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 Property: Vikings wary; Phuket Fitness Fiesta; Cops slammed, loved; Phuket villas
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket property: Scandinavians scared Scandinavians are planning to sell their properties in Phuket ‘en masse’ after the political riots in Thailand badly shook their confidence, says Thanan Tanpaiboon, president of the Phuket Real Estate Association. “In the…
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Revered Phuket monk to turn 114
PHUKET: Hundreds of well-wishers are expected to help revered Phuket monk Luang Pu Supha celebrate his 114th birthday next month. The secret to the aged monk’s longevity is to “eat less, speak less and always speak the truth”. Last year the Gazette broke the story about Luang Pu Supha’s reputed age on September 4. For previous reports click here. Having…
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Goose torched near Phuket pizza joint
PHUKET: Diners at the popular P Pizza House restaurant in the Samkong area of Phuket Town got a fright recently when a man in an adjacent lot fired up a blowtorch and began searing the flesh of what appeared to be a strange new creature with enormous front claws. Closer inspection revealed that the animal was in fact a goose…
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Phuket Thailand Open volleyball dates confirmed
PHUKET: It has been confirmed that the Swatch FIVB Beach Volley World Tour will once again have a stop in Phuket, with this year’s Phuket Thailand Open to take place on the sands of Karon Beach from November 2 to 7.More teams competed in last year’s event than in any other tournament on the Beach Volley World Tour. This year,…
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Lucky numbers take root
An obscenely shaped tree at a police station in the northern province of Phayao has reportedly predicted the winning lottery numbers. The talented tamarind tree is in the yard of Phayao Muang Police Station. The tree has an approximately two-foot-long gash in its trunk with a fist-sized sparkling lump at one end. Villagers say the combination makes the tree look…
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Phuket musician in charity drive for son
PHUKET: Rino Mangon Vogt, 10, is a boy who knows he could die before the end of this year. Rino is suffering from a rare and congenital heart condition known as Ebstein’s Anomaly. Usually present at birth, this life threatening anomaly can show itself at any time, even into adulthood. The cause lies within one of Rino’s heart valves, which…
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Radio Thailand Phuket announces contest winner
PHUKET: Radio Thailand Phuket has announced a photograph by Sakorn Jarasbusarakam as winner of its Mothers’ Day Photo Contest. The contest, under the theme “The bond between mother and child”, was held in celebration of national Mothers’ Day on August 12, also the 78th birthday of HM Queen Sirikit. The winning entry shows a young mother blowing on a spoonful…
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Blackout in Chalong, Phuket tomorrow
PHUKET: The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), Phuket branch, has announced scheduled blackouts to carry out maintenance on high voltage power lines in Chalong from 9am to 4pm from tomorrow and on Thursday. Affected areas include: August 18: West side of Chao Fah West Road from the Wat Chalong area to and along Soi Ban Klang, and Soi Gloom Yang. August…
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FC Phuket clinch Division 2 South title
PHUKET: FC Phuket clinched the AIS Regional League Division 2 South title with a 2-1 win at Ranong FC on Saturday. Ranong FC went into the match with 34 points, fighting to keep their second place standing and a chance for the promotional playoff spot that goes with it, but like many second-place teams before them, they were no match…
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New building code affects Phuket hillside projects
PHUKET: Phuket Natural Resources and Environmental officer Natthaporn Jarunkiatkhajorn has confirmed that tighter controls on building on hillside land in Phuket came into force on July 31, some two months earlier than expected. “After we receive an official letter from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Policy and Planning Division in Bangkok, we will immediately send letters informing related…
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TAT announces Thai Travel Mart 2010
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has confirmed that the Thailand Travel Mart Plus Amazing Gateway to the Greater Mekong Sub-region will be held from September 8 to 10 at the IMPACT Convention Center in Muang Thong Thani. The Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+) is the country’s premier annual trade event designed to promote travel and tourism to Thailand…
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Phuket Opinion: ‘Terminal’ traffic ills can still be solved
PHUKET: Residents of Rassada Village 2 have good reason to complain about the lack of a public hearing before the construction of Phuket Bus Terminal 2 in their community. But now that the station has sat idle for seven months, it’s time for all stakeholders to sit down together and work out a solution acceptable to all sides. As long-term…
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Where’s Juthamas?; Cambodia’s complaint; floods; hot info
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Juthamas back in lions’ den PHUKET: The Nation reports this morning that the national anti-graft agency is likely to seek legal indictment of former Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Juthamas Siriwan in connection with a bribery…
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Phuket ‘Killer Brit’ suspect named
PHUKET: Chalong police have confirmed the identity of the prime suspect in the brutal stabbing death of American Muay Thai trainee Dashawn Longfellow in the early hours this morning. Case Officer Anukul Nookate confirmed to the Gazette that British Muay Thai fighter Lee Aldhouse, 28, is being sought for arrest in the murder of Mr Longfellow at his room at…
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Now you see him: Famed magician to open venue in Phuket
PHUKET: Joe Conrad, one of Asia’s best-known magicians, will be staging a regular magic show at his own venue in Patong come December. Billed as Asia’s Premier Magic Spectacular, the 90-minute show is being choreographed as family entertainment with initial prices set at 900 baht for adults and 600 baht for children. The show’s grand finale will feature a “disappearing”…
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American murdered in Phuket; Police hunt “killer Brit’
