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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Sponsored How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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Police nab Chinese kidnapper at airport before he flees Thailand, 2 hostages saved
Police arrested a Chinese man before he boarded a flight out of Thailand last night. He is one of three men who abducted a Chinese woman and her brother-in-law in Pattaya on Monday for a ransom of 4.7 million baht. The two hostages were saved by police and returned home at 2am today. On Monday, 33 year old Ma Mingshan…
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Thai businesses expect minimal effect from US Bank collapse
Thai businesses are optimistic that they will experience only minimal impact from the collapse of US banks. A recent survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) interviewed 600 business owners to gauge the economic damage of the US banking turmoil. The survey found that 73.5% believe the effects of the US banking crisis will have only…
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Passport rip leaves TikTok creator unable to fly to Thailand
A passport rip left a TikTok creator unable to fly to Thailand. Arabella Leat’s holiday plans to Thailand with her mum were ruined due to the small rip on her passport, the UK tabloid Daily Star reported. The young woman was left disappointed and unable to board her flight after airport staff deemed her passport unfit for travel. Arabella posted a TikTok…
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Angry Thai man crashes car into PPRP election poster
An angry Thai man was prosecuted for damaging an election campaign poster belonging to the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP). He deliberately crashed his pickup into the poster. The suspect’s family revealed he was angry at the party because his request for unemployment compensation was rejected. With the General Election set to take place on May 14, every political party has begun…
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Thailand welcomes 5.5 million foreign tourists so far this year
In the first three months of 2023, more than 5.5 million foreign tourists entered Thailand, generating over 200 billion baht for the economy, government spokesperson Trisulee Trisoranakul reported this morning. Between January 1 and March 18, 5,578,721 foreign tourists arrived in Thailand, generating 215 billion baht in tourism revenue, according to data provided by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.…
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3 police arrested for kidnapping Chinese man and Thai woman
Din Daeng Police Station apprehended three police officers from Immigration Division 1 yesterday following allegations made by a Thai woman that they kidnapped and extorted 1 million baht from a Chinese man. The three suspects denied the accusations, and one officer involved in the incident is currently on the run. According to the complaint filed by a 38 year old…
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Regents International School Pattaya announces new school principal
Regents International School Pattaya is delighted to announce that Ms. Amos Turner-Wardell, the current Head of Secondary School, has been promoted as the new School Principal effective February 2023. For the past 5 years at Regents International School Pattaya, as the Head of Secondary, Ms. Amos has been central to the development and success of the school and her international…
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2 killed and 3 rescued in boat collision near Koh Samui
A fishing boat and an oil tanker collided near Koh Samui, an island in the southern province of Surat Thani. Three of the five fishermen were rescued, while the other two died. The Fisheries Checkpoint Management Centre Region 7 in Surat Thani notified the relevant departments at 2.20pm yesterday that the fishing boat named Talay Nam Chok 8 (Lucky Sea…
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Thailand election to be held May 14
UPDATE Thailand’s Election Committee (EC) confirmed today that Thailand’s general election will be held on May 14, 2023. The vote will be held on May 14 with early ballots cast on May 7. Over 52 million people are required to vote. The election follows Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s dissolution of the House of Representatives, endorsed by His Majesty King Maha…
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Revered Thai monk’s body defies decomposition 20 years after death
More than 20 years after revered Thai monk Luang Phu Woraphon Thawitan passed away, his body remains displayed in a glass case at his temple in Khon Kaen province, northeast Thailand. Not only has the deceased monk’s body not decomposed – defying science – but his skin has turned emerald green, reports Sanook. Yesterday, Phra Khru Sri Pattarasan, the current…
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10 top destinations near Bangkok for summer and Songkran 2023
As the summer season and the Songkran Festival approach Thailand next month, The Thaiger team recommends 10 top destinations to visit in April to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy a great water fight. The list includes a wide range of interesting places from waterfalls, seas, mountains, and spectacular natural scenery. With Songkran Festival set to…
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Hong Kong tourist narrowly survives bungee cord snapping midair in Thailand
Distraught onlookers thought the moment a Hong Kong tourist’s bungee cord snapped after he leapt from a height of ten storeys in Pattaya, Thailand, would surely send him plummeting to his death. But, he survived. One of Mike’s colleagues went first and had a blast, and Mike was up next, raring to go. The staff tied the bungee cord to…
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Model prisoners hired by Thai fruit exporter due to worker shortage
A fresh fruit exporting company in the central province of Chantaburi hired 30 model prisoners as factory employees to tackle the worker shortages in the agricultural sector. The director of the Tung Benja Correctional Institution in Chantaburi, Thitinai Patikabut, took 30 well-behaved prisoners to work at the Orasa Fruit Company in the Combang sub-district of the province yesterday. Thitinai reported…
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Police free woman imprisoned by lesbian lover after a row
Police last night freed a woman imprisoned by her lesbian lover after a tempestuous row in Buri Ram. The captive woman said she does not want to press charges against her emotionally charged girlfriend. Police were alerted to the confined woman’s predicament by a neighbour yesterday and a patrol car was sent to the building where she was imprisoned at…
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13 year old called cops after pedo father imprisoned and raped teenage sister
A 13 year old girl sought help from the police after her pedo father imprisoned her 17 year old sister in her bedroom in the Lak Si district of Bangkok where he repeatedly raped her. The perverted man denied the rape accusations despite evidence to the contrary on his two mobile phones. Two traffic police officers encountered the 13 year…
