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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Phuket likely to get Administrative Court
PHUKET: The Thai Parliament yesterday approved draft legislation to establish Administrative Court regional branches in Phuket, Petchaburi and Nakhon Sawan, Matichon has reported. Attached to the bills was a remark that the Administrative Court and all related agencies should expedite processing of all funding and legal issues so that all three courts would be up and running within three years…
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Eighth suspect, school kid, arrested for Phuket Pla-wan attack
PHUKET: Police have arrested an eighth suspect wanted in connection with the stabbing of Vorasit “Pla-wan” Issara, the general manager of the Sri Panwa resort who was attacked by staff at the Rachada pub in Phuket Town earlier this month. Phuket City Police deputy superintendent Jamroon Plaiduang released the name of the suspect but was unsure of his age. However,…
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Phuket hit-and-run driver surrenders, victim still in hospital
PHUKET: The driver of a white sedan that struck a motorbike on Thepkrasattri Road then failed to stop has handed himself in to police, while the victim in the accident remains at Vachira Phuket Hosiptal recovering from serious injury. Motorbike rider Suriya Thathamlay was rushed to hospital by emergency workers after he was thrown to the ground when a car…
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Phuket Local Food Fair starts today
PHUKET: The Phuket Local Food Festival 2012 starts today at the central stage area at Saphan Hin Public Park in Phuket Town. The event, funded and organized by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO), runs through Sunday night with a wide variety of staged entertainment, games and shopping opportunities. Most of the staged entertainment will be by children in schools…
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Finnish tourists unharmed in Phuket bus fire
PHUKET: A group of Finnish tourists on a tour to Laem Phromthep had a sudden change of itinerary this morning when their Phuket tour bus burst into flames on a hilly stretch of road in Karon. The incident occurred at about 8:30am near to the entrance to Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket on Wiset Road, a curvy coastal road that…
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Phuket Police chasing ‘missing money’ from currency exchange haul
PHUKET: Phuket Police are still investigating where the remainder of the two million baht in foreign currencies has disappeared to from the robbery of a currency exchange booth in Karon in November. At a press conference at Chalong Police Station yesterday, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Chonasit Wattanavrangku said his officers were still investigating where most of the money had gone,…
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House fire leaves Phuket poor homeless
PHUKET: A young girl and her mother lost what few possession they owned to a house fire yesterday, leaving them without money for their monthly motorbike rent or for the girl’s school fees. Prapha Pongkunchorn, 52, and her daughter Mookrin Pongkunchorn, 16, had been living rent-free in the house, which had been converted from a garage and had no address,…
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Phuket fruit vendor died of spider bite: wife
PHUKET: A Phuket fruit vendor died yesterday from a severe allergic reaction to a spider bite, his pregnant wife believes.Mrs Piyanan Boonsri, 30, took her husband Wanchai Wonglakorn from their home in Mai Khao to Thalang Hospital on Sunday evening after he complained of soreness in his arm. Eight month’s pregnant, the young wife said her husband returned from work…
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Phuket Business: Now is the time to structure your financial investments
PHUKET: Now that 2012 is in full swing and no doubt many of the New Year’s resolutions have been thrown out of the window, it’s time to get a hold of the purse strings and have a set plan for the forthcoming year. I have already given my views on what I believe we can expect from the year ahead.…
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Phuket Live Wire: The best apps for iPad owners on the island
PHUKET: Continuing my series of articles answering questions that I hear most often… it seems like half the people I know have got an iPad recently. The question I’m hearing over and over: What apps should I put on my iPad? There’s no definitive answer because the iPad ecosystem changes faster than a Republican primary. At last count, you had…
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Myanmar Concert 2012 touted in Phuket
PHUKET: Many Burmese residents of Phuket are expected to head north to Phang Nga on Sunday for the first-ever Myanmar Concert 2012, part of the annual Phang Nga Red Cross Festival. Performers will include R Zar Ni, Zaw Paing, Wai Su Khine Thein, Yae Lay, Yae Bakar Win and Chan Chan. Posters publicizing the event have been put up at…
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Phuket Media Watch: British Airways resume flights; New Zealand plane crash
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community British Airways to resume flights to Libyan capital in May Phuket Gazette / News WiresPHUKET: British Airways plans to reinstate flights to the Libyan capital of Tripoli later this year, the airline announced yesterday. Flights were suspended in February 2011 as a result of the country’s civil…
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Phuket’s ‘Coconut Island’ gets new pier
PHUKET: The new 10-million-baht pier on Koh Maphrao in Phuket was officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Paiboon Upatising on Friday. The new concrete pier, 170 meters long and three meters wide, replaces a dilapidated wooden structure, making passage to the island safer and more convenient for residents and tourists.…
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Chinese New Year celebration in Phuket Town tonight
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) has organized a Chinese New Year celebration tonight at Sanam Chai to see in the Year of the Dragon. A special appearance at this free event will be the stunning “new style” acrobatic show from China’s Henan province starting at 7:35pm, followed by a fireworks display at 8:35pm After that will be musical…
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Fire breaks out at Phuket official’s residence
PHUKET: Phuket firefighters extinguished a fire at the Thalang District Office compound in the early hours of this morning. The fire was reported to Thalang Police at about 2:15am. Thepkrasattri Municipality firefighters took about half an hour to extinguish the blaze, which gutted a room on the second floor of a wooden home used as the residence of a government…
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Phuket ATM scams: Even professionals get caught out
