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...
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One soldier dead, two injured in southern gunfight
A Thai soldier is dead and two others have been wounded in a gunfight between an army patrol and insurgents in the southern province of Pattani. The clash occurred about noon near Pattani Dam, near the border with Yala, yesterday. A spokesman for the Internal Security Operation Command says the patrol was part of a combined government force operating in…
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Mother, daughter find a lost lottery ticket. It won the lottery!
A mother and daughter in Thailand’s north eastern province of Udon Thani found a lottery ticket which proved to be worth 6 million baht. They decided to return it to its rightful owner, if they can be found. They found the ticket on the ground outside a convenience store and handed it over to the store manager in case the…
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Airports of Thailand approves Don Mueang expansion
Yesterday, the Airports of Thailand (AoT) board gave tacit approval of a master plan for the third-phase development of Don Mueang International airport costing an estimated of 39 billion baht. The expansion arrangements includes, increase of the airport’s capacity to 40 million passengers a year (currently 30 million a year), a 3.4 kilometre automated people mover system (APM), new car…
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Waitress has double lottery win
A waitress from Ban Sabah Village in Lampang rovince won 12 million baht in yesterday’s national lottery by pure luck, after she couldn’t a ticket with her license plate number. The woman says she initially knew the exact number that she wanted to buy, but as there were no tickets with the number, the vendor gave her two random tickets.…
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Thailand News Today – Wednesday, March 18
New cases of Covid-19 takes Thai toll beyond 200 35 new cases of Covid-19 coronavirus have been confirmed in Thailand today. 29 of the new cases were linked to what’s now being referred too as the Lumphini cluster…. the Lumphini Boxing stadium north west of Bangkok city. Since Sunday 130 new cases have been announced, almost tripling the total cases…
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Pattaya beach clean up
Today was another of Pattaya’s “Big Cleaning Days” but considerably more serious than the usual beach cleanups. As soon as it was reported that a 67 year old Belgian tourist has been confirmed as infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus , a major scrub was undertaken in the areas he’d visited. The man arrived in Thailand on March 3, had drinks…
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Thai airways cancels 32 flights to 12 countries
Reports from Thai Airways International say that due to the spread of the Covid-19 disease the national airline is obligated to announce the cancellation of international flights. In order to meet the traveling needs of decreasing passengers, the airline have announced cancelled flights to and from 12 countries, totalling 32 flights. These flights include… 1. Nepal, Kathmandu, 2 flights, TG…
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Laos closes checkpoint at Thai border
Laos has closed its four immigration checkpoints near Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom province, saying it doesn’t have enough medical personnel to screen for the Covid-19 coronavirus at the four places. Immigration Police Office in Nakhon Panom province were informed that Laos would close its immigration checkpoint at Thakhek port from 2pm, until the Covid-19 situation is resolved. Also yesterday, provincial governor…
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Airlines offered drop in landing fees and fuel excise at Thai airports
Airlines, international and domestic, have been hit hard with the impact on travel following the Coronavirus outbreak. Over the past month there’s been daily announcements of cancellations of flights and rescheduling to cope with border closures and daily changes in the coronavirus evolution. The Thai Cabinet yesterday approved a relief package which had been proposed by the Transport Ministry for…
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Police seize drug lord’s assets valued at 130 million baht
Assets valued at 130 million baht have been seized from a narcotics ring believed to be run by the drug baron known as “Chan Xue.” Suriya Singhakamol, deputy secretary-general of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), told Thai media yesterday that the assets and property were confiscated from nine sites: one in Bangkok and the rest in Chiang Rai province. Suriya…
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Vendors flock back to Phuket’s Surin beach
Driving past Surin Beach, Phuket, over recent weeks you’d be wondering if you hadn’t travelled back in time to the days, pre-military coup (2014), when the umbrellas and cheap white plastic sun lounges were ubiquitous lined up along Phuket’s beaches. Cherng Talay President MaAnn Samran, has confirmed that the beach chairs and umbrella operators have, indeed, returned to Surin Beach…
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China expels American journalists in tit-for-tat response
The Chinese government is revoking the press credentials of US journalists working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. It’s the biggest crackdown on American journalists in the past two decades. The move comes as the two superpowers feud over the narrative on the Covid-19 virus and both try to politicise the issue. US…
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Cabinet approval to reduce water, power bills by 3%
The Cabinet has approved 17 billion baht in measures to tackle the Covid-19 crisis and drought. They plan on doing this by reducing water and electricity bills by 3% and returning deposits for installation of electricity meters. The Thai cabinet meets every Tuesday at Government house in Bangkok. During a ‘grace period’ of not more than six months, the cabinet…
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The nation’s schools close today
Thailand’s education minister today ordered all schools nationwide to close from today as a measure to to tackle the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. The ministry’s permanent secretary Prasert Boonrueng made the announcement yesterday. “Taking into consideration the well being of students, we urge all educational institutions under the ministry, both government and private, to close [temporarily] from March 18…
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Greater Bangkok must close bars, entertainment venues
Public Health Minister and Deputy PM Anutin Charnvirakul appears to have gotten his way, and bars and entertainment venues in Bangkok are rattled today, after the government announced a mandatory closure over the Covid-19 coronavirus. The move comes a day after the announcement that Songkran festivities nationwide are postponed to as-yet undecided dates. The planned steps come as new cases…
