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.
The Thaiger is your essential resource for staying connected with Thailand’s captivating blend of tradition and modernity. To remain in the loop with the country’s most trusted news source, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.
-
Sponsored
5 best wine bars in Bangkok offering rich and quality wine
It’s wine o’clock! Whether you’re all about fruity reds, sweet whites, or funky naturals, Bangkok has many great spots to sip your favourite varieties. But with an array of options to choose from, and the constant rise and fall of...
-
New MRT Pink Line causes flood to local school & community
The director of a school in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok said a flood to her school and nearby community is because of construction work to a new train station for the MRT Pink Line. The school director filed a complaint with the police and urged the construction company to take responsibility. The provincial governor demanded that the water is drained…
-
‘Fish sauce’ leaking through ceiling turns out to be corpse fluid in central Thailand
Last night, a 49 year old teacher living in Nonthaburi province, central Thailand, told her apartment manager that fermented fish sauce was leaking through her ceiling and dripping down her wall. Pornphimon went away for the weekend and when she returned yesterday at 8pm, she noticed a putrid smell in her apartment. She said, “black water” was coming through the…
-
Opening day of 2022 welfare sees 1.86 million people register
Yesterday marked the opening date for registration for state welfare for 2022, and people flooded the registration process both online and in person. By 3pm on the opening day, officials reported that 1.86 million people across Thailand had already registered for the state welfare card project. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, who also serves as the director-general of…
-
Study uses mobile data to improve domestic tourism trends
A new study used mobile data from mobile operator DTAC’s customers to analyse their movements and extrapolate strategies for increasing domestic tourism within Thailand. The study was conducted by Chulalongkorn University, the National Digital Economy and Society Commission, and Boonmee Lab, and used data from June 2020 to October 2021 of 10% of DTAC’s customers who fit the travel parameters…
-
Public park becomes dog-friendly in Bangkok
Finding a green area to walk your furry friend in downtown Bangkok is difficult because pet dogs are not allowed in public parks. Thanks to a petition ran by dog-lovers and support from Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt, Benjakitti Park in Asoke has become the first public park to open up its doors to dogs. Despite several inner-city condominiums allowing pets,…
-
Proposal would allow small hotels to operate as a homestay
The Ministry of Interior’s proposal for relaxing regulations on small homestay hotels has been met with opposition from the Thai Hotels Association. The plan would expand a “homestay” exemption in the Hotel Act for small businesses with no more than 20 guests in no more than four rooms, increasing the maximum size and occupancy to 10 rooms and 30 guests.…
-
Truck carrying elephant overturns in northern Thailand
UPDATE The 50 year old male elephant who was badly injured in a road accident in Chiang Mai yesterday finally made it to the elephant hospital in Lampang province, 20 hours later. At around 9am yesterday, the truck transporting “Pooh Kham” from Mae Chaem to an elephant camp in Mae Wang overturned on the windy roads. At first, Pooh Kham…
-
Hike on traffic fines delayed, but ticket prices will be consistant
Writing news in Thailand frequently means announcing something and then the next day announcing the opposite. And true to form, the new major hike in penalty fines for traffic violations announced before the weekend and scheduled to go into effect yesterday… have been retracted. But when they do go into effect, repeat offenders will be further penalised, and a new…
-
Sweary tuk tuk driver tries to rip off tourists in Bangkok
A sweary Thai tuk tuk driver who tried to rip off a Singaporean couple on holiday in Bangkok has been fined by police and ordered to take a good driving awareness programme. The tuk tuk driver, Thongkham Cherdchai, picked up John Chen and his girlfriend on Sunday at about 2.45pm at Central World. The couple wanted to go to their…
-
Runner rescued after falling down 200-meter chasm
In the middle of a mountain marathon, one runner fell down a chasm that was 200 metres deep, with rescuers working almost three hours to save him. The incident took place in the Muang district of Rayong province yesterday morning during the “Peak Mountain Khao Yaida Trail 2022” marathon. The parents of the 30 year old runner said he loves…
-
China approves world’s first inhaled Covid-19 vaccine
For those deathly afraid of needles, China is the first country in the world to approve the CanSino Biologics Inc Covid-19 vaccine, the first of its kind that is inhaled instead of jabbed. The vaccine manufacturer announced yesterday that it had won approval from the drug regulators of China to use the inhalant that they recently created as a booster…
-
Thailand’s caretaker PM caught sleeping on the job
Caretaker Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan was caught sleeping on the job this afternoon. The 77 year old was in Krabi province today overseeing a joint meeting with several water and land use agencies to discuss water management issues when he dozed off. The image quickly went viral on Thai social media and drew a number of cheeky comments. Suthaporn Suriyakarn…
-
Suspected thief electrocuted to death in Bangkok, Thailand
A Thai man was electrocuted to death in a suspected robbery sometime before 5am this morning on the side of a hotel in Bangkok. The hotel said they turn on electric wires during the night to prevent robberies. Lumphini Police Station received a report at 8am that a suspected thief had been electrocuted to death on the side of a…
-
Luxury Koh Samui hotel robbed of 70 million baht worth of assets
Six thieves were arrested today in connection with a 70 million baht robbery of a luxury Koh Samui hotel. Police believe more suspects are involved and made it known they are searching for them. The Chaweng Blue Lagoon Hotel is reported to be worth 400 million baht but it will be worth considerably less now after 348 rooms were stripped…
-
Truck carrying elephant overturns in northern Thailand
A rescue mission has been launched for a badly injured elephant after the truck transporting it overturned in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand, this morning. The elephant could not get up due to its injuries. At 10.23am today, Thai Elephant Alliance posted a picture of the injured elephant, named ‘Pooh Kham’ on its Facebook page. Thai Elephant Alliance said they…
