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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The 5 most common travel emergencies in Thailand and how to be prepared
Thailand is a popular destination known for its dynamic culture, stunning beaches, and bustling cities however, travellers can face unexpected travel emergencies that include medical issues, road accidents, petty theft, and natural disasters. To ensure a safe and enjoyable trip,...
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Europeans lost in Koh Pha Ngan forest found by tourist police
An emergency rescue party managed to find two missing tourists lost in a Koh Phan Gan forest after receiving an emergency call last night. Koh Pha Ngan Tourist Police received a call on their 1155 emergency hotline at about 8pm last night from a Spanish man and a Belarussian woman saying they were lost and couldn’t find a way back…
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Mountain B fire death toll rises to 16
The Mountain B tragedy continues as another person injured in the fire dies in hospital. A 23 year old man identified as Sittichai Ouilert died at Chon Buri hospital at 10.21pm yesterday, after he was caught in the fire which swept through a Chon Buri nightclub on Thursday night. A total of 13 people died at the scene in the…
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MRT says Bangkok won’t suffer any Seoul-type metro flooding
The Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRT) insists passengers don’t have to worry about any South Korea-type flooding because each station is designed to cope with floods and emergencies. Seoul, and its surrounding areas, suffered the heaviest rainfall in 80 years on Monday, August 8. Several roads and metro stations in the capital were under water causing multiple power cuts…
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Exiled Sri Lanka president expected to arrive in Thailand tomorrow
After angry mobs of protesters drove him out of Sri Lanka and into exile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is now planning to seek safe harbor in Thailand. According to two sources, he’s expected to arrive tomorrow after taking up temporary residence in Singapore for the past few weeks. Last month, party leaders in Sri Lanka met and agreed to ask both…
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StyleCation: Latest TAT campaign aims at young domestic tourists
Forget the staycation and the workcation, “StyleCation” is the hot new awkward portmanteau the Tourism Authority of Thailand is pushing to attract visitors. The TAT has recruited top actors/singers Krit “PP” Amnuaydechkorn and Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul to promote a new campaign aimed at getting Thai people traveling around the country. “Amazing Thailand StyleCation with PP and Billkin” is the newest…
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Thailand to consider Chinese engines for S26T Yuan submarine
The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) yesterday revealed it is considering buying Chinese-made engines for the S26T Yuan-class submarine after complications in purchasing the said technology from Germany. Thailand originally turned down the offer of using Chinese-made engines for the Chinese submarine the Thai Government approved to buy in 2017 in favour of using German-made engines. But since the German government…
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Tropical storm ‘Mulan’ to hit several provinces of Thailand between August 11-13
Tropical storm “Mulan” which started at 4am this morning in the upper South China Sea is headed for Thailand, according to the Meteorological Department. The storm is travelling at 20 kilometres per hour and is expected to hit China’s Hainan island first, then Vietnam and then arrive in Thailand as soon as tomorrow. As a result, northern Thailand and some…
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Pattaya’s tourist buses are back at the floating market, but missing Chinese
Now that many of Thailand’s Covid-19 restrictions have eased, tourists are boarding buses to Pattaya once again. Tour buses were back at the Pattaya Floating Market earlier this week. While there were several Indian and Vietnamese tourists on the busses, the buses were missing a group that once played a major role in Thailand’s tourism market- the Chinese. One boat…
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Whale shark washed up on a Krabi beach in Thailand
The carcass of a male whale shark washed up on Long Beach on Koh Lanta Island yesterday in the southern province of Krabi. Officials made it known that this is a first for Krabi, no dead whale sharks had washed ashore before. The manager of the Sayang Beach Resort on Koh Lanta, Somboon Kaengraeg, spotted the dead whale shark and…
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Thailand introduces fine for not wearing seat belt in the back seat
Not wearing a seat belt in the back seat of a car in Thailand will soon be punishable by a 2,000 baht fine. The rule will come into effect 120 after its publication in the Royal Gazette on September 5, 2022. The Royal Gazette wrote the new rule into the Road Traffic Act (No.13) 2022, published on May 7. The…
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Baby’s birthday party turns violent in eastern Thailand
A baby’s birthday party turned violent in Thailand’s eastern province of Rayong between Monday night and Tuesday morning, in the main city district. A group of Cambodian fishery workers had reportedly thrown a party to celebrate one worker’s son turning three months old. At the party, one group of workers allegedly started drunkenly fighting the other. Two workers were stabbed…
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Thailand’s new narcotics laws offers drug offenders treatment
The Thai Cabinet yesterday introduced a new set of narcotics laws, downgrading a number of acts to give people a second chance if they have committed minor offences. Some drug offenders will be offered drug treatment instead of prosecution. Yesterday, the prime minister’s deputy spokeswoman, Traisuree Traisaranakun, reported that the Cabinet approved the new laws under the Narcotics Act. The…
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Thai stunt director released from Myanmar
A Thai stunt director who had been imprisoned since January by one of Myanmar’s ethnic armies has been released yesterday. The Burmese junta army captured the director, 40 year old Ramai Moriphan, known as ‘Khru Dan,’ when he travelled from Laos to Myanmar for a business trip on January 4. He and two friends had arrived in Myanmar’s Shan State…
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US’s Chips & Science Act good news for Thailand’s car industry
The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) made it known yesterday that they feared China’s trade embargo with Taiwan would affect business in Thailand, particularly in the automobile industry. The FTI said the car industry was anxious China would deny Taiwan the raw materials Thailand needed to make semiconductors that the Thai transportation business is dependent on. Those fears remain in…
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Man caught taking drugs inside a Bangkok police booth didn’t give a crap