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196 kilos of ganja found at north eastern Thai boarder
Local officials have seized 196 kilograms of compressed marijuana from the Mekong riverbank in Wan Yai district, Mukdahan, north east Thailand. Residents in tambon Pong Kham reported to the local authorities and Wan Yai district chief Pitinat Nithisthani, after seeing seven mysterious black plastic bags on the bank of the Mekong River near Ban Song Khon. The district chief, accompanied…
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Two bombs explode in front of the Yala provincial offices today
More violence in Thailand’s south today as two small bombs explode at the front of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre in Yala’s city centre this morning. Many people are reported as injured from the blasts. It’s believed that five provincial police (or soldiers) and three media were wounded in the two explosions. Thai PBS is reporting that 18 people…
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Thailand News Today – Monday, March 16
Hundreds linked to boxing stadium positive Covid-19 test TV celebrity and boxing camp manager Matthew Deane, who tested positive for Covid-19 on March 6, was together with many others who were at the Lumpini boxing stadium. The stadium is in Ramintra Bangkok, north east of the city centre. Then over the weekend, the mayor of the Chachoengsao provincial administration organisation…
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Thai government planning more economic stimulus packages
Economists have urged the government to expand the fiscal deficit to up to 600 billion baht, while more stimulus packages are hopefully on course to counter the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak in Thailand. Secretary to the Council of Economic Ministers, Kobsak Pootrakool, says that the economic ministers would consider extra packages as relief for certain sectors, that were hit…
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Thundershowers, more hot weather for the North
Thailand’s Meteorological Department predicted today that a thermal low covering the North will bring “hot to very hot weather” to the region. Thundershowers are forecast in the North, the Northeast, the Central and the East. Meanwhile, a high pressure system from China is covering the Northeast, the East, the Central and the South China Sea. Southerly and southeasterly winds are…
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Stormy skies for Boeing as Coronavirus compounds dire situation
As the world’s Covid-19 cases continue to rise, aircraft manufacture Boeing is watching its stocks slide. From around US$384 a share back in September last year to as low as US$154.84 last week. It’s since bounced back to US$170.20, but a long, long way from its peak. Most of the losses kicked in from mid-February when the extent of the…
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Summer storms batter Korat, Buri Ram
Sudden summer storms caused extensive damage in two provinces in Thailand’s northeast yesterday: many villages in tambon Nong Ma Nao in Khong district of Nakhon Ratchasima, also known as Korat, were struck by a summer storm late last night. Numerous houses were severely damaged by the storm, which started at about 11pm. Some structures were entirely demolished. The roofing sheets…
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Health minister denies racist tweets
“Many farang dress dirty and don’t shower. As hosts we have to be very careful.” Deputy PM and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul certainly knows how to grab the spotlight: just days after messages posted on his Twitter account caused a social media uproar and prompted the account to be shuttered, he has denied making the tweet. In a short…
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Khon Kaen University students in anti-government demonstration
“We are afraid of the virus. But, we are also duty-bound to study and seek the government’s ouster.” Adding to a growing trend, students at Khon Khaen University in northeastern Thailand held a second demonstration last night, despite fears of the Covid-19 coronavirus spread, saying they’ve “had enough” of the government. Students from all departments gathered at the multi-purpose ground…
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Wife and sister stabbed to death in Chon Buri, second domestic murder in a day
Police in Chon Buri province are hunting a suspect who allegedly stabbed his wife and her sister to death in the central province’s Panthong District yesterday. Panthong police were notified of the incident, at a shrimp fishing pond on Panthong-Baankhao Road, at 6:30pm. Police arriving at the pond and adjacent home found it locked. They broke the bedroom door to…
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PM urges unity in the face of adversity
In a nation battered by drought, a slowing economy and the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha has appealed to the public to unite and join the government in its efforts to overcome. In a public statement yesterday, the PM said some of the measures adopted by his administration to cope with the threat of coronavirus contagion are…
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Thailand News Today, Friday, March 13, 2020 – Daily TV News
Thai health minister has a slash at ‘dirty farang’ Thailand’s Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is at it again making public disparaging and xenophobic comments about ‘white’ foreigners (farang). This time he’s warned his fellow Thais about the foreigners fleeing their own countries for the ‘safe haven’ of Thailand. “Today I visited Chiang Mai and noticed that there are almost…
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Amazon cafe suspends ‘bring your own cup’ campaign
Thai coffee shop chain ‘Amazon’ announced today the suspension of their promotional campaign called “Café Amazon for Earth” which was aiming to reduce plastic waste by allowing customers to bring their personal cup when buying a beverage and receive a discount of 5 baht. The company says the decision to end the promotion was made to increase customers’ awareness to…
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Thai stock exchange pulls 30 minute circuit breaker
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) had pulled a 30 minute “circuit breaker” to suspend trade between 9:59 and 10:29am leading to a fall at 11am, when the SET fell by 78.95 points, or 7.08%, to 1,035.96. Foreign investors made net sales of 1.929 billion baht in the stock market and 13.646 billion in the bond market. Most global stock…
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Serial thief who robbed Russian couple at knifepoint in Pattaya re-arrested
Police in Pattaya have re-arrested a thief who was involved in a robbery and knife attack on a Russian couple five years ago. A team of Pattaya City Police arrested 29 year old Thai national “Manat” yesterday afternoon. Another Thai man, 60 year old Niphon Meechaiyo, was also arrested for buying stolen items and allegedly fencing them. Police seized six…
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