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.
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Volvo explodes into flames outside Phuket Temple
Fire has engulfed a parked Volvo sedan next to a temple in Phuket town. The car’s owner was taking part in a funeral inside the temple last night (Sunday). Firefighters were notified of the incident at Wat Kosit Wiharn Temple in Phuket Town at 7.11 pm. Two fire engines headed to the scene along with Phuket City police. The engine…
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A tonne of marijuana seized on the banks of the Mekong
Thai authorities have seized 1,000 kilograms (1 tonne) of marijuana from a spot along the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom province around midday yesterday (Sunday). The Tha Uthen district chief Bhumisak Khampu conformed the discovery. He joined the officials in inspecting the drug stored in 25 black plastic parcels. Patrol police and Mekong naval patrol officers found the items along…
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Leicester fans mourn Thai boss killed in helicopter crash
PHOTO: Fox Sports Fans have been laying out flowers, football scarves, prayers and tributes outside the Leicester City club grounds after Saturday’s helicopter accident, in tribute to Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the Thai Leicester club owner fans credit for an against-all-odds Premiership victory in 2016. “Leicester City was a family under his leadership. It is as a family that we will grieve…
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Huge gains in reduction of single-use plastics – 30 universities
A network of 30 universities across the country has succeeded in reducing the number of single-use plastic bags, utensils and cups by 41 million pieces so far this year, it was announced during the Sustainable University Network of Thailand Conference 2018 hosted by Thammasat University. And that’s just at 30 universities. The Nation reports that the 30 universities’ plastic-use reduction…
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Government mobilizes a new war on drugs
South East Asian governments have declared various ‘wars on drugs’ over recent decades, most notably President Duterte and The Philippines (2016 – 2018) and Thailand’s former PM, Thaksin Shinawatra in 2003. Both of them have had questionable results with rights groups decrying the extrajudicial killings as trampling on basic human rights. In February 2003, the Thai government, under then Prime…
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Southern border wild boar smuggling risks spread of African swine fever
Thailand’s southern provinces are facing new risks from a viral strain called “African swine fever”. Experts say this is due to the many wild boars that are being smuggled in to the region over the border with Malaysia. According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, the disease is highly contagious and affects both wild and farm pigs. It has…
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The government gets a ‘rap’ on the knuckles
13 million views and still going strong. That’s 20% of the population of Thailand. Any pop group would be astonished, amazed and pleasantly surprised by such popularity of their video clip in such a short time. But in this case the clip is a subversive rap from ‘Rap Against Dictatorship’, a five minute rant against military rule in the Kingdom.…
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The new-Boracay opens with a whole new set of rules
It’s open again. Boracay Island, forced to close after being described by Philippine President Duterte as a ‘cesspool’, has undergone a major makeover of infrastructure and opens with new rules to help control tourist growth in the future. Tourists flooded back onto the island today as the island re-opened. Suffering the same problems as Maya Bay and southern Thai islands,…
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Leicester City club owner and King Power founder, Vichai’s helicopter crashes
A helicopter owned by the Thai Leicester City football club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha has crashed in a ball of flames in the car park of the club yesterday following a Premier League match. At this stage it’s not known who was in the helicopter at the time. The Premier League club has not confirmed whether its owner was on board at…
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Phang Nga Court convicts 11 men over gang rape of 14 year old
A Phang Nga court has convicted 11 men and sentenced them to lengthy jail terms for gang-raping a 14 year old girl in the province last year. Read the original story we broke on The Thaiger HERE. News about the assaults came to light in September 2017 after the mother filed charges with police. She outlined a litany of abuses…
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Thaiger Radio News – Sunday
Listen to the daily news from The Thaiger, anytime, anywhere…
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Muay Thai for five year olds – Sport or child abuse?
