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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  • Thaiger Radio News – Saturday

    Thaiger Radio News – Saturday

    Listen to the daily news from The Thaiger, anytime, anywhere…    

  • Rohingya refugee repatriation – FAIL

    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,…

  • Chiang Rai shaken but not stirred

    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…

  • Morning collision leaves 18 injured, mostly students

    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…

  • 14 yo allegedly raped at knifepoint in Pattaya

    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…

  • Boeing sued by Lion Air victim’s family

    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…

  • Chinese tourists still number one visitors to Phuket

    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…

  • 542 foreigners bailed up for deportation in latest crackdown

    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…

  • Thaiger Radio News – Friday

    Thaiger Radio News – Friday

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  • Phuket Tourist Police asks night clubs to take care of foreign female customers

    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…

  • Plain packaging for cigarettes being introduced to discourage smoking

    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…

  • Marine activity banned around the charred remnants of yacht off Patong

    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…

  • Less growth – but more engagement. Social media in Thailand.

    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.…

  • 27 year old African arrested over romance scams

    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…

  • Kitten rescued from wall space after being stuck for three days

    Kitten rescued from wall space after being stuck for three days

    A kitten was rescued last night after it got stuck in a narrow five-inch wall space behind a 7-11 convenience store in Samut Prakan’s city district. Staff of a 7-Eleven shop in Bang Pu Industrial Estate called the Bang Pu 811 Rescue Unit for help. The staff say they had heard a kitten’s faint meows behind the wall for three…

  • Tourist Police service centres being set up on Phuket beaches

    Tourist Police service centres being set up on Phuket beaches

    PHOTO: TravelScams.org The Phuket Tourist Police are poised to improve marine and coastal safety by setting up service centres on Phuket beaches, starting initially with Kamala and Karon Beach. The Tourist Police Division 3 Chief Major General Unggoon Klaiklueang says, “We have been planning on the project to set up the tourist service centres at Phuket’s busiest beaches.” “The centres…

  • Woman sues Bangkok Phuket Hospital for 19 million baht

    Woman sues Bangkok Phuket Hospital for 19 million baht

    A Phuket woman has filed a lawsuit with the Civil Court against Bangkok Hospital Phuket for 19 million baht in compensation after an alleged error during an operation has left her bed-ridden. Nonglak Srisaeng assigned Chalermpong Klubdee, an official of the Foundation for Consumers, and Sakolrat Ritsamitchai, a lawyer, to file the lawsuit on her behalf. The lawsuit was filed…

  • Tourist Police arrest Thais collecting beach entrance fees in Phuket

    Tourist Police arrest Thais collecting beach entrance fees in Phuket

    The acting Immigration Bureau Chief Maj-Gen Surachate Hakparn has arrested two Thais who were collecting Phuket beach entrance fees yesterday. Maj-Gen Surachate says, “We have arrested the pair who were collecting entrance fees for people to visit Freedom Beach. They were collecting the fees from Thais and foreigners. Police have taken over a year to investigate and take legal action against these two…

  • Australian yacht owner escapes fire off Patong

    Australian yacht owner escapes fire off Patong

    A fire has destroyed a luxury yacht moored off Patong Beach last night. The Australian yacht owner called for help before escaping from the fire engulfing the vessel. Patong Police were notified that the yacht, which had been moored off Patong Beach, caught fire around  9.20pm. Firefighters arrived near the Coral Beach Bridge which is 500 metres south of the…

  • Thailand pushes for bigger ASEAN role in Rohingya crisis

    Thailand pushes for bigger ASEAN role in Rohingya crisis

    by Supalak Ganjanakhundee, Singapore South East Asia’s leaders have been meeting in Singapore this week in the lead up to the next ASEAN Summit. The Rohingya crisis has been the main talking point. Thailand says it wants to take on a greater ASEAN role in resolving the Rakhine crisis, as the group grapples with the plight of 700,000 Rohingya Muslims…

