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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  • Limit use of joss sticks and incense – Chinese New Year ‘pollution’

    Limit use of joss sticks and incense – Chinese New Year ‘pollution’

    PHOTOS: The Nation by Pratch Rukivanarom Doctors are urging people not to burn joss paper as offerings over Chinese New Year. They’re also recommending to limit incense-burning and fireworks during this year’s celebrations this week to prevent hazardous emissions. (Apparently the ‘hazardous emissions’ have been ok in the past – Ed) The response from Doctors is in reaction to the…

  • Fears that plantation fire could add to Bangkok pollution woes

    Fears that plantation fire could add to Bangkok pollution woes

    A huge plantation fire has destroyed a 400 rai rubber farm in Chacheongsao province with concerns that it could also add to Bangkok’s air pollution and smog woes. Chachongseo is the province immediately east of the city limits. The prevailing winds come from the north-east. The fire in Sanam Chai Khet district began at around 10pm last night (Saturday) and…

  • Elephant Boat Race comes to Bangkok March 29

    Elephant Boat Race comes to Bangkok March 29

    Anantara Hotels Director of Operational Excellence & Events Tim Boda has announced Thailand’s first “Elephant Boat Race & River Festival” to be held between March 29 – 31, 2019. “The new three-day festival offers a wide range of activities, races and concerts aiming to raise funds to support domestic and wild elephants throughout Thailand.” Located next to Anantara Riverside Bangkok, the…

  • Criminal Court agrees to consider extradition of Bahraini footballer

    Criminal Court agrees to consider extradition of Bahraini footballer

    The Criminal Court says it has agreed to consider the public prosecutors’ request to extradite former Bahrain national footballer Hakeem al-Araibi to his home country. The footballer currently holds Australian residency. The request was made after Bahrain supplied prosecutors with evidence and documents accusing al-Araibi of arson and possession of weapons. Bahrain had issued an arrest warrant for the footballer…

  • Students sent to hospital after suffering food poisoning from school lunch

    Students sent to hospital after suffering food poisoning from school lunch

    70 secondary students from the Jian Hua School in Nakhon Pathom’s Bang Len district suffered food poisoning after school lunch yesterday. Nakhon Pathom is the province to the west of Bangkok. 25 of the affected students were sent to Supan Buri’s 17th Somdet Phra Sangkharat Hospital suffering from severe diarrhoea, vomiting and seizures. 26 year old Teacher Manasawee Phutthapol says that…

  • 400cc Nightclub raided in Bangkok. 92 test positive for drugs.

    400cc Nightclub raided in Bangkok. 92 test positive for drugs.

    by Kittipong Maneerit Another Bangkok nightclub has been raided as police crackdown on some clubs on the city’s outer limits. The 400cc nightclub was raided revealing at least 40 patrons under the age of 20. Meanwhile, 92 patrons tested positive for substance abuse and 26 of them under the legal drinking age. Officers of Nong Khang Plu precinct, the Office…

  • Bangkok air pollution reduction schemes – FAIL

    Bangkok air pollution reduction schemes – FAIL

    OPINION Smog, air pollution, air quality, PM2.5 micron particulate. If you live in Bangkok it’s all the same thing. Four water-carrying drones took off from Bangkok City Hall this morning to join three fire engines in the latest assault on health-threatening haze. Bangkok is a city covering some 1,500 square kilometres with a population of over 8 million. The frequent…

  • Send in the drones – Bangkok Governor – Air pollution – VIDEO

    Send in the drones – Bangkok Governor – Air pollution – VIDEO

    Authorities in Bangkok launched 50 drones yesterday in an attempt to combat the ongoing air pollution that has gained international attention. The drones were equipped with sprinklers and water was sprayed to lower the PM2.5 particles in the atmosphere. The water was laced with molasses (a gooey, surgery syrup) help capture the fine particles of pollution and bring them to…

  • Monk defrocked and charged with child abuse

    Monk defrocked and charged with child abuse

    by Suriya Patathayo Another Buddhist monk has been arrested and defrocked. The allegations involve sexual violations against boys and posting pornographic content online. Leading the investigation, Pol Lt General Surachate Hakparn, deputy chief of Thailand’s Action Taskforce for Information Technology Crime Suppression says that the former monk has confessed that he has committed the crimes for more than 10 years.…

  • Bangkok air pollution: PM demands action and threatens limiting road traffic

    Bangkok air pollution: PM demands action and threatens limiting road traffic

    PHOTOS: The Nation The Thai PM says he is determined to step up measures to fight the worsening air pollution problem plaguing Bangkok. Limiting the use of vehicles with an odd-even day schedule is on the cards, he said. Speaking at the opening ceremony of “Our Country, Our Future” exhibition yesterday, Prayut warned that if the smog in Bangkok was…

