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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 Long-term life in Thailand? 5 reasons private health insurance pays off in the long run
Thailand is a great place for expats and retirees, offering a warm climate, affordable living, and rich culture. However, healthcare can be tricky for foreigners since they aren’t eligible for public health coverage, and private care can be expensive. Private...
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Same same but not very different – Election 2019
By Jintana Panyaarvudh Campaigning ahead of the March 24 election is getting a little too heated in the view of some observers. The old habit of slinging mud between rival politicians has revived prompting critics to raise concerns. “The world has evolved but Thai politicians have failed to develop or employ new, creative methods in their campaigns to attract voters,”…
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44 baby leatherback sea turtles headed to sea in Phang Nga – VIDEO
PHOTO: DMCR A third group of baby leatherback sea turtles have now hatched on Kuekkak Beach and headed out to sea for their new life off the Takua Pa district in Phang Nga. A first batch of 48 baby leatherback sea turtles survived and headed straight for the Andaman Sea once they got their bearings on Kuek Kak Beach in…
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Weather for March 4
Bangkok Partly cloudy. High 33ºC. Winds S at 15 to 30 km/h. Phuket Partly cloudy. High 31ºC. E winds shifting to W at 15 to 25 km/h. Chiang Mai Generally clear. High 37ºC. Winds S at 10 to 15 km/h. Pattaya Morning thunderstorms. High 31ºC. Winds S at 15 to 30 km/h. Chance of rain 80%. Hua Hin Partly cloudy,…
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Taxi driver arrested for cheating South Korean tourist in Bangkok – VIDEO
A taxi driver in Bangkok has been arrested after allegedly intimidating and overcharging a South Korean tourist passenger. The arrest from Tourist Police follows a user tagging the Tourist Police Bureau in a post in his Facebook post accusing a taxi driver of allegedly intimidating and overcharging the South Korean passenger using the taxi service from Siam Square to Rangsit…
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Maya Bay – no plans to re-open The Beach
That was before. This is now. The future remains uncertain for any re-opening of the southern Thailand tourist magnet, Maya Bay at Koh Phi Phi Ley. Thai authorities say they have no plans to re-open Maya Bay at this stage but that they continue to monitor the situation on Koh Phi Phi Ley and the island’s famous beach. Blacktip reef…
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76 Pangolins intercepted in Prachuap Khiri Khan
by Piyarat Nildee Police have seized 76 live pangolins with an estimated street value overseas around 10 million baht from a smuggler in Prachuap Khiri Khan. 45 year old Sompol Mekchai from Ratchaburi was stopped in Sam Roi Yot district early this morning after police suspected he was trying to evade their checkpoint on the Phetchkasem Highway.Seeing his pickup suddenly swerve onto…
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Flying into history, the mighty Airbus A380
In an era where airlines are now run by accountants instead of pioneers, aviators or passionate flyers, it’s no wonder we’re seeing the passing of an important aviation milestone this week. The Airbus A380, a passenger favourite, failed to ignite the interest it needed to sustain new orders and and a continuation of the program of building, selling and servicing…
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14 injured in bus crash in Prachuap Khiri Khan
PHOTO: ปูดำนิวส์ A tour bus has flipped over in the middle of the main road through Prachuap Khiri Khan last night around midnight. The accident happened at the Phetkasem Road 371 kilometer marker (distance from Bangkok). Up to 14 people have been injured in the incident, four of them seriously. The injured were rushed to hospital as rescuers helped free…
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The Koh Samui tunnel – “it definitely had all the proper documentation”
The 84 metre tunnel, rediscovered last week by a foreign tourist visiting the north of Koh Samui, is starting to reveal more of its secrets. This week island authorities announced they would prosecute the builders of the tunnel because they were unable to find any supporting documentation or permissions for the construction. The Koh Samui land office could, however, confirm…
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Chinese resurgence, Russian stability feature in tourist arrivals for the start of 2019
