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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Cigna has a special offer this July for families in Thailand. When you sign up three or more people on a family health plan, you will save 10% on your premiums for life. This deal helps you get affordable, high-quality...
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The big three. 2018 elections for Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia.
In 2018 there will be three elections in our immediate region – the much-predicted (and confirmed by the Thai PM) Thai election, another in Cambodia and one in Malaysia. All have their very local versions of democracy which will shape the outcomes. All are vital tests for the region’s fragile democracies. Cambodia Cambodia’s national elections are scheduled for July 29.…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, January 18
Fire destroys two motorbike shops near Surakul Stadium | Two Russians robbed of their Bitcoin in condo raid | Governor urges better supervision of boat safety by marine office | DSI dismiss their raid on Bangkok brothel is politically motivated | Thailand’s sex trade valued at over 200 billion baht | Krabi council calls for limit on numbers at Maya…
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THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, January 17
Second boat incident in three days | Prawit’s offering to resign if found guilty of ‘wrongdoing’ | Smart Visa details | Krabi and Thepa coal plants ‘still happening’ | PM puts hold on cannabis crops | Tax breaks for Thai families having babies.
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Smart visa available from February 1
The Thai Cabinet has approved a new “smart visa” to lure specialists to work in 10 targeted industries. Applications for the smart visa will begin on February 1. Kobsak Pootrakool, minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, said the targeted industries included Thai-based industries known as the First S-Curve and new industries dubbed the New S-Curve. First S-Curve industries include next-generation…
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, January 15
Chinese tourists recovering after boat explosion near Phi Phi | Ban for hydrogen-filled balloons | Human trafficking investigation at Victoria Secret massage parlour in BKK | Jail-break at remand centre in Songkhla | Jealous husband murders wife | Monkey cheeks being installed near Saphan Hin to help with floods
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Confidence in teachers survey – Thai Teacher Day tomorrow
Many of us are involved in education, either directly or indirectly, here on the island. Many expats work with schools, many of us have children attending schools and others work in association with school activities or have partners in the local education system. Tomorrow is Thai Teacher Day and a new survey has come out reflecting what people think about…
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Jealous man arrested over murder of wife in Bangkok
By Kittipong Maneerit A man has confessed to killing his bar-worker wife last Thursday over jealousy and a money dispute. 27 year old Mingkwan Rattanapetch known as Saranya, was strangled inside her apartment in Bangkok. Her husband, 22 year old Noppadon Singhachote has told police that he got angry when Saranya quarrelled with him over money and threatened to leave…
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Thai men first same-sex couple to marry in Queensland, Australia
Two Thai men were among the first same-sex couples in Queensland to get married following passage of Australia’s historic marriage equality bill. While many Australian same-sex couples chose to celebrate New Year’s 2018 by getting married, 37 year old Jarrukit Somjich from Chiang Rai and 49 year old Kiticha Srijad from Pathum Thani wed right after the bill passed in…
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A third of Thai children are ‘disadvantaged’
More than one in three children in Thailand are in disadvantaged groups – this according to the Mental Health Department’s director-general, Dr Squadron-Leader Boonruang Triruangworawat. “Of 13.82 million children (below 18 years of age), at least 5 million are underprivileged,” Boonruang said. He said 80 per cent of underprivileged children were financially poor and about six per cent were from…
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THAIGER TODAY Friday, January 12
Would you pay 40 baht for a small bottle of water in Thailand? | Prawit’s watch collection knows no bounds | Chalong ‘drifters’ hand themselves in | Committee set up to manage the Layan beach foreshore | Bangkok sends it’s cable underground…eventually | Dismantling begins of the Royal Crematorium in Sanam Luang.
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Anti-graft activist passes on 16 more watch pics to the NACC
Anti-graft activist Srisuwan Janya yesterday provided more evidence to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) about another 16 watches seen worn by Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan, adding to information on three other watches he had already submitted. Srisuwan asked the NACC to ask the Customs Department to provide information on the multi-million-baht watches regarding the payment of customs duties. “This…
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Asia’s prison populations – Thailand #10 in the world
China has the largest prison population in Asia, more than four times as large as India. However, when it comes to prison population rates, Thailand has the highest incarceration rate in the region. Around the world more than 10.35 million people are imprisoned either as pretrial detainees or having been convicted and sentenced, according to the report of UK-based Institute…
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Unseasonal rain hits Bangkok
Several parts of Bangkok were deluged on Wednesday morning because water pumps were undergoing maintenance and a flood-drainage system isn’t yet completed, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Flood Prevention Centre said. The centre, seemingly caught off guard by the unseasonal early-morning rainfall, issued a statement explaining its unpreparedness. Specifically, it said it was seeking funds to build a pumping well on…
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Seven students faint in Ayutthaya school van
Four female and three male students fainted on their way to school in Ayutthaya on Wednesday morning after their van’s air conditioner malfunctioned, police said. The students were found unconscious in the van driven by Wanaree Jindarat, 52, when it reached the Pracha Sueksa School in Tambon Huaror of Ayutthaya’s Muang district. The students were rushed to Ayutthaya Hospital and…
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THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, January 10
Boat wreck threatens oil spill off Cape Panwa | Porche Vs Taxi in BKK | Big rains in the capital overnight | Van crash kills one, injures eight | Three killed in Pattaya after high-speed bike crash | Minimum wage debate heats up | “Get off the bus!”
