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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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Thailand develops cannabis test kits that detect THC levels in 15 minutes
Thailand took marijuana off its list of narcotics, but extracts with higher than 0.2% tetrahydrocannabinol – the “happy” chemical – are still illegal. The law was designed to discourage the recreational use of cannabis, but no one knew how it could be enforced, until now. Thailand’s Department of Medical Sciences has developed marijuana test kits that detect THC levels in…
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Prison doctor allegedly threatened to shoot his female patient
A prison doctor allegedly threatened to shoot his female patient because he does not believe in her political beliefs. Political activist, Natchanit “Baipor” Duangmusit, was jailed on May 3 after being charged on April 28 with defamation of the Thai royal family under Section 112 of the nation’s criminal code, also known as lèse majesté laws. Baipor, and another female…
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Thailand’s parliament police petition against new uniforms
Thailand’s parliamentary police aren’t seeing the point of their new uniforms scheduled for next year. The country’s roughly 200 parliamentary police officers are usually issued with 2 sets of uniforms, each costing about 5,000 baht. The budget for new uniforms would altogether require at least 2 million baht. Yesterday, about 60 parliament police officers submitted a petition to House Speaker…
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Phuket homeowner checks CCTV to find foreign couple canoodling outside house
A Thai woman away in Germany was lost for words on Tuesday when she checked her Phuket home’s CCTV camera footage to see a foreign couple – a man and woman – having sex in front of her house. Homeowner Waralak Frisch often resides in Germany with her husband, so she installed security cameras to check on the safety of…
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Missing man rescued after night alone in middle of Phang Nga Bay off Phuket
A man who went missing in the middle of the ocean in Phang Nga Bay off Phuket on Tuesday has been rescued. The man, Panit, had taken off on his jet-ski in the afternoon from a pier in Koh Si Ray, a town near Phuket’s main city district. But the jet-ski ran out of fuel once he neared Phang Nga’s…
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Fight between ex-husband and new man attracts 50 police to ER in Chiang Mai
A fight between a woman’s ex-husband and her new man brought chaos to an emergency room at a Chiang Mai hospital last night, so much that 50 officers arrived on the scene to sort things out. The storm began brewing between the men when the woman and her new partner went to her ex’s house to ask him to return…
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Thai PM faces fourth censure motion next month
The next political challenge for Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is next month when a censure motion is put to the lower house by opposition MPs. The debate is scheduled for July 18 – 22 and there is no certainty how the votes will eventually fall at this time. Renegade MPs, new political factions, the PMs falling popularity and a looming…
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Thais face death penalty if they take cannabis-related products into Indonesia
The Royal Thai Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, cautioned Thai people against taking cannabis and hemp into Indonesia as they could face the death penalty. The official Facebook page of the Royal Thai Embassy in Jakarta today uploaded a picture with a message saying, “The Royal Thai Embassy in Jakarta would like to warn Thai people not to carry cannabis, hemp,…
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Frenchman found dead in luxury villa in Koh Samui, Thailand
The body of a Frenchman was discovered at a luxury pool villa in Koh Samui, off the coast of the southern province of Surat Thani, at 9:30am this morning. Officers from Koh Samui Police Station were called to a detached house in Na Muang subdistrict after a cleaner discovered the body of 45 year old Christophe Cedric Moulinaires lying dead…
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Expect more wind and rain in most of Thailand
Don’t forget your umbrella when you leave the house, because Thailand’s wind and rain isn’t going away anytime soon. It is the wet season after all. The country’s meteorological department announced that thundershowers are expected across the country today, with isolated rains and gusty winds too. In Northern Thailand, there will be scattered thundershowers in the Mae Hong Son, Chiang…
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Sri Lanka petroleum company in extreme debt, country hitting “rock bottom”
Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is snowballing even further. The island nation’s PM Ranil Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka might be falling to “rock bottom” now that its major petroleum corporation is in extreme debt. He said that because of the debt, no other countries are willing to provide Sri Lanka with fuel. “Currently, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is $700 million in…
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Commuters asked not to flick hair on the BTS Skytrain
Here we go again. Commuters on the BTS Skytrain with long hair have been asked to refrain from flicking their hair because there is a danger it will hit the faces of other commuters, especially during rush hours, the BTS Skytrain operator says. Several commuters complained about passengers flipping their hair on the train and, on occasion, accidentally hitting the…
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German national falls to death from rooftop in Songkhla
An elderly German national fell to his death from an apartment rooftop in the southern province of Songkhla this morning. A security camera recorded the man’s body landing on the road below the 6-story building. Police were told that the man, 81 year old former marine Klaus-Dieter Buchholz, had lived alone in the apartment in the Hat Yai district for…
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Former Thai public servant allegedly swindles 30.6 million baht from government
A former Ministry of Defence finance officer, with an online gambling addiction, has allegedly swindled 30.6 million baht from the Buntharik District Administration in the Isaan province of Ubon Ratchathani and is on the run from the police. The Mayor of the Buntharik District Administration, Worrapoj Bootnart, yesterday informed the media that the district office last year hired a financial…
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Monkeypox arrives in Singapore and South Korea
Cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in Singapore and South Korea. Since the outbreak began in May, Singapore’s case is the first recorded in Southeast Asia. Singapore’s Ministry of Health confirmed that a 42 year old British flight attendant tested positive for monkeypox on June 20. He was in Singapore between June 15 and June 17, and again on June…
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Bangkok’s plan to become the Venice of the East… again
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt yesterday met with the Federation of Thai Industries president to plan a grand project to turn the Hua Lamphong Canal into an example of the Venice of the East, an oft-mentioned nickname for Bangkok in the past. The 56 year old Chadchart met with Kriengkrai Thiennukul to discuss a solution to improving the city’s water quality,…
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At least 250 killed in Afghanistan earthquake
A powerful 6.1 magnitude earthquake has devastated Eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 250 people. Hundreds more were injured and countless homes were destroyed in 4 districts of Paktika province after the earthquake struck in the early hours of this morning, while most people were sleeping. The epicentre was 44 kilometres from the southeastern city of Khost near the border of Pakistan,…
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Patong man talked out of jumping from hotel
A Patong man was talked out of jumping from the 4h floor of a hotel yesterday. The unnamed man had been arguing with his 2 girlfriends, who he was in an open relationship with. The women knew about each other, and the open relationship had previously worked for them. But recently, the relationship had been on the rocks. The man,…
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Breaking the glass ceiling: Thai hotels push for gender equality at women’s hospitality event
As a study reveals that 90% of general managers in Thai hotels are men, an important event in Phuket aims to understand why women still encounter barriers to career progression. Gender equality is high on the agenda for Thai hotels as a hospitality event held recently in Phuket addressed the imbalance in the industry in leadership positions for highly qualified…
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Grab bike ‘taxis’ forced to get commercial licenses in Thailand
A win for ‘Win’ motorcycle taxi riders today after new rules force Grab riders into the same transportation regulations. Of course, the new rules will probably force up the prices for Grab bikes from next month when the app-based ride-hailing service will have to comply with the same rules governing ‘Win Motocy’ motorcycle taxi riders. The orange-safety-vest-clad Win drivers are…
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Energy Ministry encourages consumers to use charcoal stoves to combat gas hike
The Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency has a solution to solve the recent gas hike: use a charcoal stove if cooking gas is too expensive. The department’s official Facebook page yesterday uploaded a picture of a stove, with a caption saying ‘a charcoal stove is durable, helps save money, uses less charcoal, and offers a lot of heat.”…
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Tourists stuck in cable car for hours climb down by rope in India
Tourists trapped inside 2 cable cars at a mountain range in India were horrified when both cable cars suddenly stopped 1300 feet above the ground on Monday. After being stuck in the air for hours, some of the tourists opted to lower themselves to safety by rope. A total of 15 sightseers, 11 in 1 cable car and 4 in…
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Man dies after being hit by SRT Dark Red Line train in Bangkok
An unidentified man was reported dead after being hit by a Dark Red Line train, of the State Railway of Thailand, between Lak Hok and Don Mueng Stations. The train operator, SRT Electrified Train Company Limited, insisted that the man wasn’t a passenger and sneaked into the restricted area for some other unknown reason. The official Facebook page of the…
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30 houses destroyed in Bangkok blaze
A fire in Bangkok gutted about 30 houses in the city’s Pathumwan district yesterday. Locals whose homes were burned to the ground were housed at a temporary shelter near a community centre, and received relief services. Four of the locals suffered from smoke inhalation, and traffic in the area was closed to help a bedridden patient reach King Chulalongkorn Memorial…
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2 year old foreign child in ICU after Pit Bill attack in Pattaya, Thailand
A 2 year old foreign boy is being treated in the ICU after he was mauled by a Pit Bull in Pattaya on Monday. The young child suffered a broken jaw, torn cheeks, and an open wound on his head which required 200 stitches. At 4pm on Monday, a foreign nanny took 2 foreign boys – aged 2 and 4…
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Deputy PM’s confidence misplaced ahead of no-confidence vote
Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwon’s confidence that small political parties will support the government in the upcoming no-confidence debate appears to be misplaced. The 76 year old leader of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party believes the targeted cabinet misters have enough support from small political parties to see off the opposition at the debate planned on July 18 and predicted to…
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Thailand and UK sign ambitious bilateral trade deal
Thai Deputy PM and Minister of Commerce, Jurin Laksanawisit, met UK Minister of State for Trade Policy, Penny Mordaunt, in London yesterday to explore ways of increasing bilateral trade and committing to an ambitious trading relationship. The 2 politicians concluded business at the UK-Thailand Joint Economic and Trade Committee by signing a programme of work, including Government-to-Government and Government-to-Business activity,…
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Weather wreaks havoc on Pattaya
Heavy rain, wind, and floods have wreaked havoc on Pattaya yesterday. Areas with serious flooding and damage included South Pattaya, Central Pattaya, Soi Siam Country Club Pattaya, Soi Buakhao, and Pattaya Third Road. Glass panels knocked out by fierce winds fell from buildings onto several cars in Central Pattaya. Meanwhile, several roads including Sukhumvit Road were under water, disrupting traffic.…
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BEAM me up! App-based electric scooters come to Phuket
by John Magee What costs 200 baht in a taxi but 30 baht on a BEAM? Chances are that you’ve seen these little purple scooters BEAMing around Phuket, particularly in the Laguna area, Patong, and Phuket Town. Indeed, they are appearing in growing numbers not only in Thailand but also, for starters, in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Turkey, and…
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