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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Nakhon Pathom: Man shoots pregnant girlfriend dead, injures her father
A man fatally shot his pregnant girlfriend and severely injured her father and himself inside the Nakhon Pathom Hospital on Friday at around 1:30pm. Police did not identify the attacker and two victims. Witnesses told police that the young man turned up at the hospital and had a dispute with the woman and the older man who appeared to be…
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Pattaya: 19th SingSiam war games in the Gulf of Thailand
PHOTOS: trattoday.com Military exercises are taking place in the northern Gulf of Thailand between Sattahip and Koh Samui. Col. Anthony Lee, commander of Singapore’s 188th Squadron, and Rear Adm. Thawatchai Muangkham, commander of the Thai Frigate Squadron, were on site for the 19th war games at the Sattahip Naval Base. “The SingSiam games give Thai forces a chance to improve…
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Pattaya: Koh Larn survey shows tourism over-whelming facilities on island
Consultants have completed a long-awaited survey of Koh Larn’s tourist capacity. The survey says it’s the first step toward new zoning laws to protect the island’s ecosystem. Ampai Sakdanukuljit, assistant director of the Tourism and Sports Council, officially presented the Silapakorn University report his group commissioned to Pattaya Deputy Mayor Apichart Virapal, Tourism Authority of Thailand Pattaya office Director Suladda…
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Youth warned to avoid World Cup gambling trap
In the hours leading up to the kick of the 2018 Fifa World Cup, advocates against young people gambling on the football were parading in downtown Bangkok. A 2017 survey found that 2.4 million Thais engaged in football gambling valued at a reported 140 billion (yes BILLION) baht. The survey also says that 82.6 per cent of secondary student punters…
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National: 260,000 tonnes of electronic and plastic trash imported from China
Thai PBS is reporting that about 260,000 tonnes of trash have been imported into Thailand in the first five months of this year period this year. This compares to 116,000 tonnes imported for the whole of 2017, said This from the Customs Department spokesman Mr Chaiyuth Khamkhun. He added that, of the trash imported this year, it included 52,200 tonnes of…
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Hua Hin: 68 year old throws himself off fifth floor roof
Banmuang is reporting that a 68 year old Dutch man appears to have jumped from the fifth floor of a Hua Hin hotel. The man had been staying in the same hotel for the past month. It’s reported that many people from the next door Darun Suksa School saw the body as the school broke up for the day yesterday…
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Muslim students’ dress code ‘could be divisive’
“I am extremely worried and concerned that this move will widen rifts,” Wisoot Binlateh, the director of Sheikul Islam’s coordination centre in the South, said yesterday. Parents and academics are expressing concern over the Education Ministry’s move to leave it up to the schools and their monastic landlords to decide on the dress code for Muslim students. Thailand’s deep South,…
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Leading players want charter amended after election
A symposium “Thailand’s Future Democracy: Overcoming Traps and Dreams?”was held yesterday at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan Campus. Probable players in a future political arena, Abhisit, Chaturon and Thanathorn, see the junta’s legacy as barrier to genuine democracy. The Junta-sponsored charter, which imposes curbs on politicians, remains the prime target of big political parties who aim to replace it after the…
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Chiang Mai: Doi Suthep homes “at risk from natural disasters”
A separate issue has arisen in the case of the controversial buildings on the slopes of Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. Building engineers are pointing their fingers at the steep slopes around structures that were initially built to be the residences of court officials in Chiang Mai province, saying they’re a potential natural disaster waiting to happen. There are “significant…
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Illegal timbers seized in Phang Nga
A team of Border Patrol Police based in Phang Nga this week have seized 13 logs inside a palm plantation in Phang Nga. The discovery came after police received tip-offs about deforestation in Khura Buri, Phang Nga. More than 20 border patrol police investigated and found 13 logs size 2.50 – 2.80 metres in the forest. These logs are now…
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Sattahip: Grisly find on rocks near Navy School
A teacher’s assistant made a grisly find yesterday around rocks near the Chumpon Navy School, south of Pattaya. Sattahip police went to investigate. The remains are believed to have been washed up from the sea and are at least one to two months old. They were found in the Bang Saray area. They consisted of the hips and legs of…
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Bangkok: 400,000 baht spending spree and holiday with stolen ATM cards
SCREENCAPTURES: Channel 7 Credit card theft is an ongoing cat and mouse game between criminals, bank encryption technology and lawyers fighting to recover lost funds from victims. In this case the cards were recovered and the culprits apprehended. Channel 7 report that CCTV footage from a 7/11 store in Bangkok revealed on Thai TV showed the moment when a Thai…
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Authorities inspect under-construction hotels in Koh Phi Phi
The Army, police and administrative officials have inspected several under-construction hotels on Koh Phi Phi in the Krabi province amid allegations that they lacked land rights documents, permission to build, or were encroaching on a national park. They first searched an under-construction hotel on a hill with a view of the sea where 30 buildings and a large pond were…
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Chiang Mai: Thai man arrested for attempted rape of female tourist
A man who robbed and allegedly attempted to rape a female Chinese tourist has been apprehended at his house while he was having his head shaved before entering the monkhood. Sanook is reporting that Mae Rim cops in Chiang Mai announce the arrest of 26 year old Wuthisak yesterday and took him on a reenactment to the entrance to the…
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National: A hidden world of male sex slavery
by Rina Chandran @rinachandran. Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths A special report from Reuters outlining the hidden side of mass tourism that Thai authorities don’t like to talk about – a situation the boy’s customers would never discuss and the human casualties of the (hush, hush) male sex trade. The male sex workers often fall through the cracks of society and…