  • 13 year old muay thai boxer’s mother mourns the loss of her son

    13 year old muay thai boxer’s mother mourns the loss of her son

    Nirand Thasako, the mother of the 13 year old Muay Thai boxer who died on Monday following a knock out blow to the head on a Saturday match, has mourned the loss of her son. Nirand, who now lives in South Korea, made a video call to her Thai family expressing her deep grief over the death of her son,…

  • Chiang Mai banner-protester house raid

    Chiang Mai banner-protester house raid

    Police this morning searched the house of a leading protester against the controversial housing estate for appeal court officials at the foot of Doi Suthep mountain in Chiang Mai, looking for evidence of last week’s banners. Read that story HERE. Muang Chiang Mai precinct superintendent Pol Col Theerasak Sripasert led a warranted search of the Doi Suthep Forest Reclamation Network…

  • ‘BTS’ K-pop group denounced by Jewish human rights organisation

    ‘BTS’ K-pop group denounced by Jewish human rights organisation

    by The Japan News – Asia News Network The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish human rights organisation based in the US, issued a statement denouncing South Korean boy band BTS for wearing hats with a logo similar to a Nazi symbol and flying Nazi-like flags at a concert in the past. “The result is that young generations in Korea and around…

  • Blacklisted Swede arrested in Phuket  

    Blacklisted Swede arrested in Phuket  

    PHOTOS: Immigration Bureau A Swedish man, who had been blacklisted, has now been arrested in Phuket yesterday over a previous drug case and illegal entry into the country. The Immigration Bureau has reported that officers received a tip-off that the illegal foreigner was staying at a condo in Kathu. The Phuket Immigration Officers and the Phuket Tourist Police arrived at…

  • Salvage operations now fully underway –  Surachate Hakparn

    Salvage operations now fully underway –  Surachate Hakparn

    Deja Vu from the waters south-west of Phuket this afternoon. Last week it was reported that the sunken vessel Phoenix would be raised to the surface before last Sunday. But the crane for the new salvage operations didn’t arrive until yesterday. But now, with the barge and new crane in full operation off Koh Hei, confident predictions are again being…

  • Malaysian Cabinet agrees to abolish death penalty

    Malaysian Cabinet agrees to abolish death penalty

    PHOTO: Screenshot from “Apprentice” (2016) by Junfeng Boo Malaysia’s acting Law Minister Liew Vui Keong told the Malaysian Parliament yesterday that the Cabinet has agreed to scrap the death penalty, including for murder. But Deputy PM Wan Azizah Wan Ismail told reporters that the government would review abolishing it for murder, an opinion that was hers and not representative of…

  • BMA says it’s time to sort out Bangkok’s soi dogs

    BMA says it’s time to sort out Bangkok’s soi dogs

    Bangkok’s governor says the time is up for the capital’s stray dogs. He says ‘enough is enough’ and that too many people are being bitten and harassed. Measures adopted by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration have so far proved insufficient and new plans are now being made to address the ongoing problem of stray dogs. The sight of soi dogs has…

  • Thaiger Radio News – Wednesday

    Thaiger Radio News – Wednesday

    Listen to the daily news from The Thaiger, anytime, anywhere…  

  • Man arrested, 3kg of ‘ice’ seized on Samui

    Man arrested, 3kg of ‘ice’ seized on Samui

    FILE PHOTO A man has been arrested on Koh Samui after police seized more than 3 kg of crystal methamphetamine. In a joint operation between Army troops and district officials, 36 year old Thai national, Ekkachai Prakobwancharone, was arrested at his rented room early yesterday (Tuesday). Authorities seized 52 grams of the drug, popularly known as “ice”, from the room…

  • Boats being banned in Phoenix salvage zone

    Boats being banned in Phoenix salvage zone

    The Phuket Marine office is warning boats to be careful when navigating around the area where the Phoenix salvage operations are underway of Koh Her, south-west of Phuket. “The Phoenix salvage operations are underway until at least November 15 south off Koh Hei at 7º42’14.6″ North, 98º23’06.9″ East.” The announcement states that, for the best chances of boat recovery and safety,…