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Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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Sponsored Moving with family? Here’s how to cut health costs in Thailand
Relocating to Thailand with your family brings exciting new opportunities, but it also comes with the challenge of managing healthcare costs in a new system. Thailand has both public and private healthcare options, each offering different prices and quality of...
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Small children in Pattaya learn to get help when locked in hot cars
After a tragic incident last month where a child died in a school van in Chon Buri, Pattaya police are taking measures to prevent similar incidents. Two police lieutenants visited a Pattaya school on September 21 to train preschoolers two to four years old on what to do if they get locked in a hot car. The school was Pattaya…
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Heavy rains collapse part of Chiang Mai’s ancient city wall
With continued heavy rainfall, part of the ancient city wall of Chiang Mai collapsed. A section of the wall near the Chang Phuak Gate partially crumbled in last night’s storm. The ancient wall stood in Chiang Mai for about 750 years before collapsing in the rain. The Chiang Mai municipality was joined by authorities from the Fine Arts Department who…
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6-hour whiskey drinking contest draws criticism
A contest to drink booze straight for six hours? Maybe not the best idea. A rice whiskey drinking competition is drawing criticism online from readers questioning the safety of such an event. The contest was advertised online on Friday and is scheduled to take place on October 11. The location appears to be Donna Kham House farm, in Ban Thaen…
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Pattaya official urges mayor to expand legal nightlife zone
A Pattaya official proposed that Mayor Poramase Ngampiches expand the city’s legal nightlife zone. Pattaya City Council member Damrongkiat Pinitkan made the proposal in a meeting on Friday. Damrongkiat argued that current zones, which have not changed since 2002, are archaic. Damrongkiat noted that rules only allow operators to run entertainment venues on the right side of Pattaya Third Road…
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Foreign women rescued from rip current in Patong
Jet ski operators and lifeguards rescued three foreign women from a rip current off Patong Beach on Friday night. The women were seen in the water calling for help. Fortunately, some jet ski operators and lifeguards were still at the beach at the time, and the women were taken safely back to shore on a jet ski. The Patong Surf…
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Woman smashes up her 1.5 million baht car over feud with Ford Thailand
A woman who smashed up her Ford Everest with a crowbar in Korat, northeast Thailand, on Thursday says she wants “justice, not attention.” The 42 year old businesswoman, Runghathai (surname withheld), resorted to clambering on her bonnet and smashing her windscreen because of an ongoing feud between her and Ford Thailand which began in March. Runghathai says that she drove…
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1.8 billion baht in donations at the Erawan shrine in 2022
The Erawan shrine is a popular place for Thai people to make merit and donate money, and those donations totalled 1.8 billion baht in 2022. The cash donations are gathered and donated to a variety of charities. Over 50 hospitals have benefitted from the offerings, receiving about 100 million baht this year. The Erawan shrine sits at the Ratchaprasong intersection…
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Carnival Magic theme park opens in Phuket to fanfare
After launching on Tuesday, the bright and energetic new theme park Carnival Magic has attracted local Thais and international tourists flooding to Phuket. The park is the first of several scheduled to open throughout the country in the next few months as tourists return to Thailand and companies race to provide exciting new attractions for them. Safari World is the…
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Thailand watching BQ.1.1 variant as Covid rules ease
As Thailand prepares to eliminate the last of the Covid-19 protections for the country, a new highly contagious variant of Omicron has been put on the country’s watch list. The BQ.1.1 variant was first confirmed in the UK last month and has so far only infected a meagre 78 people, but those cases have been spread throughout 10 different countries…
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Military conscription in Russia could benefit Thailand’s economy
Thailand could be an attractive and realistic option for men fleeing military conscription in Russia. Reports say that men are fleeing Russia after President Vladimir Putin announced a plan to conscript 300,000 civilians into military service in Ukraine. Several European countries such as Lithuania have already closed their doors to Russian citizens, citing widespread support for Putin’s unprovoked invasion of…
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Economists foresee 38 baht to 1 US dollar this year
With the US dollar strengthening and Thailand’s struggling economy, economic experts predict the baht may fall to 38 to the dollar by the end of this year. The head of capital markets research for Kasikorn Bank believes the baht will continue its instability along with the global money markets as a result of domestic and international factors. While the US…
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Nine people hospitalised by chemical leak in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
UPDATE Police say that nine people are being treated in hospital as a result of the chemical leak at the Indorama Polyester Industries factory in Nakhon Pathom in central Thailand on Thursday morning. The leak caused a “foul, burning stench” which impacted three districts of the province, forcing the temporary closure of several schools. Deputy Commander of the Nakhon Pathom…
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Beauty queen seeking asylum will not be sent to Myanmar
Amid confusion over the status of the Burmese beauty queen in limbo at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, she can at least take solace that she will not be sent back to Myanmar where she faces arrest. Han Lay, the 23 year old beauty queen, has been held upon arrival in Thailand on Wednesday with reports first saying she had been arrested,…
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Tropical Storm Noru is about to hit Thailand
Tropical Storm Noru has been brewing in the Pacific Ocean and is on its way to Thailand, according to the Meteorological Department. Noru is expected to cause isolated and heavy rainfall in northern and northeastern Thailand from Tuesday to Thursday (September 27-29). A tropical depression just east of the Philippines intensified into a tropical storm on Friday at around 1pm.…
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Thai man ‘does not regret’ death of ‘crazy’ son who stabbed grandma in the genitals
