News
Stay up-to-date with the latest news from across Thailand and beyond with The Thaiger. Our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from this stunning part of the world, covering a diverse range of topics, including local politics, business, culture, and tourism. Keep yourself informed about the Kingdom’s rich history, stunning landscapes, and thriving expat communities, as well as updates on events, attractions, and transportation.
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Sponsored Boost your business in Thailand: 5 powerful benefits of using BoostedByPeople
As a business owner in Thailand, you know how tough it is to stand out online. Ads get skipped, scrolled past, or flat-out ignored. People are more sceptical than ever about what they see on their feeds. And even when...
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Bangkok and Singapore jump in rankings for world living costs
Bangkok is now the 63rd most expensive location in a new cost of living survey for expats. Singapore has experienced a big rise in the rankings, becoming the 12th most expensive location in the world for expatriates. Lee Quane, regional director for Asia at ECA International says that Bangkok has risen 100 places in just the last five years. “We have…
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Laotian ladyboy arrested for stealing from Finnish tourist in Pattaya
PHOTOS: Pattaya Tourist Police A Laotian, a Finn, one was a ladyboy and it happened in Pattaya. Tourist Police in Pattaya have arrested a Laotian ladyboy who stole property from a Finnish tourist’s bag at Pattaya’s Walking Street last night. Pattaya Tourist Police report that on-duty police who were stationed at Pattaya Walking Street immediately arrested the Laotian ladyboy who…
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More internal bickering for Democrats over split of cabinet seats
Democrat party MPs find themselves again torn over important decisions.. This time the party is split over the sharing of eight cabinet posts allocated to them by their leading coalition partner, Palang Pracharat. Last week the decided to side with the pro-Junta Palang Pracharat party to vote Prayut Chan-o-cha into the PM position. They’d campaigned on ensuring that Prayut wouldn’t…
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Thai island vs Malaysian island – Phuket vs Penang
Two ‘pearls’ go head to head, including some reflections by guest writer TravellingMitch who’s from the UK Penang was once the ‘Pearl of the Orient’, for most western travellers the only ‘orient’ they would know outside of Singapore and maybe Hong Kong. At the time Phuket wasn’t even known on the tourist map. It was the 1950s and 60s when jet…
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Dodgy ‘Botox’, fillers and beauty enhancement products seized in Bangkok
400,000+ items of ‘fake’ Botox, stem cells and breast enhancement injectables, valued at an estimated 80 million baht, have been seized by DSI (Department of Special Investigation) and officials from the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Intellectual Property from 12 locations around Bangkok. The investigation, culminating in Wednesday’s seizures, have been going for two years as officials followed…
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Elephant rides to be banned around Angkor Wat in Siem Reap
Elephant rides around Cambodia’s famous tourist magnet Angkor Wat are being banned. The operator of the local elephant rides around Siem Reap says they have been under pressure from international animal rights organisations, social media and activists to stop the rides. Riding to Angkor Wat at sunrise has been a favourite tourist experience for the past decade. Oan Kiry of…
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Administrative Court rejects private hospitals’ plea to remove caps on pricing
Thailand’s private hospital sector has failed to win respite from an order controlling their medical prices, after the Supreme Administrative Court turned down their request. The court made the decision saying that the order will not cause irreversible damages to the hospitals even though an injunction has not been issued yet. The Private Hospital Association, together with 42 private hospitals,…
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Thai PM acts on illegal and unlicensed hotels and accommodation
Owners of shop-houses, rented properties, even entire floors of condos – running them as defacto hotels – are about to get the Article 44 treatment. The PM, acting in his capacity as the head of the NCPO (in the days before it is dissolved), says he will bring an estimated 20,000 illegal hotels and accommodations around the country under control…
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Asia’s most challenging golf courses
Golfers fall in love with courses for their beautiful views, world-class services, and impeccable layouts. Some golfers also have a love to hate relationship with all those courses that really test their ability. The Golfscape team has been researching the most challenging courses to play in Asia with the help of journalists, professional golfers, and course designers. Take a look…
