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Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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Each year, many expats living in Thailand see their health insurance premiums go up and often without a clear reason. This can be frustrating, especially when you're trying to plan your budget. But by understanding why prices rise and learning...
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Aussie hailed as hero after fighting off shark to save wife
An Australian man saved his wife from a shark attack yesterday by punching the shark until it released her. Police say the couple were surfing at a beach near Port Macquarie, 4 hours north of Sydney, yesterday morning when she was bitten twice on her right leg. Paramedics treated the 35 year old at the beach before she was later…
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Labour minister says unemployment less than half of predictions
Thailand’s labour minister told a Friday press briefing that the number of unemployed people in Thailand is around 2 to 3 million, less than half the 7 to 8 million previously predicted. He said that since The National Economic and Social Development Council did the calculation, “it cannot be wrong… as the latter is Thailand’s economic planner”. Given the gravities…
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Mauritius oil spill tanker splits apart
A Japanese tanker ship that ran aground on a reef off the island of Mauritius last month, threatening an ecological disaster in the Indian Ocean, has broken apart, authorities said yesterday. The Mauritius National Crisis Committee said the condition of the MV Wakashio was worsening early on in the day and by the afternoon it had split. A statement issued…
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4 suspected insurgents shot dead in Pattani
Further to a story published yesterday by The Thaiger, a total of 4 suspected insurgents are now reported to have been shot dead in separate firefights in the southern Pattani province on Friday evening and Saturday morning, as security forces close in on a fifth suspect. The first clash followed an earlier gunfight in which 3 soldiers were wounded while…
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Tourism authority predicts September revenue jump
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is expecting tourism revenue in September to grow by 20% compared to the same month last year, after the government approved September 4 and 7 as compensation holidays for this year’s Songkran Festival, which was “postponed” due to the Covid-19 crisis. We’re assuming they mean domestic tourism because there sure aren’t many foreign tourists! The…
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Academics defend protests
Legal scholars at 2 Bangkok universities defended students’ right to protest today, and a prominent opposition politician reacted to yesterday’s arrest of student leader Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak by slamming PM Prayut Chan-o-cha for “breaking his promise” to listen to young protesters. Law experts at Thammasat University called on the government to stop using the law to deprive students of their…
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Pattaya spending millions on “facelift”
The world famous resort town of Pattaya is spending 160 million baht to improve the city’s beaches in a bid to attract domestic tourists. Pattaya’s mayor says the landscape redevelopment, on a 4 kilometre stretch of Pattaya Beach, will begin in October and is expected to be finished by the end of the year. “The City of Pattaya needs to…
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Forensic scientist says he was pressured to change estimate in Vorayuth hit-and-run case
A police forensic scientist is claiming that he was pressured to reduce the estimated speed of Red Bull heir Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya’s Ferrari when it hit and killed a policeman in 2012. Thanasit Taengchan of the Police Forensic Science Office says a high ranking commander brought an official from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology North Bangkok to convince him to…
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Struggling Samui seeks government help
Desperate for tourism revenue during the ongoing travel ban and with not more than a dribble of domestic visitors, the president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui says he needs to meet with the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration to come up with guidelines to allow foreign tourists to visit Samui. And soon. Worasit Phong-amphan says Samui saw 2.3…
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Toddler, locked in hot van, dies after 4 day coma
A 2 year old boy is dead after 4 days in a coma, due to being left in a hot van outside a daycare centre in the southern Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Staff at Maharaj Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital confirmed the death of Thanakit “Nong Kongbin” Yodmanee yesterday afternoon, saying his organs failed. The boy was taken to hospital on…
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“Penguin” released on bail
22 year old anti-government activist Parit Chiwarak, known by his nickname “Penguin”, was released on bail this afternoon around 2:15 in Bangkok. He was arrested yesterday and charged with breaching internal security rules and breaking the Emergency Decree enacted in April to stop the spread of Covid-19, among other charges, by co-organising a protest on July 18. Since that July…
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COVID-19 update: 0 new cases, 82 days without a local transmission
After reporting its biggest single-day increase of confirmed Covid-19 cases in weeks – 17 – Thailand reported not a single new case today, its 82nd consecutive day without a locally transmitted case. Total infections in Thailand, to date, are 3,376, with 3,193 recoveries, a rate of 94.5%. 125 people are still in hospital. Of total infections, 2,444 were locally acquired…
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Amnesty International demands “Penguin’s” release
The Thailand chapter of Amnesty International is calling on police to immediately release student protest leader Prit “Penguin” Chivarak, after he was arrested yesterday on charges of sedition and inciting public unrest. AI Thailand Director Niyanut Kotesarn said in a statement issued last night that the arrest of the Thammasat University student amounts to suppression of free expression and contravenes…
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Chon Buri man dies after 25 metre fall
A 63 year old man is dead after he fall through a school gymnasium roof in front of his 3 sons yesterday in Chon Buri’s city district. Ban Bueang Police were notified of the incident, in a gymnasium area at Wat Khao Maipai School, yesterday afternoon. Emergency responders arrived to find the body of 63 year old Wichean Srinuan, on…
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New Zealand, Australia struggle with new coronavirus outbreaks
New Zealand reported 7 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 over the previous 24 hours, as a lockdown in the country’s biggest city, Auckland, was extended yesterday in response to the country’s first coronavirus outbreak in months. The new cases bring New Zealand’s total infections since the beginning of the outbreak to 1258; the number of currently active cases stands at…
