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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  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: 5 dead in bridge collapse; NSC rebuts BRN demands; Scrap flood plan – academics | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: 5 dead in bridge collapse; NSC rebuts BRN demands; Scrap flood plan – academics

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community 5 dead in Ayutthaya bridge collapse The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A suspension bridge over Pa Sak River in Ayutthaya collapsed yesterday evening, crushing five people to death underneath a pillar on one side, while wounding 15 others.The collapse also sent a large number of pedestrians and…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: 5 dead in Ayutthaya bridge collapse; NSC rebuts BRN demands; Academics call to scrap flood plan | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: 5 dead in Ayutthaya bridge collapse; NSC rebuts BRN demands; Academics call to scrap flood plan

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community 5 dead in Ayutthaya bridge collapse The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A suspension bridge over Pa Sak River in Ayutthaya collapsed yesterday evening, crushing five people to death underneath a pillar on one side, while wounding 15 others.The collapse also sent a large number of pedestrians and…

  • Monk impersonator run out of town | Thaiger

    Monk impersonator run out of town

    PHUKET: A shambolic fake monk recently attracted the suspicions of local people in Nakhon Ratchasima Province – and the attention of the police – by trying to collect alms in the afternoon. Villagers called officers at Phimai Police Station to investigate a man who claimed to be a monk, but was improperly dressed, collecting alms late and sometimes even asking…

  • Thailand News: ASEAN begins to row back on AEC deadline – quietly | Thaiger

    Thailand News: ASEAN begins to row back on AEC deadline – quietly

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Southeast Asia’s 2015 unity dream collides with reality Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Southeast Asian nations have quietly begun to row back on a deadline of forming an “economic community” by 2015, confirming what many economists and diplomats have suspected for years as the diverse group…

  • Fake “yogi’ nabbed by cops | Thaiger

    Fake “yogi’ nabbed by cops

    PHUKET: A 35-year-old Indian Sikh is in police custody after allegedly tricking villagers in Surin Province into believing he was a yogi with magic powers. Balvinder Singh extracted thousands of baht from at least five believers to “cleanse” them of their bad karma, police say. Mr Singh was arrested while he performed a “magical” ceremony for “Mr Ek”, a 31-year-old…

  • Thailand News: Preah Vihear land dispute update | Thaiger

    Thailand News: Preah Vihear land dispute update

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Romanian expert becomes star at the ICJ Supalak Ganjanakhundee / Budsarakham Sinlapalavan / The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Alina Miron, co-counsel on the Thai legal team that is presenting the country’s case in the Preah Vihear land dispute before the world court, smiled in surprise…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Gold sales soar as price falls; Teachers charged for toddler’s death; Police corruption probe continues | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Gold sales soar as price falls; Teachers charged for toddler’s death; Police corruption probe continues

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Gold sales soar as price dips below Bt20,000 per baht weight The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Local gold has been sold below Bt20,000 per baht weight for the first time since 2011, following a sharp fall in global prices over the past few days.Bullion for immediate delivery…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Airports on bomb alert; AEC opportunity for organized crime; Blast kills one in Pattani | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Airports on bomb alert; AEC opportunity for organized crime; Blast kills one in Pattani

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Airports on alert after US bombings The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Security at Thailand’s major airports will be stepped up following the Boston Marathon bombings, according to a senior executive of Airports of Thailand. Pongsak Semsant, caretaker president of AOT, said yesterday the latest violent…

  • Phuket Gazette Queer News: Woman delivers egg-straordinary baby | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Queer News: Woman delivers egg-straordinary baby

    PHUKET: A woman in Nakhon Sri Thammarat province claims to have given birth to an egg. Sopharat Phantharak, 36, from Village 5 in Mokhlan Subdistrict, has placed the miraculous object on a pedestal lined with white cloth and is inviting local villagers to come and pay their respects to it. Mrs Sopharat, who is already a mother of four, claims…

  • Eastern European tourists inject 35bn into Phuket | Thaiger

    Eastern European tourists inject 35bn into Phuket

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community East Europeans help drive Phuket’s tourism boom Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Thailand’s current tourism bull-run is being underscored by a watershed of Eastern European travellers, a soaring source of business that delivered 1.6 million visitors last year, led by Russia with an 82-per-cent share,…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Korea evacuation plan at the ready; Soldier abducted in South; Charter debate rages on | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Korea evacuation plan at the ready; Soldier abducted in South; Charter debate rages on

