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.
-
Sponsored Moving with family? Here’s how to cut health costs in Thailand
Relocating to Thailand with your family brings exciting new opportunities, but it also comes with the challenge of managing healthcare costs in a new system. Thailand has both public and private healthcare options, each offering different prices and quality of...
-
Norwegian man confesses to ‘accidentally killing’ Phuket girlfriend
PHUKET: The Norwegian man arrested last night after the gruesome remains of a human body were found in his Phuket home has confessed to “accidentally killing” Rungnapa Suktong, his girlfriend of nine years. Stein Havard Dokset, a 50-year-old retired car dealer from Oslo, Norway confessed to officers at Chalong Police Station today. “I did it, but it was an accident,”…
-
Phuket business: LED systems to dim costs
PHUKET: Businesses and private homes looking to reduce overheads and increase marketing and profit potential can benefit by tapping into the latest LED powered solutions. Osram-Traxon (Thailand), have partnered with SAPL-CAL Solutions and Boonsoong Technology Co Ltd to showcase its latest products at the Phuket Life and Drive Show, scheduled for March 28 to April 2 at the Homeworks complex…
-
Phuket business: Axiom legal financing segregated portfolio
PHUKET: A little while back my article about litigation funding in general was published and at the time I was kind of sitting on the fence about the asset class. One of my main hang-ups had been with the fact that generally the access to it that I had seen up to that point had been via structured notes, which…
-
Phuket Live Wire: An update on international download speeds in Phuket
PHUKET: Time for an update on how Phuket’s doing for real world, measured international internet speeds. I’m not talking about the advertised 10 megabits or 100 megabits-per-second lines that only exist in marketing drivel and a few internet service provider’s fantasies. I’m talking about speeds that you and I are measuring, in the wild, right here, every day. The short…
-
Phuket Gazette: Reform in Burma; PM denies Bantoon forced out; Parties face problem of drunk MPs
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Reform in Burma is irreversible : aide PHUKET (The Nation): Burmese President Thein Sein’s chief political adviser, Ko Ko Hlaing, says Burma’s political reform is “irreversible” because of the president’s strong will, the specific constitutional stipulation towards democracy, the Burmese people’s taste of new-found freedom, and…
-
Phuket Gazette: Syria confirms deaths; Soldiers kill smuggler; EU tightens sanctions
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Syrian gov’t confirms more than 3,800 killed during uprising PHUKET News Wires: More than 3,800 people have died as a result of violence during the ongoing uprising in Syria, according to figures the Syrian government has provided to the United Nations. Opposition activists claim the actual…
-
Phuket welcomes newborn elephant “Pang Saifon’
PHUKET: The owners of the Kinnari Elephant Camp in Rawai this morning announced the birth of a baby elephant at the camp. Pang Saifon, born at 1:49am, is the second elephant to be born at the camp. The newborn weighs 75 kilograms and is in perfect health, said Jirayu Nirunwiroj, a veterinarian from the Phuket Livestock Office’s Animal Health Development…
-
PHUKET TOURISM: Expert warns of traffic crisis for Phuket Airport
PHUKET: Capacity at Phuket International Airport is expected to reach critical levels this year with the thriving tourist destination projected to receive a staggering nine million visitors in 2012, according to a report released by leading hospitality consultancy C9 Hotelworks today. Bill Barnett, Managing Director of C9 Hotelworks and Phuket Gazette Property columnist, reports that the airport is officially capable…
-
Phuket Tourist Police Volunteers warn of bag snatchers
PHUKET: Following a spate of snatch thefts, the Phuket Tourist Police Foreign Volunteers today issued an advisory warning tourists to keep close watch on their valuables and be on the lookout for potential bag-snatchers. Bruce Anderson, Team Leader of the Phuket Tourist Police Foreign Volunteers, told the Phuket Gazette that there have been more bag snatchings reported by foreign tourists…
-
Swedish Gripen jet fighters in tests over Phuket
