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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. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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12Go introduces Japan Rail Passes to enhance travel accessibility for international travellers
For those who have travelled throughout Thailand, 12Go is a well-known provider of various trips, though the platform itself has a much wider reach. Ranging from buses to planes, 12Go is undoubtedly a leading booking platform for travel throughout the...
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US President Biden signs hate crimes law to help protect Asian Americans
After multiple incidents of violence against Asian Americans in the US, President Joe Biden has recently signed a hate crime law. As violence against Asians in America has been on the rise since the Covid-19 pandemic, Biden told Asian American politicians and senior members of Congress that racism has long been toxic. He says the Asian American community has been…
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Government confirms 3 channels for vaccine registration
The Thai government says people (Thais) can avail of 3 channels to register for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout which begins on June 1. In addition, spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri says there will be no “walk-in” vaccination centres, after PM Prayut Chan-o-cha stopped the programme. The PM says Thai nationals seeking a Covid-19 vaccine will be able to register through the Mor…
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Dog brings owner gift of 2,000 meth pills in Udon Thani
A dog owner is reeling after his beloved pet brought him a “gift” of 2,000 meth pills, known as Yaba in Thai. The owner says the dog brought a mysterious package to a car garage in Udon Thani. He immediately notified police who then came to find the 2 year old, white dog named Sinil at the garage. Police say…
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Chinese man arrested after pulling machine gun on police in Pattaya
A Chinese man is now in custody after shooting and injuring 2 Pattaya police officers who were trying to reprimand him over an online gambling syndicate. 35 year old Jang Yang pulled a machine gun on the transnational crime team as they went to serve him with an arrest warrant. Members of the SWAT special police task force entered the…
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Covid UPDATE Friday: 3,481 new infections and 32 Covid-related deaths
There have been 3,481 new infections announced today and 32 Covid-related deaths in the past 24 hours. 951 of today’s new cases come from Thailand’s prisons. There will be more detailed announced in our daily afternoon Covid UPDATE. Check out our latest video about some great deeds being done in the Klong Toey slum… • The Thai government are going…
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Foreigners feeding thousands in Bangkok’s Klong Toey slums during Covid
https://www.facebook.com/BkkCommunityHelp https://www.facebook.com/dinnerfromthesky They’ve been doing it for a year now! There are some amazing people helping out their local Thai communities to get through this Covid mess in Thailand. Without much in the way of concrete day-to-day assistance from the Thai Government, free daily food, care packs and supplies are being acquired and distributed by volunteers. We salute you all!…
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Man arrested in Bangkok accused of raping 30+ young women
A man has been arrested in Bangkok, accused of raping many young women who he met through dating apps and then blackmailing them with videos of the sex. Ratchaphol Jinda, a 26 year old salesman from Samut Prakan was sought for 3 arrest warrants for rape, attempted rape, and extortion. At least 10 women have come forward so far with…
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Thailand News Today | Vaccine roll out, Nok Air heads to Bankruptcy court
Virologist Dr. Yong Poovorawan says that people can contract Covid even after full recovery from a bout of the virus, 70% of the population in Thailand is expected to have received at least their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by September, Nok Air has handed in its business rehabilitation plan after extending the deadline twice and 77 year old…
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Phuket police officer who shot noodle vendor denied bail.
