Latest Bangkok News

A deputy police chief in Thailand cries foul after his home is raided for a gambling investigation

Sep. 25, 2023 10:20 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand on Monday raided the Bangkok residence of one of the country’s four deputy national police chiefs, an action the target complained was intended to discredit him due to “politics inside the Royal Thai Police.” Police Gen. Surachate Hakparn is...

Thailand receives the first Chinese visitors under a new visa-free policy to boost tourism

Sep. 25, 2023 05:51 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Top Thai officials welcomed hundreds of Chinese tourists at Bangkok’s international airport on Monday, the first day of a new visa-free entry program that officials say will boost the country's tourism industry that was badly damaged by the coronavirus pandemic. ...

Thai police say man kills his family after online scam leaves them in massive debt

Aug. 30, 2023 03:44 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — At least 11 people are suspected to be involved with a loan scam that allegedly drove a man to kill his wife and two young boys before trying to take his own life in their family home, Thai police said Wednesday. Sanit Dokmai has been charged with premeditated murder...

More than a ton of endangered pangolin scales seized in Thailand

Aug. 17, 2023 20:42 PM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai authorities said Thursday they have seized more than a ton of pangolin scales worth over 50 million baht ($1.4 million) that are believed to have been headed out of the country through a land border. The scales that cover a type of anteater were found Wednesday...

The second son of Thailand's king returns to the country unexpectedly after decades of estrangement

Aug. 08, 2023 07:54 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — The estranged son of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn visited a daycare center for underprivileged children in Bangkok on Tuesday following a surprise return to the country after 27 years of living abroad. Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse’s return was first...

Son of Spanish actors is arrested in Thailand on suspicion of killing Colombian on a tourist island

Aug. 08, 2023 06:11 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — The son of two Spanish film stars has been arrested in Thailand on suspicion of murdering and dismembering a Colombian surgeon on a tourist island, police said. Daniel Sancho Bronchalo was taken from Koh Phagnan, where the remains of Edwin Arrieta Arteaga were found,...

Accused of bomb threats they say they didn't make, family of Chinese dissident detained in Thailand

Jul. 27, 2023 02:57 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — When Gao Peng landed in Thailand on July 3, he was not expecting to be accused of making bomb threats, to be put on an EU travel blacklist, or to see his mother and 16-year-old sister detained and threatened with deportation back to China. But bomb threats made in...

Stock market today: Asian shares gain after the Federal Reserve raises interest rates

Jul. 27, 2023 00:45 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were higher Thursday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to their highest level in more than two decades, just as Wall Street expected. Regional attention has focused on whether Japan’s central bank might alter its longstanding ultra-lax...

Thai Parliament postpones vote to select new prime minister pending court ruling

Jul. 25, 2023 06:59 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — A vote expected in Thailand's Parliament later this week to select a new prime minister will be postponed, the house speaker said Tuesday, adding to growing uncertainty over when a new government can take office, more than two months after the general election. House...

Protesters in the Thai capital calls on senators to approve vote winners' choice for prime minister

Jul. 23, 2023 11:21 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday in the Thai capital of Bangkok to demand that conservative senators stop blocking the naming of a prime minister belonging to a winning coalition formed from May’s general election, a stance that risks a potentially destabilizing political...