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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 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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Over 5 million foreign tourists arrived in Thailand in 9 months
A Thai government spokesperson has announced yesterday that over five million foreign tourists arrived in the ‘land of smiles’ between January 1 and September 8. The total number of foreign visitors was 5,018,172, said spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) says the biggest group of tourists came from Malaysia, with 751,397 arrivals. Up next was India, with…
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Germany reveals Putin blames Ukraine for conflict
The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz revealed yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin still blames Ukraine for the conflict between the two former Soviet states. Scholz called Putin on Tuesday to ask him to withdraw his troops from Ukraine and reenter negotiations to find a solution to the crisis which is having a domino effect on the world’s economy. But the…
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VIDEO: Python attacks Royal Forest Department officer in Bangkok
A huge python attacked a Royal Forest Department officer at the department’s Japan Building in Bangkok on Monday. Pythons are non-venomous snakes, but the officer still suffered a nasty bite. CCTV footage captures the woman walking towards the lift with two colleagues when the snake appears from nowhere and launches at her legs. After the incident, the Department of Disaster…
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Famous Thai rapper Milli denied entry into South Korea
Famous Thai rapper, Danupa “Milli” Kanateerakul had to cancel her show in South Korea because she was denied entry into the country. The Thai record label, YUPP!, announced yesterday that Milli can’t travel to South Korea to perform at the Hiphopplaya Festival on September 18 because of a visa problem. Milli’s career on the international stage took off following her…
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Young pregnant Thai woman found dead in pond, signs of foul play
A young pregnant Thai woman was found dead in a pond in Thailand’s eastern Rayong province on Tuesday. Early reports reveal that she might have been strangled. In an initial examination, Klaeng district police found that the woman, 19 year old Kritsana, had wounds on her lips and neck as well as traces of being strangled. Kritsana had been living…
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Bangkok to declare disaster zones in areas hit by severe flooding
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittupunt plans to declare certain areas in the capital that suffer from severe flooding as disaster zones and pay compensation to victims. Some provinces in Thailand, like Ayutthaya and Surin, have already been announced as disaster zones. The 56 year old governor yesterday reported to the media that some districts in Bangkok were still under water from…
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Cheap plane tickets go on sale today and tomorrow in Bangkok
Today and tomorrow discounted plane tickets will be on sale at Bang Sue Grand Station in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district at the event ‘Transport United for Happy Journey,’ hosted by Thailand’s Ministry of Transport. The ministry is hosting the event at Gate 1 from September 15-16 to stimulate tourism, exchange knowledge about transportation facilities and make travelling around in Thailand more…
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Cannabis bill quashed by vote in House
A newly-proposed cannabis bill has been quashed as the Thai House of Representatives voted on its withdrawal. The bill was shot down after a 198 to 136 vote in the House. Lawmakers say the bill needs to be revised as its wording was regarded as “loose and could potentially expose youth to health risks.” The bad news is that if…
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Boy in northeast Thailand dies of respiratory disease
A boy in Thailand’s northeast province of Nakhon Ratchasima died of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) on Monday. This is the first death from RSV reported this year, but a doctor from Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital warns that RSV could be more virulent this year. The doctor, Jiraruj Chomchoey, said that at least one child has been admitted to the…
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Green Expo Returns to PHIST, Southeast Asia’s Leading Sustainability Forum
Press Release Banpu NEXT, is a leading smart energy solutions provider in the Asia Pacific under Banpu PCL. As the long-term partner in clean energy technology, Banpu NEXT creates total Smart Energy Solutions to help customers across industries and stages of business operation and achieve their ESG/SDG goals and build up values and opportunities for sustainable business growth while bringing…
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Swiss Student Alumni Association honours late King Bhumibol
The Swiss Student Alumni Association has honoured the late King Bhumibol’s memory with a life-sized, bronze bust. The statue is now overlooking Lake Geneva in the western city of Lausanne. Bhumibol studied and lived in the canton of Vaud for 18 years, with authorities saying that he helped establish a friendship between Thailand and Switzerland. The bust of the late…
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Young German/Finnish man missing in Thailand
A 24 year old German man named Tim Pösel is missing in Thailand. Pösel is 198 centimetres tall (6’6) and his mother tongue is Finnish, but he also speaks German. Pösel arrived in Thailand on August 16 and last had contact with his family in Germany on August 20 when he texted his mother via Instagram messenger. A missing persons…
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Whale sharks spotted off Koh Pha Ngan in South Thailand
Environmentalists spotted a pair of whale sharks off South Thailand’s island of Koh Pha Ngan. Members of the Phangan Sea Guardian Association had gone diving when they spotted two of the gentle giants. The association’s president said that one whale shark was four metres long, while the other was six metres long. The VP, Sittiroj Kaewnongsameta, told The Phuket Express… “This…
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Taipei accuses Beijing of interference at trade fair in Penang
The Taiwan government pointed the finger of blame at China after their beauty queen representative was banned from joining fellow contestants greeting guests at the 2022 World Congress on Innovation & Technology (WCIT) in Penang, Malaysia. Malaysian trade event organisers stopped Miss Taiwan, Kao Man-jung, waving the Taiwan, or Republic of China, flag on stage. She was later seen in…
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Police crack down on Cambodian beggars with children in Pattaya
Police are looking into the case of at least two alleged Cambodian beggars in Pattaya who reportedly used minors to solicit money from tourists, according to reports from concerned witnesses. Officers and officials searched a night venue in Chon Buri’s Nong Prue District and found a Cambodian woman with a boy there. The team also found many flowers which they…