A Phuket Provincial Police officer was denied bail today after drunkenly shooting a noodle vendor on Patong’s Bangla Road while off-duty. Pornthep Channarong, the officer involved in the incident, was off-duty and said to be out drinking all night before shooting Aroon Thongplab in the stomach in the early hours of February 23. The Phuket Provincial Court made the decision…
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Private hospitals must test and treat Covid-19 patients free
In an effort to increase Covid-19 testing and care, the National Health Security Office confirmed private hospitals should not be charging patients for Covid-19 treatment. Hospitals were instructed to consider Covid-19 infections as emergency patients, and in Thailand, hospitals are obligated to administer emergency services without charging patients, as the NHSO will reimburse costs. Recently some private hospitals were criticised…
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Americans arrested over Bangkok kidnap attempt released on bail
Edited on June 10 Thai police arrested an alleged former US Marines*, along with an American and 2 Thai men, including a senior police officer, for allegedly kidnapping a foreign businessman at a Bangkok restaurant in Thong Lor and then demanding a US$3 million ransom. The men allegedly abducted 60 year old Wen Yu Chung, from Taiwan, over a failed…
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Bitcoin dives to $30k, a drop to less than half its peak price
Bitcoin saw the biggest drop of this year, returning it to levels it hadn’t seen since January, falling at one point to just over US $30,000. The past week has seen large amounts of selling of the cryptocurrency and value had dropped to less than half of its peak price last month of $64,829. Bitcoin experienced a 30% drop in…
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Covid UPDATE: 2,636 new cases, provincial totals
2,636 new Covid-19 cases, including 671 in prisons, were reported today in the CCSA’s daily briefing. Another 25 coronavirus-related deaths were logged today, raising the pandemic’s death toll in Thailand to 703. Since the start of the pandemic last year, the CCSA has reported a total of 119,585 Covid-19 infections. Thailand now has 49,210 active Covid-19 cases. Bangkok remains the…
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Gold necklace raffle for vaccinated people in Khon Kaen
Provinces around Thailand have schemed to increase Covid-19 vaccine sign-ups, and one district in Khon Kaen has just launched a gold necklace giveaway to registered vaccinated residents. The mayor of the Phon district in Thailand’s northeastern province of Khon Kaen has announced a prize for 3 lucky winners. The plan is to sign up people to get vaccinated and then…
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UPDATE: Officers shot during gunfire exchange at luxury home in Chon Buri
2 police officers were shot and severely wounded in a gunfire exchange while executing a search warrant at a luxury home in Chon Buri’s Huayyai, just outside Pattaya. A gardener was mowing the lawn when a team of police arrived at the home. As soon as they knocked on the front door, a man inside fired shots from an upper…
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Experts urge Covid-19 recovered people to still get vaccinated
The head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University issued a statement today advocating for people who have already had Covid-19 to still get vaccinated. Virologist Yong Poovorawan posted on Facebook saying that recovered Covid-19 patients are still at risk and should be vaccinated. The post was in response to a question from someone confused about…
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70% of people to have first dose of Covid-19 vaccine by September – Health Minister
By September, 70% of the population in Thailand is expected to have received at least their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. An accelerated rollout of vaccines is expected to takeoff next month when the locally produced AstraZeneca vaccine is ready for public use. Thailand’s Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul says the government will focus on administering the first shot…
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Police in western Thailand discover 19 Burmese migrants hidden in truck
Police in the western province of Kanchanaburi have found 19 Burmese migrants concealed in a small truck in the district of Thong Paphum. The discovery comes as officers are ordered to crack down on migrant workers crossing illegally into Thailand. Thai Residents reports that local police officers were acting on a tip-off that Burmese migrants were being smuggled across the…
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Elderly Chon Buri woman sets house on fire to thwart thieves
If an intruder breaks into your house, you have some options of how to react, but an old woman in Chon Buri discovered that maybe you shouldn’t respond by setting your house on fire. The old woman heard thieves trying to break into her house in the Hua Tanot sub-district of Panat Nikhom. She lives alone, and when she heard…
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Meth haul on Thai cargo ship in Australia linked to Hong Kong drug trafficking boss
