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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12Go introduces Japan Rail Passes to enhance travel accessibility for international travellers
For those who have travelled throughout Thailand, 12Go is a well-known provider of various trips, though the platform itself has a much wider reach. Ranging from buses to planes, 12Go is undoubtedly a leading booking platform for travel throughout the...
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Car crash in Krabi kills six
A pickup truck traveling from Trang province to Krabi lost control and hit an electric pole, killing all 6 passengers last night (December 5). The pick up truck driven by a retired policeman, 61 year old Prayad Jongrak, with other 5 family members, was found crashed into the high-voltage electric pole on Petchakasem Road heading towards Krabi in Nuaklong district.…
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Positive drug test – awaiting confirmation of epilepsy claim
A man who claims he suffered an epileptic seizure that caused him to lose control of his car and kill two people and injure 15 others in Pattaya on Monday, was under the influence of drugs at the time, police said yesterday. 44 year old Akkaradej Udomrat will face an additional charge of driving while under the influence after police…
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WEDNESDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
Day three of the Phuket King’s Cup today and fresh winds are waiting for the 83-strong fleet off Kata. Our Deputy PM has got into hot water over a flashy watch, a mother is being asked to explain why she chained up her daughter and a truck has fallen on a passenger van killing two in Chiang Mai. Welcome to…
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Phuket King’s Cup Regatta – Day Two. Perfect sailing weather.
Day Two kicked off as strongly as yesterday had ended with consistent, shifting and challenging winds. Race Director Simon James set the two courses around the southern end of the island. The fastest boats finished in around two and a half hours, up to five hours for the slower vessels. “We had gusts up to 18 knots and an average…
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7 year old girl chained up by her mother
After pictures of a 7 year old Myanmar girl chained went viral in social media, Phuket Social Development and Human Security officers visited the scene today (December 5), which is a room in an apartment in Phuket Town. The girl and her 9 year old brother are safe at Phuket Children and Family Shelter. “We got the report last night…
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Official opening of Wang Kee On Waterfall in Patong
At 9 am today (December 5), Patong Mayor, Chalermluck Kebsup, hosted the official opening of Wang Kee On Waterfall as the new attraction in Patong, even though it’s been there all the time. “As today is the birthday of The Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, we agreed to officially open the waterfall to the public on this special day. Patong Municipality…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, December 5
THAIGER TODAY. Tuesday, December 5. Tragic Pattaya road accidents prompts questions | Songkhla schools closed because of flooding | Wang Kee Aon waterfall re-opens in Patong | Fake bomb causes security alert at Myanmar Embassy | Toon meets the PM.
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Pattaya driver that killed two claims epileptic fit – call for ban on epileptic drivers
A tragic accident yesterday morning in Pattaya is again focussing the public’s attention on a call for the Land Transport Department to ban people with epilepsy from driving. The crash occurred when a 44 year old self-described epileptic patient lost control of his pickup truck in Chon Buri’s Pattaya City, causing it to plough into 10 motorcycles, killing two people…
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TUESDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
It’s a public holiday today. It’s Father’s Day and National Day in Thailand, both proclaimed as celebrations of the birthday of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. It’s also the World Soil Day, named by the United Nations as a day to commemorate the late King’s work in the area of land conservation and crop development. All public offices are closed…
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Phuket King’s Cup – Racing Day One. Plenty of wind!
Plenty of wind on Day One and the rest of the week is shaping up well in the wind department. Race Day One kicked off with some of the best conditions seen at the PKCR in recent years, winds around 19 knots and more of the same anticipated tomorrow. A total of 83 keelboats and multihulls took to the waves,…
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Social media blowback in Myanmar for Pope. Meanwhile international aid dries up for refugee camps on the Thai-Myanmar border.
PHOTO: Voice of America Pope Francis’s embrace of the Rohingya during a trip to Bangladesh has sparked some angry comment on social media in Myanmar, where just days earlier he chose not to publicly air their plight. On Friday the head of the Catholic church met a group of refugees from Myanmar’s stateless Muslim minority in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.…
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Patong Municipality announces the reopening of the waterfall in the town’s heart
Patong Mayor, Chalermluck Kebsup, says that the Wang Kee Aon waterfall in the middle of Patong used to be the main attraction in Patong and HRH King Bhumibol Adulyadej 9 also paid a visit in 1959, which was an important early part of putting Patong on the domestic map for Thailand tourism. “However, later, when the land in front of the…
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New direct route to Phuket from Korat – NewGen Airways
Every week it seems that there are more and more direct flights to Phuket, both domestic and international. While it’s a by-product of the growing numbers of tourists coming to the island it also provides locals more chances to get off the ‘rock’ from time to time, flying direct to more places on the map. Now we can fly to…
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MONDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
First day of the Phuket King’s Cup at Kata today, the island’s most prestigious and popular yacht racing regatta. We wish all competitors fair winds and good sailing for the week. Winds are expected to be up to 20 knots from the ENE. Sure there will be plenty of ‘bubbly beverages’ flowing around Kata this week during the regatta. Not…
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Phuket King’s Cup kicks off today
(left to right) M.L. Tridhosyuth Devakul; Kevin Whitcraft, President of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta Organizing Committee; Norapat Plodthong, Phuket Governor; Rear Admiral Arkom Tang-on, Deputy Commander, Third Naval Area Command, the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand representative and Chairman of Kata Group Resorts Pramookpisitt Achariyachai join the opening ceremony of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta 31th at Beyond Resort…
