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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BREAKING NEWS: Phuket boy, 6, drowns in wastewater pool
PHUKET: A six-year-old boy who went missing this morning was found drowned in a water treatment pool at the Patong Municipality Water Treatment Plant this afternoon. The child, Yutthakarn “Marvin” Limtek, was staying with his aunt Siriwan Noothong, who lives near the water treatment plant on an unnamed soi that connects Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi and Phang Muang roads. Ms Siriwan…
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Full budget for Chalong hospital project unlikely to materialize
PHUKET: The mayor of Chalong handed a formal letter of complaint to Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri for the ministry’s failure to provide 186 million baht in funding for the establishment of a new hospital. The financial package, provisionally agreed to by the Cabinet at the mobile meeting on Phuket in March, was to turn the “Chalong Health Promoting Station”…
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Drug-addicted thief confesses to murder of Phuket teen “Nong Som’
PHUKET: Security is expected to be very tight in Chalong this morning, when police and the confessed drug-addicted killer of 17-year-old Sunisa “Som” Saiyoy re-enact the brutal strangling, attempted rape and robbery that took place on Tuesday. Confessed murderer Kittikhun Wonghajak, who goes by multiple aliases including “Aek”, “Mac” and “Goong”, told the press yesterday that he did not intentionally…
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Phuket Sports: A look ahead to this weekend’s action
PHUKET: Three-time Olympic track champion Bradley Wiggins is looking to become the first British man to win the Tour de France. He is currently in first place after he and his Sky Team held off numerous attempts by other riders on stage 11 to unsettle him. Fellow Brit and Sky team member Chris Froome is in second place on the…
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Phuket Gazette: U.S. companies to do business in Myanmar
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Obama allows U.S. companies to do business in Myanmar Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced his administration has eased certain financial and investment sanctions on Myanmar, allowing American companies to do business in the Asian country for the first…
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Navy rescue drills off Phuket declared a success
PHUKET: The Royal Thai Navy conducted training drills on Tuesday with the aim of improving coordination among the different emergency response units in Phuket. The exercise, which ran from 9am to midday, was staged on the beach in front of the Third Naval Area Command base at Cape Panwa. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha and Vice Admiral Taratorn Kajitsuwan, Commander of…
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Senate seeks action on foreign tour guides in Phuket
PHUKET: An adviser to the Senate Standing Committee on Tourism has spoken out against the long-standing problem of foreign tour guides operating in Phuket. Phanomphon Thammachartniyom, an honorary adviser to the upper house committee, told a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall that he had been working for 10 years to solve the problem of Russians, Chinese and Koreans working as…
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Phuket Gazette: Salmonella strain might reinfect kids
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Salmonella strain might reinfect kids Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: A drug-resistant strain of Salmonella bacteria, found in eggs causing 500 schoolchildren to fall ill, might continue lingering and re-infect them for another three months. The provincial health office will send a team to tackle…
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Krabi Police search for mother of murdered newborn
PHUKET: Police are searching for the mother of a brutally-murdered newborn found in a plastic trash bag on a Krabi roadside yesterday morning. The baby, thought to be less than a day old at the time of death, was discovered by an Ao Nang Tambon Administration Organization sanitation worker sorting trash destined for the Ao Nang landfill. “This morning there…
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Phuket Gazette: Hackers release more than 420,000 passwords
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Hackers release more than 420,000 Formspring passwords Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: The questions and answers website Formspring yesterday disabled the passwords of its more than 29 million registered users as a precaution after nearly half a million of them were posted on a website,…
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Phuket Customs director: Illegal diesel probably used to support terrorism
PHUKET: Customs officials who seized over 200,000 liters of smuggled diesel fuel off Phuket on Monday suspect the profits from such sales are likely being channeled to support terrorist activities. “Customs have been cracking down on illegally imported goods, especially fuel, which is probably being used to support terrorism,” said Rakob Srisupa, director of the Customs Department Marine Investigation and…
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Phuket Sports: Lance gets a shot in the arm with extended deadline
PHUKET: Seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong was given an extended deadline of 30 days to answer charges last month that he used performance enhancing drugs during his illustrious cycling career.The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) originally gave Armstrong until Saturday to answer the charges. If found guilty he could be stripped of his tour titles and face a…
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Phuket Sports: An endless summer
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette recently caught up with hometown hero Miss Annissa Tita Flynn, to talk about her recent accomplishments. If you haven’t heard much about this 14 year old surfing starlet, “Anni”, as her friends call her, has been travelling and competing in recent months on the 2012 Asian Surfing Championship tour (ASC).Phuket Gazette: What is it like to…
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Phuket Sports: Bitter cup exit for Phuket FC
PHUKET: Phuket FC were one of five losers among the seven southern teams contesting the Thailand Toyota League Cup second round played last night. The losers included all four Yamaha League One (Division 1) southern representatives – Phatthalung FC, Songkhla FC, Krabi FC and Phuket FC – the latter three of whom lost in penalty shootouts. Phuket’s 4-3 defeat on…
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Gimme shelter: Phi Phi run delayed by big waves
PHUKET: More than 100 tourists on their way to Phi Phi Don Island were forced to shelter from heavy seas at Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh Island, east of Phuket, yesterday morning. At about 10 am, several speedboats and longtail boats were forced to seek protection in the bay, where the movie ‘The Beach’, starring Leonardo Di Caprio, was…
