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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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Russia to deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus
Levelling up the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced his plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a close ally and neighbour of Russia. Putin has repeatedly hinted at a return to Cold War brinksmanship, threatening the possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. During an interview on Russian television, Putin stated that if Kyiv received…
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Phuket’s red card system for foreigners nabs 6
Phuket Immigration has announced those punished with their new yellow card and red card system for misbehaving foreigners. The new trial system was established to combat claims that law-breaking foreigners didn’t know the rules so, much like a football game, Phuket Immigration has implemented a yellow and red card system as a warning system. If a foreigner commits an offence for…
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Thailand expected to have a hotter summer this year
Thailand is bracing for a hotter summer this year, with the Meteorological Department forecasting an average temperature increase of one degree Celsius from last year. The hottest weather this week has been recorded in the North of the country, with temperatures peaking at 41.5°C in Phetchabun’s Mueang district on Thursday. Closer to Bangkok, the highest temperature was recorded at 38.5°C…
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UN calls for urgent action on global water resources
A harsh new warning has been issued by the United Nations about the urgency to protect the Earth’s water resources. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for immediate action to safeguard water resources and prevent conflicts. Speaking at a three-day UN conference, Guterres warned that the world is not on track to meet its 2030 water goals, including access to…
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Murky water at Koh Samui beach caused by plankton bloom, not oil spill: officials
UPDATE The smelly, murky water putting off tourists from swimming in the sea at Maenam Beach in Koh Samui, southern Thailand, is not an oil spill but caused by a plankton bloom, which is a natural phenomenon, according to the Director of Koh Samui Harbour Authority, Arun Buppako. The photos circulating of green murky water at the beach show dead…
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Strikes in Germany force Thai Airways to cancel 6 flights
Strikes in Germany have forced Thai Airways International (THAI) to cancel six flights. The strikes, called by German labour unions Verdi, and EVG, representing transport workers, are related to wage disputes, Reuters reported. The strikes are expected to cause widespread disruption to railways and airports. Operations at Frankfurt and Munich airports are at a standstill. The cancelled THAI flights are: •…
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Phuket officials seize baraku from restaurant
There’s been another bust on a venue in Phuket. Officials in Phuket’s Thalang district seized baraku, also known as shisha, from a restaurant near a hotel in the town of Sakhu. The seizure followed anonymous complaints via social media. Thalang Distric Chief Bancha Tanuin said officials inspected a Sakhu hotel on Thursday. They found two sets of baraku being used…
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2 foreigners arrested while acting as illegal tour guides
Two foreign nationals have been arrested by the Department of Employment (DoE) for illegally working as tour guides in Bangkok. They were caught near the Ratchaprasong intersection in Pathumwan district. The suspects, a Chinese and a Vietnamese national, were detained after the Professional Tourist Guide Association of Thailand (PGAT) lodged complaints last week that foreign tour guides were stealing their…
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Singapore woman caught fleeing after scalding water attack
A woman in Singapore was arrested after an allegedly planned attack where she poured scalding hot water on a man and then tried to flee the country by ferry. The 28 year old woman was picked up by authorities on Thursday on a ferry bound for Indonesia, just before it hit international waters. The incident occurred near Balam Road in…
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Foreign man caught stealing from exchange booth in Pattaya
A foreign man was caught on surveillance footage stealing a coin box from a money exchange booth in Pattaya. The theft occurred at 7am yesterday Naewna reported. A 36 year old man named Kiattisak reported the incident to the Pattaya City Police Station at 3.30pm. Kiattisak said that the coin box was missing when he came to work at 8am.…
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Don Mueang Airport expansion planned, while U-Tapao stalls
Airports of Thailand (AOT) has announced its plans to expand Don Mueang International Airport’s low-cost terminal, while U-Tapao Airport’s expansion faces delays. The expansion of Bangkok’s secondary airport aims to increase passenger capacity and bolster tourism income for the country. Don Mueang’s expansion project has a budget of 36.8 billion baht and is set to begin this year. But the…
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Danish thug in Pattaya allegedly attacks woman and refuses to pay for food
Yet another foreign troublemaker has made a scene at a Pattaya restaurant. A Danish thug in Pattaya allegedly attacked a woman and refused to pay for his food. The man was reportedly heavily intoxicated. The incident happened at a kebab shop near the Flipper House Hotel at around 2am yesterday, The Pattaya News reported. The victim, 44 year old Thanita Panwai, who…
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Thai buffalo becomes beauty influencer | Thaiger News Weekly
Thailand election to be held May 14 Thailand’s Election Committee (EC) confirmed today that Thailand’s general election will be held on May 14, 2023. While the vote will be held on May 14, early ballots cast on May 7. Over 52 million people are required to vote. The election follows Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s dissolution of the House of Representatives, endorsed by…
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South Thailand island to be developed as world-class tourism spot
An island in South Thailand is set to be developed as a world-class tourism spot. Koh Adang, located in the southern border province of Satun, is set to become a world-class tourism destination like Langkawi in Malaysia, according to the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC). Satun province is renowned for its picturesque natural scenery, with jungles, mountains, and beaches.…
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Pattaya Police says two women shot were wrongly targetted
Pattaya Police believe the two women wounded in a shooting in Pattaya in the early hours of this morning were wrongly targeted. Pattaya Chief of Police Thanapong Photi reported a Thai woman and a Chinese woman were shot at about 2am today at the entrance of Soi Chalernprakiat 4/1 in Bang Lamung district. Forensic officers and police discovered a black…
