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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Nonthaburi mansion fire burns away damages valued at 10 million baht
A fire at a mansion in the central province of Nonthaburi has created over ten million baht worth of damage. The home, on the Chao Phraya River in Nonthaburi City, lit up on Saturday, the morning of Chinese New Year. Firefighters rushed to the scene. Firefighters arrived at the two-storey house on 16 rai (6.3 acres) of land to find…
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Coronavirus UPDATE: More Chinese cities restrict travel, Thailand checking land borders
The death toll from the novel coronavirus has grown to 80 today. The entire Hubei Province is now in the largest health ‘lockdown’ ever mounted in modern medical history with tight controls of who or what is inbound or outbound from the central Chinese province, plus severe restrictions on movement in place in several other Chinese cities. The number of deaths…
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Everything you need to know about 5G
by Live Tiles 5G literally refers to the fifth-generation of wireless technology, following on from 3G and 4G. The biggest changes will bring users higher speeds, lower latency, and the chance to connect more devices at once. Speed, for example, will provide almost instantaneous transfers across the internet, faster than the human reaction time. So something like a livestream of…
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Hungarian overstayer dies in Suvarnabhumi detention cell
A 60 year old Hungarian man has died in detention at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport. Lazlo Balogh was awaiting deportation for overstaying his visa. Laszlo was handed over to the Suvarnabhumi airport police for repatriation on Saturday, January 25. He showed no unusual signs after being put in the detention cell and was sleeping normally on Saturday night, according to police. But…
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Coronavirus – Thai officials meet for evacuation contingency of citizens in Wuhan
Thailand’s Foreign Ministry is hosting a meeting today to review plans to repatriate Thais marooned in China as a result of the cessation of flights and lockdowns in many Chinese cities. The Thai Rapid Response Centre, along with the Public Health Ministry, will also be updated by local Thai Embassy staff and consular officials in China to find ways of…
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Coronavirus UPDATE: 2,700+ infected, 80 dead, 8 cases in Thailand
We bring you all this morning’s key updates in news about the spread of the Novel Coronavirus. Whilst there is plenty of speculation and rumours in social media, The Thaiger will only be publishing news that has been corroborated by authorised medical and scientific organisations or quoted with attribution in leading world media. As the story is developing quickly we…
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Hotels in Hua Hin ordered to check on Chinese tourists after confirmed coronavirus case
Thanon Panphipat, the Hua Hin district chief officer, says all hotels in the Gulf resort town, four hours south of Bangkok, must check the passports of all Chinese tourists and to immediately report if any of them appear sick or develop flu-like symptoms. He says that the instruction was a precautionary measure to prevent the possible spread of the virus,.…
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Online grocery shopping gains popularity in Thailand
Squeezing the avocados and smelling the mangoes, in person, may well become a thing of the past as online grocery buying quickly gathers pace. The intense competition in online grocery sales is expected to surge in 2020. Online Apps like Line, Grab and Lazada are making major inroads into the Thai grocery market valued around 30 billion baht. Pushing the growth…
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Additional thermal screening for Chinese arrivals at Thai airports
“The number of Chinese tourists is likely to drop by half this year – creating an enormous impact on Thailand’s tourism industry.” Thailand’s health authorities are taking more stringent precautions over Chinese arrivals in Thailand following the confirmation of coronavirus case #6 in Hua Hin, a resort town south west of Bangkok. Panlop Singhaseni, Prachuap Khiri Khan’s governor, says they are…
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Latest Khao Lak hotel report
by Bill Barnett, c9hotelworks.com Increasing hotel supply in Khao Lak with stable tourism growth reflects a destination market entering a new cycle. Khao Lak is a beachside destination an hour and a half drive north from Phuket Airport in Phang Nga province. The upcoming second Greater Phuket airport (in Phang Nga) is expected to push the destination to diversify offerings…
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Romeo robber arrested for drugging women in their homes
Lonely hearts beware: a serial robber has been arrested after meeting up with girls for a night of fun but instead robbing them in their own homes. Police arrested a 28 year old man, who they named only as “Suchin,” in the eastern province of Chonburi on Thursday. One victim told authorities she met Suchin on a dating site in…
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Coronavirus UPDATE: President Xi addresses “grave situation of the rapid spreading epidemic”
The Novel Coronavirus that infects the respiratory tract and gives patients flu-like symptoms, is now responsible for at least 42 deaths in central China (40 in Hubei), with 15 new fatalities reported yesterday, and more than 1,409 cases in total. At this stage the spread of the virus outside China has been extremely isolated with overseas authorities quarantining any confirmed…
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Man arrested after ‘fun nights’ ended up in robberies
A man has been arrested Chon Buri after organising to meet girls for a “night of fun” but robbing them instead in their own homes. Crime Suppression DivisionPolice arrested 28 year old Suchin in the Panas Nikom District this week. The warrant was issued by the Uthai Thani Provincial Court, but it wasn’t the only court after the man. Last…
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Iranian man falls to his death in Pattaya
An Iranian man is dead after falling from an eight-storey building at a housing state in Pattaya’s Bang Lamung district this morning. The body of the 55 year old man, whose name is being withheld until relatives are notified, was found face down on the ground behind the building at the Ekmongkhol housing estate in tambon Nong Prue. Pattaya police were…
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Coronavirus UPDATE: 15 Chinese cities are now in lockdown
Things are moving fast with the Wuhan novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak. Amid dramatic lockdowns of at least 15 Chinese cities, affecting millions, much remains uncertain about the coronavirus and its method of transmission, or the extent of its spread outside central China. International health authorities continue to scrutinise the virus’ spread and effects with the World Health Organisation meeting daily…
