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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Man charged with murder of a transwoman found dead in canal
A male delivery rider was arrested in connection with the dead transwoman found in a canal in Pathum Thani province yesterday and charged with murder. If found guilty he could face the death penalty. The identity of the transwoman’s body, which was found in the Song Canal yesterday, was confirmed as 29 year old Piyada Sorrakun. Her mobile phone, a…
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Tourists and seagulls flock to each other at a sandbar in central Thailand
Tourists and seagulls are flocking to each other at a sandbar in central Thailand. At Don Hoi Lot, a sandbar in Samut Songkhram province, crowds of excited tourists are gathering to feed the birds fried chicken and pork skins from 5pm until sunset. Hundreds of seagulls arrived at Don Hoi Lot late last month, according to locals. Tourists are excited…
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Drivers advised to check cars after faulty Takata airbags cause 3 deaths in Thailand
Car drivers in Thailand are being advised to check their airbags after three Thai people were killed and another three were seriously injured by faulty airbags from now-defunct Japanese automotive parts company Takata Corporation. This isn’t a new issue. The first defective airbag accident transpired in 2008 and since then 32 known fatalities have been recorded causing over 100 million…
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Builder dies after pulling grinding wheel out of his chest in eastern Thailand
A builder died from blood loss today after pulling a grinding wheel out of his chest in Chon Buri province in eastern Thailand. He tried to use the tool to cut steel when it is designed to cut stone, causing the wheel to snap and fly straight into his chest. At around 12pm, officers at Nong Kham Police Station were…
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China’s Covid numbers hit record high
The number of Covid-19 cases in China has hit a record high, major news outlets reported today. Yesterday, the country recorded 31,527 cases while Beijing recorded its fourth Covid-related death since last weekend. China’s previous Covid peak had been around 28,000 cases when Shanghai was locked down. Virus cases are being recorded in 31 provinces. Officials have tried to avoid…
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Another Tinder crypto-scammer arrested
Police have arrested another Tinder crypto-scammer, the seventh member of a gang of fraudsters who allegedly dupe people into investing in a fake cryptocurrency scheme using fake profiles on dating apps. Chinese national Baoxun Zhan, 35 years old, was arrested outside the government complex on Chaeng Wattana Road in Thung Song Hong on Wednesday. Zhan will face charges of collusion…
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3 children aged 8 escape a school kidnapping plot in Thailand
Three children in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat escaped a school kidnapping plot. Two suspects, a man and a woman, entered a schoolyard in the Thung Song district of Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand and tried to snatch three eight year old children. The children, one girl and two boys, told the police and their parents that…
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Motorbike passenger almost decapitated by fallen cable in Bangkok, Thailand
A young Thai man is badly injured after colliding with a hanging cable on a busy road in Bangkok, Thailand. He said he would have been decapitated had he and his friend been driving any faster. Yesterday, he took to Facebook to seek justice after being seriously injured by a hanging cable in Bangkok’s Soi Lad Phrao 101 on Tuesday,…
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Man dies trying to eat a coconut in central Thailand
A Thai man died trying to retrieve a coconut from a palm tree at his home in Samut Sakhon province in central Thailand on Tuesday. Officers from Krathum Baen Police Station and rescue workers from the Ruan Katanyu Foundation travelled to a home in Moo 11 in Om Noi subdistrict to investigate the death of 45 year old Sunthorn from…
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Myanmar junta’s release of political prisoners may not be indicative of a changing mindset
Myanmar’s National Unity Government foreign minister is warning the international community over the recent military’s release of 402 political inmates. Daw Zin Mar Aung’s warning contradicted the ASEAN special envoy for Myanmar’s embracement of the act by saying such a move cannot be regarded as a change in the junta’s mindset. “I would like to warn the international community not…
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Blaze guts foreigner’s car in Phuket
A blaze gutted a foreigner’s car in Phuket’s main city district on Tuesday night. Koh Kaew firefighters rushed to the scene on Number 3013 Road to find the car engulfed in flames. It took the firefighters about 10 minutes to bring the blaze under control. The car was destroyed, but luckily the driver escaped uninjured. The cause of the fire…
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656 people arrested for illegal World Cup betting
The Royal Thai Police (RTP) have had a ball this week cracking down on illegal FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar football betting. During the first week of the tournament, the RTP arrested 656 Thai people for hosting or joining illegal football betting platforms, seizing nearly 200,000 baht from croupiers. The Assistant to the Commissioner-General of the RTP, Phanurat Lakboon, yesterday…
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Thai pro car racer fined 1,000 baht for writing-off Ferrari worth 25 million baht in Bangkok
A skilled professional car racer faces a 1,000 baht fine after smashing a friend’s precious red Ferrari worth 25 million baht (US$695,000) into a tree in Bangkok yesterday. The driver, Nawin “Gaga” Yasri, was sent to hospital with a back injury while the expensive car is a write-off. An officer from Don Mueng Police Station rushed to Phahonyothin Road in…
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Wild elephant electrocuted to death in eastern Thailand
A wild elephant was electrocuted to death at a jackfruit plantation in the middle of the jungle in Chachoengsao province in eastern Thailand yesterday. A farmer installed electric wires around his farm to prevent his jackfruit from being stolen by elephants. At 1pm yesterday, officers at Tha Thakiab Police Station were informed that a wild male elephant was found dead…
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Singapore cruise ship arrives to sample Patong’s delights
A cruise ship from Singapore anchored off Patong yesterday morning, bringing 3,000 passengers for a brief visit to the jewel in Phuket’s crown of insalubrity. The Genting Dream, owned by Resorts World Cruises, arrived around dawn. The ship is on a five-day cruise out of Singapore and had stopped at Penang in Malaysia before arriving in Phuket, so passengers obviously…
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Dead body of unidentified transwoman found in canal near Bangkok
