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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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    10 biggest challenges retirees face in Thailand (and how to overcome them)

    Retiring in Thailand comes with many benefits, like warm weather, affordable living, and a rich culture. However, it also brings challenges. Retirees must deal with visa rules, healthcare costs, language barriers, and cultural differences. Rising medical expenses, required insurance, and...

  • Over 4,000 healthcare workers in Thailand infected during Covid-19 pandemic

    Over 4,000 healthcare workers in Thailand infected during Covid-19 pandemic

    The Department of Disease Control says up to 4,270 Thai healthcare workers have contracted Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic in February 2020. According to a Thai PBS World report, 198 are doctors and 34 are medical students. Dr. Sumanee Wacharasint from the DDC says the remainder are nurses, assistant nurses, public health academics, health volunteers, housekeepers, laboratory technicians,…

  • PM digs in his heels, says he won’t quit while the country needs him

    PM digs in his heels, says he won’t quit while the country needs him

    The Thai PM says he’s not going anywhere and will remain in position at least until next year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, which Thailand is hosting. According to a Bangkok Post report, Prayut Chan-o-cha was responding to questions from reporters about the remainder of his 4-year term, which ends in March 2023. He says as long as the country needs…

  • Tourism recovery in Phang Nga still sluggish

    Tourism recovery in Phang Nga still sluggish

    Thailand may have re-opened but there’s little sign yet of any significant recovery in the southern province of Phang Nga. The Bangkok Post reports that most businesses in the tourist area of Khao Lak are still suffering. Despite the coastal resort being open for over 3 weeks now, there are only a handful of tourists in the region. Chayabol Hirankanokkul…

  • Blackpink’s Lisa tests positive for Covid-19

    Blackpink’s Lisa tests positive for Covid-19

    A Thai-born Lisa Manoban of the K-pop girl group “Blackpink” has been diagnosed with Covid-19, according to reports. A South Korean news outlet Daum said Lisa was diagnosed with the coronavirus today, and her management YG Entertainment was awaiting the results of RT-CPR tests performed on three other members of the group. BLACKPINK YG Thailand, a Facebook page founded by…

  • Ethiopia: Peace increasingly elusive as violence escalates

    Ethiopia: Peace increasingly elusive as violence escalates

    Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former soldier, arrived on the front lines of the ongoing Tigray conflict on Tuesday, according to a government spokesperson. No details have been given on his precise location Abiy’s decision is being widely interpreted as an attempt to mobilize Ethiopians in the fight against Tigray forces. “You could comment…

  • Afghanistan: What Taliban’s new media rules mean for female actors

    Afghanistan: What Taliban’s new media rules mean for female actors

    Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers unveiled a new set of restrictions on Afghan media on Sunday, banning television channels from showing dramas and soap operas featuring women actors. The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice — which replaced the Ministry of Women’s Affairs after the Islamic fundamentalist group seized power in the country in August — also told…

  • New Zealand sets to reopen to tourists from April 30, 2022

    New Zealand sets to reopen to tourists from April 30, 2022

    International travellers who have been fully vaccinated will be able to enter New Zealand starting April 30, 2022, with the reopening to be phased in over time, according to Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins, after two years of border shut down since March 2020. Fully vaccinated residents and Australians with a residence visa can travel to New Zealand starting January…

  • 60 more Burmese nationals arrested for illegal crossing of Thai border

    60 more Burmese nationals arrested for illegal crossing of Thai border

    A total of 60 Burmese nationals in three groups were detained yesterday after they reportedly crossed the Thailand border illegally through Muang and Sangkhla Buri districts, according to the police. In the morning, nine men and four women from Myanmar’s Dawei, Magway, Yangon, and Bago provinces, were arrested near Moo 15 village in tambon Ban Kao, who claimed to pay …

  • 40 million baht illegal online lending operation busted

    40 million baht illegal online lending operation busted

    An illegal lending business that raked in over 40 million baht in just 3 months by gouging people in desperate financial need with high-interest rates has been broken up. A Chinese man was arrested in Bangkok for running the loan shark operation online. The man identified by the Metropolitan Police Bureau as Jia Liew was arrested in Huai Khwang in…

  • DDC focuses on low vaccination provinces, finds people missing

    DDC focuses on low vaccination provinces, finds people missing

    As the Department of Disease Control focuses its strategy on getting everyone vaccinated and planning booster shots for next year, one problem has emerged for vaccinating people in provinces with low vaccination rates: they’re not there. As officials try to incentivise people to get vaccines, they are finding that in some provinces, unvaccinated people simple don’t actually live at their…