You might think taking drugs inside a police booth toilet was a loo-dicrous idea. But a Thai man in the Tung Kru district in Bangkok didn’t give a crap and just rolled with it. A video of the man taking drugs in the police toilet went viral on Thai social media. It was posted on a local Facebook news page…
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Wife says boss of Mountain B in Pattaya is ‘not a villain’
The wife of the owner of the Mountain B nightclub tragedy in the Pattaya suburb of Sattahip where 15 people died in a blazing inferno insists that her husband is not a villain. Ponsgsiri Panprosong, who was released on 300,000 baht bail yesterday after appearing before the court on two counts of negligently causing the death of 15 people and…
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Thai minister insists minimum wage increase is not electioneering
The Labour Minister, Suchart Chomklin, insists the government’s promise to increase the minimum wage in Thailand by 5-8% this year is not electioneering. With an election due in March next year cynics could be forgiven in thinking it is a government ploy to buy or win votes. Suchart denies this is the case. The Labour Minister said the government is…
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Swedish Embassy hailed for giving 6-month parental leave to Thai staff
The Swedish Embassy in Bangkok was praised by Thai netizens after providing six months of parental leave with full salary to its Thai male staff. Yesterday, the Embassy of Sweden in Bangkok posted a story of a Thai embassy driver, Somchart Sucheephet, on Facebook revealing he receives the same welfare privileges as his Swedish counterparts. The embassy said… “It’s time…
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PM warns Thailand to brace itself for potential flooding
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha warned Thailand to brace itself for another deluge of water this month. The 68 year old PM ordered governors in provincial areas to prepare for potential flooding after weather forecasters predicted more heavy rainfall until the end of the month. Thailand witnessed a heavy taste of what is to come over the past 24 hours after…
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Local hero predicts building collapse, saves countless lives in eastern Thailand
A man from the Sattahip district in Chon Buri province saved countless lives on Saturday when he warned residents to quickly evacuate the precarious row of four townhouses on Soi Wat Noi road. The alert neighbour, 50 year old Saneh Wongpoon, heard creaking noises coming from his ceiling and noticed a part of the roof caving in. The row of…
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Thailand & China fighter jets take off on Falcon Strike drills
The Royal Thai Air Force yesterday reported it will resume a fighter jets exercise with China this weekend. The Falcon Strike exercise between Thailand and China was an annual event until it was postponed in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The drill has taken place four times since 2015 and takes flight once again on Sunday, August 14. It…
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Fans flock to free entry Pattaya Music Festival held every weekend of August
Tens of thousands of music fans are flocking to Pattaya Music Festival this month in the eastern province of Chon Buri. The festival is held every Friday and Saturday of the month at stages in several locations in Pattaya, kicking off at 5pm. Entry is free. Festival goers are more than ready to party after the festival was postponed in…
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Seoul sees worst floods in 80 years, 7 dead, 6 missing
Seoul and surrounding areas are inundated with water after one of the heaviest rain storms in 80 years hit the South Korean capital last night. At least seven people have died and at least six people are missing. At least five people died in Seoul and two others in neighbouring Gyeonggi province, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures…
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Innocent woman killed after high-speed race near Bangkok
The mindless driver of a pickup faces prison after an idiotic road race ended in the death of an innocent bystander. A woman was instantly killed after being hit by an out of control pickup as it embarked on some high jinks with another speeding car on a public road in Pathum Thani province near Bangkok. The 35 year old…
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Blaze at US office near German Embassy in Bangkok
A fire broke out last night at the US Security Assistance Organisation, or JUSMAGTHAI, on Sathorn Tai Road in Bangkok. The building is located near the German Embassy, but the office was reported to be safe from the blaze. Firefighters from Bonkai Fire and Rescue and Tung Mahamek Fire Station rushed to the scene at 7.35pm to suppress the blaze…
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Aussie man plunges to death from 17th floor of Pattaya hotel
A 41 year old Australian man fell to his death from the 17th floor of his hotel balcony in Pattaya yesterday. The man, believed to be Matthew Leigh Plant from Adelaide, checked into the View Talay 6 in central Pattaya just before 7am, and an hour later his body was found dead face down in the car park. Police and…
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Faulty wiring, poor construction, unsafe materials in Mountain B fire
As more details emerge on the horrific fire at the Mountain B Pub that took the lives of 15 victims with 38 more hospitalised, The Thaiger continues daily roundups of new developments. Yesterday’s can be found here (about the victims and owners) and here (about the response from authorities). Read on to learn about the construction issues and inspections, or…
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Mountain B: Owner out on bail, Bangkok club inspection, viral moment
As more details emerge on the horrific fire at the Mountain B Pub that took the lives of 15 victims with 38 more hospitalised, The Thaiger continues daily roundups of new developments. Read on to learn about authorities’ actions regarding the owner, other club inspections, and a viral moment, or click here to read about the construction issues and inspections. Owner…
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UPDATE: Sexy Thai model fined 5,000 baht for dancing topless in club
UPDATE: Thai model and DJ “Oil Kissyface” has been slapped with another 5,000 baht for more sexy antics. Oil was previously fined 5,000 baht under the Public Obscenity Act after a video of her dancing topless at a nightclub in Khon Kaen last week went viral on social media. After news of her fine caught the nation’s attention today, another…
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10 year old killed & 5 injured after pickup hits motorbike sidecar
A 10 year old child was tragically killed, and four children and a teenager were seriously injured after a pickup truck smashed into the children’s motorcycle sidecar in the Isaan province of Nong Bua Lamphu yesterday. Officers from the Si Boon Rueng Police Station were called to the scene of the accident on Nong Bua Lamphu – Chum Pare Road…
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