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Australian rescued after falling from the top of Ton Chongfa waterfall in Phang Ngan
Emergency responders from the Phang-nga provincial public disaster prevention and mitigation office have recovered a female Australian who fell from the edge of a waterfall in Takuapa district in Phang Nga yesterday afternoon. The rescue took more than five hours with rescue crews working in almost total darkness. The female victim was part of a group of three other Australian tourists…
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Electric vehicle registrations in Thailand rose 380% in 2019
Electic cars (EVs) are on the rise in Thailand. The Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand (EVAT) reports a sharp increase in the number of electric vehicles registered in 2019. Department of Land Transport statistics show that, as of December 31, there were 2,854 electric vehicle registrations, including 1,572 new cars, up 380% from 2018 when only there were only 325 registered.…
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A quick guide to the Year of the Rat
It’s the biggest annual celebration of all and sparks off a yearly exodus from the cities of China as families head home, or in many case to travel to other provinces or overseas during the two week festival. 25% of the 7.7 billion world population will Chinese New Year from today. The holiday is also called Lunar New Year and…
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A watchful ghost is photographed at a train crash scene west of Bangkok
A picture from a train crash in Nakhon Pathom, west of Bangkok, has had the Thai netisphere in a lather over a ghostly woman standing watching the proceedings as emergency crews attend to the situation. The photo went viral and shows, what the posters claimed to be a female ghost wearing a traditional Thai dress. ‘She’ is standing amongst a crowd…
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Shakedown rocks the top levels of the Royal Thai Police
The upper echelons of the Royal Thai Police Force has been rattled by some high-profile shakedowns that have been ordered by executive order from the Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha. Starting with the former immigration chief, Pol Lt-Gen Surachat Hakparn, the PM has ordered him to “adhere strictly to the ethical code and discipline expected of all civil servants” Earlier this…
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Thai, Air Asia suspend flights to Wuhan because of Novel Coronavirus
Thai Airways and Thai Air Asia are both taking steps to prevent any possible spread of Novel Coronavirus pneumonia through tourist arrivals from Wuhan, the source of the outbreak. Thai Air Asia, which operates two daily flights to Wuhan from Bangkok and one from Phuket, suspended services yesterday. Meanwhile Malaysia-based Air Asia, has also suspended scheduled flights to and from Kota Kinabalu…
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64 year old Singaporean found dead in Thalang, Phuket
A 64 year old Singaporean man was found dead inside a house in Phuket’s Thalang district on Thursday morning. Police say they were called to Yucharoen housing estate by neighbours who found the man dead in his bathroom. The man’s name is being withheld pending notification of relatives. Police say there were no bruises on the man’s body and that it appears…
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International Court of Justice orders Myanmar to stop Rohingya genocide
The UN’s highest court is instructing Myanmar to do “everything in its power” to prevent the genocide of its Rohingya Muslim population. It’s the first time the International Court of Justice has stepped into the ongoing crisis. The Court has rejected arguments from Myanmar’s proxy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and sets out urgent steps to end the violence on the…
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“An emergency in China” but not an internal epidemic – Coronavirus update
The World Health Organisation has labelled the Novel Coronavirus “an emergency in China” but hasn’t declared the situation as an international epidemic at this stage. 634 cases have now been confirmed in China with health officials confirming the first death outside of Wuhan, whilst seven other countries have reported non-fatal cases. 18 people are now confirmed dead as a result of…
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Unsecured pickup falls off of ferry bound for Phuket
In another case of a truck ending up in the ocean, a pickup truck is getting an unscheduled washing after it rolled off a ferry leaving Phang Nga Island bound for Phuket on Wednesday afternoon. The truck, which was unsecured, quickly sank and remains on the seabed. The owner of the inter-island ferry has agreed to compensate the owner of…
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Prasitthichai speaks to the Thai media, “killings were unintentional”
In a bizarre sequence of events, Thai media were able to directly question the suspect, who has allegedly confessed, of the cold-blooded murders of three, whilst injuring four others, on January 9 at a Lop Buri gold shop. School principal Prasitthichai “Golf” Khaokaew is reported to have told police that he robbed the gold shop because he had financial problems…
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Man survives drive-by shooting and crash, credits his Buddhist amulet
A Pattaya man who was fired upon and crashed into a power pole early yesterday morning is thanking his lucky Buddha and crediting his Buddhist amulet with saving his life. 30 year old Waranyoo Kaewmala’s car was shot nine times, yet somehow miraculously escaped unharmed. Bang Lamung Police were notified of the incident at 2am rushed to the scene to…
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3 arrested for selling fake gold in Khon Kaen
Three men are now in police custody in the north-eastern province of Khon Kaen for selling fake gold to gold shops. 42 year old Suparb from Udon Thani province, 41 year old Pakorn from Bangkok and 30 year old Thanakorn from Surin Province were arrested after police received complaints of fake gold chains being sold to several shops in the…
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Lone gunman tells police he killed to “spice up his boring life”
So how did Thai police track down and arrest the suspect, who has allegedly confessed, accused of a brutal and callous robbery and shooting which resulted in the death of three with four other injured? The suspect was arrested following an intensive 14 days of forensic investigation. 38 year old school principal, Prasitthichai Khaokaew, is now in custody, suspected of…
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Baht will continue to remain strong throughout 2020
The Thai baht will continue to maintain its strength for the rest of 2020. It will remain strong, propelled by the increased surpluses in the Thai current account and the country’s trade balance. Kobsidthi Silpachai, KBank’s head of capital markets research, predicts that the Thai baht will float around 29.75 against the US dollar for the first half of 2020,…
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