The Chinese returned in numbers at the start of 2019 giving the Land of Smiles a spectacular start for the year with a total of 3.7 million visitors in January 2019. This was a nearly 5% rise in total tourist numbers from the same month last year. Mainland China continues to lead Thailand’s source market with just over a million arrivals…
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Driver slams sedan into bedroom of house killing baby and injuring others
PHOTO: Facebook / Ake Srisuwan A couple’s one year old son died and three family members were injured after a car slammed into the bedroom on the lower floor in the main city district of Pathum Thani early Saturday. The incident happened in Tambon Ban Mai around 2.30am. Pathum Thani is the province just north of Bangkok. The family, along with…
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Five Thais die after their car plunges into a Laos ravine
Five Thai tourists were killed in a car accident just over the north-eastern border in Laos. The incident occurred when their car plunged down a deep ravine in Luang Prabang. The popular tourist region is approximately 300 kilometers north of the Lao capital Vientiane. Yesterday’s fatal crash was reported at 10pm last night by Lao authorities to the rescue unit…
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126 Grand Palace taxi and tuk tuk drivers, and local vendors, arrested
PHOTOS: The Nation One of the biggest targets for scammers has always been the Grand Palace in Bangkok, mostly because it has such a high concentration of tourists visiting any time of the year. Google ‘scams in Thailand’ and you’ll always be reading about the creative ways taxi and tuk tuk drivers, and local vendors, have of parting tourists from…
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Drunk pickup driver kills one, injures two others in Chalong
A drunk pickup truck driver has collided with cars and motorbikes at a traffic light in Chalong. One person has died, two others are injured and six vehicles are damaged. Chalong Police were notified of the incident at an intersection on Chao Fa East Road near Wat Tai (Ladthiwanaram Temple) at 1.50pm yesterday. Chalong Police and emergency responders arrived to…
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Burn baby burn – The Netflix cash strategy to stay on top
Netflix, the online TV streaming service, is gaining more viewers in the US and around the world, but is burning through astonishing amounts of cash in producing new content. In 2018 Netflix churned through $3 billion in losses. Negative cash flow that accelerated to $1.3 billion in Q4, more than double the year before. But it’s all a part of…
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Beware: Dangerous jellyfish. Just don’t tell the Chinese.
Dozens of signs have been erected, in multiple languages on Cha-Am beach in Petchaburi, warning swimmers about potentially dangerous jellyfish and ‘stingers’. Manager Online reports that, despite Chinese being frequent visitors to the area, someone forgot to include the warnings in Chinese language. The sign contained Thai and English, Japanese and Korean. But no Chinese. Three large signs and some other…
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Landowners could face jail – Koh Samui ‘mystery tunnel’ case
PHOTOS: Manager Online Koh Samui authorities are planning to pursue a case against the landowners on either side of a tunnel that was allegedly constructed without permission. The tunnel connects the beach at Ban Tai with a private road and undeveloped piece of forest land two hundred metres from the island’s main ring road in the Mae Nam district. It was earlier…
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Thai Airways hope to clear backlog of stranded passengers over weekend
PHOTOS: EPA-EFE Around 2,000 passengers were still stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport yesterday as the national airline struggled to clear the backlog caused by Pakistan closing its airspace due to rising tensions with India. Thai Airways has been trying to transport the stranded passengers to their destinations ‘as quickly as possible’ according to Thai Airways president Sumeth Damrongchaitham. More than 4,000…
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Thai Airways says it will stick to ‘rehabilitation plan’ despite 11.6 billion baht loss in 2018
It hasn’t been a good week for Thai Airways as the national airline continues to fly passengers to their original destinations days after flights were cancelled and rescheduled due to Pakistan airspace closures. Even yesterday Thai Airways was reporting a backlog of up to 2,000 passengers they were hoping to clear before the end of this weekend. Meanwhile, it emerged…
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479 arrested on immigration offences
