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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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Managing blacktip reef sharks in Maya Bay, Thailand
The National Parks Department of Thailand aims to enhance the management of the country’s popular tourist conservation areas following the return of blacktip reef sharks to Maya Bay. Maya Bay was closed for four years, from 2018 to 2022, to facilitate the recovery of the island’s wildlife. The bay’s popularity surged after the release of the 2000 movie The Beach,…
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Tourists in Thailand urged to download ‘Tourist Police i lert u’ app
Foreign tourists in Thailand are advised to download the app “Tourist Police i lert u” which they can use to quickly and conveniently contact the police in case of an emergency, according to government spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek. Not to be confused with the Thai version of the app, “police i lert u,” the tourist version of the app is available…
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British and Korean men arrested for robbing cannabis shop in Pattaya
Officers from Mueng Pattaya Police Station arrested a British and Korean man yesterday after they stole 175,000 baht from a cannabis shop in Pattaya on Saturday. Another suspect, an Irishman, is being questioned by police under suspicion of being involved in the robbery. The two thieves were identified as 47 year old Englishman Markus Powell and 52 year old Korean…
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Thai Airways accused of favouring foreign passengers over Thais
A Thai passenger who recently flew from Paris to Bangkok in Thai Airways business class accused the airline of favouring foreign passengers over Thais after a flight attendant provided services exclusively to a foreign passenger. The attendant told the Thai man that the foreigner was a Gold Status member. Thai consultant doctor Watcharaphol Alexandre Kamnerdsiri, who works in Brussels, Belgium,…
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Thailand set to be the location of White Lotus season III
The location for the next series of the award-winning HBO drama White Lotus is Thailand, according to Variety magazine. Series creator, writer, and director Mike White was seen in Thailand at a Four Seasons location late last year setting media tongues wagging that the Land of Smiles would be the destination for series three of the gripping drama. Series one…
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Countdown to ADB’s SEADS 2023: Imagining a Net Zero ASEAN
The Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS) is back! With the theme, “Imagining a Net-Zero ASEAN,” SEADS 2023 promises to be a dynamic gathering for anyone interested in sustainability and climate action. The event is scheduled to take place on 30 March at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua in Bali, Indonesia. It will convene thought leaders and climate action advocates from…
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158 illegal Thai workers in South Korea arrested at Thai singer concert
Police arrested 158 illegal Thai workers in South Korea after they visited two restaurants to attend concerts of a well-known Thai singer. Following the incident, the singer expressed her remorse and posted an apology video on TikTok. Chutima Sodapak, also known as Arm Chutima, was performing in concerts at two bars in Incheon City, South Korea. During her first performance,…
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Indian man overstays visa in Thailand by 2,048 days
Immigration police arrested an Indian national in Chon Buri province, eastern Thailand, found to have overstayed his visa by 2,048 days (more than five and a half years). Police believe he is part of a call centre gang, reports KhaoSod. The police stopped 38 year old Jatinder Singh – who resides in the Na Jomtien area of Sattahip district –…
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Aussie man and Thai wife say politicians’ letter saved them from death penalty in Thailand
A free Aussie man and his Thai wife who spent four years in prison in Thailand for a crime they did not commit say that a 15-page letter from politicians in Australia is the reason they were spared the death penalty after being convicted of trafficking half a tonne of crystal meth in 2018. Luke Cook, his wife Kanyarat Wechapitak and…
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Motorists in Thailand warned to pay outstanding fines this week or else!
Motorists in Thailand have been warned that they will not receive their annual vehicle registration tax sticker if they have outstanding traffic fines by this weekend. The government today announced that motorists have until Saturday, April 1 to settle any unpaid traffic fines otherwise they will not receive their annual vehicle registration tax sticker to display on their windshields. Furthermore,…
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10 people injured after drunk crashes car into ordination ceremony
A drunk driver crashed his car into an ordination ceremony at a temple in the central province of Lopburi on Saturday because of an alleged grievance with the event host. Ten people were injured at the scene with two suffering serious injuries. Officers from Koke Samrong Police Station and the Koke Samrong Hospital rescue team rushed to the Khao Saphan…
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Government addresses public complaints
Here’s a story for the comments section. Got a complaint? The government is listening… probably. The Cabinet recently addressed the complaints submitted by the public and feedback submitted to state agencies and enterprises during the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year. And while it often feels like complaints to higher authorities fall on deaf ears, the government claim that…
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People in Thailand spend too much time on their backsides, a new report reveals
People in Thailand spend too much time sitting on their backsides, a new study reveals. The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) revealed that 76% of Thai people spend seven hours or more sitting down, underlining the need for the nation’s population to get off their arses and engage in more physical activity to improve their health and wellbeing. MOPH director-general…
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Police thwart attempt to pull 176 million from bank account
A Cambodian national has been arrested by police in Bangkok for using a fake passport to obtain a new bank passbook. The passbook is believed to be for a bank account with 176 million baht in savings, which is thought to belong to a call centre gang. The police were alerted to the situation on March 24 when it was…
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Frenchman lost in Thailand forest has been found
