News

Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.

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    What’s not covered by health insurance in Thailand?

    Health insurance in Thailand has important limits that everyone should know. Many policies do not cover pre-existing conditions, motorcycle accidents, extreme sports, or specific treatments. These gaps can lead to unexpected costs during emergencies. Coverage for outpatient care and hospital...

  • Reopening Pattaya: Will it happen next week or not?

    Reopening Pattaya: Will it happen next week or not?

    Depending on which government officials you are listening to and what statement they make on which day, it would be easy to believe that Thailand’s reopening is continuing on October 1, or October 15, or possibly November 1. And Pattaya is perhaps reopening in just over a week or perhaps delaying for weeks or months. So where does the reopening…

  • 5 police kiosks set on fire in Bangkok, no injuries reported

    5 police kiosks set on fire in Bangkok, no injuries reported

    At least 5 police kiosks were set ablaze early this morning in Bangkok. The Metropolitan Police have opened an investigation to determine the cause of the fires. Police discovered the kiosks had been set on fire sometime during last night’s curfew. The Central Police Forensic Division sent teams to the various kiosks, which had already had their fires put out…

  • Pattaya restaurant busted selling alcohol, 15 arrested

    Pattaya restaurant busted selling alcohol, 15 arrested

    15 people were arrested at a restaurant in Bang Lamung, accused of drinking illegally in violation of Covid-19 restrictions in Pattaya. Last night, Pattaya City Police raided an unnamed restaurant in Jomtien that was suspected of selling alcohol. Officers arrived at the restaurant early in the evening to discover 9 foreigners and 5 Thai nationals plus the person running the…

  • Decision on Hua Hin Hospital “dual pricing” case set for next week

    Decision on Hua Hin Hospital “dual pricing” case set for next week

    Next week, Thai authorities will announce the outcome of the highly anticipated “dual pricing” case where a Dutch expat claims he was overcharged for his cancer treatment at Hua Hin Hospital. Erwin Buse, who filed the anti-discrimination suit two years ago, told ASEAN Now that the case was officially handed over to judges this week and a decision on the case…

  • Phuket Covid-19: 1 new death, hospital occupancy rates fell

    Phuket Covid-19: 1 new death, hospital occupancy rates fell

    With over 200 people being released from Covid-19 medical care in Phuket and 76 hospital beds freed up, the hospital occupancy rates fell to just over 82%, down from a peak around 90%. Today saw 239 new infections, a slight drop from yesterday, and one new death. The death was of a 47 year old man who smoked. He had…

  • Pattaya tourism focusing on Russian and Indian travellers

    Pattaya tourism focusing on Russian and Indian travellers

    Chinese travellers have been the bread-and-butter for Pattaya tourism, but with Covid-19 restrictions, The Pattaya Business and Tourism Association is focusing on Indian and Russian tourists instead for the planned reopening on October 1. The president of the PBTA had announced that while other cities and provinces have postponed reopening plans, Pattaya stands ready to reopen to international travellers in…

  • Amended communicable disease law includes powers to retain curfew, order lockdowns

    Amended communicable disease law includes powers to retain curfew, order lockdowns

    As the government prepares to debate the future of the emergency decree, set to expire next Thursday, a new legal amendment means some of its powers could remain. The Bangkok Post reports that the amended Communicable Disease Act gives officials the power to retain the current curfew and to impose new lockdowns. The government says the law will be used…

  • Police suddenly began raiding Patong bars selling alcohol

    Police suddenly began raiding Patong bars selling alcohol

    While it’s been illegal for bars to open in Thailand and the selling or consumption of alcohol in public is forbidden, police have been looking the other way as patrons sneak beers in bars in Patong, the famous entertainment and nightlife district in Phuket. But after over a month of this occurring under the radar, police have begun raiding and…

  • Thursday Covid Update: 131 deaths and 13,256 new cases

    Thursday Covid Update: 131 deaths and 13,256 new cases

    Today, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation reported 13,256 new Covid-19 cases and 131 deaths. Since April 1, in the latest wave of the virus in Thailand, the CCSA has reported 1,495,750 Covid-19 infections. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA recorded 13,829 recoveries. There are now 128,367 patients being treated for Covid-19. Out of the new cases,…

