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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...

  • Overstaying Russian tries to change his Thai visa stamp with a pen, badly

    Overstaying Russian tries to change his Thai visa stamp with a pen, badly

    PHOTO: Naewna.com It seemed like such a good idea at the time. A Russian man has been caught on overstay at the Klong Leuk border checkpoint in Sa Kaeo, directly to the east of Bangkok on the Cambodian border. Trying to enter Cambodia, the man told immigration he changed the last visa stamp with his own pen. 32 year old…

  • ‘Ministry deals’ in tatters – Palang Pracharat revoke cabinet post promises

    ‘Ministry deals’ in tatters – Palang Pracharat revoke cabinet post promises

    “One source, a core leader in Phalang Pracharat, confirmed the previous deals had been revoked.” Thailand’s hosting of the ASEAN Summit from June 20 to 23 is forcing Palang Pracharat members to stitch together its government and sort out key ministerial posts before the event. More than two months after the election, and following the election of a PM that…

  • Ratchaburi officials fumigate local villages following 14 Singaporeans contracting Chikungunya

    Ratchaburi officials fumigate local villages following 14 Singaporeans contracting Chikungunya

    14 Singaporean students and teachers, on a study tour in Ratchaburi, became ill from Chikungunya fever. They were on a study tour to a Thai village in the central province. All were treated and returned to Singapore by last Monday, according to the school principal Mary Seah. Ratchaburi Health officials have since conducted fumigation operations in villages, schools and hospitals…

  • Bangkok tackles heavy rain in the lead up tonight’s peak hour

    Bangkok tackles heavy rain in the lead up tonight’s peak hour

    PHOTOS: JS100 Radio Bangkok has been hit by localised strong winds and heavy rain this afternoon, causing floods and traffic jams around the Chatuchak Weekend Market, Kasetsart, Ramkhamhaeng, Phaholyothin, Ladphrao, Prachacheun, Prachanukul and Ratchadapisek. https://www.facebook.com/js100radio/videos/473356473408786/ Jor Sor 100 traffic radio was also inundated with images of flooded roads and damage caused by the downpour. Some cars parked in the Rama…

  • Phuket warned of flash flood and land slides – VIDEO

    Phuket warned of flash flood and land slides – VIDEO

    PHOTOS/VIDEO: Phuket Traffic Report / Newshawk Phuket A warning was issued yesterday for Phuketians to be aware of flash floods and potential landslides after long hours of rain yesterday, especially in the central areas of the island, including Thalang. The announcement was issued yesterday by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket Office to the Phuket Governor and the…

  • Is Airbnb taking over the Thai hotel industry?

    Is Airbnb taking over the Thai hotel industry?

    Airbnb is posing a less significant threat to hotels in Thailand than expected, but its influence in the longer term should not be underestimated, according to real estate company JLL Offering new alternatives to travellers, Airbnb is certainly taking some of the wind out of the sails of the traditional hotel accommodation model. However, findings from Jone Lang Lasalle (JLL) shows…

  • One injured in Krabi crash between police pickup and Samui-Phuket bus

    One injured in Krabi crash between police pickup and Samui-Phuket bus

    PHOTOS: กู้ชีพ กู้ภัย อ่าวลึก / ทันข่าว กระบี่ One person has sustained injuries following an accident in Krabi between a police pickup truck and a Samui-Phuket bus. The incident was reported at 11.40am this morning at the Nanuea Intersection on Phet Kasem Road in Ao Luek, Krabi. Rescue workers arrived at the scene to find the damaged police pickup truck. Nearby…

  • Phew! No prostitutes in Pattaya’s Walking Street – Police

    Phew! No prostitutes in Pattaya’s Walking Street – Police

    PHOTO: Pattaya Update News A contingent of 20+ officials, police, soldiers and tourist police have done a walk-thru inspection of Pattaya’s red light district, Walking Street. They were glad to report that there was no prostitution being conducted in the area. Pattaya Update News reports that the taskforce joined with Department of Provincial Administration to inspect the infamous area for…

  • Thai mother abandons newborn baby next to rubbish bins

    Thai mother abandons newborn baby next to rubbish bins

    PHOTO MONTAGE: Sanook A 29 year old Thai woman has been arrested after she drove with another son on a motorcycle and dumped her newborn baby boy next to rubbish bins, in a bag. The mother told police she already had four children and couldn’t afford another. Sanook reports that Pho Kaew, Nakorn Pathom police were called after the baby was…

  • Palang Pracharat are warned not to renege on Thai ministry promises

    Palang Pracharat are warned not to renege on Thai ministry promises

    Amidst rumours circulating that the Palang Pracharat Party may renege on some of the promises it made to secure MP votes from the Democrats and Bhumjaithai, the Democrat party leader Jurin Laksanavisit says he believes the Palang Pracharat party will keep its promises. Thepthai Senpong MP, a key Democrat party member, is warning that the coalition government will be in…