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88 million baht seized from ex-officials of destitute fund
The AMLO (Anti Money Laundering Office) has seized 41 assets worth 88 million baht from three former senior officials at the Social Development and Human Security Ministry and nine alleged accomplices as part of the probe into the misappropriation of allowances and related irregularities at protection centres for the destitute. AMLO acting secretary-general, Pol Maj-General Romsit Viriyasan, yesterday said the…
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Thailand’s 10th rabies victim dies in Rayong
A 10th person has died from Rabies in Rayong according to the Disease Control Department director-general Suwanchai Watanayingcharoenchai today (Wednesday). Suwanchai said the 59 year old man died on Tuesday after being bitten by his own dog back in March. The disease control chief said most of the rabies victims had ignored calls to receive Rabies vaccination after they were…
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Satun: 59 year old man killed cleaning grenade
PHOTO: The Advertiser A man in Satun province has been killed after a grenade he was cleaning exploded. Police say the man had been keeping the grenade in his house for a year. 59 year old Prasert Chuayjit was killed in his house in Ban Tha Chin village in Tambon Klong Khud, Muang district, at around 7am this morning. The blast…
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Bangkok: Thai passenger ends up with eye-liner pencil stuck in her eye after taxi accident
A woman in Bangkok has had an unusual accident today, mostly bad timing, after getting her eye-liner pencil jammed in her eye after the taxi she was travelling in came to a sudden stop. She was rushed to hospital. Sanook is reporting that the unnamed woman had been applying makeup in the back of the taxi when it collided with…
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Bangkok: 88 million baht worth of assets seized over corruption
The AMLO (Anti-Money Laundering Office) is set to confiscate assets from three former top officials of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security plus 12 other accomplices. The value of the assets is said to have a value of 88 million baht to compensate over corruption involving state funds for the destitute. Thai PBS is reporting that the decision was…
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Chiang Mai: 100 times around the mountain – Doi Inthanon Cycle Ride
Lersak Inchai, a 72 year old named as the first person ever to ride around Doi Inthanon 100 times. A 72 year old man has participated in, and completed, his 100th Doi Inthanon cycle ride. Lersak Inchai, a 72 year old man and a former cyclist for Thailand’s national cycling team, has been marked as the first person ever to…
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Bangkok: Short-staffed business are asking the government to relax the labour laws
There are many occupations in Thailand that foreigners can’t do, with or without a work permit. But many Thai business owners say they’re battling to find Thai staff to work many jobs. They want the law changed. Business owners say they are unable to find Thai employees to staff service jobs and are urging the government to relax its restrictions…
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Cabinet meeting in Nakhon Sawan – Prayut rejects demands from groups
Amid claims that regional visits were an attempt to boost his popularity before the election, he said: “In the past four years, we have always had this kind of excursion. So, don’t think that we do this on purpose.” The PM, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, yesterday said ‘no’ to financial demands made by groups from the lower northern provinces during a…
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90% of hotels on Koh Phi Phi found incapable of registration
Out of 104 hotels, only nine are capable of being properly registered. That’s the bottomline after a month of checking by Krabi officials. Muang Krabi District Chief Satta Tongkam says, “From May 1 until now, we have checked 104 hotels in Muang Krabi district, principally accommodation on Koh Phi Phi. There are 78 cases on Koh Phi Phi that the…
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Who’s living there? Chiang Mai locals question lights on at controversial judicial housing
If you thought the controversy between local protesters and the Thai Government was over, regarding the extravagant homes for Thai judges on the slopes of Doi Suthep, you’d be wrong. CityLife is reporting that photos of lights coming from the banned judicial residences on Doi Suthep has gone viral, angering Chiang Mai locals. A picture was posted on June 9…
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Trump/Kim summit – Reaction from Thai leadership.
The Thai government is praising the successful summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea, saying the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will benefit both Asia and the world. Following a historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, the Thai PM Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha pointed out that the…
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New flagship Starbucks in Central World BKK – celebrating 20 years in Thailand
Love ’em or hate ’em, Starbuck is in Thailand to stay and have, without doubt, been a strong contributor to the growth of coffee culture in the Kingdom. A decade ago you were hard pressed to find a decent coffee in many part of the country. That’s certainly changed now. The Nation is reporting that Starbucks on Tuesday celebrated 20…
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Gulf rubbish washing up on Sattahip beach, Chonburi
A 300-400 metre stretch of Ban Ampher Beach in Sattahip is covered in litter brought in from the sea. Nobody is daring to go in the sea because of the risk of picking up diseases. Pattaya News reports on a dire situation on a Ban Ampher beach in Sattahip. Food traders in the area do what they can in the morning…
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German tourist in coma after dramatic rescue at a Koh Phangan beach
PHOTO: 77Jowo A dramatic rescue of a German tourist in Koh Phangan yesterday. The man remains in a coma. 77Jowo is reporting that a 47 year old German tourist on holiday with his family was in hospital in a coma after a dramatic rescue at Nai Han Yai beach on Koh Phangan yesterday afternoon. Witnesses said that Heyros Jochen (name…
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WANTED: 1,000 World Cup Pretties
PHOTO: FIFATH.com Along with the World Cup comes the ‘crackdown’ on gambling. Khaosod English is reporting that police are looking for more than 1,000 women for illegally promoting online gambling for the upcoming World Cup. Deputy Police Chief Gen. Chalermkiat Sriworakan said warrants have been issued for more than 1,000 promotional models, known as pretties, featured in online gambling promotions…
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