Special Report: Patong Police report at least four people recently being ripped off by gangs scanning their ATM cards and stealing money from their accounts. The Phuket Gazette reports. PHUKET: Alan Robinson, 71, has been living in Phuket for 17 years. As he is a former vice-president of a Swiss bank’s national branch in Japan, one can only imagine his…
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Phuket Police nab exchange booth robbery duo
PHUKET: Chalong Police last night arrested two suspects for the armed robbery of a currency exchange booth in Phuket in late November, which has now been revealed as an “inside job”. The first suspect, 25-year-old Kriangsak ‘Jae’ Jintaphakul, was arrested at his home at the Chao Fa Village residential estate on Chao Fa East Road in Wichit at about 9:30pm…
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Phuket Media Watch: 7 adrift in wooden boat rescued after 7 days; fire claims 29 homes in Reno
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Seven Chinese rescued after a week adrift in wooden boat Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: Seven Chinese fishermen who went missing in the South China Sea last week have been rescued alive, state-run media reported on yesterday. They were said to be in good condition.…
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Phuket Business: Hotel leaders to confer at Thailand Tourism Forum
PHUKET: Thailand’s hotel leaders and international experts will discuss the state of the hospitality sector at the Thailand Tourism Forum (TTF) 2012, to be held on February 2 at the InterContinental Bangkok. Key event participants include Chanin Donavanik, chief executive officer of Dusit Hotels and Resorts, Dillip Rajakarier, CEO of the Minor Hotel Group, and Peter Henley, CEO and president…
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Phuket Projects: ‘Benefits’ at odds with people’s choice
PHUKET: The results of the most recent Phuket Gazette readers’ poll reveal that a clear majority want “airport bus” services to Phuket’s west coast resort towns as the tourism development project to move ahead above all others this year. [See page 11, current issue of the Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.] The results indicate that…
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Phuket’s Luangpor Daeng passes away, age 79
PHUKET: More than 1,000 people, including the Phuket Governor, attended a memorial service for Luangpor Daeng, the revered abbot of Mai Khao Temple since 1978. Originally from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Luangpor Daeng was ordained at Wat Khunapanangtun Temple in Phattalung in 1967. He was appointed abbot at Mai Khao Temple in 1978, serving as a teaching abbot there until his…
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Phuket tourism: China lifts travel warning
PHUKET: Good news for the Phuket tourism industry came yesterday when China removed its travel advisory for Thailand. Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul immediately expressed his appreciation for the move. Mr Surapong attributed China’s decision to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s recent participation in a New Year celebration at the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok, during which the issue was discussed…
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Tropical Phuket likely to be caught in center of next El Nino heat wave
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community 2011 ninth warmest year in recorded history, NASA says Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since at least 1880 [maybe earlier], according to NASA scientists on Thursday. Nine of the ten warmest years have occurred…
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Phuket’s Patong Immigration office to reopen
PHUKET: Phuket Immigration Office Superintendent Panuwat Ruamrak has confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that the Immigration Office in Patong will reopen next week. The news comes amid rumors that the Patong Immigration Office, which is located right next door to the Patong Tourist Police Volunteers office, had been closed permanently. “The Patong Immigration Office has not been shut down. It…
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Flirting with the Blues
PHUKET: ‘It’s like flirting with a girl. Perhaps she will resist you at first, but if you continue to ask her out, it always ends well. Never give up.” Zhu Jun describes negotiations with Chelsea to sign striker Didier Drogba for his side, Shanghai Shenhua. Drogba could be joining forces with former team-mate Nicolas Anelka as the Chinese club moves…
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“Safety boost’ at death bend not working: Village chief
PHUKET: The village headman of Baan Kho En has called for officials to install more safety features at the notorious “death bend” on Thepkrasattri Road where the small community resides in the north of Phuket. Somnuek Patee made his plea on Thursday at a high-powered meeting held to review the slew of safety measures put in place on the lethal…
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Phuket villagers protest land claim via dubious title deed
PHUKET: In the latest land dispute in Phuket, more than 100 residents of the Soi Kingkaew Community in Rassada have protested to the governor over alleged attempts by a private investor to get a Chanote land title deed for a 300-rai plot in the area. Led by 41-year-old Thongchai Kaewthong, the residents of Rassada Village 3 went to see Phuket…
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Officials warn of “fake monks’ targeting Phuket tourists
PHUKET: The ‘monk police’ of Phuket are warning everyone on the island of con men who are impersonating Buddhist monks and tricking locals and tourists into giving them money. Chatpawit Jinapong, Director of the Phuket branch of the National Office of Buddhism, which operates directly under the Prime Minister’s Office, spoke with the Phuket Gazette about these fraudulent “monks”. “High…
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Weird World News: Eye on Eastern Europe and Hitler’s lair for rent, the Bulgarian renegade referee and wacky scuba divers in Estonia
PHUKET: Eastern Europe caught the attention of Weird World News this week, with a fine display of odd-ball antics served up by Poland, Bulgaria and Estonia. Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair up for rent HITLER’S massive fortified base, The Wolfe’s Lair, has gone on the rental market in Poland. The site, where the Nazi leader spent most of World War II and…
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Phuket Sports: Patong lead the field
PHUKET: Patong CC top the Island Furniture cricket league after a comfortable win over Phuket’s youth development team, the Leopards, played at the ACG last Sunday. With all seven teams in the competition moving into the third round of matches, a victory and taking every available bonus point was a must for Patong while the Leopards were on the prowl…
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