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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UPDATE: Parents report daughter located in Bangkok
UPDATE from earlier story… below • The missing girl has been located in Bangkok, according to her parents • They told police that she has lied to them before and that last night’s story had been fabricated by her • The girl’s boyfriend has returned to his work in Kalasin after hearing his ‘girlfriend’ had been located in Bangkok •…
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Uptick in Thai tourism – August arrivals up 5.6%
Foreign tourists arrivals in Thailand rose 5.6% last month compared to a year earlier, with Chinese visitor numbers rebounding strongly, according to audited numbers published by the tourism and sports ministry. (Percentages rounded up to the nearest .1) Revenue from the 3.41 million foreign arrivals in August was 170 billion baht, up 7.1% year-on-year. The number of Chinese tourists, Thailand’s largest…
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Burmese kids dodging cows and cow dung to play rugby
by Richard Sargent – PHOTOS: AFP It’s a case of dung and dragons. Sidestepping cowpats and garbage, Myanmar’s only home-grown junior rugby side train on the outskirts of Yangon, preparing to take on children from the city’s well-heeled international schools. When the Little Dragons aren’t running barefoot on the litter-strewn dirt, the makeshift field on the outskirts of Yangon is sometimes used…
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Thailand urged to do more on suicide prevention
PHOTO: Amansquest.com In Thailand, World Suicide Prevention Day was marked yesterday by the Director General of the Mental Health Department calling on the country to do more to address the issue of suicide. Kiattipoom Wongrajit was speaking to the Thai language daily Thai Rath yesterday. According to his department, around 11 people commit suicide every day in Thailand, with the…
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Bangkok man commits suicide after killing wife
PHOTO: Stock photo/Thailandlawforum.com Bangkok police say the owner of a garage in Ratburana district has shot and killed his wife before taking his own life. The murder-suicide took place at the couple’s home on Soi Suksawd 46 yesterday evening. Police found the body of the man’s wife, 39 year old Romrawin Kaewkamnerd, lying face down with a bullet wound in…
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Mugabe’s body leaves Singapore, headed back to Zimbabwe
A hearse carrying the body of Zimbabwe’s ex-president Robert Mugabe left a funeral parlour in Singapore this morning bound for an airport. His body will be repatriated to Zimbabwe for burial. Mugabe, a guerrilla leader who swept to power after Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain and went on to rule for 37 years until he was ousted in 2017, died last Friday,…
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Three-airport high-speed train project stumbles forward
One of the delayed Thai high-speed rail projects is now closer to being inked by the State Railway of Thailand and CP Holding’s joint venture, once an agreement on some key details of the public-private partnership project are reached. The new railway service will connect Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang international airports, with U-Tapao in Rayong, serving Pattaya and the…
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iPhone 11 launch – Apple cuts prices, new services
by Glenn Chapman “The new iPhones are jam-packed with new capabilities and an incredible new design.” – Tim Cook Apple unveiled its iPhone 11 models last night (Thai time) with a price cut for the most basic models while also laying out plans for streaming and gaming services as it bids to weather the slump in the global smartphone market.…
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Smoke haze affecting neighbouring countries to Sumatra and Borneo islands
PHOTO: Malaysia’s Kuching on Borneo this week “Hundreds of schools shut as forest-fire haze blankets SE Asia.” Huge fires are raging across vast swathes of Indonesia’s rainforests – some of the world’s biggest – with toxic smog shutting hundreds of schools. Massive jungle areas in Sumatra and Borneo island are ablaze as thousands of personnel battle to quell the fires, frequently…
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Immigration police conduct spot-check of Nana area of Bangkok
PHOTOS: Naew Na Immigration police headed to the Nana area of Bangkok to inspect businesses and operators last night in the popular market zone. The ‘walk thru’ started at 8 pm as Immigration police visited Sois 3 – 5 along Sukhumvit Road checking on foreign workers and work permits. Immigration officials say there were no arrests during their unannounced visit.…
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Pound lifted by British PM’s latest defeat, Asian equities struggle
The British pound bounced today after UK PM Boris Johnson again failed to get MPs to back a snap election, while Asian equities drifted as investors await a key European Central Bank meeting and developments in the China-US trade talks. Just before Westminster lawmakers broke up for five weeks they inflicted yet another defeat on the new PM, who has…
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Thai government introduces new TM30T, to keep track of Thais
PHOTO: One of the new test shopping centre locations for the new Waer Areuw program The Thai government is introducing a new method of cracking down on home-made criminals. In a reversal of its former policy “Good guys in, bad guys in”, the government’s criminal enhancement department is phasing in the new laws that will require Thai to report their…
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“Don’t extend opening hours to 4am” – Tourist zones
“Think again about extending pub opening hours to 4am in tourist areas”. That’s the advice from Dr Mohamed Fahmy Tale, an advocate for alcohol control, directed to Thailand’s tourism minister, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn. Manager Online says that he wants the government to focus more on safety rather than encouraging more drinking. The Tourism and Sports Minister, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, had proposed an extension…
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Murder accused under police hospital watch to face charges “soon”
Police confirm that a man accused of killing his 21 year old girlfriend is currently undergoing hospital treatment after trying to take his own life but will soon be brought to court to face charges. Krissanachok “Ole Wanjeab” Chaichana, aged 30, attempted suicide after killing his girlfriend during an argument. He was arrested in the victim’s car, while drinking toilet…
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Phuket Governor requests 38 million baht to finally finish Provincial Hall
The Governor of Phuket, Phakaphong Tavipatana, confirms he has requested 38 million baht for the long-awaited completion of Phuket Provincial Hall on the south side of Phuket town. Last October, he had asked for a new contractor to be appointed by December, but that never happened. It’s understood he has now filed a request with the Ministry of Interior in…
