Thailand News

Thailand news, politics, business, crime, and lifestyle—get breaking updates from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. Stay informed on Thai society, economy, tourism, and expat life with The Thaiger.

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  • Thais split on whether Yingluck will come back

    Thais split on whether Yingluck will come back

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thais split on whether Yingluck will come back The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: About half of the people who responded in a recent survey support the junta’s granting of permission for ousted prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to take a short trip out of the country,…

  • Tourists injured in Pattaya banana boat crash

    Tourists injured in Pattaya banana boat crash

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Tourists injured in Pattaya banana boat crash The Nation  / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A 12-year-old girl and another Chinese tourist were sent to hospital yesterday after their banana boat crashed into a sightseeing ship off Pattaya. Two other Chinese holidaymakers riding the inflatable boat were dislodged…

  • Thai MICE sector secures major international events | Thaiger

    Thai MICE sector secures major international events

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thai MICE sector secures major international events Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Thailand and Convention Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has announced that the country will play host to several major international MICE events (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions), including the 74th “FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical…

  • Nepal ex-prince arrested for drugs in Thailand

    Nepal ex-prince arrested for drugs in Thailand

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Nepal ex-prince arrested for drugs in Thailand The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Former Nepalese crown prince Paras Shah has been arrested on drugs charges in Thailand for a second time and could face up to five years in prison, police said Wednesday. Shah was arrested…

  • Death toll from West Africa Ebola outbreak jumps to 603

    Death toll from West Africa Ebola outbreak jumps to 603

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Death toll from West Africa Ebola outbreak jumps to 603 – WHO Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in West Africa has spiked to 603 since February, with at least 68 deaths reported in the last week alone, the World…

  • Parents of children killed in city grenade attack forgive suspects

    Parents of children killed in city grenade attack forgive suspects

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Parents of children killed in city grenade attack forgive suspects The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The parents of two children killed in the M79 grenade attack on an anti-government rally in Bangkok’s Ratchadamri area in February said yesterday that they forgave the four suspects prostrating…

  • Train rape suspect to appear in court tomorrow | Thaiger

    Train rape suspect to appear in court tomorrow

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Train rape suspect to appear in court tomorrow The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Prachuap Khiri Khan police confirmed yesterday that the rape and murder case of a 13-year-old girl on a Nakhon Si Thammarat-Bangkok train would be handed over to the public prosecutor tomorrow. Provincial…

  • Tourist’s body found in Chiang Mai lake | Thaiger

    Tourist’s body found in Chiang Mai lake

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Tourist’s body found in Chiang Mai lake The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The body of a South Korean tourist was found in a large man-made lake in Chiang Mai’s Hang Dong district yesterday. Police believe Song Tae Khy, 22, drowned while swimming with his friends…

  • Anti-graft agency probing rice deals, links to ministers | Thaiger

    Anti-graft agency probing rice deals, links to ministers

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Anti-graft agency probing rice deals, links to ministers The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The National Anti-Corruption Commission sub-panel is deeply probing alleged irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme’s financial transactions to identify possible nominees linked to five former ministers under investigation, NACC deputy secretary-general Warawit Sukboon…

  • Second man charged in train rape-murder | Thaiger

    Second man charged in train rape-murder

    PHUKET: Police have charged a second State Railway of Thailand employee over his alleged involvement in the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl on an overnight train to Bangkok. After the interrogation of a 19-year-old train worker by Prachuap Khiri Khan police chief Maj Gen Thanes Sunthornsuk, an informed source reported that the teenager confessed that he was drinking…

  • B10.3bn allocated to tackle drug abuse

    B10.3bn allocated to tackle drug abuse

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community B10.3bn allocated to tackle drug abuse The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: With a budget of 10.3 billion baht allocated for the 2014 fiscal year to tackle drug abuse, the Justice Ministry plans to have the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) find addicts who…

  • Nationwide checks continue to find fault with rice stocks

    Nationwide checks continue to find fault with rice stocks

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Nationwide checks continue to find fault with rice stocks The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Inspections reveal that the rice stocks from the controversial pledging scheme have become mired in both quality and quantity problems. An informed source said yesterday that inspections had found that most…

  • Victim of rape on train in 2001 speaks up

    Victim of rape on train in 2001 speaks up

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Victim of rape on train in 2001 speaks up The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Thai woman lost her bright career, her optimism and her ability to continue living in Thailand after a State Railway of Thailand (SRT) employee raped her on a train 13…

  • Rape-and-murder convicts must face death: netizens | Thaiger

    Rape-and-murder convicts must face death: netizens

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Rape-and-murder convicts must face death: netizens The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Concerned netizens have called for mandatory death sentence for rape-and-murder crimes, in an angry and swift reaction to the tragic rape and murder on Sunday night of a 13-year-old victim by a State Railway…

  • Girl’s killing unleashes media storm for law reform | Thaiger

    Girl’s killing unleashes media storm for law reform

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Girl’s killing unleashes media storm for law reform; SRT chief under pressure to quit The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Social media has been in overdrive since midnight Monday when Wanchai Sangkhao, 22, an employee of the State Railway of Thailand, allegedly confessed that he had…

