Bangkok News
Bangkok news, politics, business, crime, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s capital. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Bangkok news source.
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Retired nurse helps choking passenger on Thai AirAsia flight
A retired nurse is deemed the hero of a domestic AirAsia flight after she helped a choking passenger. Those onboard the Bangkok to Krabi flight noticed a man was choking and called for the flight attendants. The nurse rushed over to help. A passenger on the flight shared the story on Facebook and called the woman the hero of the…
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Probe finds 20 police officers allegedly mishandled ‘Boss’ report
20 police officers are accused of allegedly produced a misleading report about the Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya hit-and-run case, a Royal Thai Police panel announced. In 2012, the Red Bull heir allegedly ran over and killed a police officer in Thong Lor, Bangkok. An independent, government-appointed panel says, due to a botched police report, the office of the attorney general, under…
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3 Free Youth activists arrested
3 members of the Free Youth movement, which arranged the July 18 protest at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument which sparked the ongoing wave of anti-government protests sweeping the nation, were arrested last night. Warrants were executed for wanted activists Baramee Chairat, Suwanna Tarnlek and Korakot Saengyenphan. The 3 face several charges, including provoking unrest, illegal gathering of more than 10 people…
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Dozens flee as Samut Sakhon flat block tilts
Around 60 people in Samut Sakhon, just southwest of Bangkok, were forced to flee their homes last night as their 3 storey flat block leaned over and appeared about to fall. It happened at the Pa Yiam building in Phan Thay Norasingh subdistrict. Residents told reporters they heard a loud noise and felt shaking. Local officials were soon at the…
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“Free-flow” tech to eliminate Bangkok’s toll gate barriers
Bangkok’s Mass Rapid Transit Authority is studying the implementation of Multi-Lane Free-Flow technology that will eliminate the need for gates at tollbooths and enable traffic to flow faster without the need to slow down or stop to pay toll fees. According to MRTA governor Surachet Laophulsuk: “The study is being carried out in parallel with the Department of Highways’ Free…
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Bangkok mother, boyfriend confess to brutally beating her 4 year old son
A mother and her boyfriend yesterday confessed to Bangkok police that they brutally assaulted her 4 year old son “because he “wet his bed”. Police called the pair in for questioning after the boy’s 23 year old father, whose name wasn’t given, reported to Bang Khen police that his son had been severely beaten and was being treated at Bhumibol…
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No probe from prosecution commission after deputy attorney-general drops “Boss” charges
Deputy Attorney-General Nate Naksuk will not be investigated by the Public Prosecutor Commission after his decision to drop a charge of reckless driving against Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya. It is alleged the Red Bull heir ran over and killed a Bangkok policeman in 2012, while speeding and under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Since announcing the dropping of charges, Nate…
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Officials investigate Bangkok condo after Malaysian tests positive for Covid-19
Officials from Thailand’s Public Health Ministry are investigating an unnamed Bangkok condo development after it was revealed a man who stayed there tested positive for Covid-19 on returning to his home country. It’s understood the 46 year old Malaysian man displayed no Covid-19 symptoms, and tested negative for the virus, when he left Thailand on August 5. However, a second…
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Up to 10,000 gather in massive Bangkok pro-democracy rally
Special guest writer Will Langston Up to 10,000 pro-democracy supporters attended a rally at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument yesterday. The crowds started swelling from around 3pm. Prior to the event, one of the organising groups, Free Youth, promoted the rally via their massive Facebook page following of over 350,000 followers. While the demographic of the crowd mainly consisted of high school and…
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Bad news for Boss as Thai prosecutors put him back on the ‘wanted’ list
3 weeks ago Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya must have thought it was Christmas after charges him were dropped by the Office of the Attorney General (for reasons that still remain a mystery), and then police said he was free to return to Thailand. That’s now all changed and the fugitive now finds himself a wanted man again with some charges reinstated…
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Warrants issued for key members of Free People movement
The Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for 15 prominent members of the Free People movement, which organised the protest held at the Democracy Monument on July 18. 3 of the 15, Thammasat University student Prit “Penguin” Chivarak, human rights lawyer Anon Nampa and Panupong Jaadnok, aka “Mike Rayong”, have already been arrested before and released on bail. The 12…
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Forensic scientist says he was pressured to change estimate in Vorayuth hit-and-run case
A police forensic scientist is claiming that he was pressured to reduce the estimated speed of Red Bull heir Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya’s Ferrari when it hit and killed a policeman in 2012. Thanasit Taengchan of the Police Forensic Science Office says a high ranking commander brought an official from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology North Bangkok to convince him to…
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Amnesty International demands “Penguin’s” release
The Thailand chapter of Amnesty International is calling on police to immediately release student protest leader Prit “Penguin” Chivarak, after he was arrested yesterday on charges of sedition and inciting public unrest. AI Thailand Director Niyanut Kotesarn said in a statement issued last night that the arrest of the Thammasat University student amounts to suppression of free expression and contravenes…
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Phathum Thani man finds cobra in commode
A homeowner in Pathum Thani, just north of Bangkok, got quite a start when visiting the loo yesterday. 51 year old “Phayop,” a baker for an airline, told a rescue foundation that he went into his downstairs toilet to sit down and relieve himself. He felt something brush against his backside and immediately jumped up. He says he couldn’t see…
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Police pinch “Penguin” ahead of student rally
Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, the outspoken leader of recent student protests, was arrested yesterday as tensions mount ahead of a major pro-democracy rally planned for tomorrow afternoon in Bangkok. He faces multiple charges, including sedition. The arrest was made as the Thammasat University student prepared to join a pro-democracy event at the campus in Nonthaburi. After a policeman read out the…
