News
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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Miss Universe beauties to visit Phuket
PHUKET: Miss Universe 2005 contestants will visit tourist attractions and hospitals, and learn about “Phuket culture”, when they visit the island on May 19 on a tour designed to boost Phuket’s tourism industry.The 82 young women from around the world will spend a day in the province during the run-up to the competition, which will take place in Bangkok on…
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Time for Phuket “to learn from mistakes’
PHUKET: Phuket should learn from the mistakes of the past while rebuilding after the December 26 tsunami, according to a world expert in sustainable tourism.Gabor Vereczi, who analyzes sustainable tourism for the World Tourism Organization (WTO), told a tourism conference at the Pearl Village Hotel: “This is an important opportunity for Phuket and other destinations on the Andaman coast and…
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Relatively dangerous
PHUKET CITY: A family sitting around a table in their home at 33 Surin Rd dived for cover when somebody lobbed a fragmentation grenade into their living room at 2 am on April 30. Homeowner Krongkwan Niemsa-ard told police that she believed she was the intended victim, because the grenade hit her on the arm and then rolled under her…
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Bad moon writhing
SURAT THANI: Tourists arriving on the island of Pha-ngan in Surat Thani Province are to be issued with stickers reminding them that “free sex” is illegal, following government concern over visitors having sexual intercourse in public places. The decision follows pleas by Khon Kaen Senator Rabiabrat Pongpanit to stop tourists on the island from humping in public during the island’s…
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Dulwich divorce is final
PHUKET: The divorce is final. Dr Arthit Ourairath, CEO and Founder of Dulwich International College, has announced that ties between Dulwich College in London (DCL) and Phuket’s top international school have been severed.Dulwich International College will, from June 24, be known as the British International College of Thailand, unless agreement can be reached with another school willing to replace DCL’s…
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Dengue fever cases up sharply
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) is urging the public to take steps to eradicate mosquitoes around their premises in an effort to prevent the spread of dengue fever. Despite efforts by the PPHO to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne disease after the tsunami, there have been 68 reported cases of the disease since the beginning of the…
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Princess visits tsunami survivors
PHUKET CITY: HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has visited Phuket to donate fishing equipment to survivors of the December 26 tsunami.The Princess’s first stop was in Baan Khok Tanod, Chalong, where around 500 local people were waiting to greet her.Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura told the Princess about two areas that were damaged by the tsunami and the 216 houses and…
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968 businesses still await aid
PHUKET: Nearly five months after the tsunami, some 968 small business owners in Phuket are still awaiting 20,000 baht in financial aid packages from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to re-start their businesses.A group comprising mostly small-scale vendors and beach massage business operators contacted the Phuket Office of the MoI’s Department of Local Administration (DOLA) recently to see why their…
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Phang Nga airport plan put on hold
PHUKET CITY: Plans to build an airport in Phang Nga have been put on ice because of the tsunami.Deputy Transport Minister Vichet Kasemthongsria last year backed a proposal to build an airport on Koh Kho Khao, an island just north of Baan Nam Khem, in Takuapa District, to serve the province’s then-booming tourist industry.But Takuapa District Chief Administration Assistant Kanitsorn…
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OrBorJor promotes Phuket in UAE
PHUKET: A 22-member delegation from the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) have returned from the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, where for three days they promoted the delights of Phuket – and studied the way the city, famed for being duty-free, operates.OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, who headed the delegation, said that the Phuket booth got good feedback from visitors, though…
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University “taking a gamble’ with casino course
PHUKET CITY: A Phuket university has reignited the debate over casinos in Phuket by offering a course in casino and gaming management.The Phuket campus of Prince of Songkhla University (PSU) has started to offer the 45-hour courses to masters degree and doctorate students, even though casinos are illegal in Thailand. The course has received approval from the Ministry of Education.But when…
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Off to the movies? Click before you go!
