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. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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Bird strike forces AirAsia flight back to Phuket
PHUKET: AirAsia flight FD3167 from Phuket to Chiang Mai was forced to turn around 32 minutes after departing from Phuket International Airport, after a bird strike. “We believe several birds were sucked into the engine of the plane… After that, the captain decided to turn the plane back and land in Phuket to have the engine checked,” Arun Lilapantisitti of…
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Savvy Chinese Apple user busts thieving baggage handler in Phuket
PHUKET: A technologically handicapped baggage handler at Phuket International Airport was arrested for theft after having been outwitted by a savvy Chinese Apple user. Tah Chat Chai Police arrested Somsak Pohnisai, 31, yesterday and charged with the theft of Yang Liqiang’s iPad on December 14. Mr Somsak might have gotten away with the theft from Ms Yang’s luggage had he…
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Phuket bus drivers caught under the influence
PHUKET: Law enforcement officials are randomly testing bus drivers for drugs and alcohol during the 10 Days of Danger, and in two days have found three drivers working under the influence. Within Phuket, Thung Thong Police and Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) staff are stopping buses at the Thung Thong checkpoint on Phra Barami Road (map here) before they head…
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Druggy Grinch confesses to Phuket holiday robbery, Russian assault
PHUKET: A 42-year-old drug addict confessed to attacking a Russian woman and multiple accounts of robbery after he was arrested by Karon Police on Boxing Day. Boonrit Saeteaw was nabbed after having stolen several items on Christmas Day, including a mobile phone. His failure to turn off the phone’s GPS system, allowed police to track him down, Lt Col Teeradej…
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Phuket Opinion: Resolving not to fail
PHUKET: With the New Year rapidly approaching, we wait to see just how effective efforts mandated by the Phuket Provincial Police will be in ridding the island of illegal actions by numerous, unregistered taxi and tuk-tuk ranks by its specified “D-Day” of January 1. Any long-term resident of Phuket can only hold hope that the promised effort will bear some…
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Phuket Opinion: Beware the water
PHUKET: I’ve been losing sleep lately thinking about all the poison I’ve subjected myself to during 12 years in Thailand – alcohol, sugar, fatty and acidic foods, traffic smog, secondhand smoke and perhaps the biggest culprit of them all: water. I’m referring to fluoridated water, and the “forced-medication” of the planet’s prime life supply – drinking water. The practice, which…
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Phuket Opinion: Teaching that it’s not rude, it’s just culture
Madunan Chehteek, 47, is a native of Yala who left school at age 15 and came to Phuket to work at age 19. He held various positions at Phuket resorts, working his way up to receptionist, then was a tour guide for five years. He opened his shop, the Madunan shirt and souvenir shop, on the bypass road in 1997.Here,…
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Phuket high school student stabbed outside school gates
PHUKET: A senior high school student is in hospital after being stabbed yesterday afternoon as he left school in Thalang, in central Phuket. Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers were called to the Muang Thalang School (map here) at 2:30pm and found the youth with a chest wound. “He had been stabbed once in the chest with a long, thin, sharp object…
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Phuket Vice Governor calls for police protection of election candidates
PHUKET: Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak has called on the police and the Royal Thai Navy to protect candidates enrolling in the national Member of Parliament (MP) election scheduled for February 2. “We have to accept that the current situation [in Bangkok] is not stable, and we need to be prepared,” Vice Governor Somkiet said, referring to the violence yesterday…
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![French family lost in Phuket forest found safe [Video] | Thaiger](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0naHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmcnIHZpZXdCb3g9JzAgMCAyNDcgMjIwJz48L3N2Zz4=)
French family lost in Phuket forest found safe [Video]
PHUKET: A French family who went walking in search of a new resort to stay in south of Nai Yang Beach have been found safe and sound after losing themselves in a tropical forest last night. Officers from the Phuket Tourist Police received a call for help from father-of-three Frenchman Bill Letshon, 56, at about 6:30pm. Ten officers from the…
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Phuket Police probe Bangla bar worker shot dead by off-duty cop
PHUKET: A Patong Police sergeant has been suspended pending an investigation into the shooting death of a 27-year-old bar worker from Soi Bangla early yesterday morning. Officers arrived at the Fong Beer Pub on Phang Muang Sai Kor Road (map here) at 6am to find the body of Sawitree Kaewnin, from Phattalung, slumped over a table in front of the…
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Phuket honors victims on ninth anniversary of the tsunami
PHUKET: The Phuket community yesterday morning honored those who died in the devastating tsunami that struck the island in 2004 with a ceremony at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Mai Khao followed by the traditional “Light Up Phuket” candle-lighting ceremony on Patong Beach last night. About 50 people turned out at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Mai Khao, including a…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Egypt arrests dozens under new anti-terrorist law; Plane crash in Siberia; American al Qaeda captive in plea to Obama
Egypt arrests dozens under anti-terror law, one killed in Cairo Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Egypt stepped up pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood a day after declaring it a terrorist group, using the new classification to detain dozens of its supporters on Thursday, while one person died in street clashes ignited by political tension.A bomb blast in a Cairo suburb wounded…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Policeman killed in Bangkok clashes; EC calls to defer poll; Kobkul killer death sentence upheld
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police officer killed in clashes with protesters The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: One police officer was killed and at least 96 anti-government protesters and journalists and 28 police officers were injured after violence erupted at the Bangkok Youth Centre (Thai-Japan) aka the Thai-Japanese Stadium yesterday, according to…
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Phuket Marine Office launches New Year boat safety drive
PHUKET: Officers from the local Marine Office led by Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut today conducted safety inspections of ferries and other tourist boats operating out of Rassada Pier as part of a safety drive for the new year. Rassada Pier, located on the east side of Phuket Town (map here), is a major jump-off point for tourists boarding ferries and…