UPDATE The missing Frenchman lost in the forest around Khao Eto Mountain in Prachin Buri province in central Thailand was found this morning. The search party scoured the forests all night for Sierra Gamache – who NationTV reports as 73 years old and not 70 years old as reported by DailyNews – after he got lost on his way down the…
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Pervy man caught on CCTV sniffing woman’s underwear and licking her shoes
A Thai woman in the southern province of Songkhla filed a complaint with the police after a CCTV camera captured footage of a perverted man climbing over a wall into her house, sniffing her underwear and licking her shoes before leaving. The 28 year old victim, Raenu, posted videos of the incident on a Facebook group named HATYAIZ to warn residents…
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Thai man sets ‘high’ score for fastest joint roller at Phuket’s Cannabis Cup
As cannabis remains one of the nation’s hottest political issues in Thailand prior to the election in May, one Thai man won 5,000 baht for rolling a perfect one-gramme joint in just 43 seconds at the first-ever Cannabis Cup in Phuket on Saturday, reports Reuters. Hailed the fastest joint roller in all of Phuket, 30 year old Phuketian Ativat Janmuangthai won…
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Online pranksters warned they could face time in jail ahead of April Fool’s Day
The Royal Thai Police issued a warning to online pranksters ahead of April Fool’s Day that their tomfoolery could land them in jail and a heavy fine. The Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) urged the nation’s natural jokers to be careful that their shenanigans on April Fool’s Day, also known as “Wan Dek Foo” in Thailand, do not break the…
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The floating football field of the Andaman Sea
The Andaman Sea is home to one of the most incredible sporting achievements in the world – a floating football field. Located on the island of Koh Panyi, the field was built by local children in 1986 using wooden planks and nails. The field is the only one of its kind in the world, and its history is one of…
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Sukhumvit bar owner threatens tourists with gun
While there’s no surefire way to choose which bar is good and which one is bad in the lively nightlife area of Sukhumvit in Bangkok, maybe one where the owner flaunts his gun on social media all the time isn’t the best choice. A foreign tourist in Bangkok has reported being threatened with a shotgun by the owner of a…
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Thailand weather forecast: Hot and stormy
Much of Thailand can expect hot weather and summer storms in the next 24 hours, with temperatures hitting highs of 39 degrees Celsius in Bangkok, according to the Meteorological Department. Northern Thailand is expected to be hot and hazy today. In Chiang Mai, the air quality index (AQI) was measured at a ‘very unhealthy’ 220 this morning, 33.9x higher than…
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Man throws 10 year old boy into Chon Buri reservoir, victim drowns
A man has been accused of throwing a 10 year old boy into a reservoir in Chon Buri causing him to drown. The suspect’s grandmother, however, does not believe the accusation, adding that her grandson suffers from mental health problems and would not hurt a fly. The incident happened at Huay Shark Nork Reservoir on the Tung Klom-Tarn Man Road…
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Huneety releases solution for talent shortage
Press Release Huneety is a regional HRtech startup headquartered in Bangkok and founded by 2 French entrepreneurs, Simon Carvi, Co-Founder & CEO and Vianney d’Hostel, Co-Founder & COO. Huneety is the combination of “H” for Humans and the word “Unity”. Huneety was born in late 2021 from the acute talent shortage in Southeast Asia, a phenomenon that is expected to…
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Not all trips to a police station in Thailand end in tragedy, with some there’s a happy ending
Heard the joke about the police officer in Thailand offering massages, soothing herbal sweets and a cold drink instead of a cuff around the ear and a night in the slammer? No? Well, that’s because it’s not a joke. A visit to a police station in Thailand is usually a daunting exercise for most whether you’ve committed a crime, filed…
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Thai vendor banks 10,000 baht on a traditional Thai pattern pancake
A skilled pancake vendor at Srinagarindra Train Night Market in Bangkok who created a magnificent piece of art from a pancake managed to bank 10,000 baht. Shop owner and pancake artist extraordinaire, Wiwat “Singto” Janecharoen, posted a video of a pancake with a traditional Thai pattern on the shop’s TikTok account, nirinartyummy. In the caption he wrote… “More detailed than…
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Tourist spots dead body near Pattaya park
A tourist spotted a dead body near a Pattaya park yesterday. Rescuers were alerted of the discovery of the decaying body at around 6pm. The body was found near a park on Soi Chaiyaphruek 4 in the Bang Lamung district. The dead man was not carrying any identification documents. He was wearing a blue shirt, shorts, and sandals. Officers said the…
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3 police in northeast Thailand arrested for taking bribe to free drug suspect
Three police officers in Thailand‘s northeast Kalasin province were arrested on charges of soliciting a bribe to free a drug suspect. The crooked cops were officers at Mueang Kalasin Police Station. Police launched a sting operation to bust the crooked cops after ‘A,’ the sister of the drug suspect, reported that the crooked cops had contacted her and demanded 500,000…
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Phuket scumbag allegedly rapes teenage girl he contacted online
A Phuket scumbag allegedly raped a teenage girl he contacted online. The victim’s parents told Thalang Police that the suspect, 24 year old Sumet, raped their 17 year old daughter, The Phuket Express reported yesterday. The parents said that Sumet contacted their daughter on Facebook and flirted with her. Sumet then came to their house when he knew that they…
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Following Chinese ransom case, Big Joke says Pattaya expats will be closely scrutinised
Assistant Commissioner of Police Surachate Hakparn, also known as “Big Joke,” says that expats in Pattaya will be scrutinised closely as part of Operation X-Ray. This news follows the recent case in which a Chinese woman was abducted in Pattaya as she went to get her child from school, and gangsters demanded 1 million yuan (4.7 million baht) in ransom.…
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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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