PHUKET: The Royal Thai Air Force is conducting high-speed aerial flyovers of Phuket Town today and tomorrow in order to test its radar installation at Khao Mai Thao Sip Song, the island’s highest point, in Chalong. Following reports by concerned residents in Phuket Town, the Phuket Gazette contacted the Phuket Air Traffic Control center run by Aerothai at Phuket International…
-
Phuket’s Soi Dog Foundation expands into Bangkok
PHUKET: Phuket’s renowned animal welfare charity Soi Dog Foundation (SDF) has joined forces with the Bangkok-based Soi Cats and Dogs organization (SCAD) to launch operations in the Thai capital. SCAD, a well established and highly regarded Thai foundation, will be integrated into SDF and Phimpakarn Petpichetchien appointed General Manager of the new operation, SDF’s founder John Dalley announced in press…
-
Separate shootings leave two dead in Phuket
PHUKET: Two people died in separate shootings in Phuket last night. The first incident was an ambush attack in front of the Thepkrasattri Municipal Market, just west of the Thalang Junction on Don Chom Tao Road. A 25-year-old man identified only as “Pisut” was driving a motorbike along Don Chom Tao Road towards the junction at about 9:15pm when he…
-
Jet-skis, rip-offs and noise pollution: Phuket’s honorary consuls go through the motions
PHUKET: Jet-ski scams, noise pollution in Patong and real estate rip-offs were among the issues raised by honorary consuls during their quarterly meeting with Phuket government officers yesterday. The meeting, held in the main meeting room of Phuket Provincial Hall, was chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa. Dr Sommai, the first-ever person to chair the meeting in English, was…
-
Two baby elephants seized in Phuket
PHUKET: Two baby elephants seized in Phuket today will be sent to an elephant reserve in the Northern Thailand province of Lampang. Meanwhile, investigators are continuing their probe into whether three elephant camps near Phuket’s Big Buddha image are encroaching on protected forest land. The transfer of the two baby male elephants – Popeye and Joey – follows officials from…
-
Phuket sports: Golf guru weekly round-up
PHUKET: THE media hype around the USPGA tour this week wasn’t enough to get Phil Mickelson into the winner’s circle two weeks in a row. The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California was the venue for the Northern Trust Open, formally known as the Los Angles Open, less than a block away from Sunset Boulevard. The Riviera C.C. is a…
-
Thanachart close in on Portrait FC
PHUKET: THE Adult Futsal League (AFL) season nine presented by Thanachart Bank entered week five at Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) last Thursday with a full compliment of games played in both divisions. Jitjongrut took on a struggling Honda in the evening’s first Premier Division fixture, well aware that the game was a good opportunity for them to climb…
-
Underpass plans start driving forward
Phuket: Highways Department officials last week presented to local residents their preferred option for a two-lane underpass at the Bang Khu Intersection, north of Phuket Town. The news received mixed reviews, as the initial proposal was to build a flyover at the busy junction, which handles nearly all traffic to and from the airport. Krabi Office of Highways Deputy Director…
-
Prompong pushes for 10bn baht rail link
PHUKET: Government spokesman Prompong Nopparit has voiced his support for a 10-billion-baht extension of train lines from Surat Thani to just north of Phuket. Currently, rail passengers and freight bound for Phuket can travel only as far south as Surat Thani. The extension would be about 160 kilometers long, stretching from Keereerat District in Surat Thani province to Baan Thanoon…
-
Phuket hotel barman dies in motorbike crash
PHUKET: A hotel barman died instantly last night when his motorbike slammed into a utility pole in Koh Kaew, north of Phuket Town. Phuket City Police were notified of the accident, opposite the Isuzu showroom on Thepkrasattri Road, at about 11:45pm. Phuket Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers rushed to the scene to find 40-year-old Phichit Masmalai lying face down on the…
-
Phuket Police round up Rohingya refugees in Nai Harn
