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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Police officer and wanted insurgent shot in Songkhla clash
One policeman has been injured along with an alleged insurgent when troops and southern insurgents clashed in Songkhla’s Sabayoi district today. The exchange of gunfire happened at 10:30am this morning when troops and police reportedly searched for suspects in Ban Long Khuan village in Tambon Khuha. The team received a tipoff that December 26’s Khuan Niang district bombing suspects might…
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Mexican restaurant complains about sex toy stall outside his front door
PHOTO: Manager Online Ay, caramba! A Mexican restaurant owner in Silom Soi 4, Bangkok, has had enough of a stall selling sex toys and sex aids in front of his store. He’s complaining that his customers have to push their way past the vibrators and fake Viagra to get to his nachos and tacos. He says he’s convinced that ‘persons of…
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Passengers injured as bus overturns in Si Saket
PHOTOS: ร่วมด้วยช่วยกัน / ธนบุรี 12 No deaths have been reported following a bus overturning in Si Saket in eastern Thailand today. The bus, travelling from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani, overturned on Rattana Buri – Sisaket Road in Si Saket, east of Bangkok on the Cambodian border. No deaths were reported but there were some injuries in the incident.
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Thai authorities target 10% fewer Songkran accidents
PHOTO: Daily News The chief of the communications ministry says that the Thai authorities are aiming for a 10% reduction in accidents on selected and particularly dangerous roads. They also want to see a 5% reduction in the country’s total number of road accidents. They have identified 111 roads around the country deemed as high risk for road fatalities that will…
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Rescued baby elephant transferred to specialist elephant hospital in Surin
PHOTOS: The Nation A baby elephant, rescued from an unused drain in Bueng Kan, on the Laos border near Vientienne, has been transferred to a specialist elephant hospital in Surin for treatment. Wildlife officials moved the baby elephant, now named ‘Chabakaew’, from Bueng Kan’s Bungkla district yesterday. It reached the elephant hospital in Surin this morning. A team of veterinarians…
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Three people injured, two chickens die in Chalong crash
A motorbike sidecar (saleng) has collided with a motorbike in Chalong where two people sustained serious injuries and two chickens died yesterday in Chalong. The Chalong Police were notified of the incident on Chao Fa West Road at at the entrance of Soi Baan Klang in Chalong at 7pm last night. Police and emergency responders arrived to find a damaged…
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PWA urges Phuketians to save water
The Phuket Water Work Authority (PWA) is urging people to save water during dry season under the slogan ‘Save Water, you make it’. Despite the slogan making absolutely no sense we understand the PWA is asking us to conserve the remaining water supplies. The campaign comes as residents around the island complain about very low pressure or no water supply…
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US Embassy responds to Don’s rebuke over Thanathorn case
PHOTO: The Nation The Thai Foreign Minister yesterday formerly summoned foreign diplomats yesterday afternoon, one by one, in a diplomatic dressing down about their appearance at a police station last Saturday morning. The official ministry memo objected to the presence of envoys at the Pathumwan Police Station on Saturday when the Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit reported in to…
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Three people reported dead, others injured, 100s flee blaze at Central World Hotel Bangkok
PHOTO: Orchidmo A big fire has broken out on Ratchadamri Road, Pathumwan in the busy Sukhumvit shopping zone in Bangkok. Videos and photos posted online show the blaze and thick smoke spreading from the Centara Grand Hotel, located next to the CentralWorld shopping mall. The Bangkok governor has reported that the death toll of the blaze is three people. One…
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Deputy police chief denies foreign diplomats present at Thanathorn interrogation
The deputy national police commissioner is denying that a group of foreign diplomats were present at a questioning session when the Future Forward party leader reported to Bangkok police on Saturday morning over sedition charges. Pol General Srivara Rangsibhramanakul said the diplomats were invited to a briefing after the interrogation of Thanathorn Jungrungruengkit at Pathum Wan police station. The Future…
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Phuket’s water supply scraping the bottom of the three dams
The temperature hit 34 degrees today, light winds and 10% chance of rain for the rest of today (code for a slight chance of a tropical storm cell dropping its load on some small part of the island). And there’s little rain in sight until maybe Sunday. Meanwhile the remaining supply in Phuket’s three main catchments continues to evaporate today.…
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Death of Spanish man in Pattaya. Massuese wasn’t qualified.
