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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Local aid raised for Southern temples
PHUKET CITY: The Seu See Khao (White Media for Peace) Club and Kanlayanamitr Club have been soliciting donations of food and money for Buddhist monks in the Deep South who are unable to collect food alms themselves due to fear of attacks by extremists.Food offerings were collected by 109 monks from Phuket who walked a path through Saphan Hin yesterday…
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Call for safety during Chinese New Year
PHUKET: Don’t sell or play with dangerous fireworks – and be careful with lit joss sticks during Chinese New Year, government officials have warned.Fire safety and other issues regarding the festivities that begin February 18 prompted a press conference led by Phuket Governor Vorapoj Rattasima. Also addressing the press were Aroon Kerdsom, head of the Phuket Provincial Office of Disaster…
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Sea gypsies protest over fishing rights
PHUKET CITY: Some 100 sea gypsies from Rawai on Wednesday petitioned Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit to help settle an ongoing, violent dispute over fishing rights near resorts.The complaint follows sea gypsy Pratan Charncheow suffering decompression sickness after having his oxygen supply hose cut while diving off Nui Beach on December 31.Pratan was fishing with five other sea gypsies, including Alim…
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Mission Hills to host PM’s golf meet
PHUKET: Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi will meet Thai Prime Minister Gen Surayud Chulanont for a round of golf at Mission Hills Golf course Sunday afternoon. The PMs will fly in separately Sunday morning and fly out the following day.Phuket Vice-Governor Tri Augkaradacha confirmed both PM’s itineraries, saying that PM Badawi will stay at JW Marriott Phuket…
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OrBorJor sets sights on education
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) will spend 160 million baht of its 340-million-baht budget for fiscal 2007 on education, OrBorJor President Anchlee Vanich-Thepabutr has announced.The dedication of nearly half the OrBorJor‘s annual budget follows seven schools transferring their administration organization from the central government to the OrBorJor by signing memorandums of understanding (MOUs).Improvements in educational standards in the…
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Ya bah addict gunned down after 4-hour standoff
PHUKET CITY: A four-hour standoff between police and a drug-crazed pork vendor ended violently yesterday, with a Phuket City policeman sustaining two bullet wounds before returning fire and hitting the gunman three times.After being felled, the man tried to take his own life by shooting himself in the head – but his gun failed to fire.Phuket City Police Inspector Lt…
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Eight disaster-alert stations plundered
PHUKET: Thieves have stolen copper cable from lightning rods at eight of the island’s 11 emergency radio network repeater stations, forcing the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) to spend some 2.7 million baht on replacement and repairs.News of the vandalism was reported by OrBorJor Vice-President Suthin Uthaithamrong at the January 30 meeting of provincial office chiefs at the Thavorn Grand…
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Man killed by lover in drunken ‘accident’
RASSADA: Banya Wosongkram, 20, a young laborer from Khon Kaen, died after being stabbed by his lover during a drinking session at a worker’s camp near the bridge to Koh Sireh on January 31.The incident occurred while K. Banya was drinking with two friends and his lover Siam Raisanguan, 32, a married woman from Kalasin province.Lt Col Ampolwat Saengreuang, Inspector at…
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Nine youths in glue-fueled stabbing frenzy
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Police have arrested five of nine youths wanted for the savage murder of Keittirat Longnawa, a 31-year-old transsexual and glue addict who was beaten and had his throat slashed in Rassada on January 31.Police are still searching for four more suspects in the case. All nine suspects, including two girls, ranged in age from 14 to…
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Thai youth: Clever, constructive… copulating
PHUKET CITY: Valentine’s Day is traditionally a time when love is in the air, but according to officials at Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), young love is too often finding its way under the sheets.PPHO Chief Dr Wanchai Satthayawuthipong said that as Valentine’s Day is a time of high risk for youths losing their virginity and contracting STDs, his office…
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Men cleared of gold shop robbery
PHUKET CITY: The two suspects wanted for the January 27 robbery of the Thongroj gold shop in Dowroong Villa, on Chao Fa East Rd, have been cleared by police after they turned themselves in to proclaim their innocence.Police on January 30 released sketches of the two men as they had visited the gold shop earlier in the week.Pol Maj Sompong…
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Surayud, Badawi to play a round in Phuket
PHUKET: Prime Minister Gen Surayud Chulanont and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi are scheduled to meet in Phuket on February 11 to play a round of golf and stay one night, before heading to Bangkok the following day.The stately visit was announced by Phuket Vice-Governor Tri Augkaradacha at a meeting yesterday at Phuket Provincial Hall.Citing a draft…
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Call for security boost at Johnnie Walker Classic
PHUKET CITY: Ministry of Tourism and Sports Permanent Secretary Sakthip Krairiksh has called for increased security at the Johnnie Walker Golf Classic, to be played at Blue Canyon Golf Club March 1 to 4.The call was made at a meeting with representatives of major sponsor Diageo Moet Hennessy (Thailand) on February 2 and senior provincial government figures, including Phuket Vice-Governor…
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New District Chief tackles Thalang traffic
THALANG: Newly-appointed Thalang District Chief Samart Waradisai plans to request a budget to build a tunnel and more dedicated U-turns in order to improve traffic flow and safety on Thepkrasattri Rd.Thalang District Office, working with the Phuket Provincial Highways Office (PPHO) and Thalang Police, has already taken steps to improve traffic flow at Heroines’ Monument.During peak hours, from 7 am…
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Phuket investors implicated in human trafficking bust
