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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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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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Wash off the dictatorship: Protesters splash for a cause
For those who love the splashing water of Songkran but wish it was far more serious and political, a protest held yesterday fits the bill. More than 20 protesters from the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration, a pro-democracy group, gathered outside the Parliament complex to symbolically “wash off the dictatorship” with water. The rally took place the day after…
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Really Cool Airlines to fly by 2023 close, schedule in June
New carrier Really Cool Airlines is set to take off in Thailand by the end of this year, according to its CEO, Patee Sarasin. The airline will focus on international flights and is expected to help boost the country’s aviation industry, which has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The company will announce its flight routes by the end…
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Police nab Chinese kidnapper at airport before he flees Thailand, 2 hostages saved
Police arrested a Chinese man before he boarded a flight out of Thailand last night. He is one of three men who abducted a Chinese woman and her brother-in-law in Pattaya on Monday for a ransom of 4.7 million baht. The two hostages were saved by police and returned home at 2am today. On Monday, 33 year old Ma Mingshan…
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Thai businesses expect minimal effect from US Bank collapse
Thai businesses are optimistic that they will experience only minimal impact from the collapse of US banks. A recent survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) interviewed 600 business owners to gauge the economic damage of the US banking turmoil. The survey found that 73.5% believe the effects of the US banking crisis will have only…
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Thai influencer arrested after promising over-valued gift boxes to customers
Thai influencer Nara Crepe Katoey is under arrest for public fraud over online sales of gift boxes that she promised would be worth more than the prices paid. Nara, whose real name is Aniwat Prathumthin, was picked up in Ayutthaya after the Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for her alleged advertising or encouraging illegal acts, defrauding the public, fraudulent…
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Angry Thai man crashes car into PPRP election poster
An angry Thai man was prosecuted for damaging an election campaign poster belonging to the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP). He deliberately crashed his pickup into the poster. The suspect’s family revealed he was angry at the party because his request for unemployment compensation was rejected. With the General Election set to take place on May 14, every political party has begun…
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A gorilla’s plight in Thailand continues after 30 years in a concrete hell
A gorilla’s disturbing plight in Thailand continues after staying alone atop a Bangkok shopping mall in a zoo that resembles a concrete hell. Bua Noi, dubbed the “world’s loneliest gorilla” has spent 30 years alone at the top of the Bangkok shopping mall of Pata. Over the years, protests and pressure from celebrity campaigners, such as Cher, have not seemed…
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Russian man arrested in Koh Pha Ngan for overstaying visa 993 days
An unidentified Russian man has reportedly been arrested on the island of Koh Pha Ngan for overstaying his visa by 993 days or over 2.5 years. According to TPN National, the 34 year old man was arrested and taken to the Koh Pha Ngan Police Station to face charges of overstaying and will be deported. The arrest followed the Surat…
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Chinese woman in Pattaya abducted, 4.7 million baht ransom demanded
A Chinese woman has reportedly been abducted in Pattaya as she went to get her child from school. The suspects have allegedly demanded a 4.7 million baht ransom in exchange for her freedom. Her husband, Ma Mingshan, filed a complaint with the police, saying his 33 year old wife, Shan Qi Qiang, was abducted. The 33 year old man said…
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German pedophile arrested for producing child pornography in Pattaya
Thailand’s Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) arrested a German pedophile for shooting and distributing child pornography involving his teenage stepdaughter from his home in Pattaya. The 76 year old perverted expat, Wilfried Wilms, was taken into custody on Saturday, March 18 following an alert from the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, which traced child pornography back to Wilms’s Meet4U and…
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Thailand welcomes 5.5 million foreign tourists so far this year
In the first three months of 2023, more than 5.5 million foreign tourists entered Thailand, generating over 200 billion baht for the economy, government spokesperson Trisulee Trisoranakul reported this morning. Between January 1 and March 18, 5,578,721 foreign tourists arrived in Thailand, generating 215 billion baht in tourism revenue, according to data provided by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.…
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Bear intrudes village in northeast Thailand
A sun bear wandered out of the forest and into a village in Chaiyaphum province in northeast Thailand yesterday. It took rescue workers five hours to trap the wild animal. Atnoonm, residents of Ban Huai Ruam village in Moo 2, Wang Thong subdistrict, Phakdi Chumphon district reported that a sun bear (“bear-dog” in Thai language) had strayed out of the…
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Teacher’s physical punishment causes bruises, outrage
Parents in Samut Prakan reached out to Thai media to bring attention to an alleged incident of excessive physical punishment by a male teacher at a primary school. The incident, which occurred on Monday in the Bang Bo district, sparked outrage among parents and education authorities in the area. An 11 year old boy in P5 recounted to reporters from…
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Phuket Marine Police bust jet ski operators over licenses
Jet skiing is a popular activity for tourists in Phuket, but not all operators seem to be following the rules. The Phuket Marine Police last week busted jet ski operators for crimes involving improper licenses. This news comes as the police have been ramping up jet ski inspections at popular tourist beaches. The six operators on Bang Tao Beach were…
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3 police arrested for kidnapping Chinese man and Thai woman
Din Daeng Police Station apprehended three police officers from Immigration Division 1 yesterday following allegations made by a Thai woman that they kidnapped and extorted 1 million baht from a Chinese man. The three suspects denied the accusations, and one officer involved in the incident is currently on the run. According to the complaint filed by a 38 year old…