RAWAI: An American man was found stabbed to death in his hotel room near Ya Nui Beach and a search has been launched for the prime suspect, a British Muay Thai boxing student named, so far, only as “Mr Lee”. Chalong police received a report at 6am today that an American “tourist” had been murdered in his room at an…
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Phuket Rotary Club organizes relief for Pakistani flood victims
PHUKET: The Rotary Club of Patong Beach has launched a disaster relief drive to provide aid to some of the 14 million people in Pakistan displaced by devastating floods and in desperate need of water, food, shelter and sanitation. “As was the case with the Haiti earthquake relief, we’re working with the Canadian shelter box group, newly renamed ‘Disaster Aid…
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Phuket motorists warned over ‘red plate’ driving
PHUKET: Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) Chief Kanok Siripanichkorn has told the Gazette that people driving cars with red license plates have just one month to get regular “white plates” on their cars – or face the consequences. The warning for Phuket drivers follows Land Transport Department Director-General Chairat Sanguansue’s announcement of a “crackdown” on people illegally driving cars with…
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Dusit Group formally announces Phuket resort acquisition
PHUKET: Dusit International CEO Chanin Donavanik has issued the following statement regarding the group’s recent acquisition of the Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket resort: “Dusit International announces the acquisition of one of its most successful properties which it has managed for the past 23 years, and one of the best performing hotels in Phuket, Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket, previously owned by…
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Arrested Colombians got car in Phuket
PHUKET: A set of Phuket-issued car license plates was among seized evidence presented by police today during a Bangkok press conference to announce the arrest of a Colombian couple on burglary charges. Bangkok Metropolitan Police Commander Santhan Chayanont announced the arrest of Colombians Camilo Andres Albois Gonzalez, 27 Luzda Lee Taborda Ospena, 44. Presented as evidence was a red Honda…
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Phuket Town coastal community flooded by seawater
PHUKET: About 50 households in the Haad Saen Suk community in Phuket Town are calling for help from local authorities after their neighborhood flooded with seawater during the recent monthly high tide on Tuesday. Some 200 people live in the affected area, which is built on a 200-meter-long dirt road along a canal leading to the nearby coast. The recent…
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New Phuket bridge mars local village life
PHUKET: Residents living in Tah Chat Chai, at the northernmost tip of Phuket, have been hard hit by the roadworks and the construction of the new bridge off the island. Storm drains have been filled in by earthworks, causing their village to flood every time another rainy season deluge comes. The recent redirection of northbound traffic over Thepkrasattri Bridge has…
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Phuket woman held over theft of rental cars
PHUKET: A woman arrested Tuesday for allegedly stealing cars from car rental agencies in Phuket is likely part of a car theft ring, police say. Police requested that Ms Jintawan Jarassuwimon, a 43-year-old Patong resident, report to police on Tuesday following a complaint filed the day before by Ms Monsuang Srisopa. Ms Monsuang wrote that Ms Jintawan failed to return…
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Thai Navy reveals arrest record at Phuket base
PHUKET: Statistics announced by the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command for its fleet operations in the Andaman Sea during the first eight months of 2010 show a remarkably low number of arrests for smuggling and illegal fishing over the period. The figures were revealed during a meeting at the Marine Operations Coordination Center, chaired by Royal Navy Third Fleet…
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Phuket mother caught in drug run
PHUKET: Three children are spending Mother’s Day without their mom today after she was caught at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint trying to smuggle 2,000 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills onto the island by wrapping them in sanitary napkins. Phuket native Chamaiporn Khiewkaew, 30, with friend Chanjira Boonmark, also 30, riding pillion were stopped and searched by checkpoint police yesterday after the…
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Burmese man found torched in Phuket
PHUKET: Police yesterday recovered the body of a Burmese rubber tapper who had been murdered in the hills overlooking the famous Patong Beach. The upper half of his body had been set alight and his hands were tied behind his back. Wissanu Itsang, who owns a rubber plantation near where the body was found, reported the gruesome discovery to Kathu…
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Dusit Deal for Phuket; Thaksin trimmed; Phuket Fantasy flourishes; Shares soar
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Dusit Deal a plus for Phuket As reported in Phuket NEWS Hound yesterday, Dusit International has acquired the Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket for 2.6 billion baht. The seller was Laguna Resorts & Hotels, a local Phuket unit…
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Phuket keen to host 2015 World Weightlifting Championships
PHUKET: The Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWL) is considering proposing Phuket to host the World Weightlifting Championships in 2015. A TAWL delegation visited Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday morning to discuss the idea in a meeting chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Teerayut Eimtrakul. TAWL director Montol Chartsuwaan said Phuket was among three locations under consideration. The others are Pattaya and Hua…
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Phuket celebrates HM The Queen’s Birthday
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop on Monday presided over the opening of a project to plant 999 Yang Na trees at Rama IX Park as part of activities in honor of HM The Queen’s Birthday tomorrow. The event, which began at 9am, also included the release of 9,999 “effective micro-organism” (EM) balls into ponds at the park, also known as…
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Phuket tourism: bigger pic needed; Phuket yachts; Surf’s up
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Call to relax constraints on tourism Phuket could benefit substantially if Thailand were to think wider in the regulation of its vital tourism industry. The Thai tourism industry needs to relax its regulations and give more access…
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