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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MISSING CHILD: Girl, 14, vanishes from Phuket temple fair
PHUKET: The mother of a girl who went missing from the Chalong Temple Fair grounds in Phuket on Wednesday is asking the public for help in locating her. Sapsiri Narmsra, 29, reported her 14-year-old daughter La-ongda Narmsra missing to Chalong Police on Wednesday. Mrs Sapsiri, a resident of Ayudhya, said she arrived with her daughter and relatives on January 29…
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Phuket sea gypsies fear losing rights to ancestral burial ground
PHUKET: Phuket sea gypsy villagers at Laem Tukkae are living in fear that access to their ancestral burial ground will be closed permanently. The issue was raised directly today with Somchai Seanglai, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, who led a delegation of officers to the area to hear a variety of complaints from the villagers. The graveyard…
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Hot time in Old Phuket Town tonight
PHUKET: Tonight is the last night of the annual Phuket Old Town Festival, centered in Thalang and Phang Nga Roads and in Queen Sirikit Park in Phuket Town. Despite being held mid-week, this year’s event has been busier than ever with a wide range of staged entertainments, food and drink, and exhibitions focused on life in the olden days. The…
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Anchalee calls for all islanders to register as Phuket residents
PHUKET: Anchalee Vanich Thepabutr, Secretary-General to the Prime Minister, this morning urged all people living in Phuket to register as residents so that appropriate-size development budgets could be allocated for the number of people actually living on the island. The rapid pace of development in Phuket was a serious concern of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the Cabinet, and the…
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Thai lawyers urge action over refugees, human trafficking
PHUKET: The Lawyers’ Council of Thailand (LCT) today released a statement demanding the government to “tackle Rohingya trafficking organizations”. The statement comes after 68 Rohingya were arrested in Phuket last week, and 158 in Trang and Satun provinces last month. The status and location of the 226 Rohingya is currently unclear amid conflicting reports of transfers and possible human rights…
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Phuket yachting icon succumbs to road accident injuries
PHUKET: Tony Knight, a leading figure in Phuket yachting for more than a decade, died in Brisbane, Australia last night after succumbing to injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. “Tony had a motorcycle accident in Australia on Friday and seemed not too bad, but his condition deteriorated over the next few days as we believe his lung or spleen was…
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Phuket Old Town Festival starts today
PHUKET: The 12th-annual Phuket Old Town Festival kicks off at 7pm tonight, offering a wide range of performances, food and fun activities along Thalang Road and at Queen Sirikit Park. Coming less than a week after the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, one of the highlights of this year’s events is two objects related to reverence of the…
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Phuket committee agrees to set standard tuk-tuk fares
PHUKET: A maximum fare of 200 baht has been set for any tuk-tuk or taxi ride within Patong, a Phuket provincial committee confirmed today. The committee was tasked to address problems associated with tuk-tuk drivers overcharging customers. Members held a meeting at Provincial Hall today to reach a final agreement on the fares, which are now set to be standard…
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Mutilated body found in Phuket palm plantation
PHUKET: The body of a Burmese man was found on a Phuket palm plantation yesterday morning with a half-severed head and intestines spilling out. Thalang police were informed of the gruesome discovery at about 8am. The body lay in Palm Anchalee, just south of the Heroines’ Monument and adjacent to the offices of the Phuket Gazette, off Thepkrassatri Road. The…
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Sky-blue robotic cat invades temple
SUPHAN BURI: A Temple in Suphan Buri province has become a national sensation after an unusual character was spotted hiding in its wall paintings: the Japanese cartoon character Doraemon. Noticing Doraemon’s huge popularity with Thai schoolchildren, artist Rakkiat Lertjitsakun added the sky-blue robotic cat to murals at Wat Samp Pa Siew in Muang district. Now Doraemon and his schoolboy friend…
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Phuket Police: Drug war crippled by slow test results
PHUKET: Procedural problems in drug testing are crippling efforts by the Phuket Police to suppress narcotics use on the island, a provincial committee on drug suppression was told last week. At the first annual meeting of the committee, held at Phuket Provincial Hall, Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha said central government policy on drug issues was straightforward and progress easy to…
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Mick Tonkin funeral set for Wat Prathong, Phuket
PHUKET: The funeral for well-known Phuket resident Mick Tonkin is now scheduled for Tuesday, February 8, at Wat Prathong in Thalang. The ceremony will start at 12 noon and be followed by a wake at the Black Cat restaurant, one of Mick’s favorite places, in Cherng Talay. For directions to Wat Prathong, see Google Maps and enter the search term:…
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German dead in Phuket from penis injection
PHUKET: One German tourist is dead and another in hospital following apparent overdoses of the drug methadone, with one of the men allegedly injecting the drug into his penis. Chalong Police said the tourists, a gay couple in their mid-30s, arrived in Phuket on January 26 as part of a group tour and were staying at a five-star hotel in…
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Chinese New Year surge for Phuket tourism
PHUKET: Phuket is reaping the rewards of a huge surge in tourists for this year’s Chinese New Year. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects revenue generated over the festival period to top the eight-billion-baht mark nationwide, from both domestic and foreign markets. Reports from around the island point to occupancy rates hitting 90 percent in the three and four-star…
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Phuket’s 2011 Business Directory goes on sale today
PHUKET: The Gazette Guide for 2011 goes on sale this morning at vendors throughout Phuket and the Andaman region. With contact details of thousands of businesses classified into 142 different categories, the 368-page book is priced at just 50 baht. A list of our retailers in Phuket, Phang-nga, Khaolak, Krabi and Koh Samui is available here. Discounts are available on…