  • Bangkok Air Quality: PM2.5 dust particle problem closes 437 schools

    Bangkok Air Quality: PM2.5 dust particle problem closes 437 schools

    PHOTO: Thai PBS At least one group of Bangkokians were happy today. The Ministry of Education ordered all schools in Bangkok closed until at least this weekend. The situation will be reviewed after then. Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwangkuang ordered all the 437 schools under the supervision of the City Hall closed until the weekend in order to prevent young school…

  • Bangkok Air Quality: BKK Governor calls for help as PM2.5 smog continues

    Bangkok Air Quality: BKK Governor calls for help as PM2.5 smog continues

    PHOTO: Jor Sor 100 traffic radio – Bangkok Air Quality Bangkok’s governor is calling on experts to provide advice on how best to tackle the severe air pollution that blankets the city and is causing the wrong sort of headlines for the capital. The Pollution Control Department reported 41 Greater Bangkok areas as having unsafe levels of PM2.5 – airborne…

  • Bangkok smog: Odd-even number plate driving rule threatened

    Bangkok smog: Odd-even number plate driving rule threatened

    PHOTO: PM Prayut Chan-o-cha. Praying for a change in the weather? PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is warning that he might be forced to introduce the odd-even number rule for traffic in Bangkok if all other measures to ease the health-threatening smog problem in Bangkok and its peripherals fail (they have so far). With his Article 44 powers, the Prime Minister could…

  • Bangkok smog: Students stay at home whilst drones buzz overhead

    Bangkok smog: Students stay at home whilst drones buzz overhead

    High smog levels in Bangkok are forcing more than 400 schools to close today and tomorrow in an attempt to protect children from harmful effects. The education department says it will review the situation over the weekend. The Thai capital city is experiencing some of its worst-ever ongoing air pollution levels which are exacerbated by ultra-fine dust particles known as…

  • 22 arrested over illegal gambling websites in Bangkok

    22 arrested over illegal gambling websites in Bangkok

    Police have arrested 22 suspects following crackdown on online gambling sites across six provinces today. Of the 22, 16 were arrested for alleged links to sbotded.com, sbolucky666.com, sbohero888.com and sure999.com which allegedly provide people with online betting. “The websites had a combined cash flow of over 300 million baht,” said Pol Lt-General Surachete Hakparn, He was speaking in his capacity…

  • Bangkok smog: 50 drones to be launched spraying molasses to relieve smog

    Bangkok smog: 50 drones to be launched spraying molasses to relieve smog

    Bangkok is preparing to launch 50 drones tomorrow for spraying water in the skies over the capital. The water will contain molasses to aid in the attachment to smog particles. The Thai News Agency is reporting that Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang says they have contacted a drone club in Nakhon Ratchasima to get 50 drones which can carry 10 litres…

  • Reflections #2 – Thailand Tourism Forum – ‘Chindia Tourism’

    Reflections #2 – Thailand Tourism Forum – ‘Chindia Tourism’

    ‘CHINDIAN’ Tourists – Same Same or Different? by Wimintra Raj – hotelintel.co If you’re running a hotel or any business related to the local tourism industry in Thailand, this is an article you need to read, then read again. It was just one of the many presentations at the annual Thailand Tourism Forum held in Bangkok recently. “For the third…

  • Bangkok air deteriorates today

    Bangkok air deteriorates today

    PHOTO: Bangkok skyline this morning – FM91 Traffic Pro Greater Bangkok’s air pollution was bad this morning, with 36 locations reporting the amount of PM2.5 micron pollutants rising beyond the safety limit of 50 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic metre of air, with one area reaching as high as 113 micrograms. The Pollution Control Department say the breeze is too low…

  • Blind man jumps from Bangkok apartment building

    Blind man jumps from Bangkok apartment building

    A blind man has jumped to his death from the rooftop of a seven-floor apartment building in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao district after his wife, who is also reported to be blind, had recently separated from him. Chok Chai police station was alerted at 10am today about the incident at an apartment building on Soi Lat Phrao-Wang Hin. The man has…

  • Trailer collides with sedan on highway in Bangkok

    Trailer collides with sedan on highway in Bangkok

    PHOTOS: FM 91 BKK A trailer and truck has collided with a car on a highway in Bangkok today. Traffic Police say the incident blocked some parts of the road causing traffic to tail back for many kilometers. FM 91 BKK reported that the truck-trailer had collided with a car on the Rama IX Bridge southbound causing traffic delays for several…