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13 gamblers arrested in Patong gambling den raid
Police have arrested 13 gamblers at an illegal gambling den in Patong. Police received a tip-off that there was an illegal gambling den on Nanai Road in Patong. Police checked out the situation and then raided the gambling den on Nanai Road yesterday. Police arrested 13 gamblers, well at least the ones they were able to capture. Some of the…
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Seven injured after bus rolls over in Sisaket bus incident
PHOTOS: หมวดทางหลวงภูสิงห์ Seven passengers have sustained injuries in a bus accident in Sisaket, far-east Thailand. Emergency responders were notified of the accident on No 24 Road in Sisaket yesterday. They arrived at the scene to find the bus rolled over in the centre-road ditch. The bus was heading from Bangkok to Ubon Ratcha Thani and carrying 15 passengers. Seven passengers…
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Roi Et tractor driver injured after sedan embeds itself in the driver’s cabin
PHOTOS: Asok Jaturapak Piman Rescue Foundation A tractor driver has sustained injuries after colliding with a sedan in Roi Et in north-eastern Thailand. Rescue workers headed to the accident scene on Jatura – Patumrat Road in Jatura, Roi Et yesterday. Rescue workers arrived to find a sedan embedded in a tractor off the main road. The tractor driver, 45 year…
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Red swimming flags out at Koh Hong in Krabi
Red flags have been dusted off and set up along the beach at Koh Hong in Ao Luek, Krabi today. In an unrelated story, dead fish have also been found along a beach in Ao Nang, Krabi. National park officers at Mu Koh Hong in Krabi have planted the red flags along the beach to warn swimmers not to go…
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Multi-billion baht budget for Bangkok Metropolitan Administration
Bangkok Council has approved a multi-billion baht budget for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) for 2020. The budget was approved during a meeting in the second extraordinary session of the council for 2019 after BMA Governor Aswin Kwanmuang proposed the budget bill to the chamber. The bill requests 83 billion baht for fixed expenditures for the Fiscal Year 2020 and 398.92…
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Complaints made over 41 pro-Junta coalition MPs over their alleged media shares
Just as it appeared the dust was settling on the fractious formation of a new parliament for Thailand, more than 40 MPs of the pro-junta bloc are now targeted in cases related to media shareholding after their names were submitted to the Constitutional Court. Should these MPs be suspended or disqualified, the pro-junta coalition’s narrow Lower House majority could vanish…
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Motorbike passenger dies, crushed under truck in Bangkok
PHOTOS: Phetkasem Foundation A motorbike passenger has died after colliding with a pickup truck and then being crushed by a passing truck in Bangkok. Police News report that Kannayao Police were notified of the incident on Ramintra Road last night. Police and emergency responders arrived to find a damaged motorbike and pickup truck. The truck was still sitting in the…
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Pattaya International Music Festival 2019 – Make it a date
This year the annual Pattaya Music Festival takes place on June 14 and 15 along Pattaya Beach Road, Pattaya. Dates were postponed to June, instead of March as in previous years, so that the event is held as part of the 60th anniversary of Pattaya tourism. Started in 2002, the Pattaya International Music Festival is a celebration of music. It’s one…
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Thai boat captain says he was paid 100,000 baht to ferry Rohingya to Malaysia
by The Nation Authorities are speculating that a group of 65 Rohingya and five other Burmese men may have been trafficked from Bangladesh where an estimated million people are sheltering as refugees. The Thai captain, of the boat that washed up on a southern Thai island on tuesday, has already admitted that he was paid to take them across the…
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Malaysian PM dismisses gay sex video implicating his cabinet minister
Malaysian PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad has dismissed the ‘gay sex romp’ videos implicating his Economics Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali with another man. “This is done by people who have political agendas,” said the PM after attending a fund-raising event last night. “Things like these are dirty. If you cannot compete with someone, don’t do something like this.” The…
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45 year old British man found dead at Koh Chang luxury hotel
