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.

  • Sponsored

    5 ways retirees in Thailand lose money (and how to stop it)

    Retiring in Thailand can be affordable and enjoyable, but many retirees lose money due to common mistakes. High living costs, scams, and unexpected expenses can quickly drain savings. There are five ways that retirees in Thailand can lose money and...

  • Students holidaying in Phuket survive Phang Nga crash

    Students holidaying in Phuket survive Phang Nga crash

    PHUKET: Five medical students on holiday in Phuket escaped with minor injuries when the car they were traveling in struck a tree in Phang Nga yesterday.Lt Eakkapop Phuthong of Takua Thung Police received a report at 5:30pm that a vehicle had overshot a curve on Takua Thung Road at Baan Kuan, Kok Kloy.“Sidan Hayeesamadae, a 25-year-old male, was driving four…

  • Phuket sports: Practice makes perfect… almost

    Phuket sports: Practice makes perfect… almost

    PHUKET: One of the shortest courses ever set was organized for the second race of the Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC) Irish Times Race Series. From the Ao Makham safe water mark and back, with two short loops around the Ban Nit safe water mark – the total course length was only nine nautical miles. On Saturday, David Liddell from…

  • Phuket sports: Nanai Boys moving up

    Phuket sports: Nanai Boys moving up

    PHUKET: Eden FC broke their Phuket Super Six League duck with a win in the evening’s first match against Aladdin at Headstart International School’s Football Island last Wednesday. In an even game, Aladdin took an early lead with goal, but Eden FC pressed back and were soon two goals ahead from strikes by Joseph Arimathea and Zac Remboldt. Aladdin clawed…

  • Phuket sports: Fair Play League heads into finals weekend

    Phuket sports: Fair Play League heads into finals weekend

    PHUKET: THE 2012 Fair Play League (FPL) held its penultimate round of matches at British International School last week with both U14 and U11 Divisions in action. All three games in the U14 section were played at the same time on three different pitches at the ground. Thailand put in a fine performance against league leaders France and romped to…

  • Phuket sport: PowerPlay golf hits Phuket

    Phuket sport: PowerPlay golf hits Phuket

    PHUKET: The worldwide sport phenomenon of PowerPlay Golf has arrived in Thailand. A dynamic nine-hole format, with some twists, has been introduced to the golf-loving nation by exclusive rights and license holder Asian Golf Events Co Ltd. PowerPlay Golf was first played in the UK in 2007 and by 2011 it had expanded to 30 countries and over 600 courses,…

  • Phuket sports: TSLC nets ITF event

    Phuket sports: TSLC nets ITF event

    PHUKET: PHUKET’S international tennis scene received a massive boost following the announcement that Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will host the Chang International Tennis Federation (ITF) Thailand Pro Circuit Women’s event from March 17 to 31. With a growing reputation as a top international sporting destination, this tournament is set to become…

  • Asia-Pacific Superyachts to join Phuket International Boat Show

    Asia-Pacific Superyachts to join Phuket International Boat Show

    PHUKET: Asia-Pacific Superyacht Association (APSA) will be exhibiting at this year’s Phuket International Boat Show (PIMEX) and Singapore Yacht Show (SYS). APSA members will be on hand to offer comprehensive information about the Asia-Pacific region, the association, its work and its member companies. “It is great that APSA has the support of the Informa Yacht Group and the APSA membership…

  • Phuket business: New tourism and hotel college enrolls for May

    Phuket business: New tourism and hotel college enrolls for May

    PHUKET: In response to swelling demand in the island’s booming services industry, Thalang Technical College will be developing into the Phuket Hotel and Tourism College. The move was announced earlier this week by the college’s director, Suthep Yongyuth.“We first opened in 1997 as the Phuket Technical College number two, and then changed our name to Thalang Technical College in the…

  • Bee swarm invades Krabi school

    Bee swarm invades Krabi school

    PHUKET: A swarm of wild bees invaded several classrooms at Baan Tabpol School in Krabi’s Khao Phanom District on Friday, stinging 23 students and a teacher.Three of the children – aged 9, 10 and 12 – were taken to hospital for treatment for multiple bees stings, said School Director Bussakorn Hohkul.“Doctors had to inject antihistamine in one of the boys…

  • New Phuket Weekend Market opens at Boat Lagoon

    New Phuket Weekend Market opens at Boat Lagoon

    PHUKET: The Boat Lagoon Weekend Market opened yesterday to a welcome reception by local vendors and market goers. With pitch rentals as low as 100 baht, vender Jantima Tanpitakpong saw the opportunity to set up a stall of her own. “We buy handmade items, add value to them and sell them on. We don’t have our own shop yet, so…

