News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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Sponsored Thailand vs. the West: What expats save on healthcare each year
Healthcare in Thailand is much cheaper than in Western countries, making it a great choice for expatriates looking for affordable medical care. Both public and private healthcare options offer high-quality services, with savings of up to 80% on procedures like...
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Thailand ranks #1 for road deaths on World Atlas website. Dash-cams proposed as solution.
With Thailand unofficially acknowledged as having the highest fatality rate in road accidents worldwide, road safety advocates and police are backing a proposal that would see as many as 80 per cent of cars equipped with dashboard cameras and carrying “Photo in Car” stickers to discourage violations. Don’t Drive Drunk Foundation secretary-general Dr Taejing Siripanich said Thailand last month ranked…
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Chalong villagers being expelled from land
Villagers from Satonpoh Community in Chalong gathered at the Provincial Hall today (December 12) to file a letter to the Governor, calling for help for re-location after getting expelled from privately owned land. Somjin Chuchuay, the representative of the community, explained that the land was initially a tin mine. According to Phuket Provincial Industry Office, the land belongs to the…
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The can of worms makes its way to Damrongtham Centre
Sarantip Chaeton, who earlier found worms in a can of fish, has visited the Damrongtham Centre at the Provincial Hall today (December 12) asking for some answers from the manufacturer. Read the original story HERE. She told staff at the Damrongtham Centre that the Office of Consumer Protection Board in Phuket informed her that there would be a staff from…
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Missing Ukranian swimmer turns up – alive and well
Happy ending for our missing Ukranian man. Original story HERE. The missing Ukrainian man, 27 year old Mykhailo Ryboichuk who went missing on December 10 has been found safe today (December 12). It ends up that he was just going for a swim, got out of the water when he had finished, didn’t tell others that he’d returned and went…
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There’s room for three boat shows in Thailand, but not like it is now…
PHOTO: Marine Scene Asia Opinion by Paul Poole An article in the Phuket Gazette on 30 November 2017 welcomed the annual boat show season in Thailand. It raises the question, “is there room for three boat shows each year?” Original story HERE. The question is worth considering as boat show season kicks off for 2017/2018, with a steady stream of…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, December 12
Thailand hits the World Number One spot for road deaths | Change.org calls for Prawit to ‘step down’ | The world’s tallest pagoda burns down | Toon, down with a cold, is back on track today | EU resumes political relations with Thailand | ‘Butt boys’ back home in San Diego.
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TUESDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your local news in 3 minutes
Welcome to your Tuesday in Phuket. Another excellent day on the way with only a 10% chance of rain later on. The forecast says ‘Mostly sunny’. Back to work and school following your day off (if you were lucky enough to have a long weekend). Here’s today’s main headlines… Change.org calls for General Prawit to step down An online campaign…
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New Phuket bus schedule App
The Phuket Land Transport Office is launching a new application called “Bus Beam” connecting people with public transportations, gathering all the schedules for bus services around Phuket. There are 6 bus operators who have joined the application so far. The Deputy Director General of Land Transport Department, Cherdchai Sanansrisakorn along with Phuket’s Vice Governor, Prakob Wongmaneerung, chaired the opening ceremony…
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Worms found in famous local canned fish tin
Phuket woman Sarantip Chaeton found worms in a tin of canned fish. Her post on social media has become viral with more than 124,544 shares. She revealed on December 9 that she bought the canned fish on December 8. Her sister bought three cans which all mention an expiry date of October 16, 2020, with the manufacturing date being October…
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‘Butt Boys’ released from jail. Heading home to US.
Two American men who were arrested in Thailand for posting naked photos to Instagram have reportedly been released from jail and are heading home to San Diego. 38 year old Joseph Dasilva and his 36 year old husband Travis Dasilva were arrested at Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport last month after images posted to their ‘Travelling Butts’ Instagram account showed…
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Surprise proposal at Phukethon
The mini-marathon runner at yesterday’s Phukethon, Pakornkij Kanchanaroj, made a surprise proposal to his girlfriend, Nannapat Saepua, after finishing the run together. The groom has revealed that the couple are from Nakhon Si Thammarat. He is a power plant engineer and his future wife is a social work officer and they have been together for 9 years. The two families…
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Skull of the anonymous corpse found in Thalang drain, found.
Following the case early yesterday where a man’s body was found without its head in Thalang (story HERE), police have discovered his skull in a watercourse in Baan Lipon, Thalang (December 10) after a three hour search. After finding the body, police conducted a survey by walking along the watercourse at 9 am Sunday from the scene backwards to Lan…
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Bitcoin cracked $1,000 on the first day of 2017. Then…
The ‘B” isn’t for Baht, it’s Bitcoin. An idiot’s guide to Bitcoin and one American reporter’s dabble in the new world of cryptocurrency. By this week Bitcoin cracked US$12,000. But that was just the start. The price topped US$17,000 on some exchanges on Thursday – US$18,000 on at least one. If we quoted a price here, by the time you…
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Military committee summons forensic team to testify over cadet’s death
A fact-finding committee set up by the Supreme Command will invite representatives of the Central Institute of Forensic Science to testify on the autopsy results of a cadet who died at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School [AFAPS]. ACM Chawarat Marungruang, chairman of the fact-finding, was speaking to journalists after unconfirmed reports about the autopsy were widely shared. According to…
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Thalang & Chalong drug arrests
Thalang police arrested two Phuket men with 4,000 methamphetamine pills whilst Chalong police were busy arresting a man from Surat Thani with 3,474 methamphetamine pills along with 109 grams of crystal methamphetamine. The two cases have an estimated street value in excess of 2 million baht. On December 8, Thalang police arrested 24 year old Jirapat Samranrat and 24 year…
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Headless corpse found in a Thalang drain
Thalang police received a report about a dead body found in a drain on Thepkasattri Road in Thalang heading towards Phuket Town last night (December 9). At the scene, police found a large crowd crowded around a drain with a strong smell coming from it. After opening it up, police found a decayed male body without his head. The man…
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Autopsy confirms cadet killed by physical assault
The Central Institute of Forensic Science has found that a cadet of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School [AFAPS] was killed by a physical assault. Phakhapong “Meay” Tanyakan, a first-year student of the AFAPS, died on October 17. The school and Phra Mongkutklao Hospital stated in his initial death certificate, and in the hospital autopsy report, that he died of…
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International Anti-Corruption Day. Zero tolerance with corruption in Phuket.
