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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.
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Sponsored Long-term life in Thailand? 5 reasons private health insurance pays off in the long run
Thailand is a great place for expats and retirees, offering a warm climate, affordable living, and rich culture. However, healthcare can be tricky for foreigners since they aren’t eligible for public health coverage, and private care can be expensive. Private...
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St. Andrews International School, Green Valley, proud to achieve globally recognised Green Flag award
Sponsored St. Andrews International School, Green Valley in Rayong, is a proud recipient of the globally-recognised environmental award, the Green Flag Eco-Schools Award. The Green Flag, awarded by the WWF and part of the world’s largest sustainable schools’ programme, is the highest possible Eco-Schools award, recognising and celebrating the ecological achievements of young people within schools. It acknowledges St Andrews…
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Fireworks cancelled at Pattaya’s New Year event
Pattaya’s three-day New Year event from December 29-31 at Bali Hai Pier is still going ahead but there will be no fireworks at all this year, even on the countdown into the New Year. Concerts and street food stalls will be available to enjoy as normal. Facebook page Pattaya City Mayor Hotline (สายตรงนายกเมืองพัทยา) posted about the cancellation of the annual fire…
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UN urges Asian countries to save starving Rohingyas adrift at sea
The UN is calling on Asian countries to save almost 200 starving Rohingya refugees adrift at sea. The group of desperate Rohingyas has been adrift in the Indian ocean for the past month. The boat’s exact location is unclear. But as of Wednesday, the boat was near the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of…
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Monkey steals bag containing 50,000 Thai baht and throws it off a cliff
A trouble-making monkey in Srisaket province, northeast Thailand, stole a tourist’s tote bag and launched it off the side of a cliff yesterday after finding nothing edible inside it. A team of park rangers scaled down the cliffside to retrieve the bag, which contained 50,000 baht (US$1,438) in cash. Park rangers at Khao Phra Wihan National Park received a call from…
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Southern Thai woman caught with 70 bizarre animal carcasses
Police arrested a woman from Songkhla province in southern Thailand for selling protected wildlife carcasses as ingredients for “exotic dishes.” Officers seized nearly 70 animal carcasses including monitor lizards, pangolins, langur monkeys, squirrels, mouse-deers, and civets. Yesterday, the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Division was tipped off that a passenger was carrying protected wildlife on a train from Sukirin district in…
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Bangkok tops list of trending Airbnb destinations this year
Thailand’s capital topped a list of trending Airbnb destinations in 2022. Based on searches made in the first to third quarters of the year for check-ins, Bangkok was the #1 most trending destination for Airbnb guests across the globe. The entire list is as follows: Bangkok, Thailand Sydney, Australia Málaga, Spain Seoul, South Korea Melbourne, Australia Itapema, Brazil Angra dos…
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Malaysia or China? Thai court to decide if Teddy goes home
A Thai court is to decide on whether to extradite Malaysian businessman Teow Wooi Huat (“Teddy”) to Malaysia or China, after Malaysia filed an extradition request. Malaysia’s extradition request was heard by the Bangkok Criminal Court on Thursday. Wary of what might happen if his client is sent to China, Teow’s counsel Juti Suanraksa said the defence team would be…
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Village chief survives accidentally shooting himself while driving in central Thailand
Somehow, a village chief accidentally shot himself in the leg and hand while driving through Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province in central Thailand yesterday. He tried to drive himself to the hospital but ended up crashing into a temple. At 12.22am, officers from Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Police Station received a report of a car accident at Phra Si Sanphet…
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Accused Bangkok fraudster attempts to flee justice
A defendant in a fraud case attempted to escape justice yesterday when he fled from Bangkok’s Criminal Court. Prasit Jiewkok’s comedy attempt to flee was foiled by police and corrections officials who captured him after he left the building.With the help of accomplices, Prasit changed out of his prison clothes in a courtroom toilet. Prasit is on trial with eight…
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Charities and leaders treat Pattaya kids to Christmas party
Generous people in Pattaya are in the holiday spirit of giving. Local leaders and charities treated kids in Pattaya’s Khopai community to a Christmas party on Tuesday. Soi Khopai is located in the Bang Lamung district. The children got to eat yummy food, play games, and win prizes. Santa Clause made an appearance at the party, gifting children candy, toys,…
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Could Thailand’s Southeast Coastal Gem Khanom Be the Next Koh Samui?