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UN director says more needs to be done to fight corruption in Thailand
The chief of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Renaud Meyer, is calling on Thailand’s lawmakers to do more to fight corruption. While acknowledging the country’s efforts so far, he says certain influential figures and groups are a stumbling block to creating a less corrupt society. He was speaking at a conference jointly organised by the UNDP, along with the…
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A drop in Thai visitors to Hong Kong as protests continue
PHOTO: Booking.com The ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong are taking a toll on visitor numbers, with a drop in the number of Thai visitors staying overnight in the territory, according to the Hong Kong Immigration Department. The Bangkok Post reports that the number for July has dropped by 6.6% compared to July 2018. However, the number of single-day visitors…
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Opposition says Thammanat should not have been appointed minister
PHOTO: Bangkok Post “It is old stuff from the opposing political group. I know all of them. Don’t pay any attention to them. I do not give them any importance.” A government opposition spokesman, Adisorn Piangkate, says he would not have appointed Captain Thammanat Prompow as deputy agriculture minister if he were the PM due to the minister’s “tainted record”. He…
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Thai Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce call for overhaul of TM30 laws
PHOTO: Stanley Kang, chairman of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand, spoke to the Bangkok Post about their concerns over the TM30 debacle Speaking to the Bangkok Post, chairman of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce Stanley Kang, says the government needs to review the enforcement of the draconian TM30 (and TM28) immigration reporting regulations The TM30, and…
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Thailand’s War on Sugar, taxes double
The Excise Department says that taxes on sugary drinks will double from October 1, with drinks containing 10 to 14 grams of sugar being taxed at 1 baht per 100 millilitres instead of 0.5 baht per 100 millilitre. But he promises this higher tax won’t be passed on to consumers. Nattakorn Utensut, the department’s deputy spokesman, says most producers of…
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Government not tackling Thailand’s economic woes – poll
Most people regard the government of Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha as lacking the capacity to tackle economic woes – this, the latest results from yesterday’s NIDA poll. The NIDA Poll, prepared by the National Institute of Development Administration, asked 1,260 respondents nationwide about their opinions on the current state of political play. The Nida Poll found that 46.7%t of the…
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HM Queen Sirikit returns to hospital for examination
Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, the Queen Mother, has been admitted to Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok for follow-up examinations. According to the announcement from the Bureau of the Royal Household, which was issued yesterday, the Queen Mother was admitted to Chulalongkorn University on Saturday on the advice of doctors for a previously scheduled follow-up on her condition and some additional examinations.…
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Police shoot and kill chef in North Pattaya hotel car park
PHOTO: Naew Na Police are continuing their investigations after a fatal shooting by a police officer in the car park of a North Pattaya hotel last Friday night. Four witnesses were interviewed over the weekend. Naew Na reports that a chef armed with a knife was shot in the head after allegedly resisting police arrest. Patrol officers had responded to…
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Weekend flooding threatens provinces in the Chao Phraya basin
PHOTO: tna.mcot.net The Royal Irrigation Department has issued an urgent flood alert for seven provinces as more water is released from the reservoirs feeding the Chao Phraya dam at Chai Nat province in central Thailand (map below). Residents in the seven provinces are being advised to monitor water levels closely as the water is released. Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Sing…
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Flood waters reach Roi Et in Thailand’s north-east
PHOTOS: Thai Rath Run-off from last week’s heavy rains around Khon Kaen and parts of the north-east, have now made their way to the province of Roi-Et, south east of Khon Kaen. A large number of households and farming areas are now flooded after concrete barriers in Nong Hin Village of Panomprai District were breached by strong currents, according to…
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Suicide bomber explodes bomb at Philippine army base, Jolo Island
PHOTO: AFP/Ted Aljibe “No group has yet claimed the attack, which came a day after an IS-claimed bombing wounded eight at a market on the island of Mindanao.” A suicide bomber, dressed in a traditional Muslim woman’s abaya gown, has died after detonating a bomb outside a military camp in the southern Philippines. No other casualties were reported, authorities said.…
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Wyndham adds two more hotels for Phuket’s south
PHOTOS: Artists impressions of the new Wyndham Nai Harn Resort Phuket Global hotel group Wyndham has announced two more Phuket pipeline hotels. The announcement follows a long list of new developments and openings over the next few years on the island. First for Wyndham, is a 353 key property named the Wyndham Nai Harn Resort Phuket at the popular southern west-coast…
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Police arrest Chiang Rai woman with thousands of counterfeit US$100 bills
PHOTOS: Facebook/32nd Border Patrol Police Counterfeit US dollar banknotes valued more than 16 million baht have been seized at a Chiang Rai house after police organised a sting. A 54 year old woman was arrested over the matter last Thursday. The sting followed a tip off to border patrol police about the fake USD notes being circulated around tambon Rim…
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Non! French say no to a Brexit extension beyond October 31
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says the French government has rejected any further delays to Britain’s exit from the EU, now scheduled for October 31. He acknowledged that the issue is now clouded by the political turmoil in London. The past week of turmoil in the British parliament has forced MPs to cross the floor and bring about three…
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Dengue fever in Thailand: 3 dead in Bangkok since January 2019
PHOTO: Tripsavvy.com Bangkok Metropolitan Administration governor Aswin Kwanmuang says 4,903 residents have been infected with the dengue virus so far this year, with 3 deaths. In 2011, there were 10 deaths, with 8,699 having contracted the virus, so while there has been noticeable improvement, the current rate of infection is still worrying. Governor Aswin says that the areas which have…
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