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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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Canadian man found dead, with throat cut, in northern Thailand
A 60 year old Canadian man has been found with his throat slashed at a Chiang Mai guesthouse. The man’s body was discovered by the housekeeper, who alerted the police. The man, who has been named as Kevin Thomas, had been staying at the property in Suthep district for several months. It’s not yet known if the cut to his…
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Podul bringing rain and strong winds to the north and northeast of Thailand
Tropical storm Podul is weaken as it crosses into the north of Isaan and the north of Thailand today. The storm centre is currently north of Khon Kaen, heading westward. Podul crossed through Vietnam last night where it started to weaken. The low pressure system is now bringing rain and strong winds to parts of Thailand’s northeast and will affect…
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Meeting planned between Central developer and AoT to resolve luxury outlet row
PHOTO: Central Pattana Plc Central Pattana Plc (CPN) and Airports of Thailand (AoT) are being asked to sit down and thrash out their differences in a face to face meeting today. The meeting is being arranged by Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, and comes in the wake of AoT expressing safety concerns over the location of the as yet unopened Central…
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Man fakes being a nurse in Thai hospital – for 11 years
PHOTO: Sanook A male nurse who faked his qualifications has managed to get away with working in the emergency department of a hospital in Loei province, Isaan, for 11 years. The Sanook News team reports that the “nurse”, known as Kowit, was employed at the Pak Chom hospital, having used a fake graduation certificate and nursing licence from Khon Kaen…
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Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong arrested ahead of planned rally
PHOTO: South China Morning Post Activist Joshua Wong from the Demosisto party has been arrested in Hong Kong, along with fellow campaigners. The arrests come ahead of a rally planned for this weekend. A statement on Demosisto’s Twitter account confirmed the arrests, adding that Wong was pushed into a minivan while on his way to an underground train station. “Our…
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Burmese restaurant workers arrested for murder of Chinese businessman
Police have arrested four Burmese migrant workers suspected of being involved in the murder of a Chinese businessman at a Bangkok restaurant which he was about to take over from the Thai owner. The four suspects were arrested in Pattaya last night and were handed over to the Wang Thong Lang police in Bangkok for questioning. At this stage Police…
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Defence team will seek royal pardon for Burmese pair facing death penalty over Koh Tao murders
Yesterday the Thai Supreme Court decided to uphold the death sentences handed down previously to the two young Burmese men for the September 2014 murder of two British tourists on Koh Tao. The defence team says they will now seek a royal pardon for the pair in the next 60 days. The defendants, now 26 year old, were escorted from…
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Thai tourist numbers recover mid-year after a shaky few months in Q2
After a few dips in April and May, tourists to Thailand flocked back, up 4.72% for July compared to a year earlier. Tourist arrivals in June were up a much more modest .89%. 3.33 million tourists visited the country during July and spent 167.3 billion baht (USD5.47 billion), up 3.11% from a year earlier. Visitors from China, where there’s been…
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Museflower Life Festival – Holistic wellness weekend in Chiang Rai, October 11-14
Museflower Retreat & Spa Chiang Rai is delighted to announce its fifth annual Museflower Life Festival, celebrating all things healing, holistic, and green with more workshops and classes than before, coming this October 11 – 14, 2019. Internationally known as northern Thailand’s first all-inclusive vegetarian holistic wellness retreat, Museflower Retreat & Spa Chiang Rai is especially known for its affordable, professional…
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Podul plods towards Vietnam’s coast and will bring rain to northern Thailand over weekend
Tropical storm Podul is still moving towards Việt Nam with the eye of the storm sitting to the south-west under China’s Hainan island, in the north of the South China Sea this afternoon. It is slowly moving westward towards Vietnam’s northern central coast. Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister says the storm will cross the coast tomorrow and cross the country into…
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Drug courier crashes off the road in Ayutthaya, police find 160,000 meth pills
PHOTOS: ejan.co A drug runner has been arrested and methamphetamine pills and crystal methamphetamine (ice) seized after his pickup careered off a road in the Bang Pahan district in Ayutthaya this morning. The incident happened on the north-bound highway Khwan Muang, Ayutthaya, central Thailand, at 8am today. Emergency responders found a white pickup truck stuck in a roadside ditch. It was…
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Burmese Koh Tao murder ‘guilty’ conviction upheld by Thai Supreme Court
The Thai Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences for two Burmese 26 year old men convicted of murdering two British backpackers on Koh Tao in 2014. After spending two hours reading the 60 page verdict, the Judge upheld the rulings by two lower courts that found Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo guilty of killing Hannah Witheridge and David Miller…
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Google moves manufacture of Pixel phone from China to Vietnam
Google is shifting the manufacturer of their Pixel smartphone from China to Vietnam. The move is said to happen before the end of this year, as reported by Nikkei. Google cited increasing Chinese labour costs and added pressure from tariffs in the ongoing China-US trade spat. The US-based internet giant is reported to be moving both the manufacturer of its…
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Arrest warrants issued over Saturday’s Songkhla 85 million baht gold robbery
PHOTO: Facebook/Persatuan Pemuda Pemudi Pattani The Na Thawi Provincial Court in Songkhla has issued arrest warrants for two men suspected to be involved in the 85 million baht gold shop heist on Saturday. Authorities have already linked the robbery to the southern insurgency claiming militants would sell the gold to finance operations. The warrants have now been issued for Wae-useng…
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Central Village developer vows to plough ahead with Suvarnabhumi opening
PHOTO: Bangkok Post The developer of the luxury outlet near Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport is vowing to continue with the opening of Central Village as planned. Airports of Thailand (AoT) is blocking the entrance to the 5-billion-baht development, scheduled to open this Saturday. Central Pattana Plc (CPN) is petitioning the Administrative Court for an injunction against AoT, with CPN President Preecha…
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Four dogs rescued in north of Bangkok after being starved for a month
PHOTO: Thai PBS World Thai PBS World reports that four dogs have been rescued from a house in Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok, after being found locked in a cage with no access to food or water. It’s understood that the dogs had been there almost a month. An additional 9 dead dogs were also found at the property,…
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Koh Samui is looking to the skies, an island tethered to an airline
by Bill Barnett “I’m looking to the sky to save me. Looking for a sign of life” There is much to be said about the Thailand’s phenomenal rise in tourism over the past decade and that trend has eclipsed the borders of the Kingdom into other Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Fueled by a rising Asian consumer…
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Bangkok Airways posts losses, Samui routes performing badly
Following the opening of its swanky new passenger lounges at the Phuket Airport last week, Bangkok Airways has just posted a net loss of 190 million baht for the first half of 2019. In posting the figures yesterday the company’s President promised to turn results around in the second half of the year to ensure an annual profit. The Koh…
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Thailand Supreme Court’s hands down verdict on Koh Tao murder case appeal
The Supreme Court’s verdict in the Koh Tao murder case appeal by Burmese migrants Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo against their death penalty sentence, will be read at 10 at tomorrow at the Nonthaburi Court. The announcement was reported in a Tweet from Andy Hall, labour rights activist, writer and researcher.