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Standard taxi fee of 45-50 baht agreed but more at Thai airports
A taxi fare increase of about 45 to 50 baht was proposed by drivers in Thailand yesterday while standing or idling in traffic is expected to be fixed at about five baht per minute. The President of the Thai Public Taxi Association, Sadit Jaitiang, reported yesterday that the association met with the Deputy Director of the Land Transport Department, Sirirat…
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3 Thai police suspended for soliciting bribes in e-cigarettes case
Three police officers in the Hat Yai district of Songkla, a southern province of Thailand, are under investigation for soliciting bribes from three men caught crossing into Thailand with e-cigarettes. The three victims revealed that the police asked for 10,000 baht from each of them to waive penalties. Pachara Sirithorn revealed on Facebook that he and two of his friends…
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Bangkok employee sacked for “sleeping” at work when he actually fainted
A Bangkok sales assistant has been fired after fainting on the job. A colleague sent a photo of him unconscious to his boss, Thai media reported this week. The boss believed the employee had been sleeping on the job and sacked him. The man who fainted, 22 year old Srithanalert, worked as a sales assistant in a furniture shop. He…
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Thai VietJet launch flights from Bangkok to a Vietnamese island paradise
Thai VietJet announced a new international route between Bangkok and the tropical island paradise of Phu Quoc in Vietnam. The route’s inaugural flight will take off on October 12. The route will fly between Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport to Phu Quoc International Airport four times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with an approximate flight duration of 1 hour…
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Bangkok sex workers hold Q&A at Patpong Museum
Curious to find out more about the world’s oldest profession? Do sex workers enjoy their work? Do they have a partner outside of working hours, and do they think prostitution should be legalized? All of these questions and more will be answered by two Bangkok sex workers at the Patpong Museum on Saturday, September 17, from 5-8pm, where you are welcome…
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Acid attacker: Now you can’t remarry, take me back!
People in relationships fight and reconcile all the time, but this case is a bit more extreme. The man accused of splashing acid in his ex-lover’s face outside of a Don Mueang salon has turned himself in and is asking his estranged wife to take him back. He says that his motivation was to disfigure the 25 year old woman…
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27 people arrested for 1.5 billion baht Police Credit Union fraud
Twenty-seven credit union officials, police officers, and former police officers have been arrested for defrauding the Pattalung Police Credit Union out of 1.5 billion baht. On March 24, members of the Pattalung Police Credit Union filed a complaint to the Assistant Commissioner-General, Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn, that some police and credit union officials were working together to steal money from…
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Pro-wakeskater gets fine & suspended jail term for surfing in Bangkok floods
UPDATE #2 Thanyaburi Provincial Court handed pro-wakeboarder and pro-wakeskater Daniel “Tao” Grant a 5,000 baht fine and a one-month suspended jail term for his wakeskating stunt in the Bangkok floods. The 24 year old watersports champion was found guilty of causing danger to and obstructing traffic for wakeskating on the flooded Phahon Yothin Road outside Bangkok University last week. After…
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Court to decide fate of suspended Thai PM Prayut on September 30
On September 30 at 3pm, Thailand’s Constitutional Court will read the verdict on suspended Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s eight-year term limit. According to Section 158 of Thailand’s constitution, “The Prime Minister shall not hold office for more than eight years in total, whether or not holding consecutive term.” Prayut reached his eight-year limit serving as PM in August after becoming…
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Former Thai PM slams govt’s miserly 5% minimum wage rise
A day after the Thai government announced a nationwide 5% salary increase the kingdom’s former prime minister condemned it as “not enough.” The Thai Cabinet yesterday agreed to increase the minimum wage throughout the country by 5%. The highest rate is 354 baht per day in Chon Buri, Rayong, and Phuket while it is 328 baht per day in places…
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Cocktail? Bangkok hotel sets Guinness Record for largest Negroni
Bottom’s up! A hotel in Bangkok can now claim a boozy new Guinness World Record after their bar mixed up the world’s largest Negroni cocktail. The ambitious Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok Hotel built a huge container to house the popular Italian cocktail and pumped over 630 litres into it to break the record. Made of equal parts gin, vermouth, and Campari,…
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Teen escapes house fire in Pattaya by climbing balcony
A Pattaya teenager climbed down from his balcony to just barely escape a fire that broke out in his home in the early hours of Monday morning. The boy, 16 year old Poramet Soratavorn, sensed the smell of smoke when he was on the second floor of his house in Royal Park Village on Thepprasit Road. Poramet ran downstairs to find…
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BREAKING: Shooting in Thai army building in Bangkok, 2 dead, 1 injured
At 8.45am, a Sergeant Major opened fire in the Royal Thai Army College on Thoddamri Road in Bangkok’s Dusit district, killing two soldiers and seriously injuring one more. The gunman has been arrested. The army chief shot one of his colleagues in the head who has since died at Vajira Hospital. The deceased have been identified as Sergeant Major Nopporat…
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Earthquake strikes in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand
At 1.03am today, a 3.6 magnitude earthquake struck Fang district in northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai province, according to the Meteorological Department. No injuries, deaths or damages have been reported. The earthquake’s epicentre in the Mae Kha subdistrict had a considerably shallow depth of 4 kilometres, causing people in the region to feel strong shaking. Strong shaking was reported in Mae…
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Phuket school director denies assault allegations
UPDATE The Phuket school director who last week was accused of physically assaulting an eight year old is denying the allegations. This news comes after a relative of the boy claimed that on September 8, the director pushed the boy’s head into a wall. He also allegedly used his hands to forcefully open her nephew’s mouth. The Phuket Provincial Educational…
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