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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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Thailand News Today – Monday, June 8
7 new Covid-19 cases reported in Thailand 7 new confirmed cases of the Covid-19 in Thailand today. All 7 were reported as Thai nationals who were recently repatriated from aboard. • 2 were students returning from Pakistan • 3 were masseuse returning from the UAE • The other was a Thai woman returning from the US Today marks the second…
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Murder investigation launched as body of Ukrainian woman found on Koh Samui
Two weeks after she went missing, the body of a 32 year old Ukrainian woman has been found in a wooded area of Koh Samui. The discovery has prompted local police to launch a full murder investigation. A report in Coconuts says the unnamed woman’s body was found off Soi Pracharat Pattana by hotel employee Uten Wiangnon. In a statement…
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Policeman survives fall from roof in northern Thailand
A policeman in the northern province of Phitsanulok has had a lucky escape after he slipped and fell while re-arranging flags on the roof of the police station. Following a bout of heavy rain and high winds, Wichayut Srikrajang noticed the flags were in disarray and took it upon himself to fix them. However, the rain had also made the…
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Thai village official arrested for posting child pornography online
An assistant village headman was arrested yesterday after posting videos online of him allegedly raping his daughter. The US based reporting system CyberTipline alerted Thai authorities that child pornography images were posted on Twitter by someone in Thailand. Police tracked down the mobile phone used to take the photos and videos. They traced back to 36 year old assistant headman…
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7 new Covid-19 cases reported in Thailand (June 8)
This morning Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin, the spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has announced 7 new confirmed cases of the Covid-19. All 7 were reported as Thai nationals who were recently repatriated from aboard. Today marks the second week, with no new cases of Covid-19 transmitted locally. The Thai Government, however, says their current target is to reach…
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Police officer faces scrutiny after flying helicopter onto temple grounds
A high-ranking tourist police officer landed the department’s helicopter at a famous Buddhist temple in Southern Thailand. The senior regional officer for the Tourism Police Bureau parked the helicopter inside the compound of the Wat Chedi in Sichon, a district in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Why a car wouldn’t have been a sufficient means of transportation has not been addressed by…
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Thailand activists hold online Black Lives Matter protest
While the US is on the complete opposite side of of the world, some in Thailand joined an online protest yesterday on the Zoom video-conferencing software. Reuters says 300 Thais and foreigners joined the digital call for justice for George Floyd, a black American who died at the end of May after being pinned down by a Minneapolis police officer.…
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Inspection reveals some Bangkok massage shops flouting hygiene measures
An inspection of Bangkok massage shops has revealed that some premises are being too lax in their implementation of mandatory hygiene measures. The restrictions were introduced by the Government’s Covid-19 task force as massage shops were given the go-ahead to reopen at the beginning of June. However, checks carried out yesterday at several massage shops in the Bang Sue area…
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Bangkok cinema closed after breaking social distancing rules
Clearly violating social distancing guidelines, fans on Friday jam-packed in front of Major Cineplex at Bangkok’s Siam Paragon mall for an event to see two popular Thai actors. The cinema was ordered to close for 3 days for breaking the coronavirus prevention rules. The cinema was hosting a meet-and-greet with actors Anan “Ying” Wong and Wanarat “War” Ratsameerat to promote the…
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Prison skill centres proposed to help former inmates find jobs
Finding a job can be difficult for someone who has just been released from prison. The Thai government wants to change that. They plan to build skill development centres for inmates and provide tax breaks for companies hiring ex-convicts. Minister of Justice Somsak Thepsutin spoke of the skill centre plans at a meeting over the weekend. The proposed centres are part…
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Khon Kaen Hospital director faces ‘kickback’ probe
A disciplinary inquiry has been ordered against the director of a hospital in northeastern Thailand, who stands accused of demanding kickbacks. Dr Charnchai Chanvorachaikul of Khon Kaen Hospital is accused of demanding a 5% commissions from pharmaceutical firms. The inquiry was launched after an anonymous letter sent to the public health department’s permanent secretary. On Friday Charnchai strongly denied the…
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Beer delivery company hit with 50,000 baht fine for violating Alcohol Control Act
A craft beer delivery company says it’s been fined 50,000 baht for allegedly violating Thailand’s Alcohol Beverage Control Act. Posting on its Facebook page, Beervana says it wants to warn other companies and is also petitioning for the law to be abolished, claiming it’s hurting businesses that are already struggling during the Covid-19 crisis. Under the act, suppliers are forbidden…
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Finance Ministry looking at 3,000 baht ‘travel bank’ in next stimulus round
The Finance Ministry is looking at giving domestic tourists a 3,000 baht ‘travel bank’ to deduct off the cost of participating hotels, restaurants and tourism attractions. This time the restaurants, hospitality options and attractions will need to register for the service while the users won’t need to register. So, a user might check into a 5,000 baht hotel and spend…
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Buriram teen claims “God made her pregnant”
The mother of a 14 year old girl in the northeastern Buriram province was shocked, to say the least, when hospital staff told her that her daughter had told them “God made me pregnant.” The mother was even more shocked when further investigation revealed the girl’s stepfather had allegedly sexually abused her in their home. The girl is now in the…
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Health Ministry: 98% of recent Covid-19 cases imported
The Ministry of Public Health made an announcement this afternoon via social media regarding recent statistics around Covid-19 in Thailand. The gist of the statement is that all recently reported cases of the virus have been imported by Thais returning from abroad. Here is the full text… “From the reports of confirmed cases in the previous two weeks, among 64…
