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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Nice one: FC Phuket sign French goalie Matijas
PHUKET: FC Phuket have signed goalkeeper Jonathan Matijas from France and have their eyes on other foreign players, the team has announced. FC Phuket General Manager Ahsin Arammethapongsa this morning confirmed the club has signed an agreement with Matijas, a tall 21-year-old from Nice who comes from Amiens SC in the French Ligue 2. Matijas will join Phuket at the…
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Phuket Tourist Police volunteers branch out
PHUKET: Phuket’s newest Tourist Police Volunteer Center opened at Chalong Circle this week and is already helping foreigners in need in the south of the island. Within hours of opening their doors on Monday, officers at the center were called on to assist a Russian couple whose rented motorbike was involved in a minor accident at the roundabout. The motorbike…
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McEnroe on Murray
PHUKET: “Murray has now put himself in a very good position, once again. He had to step it up against a more experienced player and he did just that and showed signs that he could go all the way – he was brilliant at times.” Former Wimbledon champion and a true legend of the sport, John McEnroe remarking on the…
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Strong winds ground pilots at Phuket Fun Fly
PHUKET: Paragliding enthusiasts assembled in Rawai for Phuket Fun Fly 2011 found the wind too strong this morning for pilots to safely get off the ground, but expect flying conditions to improve over the weekend. “We still cannot glide right now because the wind is too strong. It is too dangerous,” said Sarayut Chinpongsatorn of the Thai National Paragliding Team.…
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FC Phuket braces for Songkhla stampede
PHUKET: League Division One’s southern derby is sure to bring herds of fans to Surakul Stadium tomorrow, when a resurgent FC Phuket aim to tame the “Fighting Bulls” of Songkhla FC. In addition to those travelling with the team, massive support is expected at the game from a huge population of Phuket residents who hail from Songkhla. The fixture tomorrow…
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Phuket rubber tapper killed by hoe
PHUKET: Phuket Police are questioning the girlfriend of a rubber tapper found bludgeoned to death in the hills behind Layan Beach earlier today. Thalang Police responded to a report of a murder in Cherng Talay Village 6 at 9:20am. At the scene, inside a small hillside shack, they found the body of a 49-year-old man thus far identified only as…
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Phuket caught in nationwide alcohol ban this weekend
PHUKET: The sale of alcohol will be banned throughout Phuket this weekend ahead of the polls opening for the absentee and early voting on Sunday, Phuket Police Commander Pekad Tantipong has confirmed to the Phuket Gazette. “The sale of alcohol will be prohibited from 6pm on June 25 [Saturday night] through to midnight on June 26 [Sunday night],” Maj Gen…
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Police net thief in B100mn Phuket tuna factory haul
PHUKET: Phuket City Police have arrested a man they believe is part of a gang which stole equipment with a reported value of almost 100 million baht from a tuna cold storage facility in Rassada. The management of the Siam Tuna company informed police that the company’s new facility had been broken into repeatedly and equipment worth almost 100 million…
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Swiss son finds mom’s suicide note
PHUKET: A son of 61-year-old Swiss woman Ursula Balzan, whose body was found floating off Phuket’s east coast last week, has confirmed the handwriting in a suicide note as that of his mother, say police. Roman Balzan, 36, one of Mrs Balzan’s two sons, flew to Phuket from Switzerland last Sunday, Phuket City Police duty inspector Sien Keawthong told the…
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Wichit to open first ‘community dialysis center’ in Phuket
PHUKET: The first kidney dialysis center in Phuket to be run by a local administrative body is 80 per cent complete, the Mayor of Wichit has announced. Work on the five-million-baht Wichit Kidney Dialysis Center, located at the Laem Son Public Health Center on Pattana Thongthin Road, began about five months ago, he said. The center will offer dialysis for…
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MCC to play in Phuket
PHUKET: The prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) announced today that the first match of their Thailand cricket tour will be played at the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) in Phuket. According to information received by the Phuket Gazette, “The [ACG] has been designated the venue for the first game of their [MCC] Thailand tour in February of 2012.” The news comes…
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More bluebottles wash ashore in Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket coastline is still not yet clear of Portuguese man o’ war “jellyfish”, with the latest sighting by a sharp-eyed beachcomber at Patong Beach at dusk yesterday. Professional photographer Dan Hartwright was walking along the beach with his young son on his back when he noted the characteristic air bladder of one of the creatures washed up on…
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Tuk-tuks, ladyboys, sex – no subject too taboo for Phuket Punchline Comedy tonight
PHUKET: “Tonight, tonight: Comedy in Patong, you come, you see, you laugh long time!” If the Phuket Punchline Comedy Club had an announcer roaming the streets of Patong then that’s what they might say. No such luck, so we’ll do it for them. Tonight is the next installment of the Comedy Club at the Holiday Inn Resort in Patong. And…
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Strategic Airlines gets stranded Phuket Aussies home
PHUKET: Australian carrier Strategic Airlines have announced that most of its passengers from Melbourne and Brisbane who were stranded in Phuket for the past week have been flown home. Following a week-long series of flight disruptions, cancellations and delays, the airline’s efforts to fly the growing group out of Phuket paid off. “As far as I know, there are no…
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Phuket father, daughter die in paraquat murder-suicide
PHUKET: A man killed his two-year-old daughter and took his own life with lethal doses of the herbicide paraquat last week, Phuket City Police have confirmed. A witness to the tragedy, 25-year-old Aekkachai “Champ” Suksai from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, told the Phuket Gazette he was making coconut milk at a shop near Koh Sireh Circle last Thursday when he saw…
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Phuket Lomas game for UK tour