MAE HONG SON (The Nation): Twenty long-neck Karen women (Paduang) arrested while crossing the Thai-Burmese border on Wednesday night allegedly were to be sold to a group of Phuket investors for 10 million baht, police said on Thursday.Mae Hong Son Provincial Governor Direk Konkleeb urged officers to extend the investigation to arrest those behind the alleged human trafficking.One of the…
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Southern police reinforcements still on hold
PHUKET: Provincial Police are still waiting on reinforcements from the Deep South despite the request already having been approved by Royal Thai Police Headquarters in Bangkok, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Decha Budnampetch has told the Gazette.Gen Decha said that last year he requested 150 police officers to be sent from Police Region 9, which comprises Songkhla, Satun, Yala,…
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Heartthrob DJ shot through the heart
PHUKET CITY: Sombat Aremsamkok, 25, a popular DJ renowned for his good looks, died after being shot in the heart at point blank range at 4:30 am January 26.Pol Lt Sathit Noovicht of Phuket City Police Station said that K. Sombat was shot in the back at Takrai restaurant, where he worked as a DJ, in Phun Pol Night Plaza.The…
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B300,000 reward offered for armed robber
PHUKET: A 300,000-baht reward is on offer for information leading to the arrest of a brazen bandit who made off with gold jewelry worth more than one million baht in a daylight robbery on Saturday.Officers report they have been following tips called in by a woman claiming to be the robber’s girlfriend, scouring the areas where she said he has…
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Barami 8 squatters pull up stakes
KALIM: Squatters living on government land on Soi Phra Barami 8 have slowly begun moving out, fearing court-ordered fines and possible arrest if they continue to stay in the area.The move comes about eight months after they received the first eviction notices.Poonsak Naksena, Chief Administrative Assistant of Patong Municipality, told the Gazette that the squatters in the first three homes…
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Phuket Immigration exempt from “smile and wai’ training
PHUKET: Immigration officers at Phuket International Airport are not required to undergo the “smile and wai” training that their counterparts at Suvarnbhumi Airport have been ordered to complete, because they have been doing it for a year already, says Pol Col Surasak Atthapanyawanich, Superintendent at Phuket Airport Immigration Office.Thailand Immigration Bureau Commander Pol Lt Gen Suwat Tumrongsiskul ordered the 1,200…
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Tourist Police nab Phang Nga murder suspect
PHUKET: Tourist Police have 23-year-old Wanasart “Bank” Jeensrikong, for his role in the June 28, 2003 murder of Sarawuth Yamying in Phang Nga’s Takuatung District.Following a tip-off, Wanasart was arrested on Thursday after he was found working as a chef at a hotel in Patong. Plainclothes police arrested the suspect at the hotel, which they declined to name.Wanasart had confessed…
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Nai Harn curve claims two lives
CHALONG: Two men, both 20, died in a motorbike accident when the driver overshot Ku Bua curve on Saiyuan Rd around 7:30 am yesterday.Pol Lt Col Sanguan Muangtam at Chalong Police Station said that the two men, one from Nakhon Sri Thammarat and the other from Trang, were friends who had come to Phuket to work.“The men were on their…
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Members only
RAWAI, PHUKET: Outraged residents of Village 2 are demanding the immediate removal of numerous Sivaleung (Shiva’s member, or lingam) statues that decorate a newly-built spa, claiming that the phalluses will embarrass tourists and other passers-by. On January 20 Aroon Solos, President of the Rawai Tambon Administration Organization, paid a visit to the Suppaya Spa (Suppaya means “Assets of the Supreme…
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Hotels get crash course in disease control
PATONG: Dr Wiwat Sitamanod of the Phuket Provincial Health Office on Wednesday said that the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is investigating claims that six tourists contracted Legionnaire’s disease while on holiday in Patong.“The PPHO received a fax from a foreign embassy on January 9 about some of their nationals who were diagnosed as having Legionnaire’s disease after being on…
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Body found floating off Koh Bon
KOH BON: The body of an unidentified young man was found floating in the sea off Koh Bon yesterday afternoon. Police believe the victim was a Burmese fisherman.Pol Lt Col Chana Sutthimas, an Inspector at Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that the discovery was made about 2 pm by a tourist, who then notified the Phuket Tourist Rescue Center…
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Local telephone book has arrived
PHUKET: The 2007 edition of the Gazette Guide, Phuket’s English-language yellow pages, has arrived and guestroom copies are today being delivered to the major four- and five-star hotels and resorts. The book goes on sale to the general public at noon on Thursday, February 1. The price of the directory is 140 baht. A full list of retailers in Phuket,…
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A really dumbo idea
PHITSANULOKE: A drunk was left with critical head injuries after being slammed into a tree by an elephant he was teasing. The unfortunate event transpired on the morning of January 17. A crowd of curious villagers had gathered near the entrance to Wat Muang Hawm (“Temple of the Fragrant Mango”) in Tambon Kaengsopha, Wangthong District, to see an elephant that…
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Brown nectar of the gods
PHRAE: Scores of villagers in Phrae were given a gut-wrenching shock when a “holy” spring they had prayed to and drunk from turned out to be the result of faulty plumbing rather than a gift from the gods. The font was discovered on January 4 by Anong Kwanphetch, 52, in the middle of her lawn in Tambon Mae Jua, Denchai…
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Hotels still refuse to pay rooms tax
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr has again threatened legal action against hotels that refuse to pay the controversial 1% rooms tax.K. Anchalee said that the OrBorJor this year aims to collect 60 million baht in rooms tax, up from a little over 41 million during the fiscal year from October 1, 2005 to September 30, 2006.However, she said that…
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Teenager arrested for brutal murder
KATHU: Tung Tong Police have arrested a 17-year-old man for the brutal stabbing murder of 40-year-old Nongying “Sao” Sengton in her home near Tung Tong Market in the early hours of November 27.Pol Lt Col Witoon Kongsudjai, Deputy Superintendent of Tung Tong Police Station, said the arrest was made on January 16 at the youth’s home in Phang Nga’s Thapput…
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