  • Laguna Phuket Marathon road closures and info

    Laguna Phuket Marathon road closures and info

    Laguna Phuket Marathon will take place this coming weekend on Saturday and Sunday, June 8 & 9 at Laguna Phuket in Cherng Talay. The forecast for the weekend is for some more rain so we urge people to be extra careful around the area with the runners also using the roads in and around the Laguna area. ROAD CLOSURES The…

  • Trees damage cars and a house in Phuket

    Trees damage cars and a house in Phuket

    Trees have been brought down by heavy rain and local wind squalls around the Cape Phromthep, Chalong and Kata areas, where cars and a house have been damaged. At 4.15pm yesterday trees fell on a residential house in Chalong. The house-owner escaped injuries. At 4.20pm the Rawai Municipality was notified of another incident. Staffers headed to the scene where they…

  • 19 year old dies after big bike accident in Kathu, Phuket

    19 year old dies after big bike accident in Kathu, Phuket

    PHOTOS: เทศกิจ 201(กะทู้) อุทิศ 5811 / อาสาของประชาชน A 19 year old was pronounced dead at Vachira Phuket Hospital after being seriously injured in a sports bike (Honda CB 650cc) accident in Kathu. Rescue workers report that they were notified of the accident at 1.45pm yesterday on the Phra Phuket Kaew Road near Bang Jak petrol station. Emergency responders arrived at the…

  • Palang Pracharat still quibbling over portfolios in the new Thai parliament

    Palang Pracharat still quibbling over portfolios in the new Thai parliament

    Election – check. Vote for PM – check. New government sworn in – not quite yet. There is still a reported back-room fight over cabinet portfolios between factions in the Palang Pracharat Party. Several key ministries were offered to Bhumjaithai and Democrat MPs in return for voting for Prayut Chan-o-cha as PM on Wednesday. Now that Prayut’s been installed back…

  • Government runs fishing-law workshop in Phuket

    Government runs fishing-law workshop in Phuket

    The Fisheries Department has joined the Royal Thai Police to organise a workshop in Phuket Town yesterday to provide training on fisheries laws to around 200 representatives of piers and fishing associations in Ranong, Phang Nga, Krabi, Phuket, Trang and Satun. The Nation reports that the workshop was to create understanding among pier owners, fishing associations and officials about checking…

  • Nation Multimedia Group takes legal action over alleged copyright violation

    Nation Multimedia Group takes legal action over alleged copyright violation

    The Nation Multimedia Group is filing criminal cases against two media monitoring service companies for violation of its copyright. NMG’s subsidiaries Krungthep Turakij Media, Nation News Network and Kom Chad Luek Media, as plaintiffs, filed criminal cases with the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court on April 9 against iSentia Bangkok and iSentia Monitoring Services (Thailand). The two companies…

  • Two waterspouts spotted at Krabi Beach, Thailand – VIDEO

    Two waterspouts spotted at Krabi Beach, Thailand – VIDEO

    PHOTOS/VIDEO: Krabi Pitak Pracha Rescue Foundation / Newshawk Phuket Two waterspout were spotted near Nopparat Thara Beach, at Ao Nang in Krabi in southern Thailand. Krabi Pitak Pracha Rescue Foundation report that yesterday two waterspouts were spotted just behind the Nopparat Thara beach during the afternoon. The one minute video of the waterspouts has attracted a lot of interest on…

  • Thai PM Prayut thanks MPs for re-electing him to the position of prime minister

    Thai PM Prayut thanks MPs for re-electing him to the position of prime minister

    Following his re-appointment to the position of PM late last night, Prayut Chan-o-cha has thanked the two houses of Parliament for voting for him. Government spokesperson Werachon Sukondhapatipak passed on the PM’s gratitude for re-election to the position this morning. He says the PM noted that the wining votes came from the lower house and were then combined with the…

  • 24 year old engineering student found dead in Bangkok house

    24 year old engineering student found dead in Bangkok house

    An engineering student at a leading University in Bangkok has shot and killed himself in his house in Bangkok’s Bueng Koom district. Beung Koom police were alerted to the incident very early this morning at a house on Soi Seri Thai 41 in Klong Koom sub-district, at 12.30am. The 24 year old student was found dead in his bedroom with…

  • Bangkok Airways Samui Half Marathon, second in the Thailand series

    Bangkok Airways Samui Half Marathon, second in the Thailand series

    The “Bangkok Airways Samui Half Marathon”was organised to promote Koh Samui tourism and to ensure that participants recognise the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Last Sunday’s event was divided into 3 categories – a fun run of 5 kilometres, mini marathon of 10 kilometres and half marathon of 21 kilometres. All runners had an opportunity to enjoy the scenery of the…

