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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Travel insurance vs digital nomad insurance: What’s the difference?
Travel insurance and digital nomad insurance protect travellers but cater to different needs. Travel insurance is for short trips, like vacations or business trips. It covers things like medical emergencies, trip cancellations, and lost bags. It works best for people...
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Her Majesty the Queen visits hospital for checkup
Her Majesty Queen Sirikit has been admitted to the Chulalongkorn Hospital yesterday for a general physical checkup. The announcement from the Bureau of the Royal Household. The announcement says that the Queen will remain at the hospital until Friday.
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Bank of Thailand ups policy rate to 1.75 percent, first rise in 7 years
The Bank of Thailand has increased its policy rate by 25 points, up from 1.50 percent to 1.75 percent. It’s the first rise in seven years. The Monetary Policy Committee voted 5:2 to raise the one-day repurchase rate to 1.75 percent with immediate effect after the rate was kept unchanged for seven years, noting that the need to depend on relaxed…
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A Sarburi father alleges gang rape of his 12 year old daughter. A policeman called her a ‘slut’.
PHOTO: The grocery shop in Saraburi province where the alleged rape took place. A government official in Saraburi province, just north-east of Bangkok, has resigned after footage appeared of the official trying to force a 12 year old girl into saying she wasn’t gang-raped. The official, identified as Sangwan Sitthipanya and described as “a leading local administrator”, was forced to…
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Parents call for police to investigate suspicious death of Muay Thai daughter
Parents of the World Muay Thai women’s champ, found hanged in her room on Monday, say that they believe her death is suspicious and not suicide. They say, for a start, the rope mark around her nick is too low, believing that this is evidence that she was more likely strangled than hanging herself from the top of the door…
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“Chiang Mai red buses are a rip-off” – Ratchanont Suprakob
The infamous red song thaews of Chiang Mai are being slammed as a rip-off by a popular Thai actor. The song thaews are a popular public transport around the northern city. “Guy” Ratchanont Suprakob hopped onto his Instagram account with a video of himself walking in the northern Thai capital spraying the local transport option. (Here’s his Instagram account if…
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Political parties throwing extravagant dinners to raise election funds
The pro-Junta Palang Pracharat political party is expecting to raise 600 million baht from a grand fund-raising dinner named “One Thailand”. The event will be held tonight at Muang Thong Thanee in Bangkok. The Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) appears to be winning over business leaders and the elite after selling most of the tables for tonight’s event. The event will…
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Reward offered to passenger who reported Phuket’s multi-tasking bus driver
PHOTO: The Phuket PR Office A 5,000 baht reward has been offered to the passenger who filmed and posted video of Phuket’s ‘multi-tasking’ bus driver. The Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) has fined the Phuket to Songkhla bus driver who, last Saturday, was captured on video, driving a bus full of passengers, with his young son sitting on his lap and…
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New red flags set up at Maya Bay to prevent tourist swimmers
The Mu-Koh Phi Phi National Park Officers have set new red flags around Maya Bay to prevent boats and tourists swimming into the area. Red flags and signs have also been placed at the Bay’s entrance that to prevent entry and swimming into the closed bay. National park officer say that there were some tour boat operators who have suggested…
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Number of tourists visiting Phuket still high – TAT Phuket
In response to a number of completely fabricated negative stories about Phuket’s current tourism situation, Kanokkittika Kritwuttikorn, the director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket Office says, “Number of tourists visiting Phuket is still good when compared to last year’s numbers. We’ve also spoken to many regional tour operators who say that bookings are ‘solid’ for this time of…
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Three Russians detained in Thailand at the request of the US
Three Russian citizens have been detained in Thailand at the request of the United States in the last three years, head of the Consulate Department of the Russian Embassy in Thailand, Vladimir Pronin told reporters yesterday. “Only in the last three years, three Russians have been detained in Thailand at the US’ request, two of them – in 2018,” he stressed.…
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British tourist found dead in Bangkok hotel room
PHOTO: Facebook/Luke Ramage Police in Thailand are investigating the death of a British tourist in Bangkok, according to the British Foreign Office. The man has been identified by grieving friends. According to Sky News, Luke Ramage had only just arrived at his hotel when he was found unresponsive on his bed by a receptionist. Mr Ramage, from the town of…
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POP – Thailand’s first satellite-based rain algorithm
The daily forecast gives us an approximate idea of expected weather and rain. But now researchers have a new tool which will provide much more accurate predictions of precipitation around the Kingdom. The system will be an invaluable tool for water management and flood prevention. They’ve successfully developed Thailand’s first satellite-based algorithm to accurately estimate rainfall. “We call this algorithm…
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Floating plastic waste removal machine in the Pacific Ocean – Fail, so far
The ‘plastic removal system’ that set sail from San Francisco in September to clean up the huge floating plastic patches in the Pacific Ocean, hasn’t been working as planned. The Ocean Cleanup System 001, a U-shaped floating barrier created by the organisation The Ocean Cleanup, arrived in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in October. But the system has failed to…
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Belgian hit-and-run victim urges driver to come forward
An elderly Belgian woman has been injured in a hit and run in Chiang Mai and now recovering in the Chiang Mai Hospital. The 78 year old is urging the motorist who injured her to come forward and apologise. Chiang Mai police deputy chief Pol Colonel Piyaphan Pattharapongsin on Tuesday said police were still trying to locate the driver of black…
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Motorcyclist crushed by truck in Thalang
