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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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...
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John Terry wants to come out
PHUKET: “Being captain is about coming out and facing up to it.” England and Chelsea captain John Terry is keen to open up and take it like a man regarding claims he abused Queens Park Ranger player Anton Ferdinand with racist remarks. The query here must be why, after Terry’s last controversy of allegedly having an affair with an England…
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Phuket Red Cross calls for blood donations to help Bangkok flood victims
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) is asking for increased donations for November as parts of Thailand experience the worst flooding in half a century. “Due to the floods in Bangkok, the National Blood Center had a shortage of blood at the beginning of the month. The center normally receives about 1,500 units of blood daily from donors, but…
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Bangkok floods boost Phuket short-term rentals
PHUKET: The hospitality and real estate sectors in Phuket are currently benefiting from one of Thailand’s worst floods in a century. A report released by professional services real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle stated that Bangkok’s housing market has been hit particularly hard by flooding with many major housing areas across the capital are now under water. This has resulted…
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Phuket’s BIS tourney a success
PHUKET: The British International School (BIS) held its10th annual international 7-a-side football tournament in perfect conditions on November 4 and 5. Over 700 players from 25 schools participated in the competition with all teams exhibiting good footballing skills and excellent sportsmanship. Schools, clubs and projects from all over East and South East Asia traveled from as close as Pa Khlok…
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Phuket’s surfing star on the crest of a wave
PHUKET: Local surfing starlet Annissa Tita Flynn is ready to take on the best of Asia in coming weeks as she heads off to Hong Kong and Malaysia for the Reef Cup and the final event of the new Asian Surfing Professional tour at Kuala Terengganu. The Asian tour has been formed not only to promote surfing but also to…
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Phuket’s All Stars bowled over at ACG opener
PHUKET: The eagerly anticipated opening of the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) was launched in thrilling style recently when the Phuket Cricket Group (PCG) “All Stars” took on the oldest cricket club in Asia, Singapore CC, at Thailand’s newest cricket facility. Heavy downpours the night before meant the new synthetic surface was still damp, making batting a treacherous task. Singapore won…
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Phuket Public Transport: The decision to have public buses is ours
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Land Transportation Office has responded admirably to criticism that it has obviously failed over the past 20 years to develop public bus transportation in this province. (See front page, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.) Office Chief Terayout Prasertphol says he has applied to his superiors in…
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Phuket’s “Buffalo Alley’: car overturns, bus damaged in vehicular bovicide
PHUKET: One car overturned, a bus was damaged and two buffaloes were killed on November 11 after a motorbike driver clipped one of the beasts as he drove past, spooking both animals and causing them to run into oncoming traffic. Kusoldharm Rescue Foundation workers received a report at about 12:30am that an accident involving three vehicles and two buffaloes had…
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Phuket expat, wife arrested for M16 assault rifle in car
PHUKET: Phuket police early this morning arrested a long-term expat and his wife after finding what they identified as an M16 automatic assault rifle with a loaded clip in the back of their car.Thung Thong Police Duty Officer Lt Col Chana Suttimard told the Phuket Gazette, “At 4am today, police arrested Ivan Vaclavik, 43, from Slovakia, and 32-year-old Phuket-native Suppasa…
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Phuket Prosecutor may appeal Fanelli sentence
PHUKET: The Phuket Attorney General’s Office is considering filing an appeal over the sentence of 10 years and three months imprisonment handed down to former US Marine Ronald Fanelli for the stabbing murder of bar hostess Wanphen Pienjai last year. Fanelli was formally handed down a sentence of 20 years imprisonment for murder and another six months in jail for…
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Phuket officials push for buses from airport to main beaches
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Land Transportation Office (PLTO) Chief Terayout Prasertphol has announced that his office will apply for Phuket to have two new bus routes operating from the airport: one to Rawai and another running through Patong to Kata-Karon. He expects bus services along the new routes to be in operation by February. “The next step is to apply to…
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Phuket Media Watch: Flood Roundup
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community More than 1,000 suicidal following flood crisis The NationPHUKET: More than 1,000 people whose lives have been disrupted by the floods in central Thailand are at risk of committing suicide, Disaster Mitigation Centre director Phanu Yaemsri said Friday. Of more than 1.3 million Thais affected by…
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Bangkok Flood “phishing’ scam sinks hooks into Phuket
PHUKET: A scam email appealing for users’ bank details under the guise of helping to make a flood relief donation of one million dollars for flood victims in Bangkok is finding its way into the in-boxes of many residents in Phuket and probably around the world.“Every disaster brings scammers, and the flooding in Thailand is no exception. We’ve seen several…
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Phuket Poll: How alcohol dependent is Phuket?
