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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Smart visa available from February 1
The Thai Cabinet has approved a new “smart visa” to lure specialists to work in 10 targeted industries. Applications for the smart visa will begin on February 1. Kobsak Pootrakool, minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, said the targeted industries included Thai-based industries known as the First S-Curve and new industries dubbed the New S-Curve. First S-Curve industries include next-generation…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, January 16
The investigation starts into Sunday’s boat explosion | NACC asks posters to ‘go steady’ on Prawit’s watches | Armoured vehicle kills one, injures three in Pattani | American & Russian nabbed selling drugs on Koh Phangan | ‘Poshtels’ are the latest accommodation trend.
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, January 15
Chinese tourists recovering after boat explosion near Phi Phi | Ban for hydrogen-filled balloons | Human trafficking investigation at Victoria Secret massage parlour in BKK | Jail-break at remand centre in Songkhla | Jealous husband murders wife | Monkey cheeks being installed near Saphan Hin to help with floods
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Confidence in teachers survey – Thai Teacher Day tomorrow
Many of us are involved in education, either directly or indirectly, here on the island. Many expats work with schools, many of us have children attending schools and others work in association with school activities or have partners in the local education system. Tomorrow is Thai Teacher Day and a new survey has come out reflecting what people think about…
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Thai men first same-sex couple to marry in Queensland, Australia
Two Thai men were among the first same-sex couples in Queensland to get married following passage of Australia’s historic marriage equality bill. While many Australian same-sex couples chose to celebrate New Year’s 2018 by getting married, 37 year old Jarrukit Somjich from Chiang Rai and 49 year old Kiticha Srijad from Pathum Thani wed right after the bill passed in…
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Powered paraglider crashes in provincial Children’s Day celebrations
A powered paraglider fell and landed on a palm tree in Chumphon province during a show to mark National Children’s Day on Saturday morning. The accident happened at 10am behind the Tambon Haad Yai Administrative Organisation in Lang Suan district, tambon officials said. 47 year old Sathaporn Rakbamrung who was flying the paraglider, escaped without injuries. He performed a show…
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A third of Thai children are ‘disadvantaged’
More than one in three children in Thailand are in disadvantaged groups – this according to the Mental Health Department’s director-general, Dr Squadron-Leader Boonruang Triruangworawat. “Of 13.82 million children (below 18 years of age), at least 5 million are underprivileged,” Boonruang said. He said 80 per cent of underprivileged children were financially poor and about six per cent were from…
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THAIGER TODAY Friday, January 12
Would you pay 40 baht for a small bottle of water in Thailand? | Prawit’s watch collection knows no bounds | Chalong ‘drifters’ hand themselves in | Committee set up to manage the Layan beach foreshore | Bangkok sends it’s cable underground…eventually | Dismantling begins of the Royal Crematorium in Sanam Luang.
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Asia’s prison populations – Thailand #10 in the world
China has the largest prison population in Asia, more than four times as large as India. However, when it comes to prison population rates, Thailand has the highest incarceration rate in the region. Around the world more than 10.35 million people are imprisoned either as pretrial detainees or having been convicted and sentenced, according to the report of UK-based Institute…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, January 11
Kathu Temple being asked why it is in business with Chinese Tour Groups | Yingluck on ‘Entrepreneur’ visa in the UK | Minimum wage decision postponed | Dental Council warning us against online orthodontic promotions | BKK receives 120mm in rain over 24 hours | Thai goalie first ever for Euro football team
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Unseasonal rain hits Bangkok
Several parts of Bangkok were deluged on Wednesday morning because water pumps were undergoing maintenance and a flood-drainage system isn’t yet completed, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Flood Prevention Centre said. The centre, seemingly caught off guard by the unseasonal early-morning rainfall, issued a statement explaining its unpreparedness. Specifically, it said it was seeking funds to build a pumping well on…
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Seven students faint in Ayutthaya school van
Four female and three male students fainted on their way to school in Ayutthaya on Wednesday morning after their van’s air conditioner malfunctioned, police said. The students were found unconscious in the van driven by Wanaree Jindarat, 52, when it reached the Pracha Sueksa School in Tambon Huaror of Ayutthaya’s Muang district. The students were rushed to Ayutthaya Hospital and…
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Koh Phangan bars closed for selling drugs to tourists
An Army division in Surat Thani has invoked Article 44 to order two pubs at the popular tourist destination of Koh Phangan to be closed indefinitely after they were found selling drug to foreign tourists. Colonel Kriangkrai Srirak, deputy commander of the Fifth Infantry Division, said he invoked Article 44 to order the indefinite closure of Reggae Bar and Bello…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, January 9
Over 7,000 drones registered so far | Taxi industry getting new ‘Taxi OK’ App | Suspects arrested over bus torching in South last month | No plans as yet for HM King’s coronation | Restaurants holding out along Layan Beach | Brit arrested in Pattaya over women falling from balcony | Latest in the Bang Tao beach ‘private beach’ affair.
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Here I am. Look at me.
Editorial by Tim Newton Yingluck’s in London. Yep, it’s her. Somehow a Facebook page has been able to achieve what the entire Royal Thai Police and Interpol have been unable to – find former Premier Yingluck Shinawatra. We are led to believe that these random pics of the fugitive PM are a serendipitous happening, arousing media speculation and allowing the…
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Breaking the ice. Thai students triumph at ice-sculpture awards in China.