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Phuket Town water cuts start today
PHUKET: Phuket City Waterworks (PCW) begins a series of scheduled daytime pressure cuts today in order to conduct system maintenance and install new water mains. The pressure cuts will run from 9am to 6pm daily in affected areas. The PCW advises customers to store sufficient amounts of water, so as not to be affected during the cuts, which will run…
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Three slow lorises rescued in Phuket bust
PHUKET: Law enforcement officers on Saturday night arrested two men for illegal possession of three slow lorises, which they were using as props to entice Phuket tourists to pay to have photographs taken with them.The officers, led by Sub Lt Jedsada Lugieng of the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division (NED), moved in to make the arrest after spotting…
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Democrat Party brainstorms for ASEAN in Phuket
PHUKET: Former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and other Democrat Party heavyweights are scheduled to chair a seminar to develop a “Phuket model” for tourism on the island tomorrow.The event, scheduled to begin at 1pm, is intended to boost Phuket’s preparedness for measures of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community, or AEC, which will take effect in…
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Phuket Sports: More hulls means more fun
PHUKET: The Rawai-Nai Harn Multihull Regatta returns to Phuket’s shores next weekend for its fifth straight year. This popular sailor’s regatta is unique in that it’s only for multihull yachts; crews that normally sail on monohull boats get the chance to try multis – often for the first time. The event will take place in Chalong Bay, under the auspices…
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Phuket Business: Sunken Deep Sea Port upgrade project resurfaces at meeting
PHUKET: Transport Minister Charupong Ruangsuwanm has told a consortium of Phuket officials and the operator of Phuket’s Deep Sea Port that he will raise the problem of the stalled 100-million-baht plan to develop the facility with Cabinet.However, Mr Charupong said the project must clearly provide benefits for local people if the plan is to go ahead.Mr Charupong was in Phuket…
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Belanger Deaths: Probe finds more information but no clues
PHUKET: The lack of information publicly released on the deaths of Canadian sisters Audrey and Noemi Belanger on Phi Phi Island last month prompted the sisters’ father, Carl Belanger, to accuse the Thai authorities of covering up the true circumstances of their deaths.The leading investigators in the case have now refuted the allegation. The Phuket Gazette’s Chaiyot Yongcharoenchai and Orawin…
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Drugs seized in Phuket revealed to be “normal” crystal meth
PHUKET: Reports that a “new kind” of methamphetamine was recovered in a Phuket drug bust last week were false, according to arresting officers in Thalang. Thalang Police Inspector Pisit Chunpet on July 7 confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that the suspected “new drug” was “simply” ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) with unusually large crystals.The announcement of the possibility of a new…
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Krabi FC down Phuket FC, 1-0
PHUKET: A single goal by Krabi FC captain Thaweepong Jaranrup was enough to defeat Phuket FC at Surakul stadium in a wet-and-wild Phang Nga Bay derby played on Saturday night. By the time the Andaman Eagles started warming up at 5pm, Surakul’s waterlogged pitch had already been soaking in steady rain throughout much of the day. Despite being perched high…
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Ombudsman’s Office investigates Phuket sea gypsies’ land issue
PHUKET: Investigators from the Office of the Ombudsman were on the island last week to study a complaint by the sea gypsy community in Rawai, who fear eviction from the land they have called home for decades after a title deed for the land was issued to a private party. The investigators, led by Investigation Bureau 3 Director Tavin Inchamnong,…
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Phuket Opinion: Beach warnings drowned out, but there’s hope in the sky
PHUKET: A recent poll conducted by the Phuket Gazette reveals that readers are evenly divided on which of six possible approaches would be most effective to minimize the number of lives lost to drownings during the monsoon season every year. For details of the poll and its results, click here. As noted by many who commented in our readers’ forum,…
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7th Phuket OTOP Fair starts Tuesday
PHUKET: The 7th annual ‘One Tambon One Product’ (OTOP) Fair starts at Saphan Hin public park in Phuket Town on Tuesday. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha said yesterday that the event is just one of many nationwide to improve OTOP product standards and have producers reach more consumers. Total provincial revenue from OTOP sales, including those from SMEs and various souvenir…
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Phuket schoolboy, 15, dies in Thalang motorbike crash
PHUKET: Fifteen-year old Kajonkietsuksa School student Wanchai Saeksan died of severe head trauma when he lost control of his motorbike near the Phuket Heroines’ Monument last night. His body was claimed by relatives at 11am today. From an inspection of the accident scene, police suspect the boy may have fallen asleep while operating the Yamaha Fino, which apparently hit the…
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Thailand News: Alleged call center scam; ASEAN update; Govt seeks release of more than 80 Thais detained in Burma
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police crack call-centre scam, 15 arrested Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Police have arrested 15 foreigners in Bangkok, most of them from Europe, for allegedly running a call-center scam and duping several people into wiring more than 320 million baht into their accounts. Of the…
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Graft-busters probe plunder of Phuket forests
PHUKET: A team of National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) officers stopped in Phuket this week as part of a nationwide inspection tour aimed at putting an end to widespread encroachment on state forest reserves. Kajadpai Burutpat, president of an NACC subcommittee investigating forest encroachment nationwide, said after a meeting at Provincial Hall with Phuket Land Office and Forest Department officers that…
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Tonight, tonight: Phuket FC’s derby match with Krabi
PHUKET: A large crowd is expected at Surakul Stadium in Phuket this evening, when a resurgent Phuket side will be gunning for its third consecutive home win against higher-ranked southern rivals Krabi FC. Fans who want a guarantee of keeping dry for the match are advised to arrive at the stadium well ahead of the 6:30pm kickoff, as covered seating…
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