  • Girl raped, murdered on train: SRT employee says he was drunk when he did it

    Girl raped, murdered on train: SRT employee says he was drunk when he did it

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community SRT employee says he was drunk when he inflicted crime The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A NEW employee of the State Railway of Thailand has claimed he was drunk when he raped and killed a 13-year-old passenger on a Bangkok-bound train early on Sunday.Wanchai Saengkhao,…

  • Eight hurt as Yala insurgents open fire on passenger bus

    Eight hurt as Yala insurgents open fire on passenger bus

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Eight hurt as bus guards battle insurgents in Yala The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Suspected insurgents yesterday opened fire at a passenger bus, injuring eight passengers as guards on the bus fought them off in Yala’s Krong Penang district. Bus driver Winai Preechachote told police…

  • Migrant worker registration drive continues

    Migrant worker registration drive continues

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Migrant worker registration drive continues The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Officials from Thailand and Myanmar will meet next week to try to resolve problems in registering migrant workers, Lt-General Thanchaiyan Srisuwan, chief of the Supreme Command’s Directorate of Operations, said yesterday. In a video conference…

  • Ministry looks into Cambodia kidney scandal | Thaiger

    Ministry looks into Cambodia kidney scandal

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Ministry looks into Cambodia kidney scandal The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Thai Public Health Ministry is looking into a report published in The Cambodia Daily about a Cambodian woman allegedly running an organ-transplant racket in which she reportedly persuades people to sell their kidney…

  • Girl, 14, raped, body dumped from train

    Girl, 14, raped, body dumped from train

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Girl, 14, raped, body dumped from train The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The body of a 14-year-old Kochakorn “Kaem” Pitakjumnong, who disappeared from an overnight train from Surat Thani to Bangkok on Sunday, was found among bushes about two metres from the tracks in the…

  • Crackdown on Thai fishing fleet ‘slave labour’ underway

    Crackdown on Thai fishing fleet ‘slave labour’ underway

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Crackdown on ‘slave labour’ underway The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Gen Ake Angsananont, the deputy national police chief in charge of suppressing human trafficking, yesterday vowed to crack down on “slave labour” in the fisheries industry and among foreign beggar gangs. The registration of migrant…

  • Volume of missing rice climbs to 290k tonnes

    Volume of missing rice climbs to 290k tonnes

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community More rice missing from storage The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Military officials yesterday continued to inspect state rice stockpiles stored in provincial granaries and again found evidence that large quantities were missing or in poor condition. The rice inspection follows the junta’s order two weeks…

  • Junta did right thing: Myanmar chief

    Junta did right thing: Myanmar chief

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Junta did right thing: Myanmar chief The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Myanmar’s Commander-in-Chief General Min Aung Hlaing yesterday praised Thailand’s ruling junta, saying it was right to seize power to protect national security and people’s safety. During a meeting in Bangkok with Supreme Commander General…

  • Thai banks to report B500k transactions to counter money laundering

    Thai banks to report B500k transactions to counter money laundering

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thai banks to report B500k transactions to counter money laundering The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Financial institutions are ready to cooperate with the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) in reporting cash transactions exceeding Bt500,000 per transaction and property transactions by politicians and government offices that exceed…

  • Fishing net may have caused whale’s death

    Fishing net may have caused whale’s death

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fishing net may have caused whale’s death The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Necropsy results have revealed that a rare Bryde’s whale might have died of shock from getting caught in a seine. We didn’t see any blood in its heart. Also, some of its skin…

  • First sentence for anti-coup defiance | Thaiger

    First sentence for anti-coup defiance

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community First sentence for anti-coup defiance The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Pathum wan sub-district court yesterday issued the first sentence on charges of violating martial law and ignoring an order of the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). The court sentenced Weerayut Kongkanatan…

  • Court upholds term for former anti-narcotics agent

    Court upholds term for former anti-narcotics agent

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Court upholds term for former anti-narcotics agent The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the 41-year jail term and Bt3-million fine imposed on a former military undercover anti-narcotics agent for trafficking a large quantity of “ice” and ecstasy tablets. The court also…

  • Thailand blasted for horrific rise in ivory trade

    Thailand blasted for horrific rise in ivory trade

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thailand blasted for horrific rise in ivory trade The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Despite Thailand’s professed reverence for elephants, the country has failed to rein in the illegal ivory trade. Partly to blame for the current poaching crisis is Thai domestic legislation. It permits trade…

  • Four-day weekend gets nod to boost tourism | Thaiger

    Four-day weekend gets nod to boost tourism

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Four-day weekend gets nod to boost tourism The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: August 11 has been approved as an extra public holiday in a bid to boost tourism and stimulate public spending, the National Council for Peace and Order’s spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvari announced yesterday.…

  • Cambodia frees Veera

    Cambodia frees Veera

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Cambodia frees Veera The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Cambodia yesterday released yellow-shirt activist Veera Somkwamkid after he was granted a royal pardon, for the sake of bilateral relations with Thailand and on humanitarian grounds, Thai Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Sihasak Phuangketkoew said. Veera was arrested…