PHUKET: Chalong Police have rounded up 90 starving Rohingya boat people who came ashore in the south of Phuket this morning, but 12 more remain unaccounted for. The Rohingya, all males, were on their way to Malaysia when they ran out of food and their wooden boat began to fall apart at sea, forcing them to come ashore at Nai…
-
Phuket Boat Lagoon to launch weekend market
PHUKET: Phuket Boat Lagoon will launch a new weekend market catering to boat owners on the weekend starting Saturday, March 10. The Weekend Boat Market is the brainchild of Boon Yongsakul, a member of the Phuket Boat Lagoon management team and a descendant of Phuket Boat Lagoon founder Kanit Yongsakul. The main concept of the market is a new shopping…
-
Phuket Opinion: Truth not optional in the media or in public relations
PHUKET: Since Phuket’s emergence as a tourist destination in the 1980s, the island has maintained a remarkable ability to attract foreign visitors, through good times and bad. Apart from the 2004 tsunami disaster, few events – locally, nationally or globally – have been able to buck the trend in any appreciable way. Despite a seemingly endless series of ‘tourism threatening’…
-
Australian, Swede die in accidents in Phuket
PHUKET: Two foreign tourists, one Australian and one Swedish national, died in separate accidents in Phuket last night. Matthias Andersson from Sweden died after falling three storeys at a resort in Karon, where he was staying with family members. Staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital said the apparent cause of death was a head injury sustained in the fall, which occurred…
-
Groundbreaking movement on Phuket Bus Terminal impasse
PHUKET: Construction workers this morning began work to remove the median strip in front of Phuket Bus Terminal 2 on Thepkrasattri Road in Rassada, raising hopes the long-dormant facility might go into operation soon. Workers were at the site at 8am, putting up warning signs to alert motorists of the work, which will close two lanes to traffic during work…
-
Another Phuket student dies in motorbike crash
PHUKET: A Phuket teenager returning from school was killed yesterday when he lost control of his motorbike and hit the back of a pickup truck parked by the side of the road in Srisoonthorn.Thalang Police were notified of the accident at 5:20pm. At the scene, on Srisoonthorn Road westbound in front of The Valley 2 residential estate, they found the…
-
Phuket Rotary Club rolls out high-tech devices for the disabled
PHUKET: The lives of nine disabled people from Phuket and Phang Nga took a turn for the better on Thursday when they took possession of high-tech wheelchair “pullers” donated by local and international chapters of Rotary International. The handover ceremony, at Queen Sirkit Park on Thalang Road, was presided over by Sanguan Kunaporn, head of the Rotary Club of Tongkah…
-
Phuket Gazette: Tourists go ape for Krabi bus stops
PHUKET: Tourists to Phuket’s neighboring Krabi Province are impressed by a new two million baht network of bus stops that feature a striking monkey design, the province’s transport chief says. Worawut Ma-in, an expert in logistics and acting chief of the Krabi Transport Office, says construction of the 13 stops has just been completed. The project was launched at the…
-
Bangers bring home the bacon to Phuket
PHUKET: They’re here! The ‘Bangers on Bikes’ Bangkok to Phuket charity bike riders crossed the Sarasin Bridge just after 11am and a Gazette photographer was on hand to witness their arrival on the island. After losing four riders to exhaustion by the end of day four, the group had recouped one determined pedalist for the home leg between Takuapa and…
-
Phuket sports: MCC deliver Phuket a cricket masterclass
PHUKET: Cricket’s bible, the Wisden Almanac, may not record the result of Marylebone Cricket Club’s (MCC) match against the Phuket Cricket Group (PCG) select XI, but February 16 will long live in the memory of those who were at the ACG that day.Despite arriving the previous night from the cold conditions in Old Blighty, the MCC team showed no signs…
-
Red light confusion ends in Phuket pickup sideswipe
PHUKET: A two-vehicle collision in Thalang last night was likely the result of one pickup braking for a red light, only to be slammed from behind by a second pickup whose driver expected him to run through it, Phuket Police said. Each of the vehicles had two passengers, none of whom were injured in the crash. Thalang Police were notified…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.