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Phukethon – 9,600 runners competing next weekend
The exciting running event – marketing itself as ‘Asia’s major running festival’ – Phukethon 2017, is being held on December 8-10 with plenty of running categories from fun run to full marathon at Sapan Hin Park. The event’s director of competition from Move Asia, Boonperm Intanapasat, says that there will be 3 distances – 42.19km full marathon, 21.1km half marathon…
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Mega projects to shape Bangkok’s skyline – Thailand Tourism Forum 2018
The Thailand Tourism Forum (TTF) returns for its seventh annual edition on January 22, 2018, gathering more than 650 hotel industry professionals at the InterContinental Hotel Bangkok to discuss the mega-projects that are reshaping Bangkok’s cityscape. Running under the theme ‘Megacity Bangkok – A Tourism and Hotel Futurescape’, TTF 2018 will focus on the redevelopment of the thriving Thai capital.…
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Viral video exposes an alleged call-centre scam
A viral video clip has prompted police to track down the man whose bank account is apparently used by a fraudulent call centre. Investigators from the Muang Lampang Police Station on Friday headed to the house of 37 year old Poonsawat Khamphira to question him over his role in the alleged scam. “I was paid 1,000 Baht to open this…
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SATURDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
Welcome to the weekend. As usual you can start your day with all the main local news stories from Phuket and Thailand. During the day we also have weather updates every 30 minutes on The Thaiger 102.75 FM (download the free App on your phone). Southern floods claim two, one missing A highly regarded nurse of 12 years service in…
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Upgrading Phuket’s stray dogs
At the Governor-Meets-Media conference today (December 1), the Governor announced a new management strategy for Phuket’s stray dogs, following the project “Disease-Free Animals, Rabies-Free Humans” of HRH Princess Chulabhorn. “There is an estimated total of 11,500 dogs in Phuket, of which a thousand of them are stray dogs that live in public and around tourism attractions and are at risk…
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THAIGER TODAY Friday, December 1
Weather watch – more rain on the way | Government says it hasn’t made a final decision on Thepa | Exports and tourism stats are up | World AIDS Day – Thailand still has challenges | Forensic report on dead cadet unfinished | Explosion in Narathiwat injures two.
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More than 2,000 amphetamine tablets seized at Thachatchai Gateway
Two men from Trang province, 41 year old Uthai Chankarn and 20 year old Puwadol Pornsawangniwate, were arrested at 11pm last night (November 30) while trying to smuggle amphetamine pills onto the island. The two men travelled with a private van and arrived at the Thachatchai checkpoint around 11pm. Officers searched the vehicle and one of the officers, Private Manop…
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SPIA Asia raise $5,000 for Thai CSR project by AFC Dream Asia Foundation
Mr. Eric M. Gottschalk, CEO of MMC Sportz Marketing LLC, organiser of SPIA Asia – Sports Industry Awards & Conference (left) presenting USD5,000 (approx. 160,000THB) to Dr. Annadurai Ranganathan from the AFC Dream Asia Foundation. Asia’s premier sports conference and awards platform, SPIA Asia – Asia’s Sports Industry Awards & Conference, recently concluded in Bangkok with a black-tie Awards Gala Dinner at…
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Eagle wood smugglers nabbed at Suan Pa Bang Kanun, Thalang
Royal Thai Navy officers along with Forestry officials have arrested Assanai Sato, from Prachinburi province, while he was trying to cut the restricted crop, eagle wood with an accomplice. The team led by Rear Admiral Uthai Thongdee from Royal Thai Navy and Chief of Suan Pa Bang Kanun, Sorakrissana Singkham, arrested Assanai in the National Preserved Forest, Suan Pa Bang…
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Miss Pinky Promise debuts to help reconcile the nation, or scare children.
With the Government keen to find a winning strategy to help heal deep political wounds, you’d wonder why they’ve unveiled this creepy costume character to come to their aid. “Nong Kiew Koy”, or “Miss Pinky Promise”, has become an overnight social media sensation after being introduced at the Defence Ministry as a “mascot for reconciliation”. Netizens have not been kind…
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Two civilians injured in Narathiwat bomb attack
Two civilians have been injured after Muslim insurgents detonated a homemade bomb to ambush a team of soldiers from a development corps in Narathiwat’s Joh I Rong district on this morning (November 30). The explosion occurred at 8.45am on Joh I Rong-Ban Yaning Road in Moo 2 village in Tambon Juab. The homemade bomb, assembled in a cooking gas cylinder,…
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Thailand’s Boat Show Season is Here
By Duncan Worthington For a country that has such stunning cruising grounds as Thailand, it’s no surprise there are boat shows to support and promote the marine industry, however, three boat shows within 13 weeks is a bit of a stretch. Ocean Marina Pattaya Boat Show kicked off the season and was held November 23 – 26 at Ocean Maria…
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Phuket setting up tourist service centres along the west coast beaches
Phuket’s Vice Governor, Sanit Srivihok, held a meeting yesterday (November 29) to discuss locations for the tourist service centres on each of Phuket’s main beaches. The implementation of tourist service centres is a policy from Phuket’s Governor aiming to give information to travellers as well as providing support for any issues such as first aid in an accident or a…
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Songkhla floods destroy road – car falls into hole
Floodwaters damaged part of a four-lane road in Songkhla’s Thepha district, leading to a car plunging into a hole in the pavement. The driver was not injured in the accident on the southern-bound Highway No 43 in Tambon Sakom at 4am. The two remaining lanes of the northern-bound road were divided to accommodate southern-bound traffic pending road repairs. Songkhla Governor…
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THURSDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
Protesters released on bail All 15 activists involved in the protest against the proposed Thepha coal-fired power plant have been freed on bail as Songkhla Provincial Court allowed university scholars to use their civil-service status to guarantee their temporary freedom. However, the activists will still have to defend themselves in court as police had prosecuted them with four charges. On…
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