A huge methamphetamine shipment found on a Thai cargo boat docked in Sydney, Australia, is believed to be linked to a Hong Kong drug smuggling network. The haul, worth around 2.4 billion baht, was seized by Australian police earlier this month. According to a Bangkok Post report, Thailand’s Narcotics Suppression Bureau believes the shipment is connected to Hong Kong drug…
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2 markets in central Thailand report hundreds of new infections
A Bangkok market and another in the central province of Pathum Thani have recorded hundreds of new Covid-19 infections. The Bangkok Post reports that over 860 new cases have been detected at Pathum Thani’s Simummuang Market, while officials in the Bang Kapi district of Bangkok have confirmed the 3-day closure of Bang Kapi Market following a spike in infections there.…
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Tourism officials focus on safety to differentiate Phuket from rest of Thailand
As the clock ticks down to the much-anticipated re-opening of Phuket on July 1, tourism officials are anxious to separate the southern island from parts of the country currently experiencing higher Covid-19 infection rates. The Tourism Authority of Thailand is emphasising the safety element of Phuket and the other areas that will follow the “sandbox” model of re-opening. In a…
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Covid UPDATE Thursday: 2,636 new infections and 25 deaths
Today the public health department has reported 2,636 new cases and 25 new Covid-related deaths. 671 of today’s cases come from Thailand’s prisons. The average daily case report remains consistent. • The Transport Minister has advised that the planned walk-in Covid vaccination service at new Bang Sue Central Station in Bangkok was still “under discussion” after the PM scotched the…
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Nok Air submits business rehabilitation plan, now up for creditor approval
Nok Air handed in its business rehabilitation plan after extending the deadline twice. The airline’s creditors will meet to discuss the plan and decide whether to approve the plan. It would then need to be approved by Thailand’s Central Bankruptcy Court. Nok Air is the second national carrier to file a rehabilitation petition with the Central Bankruptcy Court over the past…
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Pattaya Remand Prison maintains zero Covid-19 infections
With Thailand’s prison system in the spotlight after massive outbreaks at jails around the country, Pattaya Remand Prison has reported that they have no Covid-19 infections after testing all their inmates. In a statement released yesterday, the prison confirmed that not a single covid-19 infection has been found inside the prison. They credited their success to carefully following all the…
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Thai company interested in Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine for animals
Thailand might soon start importing the Russian-made Covid-19 vaccine for animals, according to the Russian news agency TASS. Representatives from a top pharmaceutical manufacturer in Thailand held a video conference with the Russian Federal Service of Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision, known as Rosselkhoznadzor, to discuss the Carnivac-Cov Covid-19 vaccine for animals. Tests show that the Carnivac-Cov vaccine is effective at generating…
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Thai Airways restructuring plan approved by creditors
The restructuring plan to tackle Thai Airways International’s more than 300 billion baht debt, one of Thailand’s most high profile bankruptcy cases, was approved by the airline’s creditors, its legal advisor told Reuters reporters this afternoon. The plan was approved by 90% of the creditors. It will be reviewed by the Central Bankruptcy Court on May 28. In a previous report,…
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Survey ranks Taiwan as top country for expats in 2021
Spoiler alert: Thailand isn’t in either the top 10 or the bottom 10 lists. A survey of 12,420 expats ranked Taiwan the best place to live and work abroad in 2021, the 3rd year in a row the country won the top spot. InterNations, a 4-million member expat community based in Germany, conducted the survey that ranked different aspects of…
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Restroom turnstile linked to hundreds of Covid infections at Pathum Thani market
The turnstile at a public restroom is said to be linked to hundreds of Covid-19 infections at a Pathum Thani produce market, just north of Bangkok. Health officials tested 10,480 vendors and workers at the Simmummuang fruit and vegetable market and say 867 tested positive with many believed to have contracted the virus by inserting coins in the slot and…
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Covid-19 delivers another brutal quarter for airlines
As the Covid-19 pandemic drags on, airlines experienced another terrible quarter, with less passengers and less revenue year-on-year. The president of Bangkok Airways reported dismal numbers saying that the airline is adjusting its flight plans to try to match the depressed market. Only 151,900 travellers flew on Bangkok Airways in the first quarter of 2021, an 88.5% drop over last…
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