A Thai man says he does not regret the death of his “crazy” son, who allegedly tried to rape his aunty and grandmother in Samut Prakan in central Thailand last night. The perpetrator stabbed his elderly grandmother in the neck and genitals. Neighbours ran inside and tied him to a pole. After that, he started having seizures, fell unconscious and…
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Schoolgirl raped in a school dormitory in front of friends
A 17 year old girl was raped in front of her friends by a 15 year old boy while she was in a Covid-19 quarantine dormitory at Rajaprajanugroh 57 School in the central province of Phetchabun. When the teenager filed a complaint to the school’s director, he allegedly told her to accept compensation, agree the sex was consensual, and move…
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Chinese lost at sea reported to have been trafficked
The Chinese nationals lost at sea off the coast of Cambodia are believed to have been illegally trafficked. A Cambodian government official today reported that 23 Chinese nationals are missing after the boat overturned carrying 41 alleged illegal immigrants. Government official Kheang Phearom announced that the boat carrying 41 Chinese people got into trouble near Sihanoukville yesterday and only 18…
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Another push for helmet use in Phuket
Officials once again pushed for more motorcycle riders to wear helmets in Thailand, this time in Phuket. The push is part of another of Thailand’s many road safety campaigns. Local officials handed out helmets to students and other community members in the Wichit area of Phuket’s main city district on Wednesday. The officials also finished painting a crosswalk in front…
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Former MP jailed after casting votes for colleagues
A former Member of the House of Representatives from the Pheu Thai Party, Narisorn Thongtirat, was sentenced to 16 months in jail after he was found guilty of signing and casting votes for colleagues. The Criminal Division for Politicians under the Supreme Court yesterday sentenced Narisorn, the former MP of the northeastern province of Sakon Nakhon. An investigation found Narisorn…
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Over 1000 people evacuated after Thailand’s Mun river bursts its banks
The Mun river burst its banks in the early hours of this morning causing flash floods in Ubon Ratchathani province in northeast Thailand. A total of 1,015 people were evacuated from their homes. The river, a tributary of the Mekong, finally overflowed after a steady rise in water levels in recent months. The floods forced the evacuation of 51 communities in…
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Artists create sci-fi versions of Bangkok
Several artists are creating sci-fi versions of Bangkok in their work. Two filmmakers, a painter, and illustrators are imagining Bangkok with ghosts, AI, and snow in Bangkok. One filmmaker, Stephan Zlotescu, has produced a film about an AI robot falling in love with a woman in Bangkok. The AI takes over a man’s body to pursue the woman. The film,…
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Thai transwoman climbs down building to escape Hong Kong cops
A video of a Thai transwoman in a sexy dress climbing down the outside of a building in Hong Kong like Spiderman to escape the clutches of law has gone viral. The woman, wearing a sexy see-through pink dress, climbed out onto the window ledge of a third floor building to escape the cops, and was witnessed by dozens of…
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Thailand’s ‘state of emergency’ finally draws to a close
Thailand’s Emergency Decree will finally come to an end on October 1 after being extended 19 times since the beginning of the pandemic. As a result, Thailand’s Covid-19 task force – the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) – will be dissolved. The decision to end the state of emergency has been in the pipeline for some time and was…
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Pro vaping group calls on govt to legalise e-cigarettes
The director of a pro-e-cigarette group in Thailand believes legalizing the activity would not only lead to more control over vaping amongst the kingdom’s youth but make it safer than the dreaded cancer stick. A survey conducted by the National Statistical Office of Thailand last year found more than half of the kingdom’s 80,000 e-cigarette smokers were people aged between…
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BMTA bus driver brawls with motorcycle rider in Bangkok
A bus driver and a motorcycle rider got into a brawl on Phetchaburi Road in Bangkok last week after the former honked his horn at him. A video of the scrap between the driver from the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) and the motorcycle rider started circulating on Thai social media last Tuesday, September 20. The video shows a male…
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US Navy scammer arrested in Venezuela over scandal in Asia
An alleged United States Navy military contractor has been arrested in Venezuela after fleeing house arrest in the US. The man fled his home country just weeks before being sentenced for his role in a corruption scandal in Thailand and other parts of Asia. The man, Leonard Gleen Francis, known as “Fat Leonard,” had fled from his California home and…
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Fishermen rescued after going missing in stormy seas off Koh Samui
Fishermen who went missing amidst stormy seas off Thailand’s island of Koh Samui were rescued by fellow fishermen earlier this week. The two men, a 70 year old and a 50 year old, were reported missing near Baan Tai Beach in the Koh Samui district. The boat capsized that the two men were travelling in as strong wind and waves…
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At least 31 dead as Iranian security forces crack down on civilians protesting woman’s death
At least 31 civilians have been reported dead after Iranian security forces cracked down on protests over a young woman’s death. The woman, Mahsa Amini, 22, was visiting Tehran with her family last week when the morality police arrested her for violating Iran’s strict dress code for women. The code has been in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in…
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More heavy rain to continue today in 62 of Thailand’s provinces
More heavy rain is in today’s forecast for 62 of the 72 Thai provinces. The Meteorological Department warned civilians in these provinces, which include Bangkok, to brace for torrential rain. According to the forecast, a monsoon trough is moving its way down the lower northern region of the country and the upper Central Plains over the next day. A moderate southwesterly…
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Ambulance runs a red light and kills a motorcycle rider
A 60 year old man was killed after a speeding ambulance run a red light and wiped out his motorcycle causing a huge ball of fire in Mahasarakham, northeastern Thailand. The ambulance from Yang Talad Hospital smashed into the motorcycle at the Chiang Yuen Intersection in Mahasarakham province yesterday at 6am. Video footage from a vehicle behind the motorcycle captures…
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