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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.

  • Bovine attack kills forest ranger in Khao Yai National Park | Thaiger

    Bovine attack kills forest ranger in Khao Yai National Park

    Over the weekend, a forest ranger was killed and another ranger sustained injuries after they were attacked by a gaur, an indigenous bovine also known as an Indian bison. The 2 rangers had been on patrol in the Khao Yai National Park at the time of the attack. There were 4 other rangers who had been conducting patrols with them…

  • Korat Police allegedly use police van for trip to beach | Thaiger

    Korat Police allegedly use police van for trip to beach

    Police in the northeastern Thai province of Nakhon Ratchasima are investigating the matter of a police van being allegedly used to take a group of police officers to the beach in Phetchaburi, a central Thai province. Footage of the officers getting out of the van and enjoying a meal on the beach circulated on the internet on Friday Panurat Lakboon,…

  • Kalasin man allegedly robs convenience store and then a gold shop the next day before being arrested | Thaiger

    Kalasin man allegedly robs convenience store and then a gold shop the next day before being arrested

    A man in the northeastern Thai province of Kalasin allegedly went on a short-lived crime spree over the weekend. On Friday, the man allegedly robbed a convenience store and got 30,000 baht for his troubles. Then, on Saturday, the man allegedly robbed a gold shop. Police arrested the man yesterday as he exited the gold shop, but they found only…

  • Sunday Covid Update: 117 deaths and 13,576 new cases | Thaiger

    Sunday Covid Update: 117 deaths and 13,576 new cases

    117 coronavirus-related deaths and 13,576 new Covid-19 cases were reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA has recorded 12,492 recoveries. Thailand now has 131,095 active Covid-19 cases. Out of the new cases, 395 were found in correctional facilities. Covid-19 infections at Thailand’s prisons and detention centres have been…

  • Local businesses say they aren’t profiting from Phuket Sandbox | Thaiger

    Local businesses say they aren’t profiting from Phuket Sandbox

    While large resorts and big businesses in Phuket might be seeing revenue from the Phuket Sandbox, interviews with small local businesses suggest they are seeing little to no benefit from the reopening with its strong restrictions. Most business owners agree there won’t be any real income for most until there is a full reopening with fewer rules and more nightlife…

  • Woman shot by stray gunfire during motorcycle shooting | Thaiger

    Woman shot by stray gunfire during motorcycle shooting

    A 58 year old woman in Nakhon Ratchasima was shot by stray gunfire while eating in front of her house as a motorbike shootout occurred in front of her. Her son-in-law in his pickup truck was being pursued by the two armed motorcyclists when she got caught in the crossfire during the incident that occurred on Thursday night in the…

  • Saturday Covid-19 UPDATE: Select provincial totals | Thaiger

    Saturday Covid-19 UPDATE: Select provincial totals

    Aftern0on Update: 122 Coronavirus-related deaths and 14,109 new Covid-19 cases were reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, down slightly from yesterday’s totals. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA has recorded 13,280 recoveries. Thailand now has 130,128 active Covid-19 infections. Since April 1, in the latest and most severe wave of Covid-19, the CCSA…

  • Belarus men holed up in Swedish embassy one year on | Thaiger

    Belarus men holed up in Swedish embassy one year on

    “If we had known it would take this long, we would have considered a different option, though you don’t know if that would have been an improvement,” says Vladislav Kusnetshik. For the past year, he and his father Vitalij have been hiding out in Sweden’s Minsk embassy to avoid persecution by Belarus authorities. The two men arrived at the embassy…

  • CCSA announces vaccination goals for October; 50% inoculated | Thaiger

    CCSA announces vaccination goals for October; 50% inoculated

    Today the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration released a statement outlining the vaccination goals for Thailand in October in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of their list items seem to contradict each other, with the CCSA vaccination plan calling to inoculate people 50% and then 70% and then “fully”. The main intention of Thailand’s vaccine efforts is to…

  • Phuket Covid-19: 235 daily infections, 238 hospital beds available | Thaiger

    Phuket Covid-19: 235 daily infections, 238 hospital beds available

    Phuket Covid-19 numbers held steady today with no deaths and 235 new infections, though that’s only 3 less than the total available hospital beds as 39 more people were hospitalised. Hospital bed occupancy is just below 89% now, though Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew has insisted there is no shortage of beds. The number of “green” mild infections continues the drop…