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Regents International School Pattaya announces new school principal
Regents International School Pattaya is delighted to announce that Ms. Amos Turner-Wardell, the current Head of Secondary School, has been promoted as the new School Principal effective February 2023. For the past 5 years at Regents International School Pattaya, as the Head of Secondary, Ms. Amos has been central to the development and success of the school and her international…
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SUV crashes into mall in Thailand, plummets 4 floors into basement
An SUV last night somehow crashed into a famous mall located in Pathum Thani province, situated to the north of Bangkok, Thailand. The vehicle then drove over the railings by the escalator and plummeted four floors into the basement. The SUV driver miraculously survived the accident, sustaining only minor bleeding to the head. The crash happened yesterday around midnight at Zeer…
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Thai and Indian couple allegedly scammed Americans of over 3 billion baht (video)
A Thai and Indian couple allegedly scammed Americans of over 3 billion baht. Police arrested the couple after raiding a house in Bang Lamung district in Pattaya yesterday at around 10am. Officers raided that house following a notification from the US Embassy stating that the house was being used as a hideout by scammers. The raid was conducted by a…
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Winnie the Pooh movie banned in Hong Kong amid President Xi links (video)
The British horror film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey has been cancelled by Hong Kong prompting speculation that the movie was pulled because of the resemblance between the character and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It’s not the first time China has scrapped a movie. US netizens made such comparisons between Winnie the Pooh and President Xi when the latter…
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Arrest warrants for Swiss man and Thai women allegedly involved in Patong bar scandal
UPDATE Police issued arrest warrants for a Swiss man and two Thai women allegedly involved in the Patong bar scandal that came to light last week. The scandal involved underage girls being exploited for sexual services. A number of individuals were arrested, and five Patong Police officers were transferred to other posts for their connections to the scandal last week.…
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Revered Thai monk’s body defies decomposition 20 years after death
More than 20 years after revered Thai monk Luang Phu Woraphon Thawitan passed away, his body remains displayed in a glass case at his temple in Khon Kaen province, northeast Thailand. Not only has the deceased monk’s body not decomposed – defying science – but his skin has turned emerald green, reports Sanook. Yesterday, Phra Khru Sri Pattarasan, the current…
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10 top destinations near Bangkok for summer and Songkran 2023
As the summer season and the Songkran Festival approach Thailand next month, The Thaiger team recommends 10 top destinations to visit in April to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy a great water fight. The list includes a wide range of interesting places from waterfalls, seas, mountains, and spectacular natural scenery. With Songkran Festival set to…
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Hong Kong tourist narrowly survives bungee cord snapping midair in Thailand
Distraught onlookers thought the moment a Hong Kong tourist’s bungee cord snapped after he leapt from a height of ten storeys in Pattaya, Thailand, would surely send him plummeting to his death. But, he survived. One of Mike’s colleagues went first and had a blast, and Mike was up next, raring to go. The staff tied the bungee cord to…
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3 police attacked by 30 vendors while inspecting product piracy at a Thai market
A group of 30 vendors attacked three officers from the Ang Thong Police Station while they were conducting a product piracy raid at a Thai market in the central province of Ang Thong on March 16. The police officers later filed a complaint about the assault while the vendors claimed they thought the officers were fake police. The deputy inspector…
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Yachts: Hua Hin Mini Boat Show this weekend
Fans of yachting can enjoy the first-ever Hua Hin Mini Boat Show this weekend. Pak Nam Pran, a picturesque coastal town in central Thailand, is all set to host the first show of its kind in the region from March 24 to 26. The event will take place at the Racer Marina and showcase a range of boats, yachts, and…
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Police free woman imprisoned by lesbian lover after a row
Police last night freed a woman imprisoned by her lesbian lover after a tempestuous row in Buri Ram. The captive woman said she does not want to press charges against her emotionally charged girlfriend. Police were alerted to the confined woman’s predicament by a neighbour yesterday and a patrol car was sent to the building where she was imprisoned at…
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Phuket and Isaan make TIME’s Top 50 World’s Greatest Places of 2023
Iconic New York-based news magazine Time released their ‘World’s Greatest Places‘ list of 2023, including two Thai locations: Phuket and Isaan. Phuket making the cut might come as no surprise given the island’s reputation as a much sought-after holiday destination. Isaan, however, is not hot on tourists’ radars despite its rich culture and temples, vast landscape, amazing traditional music and…
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Tourism Ministry sets its sights on developing Songkhla
Songkhla has caught the attention of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, which has set a 100 billion baht tourism revenue goal over the next decade. The ministry dubbed the Songkhla Lake Basin a Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA) project. As always, the Tourism Ministry came up with a catchy, exciting name: “Amazing Songkhla Lagoon: Moving forward as…
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Aussie dad gets into fistfight with monkeys on Ko Phi Phi in Thailand (video)
An Australian dad got into a fistfight with a gang of monkeys on a Thailand beach after they attacked his one year old son. No pistols at dawn followed but it got quite feisty. Riley Whitelum and his wife Elayna Carausu, along with their two sons, were on the Ko Phi Phi Islands when the incident occurred. While relaxing on…
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Officials in Thailand say radioactive caesium-137 is contained, scholars disagree
The radioactive caesium-137 cylinder that went missing from a power plant in Prachin Buri province, central Thailand, was found to have been melted and turned into red soot with other scrap metal at a smelting factory around 10 kilometres away from the plant, sparking major health concerns for people in the area. Whether the caesium-137 will cause health problems like…
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