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Italian man impaled and killed by forklift in Thailand
An Italian man tragically died this morning after he was impaled by a forklift in Samut Prakan province, just south of Bangkok in central Thailand, near the factory where he worked as sales manager. He was riding a motorbike taxi when the incident happened, reports ThaiRath. At 10am, officers at Samrong Nuea Police Station were informed of a fatal collision between…
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Fruit to the rescue: governor eases contamination worries by eating some mango
To alleviate concerns about radioactive contamination in the province following the theft of a Caesium-137 cylinder last week, the Governor of the Prachinburi Provincial Office organized a fruit-eating exercise. The caesium-137 cylinder was stolen from a National Power Plant 5A Company facility at 304 Industrial Park in Prachinburi province, central Thailand on February 23, but it wasn’t reported missing until…
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Foreigners complain they can’t swim at Koh Samui beach due to smelly oil spill
French and German tourists complained that a smelly oil spill prevented them from swimming at Maenam Beach yesterday in Koh Samui, Surat Thani province, southern Thailand. A German man told reporters that he went to the beach to sunbathe and play in the water. But when he tried to go swimming, he noticed a foul smell emanating from the sea.…
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Chinese KOLs livestream their adventures in Thailand’s tropical paradises
Chinese Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) have been livestreaming their adventures in Thailand’s tropical paradises. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently collaborated with Kuaishou Technology, a Chinese short video-sharing mobile app, to bring Chinese KOLs to Phuket, Krabi, and Phang Nga for a “Travel Adventures Thailand Episode” livestream series. The series began on Wednesday, March 15, and ends today (March…
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Porsche celebrates 30 years in Thailand with multi-coloured 911 model (video)
Porsche Asia Pacific is celebrating 30 years of its high-performance sports car in Thailand with a new multi-coloured bespoke Porsche 911 Carrera GTS in honour of the importance of colours in the kingdom. The German luxury car was first introduced to the Thai market in 2002 with the establishment of Porsche (Thailand) Limited, a subsidiary of Porsche Asia Pacific Pte…
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Four Vietnam Airlines cabin crew caught smuggling 11.4 kg of hard drugs on flight from Paris
Four Vietnam Airlines flight attendants caught smuggling drugs disguised as toothpaste on a flight from Paris earlier this month were released on bail yesterday, reports VnExpress. On March 16, police arrested four flight attendants – Nguyen Thanh Thuy, Vo Tu Quynh, Tran Thi Thu Ngan and Dang Phuong Van – after 11.4 kilogrammes of cocaine and ketamine were discovered in…
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Japan voted top sustainable country, Thailand ranked fifth
Japan has been praised by fellow Asian countries for its sustainability and conservation efforts in a new poll with Thailand claiming fifth place, would you believe? Over 13,000 respondents from more than ten countries participated in the Sustainable Impact Survey 2023 conducted by the online travel agency Agoda. The respondents were asked to rank countries based on their sustainability efforts, and…
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Thailand: Check your 20 baht bills, they might be worth more than you think…
A Thai coin and banknote collector is offering big cash for a rare kind of 20 baht bill that could be in anyone’s wallet in Thailand. Some of the new plastic polymer 20 baht bills which entered circulation last year were printed without a vertical line on the left-hand side, as seen in the picture. “Gig” the rare money collector…
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Truck crushes motorbike rider to death in Phuket
A tragic road death occurred in Phuket after a truck crushed a motorbike rider‘s head yesterday morning. A Facebook post with a video of the incident by Phuket Info Center read… “At 10.39am today (March 23), there was an accident involving a motorcyclist who lost control [of his bike] and fell under the rear wheels of a truck. He was…
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Police arrest 2 women in Buriram for alleged online child sexual exploitation
Police in Buriram arrested two women for alleged online child sexual exploitation in a raid on a bar-restaurant in the province this week. Officers reportedly uncovered two underage girls working in the establishment and two women were charged with exploiting the girls. The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD Police) arrested the owner of the bar-restaurant, 35 year old Tuenjai ‘Kukkik’…
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80 year old woman survives floating 3 kilometres down Nan River in Thailand
An 80 year old Thai woman fell into the Nan River in Pichit province, northern Thailand, and floated for 3 kilometres before she was rescued by a good Samaritan yesterday. At 4pm, 61 year old Bancha Simadua, the owner of a paint shop, was fishing in the Nan River near Wat Ratchachang Kwan when he suddenly saw a naked body…
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Thai police defend slow response to Phetchaburi gunman as victims’ families grieve
Thai police are defending what many say was a “delayed response” to a gunman who killed three people and wounded three others in Phetchaburi province. The police say the gunman was not considered an active gunman, with the deaths involved being those who were caught in the crossfire between police and the ex-ranger. Family members of the deceased persons are…
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Cat slaughterhouse shut down in Vietnam, 197 cats saved (video)
An industrial-scale cat slaughterhouse in the Dong Thap province of Vietnam, capable of slaughtering up to 500 innocent cats a day, has ceased all operations following landmark intervention from the authorities. The slaughterhouse, which has been in business for more than a decade, has been subject to two police raids in recent weeks, during which its owners were found not…
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Patong minivan crash injures four tourists and a driver
A Patong minivan crash injured four tourists and a driver. The crash happened when one minivan transporting foreign tourists crashed into another one on the road connecting Patong Beach and Kamala in Phuket. The accident occurred on Phra Baramee Road yesterday, at 11.35am. According to MGR Online, the accident occurred when one minivan drove out of its lane and collided with…
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Thai hackers arrested for breaking into energy drink computer system to steal prize money
Two Thai hackers are now under arrest after police say they broke into an energy drink company’s computer system to fraudulently claim prize monies. Thailand’s Technology Crime Suppression Division officers say they hacked the system and obtained more than 300,000 code numbers that were printed on the backs of drink caps. Using that information, the hackers planned to claim prize…
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