A motorbike passenger has died following an incident with a truck in Thalang this morning. Thalang Police were notified of the accident on Thepkasattri Road southbound in Mueang Mai, Thalang. Police and rescue workers arrived to find the body of a woman, identified by police as Boonnam Thepnui from Pattalung. Her body was taken to the Thalang Hospital. A motorbike…
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If your motorbike is stolen, just wait a few days
Not only did he get his motorbike back, but he should go out and buy a lottery ticket. What are the chances…? The owner of a stolen motorcycle got his transport back three days later after a man ran out of petrol just in front of him in Songkhla’s Muang district on Tuesday. The owner of the motorcycle, identified only…
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240 million baht in assets seized in Patong and Chiang Mai counterfeit raids
Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn is continuing his counterfeit goods crackdown in Patong and Chiang Mai where 240 million baht of assets have been seized over the past month. At a media scrum held at the Police Region 8 headquarter in Mai Khao yesterday Surachate said, “We have raided four targeted areas in Patong and four targeted areas at the Chiang Mai night…
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Dog cloning service in China starts at 1.8 million baht
PHOTOS: Reuters, Newsbook Meet Juice or “Guozhi” in Mandarin, a small one foot tall mongrel stray adopted from the streets turned into Chinese movie star. The nine year old canine actor was neutered at an early age and is unable to reproduce but as they say “the show must go on”. Introducing “Sinogene”, China’s first biotech company offering animal cloning…
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Social media helps re-unite dog and owner in Chiang Mai
Facebook users in Chiang Mai have banded together to locate a lost dog. 24 days ago it was frightened by the firecrackers on Loy Kratong night and ran away. Thanawat Jinawanit recounts how he and his aunt, Yaowamal Jinawanit, got the dog back from a temple in another tambon last Sunday after a Facebook user called him to report sighting…
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Phuket vs Penang – The two pearls go head to head
…including some reflections by guest writer TravellingMitch There was a time when Penang was the ‘Pearl of the Orient’, for some western travellers the only ‘orient’ they would know outside of Singapore and maybe Hong Kong. It was the 1950s and 60s when jet travel had just started making the world smaller and the western middle class were in search…
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Troops on stand-by to assist flooded southern provinces
PHOTO: Thunder Road Reporters, Samui Deputy PM and defence minister Prawit Wongsuwan has ordered the three armed forces to head south with troops and equipment to help the areas hard hit by flooding. The Meteorological Department is warning southerners to brace for more to come. Gulf coast provinces from Chumpon to Songkhla have been battered with heavy rains for the past…
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89 leatherback turtle eggs moved to safe area on beach
A mother leatherback sea turtle laid 93 eggs at a beach in Khao Lak, Phang Nga yesterday. The 89 eggs have been carefully moved to a safe area on the beach whilst four eggs had broken. The enormous leatherback sea turtle laid its eggs on a beach at the Kuek Kak Beach in Khao Lak yesterday morning. Read more about…
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“The Election Commission can decide” – PM on foreign observers for election
Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is making it clear that the Election Commission (EC) are the sole authority to decide whether or not to allow foreign observers to monitor the election scheduled for February 24, 2019. But, Gen Prayut insisted that Thailand must solve its own internal problems to ensure transparency and fairness in order to restore international community’s confidence in…
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‘Phoenix’ substandard – more officials face legal action
The Thai Immigration Bureau Chief, Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, yesterday has confirmed that many aspects of the ‘Phoenix’ design and operation were substandard. And more officials are now facing legal action as the investigation uncovers the multiple failures of the design, operations on the day and behaviour of the Captain and crew during the sinking incident. Lt Gen Surachate says, “An…
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Civil groups urge political parties to strengthen national welfare net
Just last week a report was released claiming that Thailand is the most ‘un-equal’ country in the world, in the same company as Turkey, Russia and India. The Government swiftly dissed the report, deeming it as ‘unreliable’. You can read about that report HERE. Now the We Fair Network of 13 peak organisations has presented its proposals for reform of…
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Neighborhood quarrel suspected in brutal killing of family
by Somjit Rungjamrassamee Police are searching for three Burmese suspects in a brutal murder of four people, including a four year old boy and a four month old baby. The four family members, all from Myanmar, are believed to have been killed while they were sleeping on Saturday night. The gruesome killing took place in the border province of Tak…
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Driver killed and eight injured in passenger van crash
PHOTOS: js100.com Eight South Korean tourists have been injured in a fatal passenger van accident in Chachoengsao today. In this case it’s alleged that the speeding van they were travelling in hit the rear of a pickup truck whilst it was making a U-turn. It also hit a motorcycle, before colliding with a concrete barrier at noon today. The driver…
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The new Galaxy Roof Club opens in Patong
The new Galaxy Roof Club Patong had its official launch as Patong’s first and only roof club under the slogan “Where all stars meet.” Dr. Josef Kastenberger – Owner, Ms. Olga Kotelenets – Managing Director and Mr. Nunthidej Phatanachinda – Advisor to Galaxy Roof Club Patong, are offering a new experience as the first and only roof club in Phuket…
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Digital driving license coming to Thailand next year
Stopped at a checkpoint? Fossiciking around in your bag for your license and ID? A new app will be launched in January in which motorists will be able to show their credentials to any law enforcement officer in Thailand. This means you will no longer have to carry a physical license with you.The police will be able to scan a…
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Big leatherback sea turtle lays eggs in Phang Nga – VIDEO
PHOTOS: Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat | VIDEO: โชติ ครัวโชติรส / Newshawk Phuket A big leatherback sea turtle has laid eggs on a beach in Phang Nga this morning. Officials at the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR), Phang Nga, were informed this morning that a big turtle has laid eggs at the Kuek Kak Beach in Khao Lak. Officials went to the beach…
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