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Man arrested in Pattaya wearing only boxers, behaving erratically – VIDEO
Police in Pattaya responded to calls from several concerned citizens about a Thai man behaving erratically in the middle of Sukhimwit Road, Pattaya at 3:30 this morning. The heavily tatooed man, who had no ID and would not give his full name, appeared to be in his mid-30s and was wearing only boxer shorts. The man was screaming and yelling…
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Police in northeast seize 200 kilograms of marijuana
Highway police in Issan’s Khon Kaen province arrested a woman with 200 kilograms of dried marijuana at a checkpoint in Nam Phong district early this morning. The chief of the highway patrol there told a press conference that the woman drove a Toyota Vigo pickup through the highway police checkpoint in Muang district shortly after midnight (after the curfew) When…
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Heavy rains, severe weather predicted for the south and east
Thailand’s worst drought in 40 years is officially over, as Thailand’s Meteorological Department today predicted continuous rains for the entire country with flash floods possible in the East and South. A low pressure cell is covering Myanmar’s Bay of Martaban while the southwest monsoon across the Andaman Sea and Thailand is growing stronger. The department predicts continuous rain over Thailand…
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Phu Quoc will be Vietnam’s ‘test’ island as it re-opens to foreign tourists
Vietnam’s Phu Quoc, the tourist island off the coast of Cambodia in the eastern Gulf of Thailand, is going to start allowing foreign arrivals on a trial basis as part of Vietnam’s roadmap to re-opening to international tourism. As an island the trial will be a more controlled rehearsal for wider re-openings to tourists around Vietnam in the future. Vietnam’s…
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Mother, pregnant woman among 5 arrested for drugs in Songkhla
A young woman carrying a baby and a pregnant woman were among 5 people caught using drugs in a raid at a rented house in Songkhla’s Thepha district. Local officials and volunteers surrounded the house after receiving a tip that people were using the property to take drugs and sell methamphetamine pills (“yaba”) and crystal methamphetamine (“ya ice”) to young…
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National parks to require reservations, registration
“One of the certain measures is that visitors to national parks must make a reservation first. They cannot just walk in.” All Covid-19 vulnerable sites, including concert venues and events, pubs and karaoke and massage, amusement parks and national parks are expected to be reopened by the end of the month. But the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment says…
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“Gold Line” monorail will bring more mass transport to the Chao Phraya west bank
The construction of Thailand’s first monorail, aka. “Gold Line” in Charoen Nakhon area in Thon Buri, is causing some traffic congestion in the area. The developer, Krungthep Thanakom, is making up for lost time still hope to meet the October deadline for the new Gold Line to officially open. The project has been delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdowns, when…
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K-Pop fans mobilise to drown out racist tweets and hashtags
K-Pop fandom have weaponised their huge base and taken on the hashtags #WhiteLivesMatter, set up as a spoiler to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. But the huge fanbase of K-Pop has mobilised to spoil the spoilers. By flooding the hashtags with content, the K-Pop fans have been drowning out racist or offensive posts. Instead they’ve used the hashtags to share pics of…
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Phuket’s beaches slated to reopen Tuesday
Dust off the swimsuit, grab the umbrella, pick-up some sunscreen on the way. And take your face mask. Phuket is set to reopen its beaches for the first time since the Emergency Decree was enacted in March, having seen no new Covid-19 infections in 2 weeks. Phuket’s governor made the announcement after chairing a meeting of the provincial communicable disease…
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Health department urges strict “new normal” measures at beaches
With Phase 3 of the easing of lockdown measures across Thailand, many beaches across Thailand were allowed to reopen, including Chon Buri’s popular Bang Saen beach, which was flooded with so many visitors that traffic came to a halt and police ordered the beach temporarily re-closed. And beaches in Phuket are set to reopen this Tuesday, as the island has…
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Pattaya’s bars desperate to reopen
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit Pattaya’s bar owners terribly. Some among the 10 in Soi Wong Amat, aka Soi Na Klua 18, have packed up and gone. The remainder are desperate for the government to ease restrictions on them opening. There is still rent to pay, accommodation and food for staff and utilities. They don’t want to abandon their employees. 2…
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Provinces remind people about wearing face masks
Individual provinces are stepping up safety measures since the roll out of Phase 3 of the lockdown relaxations. In Chanthaburi province, eastern Thailand on the Cambodian border, they’ve announced a “D-Day” against people leaving their homes without masks. (The Thaiger predicts the authorities in Chanthaburi may not know a lot about what actually happened on D-Day.) Authorities in Chanthaburi have…
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Thailand to rebrand itself as “trusted” tourist destination
Tourism in Thailand, like most of the world, has been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns and travel restrictions. Now, though, capitalising on its relative success in containing the outbreak, Thailand is preparing to position itself as a “trusted” destination for international tourists after travel restrictions ease. As the first country to report a Covid-19 virus case…
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Tourist number limitations mulled for tourist spots after reopening
As the government considers allowing the resumption of more businesses and activities, the Department of Health, under the Ministry of Public Health, is pushing for measures to curb the number of visitors to tourist spots, to prevent a surge in Covid-19 transmission. The DOH director-general says that even though some restrictions on domestic travel have been relaxed, travellers should adopt…
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Covid-19 crisis sees nearly 100 Koh Samui hotels put up for sale
The economic devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic on Thailand’s tourism and hospitality sectors has been inestimable, with foreign arrivals banned since March and hotels nationwide ordered shut in April. Some around the country have since re-opened but nearly 100 hotels on the tourist island of Koh Samui are now for sale. The president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui…
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