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community North Korea on Friday issued a new threat to attack the US, reacting to a show of force by two US B-2 stealth bombers that dropped inert munitions on to a South Korean training ground not far from the North’s border. Pyongyang said its targets were…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Leaning tower condemned; Thaksin tweets; Natural Fruit human rights under fire | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Leaning tower condemned; Thaksin tweets; Natural Fruit human rights under fire

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Tilting building near Bangkok urged demolished The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A seven-storey apartment building under construction at the back of Zeer department store north of Bangkok has been declared off limits, after it tilted and was inspected by local administrators.Public works officials with Khu Khot Municipality…

  • Phuket Gazette Queer News: The live lizard eater of Kamphaeng Phet | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Queer News: The live lizard eater of Kamphaeng Phet

    PHUKET: A 74-year-old man in Kamphaeng Phet Province has revealed his secret to staying healthy: eating live lizards.Dokrak Umsaeng, originally from Ang Thong, says he has been eating small geckos, which are commonly found on walls in Thailand, for 12 years – and has no plans to stop it.Lert Thetjaem, the former village chief of Khlong Si Nuan in the…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Man jailed for lese majeste; Deep South peace dialogue stumbles; B2trn loan under fire | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Man jailed for lese majeste; Deep South peace dialogue stumbles; B2trn loan under fire

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Man jailed for 3 years and 4 months for lese majeste The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A man who was arrested in March 2011 for selling pirated copies of an Australian documentary critical of the Thai monarchy, as well as WikiLeaks papers, was sentenced to three…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Little optimism for breakthrough in Thailand’s forgotten jihad | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Little optimism for breakthrough in Thailand’s forgotten jihad

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community SPECIAL REPORT: Little optimism for breakthrough in Thailand’s forgotten jihad Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Rusnee Maeloh slept through the 30-minute gunfight that killed her husband, but her neighbours in the notoriously violent Bacho district of southern Thailand heard distant explosions and feared the worst.Mahrosu Jantarawadee, 31, was…

  • Phuket Gazette Queer News: Penis erected against “widow ghost’ | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Queer News: Penis erected against “widow ghost’

    PHUKET: Visitors to Nong Yai in Rayong, on Thailand’s Eastern Seaboard, might wonder why residents have set up a shrine featuring a large wooden penis in the middle of their village. The answer? A so-called “widow ghost”, which the women of Nong Yai believe has been mysteriously killing married men in their village for 20 years. The spirit has killed…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Senators walk on Charter change; Korn calls B2tn bluff; Baht dips; Yingluck wants quality | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Senators walk on Charter change; Korn calls B2tn bluff; Baht dips; Yingluck wants quality

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Six senators withdraw support for charter amendment bills The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Six senators have withdrawn their names supporting three bills for Constitution amendment submitted to Parliament on Wednesday.Some said the content of the amendment in the submitted bills had been changed after Pheu Thai MPs…

  • Cops confused by drug-free vision of youth | Thaiger

    Cops confused by drug-free vision of youth

    PHUKET: A group of Bangkok teenagers were so scared by an apparition they claim they saw in an abandoned house that police officers thought they were on drugs. But when the results of urine tests came in, all four 13-year-olds turned out to have nothing in their systems – leaving the cops scratching their heads. On February 16, Bukkhalo Police…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: DSI chief to repeat ‘Men in Black’ testimony; Monarchy loyalists rally; Thailand gets happy | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: DSI chief to repeat ‘Men in Black’ testimony; Monarchy loyalists rally; Thailand gets happy

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community House panel wants to hear from DSI chief again over ‘men in black’ The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A House committee yesterday unanimously resolved to summon Department of Special Investigation chief Tarit Pengdith to repeat his statement to the committee about the operations of the so-called “men…

  • Gaming bender ends with knife suicide threat | Thaiger

    Gaming bender ends with knife suicide threat

    PHUKET: A man who spent all night playing shooting games in a video game shop in Bangkok got out of paying for his night of entertainment by threatening to stab himself in the neck. Chairat Chairak, 30, told reporters he used to work at a larb (a spicy Northeastern meat salad) shop in the Sathupradit Road area of Bangkok. But…

