 suspects – including…

  • Krabi’s coastline damaged by strong winds and heavy waves

    Krabi’s coastline damaged by strong winds and heavy waves

    Strong winds and waves have damaged the Koh Kwang Beach in Krabi during the reason crazy monsoon weather. Somsak Tabbut, a village head man of the Baan Koh Kwang village in Muang Krabi inspected the beach this morning. The damage runs all along 800 metres of the beach. Khun Somsak says, “Every monsoon period, every year, strong wind and waves…

  • Chiang Mai: 33 year old found hanged in Nong Pa Khrang

    Chiang Mai: 33 year old found hanged in Nong Pa Khrang

    A man has hung himself in a Chiang Mai apartment. On June 19, police were informed about a body found at a residence in Nong Pa Kerang, to the east of the Chiang Mai city centre. The deceased, later identified as 33 year old Worawut Srichaiwong, was found hanged from window bars. There was reportedly no sign of assault injury…

  • Summer solstice – the longest day of the year in Thailand

    Summer solstice – the longest day of the year in Thailand

    It’s a special day of the year and we’re glad the sun is out so we can enjoy it. And, if all is well, we’ll see more sunshine today than any other day of 2018. So what will you do with all the extra daylight? The summer solstice is today (June 21) – the longest day in the northern hemisphere.…

  • Chiang Rai: Province tackling pineapple oversupply

    Chiang Rai: Province tackling pineapple oversupply

    It’s not only Phuket where the popular fruit crop, pineapple, is in oversupply. A glut is causing prices to drop, but not only in the southern provinces. In Chiang Rai the provincial government is taking a pro-active approach to try and support farmers through the short-term supply/demand problem. Chiang Rai Governor, Narongsak Osotthanakkorn has told Thai media that both short-term…

  • Some stingray and sawfish species now declared ‘protected’

    Some stingray and sawfish species now declared ‘protected’

    PHOTO: Green sawfish. Survival, Self Sufficiency and Sustainable Living Some types of the stingray and sawfish family will now be declared as protected species. The Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has now declared eight types of stingray and three types of sawfish as protected. The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Gen Surasak Kanchanarat issued a ministerial announcement to…

  • Executed 26 year old had grilled chicken and rice for final meal

    Executed 26 year old had grilled chicken and rice for final meal

    In the wake of Thailand’s first execution in nine years, a few more details have emerged about the prisoner’s last moments and of his family. According to witnesses, the first man to be executed in Thailand in nine years was calm during the last few moments of his life. Identified only as Thirasak by authorities, the 26 year old remained…

  • mu Space wants to send your name to space

    mu Space wants to send your name to space

    Space and satellite company mu Space is sending its first experimental payload beyond the Earth’s atmosphere and it wants to include a list of space fans’ names on it. The Thai-based company is encouraging the public to write their names on a signature board installed at mu Space’s booth (Experiencing Zone 4) during the Techsauce Global Summit. The event is…

  • Sadvertising: The art of making us cry and selling stuff

    Sadvertising: The art of making us cry and selling stuff

    “Sadvertising is a consumer advertising trend in which ad creators are using a certain set of strategies to play on people’s emotions and touch off feelings of sadness, melancholy or wistfulness. Touching or emotional advertising has become increasingly popular in recent years as companies work to create strong emotional ties around their products. This is based on a belief that…

  • 2.8 million tourists visit Thailand in May

    2.8 million tourists visit Thailand in May

    Tourist arrivals in Thailand gained 6.3% to 2.8 million in May 2018. This compares to May tourist arrivals in 2017. The Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Sports, Pongpanu Svetarundra, said the majority of visitors last month were from East Asia, followed by Europe, South Asia, and the United States. Pongpanu said the Chinese remained at the top of international arrivals. For…

  • Khon Kaen: 5 year old girl dies after being left in a locked pick-up

    Khon Kaen: 5 year old girl dies after being left in a locked pick-up

    Khon Kaen Governor Somsak Jangtrakul is assisting with aid and grief counselling to the family of five year old Kabinta “Nong Yam” Kehphuang, who died last Monday after being inadvertently left inside a locked pickup truck in sweltering heat outside a school for eight hours. The girl’s death – the eighth such fatality since 2012 – prompted her teacher, 32…

