THAI.NEWS - Thailand Breaking News

It was a scene that could have been mistaken for a wildlife documentary gone wrong: at Tung Kwang Mineral Lick in Khao Yai National Park, a drone’s whirring suddenly turned a peaceful elephant gathering into a frantic dash for safety. The footage, shot on January 21, shows the moment a large female elephant breaks away from her herd and bolts into the forest — spooked by a small metal hobbyist encroaching from the sky. The location is one of Khao Yai’s most cherished wildlife-viewing spots in Nakhon Nayok province, where animals come to lick mineral-rich soil and visitors patiently wait for the natural drama of nature to unfold. Instead, yesterday’s drama came courtesy of a man in a white T-shirt who had parked a Suzuki by the roadside and launched a drone — allegedly close enough to the herd to cause visible distress. Videos of the incident spread across Thai…

Thailand is gearing up to host the 45th annual Cobra Gold military exercise from February 24 to March 6, a large-scale multinational event that will bring together more than 8,000 personnel from 30 countries. Co-hosted by the Royal Thai Armed Forces and the United States Indo-Pacific Command (US INDOPACOM), Cobra Gold has grown into one of the region’s most important drills — part training ground, part diplomatic handshake, and part high-stakes logistical ballet. Five domains, one big rehearsal This year’s edition will emphasize integrated operations across five domains: land, sea, air, space, and cyber. That’s not military-speak for “we’re doing more stuff” — it’s a recognition that modern security challenges don’t respect old boundaries. Expect to see amphibious landings, maritime strike planning, air-defence drills, satellite and space coordination, and cyber-defence exercises running in parallel as units practice operating together in a complex battlespace. Who’s playing Seven countries are listed as…

Shortly after midnight on Thursday, January 22, Bangkok police and rescue teams were called to a grim scene beneath the BTS Phahon Yothin 24 station after a man believed to be in his twenties fell from a great height and died at the site. The incident, which occurred around 12:30 a.m. on the outbound side of Phahon Yothin Road heading toward the Ratchayothin intersection in Chatuchak district, has left investigators piecing together the final hours of a young life. The scene and emergency response Police Lieutenant Nipon Sakulphet-aram, the duty officer at Phahonyothin Police Station, was among the first to respond after an emergency call. Officers arriving at the scene found the man unconscious and critically injured on the road beneath the BTS station. He was dressed in a grey long-sleeved shirt and white shorts. Erawan rescue workers immediately performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for roughly 40 minutes, but despite their…

The quiet routine of a Soi Nawamin 70 neighborhood in Bangkok’s Bueng Kum district turned into a grim mystery that has police racing across provinces and borders. Neighbors discovered 79-year-old Somsawat “Mhoo” Songsamphan, a retired teacher from Phra Khanong, brutally attacked inside her home — and suspicion quickly fell on her 25-year-old Laotian housemaid, Bua Sihawong, who fled the country the next day. It was the kind of alarm that begins with nothing more dramatic than a neighbor’s worry. Fifty-four-year-old Sumalee Chaikong told officers she normally heard the lights click on at dawn when Somsawat rose for the day. When the house stayed dark and calls went unanswered, Sumalee peered through a window and saw Somsawat motionless on the floor. She called Bueng Kum Police Station, and responding officers found a scene that suggested a violent struggle: severe bruising and multiple cut wounds to the face, neck, body and ankles.…

On 22 January, Bangkok’s political air briefly turned from campaign slogans to eyebrow-raising social-media fireworks when Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, a parliamentary candidate for the Palang Pracharath Party in Bangkok Constituency 4, asked the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) to investigate a provocative campaign proposal from New Alternative Party figure Mongkolkit Suksintharanon. The post that stopped scrolls The kerfuffle began with a Facebook post by Mongkolkit on 13 January that suggested a new take on gender equality: women should be allowed to have up to four husbands — a reversal of the polygamous allowances commonly associated with some interpretations of Islamic law. The post quickly went viral, drawing a mix of bewilderment, amusement and genuine concern across Thai social media. When a follower asked whether the proposal was a joke or serious, Mongkolkit replied simply, “Serious.” That one-word confirmation turned a curious thought experiment into a matter of public record — and…