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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10 biggest challenges retirees face in Thailand (and how to overcome them)
Retiring in Thailand comes with many benefits, like warm weather, affordable living, and a rich culture. However, it also brings challenges. Retirees must deal with visa rules, healthcare costs, language barriers, and cultural differences. Rising medical expenses, required insurance, and...
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Thai politician sought after quartet arrested with large drugs haul
by Jessada Chantharak A Narathiwat politician is on the run following the issuing of an arrest warrant after being implicated in a major local drug bust. A politician at the Narathiwat OrBorTor has been implicated by four drug suspects as the person who hired them to move 459 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, a very large quantity of ‘ice’. Three men, aged…
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Vietnam pushing to be leading digital economy in ASEAN by 2030
Excerpts from Viet Nam News – Asia News Network Vietnam wants to be the leading digital economy in ASEAN by 2030. A draft project on national digital transformation by Vietnam’s Authority of Information Technology Application (AITA) is being submitted for approval in November. The project aims to develop the Vietnamese economy based on digital technologies. Speaking at a conference this week to review MIC’s…
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Another sea turtle saved from a random trawling net in Phuket
PHOTOS: Andaman Flying Tiger Today (July 15), local seniors have discovered a sea turtle trapped inside an old fishing net (trawl) at Mai Khao beach along the northern west coast of Phuket. The turtle was luckily uninjured and was rescued, then released back to the ocean. Excellent photos from Andaman Flying Tiger.
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Digging into the Phuket hotel data
by Bill Barnett, c9hotelworks As Phuket’s hotel operators and owners face a disruptive 2019, we thought it was time to do a deep dig into the island’s accommodation performance metrics. Global hospitality data and analytics group STR was the logical resource, so we spoke to their Area Director Asia Pacific, Jesper Palmqvist. The following are key takeaways from the highly focused…
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Alcohol ban across Thailand Tuesday and Wednesday for Buddhist holidays
There will be a ban on alcohol sales for two days this week – Tuesday and Wednesday – around Thailand. The ban starts at midnight tonight (Monday). The holidays are Asarnha Bucha Day (Tuesday, July 16) and Khao Phansa Day (Wednesday, July 17). Asarnha Bucha commemorates the Buddha’s first sermon to his five disciples after attaining Enlightenment more than 2,500…
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New Thai cabinet to be sworn in Tuesday in Bangkok
PHOTO: Amphorn Satharn Throne Hall The new Thai cabinet will be sworn in tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Amphorn Satharn Throne Hall in Bangkok near the Dusit Palace, 3 kilometres north of the Grand Palace. The announcement was made by the the Secretariat of the Cabinet over the weekend. All 36 Cabinet appointees will travel by shuttle leaving the Phakdee Bordin…
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Human bones found in Srisoonthorn, Phuket
Thalang Police were called to a site yesterday (Sunday), 150 metres from the Baan Ua Arthorn housing estate in Srisoonthorn, central Phuket, just before 3pm. There they found remains of a human skeleton. According to police reports, a local fruit vendor headed to the area to collecting papayas when he discovered the human skeletal remains under a tree. He then ran out…
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Heading south at speed: The China–Laos railway
by Selina Ho, NUS Laos is dependent on China to bankroll the US$7 billion project, raising concerns of being caught in a debt trap The Kunming-Vientiane link will eventually connect with a railway line to Bangkok, and southward down the Malay peninsula to Singapore The Laos section of the project is now half complete Construction on the China–Laos railway began in…
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White caps & tight racing – Day two of the Multihull Solutions Regatta in Phuket
PHOTOS: Phuket Yacht Club The racing multihull boats sailed two races on Sunday – the second day of racing in the annual Multihull Solutions Regatta off Chalong Bay in Phuket. The first race was a three-lap windward-leeward in Chalong Bay and the second a longer course out to the safe water mark just before Cape Panwa. Whitecaps and winds gusting to…
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Thai TV star faces legal battle to regain custody of her daughter after daylight abduction in Phuket