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Aussie dad gets into fistfight with monkeys on Ko Phi Phi in Thailand (video)
An Australian dad got into a fistfight with a gang of monkeys on a Thailand beach after they attacked his one year old son. No pistols at dawn followed but it got quite feisty. Riley Whitelum and his wife Elayna Carausu, along with their two sons, were on the Ko Phi Phi Islands when the incident occurred. While relaxing on…
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Thai soldier arrested for murder of delivery driver
A Thai soldier was arrested yesterday for the murder of the delivery driver reported in the central province of Lob Buri last week. The suspect soldier confessed that he killed the victim over a dispute that arose from a car accident that occurred last year. The 52 year old delivery driver, Akkaradate “Ek” Srisa-ard, was found dead in his pickup…
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Bail denied for Chinese gang accused of extorting 3.2 million baht from student in Thailand
A court in Bangkok denied bail to three Chinese nationals accused of kidnapping and extorting 3.2 million baht from a Chinese student studying for a Master’s degree in Thailand. The court cited the seriousness of the charges filed against them and their high flight risk. Two Chinese men and one Chinese woman are accused of four charges including detention and…
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Not flushing? Man finds 23kg python in his toilet
We have all experienced a sense of panic when we flush a toilet and the water doesn’t go down, and it becomes even worse when something unexpected comes up instead. However, it is an entirely different level of terror when what appears in the toilet bowl is the head of a giant python. Snakes are common enough in Thailand that…
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Thai woman accuses RTP of kidnapping, extorting 1 million baht from her boss
The Royal Thai Police (RTP) are in the headlines once again for all the wrong reasons after a Thai woman accused RTP officers of kidnapping and extorting 1 million baht from her boss in the Din Daeng district of Bangkok. Police reported that initial CCTV footage revealed that two of the men in the criminal group looked similar to Immigration…
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Thai MP accused of insulting the King of Thailand
Padipat Santipada, a member of the Move Forward Party (MFP), is facing a lese majeste charge in Thailand after being accused of insulting the king in a political speech delivered earlier this month. The charge against Padipat relates to Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code. Srisuwan Janya, secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Constitution, filed a…
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Health officals urge caution after 2 people die from eating horseshoe crab
Health officials in the southeastern province of Trat issued warnings to the public after two people died from consuming mangrove horseshoe crabs. Five others have been hospitalized after eating the lethally poisonous crustaceans. Horseshoe crabs are a staple food in the region, but the mangrove variety, also known as the round-tail horseshoe crab, is highly toxic and has been blamed for…
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One man’s motorcycle trip from Bangkok to Korat with his 11 cats goes viral
The heartwarming story of a Thai man, known as Uncle Samsen, and his 11 cats went viral on social media after he travelled with his pets in his sidecar motorcycle from Bangkok to the Isaan province of Nakhon Ratchasima or Korat. The route was nearly 300 kilometres and took almost five hours of travelling. Some Thais know Uncle Samsen, 65 year old…
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IDC predicts smartphone market in Thailand to remain stagnant
The Thai smartphone experienced a significant decline in 2022 and is expected to remain stagnant due to inflationary concerns, rising interest rates, and a lacklustre growth forecast for the Thai economy, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). The IDC reported that 16.6 million smartphone shipments were made in 2022, marking a 21% decline from the previous year and the…
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Thailand dissolves Parliament with immediate effect
UPDATE Thailand‘s Parliament has been dissolved with immediate effect upon an announcement published today in the Royal Gazette. His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun of Thailand endorsed the dissolution of the House of Representatives, kicking off the election season. The Election Committee (EC) has tentatively set the date of the election for May 7, 2023, but this will be confirmed…
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Thailand’s phanaeng curry voted No.1 best stew in the world
Global cuisine website TasteAtlas awarded Thailand‘s phanaeng curry the top spot in their updated list of 100 “best-rated stews in the world,” followed by Japanese kare (No.2) and Sichuan Hot Pot (No.3). Massaman curry also gained a spot in the top 10, voted No.8 best-rated stew in the world. Many Thai dishes made the list, including collective “Thai Curry” (No.14),…
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Homeless man arrested in China to reunite his family in Thailand
A homeless man arrested in China four years ago is believed to be a Thai citizen. A family in Lamphun province in the northern part of Thailand believe he is their long-lost brother who went missing 29 years ago. Chinese immigration police detained the man, who was later identified as 45 year old Prakob Chuasaeng, in 2019 in Tianshui City, Gansu…
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BREAKING: Radioactive caesium-137 cylinder missing in Thailand was smelted, sparking health concerns
UPDATE The radioactive cylinder containing caesium-137 which went missing from a power plant in Thailand was smelted in a furnace at Chow Steel Industries Public Company Limited’s smelting factory in Prachin Buri province, the governor of Prachin Buri province admitted this morning. The radioactive implications of this incident are unclear right now. Officials from the Office of Atoms for Peace…
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Sex worker prosecuted after 70 year old man found dead in southern Thailand love hotel
Police prosecuted a Thai sex worker after a 70 year old Thai man was found dead at a love hotel in Nakhon Si Thammarat province in the southern part of Thailand. Officers from Tung Yai Police Station were alerted to the man’s death at around 10pm last night and immediately rushed to investigate the scene along with volunteers from the…
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Tour guides to ask PM to act on illegal foreign guides
Chinese-speaking tour guides in Thailand have called for the government to take action against illegal foreign guides who they claim are stealing their jobs. The Professional Guide Association of Thailand held a meeting on Saturday to discuss the issue and vow to escalate the issue all the way up to the prime minister. The association lamented that the number of…
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