  • Iraq: IS returnees met with tolerance and distrust

    Iraq: IS returnees met with tolerance and distrust

    “It takes courage to talk about what happened, because it hurts so much,” says Sheikh Ahmed al-Muhairi. And yet, the 27-year-old leader believes it is important to have forgiveness and not rage influence his life. Four years after his father and four uncles were killed by the terror group “Islamic State,” he now welcomes tribal members in his refurnished reception…

  • Tourists and hotels warned about abuse of Covid-19 rules

    Tourists and hotels warned about abuse of Covid-19 rules

    The CCSA is dealing with complaints from locals, businesses, hotels and tourists about Covid-19 regulations not being followed. There has been a problem with tourists refusing to wear masks and follow Covid-19 safety regulations that are mandatory, and on the other side, hotels have been found to be not disclosing all Covid-19 related expenses in their booking cost, frustrating arriving…

  • Europe’s fight against coronavirus

    Europe’s fight against coronavirus

    The Netherlands: Unrest even in a soccer stadium Up until this past weekend, the Dutch soccer club SC Cambuur Leeuwarden was making the kinds of headlines everyone wants. The team got off to an excellent start in the country’s first league, and was about to host FC Utrecht for the week’s top match. That’s when unvaccinated supporters who were prohibited…

  • Wednesday Covid Update: 5,857 new cases; provincial totals

    Wednesday Covid Update: 5,857 new cases; provincial totals

    55 coronavirus-related deaths were reported by the CCSA today, raising the pandemic’s death toll in Thailand to 20,544 with 20,450 of those fatalities during the latest wave, which was first recorded on April 1. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA recorded 5,857 new Covid-19 cases and 7,318 recoveries. There are now 81,577 people in Thailand being…

  • Unvaccinated woman dies with Covid-19, neighbourhood tested

    Unvaccinated woman dies with Covid-19, neighbourhood tested

    A cluster of Covid-19 infections was found in a Bangkok neighbourhood in Sai Mai after a 30 year old woman collapsed and died in the street. The woman died yesterday and her post-mortem examination uncovered that she was infected with Covid-19. Of the 8 infections found, only the woman who died was unvaccinated. Health officials were sent to Phahonyothin Soi…

  • Thai documentary “Hope Frozen: A Quest To Live Twice” wins Emmy Award

    Thai documentary “Hope Frozen: A Quest To Live Twice” wins Emmy Award

    A documentary film about a story of a Thai family who cryogenically preserved their deceased two year old daughter in the hopes of bringing her back to life, won “best documentary” at the 49th International Emmy Award in New York on Monday. Pailin Wedel, a Bangkok-based Thai-American photojournalist, film director and founder of 2050 Productions, has directed the 79 minutes…

  • Thailand’s “We Travel Together” scheme generates 5.19 billion baht in third phase

    Thailand’s “We Travel Together” scheme generates 5.19 billion baht in third phase

    Thailand has earned a total of 5.19 billion baht for the tourism industry since its reopening with the endowment from the government’s third phase of subsidy called “We Travel Together,” or “Rao Tiew Duay Kan” in the Thai. Government spokesperson Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana says that 909,937 people had registered to enter Thailand, with 1.3 million rooms in 4,113 hotels already reserved,…

  • Bangkok Airways resumes flights from U-Tapao to Phuket and Koh Samui

    Bangkok Airways resumes flights from U-Tapao to Phuket and Koh Samui

    Next month, Bangkok Airways will resume flights from the U-Tapao–Rayong–Pattaya International Airport to Phuket and Koh Samui. The Phuket – U-Tapao flights will resume on December 2 while the Samui – U-Tapao will start back up on December 15. Flights between Phuket and U-Tapao with an ATR72-600 aircraft will run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays with outbound flights from the…

  • Pakistan launches ‘historic’ measles and rubella vaccine drive

    Pakistan launches ‘historic’ measles and rubella vaccine drive

    Cases of measles and rubella have increased drastically in Pakistani children during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, health authorities are fighting back with one of the largest vaccination campaigns in history. SOURCE: DW News

  • Six alleged drug traffickers killed in gunfight with Chiang Rai police

    Six alleged drug traffickers killed in gunfight with Chiang Rai police

    Six suspected drug traffickers shot and killed in a clash with army border patrol officers in Chiang Rai’s Mae Fa Luang district. Officers say the alleged smugglers were “fully armed” and were carrying more than 1.8 million methamphetamine pills. At around 4am yesterday, officers monitoring the border crossing by Myanmar’s Tachileik encountered 10 to 15 men. According to the deputy…