  • Slapped airport security worker praised for showing restraint

    Slapped airport security worker praised for showing restraint

    A female airport security officer, who was slapped by a South Korean woman after she asked if the tourist would submit to a routine pat-down at a security post at Suvarnabhumi Airport, has been praised by an airport executive for not retaliating or responding negatively. The incident took place on Saturday night at Suvarnabhumi Airport while the Thai worker was…

  • BNK48 singer apologizes for wearing shirt emblazoned with a Nazi swastika

    BNK48 singer apologizes for wearing shirt emblazoned with a Nazi swastika

    Two foreign envoys representing the Israeli Embassy in Thailand have openly expressed dismay after a member of the pop all-girl singing group BNK48 was wearing a T-shirt bearing a Nazi swastika. The sister band of Japan’s AKB48 issued an apology yesterday to match the tearful one delivered earlier by 20 year old singer Pichayapa “Namsai” Natha. “It was a bad…

  • Greenpeace outs Thailand’s worst smog areas

    Greenpeace outs Thailand’s worst smog areas

    At least 10 suburbs in nine Thai provinces are being called out by pollution watchdog Greenpeace. The organisation has revealed its rankings for 2018 based on a satellite map of PM2.5 concentrations in Thailand and the neighbouring countries of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Greenpeace is calling for the Thai government to improve the Ambient (Outdoor) Air Quality Standards for PM2.5…

  • Don’t drink and ‘sleep’ – Thai driver caught napping at the wheel

    Don’t drink and ‘sleep’ – Thai driver caught napping at the wheel

    PHOTO: Daily News Online A video posted online today shows a car being driven by a man who had reclined the driver’s seat and was claimed to be sleeping while the car was still moving. The car appears driverless as the driver was slumped out of sight. The post was on the Facebook page of “Narawut Nakama Thongsong”. He spoke…

  • Four dead and at least five injured in Bangkok crane failure

    Four dead and at least five injured in Bangkok crane failure

    Four workers were killed and five others injured when the top part of a crane broke off and fell on them at a condominium construction site on Bangkok’s Rama 3 Road this afternoon. The fallen section of the crane hit the fifth floor of a building in the Lumpini Park Riverside project. Four male workers were killed on that floor…

  • Crane topples in Bangkok killing four, many others injured

    Crane topples in Bangkok killing four, many others injured

    PHOTOS: มาด เซอร์., Klong Prem ShinSuwan / FM91Trafficpro A crane has toppled at a construction site in Bangkok today. The incident has already been responsible for the death of four people while many others have been injured. FM91 Traffic pro is reporting that at 1.09pm a crane, inside a construction site in Yan Nawa, Bangkok has toppled and fallen down.…

  • Fire damages house in Bangkok

    Fire damages house in Bangkok

    PHOTOS: FM91BKK A fire has damaged a residential home in Bangkok this afternoon. FM91Bkk reported that a fire was ablaze at the local houses around 2.20pm at Klong San in Bangkok. At the scene firefighters found a two storey building ablaze. They believe it started from the first floor and then the fire caught the roof and some other materials.…

  • Authorities play down air pollution problems in Bangkok

    Authorities play down air pollution problems in Bangkok

    The capital’s air pollution situation has worsened today as the quantity of the dangerous PM2.5 particles has risen for the first time to code-red status of above 90 micrograms per cubic metre of air at many locations. Nearly 10 Bangkok areas at 7.15am this morning were flagged “code red”, which is triggered when inhalable particles with diameters generally sized at…

  • Algerian tourist arrested over tourist thefts in Bangkok

    Algerian tourist arrested over tourist thefts in Bangkok

    PHOTOS: Immigration Bureau An Algerian male tourist has been arrested after pick pocketing tourists at a BTS Station in Bangkok. Immigration Bureau report that 46 year old Algerian man, SOFIANE YASSAAD CHERIF, has been arrested after pick pocketing other tourists last Friday. Cherif entered the Kingdom as 60 days tourist on December 2. Cherif has chosen foreign tourist victims as…

  • Australian and Thai transnational drug smugglers drop the ball

    Australian and Thai transnational drug smugglers drop the ball

    PHOTO: The Nation How much heroin can you smuggle in eight (car) shock absorbers? Apparently close to 4 kilograms. A joint Thai-Australian drug suppression operation called Taskforce Storm has yielded results and arrested two transnational heroin smugglers. Police identified the two as 38 year old Canadian Stephens Blair and 27 year old Thai Pahon Sivasirikaroon. The pair were apprehended when they…