PHOTO: says.com A baby has been abducted in Phuket as Thai police investigate a complaint filed by her mother. Last Friday, police were seeking to interview the father and husband of the UK Thai former ‘supermodel’. It follows a dramatic midday abduction on the outskirts of Phuket where the 25 year old woman was ‘imprisoned in her car’ as a…
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Thaksin Shinawatra starting new party called Pheu Dharma
Despite his self-imposed exile in 2008 and living overseas ever since, Thaksin Shinawatra’s shadow still looms large over Thai politics. And now sources claim he’s planning a comeback with a new party, all being engineered offshore, just as the fragile new Thai government starts to run the country. Fugitive former PM Thaksin Shinawatra is rumoured to be forming a new…
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BTS Skytrain stations get maintenance checks after falling concrete
It wasn’t the sky falling. It was the Skytrain Station falling on a road in Bangkok. The Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) has announced maintenance work underway at 22 BTS Skytrain stations after a concrete slab fell from the Ari station onto the road below, just missing drivers. Executive director of the BTSC Surapong Laoha-Unya said they prioritised the safety…
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Phuket accommodation pipeline – 55 new hotels under development
by Bill Barnett from c9hotelworks.com PHOTO: Horizon Beach Resort Hotels Phuket One of Asia’s leading resort destinations Phuket looks set to weather a perfect storm as soaring hotel supply is forecast to be challenged by declining tourism demand. New research from consulting group C9 Hotelworks in their Phuket Hotel Market Update Mid-Year Edition has revealed an island development pipeline of…
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Thailand’s tourism – stormy weather ahead
Thailands tourism industry finds itself in stormy weather as a falloff in visitors spook trade, even forcing candid admissions from some of Thailand’s tourism chiefs. Thailand has suffered a slump in tourism figures since the beginning of the year as hoteliers and tourism trade leaders have confirmed a huge 20 to 30% drop for June in tourist numbers and trade…
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Strong winds greet sailors on Day One of Multihull Solutions Regatta in Phuket
One of the region’s most exciting sailing regattas kicked off yesterday (Saturday) off the coast of Chalong in southern Phuket. The Multihull Solutions Regatta beings together some of the fastest racing yachts in Asia. Day one of the 12th annual Multihull Solutions Regatta was delayed for an hour due to strong shifting winds gusting to 31 knots. PRO Simon James…
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American and Thai wife arrested for selling ‘ice’ in Bang Lamung, Pattaya
An American and his Thai wife have been arrested in Pattaya for possessing nearly a kilogram of crystal methamphetamine, plus a hand gun along with ammunition. The arrest follows a longer investigation as police became aware of the couple’s activities. Police have confirmed that the man is an American citizen. 39 year old Bart Helmus and 30 year old Sirinapha Wisetrit…
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Bangkok’s Anantara adds second luxury charter boat
Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort is launching its second luxury riverboat by the end of 2019. Manohra River Song is currently under construction in a shipyard, just north of Bangkok. The 50 million baht boat will join Manohra Dream offering luxury river cruises on Chao Phraya River. In addition to sailing to Ayutthaya, 70 kilometres north of Bangkok, the second vessel will…
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Entertainment venues in Phuket call for postponement in new excise tax
Entertainment venue operators in Patong, Phuket, are calling on the Excise Department to indefinitely postpone a proposed 11% levy on their businesses, saying the tourism business is bad enough already without any additional government tax grabs. Entertainment and other businesses on the island have been reporting anecdotal drops in their business between 20-50% this low-season, compared to last year. The…
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Visiting time to see baby dugong Mariam is now restricted
Tourists and local well-wishers are flocking to get a glimpse of ‘Mariam’. She’s become an internet hit. But that’s also caused other problems. The high number of Thai and foreign tourists heading to Duyong Bay in Tambon Koh Libong in Kantang district, Trang, to watch officials looking after seven month old orphan dugong Mariam is prompting authorities to issue regulations to…
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European and Chinese tourists avoiding Pattaya, Indians on the rise
The strong baht is being accused as a major deterrent for Euro-tourists to Pattaya. “Over the past few months, European travellers have hardly come to Pattaya at all because of the baht’s appreciation,” said Damrongkiat Phinitkarn, secretary of the Entertainment & Tourism Association of Pattaya City. He told the Bangkok Post that tourists are opting to go to other countries…
