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 How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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Thaiger Radio News – Monday
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Phoenix design failures – Forensic probe begins
Now that Phoenix has been hoisted, successfully, from 45 metres below the surface of the Andaman Sea, the next phase begins as forensic experts, engineers and naval architect pour over the wreckage to find clues and prepare reports for the forthcoming court cases. The Tourism and Sports Minister, who has been in Phuket all weekend overseeing the operations, along with…
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Flying in the dark – Lion Air crash investigation update
PHOTO: Komite Nasional Keselamatan Transportasi As an investigation into the ill-fated JT610 Lion Air flight continues, questions are now being asked if the pilots actually knew how to fly the plane – that they may not have had full knowledge of the latest model, the Boeing 737 Max 8 jet. A lawsuit against Boeing was filed last Thursday. The parents…
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Phoenix under high security at Rassada Pier
The Phoenix is now under 24 hour security guard at the Rassada Pier while waiting for a suitable tide to bring it up into the shipyard. The boat eventually broke the surface just after 3pm on Saturday. Read more about the Phoenix’s journey back to Phuket yesterday, HERE. Minister of Tourism and Sports, Mr.Weerasak Kowsurat, Royal Thai Police Deputy Commander Gen Rungroj Saengkram,…
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Return to Elephant Jungle Sanctuary
By Mark Louie Maycong Phuket is one of the Thailand’s most popular tourist destinations and continuously booming. There are so many attractions and activities that you can enjoy. One of them is visiting the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. Visiting this place is heaven on earth specially for animal lovers. You get to know the elephants and their back stories and learn…
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Weakness in the BKK condo market
PHOTO: Nara 9 – www.nara9.net Property consultants, Edmund Tie & Company – South East Asia – report that the new condo supply for 2019 is ‘unlikely to increase’ and that sales rates are disappointing in Q3. Their report says that the take-up rate of newly launched condominium projects in Q3 in Bangkok’s CBD dropped from last year’s 58% to only…
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US pedophile gets 10 years for sex with underage boys in Thailand
PHOTO: Convicted US kiddie-fiddler, Paul Alan Shapiro A 71 year old Paul Shapiro has been sentenced to 10 years jail in the US after a California Court convicted him of pedophile charges in Thailand running back as far as 2012. ThaiVisa reports that US citizen Paul Alan Shapiro was also ordered to pay $20,000 in compensation to two victims in…
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Thaiger Radio News – Sunday
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One in ten that die on Chiang Mai roads are foreigners
Ten percent of the people that die on Chiang Mai’s roads are foreigners. That equates to more than 1,000 foreign tourists and expats dying or being injured on the province’s road so far this year. The statistics also reveal that the overwhelming majority of deaths and injury were on motorcycles (the same as the rest of Thailand). Chiang Mai News…
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Laguna Phuket Triathlon road closures
PHOTO: TAT The Laguna Phuket Triathlon is on today and roads around Laguna, and surrounding areas, are going to be blocked off at times as the runners and riders make their way around local public roads. The race organisers have sent riders and runners out onto the island’s main artery. Thepkasattri road is by far the busiest road that suffers…
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Meeting in Pattaya addresses Chinese tourism drop-off
PHOTO: South China Morning Post The Tourism Authority of Thailand, and its regional offices, are very good at painting a happy face, even as the numbers and trends are heading in the opposite direction of their planned growth in tourist arrivals. In Phuket, for example, where there’s been a big drop off in Chinese tourists, the local TAT is quoting…
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The Phoenix rises to the surface
PHOTOS: Facebook/สุรเชษฐ์ หักพาล The yacht sank late afternoon on July 5 in a short, sudden storm. Most boats would have quite capable of withstanding the wind squal and waves on the day. But Phoenix capsized and sank, taking with her 47 Chinese tourists. The full reasons are stilll being investigated. Today, the actual yacht rose from the depths of the…
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Tour company owner fined 2,000 baht for threatening taxi driver with sword
PHOTO: Sanook A tour company owner has been fined a mere 2,000 baht by police in Surat Thani after threatening a taxi driver with a sword. The video (below) shows 39 year old Suphakit Sindamrern the alleged owner of Buddy Travel in the Kaset market area heading to his car to retrieve a sword from the boot. Suphakit told an official…
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Korean man ran over by truck in Phuket accident
A Korean man has died after colliding with a six wheeler truck in Kathu yesterday The Kathu Police were notified of the incident on Wichit Songkram Road, Kathu around 4.30pm. The motorbike driver was identified by Kathu Police as 39 year old South Korean male Keewoong Lee. He was taken to Siriroj Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. A…
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66 yo Austrian arrested in Chiang Mai for possessing child porn
The Thai immigration says they’ve arrested a 66 year old Austrian for downloading and possessing child porn. The Thailand Internet Crime Against Children (TICAC) division learned about someone using the Dark Web to access child porn in September. Thai police identified the person living in the Pa Daet district in the Chiang Mai city and obtained an arrest warrant. The…
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Two Khmer Rouge leaders sentenced to life in prison
