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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At least 78 killed in western Myanmar clashes – UN
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community At least 78 killed in western Myanmar clashes – UN Phuket Gazette / News WiresPHUKET: Clashes between Buddhist and Muslim communities in western Myanmar have reportedly killed at least 78 people and displaced thousands last month, the United Nations (UN) said on Friday. UN High Commissioner…
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Kenyan Sammy Ridrond wins Phuket Marathon
PHUKET: Kenyan runner Sammy Ridrond won the open division of The Phuket Health International Marathon in a time of just over 2 hours, 35 minutes this morning. The 42-kilometer event, which got underway at 4am at the Mai Khao Tambon Administration Organization offices, finished at Phuket Provincial Hall in Phuket Town. Two other events, a 13-kilometer mini-marathon and a 4.5-kilometer…
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Phuket’s Big Buddha project cleared of wrongdoing
PHUKET: An internal inquiry by the Royal Forestry Department’s Community Forestry Management Bureau has found no wrong doing by any parties involved in the Phuket Big Buddha project. The inquiry was launched after a flood of complaints, led Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak, demanding a completion date from the project’s managers, the Mingmongkol Faith 45 Foundation. The complaints have now…
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Wildlife activist supports Forestry, National Parks merger
PHUKET: A well-known wildlife activist has told the Phuket Gazette that he supports the planned merger of the Royal Forest Department and the Department of National Parks (DNP), Wildlife and Plant Conservation. The merger was announced on July 11 by Preecha Rengsomboonsuk, who heads the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry that controls both departments. Once the merger gets the green…
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Phuket Opinion: New ‘guide-lines’ needed for tourism
PHUKET: One chronic tourism-related problem that periodically bubbles to the surface of the local media here in Phuket is that of illegal foreign guides conducting tours for fellow countrymen. While the problem was originally mainly centered around illegal Korean guides, its scope has expanded over the past decade due to robust growth in the inbound markets from both Russia and…
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Phuket’s Muslim prison inmates gifted supplies for Ramadan
PHUKET: The Phuket Islamic Committee gifted food items to Muslim inmates at Phuket Provincial Prison on Thursday so they could properly partake in Ramadan.At 11:30am, Phuket Islamic Committee President Komon Doomluck handed over rice as well as other dried foods, such as palm dates, which are the traditional foods for breaking fasts, to the 225 male and female Muslim prisoners…
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Phuket Life Music Festival to honor “The Stars’
PHUKET: Phuket-born Jaruwat “Dome” Cheawaram, better known as “Dome The Star” after winning the popular television singing contest, will headline the Phuket Life Music Festival 2012, to be held in Phuket Town on August 14. The concert will be held at Anuphas Field, near the Phuket bus terminal on Phang Nga Road, from 7pm to 10:30pm. Other live acts to…
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Drug rehab youths escape facility after friend beaten to death
PHUKET: More than 200 youths escaped from the drug rehabilitation center at Por Noh Klong Gom School and sought the protection of a local mosque in Krabi on Thursday after one of their classmates was allegedly beaten to death by teaching assistants. The school, although in Krabi, serves as a drug rehabilitation center for about 800 troubled youths from throughout…
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Phuket T20 Cricket gets under way
PHUKET: The T20 cricket league kicked off last weekend with Neill Culpan scoring 57 not out, helping current champions Laguna defeat last season’s runners-up Patong in the first game. Patong won the toss and chose to bat first. They didn’t start well, losing opener Richie Desmond for five with only 12 runs on the board. Manesh Sadarangani scored 32 not…
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Anonymous donor gives stranded Kiwi ticket home
PHUKET: Sean Kenzie, the 27-year-old New Zealander stranded and unable to pay his mounting medical bills after a hit-and run-accident, boarded a plane for home today thanks to an anonymous donor who supplied the funds for his flight. Sean looked a little tired when he arrived at Phuket Airport; he walked straight to the Thai Airways check-in counter to catch…
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Poll: Is Phuket’s property market over-developed?