More than 400 foreigners plus 79 Thais, involved in a range immigration offences, were arrested after raids across Thailand this week. The Immigration Police Bureau deputy chief announced at a press conference in Bangkok today that Thai authorities carried out simultaneous searches at 227 locations. Of the 417 foreigners who were arrested, mostly from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, 248 were…
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Wanted Russians walk into Pattaya immigration office
Two Russians wanted on an arrest warrant originating in Phuket have been found and arrested hiding in Pattaya. Immigration police had no trouble in locating 48 year old Artur Stotskii and 34 year old Iaroslav Scherobatyk. The pair made it very easy by showing up for visa extensions at the Chonburi Immigration Office on February 18. The January 16 arrest…
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Distraught 17 year old mother finds dead child by her side
PHOTO: Daily News Daily News report on the tragedy of a 17 year old mother who inadvertently suffocated her four month old child. The mother put her four month old son to sleep by her side in their room in Bo Win, Sri Racha, Chon Buri yesterday afternoon. He was lying on his front with his head to one side,…
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Sleeping woman’s lucky escape from a snake bite in Bangkok home – VIDEO
PHOTO: Screenshot from ‘นายช่าง อ้วนดำ’ Facebook A sleeping woman has narrowly escaped a snake bite in her Bangkok home this week. The video has been posted by a woman’s son with a message saying, “The incident has happened in my house this week.” The snake was identified as a python. “My mother has escaped from being bitten by a snake…
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Chiang Mai massage worker has baby in the police toilets, abandons the child
Thai Rath reports that police in Chiang Mai have located and arrested a 43 year old woman who snuck into the city district police station and had a baby in the toilets there. After giving birth last weekend, the mother left with her child still in the toilet bowl. The baby was found soon after, survived, and is now stable and…
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Flight attendant alleges he was assaulted by Thai Airways captain
Thai Airways have ended up in the news again, for all the wrong reasons. Police in Chiang Mai report that a Thai Airways cabin attendant has filed a report claiming he was assaulted by the captain on his flight. But he says he doesn’t want to pursue a criminal conviction at this stage. He told police that he made the…
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Persian cats perish in Bangkok apartment fire
Two Persian cats suffocated to death during a fire in a room at the National Housing Estate in Nonthaburi’s Pak Kret district yesterday. The two cats were found barely breathing in the flat after 10 fire engines took about 40 minutes to put out the blaze. The cats died shortly after they were taken out of the room despite attempts…
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Anti-vaxers blamed for astonishing rise of Measles in 2018 – UNICEF
“Measles is more contagious than tuberculosis or Ebola, yet it is eminently preventable with a vaccine that costs pennies.” Thailand figures in the Top 10 countries in the world where measles cases rose alarmingly in 2018. Most of the rises of Measles cases in Thailand have occurred in the three southern-most provinces where a large Muslim majority live. In some…
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Weather for March 1
Bangkok Generally clear. High 34ºC. Winds S at 15 to 25 km/h. Phuket Generally clear. High 32ºC. E winds shifting to SSW at 15 to 25 km/h. Chiang Mai Partly cloudy. High 36ºC. Winds S at 10 to 15 km/h. Pattaya Generally clear. High 31ºC. Winds SSW at 15 to 30 km/h. Hua Hin Generally clear. High 33ºC. Winds…
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Brush fire near the Khao Rang view point – VIDEO
VIDEO: Newshawk Phuket A bush fire spread quickly around Khao Rang, overlooking Phuket Town, near the main view point yesterday. Fire fighters were notified of the incident by a restaurant operator on Khao Rang at 3.30pm. Emergency responders arrived at the Khao Rang summit with two fire engines. The brush fire was already well underway on the south-western slopes underneath…
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Kim-Trump summit ‘fail’ over North Korea’s demands to lift sanctions
by Choi He-suk, Korea Herald – Asia News Network US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un’s summit ended abruptly with both sides failing to reach an agreement. The second day of talks kicked off at 9 am yesterday at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi but the event was cut short when Kim and Trump departed at 1:25 pm.…
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