PHOTO: Sanook The Department of Public Health say they will prosecute the Pattaya massage spa where a Spanish man died while having an oil massage. Yesterday a 67 year old Spanish man telephoned a massage shop on Central Pattaya Road to say that he wanted a massage before returning to his home country for medical treatment. The shop was not…
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Four dead in Narathiwat minivan accident – PHOTOS
PHOTOS: Mettatham Rescue Foundation Four people are dead after a minivan collision in Narathiwat early today. The Mettatham Rescue Foundation reports that they were notified of the accident early this morning in Bajoh, Narathiwat, in the far south of Thailand. The minivan was carrying 12 teachers from a school in Narathiwat, from Malaysia back to the border province. Four people died…
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Chinese tour companies in Phuket being checked
Officers have made random checks on tour companies in Phuket today after receiving complaints. Tourist Police, soldiers and officers from the Tourism Business and Guide Southern Division 2 have descended on 10 tour companies in the Wichit and Phuket Town areas, based in the Phuket Villa 3 housing estate, Panason housing estate, Phuket Villa Dawroong housing estate and Soi Poonphon. Chief…
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Northern smoke haze easing slowly
Either by hard work, serendipity or pure luck, the smog and haze in the North has eased considerably within the seven-day timeframe set last Tuesday by the Thai PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha. The PM flew into the smoke-stricken Chiang Mai last Tuesday to meet with northern provincial governors to work out active solutions. During the visit, the premier made clear that…
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Re-enacment of Koh Si Chang rape and murder case
A 24 year old Thai, charged over the rape and murder of a 27 year old female German backpacker on Chon Buri’s Koh Si Chang on Sunday, has re-enacted the horrific crime that has shaken public morale on the popular island. Koh Si Chang injuste north-west of Pattaya in the Gulf of Thailand. Ronnakorn Romruen, a resident of the Moo…
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Driver says sacred amulet saved her in Krabi collision – VIDEO
PHOTOS: Krabi Pitak Pracha Rescue Foundation A female driver has sustained minor injuries after driving into the back of a trailer carrying a backhoe in Krabi. Emergency responders headed to the scene of the accident on Monday night in Krabi City. They arrived at the scene to find a wrecked sedan that had collided with the back of a truck which…
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Pattaya ladyboys nabbed for stealing credit cards from South Korean tourist
A pair of ladyboys have been nabbed for allegedly stealing a wallet with three credit cards from a South Korean tourist in Pattaya. The two suspects were identified as 33 year old Sawarin Silaket and 35 year old Onkaew Homdok . Pattaya police chief Pol Colonel Prawit Chorseng said the arrest was made after 44 year old Hojun Cho filed…
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Vachira Phuket Hospital sets new after hours fee, other public hospitals to follow
Vachira Phuket Hospital, Phuket’s largest public hospital, will charge non-emergency patients 100 baht for after-hours treatment. The new charge kicks in on May 1. The new 100 baht fee co-incides with a change in policy by the Thai Ministry of Health that has ordered all hospitals in the country to charge fees for non-emergency patients arriving for treatment outside normal…
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Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai coach bursts into flames – VIDEO
A tour bus has been erupted into flames in a dramatic roadside fire on a road just out of Chiang Mai. Channel 3 reports that the bus burst into flames 39 kilometres out of Chiang Mai on the Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai Road early this afternoon. The 55 year old driver noticed smoke coming from one of the rear wheels and…
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One killed, another injured after train slams into upside-down van in Ayutthaya
PHOTO: Matichon Online One man is dead and another severely injured after their van hit a road barrier and flipped onto railway tracks before being hit by a train in Ayutthaya, just north of Bangkok, early today. The Ayutthaya police station was alerted of the accident at the u-turn under the Ban Ma flyover on the Asia highway’s frontage in…
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Foreign Minister angry at foreign diplomats who attended Thanathorn’s reporting to police
Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai vented his anger today at foreign diplomats who attended the reporting of Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit to police on Saturday morning in Bangkok. The diplomats were from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, as well as EU and UN human rights officials. Don says he’s considering inviting the diplomats in for…
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Accused took drugs before raping and killing German backpacker
23 year old Ronnakorn Romruen, a rubbish collector, arrested for raping and murdering a German tourist over the weekend, has told police that he consumed drugs before meeting the woman on her rented motorcycle on Koh Sichang. He allegedly killed German backpacker Miriam Beelte aged 27 (some news outlets reports she was 26). According to his confession, he took her…
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Motorcyclist survives being run over at traffic light in Nakhon Nayok – VIDEO
VIDEO: Baan Na Police A motorbike driver has survived after a truck trailer ran over him and his motorbike at traffic lights in Nakhon Nayok, just north-east of Bangkok, yesterday. Daily News reports that the motorbike driver had stopped at the traffic light, waling just in front of the truck. The truck driver apparently was unable to see the motorbike.…
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Fox News fake news, Phuket gets a bullet
by Bill Barnett, C9Hotelworks.com As Phuket moves slowly into low season, a story published in the international media by the US-based Fox News about how tourists could face the death penalty over taking photos at the island’s airport is a highly flaw piece of sensationalist fake news. Clearly there is no likelihood that the Thai authorities will apply a legal maximum…
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Ministry works towards ending sugarcane burning in three years
The Ministry of Industry is proposing to the Thai Cabinet a plan to end sugarcane farmers’ annual burn-off of their plantations before harvesting. The practice is being largely blamed for the north’s smog problems. But they are recommending a three year moratorium before completely stamping out the annual agri-burning. Thai PBS reports that the plan will be incorporated into a…
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Body of missing boy found in canal in Phetchburi
The body of a one year old who has been missing for eight days has been found in a canal in Phetchburi today. The body was found floating face down in the klong in Phetchburi early this morning. The male toddler, just over a year old, was reported missing to police in Pakin Kidtalod eight days ago. The mother of ‘Nong…
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Fake news goes viral about ‘death sentence’ for Phuket airport selfies
International media are going crazy over a completely nonsense story. But, of course, one outlet posts the fake news and the others copy/paste. “Tourists who take selfies on notorious airport beach are threatened with the death penalty by Thai officials,” trumpets the headline in Daily Mail. (‘notorious’???) “Tourists taking beach selfies while planes take-off have angered airport chiefs in Thailand…
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Woman arrested after stealing 2.3 million baht cash in Phuket
A woman has been arrested yesterday after stealing more than 2 million baht cash from her victim’s house in Phuket. She told her neighbour that she won on a lottery ticket. She also bought a new car. Anusara Kaewsopa filed a report to Chalong Police that a suspect had broken into a house in Soi Songkun, Chalong on April 4.…
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Massive 11 hotel project, surf club and waterpark for Kata, Phuket
by Bill Barnett, C9Hotelworks.com Thai developer K.W. Plaza group has unveiled plans for a large-scale mixed-use project called The Beach Plaza on 15 rai, that will have 11 three and four star hotels with a total of 1.490 rooms. The developer is already pitching the unconstructed project to global hotel interests for an imminent sale. The properties will have varying room…
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