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A major lawsuit has been filed by owners of JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa
A letter filed with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) yesterday. A major spat between the owners of the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa in Mai Khao and the parent management company Marriott International, Inc… Minor International Public Company Limited (“MINT”) announces that it has, through its 100% subsidiary MI Squared Limited, initiated legal action in Thailand against Marriott…
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Return to Tham Luang Cave – a personal perspective
by guest writer Mikko Paasi Now that is has been a year since the successful rescue of the Thai football team and their coach from the Tham Luang cave, I think it would be appropriate to share some footage from inside the cave to show how it looks like after the operation and without the muddy water. As we know, the…
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Crackdown on Bangkok amusement parks without operating permits
The roller coaster ride is over. 15 amusement parks in Bangkok, out of a total of 48, don’t have construction or operating licenses. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and other agencies started field inspections of all permanent amusement parks in 26 of the city’s districts two months ago. In addition, eight amusement parks don’t meet the published standards for safety signs,…
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Russian woman arrested for allegedly using Thai nominee in business
PHOTO: Bangkokbiznews A Russian businesswoman has been arrested for using a Thai nominee company to run a real estate firm in Pattaya. Immigration police arrested the woman who they claim had been in hiding for three years since a warrant was issued back in 2016. The acting commissioner of Pattaya Immigration reported that Natalia Nikiforova was arrested in Chon Buri’s Bang Lamung…
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Lampang public servant on the run after murdering wife and attempting suicide
A senior public servant from Lampang is on the run after allegedly strangling his wife then fleeing after failing to successfully hang himself from the stair handrails in his house. Lampang is a province south-east of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Sanook.com reports that a two page will was found on a desk in the house. Serm Ngam police responded to…
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Perth ‘pad thai’ couple “maybe it was the juice”
PHOTO: Facebook/Stacey Barnes Ryan Prigg, one of the Aussie couple from Perth, Australia, spoke exclusively to ThaiVisa over the much-hyped story that a pad thai they ate at an ‘upmarket Phuket food court’ gave them a disease that took them nearly two years to shake. Here’s part of they response to ThaiVisa… “We weren’t sick when we left Australia. On the…
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Thailand’s Central Bank start twiddling the currency knobs to curb baht speculators
The Thai Central Bank says it is taking steps to ease the impact of speculative currency trading which has contributed to strengthening the baht. They say they’re ready to use additional measures if speculative trading continues to persist. The Bangkok Post reports the Central Bank reduced the outstanding balance of non-resident baht accounts (NRBA) and non-resident baht accounts for securities…
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Singapore economy slides closer to recession, figures worse than expected
Singapore’s economy has tanked in Q2, slowing again after hitting the lowest rate since the global financial crisis of 2008 in Q1 this year. The Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry pegged Singapore’s economic growth at a mere 0.1% in the second quarter of this year, well below analysts’ expectations of 1.1%, according to a Bloomberg forecast. It is also a far…
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Thailand’s Health Ministry doubts Aussie couple’s claim about parasite in Pad Thai
Thai PBS reports that Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health says “there is a very slim chance that a person could contract Dientamoeba Fragilis”, a dangerous parasite, from eating a plate of Pad Thai, as claimed by an Australian Perth couple. Stacey Barnes and Ryan Prigg, along with their two children, visited Thailand in 2017. Read they stay HERE. Doctors in…
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Avani Hotels and Resorts re-brands two resorts in Krabi
PHOTO: Klong Dao Beach, Krabi, home for one of the new ‘Avani’ brand hotels Two new hotels are on the way for Krabi under the Avani Hotels & Resorts brand. Avani Hotels & Resorts have signed up two new resort hotels in Krabi, marking the brand’s continued growth in Thailand. The existing resorts will undergo renovations to bring the properties in…
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