  • Phuket Opinion: Message in a bottle

    Phuket Opinion: Message in a bottle

    PHUKET: It would be difficult to find a country anywhere in the world that has a wider gap than Thailand in terms of its alcohol control laws and their actual enforcement – and no other province suffers as much as Phuket because of it. The Phuket Gazette knows that alcohol use is often associated with fatal and debilitating accidents, violence,…

  • Phuket Airport factored into plans for regional aviation hub

    Phuket Airport factored into plans for regional aviation hub

    PHUKET: A high-level board delegation representing Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AOT), including six directors of major airports in Thailand, met yesterday at Phuket International Airport to discuss strategies to place Thailand in the top 10 of Asia’s aviation hubs. In line with AOT’s aspirations for Thailand to become a regional aviation hub, the current expansion planned project to…

  • Anti-corruption probe uncovers Phuket land deals’ dirty history

    Anti-corruption probe uncovers Phuket land deals’ dirty history

    PHUKET: A probe into the issuance of land title deeds in Phuket has uncovered widespread encroachment into protected forest areas and identified government officials as playing the key role in facilitating the theft of state property. Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission secretary-general Pol Col Dusadee Arayawuth, in Phuket as part of the investigation, yesterday told the press his office had identified…

  • Phuket Poll: Which inbound market has highest growth potential?

    Phuket Poll: Which inbound market has highest growth potential?

    PHUKET: By almost all accounts, 2011 was a banner year for Phuket tourism. With 2012 well underway, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and local tourism industry leaders continue to seek out promising new sources of tourists. Phuket tourism representatives tirelessly attend tourism trade shows at home and abroad to present the latest tourism products to the international market, and,…

  • Phuket’s Kajonkiet stages “open house’ school

    Phuket’s Kajonkiet stages “open house’ school

    PHUKET: Kajonkiet International School celebrated its official opening on Thursday, with scores of proud parents joining the festivities. Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak officiated the opening ceremony, which marked the launch of the school’s three-day “Kajonkiet One Step Ahead” open house. The “open house” allows parents of prospective students to inspect school facilities and learn more about the opportunities it…

  • Phuket sports: Laguna pillage the Village

    Phuket sports: Laguna pillage the Village

    PHUKET: Following Laguna CC’s recent loss, the Island Furniture League season was thrown wide open with the in-form Village Cricket Team holding all the cards going into the last round of matches. The fourteenth match of this season saw an undefeated Village team up against Laguna at the ACG on Sunday with the latter still licking their wounds from their…

  • Phuket Bus Terminal 2 to open ‘after Songkran’

    Phuket Bus Terminal 2 to open ‘after Songkran’

    PHUKET: The Administrative Court in Nakhon Sri Thammarat has thrown out a complaint against work on the new turning in front of Phuket Bus Terminal 2, which the Land Transport Office now hopes to have in operation shortly after the upcoming Songkran holiday. Phuket Land Transport Office [PLTO] chief Teerayut Prasertpol told the Phuket Gazette he received a telephone call…

  • Weird World News: Fox mugs man, kitesurfer stabs shark and nerds design robo-Cheetah

    Weird World News: Fox mugs man, kitesurfer stabs shark and nerds design robo-Cheetah

    PHUKET: This has been a week of man taking on wild. From the cobbled and cold streets of England to the warm waters of the Red Sea and at a state-of-the art Massachusetts robotics lab, snarling and snapping animals coming face-to-face with man made headlines this week. Man ‘mugged’ by fox A BRITSH man claims he was mugged by a…

  • Praying lizard crashes Buddhist ceremony

    Praying lizard crashes Buddhist ceremony

    PHUKET: A NINE-INCH gecko is talk of the town in a village in the Northern province of Phayao this week – not for its size, which isn’t exactly unusual, but for its piety. On February 27, one of the village families invited a monk to their home to hold a Buddhist ceremony of renewal. The ceremony was interrupted halfway through…

  • Phuket Heroines honored at “Battle of Thalang’ re-enactment

    Phuket Heroines honored at “Battle of Thalang’ re-enactment

    PHUKET: Those wanting to catch the re-enactment of the Battle of Thalang, from which the Phuket heroines “Jan” and “Mook” gained their fame, should clear their schedule from March 13 to 15. The official program of events for the annual celebrations will start on Sunday, but the re-enactment of the historic battle at Thalang Victory Memorial Field doesn’t begin until…