PHUKET: Tanan Tanpaiboon, former head of the Phuket Real Estate Association, recently warned that over-development in the Phuket real estate sector risks creating a “bubble” that could burst, sending real estate prices tumbling due to oversupply. What do you think will be the overall trend in real estate prices on Phuket over the next five years? To have your say…
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Phuket FC set for home battle with PTT Rayong
PHUKET: Soccer fans who missed out on seeing Phuket FC’s new line-up which was successful against Songkhla on Wednesday will have their next chance tomorrow evening when the Islanders are set to host PTT Rayong FC. Kick off for the league match, to be played at Surakul Stadium, will be at 6:30pm. Aside from seeing some of Phuket’s new signings…
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Phuket gold shop damaged in youth street brawl
PHUKET: A group of eight students attacked two others in front of a gold shop in the heart of Phuket Town yesterday morning. The attack, at about 10:15am, was launched in front of a hardware and electronics store on Ong Sim Pai Road in front of Kaset Market. The two students who were set upon ran to the Sri Thong…
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Phuket Sports: Olympics kick off
PHUKET: The first day of competitive sport at the London Olympics was overshadowed by a diplomatic faux pas. WOMEN’S FOOTBALL: The North Korea women’s football team walked off the pitch as the flag of South Korea was displayed before their game against Colombia. The match at Hampden Park was delayed for almost an hour before the North Korea team returned…
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Alcohol linked to Phuket vegetable dealer’s death
PHUKET: Phuket Police believe that cardiac arrest, possibly triggered by excessive alcohol intake, may have caused the death of a man whose body was found by the side of a road in Sakoo yesterday afternoon. Tah Chat Chai Police were notified of the discovery at 2:45pm. At the scene in Sakoo Village 4, off the old airport road near Nai…
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National News: HFMD update – another death; Insurgents change tactics; 92 Thais jailed
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Second HFMD fatality reported Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is believed to have claimed its second life in Thailand – a young Cambodian boy living in Rayong. Rayong Public Health chief Kris Pansuk yesterday identified the victim only as…
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British Ambassador calls for “safety first’ when travelling
PHUKET: British Ambassador to Thailand Asif Ahamd has repeated his call for UK nationals to exercise caution when travelling to Thailand and to make sure they have adequate insurance coverage when they do visit. “I have seen the sadness and anguish of victims and relatives after incidents which, if thought through, are entirely avoidable. Like the majority of visitors and…
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Phuket Architect & Engineering Exhibition 2012 underway
PHUKET: Good news for the island’s builders, designers and property owners: the Architect & Engineering Exhibition 2012 is now underway on the second floor of the Royal Phuket City Hotel. The event runs daily from 11am to 8pm through Sunday, featuring a number of exhibitions and booths showcasing products from more than 100 manufactures and importers. As tourist numbers wane…
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Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease under control in Phuket
PHUKET: Following the outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) in Thailand which caused the death of a 2-year-old toddler in Bangkok last week, the situation in Phuket is largely under control, health officials say. Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) Chief Dr Sak Tanchaikul told the Phuket Gazette that more than 10,000 cases of the viral disease have been…
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AirAsia bookings offline this weekend
PHUKET: Thai AirAsia this weekend will temporarily suspend its online booking facility for all flights to and from Bangkok after October 1. The news comes as the budget carrier prepares to move its operations from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok. Starting at 10pm on Friday, technicians will be reprogramming airport codes to reflect the change from…
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Phuket Gazette: Red Bull’s Baumgartner jumps from 96,640 feet
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO: Felix Baumgartner completed the final milestone remaining before he attempts to achieve his dream of becoming the first person to break the speed of sound in freefall. According to preliminary data, his test jump from a 5.3 million cubic-foot balloon achieved an altitude of…
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Phuket Gazette: ‘The Jeffersons’ star Sherman Hemsley dead at 74
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community ‘The Jeffersons’ star Sherman Hemsley dead at 74 Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: American actor Sherman Hemsley, who starred as George Jefferson in the 1970s television series ‘The Jeffersons’ and ‘All in the Family’, died at his home in Texas on Tuesday, police said. He…
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National News: Five police killed in Yala; Flood warnings; Thais get out of Syria
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Pickup bomb kills five policemen in yala Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Five police officers were killed yesterday and another wounded by a car bomb attack in Yala’s Raman district. The six man squad from Tha Thong Police Station, which was assigned to escort teachers…
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Phuket hotel investments surge in 2012
PHUKET: Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels is predicting that Phuket will be one of Asia Pacific’s hotel investment hot spots in 2012, following record sales in the first half of the year. Investment in the hotel property sector in Phuket is expected to exceed 10 billion baht (US$315m) for the full year for first time ever in 2012. Mike Batchelor, Managing…
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British tourist, 47, drowns at Patong Beach
PHUKET: An English tourist who ignored warnings not to swim in dangerous surf at Patong Beach yesterday became the latest monsoon-season drowning victim in Phuket. Patong Police received a report of the incident at 8:15am. Among the officers who rushed to the scene were Patong Police Superintendent Jirapat Phochanaphan and his deputy Kittipong Klaikaew. Pol Sub Lt Thawatchai Srimai told…
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Phuket Gazette: A kaleidoscope of sporting news
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Sutiya shooting for goldPhuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit is upbeat about her chances in the Olympics following intensive training in Germany with her coach Jan Henrik Heinrich. The national skeet shooter, who has been in London for almost a week, said a month…
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Project to reverse Patong traffic flow hits a speed bump
PHUKET: A long-awaited plan to reverse the direction of one-way traffic flow in Patong was expected to take effect in June, but has been delayed as work to complete a new roundabout at the north end of the beach road has fallen behind schedule. The 4.2-million-baht Laem Petch Circle project was delayed due to the need to remove utility poles…
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Phuket Gazette: Ronnie Barker’s son arrested on child porn charges
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Ronnie Barker’s son arrested on child porn charges after 8 years on the run Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: Adam Barker, son of British comedian Ronnie Barker, appeared in a London court yesterday after being on the run for more than eight years, police said.…
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Thailand News: Weather warning issued as Vicente moves on
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: The national weather bureau is warning of heavy rain and possible flooding, as well as forest run-off, this week due to the effects of Typhoon Vicente. The Meteorological Department today issued a warning for those living in the northeast, north as well as the eastern…
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Phuket Gazette: Food poisoning sickens 35 homeless
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Food poisoning sickens 35-plus at Denver dinner for homeless Phuket Gazette / News WiresPHUKET: More than 35 people were taken to Denver-area hospitals late Sunday after being stricken with suspected food poisoning caused by a meal of turkey served at a shelter for the poor and homeless,…
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