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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    Why retirees in Thailand are choosing long-term health insurance over quick fixes

    Retirees in Thailand are increasingly seeing the importance of health insurance in protecting their well-being during retirement. With insurance requirements for retirement visas and rising healthcare costs, many are moving away from short-term plans and choosing long-term coverage. Long-term health...

  • Bangkok is in the middle of a battle between the Chao Phraya and Gulf of Thailand | Thaiger

    Bangkok is in the middle of a battle between the Chao Phraya and Gulf of Thailand

    The natural ebb and flow, and the eternal battle between waters flowing down the Chao Phraya and up from the sea, may affect Bangkok’s tap water supply. This year the water flowing down the mighty river may not counter the water trying to flow up towards the capital from the Gulf of Thailand. The slow sinking of Bangkok (the capital…

  • Three Bangkok police fired after proof of extortion emerges | Thaiger

    Three Bangkok police fired after proof of extortion emerges

    UPDATED STORY Three policemen who worked out of the Thonglor Police Station, on the eastern edge of Bangkok city, have been suspended from their duties las Friday, pending a full enquiry. Thai Rath reported that the three had been relieved of their duties after allegedly receiving a bribe from a French businessman. The three policemen were identified as Maj. Phitsanupol…

  • And they’re off! Hundreds of thousands leave Bangkok for New Year break | Thaiger

    And they’re off! Hundreds of thousands leave Bangkok for New Year break

    PHOTO: Eleven Media Group Hundreds of thousands of Bangkok residents have already started heading out of the capital, headed to various Thai provinces to welcome in 2020 in the company of friends and family. The long weekends starts from tonight with many Thais being granted a public holiday on Monday, in addition to the Tuesday and Wednesday public holidays. It…

  • Central “deeply appalled” by Nazi pics at their Christmas display | Thaiger

    Central “deeply appalled” by Nazi pics at their Christmas display

    UPDATE: The family of one of the people in the photo, has contacted The Thaiger and asked us to remove the photo. We have blurred one of the faces to comply with their wish after a discussion on the matter. “Three French hens, Two turtle doves and a pair of Nazi’s in a Bangkok shopping centre”. A cultural collision, a…

  • Chinese phone scam gangs using Thailand to hack into WeChat app | Thaiger

    Chinese phone scam gangs using Thailand to hack into WeChat app

    Police have raided a hotel in the Ratchada district of Bangkok after being tipped off that a group of young Chinese were spending all the time in their rooms. Hotel staff became suspicious after they were calling room service for all their meals, never venturing outside and refusing to allow the housekeeping staff in to clean the rooms. The Economic…

  • Samut Sakhon temple Abbot accused of sexual abuse of up to 19 temple novices | Thaiger

    Samut Sakhon temple Abbot accused of sexual abuse of up to 19 temple novices

    PHOTO: Police The acting abbot at a temple in Samut Sakhon has been arrested following allegations that he held captive and sexually abused a list of young novice monks. It’s been reported that the youngest was only 8 years old. Samut Sakhon is just to the east of Bangkok, facing the Gulf of Thailand. 40 year old Phra Khru Sangkharak Saksit…

  • Dream Group scales back their Asia hotel expansion plans | Thaiger

    Dream Group scales back their Asia hotel expansion plans

    New York-based Dream Hotel Group’s plans to expand in Asia have turned into somewhat of a nightmare. The Group has closed its regional office in Bangkok shortly after hiring new executives to push forward with expansion earlier this year. A Pattaya ‘Dream’ has also failed to eventuate this year. The push in Asia, which kicked off last year with the establishment…

  • Shock closure of factory outside Bangkok leaves 1,000 workers unemployed | Thaiger

    Shock closure of factory outside Bangkok leaves 1,000 workers unemployed

    PHOTO: pcr.co.th A thousand workers have lost their jobs following the sudden closure of the Pongpara Codan Rubber Company, in Samut Sakhon province, just outside the Thai capital. Thai PBS World reports that employees discovered they were out of a job when they arrived for work at the automotive parts manufacturing company yesterday morning, only to find it closed. They…

  • Senate calls for urgent expansion Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport | Thaiger

    Senate calls for urgent expansion Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport

    PHOTO: Oriental Express Just days after Thailand set yet another annual record for incoming visitors, a Senate committee is urging the government to speed up the expansion of Suvarnabhumi Airport. The Senate Committee on Transportation, met with Airports of Thailand officials on December 19 and both sides acknowledged the urgent need for the expansion. After learning of the progress being made…

  • Fakes valued at 50 million baht found in raids in Saraburi | Thaiger

    Fakes valued at 50 million baht found in raids in Saraburi

    PHOTO: INN News That’s another 50 million baht worth of counterfeits off the streets. The Department of Special Investigation has seized counterfeit goods in a series of raids, with a street value of around 50 million baht and including some 158,000 items. In this case, the fakes were mostly brand name eyeglasses and clothing accessories. The DSI, Department of Intellectual Property…