  • QSI Phuket Fun Run all set for go tomorrow

    QSI Phuket Fun Run all set for go tomorrow

    PHUKET: Athletes across the island and families who just like enjoying walks are getting ready for the Quality Schools International (QSI) Phuket 10th Annual Fun Run on Saturday, March 10, starting at 9am and jogging on to 1pm. The traditional 1km, 6km, 12km individual and team runs are ready for the off, while food, drink and games will also be…

  • Finn tourist killed in crash on Phuket’s Big Buddha Hill

    Finn tourist killed in crash on Phuket’s Big Buddha Hill

    PHUKET: The Finnish Embassy today named 32-year-old Tuomas Johannes Mustonen as the Finnish tourist who died in a motorbike accident on Big Buddha Hill on Wednesday. Mr Mustonen’s body was found by police patrolling the area of the Big Buddha on the evening of Makha Bucha Day. “While on patrol, officers came across a Yamaha Fino motorbike. Nearby, they discovered…

  • Royal Thai Consul honors Krabi efforts after Chinese tourist drowns

    Royal Thai Consul honors Krabi efforts after Chinese tourist drowns

    PHUKET: The action by authorities following the drowning of a Chinese tourist in Krabi’s Than Bok Khorani National Park has drawn praise from the Royal Thai Consulate in Chengdu City, China.Chengdu Consul-General Narumit Hinshiranan on Monday visited Krabi Governor Prasit Osathanon in person to express gratitude on behalf of the people of Sichuan province for the assistance given to relatives…

  • Body lotion bust uncovers Phuket motorbike, drug gang

    Body lotion bust uncovers Phuket motorbike, drug gang

    PHUKET: Two shoplifters apprehended at a Phuket 7-Eleven store were later found to be involved in the theft of seven motorbikes and were dealers of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine), police announced yesterday. Staff at the 7-Eleven store near Phuket International Airport informed police that a man and woman were caught on the store’s CCTV system stealing items from the shop.…

  • Phuket Gazette: Syria – First high-ranking official joins uprising

    Phuket Gazette: Syria – First high-ranking official joins uprising

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Syria’s deputy oil minister defects from Assad PHUKET (News Wires): Syrian Deputy Oil Minister Abdu Hussameddin yesterday announced his defection from the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, becoming the first high-ranking civilian official to join the uprising which began a year ago. Hussameddin, 58, appeared in…

  • Phuket Gazette: British Royal Navy submariner charged with ‘leaking’ secrets

    Phuket Gazette: British Royal Navy submariner charged with ‘leaking’ secrets

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community ‘Leaky submarine’?: British Royal Navy crewman charged with communicating secrets PHUKET (News Wires): A British Royal Navy submariner was arrested in southwestern England earlier this week and is being accused of leaking classified information, police said on Thursday. He has been charged with breaching the Official…

  • Phuket gears up for PIMEX 2012

    Phuket gears up for PIMEX 2012

    PHUKET: The Phuket International Boat Show (PIMEX), to be held March 29 to April 1 at the award-winning Royal Phuket Marina, is set to showcase top global boat brands. The leading consumer boat show in Asia, PIMEX has the largest in-water boat display. More than 50 boats representing the leading boat brands from around the world, will be on display.…

  • Phuket tourist electrocution brings probe, safety blitz

    Phuket tourist electrocution brings probe, safety blitz

    PHUKET: The electrocution of 45-year-old Russian tourist Fedor Samsonov at a high-end Phuket resort last night has prompted an investigation by police and a full-scale safety inspection of the resort’s electrical system. “This is very tragic and we feel very much for the family,” said Lars Ydmark of resort management company Tri-Asia, which manages the Dewa Karon Beach Resort. The…

  • Phuket Crime: Dokset DNA results show human skull hit with heavy object

    Phuket Crime: Dokset DNA results show human skull hit with heavy object

    PHUKET: Preliminary results from forensics tests conducted on remains found at the home of Norwegian Stein Dokset have found that they are those of a human female. They have yet to be confirmed as those of Rungnapa Suktong, however, the Phuket Gazette has been told. The remains were found in the locked basement bathroom at Mr Dokset’s luxury villa in…

  • Phuket Gazette: Four Troops killed in Thai bomb attack; Quick probe into criminal cases crucial

    Phuket Gazette: Four Troops killed in Thai bomb attack; Quick probe into criminal cases crucial

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Four troops killed, another injured in Narathiwat bomb attack PHUKET (The Nation): The unit was returning home after providing security to Buddhist devotees and monks at a temple in the evening of Maka Puja Day when the explosion occurred at 10:40pm yesterday. The explosion occurred on…