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Koh Phangan bars closed for selling drugs to tourists
An Army division in Surat Thani has invoked Article 44 to order two pubs at the popular tourist destination of Koh Phangan to be closed indefinitely after they were found selling drug to foreign tourists. Colonel Kriangkrai Srirak, deputy commander of the Fifth Infantry Division, said he invoked Article 44 to order the indefinite closure of Reggae Bar and Bello…
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Here I am. Look at me.
Editorial by Tim Newton Yingluck’s in London. Yep, it’s her. Somehow a Facebook page has been able to achieve what the entire Royal Thai Police and Interpol have been unable to – find former Premier Yingluck Shinawatra. We are led to believe that these random pics of the fugitive PM are a serendipitous happening, arousing media speculation and allowing the…
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Breaking the ice. Thai students triumph at ice-sculpture awards in China.
A beautifully sculpted masterpiece titled “Horse-Bird-Fish-Water”, about the Himmaphan forest of Hindu and Buddhist mythology, has earned Thai students from Ubon Ratchathani Vocational College the top award at China’s Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival held from January 4-7. This is the second consecutive year the college has won the prize, and the ninth consecutive year that a team…
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, January 8
Private Beach in Bang Tao. Huh?! | Update on Phuket Immigration website | Yingluck awaiting asylum status in the UK | Toon’s charity money WILL be used to purchase hospital equipment | South Korean, with a US passport, got naked at airport | Ao Nang Beach effluent outcry | 42 arrested in Songkhla in rubber plantation gambling raid.
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Soldiers arrest 42 at Songkhla gambling den
Army Region 4 officers rounded up 42 punters – 31 women and 11 men – at a temporary gambling den set up in the middle of a rubber plantation in Songkhla’s Khlong Hoi Khong district. The arresting soldiers also seized gambling tools such as a “po pan” betting set, nearly 200 gambling chips, 12 betting tickets and 2,980 baht in…
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More flooding for 2018 – La Nina heads our way
Similar weather conditions to those that occurred during Thailand’s second most severe flooding in 1995 is predicted for this year, according to weather experts. They are warning that an expected “La Nina” condition will bring more rain and storms than usual to Thailand, and that increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather should be expected as a result of climate change. Prominent…
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People’s Alliance for Democracy officials ordered to pay up for 2008 blockade of airports
The Attorney General Office’s Legal Execution bureau has notified key figures of the now-defunct People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) accused of illegally occupying Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang Airports during the 2008 protest to pay compensation worth 522 million baht to the damaged party, Airports of Thailand. Suwat Aphaipak, the PAD’s lawyer, said the bureau sent the notice on December 25,…
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10.4 kilos of heroin seized. Four arrested in Chumpon.
Police have arrested four residents of southern border provinces for allegedly trying to smuggle 10.4 kilograms of heroin from Chiang Rai to Narathiwat and then to Malaysia. The four suspects were arrested at a road checkpoint in Chumphon’s Pathiu district at 7am on Friday. The arrest was announced by Provincial Police Bureau 8 commissioner Pol Lt-General Surasak Yenprem on Saturday.…
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Bling, bling. Why don’t you give us a call?
The national Anti-Corruption Commission will summon four unnamed individuals for questioning next week in connection with the watch scandal involving Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan. NACC secretary-general Worawit Sukboon said yesterday the NACC might as well conduct inquiries with all four people and would complete that part of the probe by March. If it finds links to other people, they would…
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THAIGER TODAY Friday, January 5
Prayut lashes out at media | Gentlemen can get their ‘bits’ lasered | Phuket Immigration website in ‘Thai’ language only | Tourists leave record amounts of garbage | Police nab drug ‘king-pins’ in Mai Khao | Malaysians arrested in BKK for phone scams.
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Social media aroused. Thailand pioneers penis whitening laser service.
PHOTO: Lelux Hospital, usually advertising as a dental clinic, is now providing services a little lower on men’s bodies Thailand is probably the first country in the world where services are available to lighten the skin tone of male genitalia. Health authorities, however, have expressed worry and warned people about possible adverse impacts from such treatments. “The skin of the…
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Tourists leave. Garbage problem stays.
Tourists left behind more garbage at New Year holiday destinations this year, report tourism operators around Khao Lak and Hua Hin. Garbage was left behind in major tourist destinations as tourists returned home after New Year long holidays. Popular seaside retreats at Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan and Khao Lak in Phang Nga have reported that the amount of…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, January 4
‘Somtam Index’ shows Krabi most expensive | Deluge of new year drink-driving prosecutions causing paperwork nightmare | Tourist pest from Jungceylon was at it again the afternoon before | Thai auto industry doing well | Official stats after six days of ‘seven day’ reporting period | BKK cracking down on noisy vehicles.
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THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, January 3
Changes to universal healthcare system | Super Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan | Latest death toll from Seven Dangerous Days | DSI uncovered 9 billion baht of unpaid taxes on imported cars | Governor visits Rassada Pier | Idiot arrested over random gunfire on NYE.
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Puppies rescued from roadside
Two women rescued five puppies found beside their mother’s bloated dead body on a roadside in Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Hua Hin district. One of the woman, Chutima Singruang, posted on her Facebook wall on Wednesday that she and her friend spotted the puppies on the Hua Hin-Nong Plub road near the roadside Nong Sor market on Tuesday morning. Chutima said…
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