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 Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?
Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
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Muslim insurgents suspected in this morning’s bombing outside police living quarters
Muslim insurgents are suspected in the detonation of a car bomb in front of a row of townhouses, the official living quarters of staff at Pattani’s Mayo Police Station. No one was killed or injured in this morning’s bomb attack. Luckily police spotted the vehicle while it was being parked around 4am. The official barracks for the local police are…
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Para-sailing ‘beat up’ in UK press
OPINION A story from metro.co.uk shows a ‘terrified toddler’ being ‘forced’ to take a parasailing flight on Patong Beach. The headlines blasts ‘Father forces terrified toddler to go paragliding with him in Thailand’. In the ‘Beat Up of The Day’, the Metro article has somehow turned a bad parenting story into a Patong Beach and Parasail Operator-bashing session. It might certainly…
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Air Asia under fire over racial discrimination at Don Mueang
A Bangkok expat has taken to social media to share an open letter to Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia, after facing what he describes as “Racial Discrimination” by airline staff at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok. Philip Culbertson describes in detail how check-in staff questioned his group for an hour, demanding to see US$800 each from his wife and…
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Dramatic robbery of five pick-ups leaves two dead in Songkla
At least two people are dead after a daring robbery of five pick-up trucks in Songkhla yesterday which set off a dramatic series of events, including a hostage-taking, shootout, explosion and the safe disposal of a bomb. It started about 11am when a group of six or seven armed suspects raided the Wangto Car Centre in Tambon Na Thawi in…
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THAIGER TODAY @ Ao Sane Beach. Wednesday, August 16
We headed down to Ao Sane Beach today to check out the controversial villa | Red-light cameras are working TOO well | Security officers will be protecting Supreme Court Judges leading up to the Yingluck verdict.
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Supreme Court Judges under protection in lead up to Yingluck verdict
Security officers will be sent to guard judges in the high-profile case involving former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to maintain order ahead of the announcement of a verdict. The panel of nine judges hearing the case in the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders, and their residences, will be under guard until after the court delivers its verdict…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, August 15
Soggy start to Tuesday | Government pushing ahead with media controls | Bombardier Monorail coming to BKK | Activists urging Government to come up with long-term flood solutions | Belgian couple accuse ‘police’ of scam.
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Government ramping up its plans to control Thai media
The military government’s so-called “agreement of truth” will likely include a mechanism to oversee media in the name of ensuring the press “act responsibly to society” by following an imposed code of conduct and professional morality. The agreement will likely require approval from major political parties before being put into practice. But the same mechanism will also help protect media…
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Belgian couple fleeced of 100 Euro by ‘police’ in BKK
A Belgian couple are claiming they were detained and robbed by Bangkok police on the last day of their holiday. 28 year olds Maxime Kempeneer and Noel Borgs are making big news in Euro social media. According to their story, the robbery happened on August 10. Maxime says the couple had been backpacking and were in Bangkok to catch their…
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Six day ultimatum – Cambodia to Laos.
Cambodia’s PM has issued a six-day “ultimatum” to Laos – to remove a group of troops who have allegedly trespassed across their border, or face a military response. “We don’t want to have a dispute with Laos, but we also cannot allow the situation remain like this anymore,” said PM Sen, adding that he was running out of patience with…
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Demands for recovery of Thai student bodies in California
Several Thai associations in California will gather today to call for US authorities to speed up the recovery of the bodies of two Thai students and their rental car, according to a respresentative. The comments were made in a video posted by by Siam Town US’s Facebook page. The gathering would include representatives of at least five Thai associations in…
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Phuket security at ‘maximum’. Seven southern provinces warned.
Security is being ramped up in some southern provinces today including Phuket, Trang, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phangnga and Krabi. Police have put the security level at ‘maximum’ reflecting their concerns over possible violent anniversary attacks after last year’s bombings and arson on August 11 and 12. Ten bombs went off and five fires broke out…
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Pattaya taxi driver knocks out foreigner
A Pattaya cabbie has flattened an unidentified foreigner, punching him in the face and knocking him unconscious. Police headed to Pattaya Soi 2 and found the 40 year old farang recovering next to the footpath after locals had dragged him off the road. Emergency volunteers treated him at the scene before transporting him to hospital. For his part, the 46…
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Protest brewing over slow response to a search for missing Thai students in the US
American authorities are facing protests if they don’t expedite the retrieval of the bodies of two Thai postgraduate students believed to have died in a car crash almost two weeks ago in California, the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles has said. Protests are planned in Fresno county, the scene of the accident, and Los Angeles, as frustration mounts with the…
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SEA Games starting on August 19
The Malaysian South East Asian Games contingent has one aim – one, one, one. The target is to win 111 gold medals and be the top gun of the 29th SEA Games, which is being hosted by the country from Aug 19 to 30. The target was announced by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin after Prime Minister Datuk Seri…
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Koh Kho Khao. The vanishing island.
Locals from the Phang Nga province’s Koh Kho Khao, just north of Khao Lak, are urging the Thai PM to help them stem the heavy erosion of their island beaches from encroaching seawater. They say their beach is vanishing as the bay has intruded a hundred meters inland along its 20-kilometer coastline. And they’re saying it’s not just the annual…
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Want to win 100,000 baht? Name the new skywalk.
