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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Anti-graft activist passes on 16 more watch pics to the NACC
Anti-graft activist Srisuwan Janya yesterday provided more evidence to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) about another 16 watches seen worn by Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan, adding to information on three other watches he had already submitted. Srisuwan asked the NACC to ask the Customs Department to provide information on the multi-million-baht watches regarding the payment of customs duties. “This…
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FRIDAY MORNING HEADLINES – All your news in 3 minutes
Chalong racers charged over drifting The 10 drivers, who have been drifting their cars and spinning wheels in Chalong, generally disturbing the locals, handed themselves into Police last night. They are accused of reckless driving, blocking the traffic way and disturbing the public. The 10 cars were seized by the police. The video on Facebook showing the group in Chalong’s…
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Chalong drift gang makes locals furious
Members of a car racing gang in Chalong are being arrested for making noise, disturbing local people in the area as well as breaking several traffic laws. A member of the Chalong Municipality Council, Suppawatkan Kunnaluk, has revealed that he received complaints from many local Chalong people about a car race on the public road during the night of January…
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Phuket sets up committee to manage Layan & Laypang beaches
PHOTO: OrBorTor President Ma’Ann Samran showing reporters and officials where the beach is. By Salinee Prap Phuket has set up a committee to manage the 178-rai Layan and Laypang beaches in Thalang district after it was ruled as public space by the Supreme Court last year. Efforts will be made to allow common use and prevent anymore encroachments, Phuket Land…
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Progress on Sea Gypsy Sirinath NP fishing case
Rawai’s Mayor, Arun Solos, led a group of Rawai Sea Gypsies to file a complaint this morning (January 11), in order to call for justice for the 6 fishermen arrested in Sirinath Marine National Park. The mayor headed a delegation including Niran Yangpan, the community leader, village chief and sub-district chief with the 6 fishermen to hand the letter to…
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Asia’s prison populations – Thailand #10 in the world
China has the largest prison population in Asia, more than four times as large as India. However, when it comes to prison population rates, Thailand has the highest incarceration rate in the region. Around the world more than 10.35 million people are imprisoned either as pretrial detainees or having been convicted and sentenced, according to the report of UK-based Institute…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, January 11
Kathu Temple being asked why it is in business with Chinese Tour Groups | Yingluck on ‘Entrepreneur’ visa in the UK | Minimum wage decision postponed | Dental Council warning us against online orthodontic promotions | BKK receives 120mm in rain over 24 hours | Thai goalie first ever for Euro football team
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Krabi Coal Power Plant to get more public hearings
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and its consulting company are preparing another set of public hearings about the proposed coal power plant project at Baan Klong Rua Pier after a series of protests against the project from locals and activists. “After the government suspended the project following the disagreements from locals, who commented that the EHIA (environmental health…
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Unseasonal rain hits Bangkok
Several parts of Bangkok were deluged on Wednesday morning because water pumps were undergoing maintenance and a flood-drainage system isn’t yet completed, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Flood Prevention Centre said. The centre, seemingly caught off guard by the unseasonal early-morning rainfall, issued a statement explaining its unpreparedness. Specifically, it said it was seeking funds to build a pumping well on…
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Seven students faint in Ayutthaya school van
Four female and three male students fainted on their way to school in Ayutthaya on Wednesday morning after their van’s air conditioner malfunctioned, police said. The students were found unconscious in the van driven by Wanaree Jindarat, 52, when it reached the Pracha Sueksa School in Tambon Huaror of Ayutthaya’s Muang district. The students were rushed to Ayutthaya Hospital and…
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Ten injured in buggy crash in Hanuman World, Kathu
A buggy transporting tourists to Phuket’s famous zip lining destination, Hanuman World in Kathu, crashed into a tree resulting in 10 people being injured and taken to hospitals. Yesterday afternoon (January 9), a group 8 tourists from Kazakhstan were traveling on the buggy to the zip line destination when the driver, Boonrak Sri-Iad, who works for Hanuman World, crashed the…
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I’ve got a drone. Can I bring it with me to Thailand? Yes, but…
INFOGRAPHIC: Tourism Authority of Thailand Last week it was reported that over 7,000 drones had been registered for flying in Thailand since October 2, 2017 when the law came into effect where drones must be registered. This number only included drones registered at NBTC offices, not at police stations around the country, so the true number of registrations is much…
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Threatened oil spill off Phuket’s east coast
A boat named ‘Cheburi’, a fishing boat from outside Thai waters, has washed ashore in front of Tapao Yai Island, just off Cape Panwa, after being prosecuted by the Fisheries Office for breaking Thailand’s Fisheries Act for not reporting on time. Officers surrounded the scene with floating protection barriers to avoid the oil leaking out. The old and ‘out of…
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WEDNESDAY MORNING HEADLINES – All your news in 3 minutes
A lot of stories making up our news feeds today, from all over Thailand. Let’s ignore the threat of a 100% chance of rain from the forecast and focus on the sunshine in between. Here are today’s main news stories… Minimum wage rise, but… Debate over a rise in the minimum wage is heating up, with a key battleground opening…
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Koh Phangan bars closed for selling drugs to tourists
An Army division in Surat Thani has invoked Article 44 to order two pubs at the popular tourist destination of Koh Phangan to be closed indefinitely after they were found selling drug to foreign tourists. Colonel Kriangkrai Srirak, deputy commander of the Fifth Infantry Division, said he invoked Article 44 to order the indefinite closure of Reggae Bar and Bello…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, January 9
Over 7,000 drones registered so far | Taxi industry getting new ‘Taxi OK’ App | Suspects arrested over bus torching in South last month | No plans as yet for HM King’s coronation | Restaurants holding out along Layan Beach | Brit arrested in Pattaya over women falling from balcony | Latest in the Bang Tao beach ‘private beach’ affair.