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18 cases in one day for Patong’s lifeguards in Phuket
PHOTOS: Patong Surf Life Saving Busy day for Phuket’s local lifeguards as they saved 17 people from the waves off Patong, and one one the Beach Road. Yesterday (August 27), Patong Lifeguards reported that there were a total of 18 people rescued, all in a day’s work at Patong beach. They said the situation was very challenging, with limited manpower,…
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A volunteer rescuer exacts revenge for a friend in a Chon Buri Hospital – VIDEO
As posted on The Thaiger Facebook page earlier today, originally from ข่าวเมืองชล (Chon Buri News), a video shows an unidentified Thai “volunteer” (the uniform could be a volunteer rescue official) savagely beating up a suspect whilst he was laying in his hospital bed. The video was filmed at Chon Buri’s Burapha University Hospital, 30 kilometres north of Pattaya, whilst other uniformed police…
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Four beaches in Trang closed to swimming due to unsafe conditions
Officials from the Haad Chao Mai National Park have posted red flags along four popular Trang beaches to warn tourists against swimming because strong onshore winds were whipping up the waves to more than two metres in height. Haad Chao Mai National Park is a protected area located in the Sikao and Kantang Districts of Trang Province, Thailand. It is…
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Khon Kaen teacher cuts pupil’s hair, then pays him to keep quiet
PHOTO: Thai Residents A teacher in Khon Kaen province in Issan is in hot water after she violated Ministry of Education guidelines by cutting a student’s hair. The Thai Residents website reports that the teacher allegedly gave the pupil 120 baht to not tell his parents what she’d done. And although other teachers at the school didn’t agree with the…
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Plans to ease Arrivals congestion at Bangkok’s airports
PHOTO: Bangkok.com The government has ordered an increase in the number of check-in counters and officials at Bangkok’s Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports from next month. It’s understood that the move is a result of severe overcrowding, as both airports struggle to cope with the growing number of tourists in need of visas on arrival. A government spokesperson says the…
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New 222 room development announced for Phuket’s Mai Khao Beach
A new 222 room development for Mai Khao Beach, on the northern coastline of Phuket, is currently undergoing its environmental impact assessment. Thai-Chinese Property Holdings has announced it is partnering with APlan Properties to develop the new hotel and residence project, Radisson Phuket Mai Khao Beach. The development is costing 1.6 billion baht and will be operated by the Radisson…
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Market trader in Hua Hin kills security man for yelling at his dog
PHOTO: Talknewsonline An 18 year old market trader has stabbed a security man to death for swearing at his dog. After a night of drinking with friends, “A”, returned to his market stall to sleep and was confronted by the security guard, who asked him to identify himself. It was then that the market trader’s loyal companion, Phak Bung, emerged…
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Khao San Road vendors petition the BMA to postpone renovation
Street vendors in Bangkok’s chaotic ‘backpacker central’, Khao San Road, are lobbying the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority’s (BMA) plans to give the popular tourist street a makeover and clear stalls that have clogged up the sidewalks for decades. Read the earlier Thaiger story HERE. A formal letter has been submitted to Bangkok’s governor Aswin Kwanmuang. Vendors have been resisting attempts by…
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Digital technology is drastically reshaping Thai media
“…journalism has never died despite the disruption. It’s just that media organisations and reporters are unable to survive because they cannot adjust to changes.” The Thaiger is a news and information portal, just one of a growing number of ‘disruptive media’ replacing traditional media and news outlets. It would be a very brave businessperson (with deep pockets) in the 2019…
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Thai farm grows other crops to disguise marijuana farm
“Officials believe that the other crops were simply grown to disguise the 700 marijuana plants.” Police are trying to locate an enterprising Bangkok businessman who grew 700 marijuana plants in his plantation in Nakhon Ratchasima, north-east Thailand. Polcie discovered that the landed been purchased a number of years ago to establish an “integrated farm”. Police raided the man’s 20 rai plantation…
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Baht to climb higher against USD, more pressure on exports
The Thai baht is set to soar further as one side effect of the latest escalation of the China-US trade war. Economists say the latest tit-for-tat trade sanctions will hasten foreign capital inflows into Thailand’s “safe haven” bond market while the US Federal Reserves may again cut interest rates, adding more fuel to the situation. Meanwhile the Thai export situation…
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