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Phuket Red Cross Fair 2013 kicks off with B1.5mn golden touch
PHUKET: The Phuket Annual Red Cross fair kicks off at Saphan Hin tonight and runs until January 5, offering over 1.5 million baht in gold lucky draw prizes and 14 motorcycles for anyone who buys a ticket to support the Red Cross. The popular 11-day fair features hundreds of stalls selling local delicacies, knickknacks, clothing and a huge variety of…
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Phuket bomb fears disarmed by shrimp paste
PHUKET: Fears that an abandoned bag might contain a bomb sent ordnance disposal experts racing to Baan Laem Hin yesterday. However, the team quickly discovered that the bag contained only shrimp paste. A bus driver who had just finished his shift discovered the bag and, with the recent news of the explosives-laden pickup truck found last Saturday (store here), called…
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Phuket captain, meth user sunk
PHUKET: Two men who had just returned tourists by speedboat to the pier at Phuket Boat Lagoon were arrested yesterday afternoon for using ya ice (crystal methamphetamine); one was also charged for possession of over eight grams of the drug.The men were apprehended as part of a holiday drug-sweep in the area, Marine Police Inspector Chatchai Sakdee told the Phuket…
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Ukrainian motorcyclist first death in Phuket safety campaign
PHUKET: Phuket skated by the first day of the Ten Days of Danger campaign with zero deaths, but a big bike accident that killed a Ukrainian* early this morning puts the goal of zero road deaths out of reach. The traditional Seven Days of Danger campaign was bumped to ten days in hopes of saving more lives during the extended…
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Phuket Blood Bank’s vaults low on Rh- blood ahead of New Year demand
PHUKET: As Phuket enters the 10 Days of Danger (story here), the Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) scrambles to boost low stocks of Rhesus-negative blood, calling on blood donors to come forward and save lives this holiday season. “We have no AB- blood in stock at all,” PRBC Chief Pornthip Rattajak told the Phuket Gazette today. “We have a lot…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Protesters storm Bangkok stadium; Yingluck plan shot down; Thaksin calls for calm; DSI shoots for PRDC arrests
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police battle protesters at Thai-Japanese Stadium The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Police used teargases and rubber bullets to fend off protesters from storming into the compound of the Thai-Japanese Stadium Thursday morning.Police started firing teargases at about 7:20 am after protesters led by the Students and People…
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A New Year gift from Phuket Police
PHUKET: Patong Police are looking forward to giving the people of Phuket a gift for the New Year – public parking spaces along the Patong beach road that are free of taxi and tuk-tuk thugs. Lt Col Akanit Danpitaksat, Deputy Superintendent of the Patong Police, said his team was ready to enforce the new regulation to reduce the number of…
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Phuket’s top politicians send holiday wishes
PHUKET: The island’s top two officials, Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut and Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Paiboon Upatising, took a few minutes out of their busy schedules today to wish everyone in fair Phuket happy holidays. In addition, President Paiboon invited one and all to celebrate Christmas with the OrBorJor at 6pm on Friday at Surakul stadium (map here).…
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Phuket’s Nai Harn Bay gets artificial coral reef
PHUKET: Villagers and marine officers joined together yesterday to drop concrete frames into the sea at Nai Harn Bay as substructures for artificial coral reefs.“There were over 50 people there to help drop 200 concrete frame-cubes,” said Tanet Munnoy, chief of the Phuket Office of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR).“Coral reefs are important resources for marine animals.…
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Phuket taxi drivers join forces for good, not evil
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut yesterday officiated the launch of a new consortium of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers at Kata Noi that may herald a new era for taxi services on the island. The Kata Noi Community Taxi Service was formed by the 63 drivers who serve four taxi and tuk-tuk ranks stationed along the length of Kata Noi Beach…
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Phuket cows freed to honor HM The King’s birthday
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut led a ceremony at Saphan Hin on Sunday to free 22 cows and over a million marine animals in honor of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 86th birthday on December 5th. “Making merit by releasing life is a wonderful activity, as it feels so good to give something so special,” Gov Maitri said. “It makes you…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Aleppo air strikes slay 300; AK-47 inventor dies; St Valentine beast jailed; UAE jails man for YouTube parody
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community More than 300 dead in week-long Aleppo air raids Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: More than 300 people have died in a week of air raids on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and nearby towns by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, a monitoring group said on Monday.Many of…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Protests disrupt poll registrations; Red Shirts say dump Yingluck; Baht lowest in four years
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Protesters disrupt poll registration The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Anti-government protesters yesterday managed to interrupt the first day of candidate registration for the February 2 election, which demonstrators have vowed to disrupt as they push for national reform by a people’s council.Hundreds of protesters began to besiege…
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Ghost riding Russian injured in Phuket motorbike crash
PHUKET: A ghost-riding Russian was injured in a crash just after midnight yesterday on Thepkasattri Road.Eyewitnesses told police that the man was driving as if he was drunk. He allegedly took a spill near the Thai Watsadu megastore, then got back on his bike and drove toward the Heroine’s Monument, where he continued heading south toward Phuket Town, but in…
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Chinese tourists rescued from sinking speedboat in Phuket’s Chalong Bay
PHUKET: A speed boat carrying Chinese tourists from Koh Lone to Chalong Pier took on water yesterday morning and sank about 500 meters from Chalong Pier.A passing longtail boat safely transferred the 16 passengers and three boat crew members from the speedboat to the pier.The speed boat Alisa 2 was nearing Chalong at about 8am when the boat crew noticed…
![French family lost in Phuket forest found safe [Video] | Thaiger](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/phuketnews_20131227145559640_syEkNxVHzrXYJNNAobhBXRMaMcOwVWMfUGExeFdo_jpeg.jpg)
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