PHOTO: Pnomh Penh Post A UN-backed court has found two leaders of Cambodia’s murderous Khmer Rouge regime guilty of genocide. The judgement comes four decades after the regime which oversaw what became known as the Killing Fields, was overthrown. Most of the victims of the 1975-79 regime died of starvation, torture, exhaustion or disease in labour camps. Others were simply…
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Thaiger Radio News – Saturday
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Rohingya refugee repatriation – FAIL
PHOTO: The Straits Times “The refugees are not willing to return now.” This, from the Refugee Commissioner at the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh as the first wave of Rohingya refugees refused to repatriate in a program that was meant to start on Thursday. People, due to head back to their original homes in Rhakine State this week,…
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Chiang Rai shaken but not stirred
Three minor earthquakes hit the Chiang Rai area this morning according to the Meteorological Department’s Seismological Bureau. The first quake was just before 9am with a magnitude of 3.3 with an epicentre 3.3 kilometres underground at latitude 19.70 and longitude 99.72. People say they felt the tremor but there were no injuries or damage to be reported. A 2.0-magnitude tremor followed…
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Morning collision leaves 18 injured, mostly students
Fifteen students and three adults have been injured after a cold-storage truck collided with a song-taew bus on a Phatthalung road this morning, south of Krabi province. The injured were taken to Phatthalung Hospital following the 7am incident at a curve on the Asia Highway in Moo 3, Tambon Tha Kae, in Muang district. There was high drama at the…
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14 yo allegedly raped at knifepoint in Pattaya
Police in Jomtien are investigating the alleged rape of a 14 year old girl at a beach south of Pattaya last night. Police say it is a well lit area but only have information that the rapist was a 20 – 25 year old with facial tattoos. Sanook is reporting that the incident happened in a water sports zone where there…
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Boeing sued by Lion Air victim’s family
PHOTO: Boeing 737 Max 8 – Boeing Dr. Rio Nanda Putrama, one of the passengers on the ill-fated Lion Air flight from Jakarta to a nearby island on October 29, had a family that, to date, know only that he was on the plane. No identified remains have been recovered. 188 others died on the same flight. Rio’s family is…
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Chinese tourists still number one visitors to Phuket
The Deputy Director of the Phuket Tourism Authority of Thailand, Montri Manator, says, “Numbers of Chinese tourists visiting Phuket in tour groups have been continuing to decrease after the Phoenix sinking on July 5 this year.” “On the other hand, Chinese tourists who are visiting Phuket by themselves, called FIT groups (Free and Independent Travellers), has not decreased. They are…
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542 foreigners bailed up for deportation in latest crackdown
PHOTO: The Nation Another 542 foreigners have been rounded-up for deportation after raids, mostly in and around Bangkok. Police searched 262 locations around the country. Most of the illegal foreigners had been living in Thailand illegally and or committed alleged crimes. Pol Col Nithithorn Jintakanon, the acting traffic police chief, held a press conference at 2.30am this morning to announce…
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Thaiger Radio News – Friday
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Phuket Tourist Police asks night clubs to take care of foreign female customers
Tourist Police are asking Phuket night club operators to be responsible and look after female tourist customers. This follows Phuket police arresting a man who sexually assaulted a British female tourist at Nai Harn last week. Read more about the assault and arrest HERE. The suspect, 40 year old Amnart ‘Mai’ Attajan, is now in custody for sexually assaulting the woman…
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Plain packaging for cigarettes being introduced to discourage smoking
PHOTO: Example of the changes to cigarette packaging now being implemented in Thailand In the moves to modify polices relating to smokers in Thailand, some of the new legislation is directed towards manufacturer packaging Cigarette packets will soon be plain and much less attractive under the new regulations approved by the National Tobacco Products Control Committee. Public Health Minister Piyasakol…
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Marine activity banned around the charred remnants of yacht off Patong
The Phuket Marine office has banned marine vessels from going near the area where the ‘Soraya’ was destroyed on Wednesday evening. The announcement states… “The ‘Soraya’ caught fire on Wednesday night 400 metres off Patong Beach. Some parts of the yacht are still on the water surface and some parts under water. “For the best chances of navigation and to…
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Less growth – but more engagement. Social media in Thailand.
PHOTOS: Facebook/Kla Tangsuwan Wisesight, a BKK-based social media analytics company, says social media is reaching saturation point in Thailand but that engagement is increasing. The company is forecasting that Facebook will keep on increasing, 4% in 2018, to a total of 51 million users in Thailand. Wisesight says the application of artificial intelligence will continue to root out fake accounts.…
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27 year old African arrested over romance scams
FILE PHOTO by Suriya Patathayo “The scam would usually involve using bogus white male identities to persuade women to wire money to pay an import tariff and fee for the delivery of overseas “gifts”. Romance scams are continually in the news and the government has been putting resources into rounding up the perpetrators and departing them, many from west African…
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