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Russian rape story ‘misunderstanding’
Reports on social media that a 28 year old Russian woman had been attacked and raped on Koh Phi Phi are false according to local police. Police say there was no truth to the suggestion there was a misunderstanding after the alleged victim told a Russian friend to contact police. Polina Shemiakina, a Russian yoga teacher had arrived on the holiday…
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Here I am. Look at me.
Editorial by Tim Newton Yingluck’s in London. Yep, it’s her. Somehow a Facebook page has been able to achieve what the entire Royal Thai Police and Interpol have been unable to – find former Premier Yingluck Shinawatra. We are led to believe that these random pics of the fugitive PM are a serendipitous happening, arousing media speculation and allowing the…
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Part of the beach in front of Dusit Thani Laguna is privately owned – Land Office
Phuket Land Office, Thalang District Branch, revealed today (January 8), that the land between the sea and Dusit Thani Laguna is Crown Land (Nor Sor Lor). However, the area where the tourist was asked to move away on Sunday is still covered in the resort’s private property, according to the title. The Land Officer, Yongyuth Kanjananurak, commented on the live…
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Breaking the ice. Thai students triumph at ice-sculpture awards in China.
A beautifully sculpted masterpiece titled “Horse-Bird-Fish-Water”, about the Himmaphan forest of Hindu and Buddhist mythology, has earned Thai students from Ubon Ratchathani Vocational College the top award at China’s Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival held from January 4-7. This is the second consecutive year the college has won the prize, and the ninth consecutive year that a team…
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MONDAY MORNING HEADLINES – All your local news in 3 minutes
PHOTO: Over 40 Gamblers rounded-up after a gambling den was raided in Songkhla. Many escaped. The weather says rain, our eyes say sunshine. Still, it’s going to be 30 degrees. Many schools are back from today and the traffic seems to be getting back to its usual crawl. Here’s today’s main news stories… Dusit Thani ask German tourist to move…
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‘Private beach’ in front of Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket
The video of Facebook user Aziz Yotharak, who uploaded a post of a tourist being asked to move from the ‘private’ beach in front of Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket, has gone viral whilst the resort denies that they ordered the staff to chase the tourist and his children off the beach. The video shows the tourist with two children sitting…
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Frenzied passenger at Phuket airport
FILE PHOTO Phuket International Airport has issued an explanation letter today (January 7) regarding a video of a distraught naked man who went berserk in the international terminal. The South Korean passenger admitted that he had taken too much Viagra. The airport insisted that the officers arrested him harmlessly. At about 11pm on January 4, the 27 year old South…
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URGENT BLOOD DONATION REQUIRED – Blood Group A
Blood group A is urgently required at Vachira Hospital. People who are able to donate blood, you are requested to go to the Blood Bank, located on the 4th floor of the out-patient building at Vachira Hospital. For more information, call 07 636 1234. The department opens from 8.30am – 8pm on weekdays and from 8.30am – 3pm during weekends.
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Southern insurgents attack a defence volunteer in Narathiwat
A group of Muslim insurgents opened fired and threw a bomb at a defence volunteer’s house in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district late on Friday night. Nobody was injured. Police said the attack against the house of 38 year old Arthit Chankaew happened late on Friday night. About five or six insurgents opened fire at the house with M16 assault rifles…
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More flooding for 2018 – La Nina heads our way
Similar weather conditions to those that occurred during Thailand’s second most severe flooding in 1995 is predicted for this year, according to weather experts. They are warning that an expected “La Nina” condition will bring more rain and storms than usual to Thailand, and that increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather should be expected as a result of climate change. Prominent…
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SUNDAY HEADLINES – All your local news in 3 minutes
Some rain overnight around the island and more of the sun/cloud/light winds predicted over the next week. Just like last year, the ‘usual’ high-season weather isn’t arriving in 2018. Here are today’s main news stories… Four crew drown after shipping incident in the Gulf Four crew from a Thai fishing boat have drowned after it was hit and sunk by…
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People’s Alliance for Democracy officials ordered to pay up for 2008 blockade of airports
The Attorney General Office’s Legal Execution bureau has notified key figures of the now-defunct People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) accused of illegally occupying Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang Airports during the 2008 protest to pay compensation worth 522 million baht to the damaged party, Airports of Thailand. Suwat Aphaipak, the PAD’s lawyer, said the bureau sent the notice on December 25,…
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Phuket Headlines – November 1, 2018
PM says election delays ‘inevitable’ Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha says he may have to delay the calling of elections because the Sub-Committee for Drawing Things was still trying to choose the best font for the ballot papers. He also noted that the media’s continuous barrage of questions about an election date gave him no time to call an election. Asked…
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Century old Phuket house to become VIP accommodation and museum
Phuket Governor, Norapat Plodthong, hosted a meeting planning to renovate the hundred year old Charter Bank House, which belongs to the Treasury Department, to become accommodation for VIPs who are visiting Phuket. The first draft plans are expected to be finished by January 15. The Governor has already filed a letter to the Ministry of Interior to use the location.…
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