PHOTO: Tourist Police Bureau A British man has been found dead in front of his hotel room on Koh Chang. Koh Chang is in Thailand’s far east, off the coast of Trat. The 45 year old tourist died near a swimming pool at the Sea View Koh Chang Hotel, according to tourist police. Police say the man was lying in…
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Poll shows most respondents don’t believe Future Forward bribe claims
PHOTO: prachatai.com More than 53% of respondents to a recent poll don’t believe the claim that the Future Forward party made in the days before last week’s parliametrary vote for the PM, that they had been offered millions of baht for their supporting votes. At the time some Future Forward Ps went public claims they were offered amounts as high…
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Drug smugglers get away but police seize their pickup stuffed with meth pills and ‘ice’
PHOTOS: The Nation Drug smugglers have abandoned their pickup and a huge cache of drugs following a high-speed chase through the hills of Chiang Rai early yesterday morning. Once soldiers caught up with the pickup the driver and passengers had fled but left 2.2 million methamphetamine pills and 11 kilos of crystal methamphetamine (ice). According to The Nation, the Chiang Rai-based…
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Malaysian gay sex video scandal – Cabinet Minister named
Malaysian politics has been thrown into a tizz today as a gay sex video scandal has become the talk of the country. Muhammad Haziq Abdul Aziz, the senior private secretary to Deputy Primary Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, also named the Malaysian cabinet minister with him in the video and said he was “not fit…
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Phuket Town – the UNESCO City of Gastronomy reveals some secrets
VIDEO: Thai PBS A UNESCO City of Gastronomy, Phuket Town is a real foodie town. Among their amazing arrays of local delicacies is a variety of tea snacks, many of which are the integral part of their daily life. The delicate and cute and delicious Pang Pia is among the oldest recipes. Phuket Town has gone through several transformations. Once…
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Grab motorbike rider gets slashed by ‘win’ driver
PHOTO: Facebook/Ratsita View A Grab rider had been assaulted by a knife-wielding motorcycle taxi rider in Bangkok. He had his lip slashed in the attack in the Banthat Thong district. He was not armed at the time. Daily News report that Pathumwan police say the attack occurred on May 12 and investigations are still continuing. The Grab rider has only been able…
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Melbourne named as first non-US city to be an Uber flying-taxi testbed
Flying cars. Long awaited, a thing of 1950s editions of Popular Mechanics and sci-fi, now a small step closer to reality. Uber, the worldwide ride-sharing App, say it is going to use Melbourne, Australia as the first non-US city for its new aerial transportation service. They’ve even claimed 2023 as their launch date for the initiative. Melbourne joins Dallas and…
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Electric vehicles on the rise but the take up is slow in Thailand
“Two trends will develop in Southeast Asia. The first is new operators of EV taxi fleets such as cars and motorcycles, and the second is electric buses for public transport.” Justin Wu, head of Asia-Pacific for Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) says the electric vehicles (EVs) remain expensive and unaffordable for individual buyers in Thailand and ASEAN. Mr. Wu says…
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UPDATE: German tourist found dead in Krabi hotel room
A German tourist has been found dead inside a hotel room in Ao Nang yesterday. A bag was over the man’s head and tied around the neck. Ao Nang police were notified of the incident yesterday afternoon at a hotel in Ao Nang when contacted by staff. Police found the body of a 40 year old German man on the bed.…
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Prayut sworn in as 29th Thai PM. Cabinet appointments remain unresolved.
PHOTOS: The Nation Prayut Chan-o-cha was sworn in as the 29th Thai Prime Minister in a ceremony at Government House yesterday. Key points… • PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has received royal endorsement as the new prime minister in a ceremony at Government House, a week after winning a vote in Parliament. • The ceremony was attended by the leaders of the…
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Huawei running 5G testbeds in Thailand
China phone-giant Huawei, along with Thailand’s Digital Economy and Society Ministry and interested partners, is now turning the much-awaited 5G Testbed into a reality. As the first and only vendor so far to deliver the 5G network to Thailand’s 5G Testbed in the Eastern Economic Corridor in Sri Racha, Huawei is providing a platform that will be used for end-to-end…
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