PHUKET: The floods in Bangkok and Central Thailand continue to wreak havoc with domestic production of beer and its distribution to Phuket. The disruptions have caused serious shortages, much to the bane of hoteliers, restaurateurs and bar owners across the island. The Phuket Gazette has received many reports of severely inflated prices, up to nearly double for one brand of…
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Phuket’s Patong to transform feces into fertilizer
PHUKET: Patong Municipality will apply for a 65-million-baht loan to build a treatment plant that will convert thousands of tonnes of Phuket’s fecal matter into fertilizer. The Patong Council yesterday carried the motion in favor of building the fertilizer factory, with a plan to profit from the horrendous waste. Residents and tourists in the resort town generate up to 10…
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Three more to be executed in China
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community China said to execute thousands annually Phuket Gazette PHUKET: It is unknown how many people are executed in China each year as the government withholds the information as a state secret. But according to an Amnesty International report, the figure is at least “thousands”. Three more…
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Phuket Airport ready for flood-redirected flights
PHUKET: Phuket International Airport (PIA) is ready to take on the role as the Airport Authority of Thailand (AoT) Emergency Operations Center if Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok succumbs to floods.“We held a meeting to discuss the possibility of PIA becoming the alternate [main] airport in case Suvarnabhumi Airport is unable to operate,” said an AoT Phuket spokesperson yesterday.“We are…
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Flood price rises no match for Phuket flower power on Loy Krathong
PHUKET: Floods in Bangkok and Central Thailand forcing the prices of some flowers to double in Phuket have not stopped people from splashing out for the Loy Krathong festival tonight. The krathong, lotus-shaped floats traditionally made of banana leaves, with a small offering of food, flowers, joss sticks and/or candles, are usually adorned with lotus and orchids. Prices of both…
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Phuket models call for votes in Thai Supermodel contest
PHUKET: Two young Phuket models are seeking votes in the Photogenic Model competition, part of the Thai Supermodel Contest 2011. Uraisri “Yim” Watrsang, 16, and Vanessa “Van” Herrmann, 20, have both made it to the final round of the contest to be broadcast on Channel 7. Miss Watrsang attended Phuket’s Plookpanya School before moving on to Srinagarindra, where she is…
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Phuket probe reveals 1,400 meth pills in man’s underpants
PHUKET: The arrests of two low-level Phuket drug users have led to the bust of their suspected methamphetamine dealer, who was allegedly caught with 1,400 ya bah (methamphetamine) stashed in his underwear. Narongrit Metula, Bualin Panachai and Seksan Sritham were presented at a press conference at Chalong Police Station yesterday. Tipped off by an undercover agent, a team of police…
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Phuket Live Wire – Google in English online all the time
PHUKET: How many times have you typed google.com in a browser’s address bar and ended up at google.co.th? Let me show you how to fix Google so it won’t do that any more – and at the same time, show you how to set up your favorite web browser so it brings up the pages you want, whenever you start…
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Phuket officials ordered to crack down on flood price gouging
PHUKET: Phuket Vice Governor Somkiat Sangkaosuttirak today ordered Phuket Provincial Commercial Affairs acting chief Jarus Phetpakdee to conduct price checks on consumer goods in Phuket and to crack down on any irregularities. At a meeting of top officials convened at Provincial Hall this morning expressly to tackle the issue, V/Gov Somkiat said, “We have received many complaints about the rising…
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Phuket food to be nominated for UNESCO gastronomical prize
PHUKET: Efforts are underway to collate recipes and historical information of local Baba (“Straits Chinese”) cuisine in order to have Phuket Town recognized by UNESCO as a City of Gastronomy. Dr Kosol Tang-Uthai, president of the Thai Peranakan Association, said that 65 local Baba chefs were involved in the process. “Phuket Baba food combines recipes from Royal Thai Cuisine, common…
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Phuket hotels offer “great escape’ deals for Bangkok flood evacuees
PHUKET: At least seven Phuket hotels and resorts have signed up for the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) campaign, offering discounted room rates to Bangkok flood evacuees. Bangornrat Shinaprayoon, director of the TAT office in Phuket, said Phuket was one destination that many people from Bangkok were fleeing to. “Many are staying in hotels in Phuket Town or returning to…
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Floods force Bangkok buses to Phuket to relocate to brewery
PHUKET: Rising flood waters in Bangkok have forced the Transport Company to relocate bus services to Phuket from the main southern bus terminal, Sai Tai Mai, to the Holland Beer Restaurant on Rama 2 Road in Bangkok’s Bang Khuntien District, Thonburi. “We had to close the southern bus terminal because all the roads around it were flooded,” said Transport Company…
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Phuket longtail fisherman watches helpless as nephew drowns
PHUKET: A longtail boat operator drowned near Phuket’s Ao Por Pier this morning as his uncle helplessly looked on. The drowned man’s uncle, “Rut”, described the series of events to family friend Suriya Dujpayak, but was too grief-stricken to speak to the press. Boonchuay Piewsoy, 35, developed cramps at about 7:30am while swimming out to his boat, which was anchored…
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Training tips for the Phuket Triathlon – fuel for your body
PHUKET: Completing a successful triathlon is not just about swimming, biking and running. You need to fuel your body with the right energy sources and ensure you are properly hydrated. Use the days before the race to load up on fuel. Carbohydrates deliver the most energy. Make a shift in your diet toward this kind of food. Good sources of…
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King’s College take Phuket rugby cup
PHUKET: As waters continue to inundate Bangkok and travel advisories assist with reduced visitor numbers to Phuket, it was a privilege to see the efforts made by a few rugby playing schools and organizations to travel and participate in the first Phuket Lomas International Youth Rugby Tournament hosted by Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) recently. King’s College from Bangkok…
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Phuket gets cooking for Bangkok flood victims
PHUKET: The cafeteria at Phuket Vocational College in Phuket Town has been dedicated to cooking at least 12,000 meals a day to be delivered to flood victims in Bangkok. “The Ministry of Interior has asked all provinces with the potential to help to provide assistance to flood victims in Bangkok,” said Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkhaosutthirak. “Phuket has been assigned…
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No “nipple gangs’ in Phuket: Police
PHUKET: Phuket police today were firm in the assertion that there are no “nipple gangs” at work in Phuket. The news follows a report by a Chinese daily newspaper saying that Singaporean men on holiday in Phuket had been drugged by knock-out drops smeared onto women’s breasts. Once drugged unconscious, the men were robbed, the report said. Other newspapers and…
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