A beautifully sculpted masterpiece titled “Horse-Bird-Fish-Water”, about the Himmaphan forest of Hindu and Buddhist mythology, has earned Thai students from Ubon Ratchathani Vocational College the top award at China’s Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival held from January 4-7. This is the second consecutive year the college has won the prize, and the ninth consecutive year that a team…
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Soldiers arrest 42 at Songkhla gambling den
Army Region 4 officers rounded up 42 punters – 31 women and 11 men – at a temporary gambling den set up in the middle of a rubber plantation in Songkhla’s Khlong Hoi Khong district. The arresting soldiers also seized gambling tools such as a “po pan” betting set, nearly 200 gambling chips, 12 betting tickets and 2,980 baht in…
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Southern insurgents attack a defence volunteer in Narathiwat
A group of Muslim insurgents opened fired and threw a bomb at a defence volunteer’s house in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district late on Friday night. Nobody was injured. Police said the attack against the house of 38 year old Arthit Chankaew happened late on Friday night. About five or six insurgents opened fire at the house with M16 assault rifles…
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More flooding for 2018 – La Nina heads our way
Similar weather conditions to those that occurred during Thailand’s second most severe flooding in 1995 is predicted for this year, according to weather experts. They are warning that an expected “La Nina” condition will bring more rain and storms than usual to Thailand, and that increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather should be expected as a result of climate change. Prominent…
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People’s Alliance for Democracy officials ordered to pay up for 2008 blockade of airports
The Attorney General Office’s Legal Execution bureau has notified key figures of the now-defunct People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) accused of illegally occupying Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang Airports during the 2008 protest to pay compensation worth 522 million baht to the damaged party, Airports of Thailand. Suwat Aphaipak, the PAD’s lawyer, said the bureau sent the notice on December 25,…
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Bling, bling. Why don’t you give us a call?
The national Anti-Corruption Commission will summon four unnamed individuals for questioning next week in connection with the watch scandal involving Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan. NACC secretary-general Worawit Sukboon said yesterday the NACC might as well conduct inquiries with all four people and would complete that part of the probe by March. If it finds links to other people, they would…
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Foundation seeking leniency for blind Yala woman jailed for lese majeste
PHOTO: The Muslim Attorney Centre chief Adilan Ali-ishok (courtesy of Facebook page Wartini) A legal aid foundation in Yala is planning to appeal a court verdict on behalf of a blind woman who was sentenced on Thursday to one-and-a- half years in prison for lese majeste. The Muslim Attorney Centre, in the Muslim-majority southern border province, was asked by the…
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THAIGER TODAY Friday, January 5
Prayut lashes out at media | Gentlemen can get their ‘bits’ lasered | Phuket Immigration website in ‘Thai’ language only | Tourists leave record amounts of garbage | Police nab drug ‘king-pins’ in Mai Khao | Malaysians arrested in BKK for phone scams.
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Social media aroused. Thailand pioneers penis whitening laser service.
PHOTO: Lelux Hospital, usually advertising as a dental clinic, is now providing services a little lower on men’s bodies Thailand is probably the first country in the world where services are available to lighten the skin tone of male genitalia. Health authorities, however, have expressed worry and warned people about possible adverse impacts from such treatments. “The skin of the…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, January 4
‘Somtam Index’ shows Krabi most expensive | Deluge of new year drink-driving prosecutions causing paperwork nightmare | Tourist pest from Jungceylon was at it again the afternoon before | Thai auto industry doing well | Official stats after six days of ‘seven day’ reporting period | BKK cracking down on noisy vehicles.
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‘Election all go for November’, according to the Thai Embassy in Finland
PHOTO: Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai surprised by the Thai Embassy in Finland mis-speaking about possible elections this year. Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai yesterday ordered an investigation into a Facebook post from the Thai Embassy in Finland giving advice about preparation for an election tentatively to be held in November. Don said he never ordered the embassy to do so. “I’m not…
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THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, January 3
Changes to universal healthcare system | Super Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan | Latest death toll from Seven Dangerous Days | DSI uncovered 9 billion baht of unpaid taxes on imported cars | Governor visits Rassada Pier | Idiot arrested over random gunfire on NYE.
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Puppies rescued from roadside
Two women rescued five puppies found beside their mother’s bloated dead body on a roadside in Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Hua Hin district. One of the woman, Chutima Singruang, posted on her Facebook wall on Wednesday that she and her friend spotted the puppies on the Hua Hin-Nong Plub road near the roadside Nong Sor market on Tuesday morning. Chutima said…
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Corruption, graft, misconduct. And watches.
By Wasamon Audjarint While the junta continued to claim that fighting corruption was on its agenda over the past year, the state-centric approach brought into question whether junta leaders were truly serious about dealing with graft – or were instead using the issue for their own benefit or to attack particular parties, an anti-graft watchdog has said. “This especially creates…
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Heading into 2018 with a BANG.
Bullets fired into the air during New Year’s celebrations damaged many people’s property late Sunday night, although no injuries were reported as of on Monday, as the dangerous activity continued despite a campaign against the irresponsible discharging of guns during holidays. To celebrate the arrival of the New Year, many people set off fireworks while others fired guns into the…
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