PHUKET: TEN YOUNG rugby players left Phuket on June 18 for the trip of a lifetime. Pupils from Baan Sai Nam Yen School in association with the Asia Center Foundation and the Phuket Lomas rugby team are in the UK to play in the Manchester Touraid Rugby Festival (Lomas tour blog). An eight-team tournament will be played, and include the…
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Phuket Live Wire: True 3G dongles all the way
PHUKET: I dropped by the True office in Phuket Town and discovered a number of changes. If you want “3G” HSPA service in Phuket, here’s what you need to know. In Phuket, 3G service (more accurately, HSPA service) is only available from True. True is in the process of extending 3G service on the island. In spite of what you…
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Phuket Vagabonds develop RSA rugby scholarship
PHUKET: SOUTH African rugby club Kriel Roosters strengthened existing ties with Phuket by inking a deal to develop a scholarship program for promising youth players. The Kriel Roosters, based in Pretoria, have been regular participants at the Phuket International Rugby 10s tournament, winning in 2010 and reaching the finals of this years competition. Many teams remarked on the increase in…
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Phuket sleepwalker fights for life after two-storey fall
PHUKET: A mechanic is in hospital with severe head injuries after falling from the balcony of his second-storey apartment in Rassada last night. Police believe the man was walking in his sleep at the time. Lt Col Sien Keawthong of the Phuket City Police identified the man as Worrawut Chaleewan. Thought to be in his mid-30s, Mr Worrawut fell from…
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Phuket bluebottle scare: the coast is clear
PHUKET: The invasion of Portuguese man o’ war “jellyfish” at Phuket beaches over the weekend appears to have ended, but lifeguards are keeping a watchful eye on the situation in order to ensure the safety of swimmers and beachcombers. Vitanya Chuayuan, publicity officer of the Phuket Lifeguard Club, confirmed this morning that there have been no reports of the pseudo-jellies…
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Stranded Phuket tourists get strategic in face of flight delays
PHUKET: Passengers grounded by ongoing delays and cancellations by Strategic Airlines are upbeat despite little information from the airline. Following a forced landing in Kuala Lumpur last week, the airline canceled their immediate Brisbane-Phuket services and today delayed their Melbourne-Phuket flights. “About 300 [passengers] all up. They did fly one lot of people out to Melbourne, people with children or…
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Two gunned down in Phuket gangland “misunderstanding’
PHUKET: Phuket police today presented three men charged with the gangland-style slayings of two men in Patong early yesterday morning. Nat “Chit” Nakpetch, 31, from Kathu, Somnuek “Wae” Suwanthanoo and Poochit “Max” Pookham, both 29 and both from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, were presented to media at Patong Police Station today. All three men were charged with planning and carrying out…
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Russian found hanged in Phuket police cell
PHUKET: Phuket Police are investigating the apparent suicide of a Russian tourist while in a detention cell at Patong Police Station on Saturday night. Patong Police duty officer Pattapee Srichay confirmed the identity of the deceased as Evgeny Otrubyannikov, a 26-year-old Russian national. Mr Evgeny apparently took his life at about 10pm by using his shirt to hang himself by…
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FC Phuket score first away win against Thanayburi
PHUKET: Three wins in seven days has given new FC Phuket coach Sompong Wattana some breathing room after setting his stall out to not lose three on the trot when he joined the club just three weeks ago. A 1-0 win over Thanyaburi Rose Asia United FC in Saturday’s Toyota League Cup first round gave Phuket their first away victory…
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Westwood a bitter bridesmaid
PHUKET: “It’s amazing he’s only ever won three tournaments the amount of time he gets into contention.” Former world number one Lee Westwood offering a bitter swipe at the eternal efforts of Rory McIlroy’s to win a Major. For the record Rory is 22-years-old and now has a Major to his name. The magnanamous Mr Westwood is 38-years of age…
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40,000 voters in Phuket sign up to cast ballots for other provinces
PHUKET: Shedding a little more light on the size of Phuket’s “hidden population” is the fact that more than 40,000 people have registered for absentee ballots in the upcoming general election. According to information released earlier today by the Phuket Election Commission, a total of 40,680 people registered to vote in other provinces during the registration period that ended on…
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Portuguese Man o’ War invade Phuket
PHUKET: As if monsoon-season rip currents weren’t bad enough, the head of the island’s lifeguard association is warning the public of a new threat lurking in the Phuket surf: the dreaded bluebottle “jellyfish”. Vitanya Chuayuan, publicity officer of the Phuket Lifeguard Club, said two of the pseudo-jellies were spotted at Nai Thon Beach on Wednesday. Over the weekend there were…
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US Open a father’s day gift from McIlroy
PHUKET: NORTHERN Irish golfer Rory McIlroy won the US Open in stunning fashion early this morning, breaking 12 records in the process. The 22-year-old from the small town of Hollywood, County Down, entered the record books as the youngest player to win the title since Bobby Jones in 1923. But McIlroy etched his name in history in more ways than…
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Mystery donor gives B1mn for Phuket’s first cricket ground
PHUKET: An anonymous benefactor has stepped up to donate one million baht to the development of the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG), Phuket’s first dedicated cricket ground and clubhouse. Construction of the eagerly anticipated ACG was finally given a green light on May 31. The main financier of the project, Alan Cooke MBE, bought a parcel of land in Thalang specifically…
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Phuket Public Transport: Residents need reality U-turn, but beware the tuk-tuks
PHUKET: After 19 months of delay, it’s time to break the median strip in front of Phuket Provincial Bus Terminal 2 and finally get the buses rolling from there. [See story, front page, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.] Despite its ill-advised location, the site is an improvement over that of…
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