Phuket Governor Norapat Plodthong chaired the opening of the International Anti-Corruption Day event at Phuket Rajabhat University today (December 9) under the concept ‘Zero Tolerance with Corruption’. The Governor said during the opening that the United Nation has set December 9 of every year to be the International Anti-Corruption Day to raise world’s awareness about the major impact from corruption.…
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Blade Runner. Cool tech gives Cola new legs.
After a first set of prosthetics, Cola now has new ‘bouncy’ blades to run on. Cola the two-legged dog has scored an Asian first – he’s the first dog in the world to be fitted with blades of the kind used by Paralympic sprinters. And he took to his new legs like a champion, racing up and down the beach…
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How much would you pay to get your dog groomed? 2800 baht?!
The husky seems to be the only one with a smile on his face. A Facebook Live post by a 32 year old Chachoengsao man complaining about “Thailand’s most expensive dog bathing fee of 2,800 baht” for his Siberian Husky has become a hot topic attracting more than 10,000 comments, nearly 400,000 views and 5,000 shares in 10 hours after…
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DAY FOUR – Phuket King’s Cup. Wind softens but competition heats up.
It’s been a week of consistently excellent winds (and gusts which peaked at 25 knots at times), but lighter conditions appeared for Day Four. This had the potential to alter standings heading into today, as well as tomorrow’s final race. Today also marked the conclusion of a great week of racing across all of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta Dinghy…
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Road closures for the Phukethon Marathon on Sunday
The upcoming Phukethon 2017, with the Marathon being run on December 10, will force some roads to be closed down for the duration of the running event. Drivers are invited to plan ahead to avoid the runners on this date. More than 10,000 runners are coming to Phuket this weekend for the Phukethon event. The marathon is scheduled to start…
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Better training. Better lifeguards. Two day training course completed at Patong.
Two days training for hotel staff, tour operators and budding beach lifeguards has been completed at Patong Beach. 98 people attended the two day training course. There’s also the Phuket Life Saving Championships 2017 at Lama Park on Patong Beach this Sunday, December 10. The competition will include iron-man beach sprints, board relay, a surf race, board rescue events and…
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THAIGER TODAY Friday, December 8
Prawit’s been given 30 days to ‘please explain’ | Flood crisis in Nakhon Si Thammarat | Last night’s island downpour | Australian couple in hospital with mounting bills following bike accident | 50,000 SIM cards seized on the Cambodian border.
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NLA visits Rawai sea gypsy village to check on environmental issues
The First Vice Presidnet of National Legislative Assembly of Thailand (NLA) and his team visited the Rawai sea gypsy village yesterday (December 6) following a complaint about a retention wall near the beach and natural waterway issues. Prior to the visit the team attended a meeting with Phuket authorities including the Phuket Governor, Phuket Land Office Chief, representative of Muang…
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Prachasamakkee villagers block land office from measuring land border
During a visit at the Prachasamakkee Community today (December 7), the team at the Phuket Provincial Land Office and the lawyer of the plaintiff against the villagers were not allowed to check the measurement of the village land to make a plan to file to the court. The villagers claim that the 77 defendants haven’t had any appointment for the…
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PHUKET KING’S CUP – Day Three report. Lay day today.
Perfect breezes at 12-15 knots on top of two whole days of strong wind had the swells riding higher today, and conditions that were way more “Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Kevin Whitcraft’s THA72 crew has a very credible early claim on regatta glory, as does Team Kata Rocks (Peter Dyer’s Madam Butterfly) in IRC2. Premier Class, IRC1, the one-design Pulse 600…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, December 7
Two fallen electrical poles cause traffic disruption this morning | Severe flooding in Nakhon Si Thammarat | No 3-Star Michelin restaurants in BKK | NACC chasing an explanation from Prawit | Phramongkutklao Hospital bomber sent to jail.
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Kamala vendors complain about illegal foreign vendors
30 local vendors of Kamala Beach led by Samran Kodsan headed to the Kamala Police Station yesterday (December 6) to complain about foreign vendors working illegally on Kamala Beach. The vendors say that the foreigners from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Vietnam have been working as vendors on the beach for a while and often try to pressure beachgoers to buy their…
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THURSDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
A lot of rain overnight so there has been some wet and slippery roads around the island this morning. Patong Police Station, as usual, suffers when there’s heavy rain. More racing down at Kata today for the Phuket King’s Cup. Nakhon Si Thammarat is really copping heavy rains and our Deputy PM is being asked ‘please explain’ about his ‘bling’.…
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