  • Rescuers claim former transport minister tried to flee accident scene | Thaiger

    Rescuers claim former transport minister tried to flee accident scene

    PHOTO: Saichon Srinuanchan Thawee Kraikupt, a former transport minister and the father of government MP Pareena Kraikupt, was involved a car crash in Ratchaburi province, just west of Bangkok, that injured a 16 year old boy. His daughter Pareena was recently found guilty of illegally occupying some 700 rai of government land and forced to return most of it to…

  • Early morning fire destroys plastics factory south of Bangkok | Thaiger

    Early morning fire destroys plastics factory south of Bangkok

    PHOTO: Sutthiwit Chayutworakan – Bangkok Post A fire has destroyed a plastics manufacturer in southern Bangkok. The fire also destroyed an adjacent mattress warehouse. The incidents happened early this morning. Despite all the stock, equipment and three pick-ups parked out front being destroyed, there were no casualties in the blazes. More than 10 fire crews rushed to the scene on…

  • Tsunami survivor opens school in Bangkok in recognition of Thai generosity | Thaiger

    Tsunami survivor opens school in Bangkok in recognition of Thai generosity

    PHOTO: Howard Liang looks on as his daughter speaks at yesterday’s launch of the new international school – The Nation A Hong Kong businessman who was in Phuket with nineteen members of his family when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami struck, is back in Thailand to build an international school near Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport. Howard Liang says the international school is…

  • Thailand’s Army chief warns of a ‘proxy crisis’ | Thaiger

    Thailand’s Army chief warns of a ‘proxy crisis’

    PHOTO: Matichon The Army chief, General Apirat Kongsompong, is warning Thais about what he sees as a “proxy crisis” facing the country. The comments, without directly referring to the event by name, were a veiled criticism of the “Run Against Dictatorship” event coming up next month. The commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army took the “everything’s OK, but…” approach to…

  • Don Mueang tollway fee increase opposed by consumer agency | Thaiger

    Don Mueang tollway fee increase opposed by consumer agency

    PHOTO: YouTube Plans to slap a 10% increase on the fee to use the Don Mueang Toll Way have been opposed by the Consumer Protection Board. The CPB is tasked with defending consumer rights and instigating legal proceedings in the case of infringement. Thai PBS World reports that the board claims the toll hike, which is due to come into…

  • School building, where 13 year old shot a fellow student, has been closed down | Thaiger

    School building, where 13 year old shot a fellow student, has been closed down

    An entire school building has been closed following a fatal shooting of a 13 year old student by another student on Wednesday in Nonthaburi, Bangkok. The class, which both were students, has been suspended until next week. The 13 year old shooter told police he shot the victim “out of desperation after being repeatedly bullied”. After the daily flag raising…

  • Swedish national still missing in Bangkok | Thaiger

    Swedish national still missing in Bangkok

    A Hat Yai woman has asked for police help in locating her Swedish husband, who went missing shortly after they arrived in Thailand from Stockholm last Thursday. 55 year old Begt Erik Gustafsson, a welder, allegedly left with a friend and hasn’t been seen heard from since. Sixty-five year old Amphorn Maksomboon filed a missing person report with Hat Yai…

  • FFP rally may have broken the law, activist demands investigation | Thaiger

    FFP rally may have broken the law, activist demands investigation

    PHOTO: Srisuwan Janya – Bangkok Post Thailand’s “complainer-in-chief”, lawyer and fan-boy for the current government, Srisuwan Janya, says he will ask the Election Commission to investigate if the Future Forward Party broke the law on political parties by holding a political rally in central Bangkok last Saturday. Srisuwan, secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Thai Constitution, cited…

  • Rescue workers find women sitting with 10 day old corpse, waiting for dead man to come back to life | Thaiger

    Rescue workers find women sitting with 10 day old corpse, waiting for dead man to come back to life

    After local residents complained of the smell coming from a house in Nakhon Nayok, north east of Bangkok, a medical rescue team was sent to the property only to find a rather sad situation. The Nation reports that the team arrived at the property to find a decomposing human body, with three women sitting in the kitchen. The rescue team then…

  • “Run against Dictatorship” organisers threatened with legal action by “those in power” | Thaiger

    “Run against Dictatorship” organisers threatened with legal action by “those in power”

    PHOTO: The Nation Organisers of the planned Wing Lai Loong event “Run against Dictatorship” are being warned by the Thai Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda that they may face legal action if they go ahead with their politically-inspired event without prior permission from the police. The group’s planned press conference, scheduled to take place at Bangkok’s Royal Rattanakosin Hotel on Monday,…

