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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Phuket Media Watch – Man confesses to setting elderly woman on fire
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Man confesses to setting elderly woman on fire in NYC elevator Phuket GazetteA 47-year-old man has confessed to killing an elderly woman by setting her on fire in a New York City elevator during the weekend, local media reported on Monday. Jerome Issac turned himself in…
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Swede found dead on superyacht in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Police do not suspect foul play in the death of a Swedish woman whose body was discovered yesterday in the cabin of a superyacht where she worked as a crew member. Devina Marie Lindgren, 21, was found dead aboard a private yacht moored off Patong Beach yesterday. The 90-meter yacht Lauren L, taking part in the Asia Region…
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Phuket Town hotel raises stink over fish factory smell
PHUKET: The Silver Hotel in Phuket Town has complained to the province that odor from a nearby seafood processing plant is costing them up to 400,000 baht monthly in lost revenue. Phuket Vice Governor Somkiat Sangkaosuttirak met with Silver Hotel Managing Director Monluck Tantipornsawat on Thursday to discuss the issue. The formal complaint followed an inspection of the nearby Phuket…
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Expert panel to lead Phuket tsunami memorial activities
PHUKET: A panel of experts led by Dr Smith Dharmasaroj, former head of the National Disaster Warning Center, will stage a public discussion on disaster management as part of the tsunami memorial services on December 26 this year. Dr Smith, also a former head of the Thai Meteorological Department, is renowned as the man who warned the Thai government to…
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Phuket Media Watch – Death toll nears 1,000 in the Philippines
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Death toll nears 1,000 after Tropical Storm Sendong hits the Philippines Phuket Gazette The death toll after Tropical Storm Sendong hit the southeastern Philippines over the weekend has surpassed 950, emergency officials said on Tuesday morning. Dozens more remain missing. Sendong made landfall over the northeastern…
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“Washi’ goes wishy-washy: no effect in Phuket
PHUKET: Tropical storm “Washi”, which killed nearly 1,000 people in the Philippines, will have virtually no effect on the weather here in Phuket, the Phuket Gazette has been told. However, residents of Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Trang and Satun provinces could experience unseasonable rainfall over the next two days. A forecaster at the Southern Meteorological Center…
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Don’t judge Thorpe… yet.
PHUKET: “It’s not a concern now. Maybe later, but now it’s too premature. I’m in training at the moment. I don’t look at where I come in the race.” Ian Thorpe, former Olympic and world swimming champion, said it was much too early to judge his recent comeback results in Italy. Thorpe finished 16th overall in the 100m freestyle and…
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Dispute between Phuket expats may lead to charges of extortion
PHUKET: Police yesterday arrested a restaurant owner in Phuket’s busy tourist town of Patong, on Phuket’s west coast, after he visited another Patong restaurant owner and threatened him if he didn’t “repay” 7 million baht. Lt Col Tammasan Boonsong told the Phuket Gazette today that he arrived at Orient Restaurant at 7pm last night with a squad of police officers…
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Chalong Marina ready in 2012
PHUKET: Work on the 70-million-baht Chalong Bay Marina project is now about 90% complete and should be finished early in the new year, officials say. Phuriphat Teerakulpisut, Chief of the Marine Department Region 5 office in Phuket Town, said opening of the 44-slip facility will improve the island’s ability to accommodate the growing number of yachts that port in Phuket…
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Update – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il dies of heart attack
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Korean leader Kim Jong-il dies of heart attack Phuket Gazette Kim Jong-il, the mysterious Communist leader who ruled North Korea for more than seventeen years, died of a massive heart attack on early Saturday morning, the government announced today. He was 69 or 70 years old.…
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MMA bar brawler Junie Browning: “not in Phuket’
PHUKET: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Junie Browning, who is wanted by Phuket Police for his role in two serious brawls, has contacted the Phuket Gazette with his detailed version of events. At the time of posting, the Gazette was seeking comments from people and institutions mentioned in Mr Browning’s version of events. In his email below, Mr Browning did…
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Yvon Van Eyersen cremated in Phuket
PHUKET: A small group of friends and Red Cross officials gathered at Wat Saen Suk on Wednesday for the somber cremation ceremony of long-time Phuket resident Yvon Van Eyersen of Belgium. Mr Van Eyersen passed away early Tuesday morning, immediately after staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital turned off his life support apparatus. The Belgian suffered a stroke early some time…
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Phuket Youth Sailing Club stars in King’s Cup dinghy events
PHUKET: A strong fleet of 34 Optimist and eight Lasers took part in the recent King’s Cup International Dinghy Regatta, with fifteen sailors from the Phuket Youth Sailing Club (PYSC) between the ages of seven and 15 who joined other sailors from Phuket, Phang Nga, Samui, Songkhla and Sattahip to take part in the three-day event. On day one, the…
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Phuket’s Flynn second on Asia Pro surf tour
PHUKET: Thirteen-year-old surfing star Annissa Flynn from Phuket closes her 2011 surfing season with top-ranking success. Phuket’s own super surfer has returned home after three weeks on the road to finish up the 2011 surfing season on a high. Having posted three wins and a second place at competitions held in Hong Kong and Malaysia, Annissa has finished second overall…
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Phuket Gazette breaking news – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il dead
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community North Korean leader Kim Jong-il dies during train ride Phuket Gazette The Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, died on early Saturday morning, state-run media announced today. He was 69 or 70 years old. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim died at…
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Phuket’s ‘labor shortage’ more imagined than real