  • Measures to control the use of herbicides being developed

    Measures to control the use of herbicides being developed

    The Biotechnology Alliance Association (BAA) recently held a meeting to develop measures to control the use of certain herbicides before proposing them to the Department of Agriculture (DOA). The BAA meeting looked into the use of paraquat, chlorpyrifos and glyphosate herbicides and how to use them in the farming industry. Experts from educational institutions, health and agriculture-related organizations also participated…

  • Missing Ranong woman found after Saturday’s flash floods

    Missing Ranong woman found after Saturday’s flash floods

    The Thaiger reported about a woman who went missing on Saturday night amongst the torrential rain when the pick-up truck she was in got caught in a flash flood. Sadly, she was found dead. Searchers have recovered the body of the Ranong woman who was a passenger in a pickup truck that had been swept into a canal. The four-day…

  • Nakhon Ratchasima: Ten injured in Korat bus crash

    Nakhon Ratchasima: Ten injured in Korat bus crash

    Another day in Thailand. Another bus crash. This time in Nakhon Ratchasima. Ten passengers have been injured after a Bangkok-Nong Khai bus ran off the road in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Sida district early this morning (Wednesday). Police say the accident happened at 2.05am on the Mittraparp road. Ten passengers, who weren’t seriously injured by the impact, were sent for treatment at…

  • Hua Hin: Bomb squad called in to check suspected grenade

    Hua Hin: Bomb squad called in to check suspected grenade

    A bomb disposal crew in Hua Hin was called to the Soi 6 area on Monday following the discovery of an object which locals said looked like a grenade and could have been an explosive device. Local police and military officials attended the scene next to the railway line on Soi 6 where they found an M18 smoke grenade, as…

  • Pattaya: How police tracked down Aussie ‘boat orgy’ operator

    Pattaya: How police tracked down Aussie ‘boat orgy’ operator

    So what can you buy for 3,000 baht in Pattaya these days? A 49 yer old Australian was offering trips on a boat, including x-rated side-show for entertainment, 40 baht beers, and you can film it as well. More details are emerging of the events leading to the arrest of Stephen Carpenter, an Australian national who, along with a few…

  • Beijing: Kim, Xi discuss denuclearisation and closer cooperation

    Beijing: Kim, Xi discuss denuclearisation and closer cooperation

    PHOTO: Yonhap As historic as last week’s summit between the leaders of the US and North Korea was, this week’s meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un was far more important to the long-term stabilisation of the Korean Peninsula. The Korea Herald reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping has voiced his strong support for North Korea’s commitment to…

  • Response to first execution in Thailand since 2009

    Response to first execution in Thailand since 2009

    “According to the third national human rights master plan on the justice system for 2014 to 2018, Thailand had a road map to suspend all executions in the country by 2014, amend the Criminal Code to legally abolish the death penalty by 2017, and ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR by this year.” Yesterday’s execution of a murderer…

  • Krabi to be developed as a ‘Tourism for All’ city

    Krabi to be developed as a ‘Tourism for All’ city

    Relevant tourist and municipal organisations are working together to develop Krabi as a city of ‘Tourism for All’ by developing facilities for the disabled and elderly persons. Today (June 19) officials, led by the Krabi Governor Lt Col ML Kittibodee Prawit, were inspecting a pier at Pak Klong Ji Lard in Muang Krabi where tourists depart on boats to Koh Phi…

  • Hat Yai: 18 students injured after school van crashes into ditch

    Hat Yai: 18 students injured after school van crashes into ditch

    Eighteen students were slightly injured when their school van crashed into a roadside ditch about one kilometre from their school in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district this morning (Tuesday). The accident occurred on the Hat Yai-bound Asia highway in Tambon Khor Hong. The van driver, 35 year old Yongyut Thongsalalluan, told police that he was driving the students from Songkha’s Chana…