  • Saturday Covid Update: 122 Deaths 14,109 new infections | Thaiger

    Saturday Covid Update: 122 Deaths 14,109 new infections

    122 Coronavirus-related deaths and 14,109 new Covid-19 cases were reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, down slightly from yesterday’s totals. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA has recorded 13,280 recoveries. Thailand now has 130,128 active Covid-19 infections. Out of the new cases, 1,357 were detected through proactive case finding and 854 were found…

  • Uncertainty still shrouds Haiti presidential killing | Thaiger

    Uncertainty still shrouds Haiti presidential killing

    On July 7, 2021, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry received a nighttime call from a secret service agent with the country’s interior ministry — mere hours before the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Henry, a politician and trained neurosurgeon, had been appointed to the post by Moise only a few days prior. The details of said phone call are unknown…

  • South Korean students embrace ‘niche’ learning alternatives | Thaiger

    South Korean students embrace ‘niche’ learning alternatives

    As a teenager, Young-chae Song studied German at his South Korean high school and had to pass an exam in the language to enter university. During that time, in the early 1980s, most high school students in South Korea would study English, plus another foreign language, typically German, French or Japanese. But today, young Koreans are turning their backs on…

  • Tanzania: First female defense minister ignites gender debate | Thaiger

    Tanzania: First female defense minister ignites gender debate

    “I have decided to break the longtime myth that in the defense ministry, there should be a man with muscles,” President Samia Suluhu Hassan said earlier this week as she administered the oath of office to Stergomena Tax. “The minister’s job in that office is not to carry guns or artillery,” Suluhu Hassan declared. Tax’s appointment was part of President…

  • COVID: How is India tackling a surge in fake test reports? | Thaiger

    COVID: How is India tackling a surge in fake test reports?

    Indian officials are reporting a surge in the use of fake negative COVID-19 test reports across the country. Last week, police from the eastern state of Odisha busted a racket in which fake PCR test reports were being provided to devotees who wanted to visit the auspicious Jagannath Puri temple. Police arrested 12 people, including the mastermind of the well-organized…

  • Greece tightens its border with Turkey amid ‘tough but fair migration policy’ | Thaiger

    Greece tightens its border with Turkey amid ‘tough but fair migration policy’

    The river Evros forms the land border between Greece and Turkey. The waters of this river and its tributaries have made the Evros region one of the most fertile in Greece. Here, on both sides of one of Europe’s most controversial external borders, rolling green hills lined with small deciduous forests stretch as far as the eye can see. “Refugees…

  • Osmani: If Kosovo delivers, the European Union should also deliver | Thaiger

    Osmani: If Kosovo delivers, the European Union should also deliver

    In an interview with DW, the president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, confirms her commitment to EU integration and NATO. She also emphasizes the country’s full support of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court. SOURCE: DW News

  • Sahel terror threat persists despite the killing of al-Sahrawi | Thaiger

    Sahel terror threat persists despite the killing of al-Sahrawi

    The war against armed Islamist extremists in Africa received a boost on Thursday following the killing of Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi. The self-proclaimed leader of the so-called Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) claimed responsibility for attacks in Niger in 2017 when four US troops and four Nigerien soldiers died. France also wanted him for the killing of six…

  • Final arguments Tuesday on dual pricing suit against Health Ministry | Thaiger

    Final arguments Tuesday on dual pricing suit against Health Ministry

    Courts are preparing to hear final arguments on Tuesday in a case that a Dutchman has been fighting for several years to end the dual pricing system many foreigners experience at hospitals in Thailand. The anti-discrimination suit was filed two years ago by Erwin Buse, after being routinely charged extra fees for his cancer treatment at Hua Hin Hospital. The…

  • Texas lawyer dressed as Halloween’s Michael Myers to spread hurricane cheer | Thaiger

    Texas lawyer dressed as Halloween’s Michael Myers to spread hurricane cheer

    As southeast Asia was recently battered by a super typhoon and a massive tropical storm, this story may serve as a reminder of exactly what not to do in order to weather a storm. A lawyer in Galveston, Texas thought he’d bring some cheer to the doom and gloom of Hurricane Nicholas barreling down on the coastal town by dressing…