Video of two five year olds fighting in a boxing ring has sparked a lot of reaction. The young kids in the 17 kilo division (yes, there’s such a thing) are shown punching each other’s heads, with the occasional kick, as a crowd of baying adults urge them on. Sanook reports that as one boy is repeatedly forced into a corner…
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Restoring faith to the national airline
On October 8, a Thai Airways 747-400, with only 115 onboard including the crew, skidded off the runway at Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The story and photos reached around the world placing the embattled airline in a position to explain the incident. There were no fatalities and all passengers were safely evacuated and went about their holidays. Since then the silence over…
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Two killed and nine injured in van and wild elephant collision
FILE PHOTO A van driver and a passenger have been killed and nine other passengers injured when their chartered van hit a wild elephant on a road in Chachoengsao’s Sanam Chaikhet district, near the Cambodian border, early today (Saturday). The large injured wild elephant fled into to the forest following the accident in Ban Huay Some village in Tambon Lard…
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Anti-military rap song tops iTunes Thailand downloads
An anti-military dictatorship rap song has topped Thailand’s download list on iTunes after police and the government threatened legal action against the Rap Against Dictatorship (RAD) group. The Prathet Goo Mee (My F…king Country’s Got…) went to the top of Thailand’s iTunes download list this morning to the cheers of RAD who posted a message to thank its fans. The…
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100 million baht of counterfeit goods seized in Patong
Acting Immigration Police Chief Maj Gen Surachete Hakparn last night headed down to Soi Bangla and seized more than 50,000 counterfeit items with a street value of more than 100 million baht. Illegal foreigners, allegedly working without proper papers, were also arrested. Maj Gen Surachete says, “Phuket is one of Thailand’s most important tourism destinations. Many people from difference countries…
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Judge delays sentencing in paedophile case
Jason Daron Mizner during his prison term in Thailand An Australian judge says she was left so shaken by reading out the list of paedophile’s crimes that she walked out of court to delay sentencing. She said she needed to remove emotion from the punishment she will hand out. Convicted child rapist Jason Daron Mizner was supposed to be sentenced…
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Superyacht going cheap – 1MDB investigators auction off seized boat
The bidding process for the billion-baht superyacht ‘Equanimity’ will begin on Monday and run until November 28. 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) counsel Ong Chee Kwan has confirmed the matter after meeting High Court (Admiralty Court) Judicial Commissioner Khadijah Idris in chambers yesterday. “Those who are interested to bid need to pay US$1 million as deposit,” he said. Also present were…
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Thaiger Radio News – Saturday
Listen to the daily news from The Thaiger, anytime, anywhere…
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Man found dead in his car at Ranong
A Ranong man has been found dead inside his car at a tourist spot today. Ranong is a five hour drive north of Phuket. Police were alerted this morning that a car had been parked overnight in the parking lot of Grass Mountain in the main central district. When police unlocked the car they found the body of a man,…
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British family told to raise 4,000 pounds to repatriate father of five
by Abbie Bray – Devon News The family of an British father, who tragically took his own life whilst holidaying in Thailand, are trying to raise money to repatriate the body of Kevin Rowlands. The 36 year old father of five had had a history of mental health according to his family. According to Thai police, he took his own…
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13 provinces on alert for flash flooding
The Deputy PM Gen Chatchai Sarikalya explained today that winter will officially begin in the nation late this month and the Meteorological Department has assessed that rains in all regions except the south will be 10-20 percent less than the usual average for this time of the year. Meanwhile, flood warnings are in force in the south until Saturday night. Permanent Secretary…
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13 land in jail over Cha-am 2017 student murder
Thirteen attackers aged 26 and younger have been jailed for terms of between a year and ‘life’ for the murder of 24 year old Silpakorn University student Theerapong Thitithan. Theerapong died after being stabbed in the head with a screwdriver during an attack at his friend’s dormitory in Phetchaburi’s Cha-Am district in February last year. Bangkok’s Ratchadapisek Criminal Court has…
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Warning for boats going to sea
The Phuket Marine Office has made an official announcement for boats to be “careful when going to sea”. The announcement was issued today stating that “The Meteorological Department of Thailand (TMD) has forecast today that the Andaman sea wave waves more than two metres in the open sea.” “For navigation safety, boat captains have to be careful when going to…
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Mahatir drops in on an old friend
During the 1980s both men were the Prime Ministers of their respective countries. Now, both in their 90s, the two re-united yesterday for a casual catch-up. The two met in Bangkok yesterday to recall their long-standing friendship. The visitor was 93 year old Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad and the host Privy Council President, 99 year old General Prem Tinsulanonda. Mahathir…
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One dead two injured in Thalang road accident
PHOTOS: Thalang Police One motorbike driver has died whilst two others have been injured in motorbikes accidents in Thalang last night. The first accident accident occurred at 7.10pm in front of a restaurant on Srisoonthorn Road in Thalang. Police and rescue workers arrived to find a motorbike and two injured – the male driver, 27 year old Piyakan Uppala from…
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Malaysia commits to helping Thailand sort out deep south
by Supalak Ganjanakhundee Malaysia say it’s willing to help Thailand end the ethno-religious conflict in the deep South using peaceful means. Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad spoke yesterday, suggesting the root cause of the problem was not religion but injustice. Gratefully remembering the time when Thailand helped Malaysia end the communist insurgency in northern Malaysia in the late 1980s, he said…
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Technicalbiomed helping to turn Thailand into beauty hub
PHOTO: Warut Suttinan, MD of Technicalbiomed – The Nation “Technicalbiomed” plans to expand its market share in cosmetic surgery as well as in obstetrics and gynaecology segments by turning Thailand into an Asian hub for aesthetics and beauty. Warut Suttinan, managing director of Technicalbiomed, an importer and distributor of aesthetic medical devices in Thailand, said: “Thailand is now recognised as…
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Hackers get into the Cathay Pacific database
Cathay Pacific says they’ve uncovered a data breach where the personal information of more than 9 million passengers could have been stolen. Cathay Pacific has clarified that a wide range of data, including passenger names, dates-of-birth, phone numbers, email contacts and passport numbers, was potentially exposed in a hack of its information systems earlier this year. In a statement the Hong…
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Former PM Abhisit calls for election of provincial governors
PHOTO: Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva – The Nation The Democrat Party leader and former PM, Abhisit Vejjajiva, is promising to push for elections of provincial governors as part of administrative reforms. He says the decentralisation of power to residents in the provinces was necessary to help reduce inequality between regions. “It is time for provinces all over the country…
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