In case you’ve been away or just not read the news for a few weeks, Bangkok has a stunning new walkway above the Pathum Wan intersection. It’s cost 300 million baht and taken two years to construct. But it’s now open and become the new place-to-meet-friends in the capital. But the Skywalk doesn’t have a name. The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority…
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Four hour wait to get through Don Mueang Immigration
Immigration officials are investigating how passengers had to wait for more than four hours at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok. One passenger says she took four hours and 20 minutes to clear immigration and noted than many were getting weak and suffering because of the poor ventilation. People in the queue were posting that there were only 3 immigration…
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Dissent in Paradise
EDITORIAL The recent silent protest at the country’s most prestigious university in Bangkok, THAT photo of a student in a chokehold from a lecturer and the subsequent publicity, has wider implications than just a sore neck and a university in PR panic. There’s been a lot of media blow-back on the venerated Chulalongkorn University after it was revealed a…
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Charging ahead. Electric car charging stations coming to Thailand.
The Thailand chapters of four industrial companies are pooling their resources to work towards public charging stations for the next generation of electric cars in the country. Greenlots, BMW Group Thailand, Polytechnology and the Central Group are set to launch ‘Charge Now’ in Thailand which they claim is already the world’s largest network of charging stations for electric and hybrid…
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Two Thais missing in California
Two Thais remain missing after their car was found submerged in a river at the bottom a cliff in California. Foreign Affairs representative, Busadee Santipitakswith, from the Thai consulate in Los Angeles, is working with LA Police to find Thiwadee Saengsuriyarit and her friend. At this stage we only know her friend’s name as ‘Golf’. The pair went missing last…
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Former Abbot Phra Dhammajayo fled to Europe?
Former Abbot Phra Dhammajayo may have fled the country. The DSI (Department of Special Investigations) says they have evidence that he may have bolted to Europe with the help of some of his followers. The Government raided the sprawling ‘space-age’ Dhammakaya Temple headquarters, just north of Bangkok, back in February but came out empty-handed. Authorities have vowed to bring the…
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Sakon Nakhon floods easing. Authorities worried about more rain.
The country’s disaster warning system needs to be reformed, experts emphasized yesterday, as there was no warning for the recent flash flood in Sakon Nakhon that resulted from heavy downpours and leakage in a local reservoir. Meanwhile, experts have reassured the public that there will be no big flood similar to the disaster in 2011, because there was no indication…
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Phuket hotel registration remains a challenge
Phuket is attracting an ever-increasing number of international visitors to our golden beaches and turquoise seas. But many of the millions of travellers who visit Phuket each year could be staying in unlicensed – and effectively illegal – hotels. According to a new report by hospitality consulting group C9 Hotelworks, less than a quarter of hotels in Phuket (429 out…
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‘World Day against Trafficking in Persons’. Thailand in the middle of the world’s human trafficking hot spot.
Today is ‘World Day against Trafficking in Persons’ – a day where we reflect on the many victims of trafficking who live among us, but have been forced into silence due to threats to their life, retaliation against their family, feelings of hopelessness, or being enslaved and physically unable to speak out. The day has special meaning in Thailand where…
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Boom Boom on the Border
On one side of the Thai/Malaysian border is Sungai Golok, on the Malaysian side it’s the town of Rantau Panjang. The two towns are separated by the Golok River and decades of furious fighting between Muslim separatists who want to reclaim some of the southern areas in Thailand under the Malaysian flag. The Thai Buddhists on the other side are…
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Wat Arun restoration enters final month
BANGKOK: Restoration work on the world-famous stupa ‘Wat Arun’ in Bangkok, which has been underway since 2013, is expected to conclude next month. The Fine Arts Department announced Friday that it would install decorative lights on the ancient structure and flip the switch from September onward. Built in the Ayutthaya period, Wat Arun is also widely known as the ‘Temple…
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Thailand ‘among top 20 most dangerous countries’ to visit
THAILAND: Thailand has been ranked as one of the 20 most dangerous countries in the world for tourists to visit, with high rates of crime and violence and ‘low reliability’ of police assistance, according to a recent survey. Of the 136 countries around the world covered by the World Economic Forum’s ‘Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report’, which was released last…
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Nation Analysis: High defense spending at expense of education, welfare
THE CONTROVERSIAL submarine deal has sparked public debate about the way the Thai Defense Ministry spends tax money on military hardware and other national-security projects. Many question whether such projects should take priority over education, public healthcare or improving the lives of the country’s millions of poor. Since the coup in 2014, the budget allocated to the Defense Ministry has…
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Bomb blast at army hospital in Bangkok injures 25
BANGKOK: Twenty five people were injured in a bomb blast at an Army hospital in Bangkok yesterday morning. A police source said an unidentified bomber attached a green vase with artificial flowers to a wall in the reception room of Phramongkutklao Hospital before a homemade bomb exploded there at 10:40am. Investigators of the Metropolitan Police Bureau obtained a picture of…
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