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Uni students defy rain to hold pro-democracy rally; more planned
In the latest of what have become near daily protests calling for change, some 100 students protesters defied the rain early yesterday evening at Bangkok’s Srinakharinwirot University to voice anger at the government and demand a return to democracy. Speakers took turns addressing their peers huddled under an awning at about 5pm. A a fourth-year International Relations student told reporters:…
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Hit-and-run Bangkok woman confesses, apologises
Wishuda Vittayasinthana, a 37 year old businesswoman, was interrogated at Bangkok’s Bang Sue Police Station yesterday following a major traffic incident on Tuesday night. She told police she went out drinking due to business stress before crashing her Mercedes into a motorcycle at Khae Rai Intersection around 10pm. In a panic, she lost control of the car and rammed into…
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PM denies, downplays protesters’ harassment claims
PM Prayut Chan-ocha today downplayed student protestors’ claims that his government was stalking and harassing them. Student activists, Panusaya (Roong) Sithijirawattanakul, spokesperson for the Thailand Student Union and Parit (Penguin) Chiwarak posted this morning that they were about to be arrested by government authorities at 5am, but no arrests were made. “Anyone can post anything online. They said they are…
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Authorities deny stalking student activists, deny arrest imminent
Student activists said today they were stalked by what they believed were plainclothes police officers at their residence overnight. Pro-democracy campaigner Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, who is the spokesperson for the Student Union of Thailand, said on her Facebook that she saw several men loitering around her dormitory near Thammasat University’s Rangsit Campus, while another activist, Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, reported that several…
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At least 76 homes evacuated in Bangkok blaze
A fire at a two-storey apartment building in the Khlong San district of Bangkok, has led to the evacuation of at least 76 households. The families were given shelter at local temples, according to a Facebook post from Phongsakorn Kwanmuang, spokesman for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. He adds that locals in the area have rallied round, providing sleeping bags and…
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Allegedly drunk woman tries to run down Bangkok pedestrians
A 37 year old businesswoman tried to run over pedestrians with her car near Bangkok’s Khae Rai Intersection and Tao Poon MRT station, after learning her business was embezzled out of millions of baht. She was allegedly drunk at the time. Bang Sue police were notified of the incident in the early hours of this morning and tracked down the…
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Deputy AG in Vorayuth case resigns
The deputy attorney-general who endorsed public prosecutors’ decision not to prosecute Red Bull heir Vorayuth Yoovidhya in the controversial hit-and run case which took the life of a senior police officer, has handed in his resignation. A statement released today from the Office of the Attorney-General announced that Deputy AG Nate Narksook has tendered his resignation letter to Attorney-General Wongsakul…
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AoT press charges against laptop-smashing former policeman – VIDEO
The Airports of Thailand have now lodged an official complaint about a former policeman with anger issues who, along with his foul-mouthed female partner, berated airline ground staff and smashed the company laptop after missing a flight last Saturday (video below). AoT are filing a lawsuit with Don Mueang police even after the man apologised and admitted he had been…
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Air Asia and VietJet add some extra domestic routes
Whilst much of the world waits to get back into Thailand, the local airlines are starting to flex their domestic muscles and add new routes. Thai AirAsia is launching 2 new routes from Chiang Mai, starting yesterday, offering a one-way fare for as low as 790 baht on flights to Hua Hin, and Udon Thani in the northeast. The cheapie…
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Welcome to 7-Eleven – Ford injures 5 people as it crashes though Bangkok shop
A car has collided with a taxi before losing control and smashing through the front of a local 7Eleven convenience store in Bangkok. 5 people were injured as the car burst through the front of the store. The 7Eleven store is opposite the Phaholyothin Police Station in front of Ratchadapisek 44. When rescue teams responded they found a white Ford Everest…
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Deputy AG fails to show up at an independent hearing into the dropping of ‘Boss’ charges
At yesterday’s hearing into the dropping of the Boss Yoovidhya ‘reckless driving causing death’ charge, the man who approved the dropping of the charges didn’t even bother turning up. A panel, headed by a former chairman of a constitution drafting body, Borwornsak Uwanno, summonsed Deputy Attorney-General Nate Naksuk to give statements at the independent committee looking into what lead to the…
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Bangkok casino shooter insists he acted alone: police
A man who confessed to killing a gunman, who had already shot dead 3 people at an illegal Bangkok gambling den on Monday night, insists he acted alone, police announced today. Authorities took 61 year old Phiphit Srisuwan, alias “Boy Baan Khrua” to the Bangkok South Criminal Court to seek his detention in connection with the fatal shooting in a…
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Demonstration called against arrests of protest leaders
Police in Bangkok are under pressure from protesters both on- and offline after yesterday’s arrest and detention of student protest leaders. Prominent activist and human rights lawyer Anon Numpa and protest leader Nutchanon “Mike” Payakaphan were taken into police custody for 7 charges, including sedition. 30 more student protesters are wanted by police and arrest warrants have been issued. The…
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US soldiers, concertgoers all test negative for Covid-19
All 110 US soldiers visiting Bangkok for upcoming joint military exercises have tested negative for Covid-19. Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, says all are staying at alternative state quarantine locations and are strictly prohibited from leaving their rooms or interacting with the general public. The soldiers’ arrival caused concern and discussion on social media,…
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After outcry, foreigners will be allowed to run in Bangkok Midnight Marathon
The Bangkok Midnight Marathon and its organisers were scorched online yesterday after banning foreigners from entering the race, for reasons not made clear. BMM’s Facebook page and social media accounts were inundated with angry comments. The Thaiger, alone, accumulated some 20,000 people seeing the post and around 170 comments, mostly unhappy with the ban. The BBM – which Thai authorities…
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