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Chon Buri suspect who stole officer’s gun arrested after 4 day manhunt
A man who caused a major public disturbance while allegedly high on methamphetamine in Koh Chan, in the eastern Chon Buri province, has been captured. The suspect, named to The Pattaya News as 45 year old Anont Sinsap, was wanted since August 7. He was captured after earlier this week hiding in a forest on a rubber farm in the…
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2 year old in ICU after being left in scorching school van
A 2 year old boy remains on life support after he was left alone in a sweltering hot school van outside a childcare centre in southern Thailand. Thanakit “Nong Kongbin’’ Yodmanee is being treated in an ICU at a Hospital in Nakhon Si Thammarat. He was rushed to the hospital earlier in the week after he was found unconscious in…
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2 bombing suspects dead, 3 soldiers wounded in Pattani shootout
2 suspected insurgents allegedly involved in Thursday’s bombings in Pattani’s Nongjik district, which killed 2 security officers and injured 3 others, were killed in a shootout yesterday in the southern province’s Yaring district. 3 more soldiers were wounded. The clash erupted in Buenaejuerae village in tambon Kolam where a combined team of soldiers, police and local officials were patrolling, according…
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Phuket proposes to welcome tourists by November
PHOTO: Willy Thuan Phuket business owners are pressing forward with a proposal to turn around province’s tourism industry by allowing long-stay tourists to resume visits to the southern resort island as early as November. Under the “4T” model put forward at a meeting of the provincial disease control committee, long-stay visitors have been identified as having the best potential to…
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Police pinch “Penguin” ahead of student rally
Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, the outspoken leader of recent student protests, was arrested yesterday as tensions mount ahead of a major pro-democracy rally planned for tomorrow afternoon in Bangkok. He faces multiple charges, including sedition. The arrest was made as the Thammasat University student prepared to join a pro-democracy event at the campus in Nonthaburi. After a policeman read out the…
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Thailand is on top of the tourism shopping list for Asian travellers, when the borders open
“Fear & Possibilities in a Post Coronavirus World”. That’s the name of a new study jointly prepared by Blackbox Research, Dynata, and Language Connect. For ‘fear’ and ‘possibilities’, there are plenty of both as Thailand and Asia emerge from 6 months of battling and containing Covid-19, with more knowledge and better handling of outbreaks. The global study indicates that residents of…
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Cambodian transgender woman arrested for human trafficking in Sa Kaeo
Police in the eastern Sa Kaeo province, near the Cambodian border, have arrested a Cambodian transgender woman and charged her with procuring girls under 18 and arranging “swinging” parties for customers via Twitter. Officials from the Provincial Administration’s law enforcement operations centre made the arrest during a raid on a room at a resort in the province’s city district last…
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Pattaya motorcyclist suffers severe injuries in collision
A motorcyclist in North Pattaya sustained serious injuries in a collision with a sedan last night. Emergency responders were notified of the accident, at a North Pattaya intersection on Sukhumvit Road, at 9pm. Police, emergency responders and reporters went to the scene to find the motorbike driver, who had suffered serious injuries, lying on the road. He was not immediately…
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UPDATE: SET suspends trading of Thai Airways shares
UPDATE: Trading in Thai Airways shares was suspended by the Stock Exchange of Thailand this afternoon after auditors declined to sign off on its financial statements for the six months to June 30. Auditor Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos said it couldn’t reach a conclusion on the statements due to issues including a lack of liquidity and debt defaults, which created…
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Chulalongkorn students vow to protest despite last-minute ban
Pro-establishment Chulalongkorn University today abruptly cancelled a planned student protest at its Phra Boron field, citing “security and safety issues”. Nevertheless, student protesters told reporters the protest will go ahead despite the ban. Today’s is the latest in a series of anti-government rallies planned by students for the coming weeks. Student-led protests have swept the country since July, with demonstrators…
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Thai Airways loses 28 billion baht in the first half of the year
Embattled, bankrupt Thai Airways suffered about 28 billion baht in losses for the first 6 months of this year, mainly attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has seriously impacted its operations and crushed global travel, grounding fleets and shuttering many airlines altogether. The airline’s acting president said today that the pandemic has led to many countries, including Thailand, closing their…
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Uni students defy rain to hold pro-democracy rally; more planned
In the latest of what have become near daily protests calling for change, some 100 students protesters defied the rain early yesterday evening at Bangkok’s Srinakharinwirot University to voice anger at the government and demand a return to democracy. Speakers took turns addressing their peers huddled under an awning at about 5pm. A a fourth-year International Relations student told reporters:…
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Thai minister encourages hotels to stop price-gouging expats
The thorny issue of dual pricing has raised its ugly head again, this time with the current offerings for hotels as Thailand slowly winds up its tourism industry again. Tourism and Sports Ministry, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, is asking hotels to offer “fair packages to expats and resident foreigners, and avoid price discrimination”. He said that there are 2 million foreign residents who…
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NZ Covid-19 oubreak spread beyond Auckland with 12 new confirmed cases
In a major blow to New Zealand’s efforts to contain Covid-19, health officials there announced today that the resurgent coronavirus outbreak has spread beyond Auckland, its largest city. Health Minister Chris Hipkins said there were 12 confirmed cases of local transmission and 1 probable, following the shock reemergence of the virus in Auckland on Tuesday. He said 2 of the…
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Top virologist says Covid-19 likely to mutate, making current tests useless
A prominent Thai virologist is warning that the Covid-19 coronavirus is mutating and could return in a different, more contagious, or potentially, more dangerous or less dangerous, form. Thiravat Hemachudha, director of the Health Science Centre of Emerging Diseases at Chulalongkorn University, says that Thailand “should begin preparing for possible ‘genetic code alterations’ of the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19.”…
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