  • AfricaLink on Air – 22 September 2021

    AfricaLink on Air – 22 September 2021

    South Sudan President Salva Kiir mulls retiring+++Namibia’s parliament debates reconciliation agreement with Germany+++Liberians coping with floods SOURCE: DW News

  • Haitian migrants at US border keep hoping

    Haitian migrants at US border keep hoping

    A pale yellow building next to a dusty football field in the border town of Del Rio in Texas represents hope for migrants wanting to come to the US. Those who have made it here have crossed the river and the border, and, for the moment at least, have left behind some of their uncertainty. Migrants holding brown paper envelopes…

  • How has COVID impacted Pakistan’s education system?

    How has COVID impacted Pakistan’s education system?

    Last week, Pakistan opened both public and private schools in various districts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with Sindh province opening its schools in August. Schools are now operating with a 50% attendance policy on alternating days due to the COVID regulations set forth by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC). Vaccinations were also made mandatory for all staff…

  • World in Progress: The men experiencing domestic violence

    World in Progress: The men experiencing domestic violence

    Reporter/Presenter: Andreas Boueke/Connor Dillon SOURCE: DW News

  • World in Progress: Daring to speak up

    World in Progress: Daring to speak up

    SOURCE: DW News

  • Interview: Tackling tricky topics at Berlin’s Human Rights Film Festival

    Interview: Tackling tricky topics at Berlin’s Human Rights Film Festival

    For more on the Human Rights Film Festival Berlin, go to: https://www.humanrightsfilmfestivalberlin.de/de SOURCE: DW News

  • World in Progress: The men experiencing domestic violence

    The men experiencing domestic violence

    Reporter/Presenter: Andreas Boueke/Connor Dillon SOURCE: DW News

  • 5 billion baht loss as birds’ nest producing swiftlets found dead

    5 billion baht loss as birds’ nest producing swiftlets found dead

    Phatthalung authorities have requested help from the Department of Special Investigation to investigate the death of birds. These were no ordinary birds though; they were swiftlets, the birds that produce the saliva that make birds’ nest, prized as a health delicacy. And it wasn’t a few birds, it was over a million birds found dead in caves where Siamnest company…

  • Ex-cop “Joe Ferrari,” other officers charged with violating discipline policy over suspect’s death

    Ex-cop “Joe Ferrari,” other officers charged with violating discipline policy over suspect’s death

    Along with criminal charges for allegedly suffocating a suspect to death in an attempt to extort 2 million baht, the former police station chief in Nakhon Sawan, Thitisan Utthanaphon, and six of his subordinates now face charges for committing disciplinary offenses while on duty. The Police Serious Disciplinary Review Board filed the complaint against the seven officers. According to Nation Thailand,…

  • 5 Pattani men arrested for allegedly posing as police officers to extort locals

    5 Pattani men arrested for allegedly posing as police officers to extort locals

    5 men who were posing as police officers in southern Thailand’s Pattani province were arrested yesterday. The suspects allegedly extorted drug-taking residents or teenagers out of money or property. The Yaring police were alerted that men were portraying themselves as members of the Yaring police at a village in the Laem Pho Subdistrict. The Nation Thailand says the men dressed…

  • HOMA is now offering fully-serviced, affordable lifestyle apartments in Phuket Town.

    HOMA is now offering fully-serviced, affordable lifestyle apartments in Phuket Town.

    Sponsored Phuket is Thailand’s most iconic tourist destination as it offers stunning beaches and surrounding islands. Thus, it is also known to feature a large expat community as many have decided to make it their home. The island is located among the crystal-clear waters of the Andaman Sea, where outdoor enthusiasts thrive. Moreover, Phuket offers some amazing shopping malls, world-famous…

  • Thai woman tricked into human trafficking in Dubai brought home safely

    Thai woman tricked into human trafficking in Dubai brought home safely

    A Thai woman who had been tricked into being a sex worker in Dubai, a city on the Persian Gulf Coast of the United Arab Emirates, returned safely to Thailand, today. The woman was able to send a video message through Facebook on Sunday where she pleaded for help. She says she had been deceived by an advertisement looking for…