  • Government reports over 90% of students 12-18 vaccinated

    Government reports over 90% of students 12-18 vaccinated

    A spokesperson for the government reported that now over 90% of students in Thailand who are between the age of 12 and 18 years old have been vaccinated with at least one Pfizer dose. When looking at the numbers though, the figures are a bit… interpreted. The spokesman reported that there’s a total of 5,085,460 students in Thailand and that,…

  • 1.4 million doses in first shipment of US-made Moderna vaccines

    1.4 million doses in first shipment of US-made Moderna vaccines

    The distributor of the Moderna mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, Zuellig Pharma Thailand, has confirmed another shipment of 1.4 million vaccines. The shipment is in addition to 500,000 vaccines received already, for a total of 1.9 million doses that the Thai Private Hospital Association ordered for distribution to paying customers. It marks the first time Moderna vaccines have been received from manufacturers…

  • Thai research institute identifies global post-pandemic trends

    Thai research institute identifies global post-pandemic trends

    There is no doubt that in many ways, the world looks like a very different place now than it did before Covid-19. The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has identified a number of global megatrends that they say will be a big part of post-pandemic life. The institute says that industries will have to learn to adapt to these new…

  • British Airways launches Black Friday fares on Singapore – London route

    British Airways launches Black Friday fares on Singapore – London route

    British Airways has introduced special Black Friday offers on its Singapore – London route from this week. The UK’s flagship carrier has confirmed return economy fares will start from SGD849 in World Traveller Class (around 21,000 Thai baht) and SGD3,999 in Business class (approximately 98,000 baht). According to a TTR Weekly report, bookings must be made by December 2. Noella…

  • Cabinet approves Thailand importing 30 million Pfizer vaccines

    Cabinet approves Thailand importing 30 million Pfizer vaccines

    The Department of Disease Control will import another 30 million Pfizer vaccines with the Thai Cabinet approving the deal today. This agreement will double the amount mRNA vaccines Thailand has obtained from Pfizer for a total of 60 million doses. The deal also authorizes the DDC to sign and confirm the third amendment to the Manufacturing and Supply Agreement that…

  • Chon Buri issues Covid-19 warning for Ban Bueng restaurant

    Chon Buri issues Covid-19 warning for Ban Bueng restaurant

    The Chon Buri Public Health Office has released another warning against a possible Covid-19 cluster outbreak, this time for a restaurant in Ban Bueng district. The restaurant, Non Hua Kun Jae, located in Klong Giw, was named as having a positive Covid-19 infection identified in someone who had attended the restaurant. The provincial public health officials warned that anyone who…

  • Miss Universe Thailand sued over inappropriate use of national flag in promo photo

    Miss Universe Thailand sued over inappropriate use of national flag in promo photo

    Miss Universe Thailand is being sued for inappropriate use of the Thai flag. On the pageant organiser’s website, the promo picture for Anchilee Scott-Kemmis shows the beauty queen dressed in red, wearing a crown, and striking a pose while holding the national flag, which appears to be a digital image. The red, white and blue stripes appeared beneath her feet…

  • Taliban bans TV shows with female actors, orders female journalists to wear “Islamic hijab”

    Taliban bans TV shows with female actors, orders female journalists to wear “Islamic hijab”

    The Taliban leadership in Afghanistan has released a set of orders targeting female actors and women in the media. According to a Reuters report, the Ministry of Vice and Virtue has confirmed a ban on TV shows that use female actors and a rule that female news presenters must wear Islamic dress. In total, the ministry has issued 9 rules,…

  • Myanmar’s shadow government raises US.3 million for “revolution”

    Myanmar’s shadow government raises US$6.3 million for “revolution”

    In a campaign for a “revolution” against Myanmar’s military following the February 1 coup and bloody crackdown, the country’s shadow government began issuing special “treasury bonds” and say they raised more than US$6.3 million on the first day. The National Unity Government, or NUG, is a coalition of pro-democracy organisations, ethnic minority militaries, and remnants of the country’s deposed civilian…

  • Stunning new senior school opens at Shrewsbury, riverside – Thailand’s leading international school

    Stunning new senior school opens at Shrewsbury, riverside – Thailand’s leading international school

    Sponsored Article  Shrewsbury International School Bangkok Riverside has set a new benchmark with their ambitious 1.1 billion Thai Baht Senior school. The culmination of Project 2021 dramatically increases the provision for Science, Mathematics, Computing, Innovation, Robotics, Sixth-Form, Higher Education counselling, dining and sport at Thailand’s leading independent international school. Nestled on the banks of the famed Chao Phraya River, the…