  • Land prices upcountry doubling | Thaiger

    Land prices upcountry doubling

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Provincial land prices double as big developers go upcountry Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The expansion by leading property firms of their investment in the provinces during the course of last year has resulted in land prices doubling in many areas. The main provinces and areas subject to…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Thailand among Asia’s highest achievers; Thai TV unplugged; drought, erosion bite hard | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Thailand among Asia’s highest achievers; Thai TV unplugged; drought, erosion bite hard

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thailand joins ranks of ‘high achievers’ in East Asia The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Thailand has made it into the UNDP’s list of “high achievers” in East Asia, along with China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. The rapid human development progress of Thailand and Asia-Pacific nations…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Pheu Thai denies Yaowapa groomed for PM; Monarchy TV review axed; MCOT to rule TrueVisions ads | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Pheu Thai denies Yaowapa groomed for PM; Monarchy TV review axed; MCOT to rule TrueVisions ads

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Pheu Thai denies grooming Yaowapa as PM’s stand-in The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The ruling Pheu Thai Party yesterday accused the Opposition Democrats of being fanciful in their claims that Pheu Thai heavyweight Yaowapa Wongsawat is being prepared as a stand-in should PM Yingluck Shinawatra meet with…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: UNHCR joins call for probe into Rohingya shootings | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: UNHCR joins call for probe into Rohingya shootings

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UNHCR urges investigation into alleged Rohingya shooting The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The UN’s refugee agency on Friday called on the government to investigate reports that Thai navy men shot at Rohingya boat people fleeing sectarian conflict in Myanmar. The United Nations High Commissioner for…

  • Phuket Gazette Queer News: Stressed monk in abbott attack | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Queer News: Stressed monk in abbott attack

    PHUKET: A monk in Samut Prakan has been defrocked – and is facing criminal charges – for kicking a senior monk in the neck during a ceremony attended by almost 100 other clergymen. Bang Ya Phraek Temple monk Phra Thongthip, 52, attacked Phra Khru Sunthon Suttasan as the older holy man presided over a ceremony appointing a third monk as…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Royal Thai Navy Commander-in-Chief dismisses Human Rights Watch’s report | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Royal Thai Navy Commander-in-Chief dismisses Human Rights Watch’s report

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Navy dismisses reports on Rohingya killings Phuket Gazette / The NationPHUKET: Royal Thai Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Surasak Rounroengrom dismissed the report as impossible and untrue and asserted that the Thai navy had not killed any Rohingya people as it did no more than offer them humanitarian aid.…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Three Thai butterfly close to extinction | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Three Thai butterfly close to extinction

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Three Thai butterflies close to extinction Phuket Gazette / The NationPHUKET: Three Thai butterfly species are close to extinction but can still be traded under international laws. Watana Sakchoowong, of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, said yesterday the endangered species are Teinopalpus imperialis,…

  • Phuket Gazette Queer News: Masturbating old monk ends career | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Queer News: Masturbating old monk ends career

    A MONK was disrobed after 20 years as a clergyman after he was caught red-handed masturbating in the lobby of an apartment building in Phang Nga. Police received a report that a monk was creating a scene, revealing his penis and shouting indecently in the lobby of Sunimit Mansion. Police rushed to the scene, but when they arrived the monk…

  • Man dies in reservoir after sacrilegious “wicky leak’ | Thaiger

    Man dies in reservoir after sacrilegious “wicky leak’

    PHUKET: The death of a man who apparently went insane and dived into a reservoir is the talk of a village in the province of Roi Et, in the northeast of Thailand. Villagers of Nonrang, in Muang District, believe the cause of the strange death of 32-year-old Daorueang Chaiyahong was his sacrilegious antics at a company party on New Year’s…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Forbes super-rich list now has 10 Thais | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Forbes super-rich list now has 10 Thais

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community 10 Thais on Forbes’ super-rich list, up from five last year Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Thai billionaires have seen their wealth skyrocket in a year, with 10 making it into Forbes’ list of the wealthy, compared with just five last year (click here for…