-
Market fire in Donsak, gateway to Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan
A community market went up in flames in Donsak, the southern port district in Surat Thani province that serves as the gateway to the tropical tourist islands of Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan. The fire erupted in the wee hours yesterday morning and spread to damage two houses adjacent to the Donsak market. The fire erupted in a house…
-
Malaysian victim of human trafficking dies in northern Thailand
A Malaysian couple travelled to Thailand on Tuesday to look for their son but found out that he died at Mae Sot Hospital in Tak province, northern Thailand, on May 11. The 23 year old man is believed to have fallen victim to a job scam and trafficked to Myanmar. The hospital said Zhan had been “abused.” Zhan Feng, from…
-
Rassada Pier cabs questioned over taxi mafia incident
After a row involving tourists being blocked from using a van ride they ordered by an alleged “taxi mafia,” police have intervened to question the drivers and assess the claims. The confrontation took place at Rassada Pier in Phuket on Friday, with three female and one male tourist trapped in the middle. The travellers had just returned from Koh Phi…
-
Royalists in Thailand target one-man German activist
Police are under pressure from royalists to prosecute the German activist who staged a one-man protest against the government of Thailand. The founder and leader of the King Protection Group, Songchai Nienhorm, filed a complaint against the activist, Moritz Pfoh, at Nua Khlong police station in Nua Khlong district of Krabi on Saturday. Songchai is urging police to take action…
-
Thailand provides over 600,000 free cancer treatments in 9 months
Under the universal healthcare ‘Gold Card’ scheme, the government of Thailand provided 603,060 free cancer treatments in nine months. The free cancer treatments were provided by the National Health Security Office between October 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, according to Deputy Spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek. The number exceeded the government’s expectations by almost double. The government initially predicted that the…
-
Bridge over troubled waters for Thailand-bound Russian snowbird tourists
Russian travellers have ritually sought out islands in the tropical sun since the demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Hellbent on escaping bitterly cold winters, these snowbirds in the lead-up years to the pandemic became the second largest international source market for Phuket’s mass market tourism surge. Now, coming out of the pandemic in the age of a return…
-
Cat goes missing in Hat Yai, turns up 1000km away in Bangkok, Thailand
‘Moota’ the stripy cat turned up in Bangkok after going missing more than one month ago, almost 1000 kilometres away near the border of Malaysia in Hat Yai, Songkhla province, southern Thailand. On Wednesday, the Facebook page ‘Traffic on the Si Rat – Outer Ring Road Expressway of Bangkok‘ posted pictures of a beautiful striped cat with a red collar…
-
Phuket hotels team up with HSMAI for digital tourism and travel marketing workshop
Phuket’s tourism industry continues to wait and wonder when Mainland Chinese will be allowed to travel overseas, in the wake of China’s zero-Covid policy. As Thailand’s leading resort island moves towards the high season, hoteliers are looking to bridge the China gap and look to new markets to replace the expected lower volume of travel-challenged Russian tourists. Addressing these challenges is…
-
Croc randomly shows up in Phuket temple pond
A crocodile randomly showed up in the pond of a Phuket temple on Friday. Monks at the temple on the Toh Sae Hill in Phuket’s main city district say they have no idea who released the croc there. The monks were afraid that the croc would hurt people who feed turtles in the pond. Luckily, the Phuket Fisheries Office removed…
-
UPDATE: Police superintendent transferred to “inactive” post after pub raid
UPDATE The saga continues around the pub that was raided in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province early yesterday morning. The police superintendent of Chiang Rai’s city district police, Colonel Kittipong Sukwattanapun, has now been transferred to an “inactive” post in the operations centre of the provincial police headquarters. The transfer is punishment for his alleged failure to control the operations…
-
Nirvana naked baby album cover subject loses lawsuit
Perhaps the most famous naked baby of the 90s, the iconic photo that graced the cover of the seminal Nirvana album “Nevermind” has been the subject of a lawsuit that was just dismissed. Spencer Elden is not a household name, but most people who were teens or in their early 20s in the early 1990s remember the photo of him…
-
Thai officials warn of fake news and financial schemes on social media
Thai officials are warning the public that several fake news reports, including about financial schemes, are still going viral on social media. The Digital Economy and Society Ministry said today that from August 26 to September 1, it examined 266 social media posts. Of those posts, 141 contained fake news. Even though fake news on Covid-19 has dropped off the…
-
Ice Woman: Interview with the world’s first Thai Wim Hof Method instructor
Kam Waritsara, aka ‘Thai Ice Woman,’ is the first Thai-certified Wim Hof Method (WHM) instructor in the world. Once Kam tried and tested the WHM, it became such an important part of her life that she vowed to make the technique accessible to Thai people. The WHM – discovered by Dutch extreme athlete Wim Hof – comprises three pillars: breathwork,…
-
UPDATE: Governor rushing to feed over 800 Phuket flood victims
UPDATE Phuket Governor Narong is rushing to get food to over 800 victims of the island province’s recent floods. A total of 871 people, making up 372 households, have been affected by heavy floods that hit Phuket on Friday. Narong yesterday led officials in handing out 1,800 meals to people at Wat Nai Yang temple in the Thalang district. This…
-
Hopefuls assess and prepare to run for prime minister
While the Constitutional Court is mulling over when Prayut Chan-o-cha’s term as prime minister officially ends, with the suspended PM submitting his defence on Thursday, several hopefuls eyeing the premiership have assessed their chances and taken steps in preparation. The Sang Anakhot Thai Party (translating to “Building Thailand’s Future”) intends to nominate former Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak and has…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.