The search for the next big resort destination in Thailand is an absolutely big ask. An expansive country with 77 provinces and an amazing array of diverse geographical locations, Instagram-worthy aspects, and distinctly different nuances. Out of this brazen travel chaos, the endearing term ‘same same, but different’ was born and remains highly relevant. Yet, one of the simple truths…
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Jealous Thai husband strangles wife and sleeps next to her body all night
A drunk Thai man strangled his wife and slept next to her dead body on Tuesday night in Udon Thani province in northeast Thailand. He said he didn’t know she was dead. At 10am on Wednesday, officers from Mueang Udon Thani Police Station were notified that a husband killed his wife at a construction workers’ residence in Kak Khaeng district.…
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Thai man exchanges fake US dollar bills for baht at two banks in Thailand
Yesterday, police arrested a Thai man in Pattaya who successfully exchanged fake US dollar bills for Thai baht at two banks in Thailand. The suspect said he was paid 2.5% of the cut to commit the crime. Police seized 759 counterfeit US dollar bills upon arresting 54 year old Nawat Singhawak in Chon Buri province’s Bang Lamung district yesterday. First,…
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Taxi driver killed in railway crossing crash in Bangkok, Thailand
A taxi drove through the barrier and was struck by a train at a railway crossing in Bangkok early this morning. The taxi driver was instantly killed in the crash. Officers at Thung Song Hung Police Station received a report early this morning of a train crashing into a public taxi at the railway crossing opposite the North Park Intersection in…
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Injured and detained journalists sentenced to three years plus labour in Myanmar jail
The Myanmar junta has reportedly sentenced two journalists to prison plus labour, along with seven anti-coup protesters. Myanmar Press Photo Agency journalists Ko Kaung Sett Lin and Ma Hmue Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun were arrested on December 5 after junta forces allegedly rammed a military vehicle into a peaceful flash-mob protest in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing Township. According to the Irrawaddy,…
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Self-proclaimed inventor of iconic chicken tikka masala cuisine dies at 77
The self-proclaimed inventor of the iconic chicken tikka masala dish has died at the age of 77. The Glasgow chef, Ahmed Aslam Ali, previously claimed that he invented the dish by creating the sauce from a can of tomato soup. He owned a restaurant called Shish Mahal in the 1970s, which his nephew says, became his life. “He would eat…
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Thai university student sentenced to prison on royal defamation charges
A Thai university student has been reportedly sentenced to prison on royal defamation charges. Aukit Santiprasitkul, 23, a Ramkhamhaeng University Faculty of Law student was charged with royal defamation and breaking into data on a computer system. The charges allege that the hacking of the computer system affects national security under the Computer Crimes Act, which is the same act…
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Druggie bites police officer who caught him stealing electricity in southern Thailand
A man high on drugs bit a police officer’s arm while under arrest for stealing electricity in Krabi province in southern Thailand yesterday afternoon. The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) were informed of some suspicious wires leading into the house of 31 year old Natthaphong in Krabi’s Tap Prik subdistrict. Natthaphong managed to tap into the PEA’s electricity for free by…
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Pink lilies pull hundreds of thousands of tourists to northeast Thailand lake
Flowers are still springing up across Thailand, drawing tourists to admire them. The latest flower hotspot in Thailand to have tourists come flocking is Nong Han Kumphawapi, known as Thailand’s ‘Pink Water Lilies Lake.’ The lake is located in the northeast province of Udon Thani. The chairman of the lake’s tourism boat enterprise, Paisit Sukrome, told Thai media the lilies…
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Kindergarten students save up to buy blankets for the needy in northern Thailand
Kindergarten students in Chiang Rai province in northernmost Thailand saved up one baht every day for a year to buy blankets for people suffering in the cold weather this winter, especially those living at high altitudes in the province’s mountainous regions. Teachers at Chiang Rai Kindergarten invited students to join a charitable project entitled “Doing 89 Million Good Deeds for…