PHUKET: Government assistance to help solve the chronic “labor shortage” in the island’s tourism industry is unlikely to have much impact this high season, given Phuket’s reputation as an expensive place to live. (See page 11, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full issue.) A scan of the comments in popular online forums…
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Facebook ‘predator’ arrested as Phuket mum pleas for help
PHUKET: Eleven days after her disappearance from a Phuket Town internet cafe, 12-year-old Phuket schoolgirl Samudchaya “Nong Pin” Yanpunya remains missing. Nong Pin’s mother Samruay Saenthaweesuk told the Phuket Gazette this morning she has yet to receive any leads regarding her daughter’s whereabouts and continues to fear she might have been abducted by someone she met online while using the…
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Phuket port expansion to get Cabinet push: Kittisakdi
PHUKET: Deputy Minister of Transport Kittisakdi Hathasongkorh yesterday vowed to support plans to expand Phuket’s Deep Sea Port, which have run aground over its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report. At a meeting at Phuket’s Deep Sea Port, Phuket Marine Office Chief Phuripat Theerakulpisut yesterday explained to Mr Kittisakdi that his office had been working for more than a year on…
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Phuket Media Watch – journalist killed; radioactive metal in Moscow
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Founder of political newspaper shot dead in Russia’s Dagestan Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A leading Russian journalist and the founder of a local political newspaper was killed by a gunman on late Thursday evening, officials said on Friday. Human rights organizations are calling for a full investigation.…
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Peacock delivers “pheasant surprise’ in Krabi
PHUKET: A rubber tapper in Krabi, Phuket’s sister province across Phang Nga Bay, got an unexpected surprise this week when he discovered a live peacock of a species thought to be extinct in the region. Jamrad Kuannakorn and his wife arrived at a rubber plantation in Khao Kram sub-district before dawn on Tuesday, starting work as usual, when they heard…
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Driver charged over death of pregnant Phuket resort worker
PHUKET: The driver of the six-wheeled truck that struck and killed 27-year-old resort worker Arayada Budsayakul on the Patong beach road last month has been charged with reckless driving causing death. Ms Arayada was four months pregnant when she died in the accident on November 8. Lt Pathapee Srichai of Patong Police yesterday told the Phuket Gazette that the driver,…
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Phuket Update: Krabi massacre mastermind caught in Phang Nga
PHUKET: Police in Phang Nga have arrested the mastermind behind the triple-homicide that took place outside a Krabi mosque on Sunday night. The suspect confessed to organizing the massacre. He said the attack was revenge for “insults” the targets had made about his brother after defeating him in a local election. Region 8 Police in Surat Thani identified the suspect…
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Phuket Media Watch – Six bombs defused in eastern Bangkok, man arrested
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Six bombs found and defused in eastern Bangkok Phuket Gazette / The NationThai police found and defused six home-made explosive devices at three separate locations in Bangkok, officials said. One suspect has been arrested. One explosive device was placed in front of a Bangkok Bank branch;…
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Phuket TB outbreak prompts call for “better migrant worker tracking’
PHUKET: An outbreak of tuberculosis in Phuket that has hospitalized nearly 60 Burmese workers has prompted the Phuket Immigration chief to call for a more integrated approach to tracking their growing numbers on the island. Phuket Immigration Superintendent Panuwat Ruamrak called for more comprehensive tracking of migrant workers during a fact-finding visit to Phuket by the House Committee on Labor…
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Phuket Media Watch – dengue outbreak; alcohol update; New York woman crushed by lift
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Dengue fever outbreak in western Indonesia kills 27 Phuket GazetteAn ongoing outbreak of dengue fever in western Indonesia has killed at least 27 people in the past two months, officials said on Thursday. Hundreds more have been affected. Health officials on Thursday confirmed that two more…
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Superyachts arrive for Phuket Rendezvous
PHUKET: Superyacht spotters in Phuket are in for treat this weekend as some of the finest luxury yachts in Asia ply Phuket’s west coast as part of the annual Asia Superyacht Rendezvous. The Rendezvous, now in its 11th year, is the longest-running superyacht event in Asia and boasts the largest gathering of superyachts in the region, explained Nina Larsson, Public…
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Tesco launches ‘green bag’ project in Phuket
PHUKET: Leading retail chain Tesco Lotus launched a pilot project at its new Thalang branch in Phuket yesterday with the aim of reducing plastic bag use nationwide. The project is intended to encourage customers at all its stores in Phuket to use fewer plastic bags in order to help preserve the island’s natural beauty for future generations. The project is…
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Man burns brother in a bizarre urine-provoked attack
PHUKET: An elderly Samut Prakan man allegedly doused his own cancer-stricken younger brother in gasoline before setting him on fire in a case of almost unbelievable savagery last week. Before launching the attack, Thawat Limyothin, 61, was apparently hit by drops of liquid that fell from the ceiling below a room in which his brother Kiatchai Limyothin, 50, was convalescing.…
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World Vision rolls out anti-polio campaign in Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket office of the World Vision Foundation in Thailand, operating under the Supanimit Foundation, yesterday stepped up its anti-polio campaign, in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) push to eradicate the disease.Supanimit Foundation workers, joined by Phuket Provincial Public Health Office officials, targeted Burmese communities in and around Phuket Town and elsewhere around Phuket.The anti-polio task force…
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Phuket businesses agree to minimum wage hike: survey
PHUKET: More than 70 per cent of business owners in Phuket agree to the minimum wage being raised to 300 baht per day, according to a recent survey by the Phuket Provincial Labor Office. The news was announced today at a high-level meeting of Phuket officials to discuss the rollout of the minimum wage hike. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha chaired…
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