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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Sponsored Answers to the most common questions about international health insurance
If you’ve been thinking of staying in Thailand long-term, you’ve probably already asked the big question, “Do I actually need international health insurance?” It’s a question that often comes up among expats, digital nomads, retirees, and even frequent travellers. Sure,...
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TAT tips increase in African visitors
PHUKET: Officials believe a tourism road-show to South Africa last month will lift the number of visitors to Phuket and the region by more than 20,000 based on the levels of interest. Anupharp Thirarath, Director of the local Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office, visited South Africa from July 13-20 with representatives from 40 tour companies based in Phuket, Phang…
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Not wanted, dead or alive
NO MAN’S LAND: A Thai man working at a casino in the Cambodian border town of Poipet died there after Cambodian officials refused to let his wife, Khun Wanna, take him back to Thailand to seek emergency medical treatment. The victim, 23-year-old Samruay Sukpanao, started working at the Princess Casino as a decorator 15 days before his untimely demise on…
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Wanted: a spy for the AMLO
PHUKET: Always wanted to work for the government but never been keen on a desk job? The Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) has the role for you – they are looking for spies. But wait, it gets better: no experience is necessary and no qualifications are required. All you have to do is apply by filling in the appropriate form at…
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Raffles to open a resort in Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: Singapore-based Raffles International Limited and its subsidiary Raffles International Hotels & Resorts (Thailand) Co, Ltd, have announced the signing of an agreement with Andaman Peninsula Company Ltd to develop a five-star luxury resort in Phuket. The Raffles Resort Phuket, to be built on the headland south of Kata Noi Beach, will include 79 luxury hotel rooms, 30 residential…
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Officers inspect Bunchoo land
PHUKET: Crime Suppression Division Deputy Superintendent Pol Lt Col Korawath Panprapa this morning inspected seven properties either owned by or involving former Chief of the Kathu District Land Office, Bunchoo Limraksasin. Accompanied by land officials and officers, Lt Col Korawath inspected two shophouses on Soi Baan Hua Kuan, in Kamala, one of which houses a Thai massage business. The shophouses…
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Gov boosts security after Jakarta blast
PHUKET: In response to yesterday’s bomb blast in Jakarta, where at least 14 have been killed and 149 injured, Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has ordered police to boost security at all hotels across the island. Governor Pongpayome today told the Gazette that he ordered a general alert last night, and today ordered police to pay particular attention to security…
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Water deal ends risk of rationing
PHUKET: The island’s immediate water problems appear to be over with the settlement in Bangkok yesterday of a row about who pays for the power for a water pump. At the meeting, the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) agreed on behalf of the Phuket Provincial Waterworks (PPW) to pay 70% of the cost of the electricity required to pump extra water…
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Teen gunned down in Chalong
CHALONG: A teenager was blasted at point-blank range by young hoodlums in Soi Thanuthep yesterday afternoon while on his way to visit a friend. Nattawuth Somanon, 17, from Kata, was riding his motorbike along the soi, with two friends on another motorbike at about 1:30 pm, when two young men rode past in the opposite direction, Pol Maj Jessada Sangsuree,…
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Thalang man survives gang attack
THALANG: A Thalang man barely survived a vicious beating following an attack by a local youth gang, after local residents found him lying unconscious and covered in blood on the roadside near the entrance to Layan Beach at about 2 am yesterday. The victim, 27-year-old Saroj Sae-khor, managed to flee the gang by motorcycle, but later crashed when he lost…
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Rain! But water row stops flow
PHUKET TOWN: Heavy rains have boosted levels in Bang Wad reservoir but a debate over the cost of an electric pump is delaying a large project designed to ease the island’s chronic water shortage. As a result, the rights and wrongs were being thrashed out at a meeting in Bangkok today. The dispute involves two island water bodies, the Phuket…
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Official’s land holdings worth B100 million
PHUKET: Investigators looking into Phuket’s land title scams have discovered that the former Chief of the Kathu District Land Office, Bunchoo Limraksasin, who was caught by police in Ranong on July 21, owns land worth more than 100 million baht. Checks have also revealed that Bunchoo’s former personal secretary has bank account balances in excess of 28 million baht. Pol…
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Governor is moving up
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi is being promoted to the important post of Director-General of the Department of Local Administration (DOLA) after two years running the province, a vice-governor has confirmed. After Gov Pongpayome came to Phuket in October 2000, he became one of five pioneer Governor CEOs in an experiment initiated by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In…
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Chalermlak to help evicted farmers
PHUKET: Democrat MP Chalermlak Kebsup says that she will closely examine the land scandal and help anyone who has been wrongly evicted from SorPorKor land. About 50 people who had been evicted were banding together to try to win their land back, she said on Saturday following her meeting with land rights activist Uthai Suksirisamphan. SorPorKor land was earmarked for…
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Young at risk on bikes: Governor
PHUKET TOWN: High school students were responsible for more of the 16,000-a-year traffic violations on Phuket’s roads than any other group, according to Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi. He was speaking at the Safety Traffic Control Center at Phuket Town Police Station after talking to senior traffic police on Friday. He urged schools to take a more serious look at the…
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B12m fakes seized in warehouse raid
PATONG: More than 12,000 fake items with a street value of 12 million baht were seized in a raid on a warehouse in Patong yesterday. The haul, one of the largest in Phuket so far, was the latest in a crackdown that now involves police checks on outlets in tourist areas almost every day. Among the imitation items of clothing…