  • “They were just being playful” – Bangkok tuk tuk driver | Thaiger

    “They were just being playful” – Bangkok tuk tuk driver

    “They were just being playful.” Playful indeed! A couple caught engaging in some spontaneous ‘close-and-personal’ in the back of a Bangkok tuk-tuk has got Thailand’s online community in a fluster. Whilst tourism numbers stagnate and thousands gather in the centre of the city for the biggest political rally in five years, THIS has been the biggest talking point for Thai…

  • Police cobble together evidence to charge Bangkok’s political rally leaders | Thaiger

    Police cobble together evidence to charge Bangkok’s political rally leaders

    PHOTO: Khaosod English Bangkok Police are collating evidence to charge leaders of Saturday’s political gathering on Saturday held on the skywalk linking the National Stadium and Siam BTS stations in Bangkok, after discovering the rally was held without official permission. Chief of Metropolitan Police Division 6, Pol Maj-General Metee Rakpan, says the police were checking if the rally, near the Pathumwan intersection…

  • Unidentified naked man in Bangkok death plunge | Thaiger

    Unidentified naked man in Bangkok death plunge

    PHOTO: Forensic police examine the body of the man who fell from a high-rise condominium in the Ratchayothin area in Bangkok on Saturday morning Police say a naked man has fallen to his death from a condominium tower in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district early on Saturday. The unidentified man’s body was found lying face down on the street. The incident happened…

  • Bangkok’s new Silom Road walking street a great success | Thaiger

    Bangkok’s new Silom Road walking street a great success

    PHOTO: INN News “Walk, Eat, Taste, and Explore”. And thousands descended on Silom Road to welcome the new walking street destination yesterday. Street performers, crowds and live music transformed Silom Road into Bangkok’s newest walking street yesterday with the first of the new walking street-style markets opening up in Bangkok. There was also another one in Yowarat Road in Chinatown. The…

  • Walking street-led economic recovery | Thaiger

    Walking street-led economic recovery

    And it starts today at two locations in Bangkok. In its latest campaign to encourage more spending and boost tourism Bangkok’s government is launching a series of walking streets today before the Thai government spreads the walking street ‘boost’ to other provinces. Silom and Yaowarat roads are becoming pedestrian walkways today and other provinces have temporary walking street events starting on…

  • “This is just the beginning” – Thanathorn warns the government | Thaiger

    “This is just the beginning” – Thanathorn warns the government

    PHOTOS: Thousands gathered in the first large anti-government rally in over five years – Khaosod English He tried to do it legitimately by running for office in the March election. His party performed above expectations, garnering the third highest number of votes after less than 12 months of existence. And Thanathorn was just votes away from being elected Thailand’s Prime Minister.…

  • Video of couple having sex in Bangkok tuk-tuk goes viral – VIDEO | Thaiger

    Video of couple having sex in Bangkok tuk-tuk goes viral – VIDEO

    Social media users in Thailand have had plenty to say about a video that appears to show a couple having sex in the back of a tuk-tuk speeding through Bangkok. Some would say using this particular mode of Bangkok transport is exhilarating enough without adding anything else into the mix, but the Chiang Rai Times reports that one couple decided…

  • Grateful woman tries to find foreigner who saved the life of her boyfriend’s father | Thaiger

    Grateful woman tries to find foreigner who saved the life of her boyfriend’s father

    A Thai woman has taken to social media in an attempt to track down the foreign man who saved her boyfriend’s father after he had chest pains and an apparent heart attack in Bangkok’s Lumpini Park. The Bangkok Post reports that a foreign man performed CPR on the man after he fell unconscious and his heart stopped beating. Now the family…

  • Apple’s Tim Cook drops into Bangkok during Asia tour | Thaiger

    Apple’s Tim Cook drops into Bangkok during Asia tour

    PHOTO: Apple’s Tim Cook Visits Bangkok to meet with photographers, Students and WWDC (Apple Web Developers) scholarship winners Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was in and around Bangkok yesterday. Apple’s boss has been documenting the journey on his Twitter account. Tim kicked things off with a visit to the Wat Arun Buddhist temple on the Thonburi west bank of Bangkok’s Chao Phraya…

  • Shoppers flee smoke-filled mall after overloaded power strip catches fire in central Thailand | Thaiger

    Shoppers flee smoke-filled mall after overloaded power strip catches fire in central Thailand

    PHOTO: sanook.com Customers in a shopping mall in Samut Prakan province, south of Bangkok, raced for the exits as smoke coming from a toy store began to fill the building. The incident, which happened in the Bang Phli district, home to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, is believed to have been sparked by a poor-quality power strip that appears to have shorted and…