PHUKET: Movie-goers in Thailand are familiar with the vagaries of screening schedules; the phenomenon of sudden, unannounced cancellations; and the difficulties in getting through to box office telephone recordings. For foreigners, these problems are often compounded by communication difficulties. It was against this background that the SFX Coliseum cinema at Central Festival and the Phuket Gazette teamed up two months…
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Glut of housing for tsunami survivors
PHANG NGA: This province, the hardest hit in Thailand when the tsunami struck on December 26, may end up with twice as many houses as it needs to accommodate peole rendered homeless by the disaster, Provincial Governor Anuwat Metheeviboonwut said on Saturday.Speaking at his residence in the province, Gov Anuwat said that so many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals, from within…
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Phuket Air quietly barred from UK
LONDON: Just days before being banned from flying to the Netherlands, Phuket Air was also quietly barred from flying to the UK, it has emerged. One of its aircraft has also been seized for non-payment of landing fees at London’s Gatwick Airport.The website of the UK Department for Transport (DFT) says that “the Secretary of State has suspended the permit…
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In love with stickers
PHUKET: Tragedies often heighten “sense of community” among their survivors. The personal – as opposed to government – response to the tsunami in Phuket has been broad, swift, and convincing, with seemingly endless stories of goodwill and good deeds. In the hope that the wave of community spirit might continue undiminished over the next few months until tourism resumes its…
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Ghost-busting monks return on PM’s orders
PHUKET: Monks from Taiwan and Japan are due to perform a ceremony for tsunami victims in Patong on Monday, on the orders of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – 40 days after Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura ordered an end to rituals to appease ghosts.Napasorn Kakai, Assistant Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Region 4, said PM Thaksin had declared that…
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B7 million earmarked for sports complex study
PHUKET CITY: The proposal to build an international-standard sports training complex in Phuket appears to be limping ahead with 7 million baht being earmarked by the Ministry of Sports and Tourism for a feasibility study.Confirmation that the study is to receive funding was given today by Promchote Traivate, Head of the Phuket Office of Sports and Recreation Development (POSRD). The…
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Phuket “badly needs a plan’
PHUKET CITY: Phuket desperately needs a long-term development strategy following the tsunami, a Phuket Chamber of Commerce (PCC) seminar entitled “Phuket Alert” was told yesterday. The PCC is considering development issues facing the province and will make recommendations within two months so that they can be included in a development plan for Phuket now being drafted by the National Economic and…
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Phuket Air apologizes for latest problem
BANGKOK: Troubled no-frills airline Phuket Air yesterday apologized to passengers delayed by the recent decision by the Netherlands Department of Civil Aviation (NDCA) to bar the airline from landing at Amsterdam. The NDCA banned the airline after discovering that an emergency floor light on an aircraft that landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport was inoperative, and that the medical certificate of one…
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Meridien chain close to new ownership
PHUKET: Plans are on the table for recapitalization of debt-ridden Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts, which operates four hotels in Southern Thailand.Two of the hotels, Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort and Le Meridien Khao Lak, are to reopen later this year after being severely damaged by the catastrophic events of December 26.Le Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club at Nai Harn…
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Water authorities weigh options
PHUKET: Phuket Irrigation Office Project Director Watchara Arepornsiri today said that if rain does not start to replenish Phuket’s water reserves by the middle of this month, he will call in the Royal Rainmaking Project to seed clouds and make artificial rain.K. Watchara explained to the Gazette that Bang Wad reservoir currently holds 1.9 million cubic meters of water, and…
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Larvae carve an itchy niche
CHIANG MAI, PHUKET: Pity the poor housefly. Free of the ethical dilemmas facing humans, all it can aspire to in its short, frenetic life is to pass its genes onto the next generation. But with drought conditions lingering on in much of the country, flies are apparently finding it more difficult to locate piles of moist excrement in which to…
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Phuket to host big WHO meeting
KARON: Phuket will this week host an international World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting on the health ramifications of the December 26 tsunami.Delegates from Indonesia, Burma, The Maldives, Sri Lanka are due to join colleagues from Thailand at the Hilton Phuket Arcardia Resort and Spa between May 4 and 6 to discuss what the tsunami has taught them about topics such…
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Seminar on natural disasters
PHUKET CITY: Government officers and people involved in the hotel trade and other tourism-related businesses in the six Andaman provinces struck by the December 26 tsunami gathered at the Royal Phuket City Hotel on April 30 for a seminar on “earth-based natural disasters”.The event was organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).The aim…
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Woman “drowns’ in tin mine
KOH KAEW: Police on Tuesday morning recovered the body of Som Taem-ngam, 45, which was floating on an old car tire in a tin mine lagoon to the north of Dulwich International College.It is believed that she drowned while washing her clothes by the banks of the lake while drunk.Pol Maj Wacharin Jiratthitikarlwiwat of Phuket City Police Station said that…
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Mixed reviews for tsunami drill
PATONG: The practice evacuation of the southern half of Patong Beach this morning received mixed reviews, from both tourists and the many government officials who attended. Arriving by helicopter shortly after 10 am, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra met a crowd of some 1,500 volunteer evacuees, many of them children wearing T-shirts made specially for the event. Also on hand were…
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New Dulwich franchise on the table
CHERNG TALAY: Frustrated parents of students at Dulwich International College (DIC) last night gave a bumpy ride to the negotiator from Dulwich College in London (DCL) in the ongoing crisis talks. Parents at the meeting, held at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket, were particularly irked by consistently polite refusals by DCL Deputy Master Ralph Mainard to reveal precisely what the…
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Night Bazaar opening postponed by a year
PHUKET: Construction of the Phuket International Night Bazaar (PINB) has been put back by a year and the number of shops it will include has been slashed by 80%, because of the tsunami.Buildiers should have started work on the 170-rai site off Chao Fa West Rd in March, and the Bazaar should have been completed by November, ready for the…
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PM to attend evacuation drill in Patong
PHUKET CITY: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and ambassadors from some 40 nations are expected to be on hand to witness tomorrow’s evacuation drill in Patong. At a meeting held yesterday morning at The Metropole hotel, Pongpow Ketthong, Deputy Director-General of the national Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department (DPMD), said Patong’s evacuation plan was now 95% complete and that it would…
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Still no decision on ICEC site
PHUKET: After four years of wrangling, the location of Phuket’s much-touted International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) is still very much up in the air.In response to an enquiry from the Gazette about how the ICEC project is progressing, the director of the Phuket office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Suwalai Pinpradab, said the decision on where the…
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