  • No “October reopening” plan has been approved – CCSA | Thaiger

    No “October reopening” plan has been approved – CCSA

    While there have been numerous reports on the proposed October 1 reopening date for 5 provinces, many quoting the tourism minister, a spokesperson for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration says nothing has been approved. No date on the potential reopening was announced. Natapanu Nopakun, who gives the CCSA report in English, says the current measures for a 14-day quarantine…

  • Public Health Ministry defends October 1 reopening | Thaiger

    Public Health Ministry defends October 1 reopening

    It’s been nearly an hour since The Thaiger has published an article on the potential/definite/impossible reopening of Thailand and it’s various provinces, so it’s time for an update. The Public Health Ministry has responded to criticism that the reopening of Bangkok and 4 other provinces on October 1 is premature and ill-advised. Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul responded to charges…

  • Friday Covid Update: 14,555 new cases; provincial totals | Thaiger

    Friday Covid Update: 14,555 new cases; provincial totals

    171 new coronavirus-related deaths were reported by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Since the start of the pandemic last year, 15,124 people infected with Covid-19 have died. 15,030 of those deaths were during the country’s latest and most severe wave of virus, which was first recorded on April 1. In the 24-hour period since the last count, 14,555 new cases…

  • Torture and forced disappearances bills pass House vote 368-0 | Thaiger

    Torture and forced disappearances bills pass House vote 368-0

    4 bills on torture and forced disappearances have now successfully passed the House of Representatives in a triumph for human rights in Thailand. One member of parliament abstained from voting while the rest voted unanimously in favour of the 4 bills in a vote of 368 to 0. The bills include 34 sections covering a wide range of facets of…

  • Thai-Russian 4 year old girl drowns in Pattaya home pool | Thaiger

    Thai-Russian 4 year old girl drowns in Pattaya home pool

    In Bang Lamung, a family is mourning the loss of a young girl who drowned in a small private swimming pool in a family friend’s home. The incident took place Wednesday evening while the family from Buri Ram was visiting their friend in the Pattaya area. The girl was half Thai and half Russian and 4 years old. The owner…

  • New centre proposed to provide ATKs cheap at Phuket entrance | Thaiger

    New centre proposed to provide ATKs cheap at Phuket entrance

    To help aid people who need to travel frequently in and out of Phuket, the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation has approved a plan to create a centre near the Tha Chatchai Check Point that would provide ATKs. The plan would provide a cheap and easy way for those entering Phuket by land to provide a negative Covid-19 test before entering…

  • Thailand Daily Covid Update | Thursday, September 17 | | Thaiger

    Thailand Daily Covid Update | Thursday, September 17 |

    Caitlin gives you the daily covid 19 figures while going through the upward and downward trends in Thailand as well as looking at the provincial totals across Thailand.

  • Foreign Minister Don to US for meetings with UN, ASEAN, more | Thaiger

    Foreign Minister Don to US for meetings with UN, ASEAN, more

    An anonymous source has reported that Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai will be in the United States next week for several high profile meetings. The trip will see Minister Don attending the United Nations General Assembly as well as meetings in Washington DC and New York related to ASEAN matters. Numerous bilateral meetings with US counterparts and Thailand’s friends are…

  • Phuket: 5 Covid-19 deaths, 2 Sandboxers, drop in hospital beds | Thaiger

    Phuket: 5 Covid-19 deaths, 2 Sandboxers, drop in hospital beds

    Phuket experienced a record high of 5 new Covid-19 deaths yesterday as well as 2 new Sandbox infections, while the statistics show a big drop from yesterday’s figures in both occupied hospital beds and total available hospital beds, suggesting a restructuring of how the beds are counted or where patients are located. 15 deaths have occurred in Phuket in the…

  • Occupancy at alternative quarantine hotels takes a nosedive | Thaiger

    Occupancy at alternative quarantine hotels takes a nosedive

    Bookings at alternative quarantine hotels have plummeted, with Prin Pathanatham from AQ Club Thailand saying average occupancy is currently around 25 – 30%. It’s believed rumours the quarantine period may be reduced from next month have led to the drop in bookings, coupled with signs that infections may have peaked. And Prin says the resumption of domestic flights from dark…