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Israelis offer Phuket tech and security support
PHUKET: The Israeli ambassador to Thailand was in Phuket yesterday and met Governor Tri Augkaradacha to offer assistance in airport security and water technology. Ambassador Itzhak Shoham told the governor that he would, on behalf of Israeli investors, like to offer support and knowledge of security systems to Airports of Thailand in their expansion of Phuket International Airport. Amb Shoham…
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TAT invites Phuket tourists, locals to join shrine tours
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office in Phuket Town is inviting residents and tourists to take part in special po thong bus tours of nine Chinese Shrines in Phuket. The cultural tours, conducted aboard 10-seat open-air buses known locally as po thong, will start from the TAT office on Thalang Road at 9am and 10am daily. Those wishing…
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Popular Phuket expat resident Mick Tonkin is dead
PHUKET: The well-known Phuket businessman and computer software entrepreneur Mick Tonkin has died suddenly in Bangkok. Mick collapsed as he arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport early on Wednesday evening for a business meeting. Efforts to revive him at the scene and later in hospital were unsuccessful. It is understood he suffered a massive heart attack. Born in south London at the…
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Vachira Phuket Hospital opens outpatient clinic
PHUKET: Vachira Phuket Hospital, Phuket’s main government hospital located in Phuket Town, has opened an off-site outpatient clinic to ease the workload at the hospital’s main facility. “Vachira Phuket Hospital 2 was set up to help reduce the number of patients at Vachira Phuket Hospital, which is now up to 2,000 a day,” Hospital Director Dr Jessada Chungpaibulpatana told the…
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Phuket to host Poolasia Expo and Conference
PHUKET: The Poolasia Expo and Conference, billed as the first swimming pool and spa trade show in tropical Asia, will be held at Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa from March 4 to 6. Event organizer Silkwaters Media is inviting swimming pool companies, contractors, spa suppliers, architects, developers, hotels, resorts, apartment owners and managers, hospitals, and private investors to participate.…
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Coconut shortage hurting Phuket retailers
PHUKET: Phuket grocers are struggling to keep coconut products on their shelves amid a nationwide shortage due to drought and an insect infestation in the heart of Thailand’s coconut country. Supermarket giants Tesco Lotus and Big C both told the Phuket Gazette that their orders for coconut milk – a main ingredient in many Thai foods, especially desserts – are…
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Phuket “heinous” crimes up, murders down in 2010
PHUKET: There were 40 premeditated murders reported in Phuket in 2010, down from 45 in 2009, according to crime statistics released by the Phuket Provincial Police. The figures compare reported crime in five categories, along with arrest rates, over the two years. The first category, heinous crimes, saw a 36% increase overall, with 72 cases in 2009 increasing to 98…
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Mystery body might be from Phi Phi: Phuket police
PHUKET: Police believe the body of the man found by a dive tour yesterday afternoon may have been blown across the bay from the popular tourist islands of Phi Phi or even Lanta. Chalong Police Duty Officer Tianchai Duangsuwan told the Phuket Gazette that the condition of the body indicated it had been in the water for several days. “We…
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Phuket mascot for Youth Games unveiled
PHUKET: The Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) Phuket office has unveiled its official mascot for the 28th Thailand Youth Games, to be hosted in Phuket from March 18-28 next year. SAT Phuket Office Director Wirat Patee told the Phuket Gazette that the mascot, which has yet to be named, was chosen on Monday. The mascot has a blue body, human…
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Phuket Rotary continues fire relief efforts
PHUKET: The Rotary Club of Patong Beach is continuing its drive to provide relief to about 120 people who lost their homes in the Patong fire last week. “The club has approved a 50,000-baht emergency fund and collected 6,300 baht from our own membership to help the people who lost their homes,” said Stan Bailey. “This money is being used…
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Rohingya refugees arrested on arrival in Phuket
PHUKET: A boatload of 70 Rohingya refugees landed at Rawai Beach at the southern end of Phuket early this morning, only to be rounded up and taken to Chalong Police Station. Duty Officer Boonlert Onklang of Chalong Police said he arrived at the beach with fellow officers at about 5:30am. Within 90 minutes, police had arrested 35 of the refugees,…
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FC Phuket Division 1 fixtures released
PHUKET: FC Phuket will start their 2011 Division 1 campaign with an away game against Suphanburi on February 12. The match will mark the beginning of the 17-game season, during which Phuket’s ‘Southern Sea Kirin’ (FC Phuket’s official name) will play every other team in the division only once. Playing their first season under Surachai Jirasirichote, FC Phuket will be…
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Phuket Poll: Police tourist shelter the last resort?
PHUKET: The Tourist Police (TP) are planning to build a temporary shelter for ‘down-on-their-luck’ foreign tourists. The new facility will be constructed at the TP’s regional headquarters on Yaowarat Road in Phuket Town. But is the shelter really a good idea? Have your say by voting in the latest Phuket Gazette readers’ poll.
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No fatalities as Phuket tour bus overturns
PHUKET: A tour bus carrying 17 Chinese tourists overturned last night after the driver allegedly lost control at the Tesco-Lotus “crossroads”, colliding with two other vehicles, and injuring seven people. Phuket City Police Duty Officer Teerawat Amnartcharoenying said the accident occurred around 8:30pm. At the scene, police found the overturned bus. Nearby was a sedan with a smashed front end…
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Phuket water woes in the spotlight
PHUKET: In response to a constant stream of complaints about water supply, Phuket Vice Governor Somkiat Sangkaosuttirak held a meeting last week to call for more long-term coordination among water authorities on the island. V/Gov Somkiat said that his office has received many complaints from Phuket residents about water supply problems and that many of them want the local tambon…
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