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Traffic survey sparks crackdown
PHUKET TOWN: A two-month survey of moving violation charges has sparked an island-wide crackdown on people breaking traffic laws, a provincial government official announced at a meeting this morning. From June 1 to July 31, eight Phuket police stations tallied traffic law violations in their districts, with Kathu Police Station reporting the most offenders. During the period, 5,728 people were…
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TAT to develop Phang Nga eco-tourism
PHANG NGA: The local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will expand eco-tourism in Phang Nga with a trekking and river-boating tour from Khao Ya National Park to Ratchaprapa Dam in Khao Sok National Park. Napasorn Kakai, Deputy Director of the local TAT office, made the announcement on Tuesday after returning from a meeting in Kuraburi district, Phang…
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Phuket’s roads claim 15 more lives
PHUKET: Fifteen people were killed on Phuket’s roads between June 20 and July 20, according to the latest statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. Fourteen of the victims died while riding motorcycles and one was killed in a car crash, Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office reported. In the same period, 867 were hurt in…
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Education government’s greatest failure – Abhisit
PHUKET TOWN: The current government’s education policy is hindering the country’s development, says Democrat Party Deputy Leader Abhisit Vejjajiva. Following Saturday’s meeting of three top Democrat Party leaders at the Phuket Merlin Hotel, K. Abhisit told the Gazette that he had been assigned to discuss details of the party’s education policy, an issue the opposition Democrats intend to highlight in…
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Democrat leader slams land probe
PHUKET: In Phuket to attend a meeting of Democrat Party leaders at the Phuket Merlin Hotel on Saturday, Party Leader Banyat Banthadtan told the Gazette his visit was intended to show support and encouragement for Phuket residents targeted by the government in its ongoing investigation into land rights on the island. K. Banyat said he wanted to tell those under…
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“Illegal’ restaurant to be demolished
KALIM: A top police general today said a well-known restaurant just north of Patong occupies SorPorKor 4-01 land, and will have to be knocked down. The commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, Pol Lt Gen Chatt Kuldiloke was in Phuket to check on the land investigation work done by his officers, and visited the restaurant, the Suangsawan (Sunset Point Restaurant…
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Land probe: nine premises raided
PHUKET: Armed with warrants, officers from the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok and police from Phuket made early-morning raids on nine premises in Phuket this morning. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette that the premises searched belonged to people suspected of being involved with fugitive land official Thawatchai Anukul in falsifying land documents.…
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Police seize mystery powder
PHUKET TOWN: Following a tip-off, police raided a house on Wichit Songkhram Rd yesterday and seized more than 200 tonnes of powdered mineral. Some 10 police officers from the Crime Suppression Division Region 5, led by Pol Col Itti Nantapruksa, Superintendent, and Pol Lt Col Karn Lekhawanich, Deputy Superintendent, raided 64/1-2 Wichit Songkhram Rd about 6:30 pm. Supanee Rojananont, Duty…
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Politics for all, says Purachai
PHUKET TOWN: Thailand’s voters had to be persuaded about the benefits of the political process locally and nationally, Deputy Prime Minister Purachai Piemsomboon said today. He was speaking to about 500 guests at a conference at The Metropole hotel in Phuket Town, with the topic Local Elections and Phuket’s Future. All people, especially the young, needed to be educated about…
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Dates set for Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: This year’s Phuket Vegetarian Festival is scheduled to take place from September 25 to October 5, with the Speaker of the Thai Parliament, Uthai Pimjaichon, presiding over events. Officials have issued a warning that last year’s crackdown on fireworks and illegal weapons will be repeated, along with checks on health standards and sanitation at roadside food stalls. Details of…
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SorPorKor probe is unjust – farmers
PHUKET TOWN: Irritated and scared by the ongoing land title investigation, some 200 farmers holding SorPorKor 4-01 land papers assembled at the Phuket Provincial Hall this morning after hearing a rumor that Deputy Minister of Agriculture Newin Chidchob would be there. Prayad Poombua, 59, who farms eight rai of SorPorKor land in Chalong, told the Gazette that he and the…
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Visa hikes “no threat to tourism’
PHUKET TOWN: The tourism industry will be able to absorb increased visa rates and still lift visitor numbers, according to spokespeople for tour operators and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Napasorn Kakai, Deputy Director of the local TAT, told the Gazette that any negative effects would be short-term and would end once tour operators absorbed the cost in their…
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Talks on new bus terminal
PHUKET TOWN: The cramped and dingy inter-provincial bus terminal on Phang Nga Rd is likely to make way soon for a more modern, spacious station in a different location. Provinical Transportation Office (PPTO) Chief Prasit Amarapal told the Gazette today that alternatives were being considered with interested parties scheduled to meet Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit within weeks to discuss the change.…
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Phuket prepares to be ICT city
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi today presided over a seminar to prepare provincial administrators for the island’s imminent transformation into Thailand’s first high-tech hub, under the Information Technology and Communications (ICT) Ministry’s “ICT City Project”. The seminar, organized by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) and held at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, was attended by more than…
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May I take your bags, sir?
PATHUM THANI: The Phuket tourism industry, long hampered by the difficulty of finding English-speaking staff, will be glad to know that help is now on the way – straight from the slammer. Inmates at a prison in Pathum Thani are now being offered three-month English language courses to help them prepare for life on the outside, said a senior official…
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