  • Nambia: A timeline of Germany’s brutal colonial history

    Nambia: A timeline of Germany’s brutal colonial history

    1840s: Missionaries from the German-based Rhenish Missionary Society arrive in what is now called Namibia. 1883: Adolf Lüderitz, one of Germany’s first prominent colonialists, signs an agreement with Chief Joseph Frederick of Bethanie in what is now southern Namibia. The treaty gives the German businessman rights to the area around a strategic natural harbor called Angra Pequena, which he renames…

  • Alleged cable thief busted in Phuket, accomplice possibly still at large

    Alleged cable thief busted in Phuket, accomplice possibly still at large

    A Phuket man was arrested recently after he allegedly stole telephone and communications cables throughout the island. The man allegedly sold the cables for scrap near his house in Phang Nga. Wichit police and members of the Crime Suppression Region 5 and officials from the TOT company showed up at Chaturong Bhumlamnao’s house to arrest him. The TOT had previously…

  • Wednesday Covid Update: 11,252 new cases; provincial totals

    Wednesday Covid Update: 11,252 new cases; provincial totals

    141 coronavirus-related deaths were reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, raising the pandemic’s death toll in Thailand to 15,753 with 15,659 of those fatalities during the recent wave, which was first recorded on April 1. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA reported 11,252 new Covid-19 cases and 13,695 recoveries. There are now 129,071…

  • Kanchanaburi temple that served as a rehab closes amidst shocking abuse allegations

    Kanchanaburi temple that served as a rehab closes amidst shocking abuse allegations

    A Thai temple in western Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province, “Wat Tha Phu Rat Bamrung” also known as “Wat Tha Phu”, which also serves as drug rehab, has been ordered closed following allegations of ransom, torture, and the abuse of human rights. Due to the startling allegations, the temple is being investigated by the Narcotics Control Board and the Public Health Ministry.…

  • Post-Covid condition MIS-C afflicted 30 to 40 children, 1 death

    Post-Covid condition MIS-C afflicted 30 to 40 children, 1 death

    A post-Covid-19 condition called MIS-C has affected 30 to 40 Thai children and may have caused the death of one youth. The condition, multiple-system inflammatory syndrome in children, can affect children and teens who had been affected and then recovered from Covid-19. The president of the Royal College of Paediatricians of Thailand explained that the condition is fairly rare but…

  • Manhunt underway for foreigner who allegedly prepared bread using his feet

    Manhunt underway for foreigner who allegedly prepared bread using his feet

    A manhunt is underway by the Immigration Bureau after a video surfaced of a man, believed to be a foreigner, who allegedly used his feet to prepare bread for packaging. The video was supplied to the IB and they responded that they will search for the suspect. It was not clear what charges the man may face for his foot…

  • Burmese man arrested for rape and assault of Thai woman

    Burmese man arrested for rape and assault of Thai woman

    A Burmese man accused of the assault and rape of a Thai woman he had hired as a maid has been arrested by Phuket City Police. The 42 year old man lives near the fishing port area in Rassada and was taken into custody after the Phuket Provincial Court issued an arrest warrant yesterday. The 47 year old woman from…

  • Phuket Covid-19 passes 60 deaths, 100 Sandboxers, 9,000 total cases

    Phuket Covid-19 passes 60 deaths, 100 Sandboxers, 9,000 total cases

    Several milestones were passed in Phuket regarding Covid-19 in the past few days as the death toll hit 60 while Sandbox infections passed 100, daily infections were over 250, and the total number of Covid-19 infections since the beginning of the third wave passed 9,000. More than 5,000 people have been released from medical care or supervision though. The past…

  • Governor announces restrictions on Phuket Vegetarian Festival

    Governor announces restrictions on Phuket Vegetarian Festival

    The Phuket Vegetarian Festival will be scaled down and under tight restrictions this year to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The weeklong festival, where some practice self-mutilation to connect with the spirit world, draws tourists from across the country, and the world. The Phuket governor announced that this year’s festival from October 5 to 15 will have restrictions on the…