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Thai police arrest 4 men for making homemade guns and selling them online
In a sting operation, Royal Thai Police officers posed as customers to crack an illegal gun network in Thailand. Police arrested four men for illegally making homemade guns and selling them online. Initially, police seized guns and other weapons from a gang of vocational college students who were arrested for fighting. When police found out the youngsters purchased the weapons…
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Teen brutally stabs other teens with scissors in Phuket fight
In a brutal fight in Phuket this week, a teen attacked a group of other teens with a pair of scissors near a school in the main city district on Monday. The suspect is a 16 year old boy, while his victims are 14-17 years old. Thai media reported that a group of teens went to meet the attacker at a…
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Rescued baby elephant dies of injuries
Thanwa, the rescued baby elephant that was being treated at Bueng Chawak Zoo in Suphan Buri, died when her condition deteriorated on Tuesday evening. Residents of Khao Chot, in Kanchanaburi province, found Thanwa injured and separated from her herd following rain and floods. The baby elephant was just one month old when she was injured after losing her herd in…
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Forest ranger and 4 locals arrested for illegal logging in northeast Thailand
Yesterday, police arrested a forest ranger – whose duty is to protect the forest – and four of his friends for illegal logging in Khon Kaen province in northeast Thailand. The gang cut down protected and valuable species such as Siamese rosewood and Burmese padauk. The police’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD) recently travelled to Khon Kaen’s Nong Ruea district…
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Yell BKK launched ONETOUCH’s special edition package, ‘Amulet of Protection’
Press Release Thailand ranks 2nd in teen pregnancy among other ASEAN countries, and this doesn’t include STDs. ONETOUCH, a Thai condom brand, wants to take part in minimizing the problems by helping recap how to use condoms correctly in an unforgettable way. Beliefs, amulets, wish-washes, and Thai people are inseparable with no gender or age in between. That’s why there…
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‘Rescued’ scammers return home from Cambodia
The group of seven ‘rescued’ scammers who returned home from Cambodia had begged, live on air, to be rescued from a different set of scammers – this time Cambodian / Chinese. The two men and five women crossed the border in Sa Kaeo’s Aranyaprathet district on Tuesday evening, escorted by Thai embassy staff and Cambodian security officials. Only four had…
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Aussie caught with gun at Thailand’s Samui Airport claims self-defence
An Australian man, who was caught with a firearm and 96 rounds of ammunition at Samui Airport in Surat Thani province, southern Thailand, claims he was carrying the weaponry in self-defence. Yesterday, 41 year old Mark Bassett of Australian nationality attempted to smuggle a “gun-like object,” in separate pieces, and plenty of ammunition through security at Samui Airport on Thailand’s…
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Thailand creates new department to tackle climate change
Thailand has created a new department to tackle climate change. The new department, named the Department of Climate Change and Environment, aims to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2065. The new department is responsible for proposing and developing strategies, plans, and programmes on climate change and greenhouse gas reduction as agreed at the COP26 meeting. The ministry of Natural Resources…
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UN Security Council adopts long-awaited resolution on Myanmar crisis
The United Nations Security Council has adopted a long-awaited resolution to the crisis in Myanmar. The Council called for Myanmar’s junta to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a famous political prisoner whose democratically-elected party was ousted from power by the military in February 2021. The 15-member council has been divided on the situation in Myanmar for decades and has…
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Thai PM’s secretary-general appointment may be questioned in debate over political ethics
Thailand’s PM Prayut Chan-o-cha may be grilled in a debate over ethics concerning his secretary-general’s appointment. The opposition is reportedly planning to hold a general debate shortly after the New Year as it focuses on what it describes as the unethical appointment of the new secretary-general. Pheu Thai Party leader, Cholnan Srikaew, told the Bangkok Post, that the opposition is…
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