A local fisherman found the dead body of a transwoman floating in a canal in Pathum Thani province near Bangkok. Her identity is unknown. Officers from Klong Luang Police Station were notified of the dead body in Song Canal in the Klong Luang district of Pathum Thani yesterday at 2pm. The body was spotted floating under a wooden house along…
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Thai visitors to Japan up fourfold
Thai visitors to Japan are up 26,000. The number of Thai people holidaying in Japan increased from 7,600 in September to 34,000 this month as Japan ended its Covid-19 restrictions and eased visa rules. At least a million Thais are expected to visit in 2023. President of the Thai-Japan Tourist Association Anake Srishevachart expects Japan to welcome more than 100,000…
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Keeping it ‘reel’ as giant catfish season casts of in Thailand
Local fishermen were keeping it “reel” this week as the annual giant catfish catching season cast off at the Kaeng Krachan Dam in Phetchaburi province in the central part of Thailand. Giant catfish season in Thailand lasts two months and the nation’s fishermen are allowed to set their reels going from November 20 to January 20. But it isn’t open…
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Walmart manager commits deadly shooting in US
A Walmart manager committed a deadly shooting in the US. The gunman, 31 year old Andre Bing, shot and killed six people and injured six others on Tuesday before turning the gun on himself. The incident happened in the break room of a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia. Survivors said the gunman walked into a break room and opened fire. One…
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Thailand bans recreational use of cannabis inside cafes
Cannabis shops and cafes in Thailand are no longer allowed to let customers smoke the plant recreationally on the premises anymore. On-site consumption of cannabis for medical purposes is still permitted if the cannabis is sold by a medical practitioner. The announcement was made in the Royal Gazette yesterday and is effective immediately. The announcement states that the Ministry of…
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Elon Musk sees net worth plummet by US$100 billion after Tesla shares hit record low
Elon Musk has reportedly seen his fortune cut by over US$100 billion this year, but he is still the richest person in the world. According to Fortune, the CEO of Tesla has a net worth of between US$170 billion to $182 billion, edging him slightly ahead of Bernard Arnault, the founder of luxury goods giant LVMH. Arnault reportedly has a…
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Ukraine accuses Russia of ‘terror and murder’ after missile strike kills newborn baby
Ukraine’s president is accusing his Russian counterpart of bringing “terror and murder” to his country after an alleged Russian missile strike killed a newborn baby. The missile hit a maternity unit in the Ukrainian town of Vilnyansk in the country’s southern Zaporizhzhia region. The only woman in the facility was the baby’s mother who was rescued from the building along…
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Thailand’s Public Health Minister vows to keep weed legal if he stays in office
Thailand’s Public Health Minister is vowing to keep weed free and legal so long as he stays in office. Anutin Charnvirakul told advocates for the plant that the possibility of cannabis being re-criminalised would not be possible if he is voted into office again. Anutin has been credited with starting the weed revolution in Thailand, and he continues to support…
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One-third of adult Thai citizens applied for welfare
Applications for welfare have seen a huge jump, with 22 million Thai people requesting a state welfare card in the latest round of registration. That massive figure equates to about one-third of the entire adult population of Thailand. It is a huge jump from the current 13.5 million people now carrying welfare cards in the country. The figures come after…
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Hotel loan program extended through June 2023
Hotels trying to recover from closing down for the Covid-19 pandemic are getting a little extra financial help. The Thai Cabinet has decided to extend low-interest soft loans until June 2023. The loans were created to help hotels address property repairs after many opted to close when customers dried up because the borders closed amid the pandemic. The announcement was…
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Police go after transgender sex workers, urge them not to damage Pattaya’s tourism image
Police are going after Pattaya’s transgender sex workers. Last night, a team of Pattaya Police and Tourist Police inspected Beach Road, arrested 36 suspected transgender sex workers, and took them to the station for identity recording. The inspection’s leader, Police Lieutenant Colonel Pitchaya Khiaoplueng, stressed to the suspects that they could not loiter on the beach and offer sexual services…
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FIFA warns Thailand World Cup broadcast will be cut off after illegal access spotted
The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) urged Thailand to tighten its security system on its FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 broadcast after the kingdom’s transmission access was spotted being used in other countries. FIFA warned Thailand that its broadcast will be cut off if the country cannot follow its rules and tighten its security problems. The Sports Authority of…
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Alleged Chinese drug tycoon married to Thai policewoman surrenders to police
Chinese businessman “Tuhao,” wanted on drug charges in Thailand, surrendered to police today after they raided his mansion in Bangkok this morning. The accused is married to a high-ranking Thai police officer who works for the foreign affairs division. Yesterday, Southern Bangkok Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Chaiyanat “Tuhao” Kornchayanant for “conspiring to commit drug offences and possessing…
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Airlines argue that flights only need one pilot
If we’ve learned anything from Elon Musk’s tumultuous slash-and-burn takeover of Twitter it’s that gutting essential workers can wreak havoc on a business. Or many in the airline industry have learned nothing. Airlines and international regulatory agencies are calling for the International Civil Aviation Organization to drop the requirement of two pilots per flight. They argue that commercial flights can…
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Man crashes car into elephant at Khao Yai National Park
A Thai man risks a charge of violating the National Park Act after he crashed his sedan into an elephant at Khao Yai National Park in the central province of Nakhon Nayok. The driver was hurt in the collision and sent to Pak Chong Nana Hospital to have his injuries looked at. Officers reported that they are still looking for…
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