  • US tourists arrested in Pattaya for spraying graffiti on a car and walls in Bangkok – VIDEO

    US tourists arrested in Pattaya for spraying graffiti on a car and walls in Bangkok – VIDEO

    PHOTOS/VIDEO: Tourist Police Bureau Tourist police have arrested two American tourists in Pattaya who have graffitied walls and a pickup truck in Bangkok last week. A 24 year old woman and 28 year old man, both from the US, were arrested in Pattaya last night. They have admitted that there were three of them that sprayed paint onto public and…

  • Hard Rock Café Phuket hosts charity concert on June 17 featuring ‘Da Endorphine’

    Hard Rock Café Phuket hosts charity concert on June 17 featuring ‘Da Endorphine’

    Award-winning Thai popular singer ‘Da Endorphine’ is set to headline an intimate performance at Hard Rock Café Phuket, where fans will get the chance to rock out to the GMM-Grammy singer’s biggest hits and support a good cause. Just like the ‘feel-good’ vibe suggested by the popular singer’s stage name, the venue is sure to become a “pleasure centre” of musical…

  • General Prayut Chan-o-cha is Thailand’s 29th Prime Minister

    General Prayut Chan-o-cha is Thailand’s 29th Prime Minister

    General Prayut Chan-o-cha was elected as Thailand’s next prime minister in a joint upper and lower house Parliamentary vote around 9pm last night following a day of intense debate. Prayut beat his opponent Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from Future Forward Party with 500 to 244 votes. Three MPs abstained from voting and one was on a sick leave. 250 of the votes came from…

  • Thanathorn says he will be Thailand’s Prime Minister of change

    Thanathorn says he will be Thailand’s Prime Minister of change

    Future Forward’s 40 year old leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit has called for change this afternoon. He made his speech outside of the temporary parliament as he’s been barred as an MP pending legal cases yet to be heard by the Constitutional Court over alleged media share holdings. The speech was made as the parliament hears from MPs about why they support…

  • 1,495 kilograms of ice seized in Pathum Thani, Thailand

    1,495 kilograms of ice seized in Pathum Thani, Thailand

    Police and officials from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board have arrested 26 year old Suwit Promon from Bangkok’s Ratburana district and seized 1,495 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and 91 kilograms of ketamine at a warehouse in Pathum Thani, just north of Bangkok. Police say the arrest was made after the ONCB received tip-offs that a gang had smuggled the…

  • Ladyboy arrested over stealing from British tourist in Pattaya, Thailand

    Ladyboy arrested over stealing from British tourist in Pattaya, Thailand

    PHOTOS: Pattaya Message Pattaya police have arrested a ladyboy who stole money from a British tourist’s pocket. Pattaya police were hunting for the ladyboy who allegedly stole money from the pockets of the British man in Pattaya City along Walking Street this week. Read more about the story HERE. Police continued their investigation to track down the suspect after the British man…

  • Baby dugong ‘Marium’ being cared for in Trang

    Baby dugong ‘Marium’ being cared for in Trang

    PHOTOS: DMCR A baby dugong, which was found lost in Krabi two months ago, has been given the name ‘Marium’ and continues to be cared for at a dugong nursery in Trang. The baby dugong, found on a Krabi beach, was taken back to its home area in Trang, southern Thailand, on April 30. Read more about the wayward baby…

  • Where are Thai’s heading for this summer holidays?

    Where are Thai’s heading for this summer holidays?

    Thai travellers who are booking through Airbnb are discovering new ‘off the beaten track’ destinations. Globally, Airbnb identifies some of the top trending destinations based on percentage growth in bookings during the same time last year *. And when we say growth, we mean mega growth! The top choices are: • Valenciennes, France (704%) • Changsha, China (695%) • Matsudo, Japan…

  • Thanathorn and Prayut officially nominated as Thai PM candidates

    Thanathorn and Prayut officially nominated as Thai PM candidates

    “The current PM, Prayut Chan-o-cha did not attend today’s proceedings.” The Future Forward leader, 40 year old Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, and NCPO chief and current PM Prayut Chan-o-cha have been formally named as candidates for the position of Prime Minister by their parties in Parliament this morning. They were the only two names put forward after the new House Speaker (and…

  • Former Democrat Party leader and Thai PM resigns

    Former Democrat Party leader and Thai PM resigns

    Former Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva has announced his resignation as a parliamentary MP, saying he could not break his word and follow his Democrat Party’s resolution to support Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as the next PM. He announced his resignation in the lead up to today’s vote for a new PM, now a cakewalk for the existing PM Prayut after…