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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Scuba Cat team rakes in marine debris off Phuket
PHUKET: Divers of all ages took the plunge Saturday and Sunday as part of dive tour operator Scuba Cat’s contribution to International Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday. A total of 31 divers volunteered their time dragging trash from the depths of the Andaman at Koh Racha Yai over the weekend. The team included Scuba Cat staff, repeat customers and 14…
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Phuket Gov farewell wish: Make Saphan Hin road a reality
PHUKET: Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop last night called for his successor to continue the fight to complete the Klong Koh Pee road project, which looks set to move forward following a new measure issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) specifically for Phuket. Governor Wichai made the comment during a speech at a farewell press party last night,…
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Phuket Town ‘Pink Bus’ project wins ‘innovation’ award
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization’s “Pink Bus” project providing reasonably-priced public transport for Phuket City residents has won a national award for “Local Innovation” from the Prime Minister’s Office. The award was one of 61 awarded to local administration offices by a new Prime Minister’s Office committee on decentralization of power to local administration organizations. A total of 1,003…
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Noisy Phuket teens survive shotgun blast
PHUKET: A teenage couple out joyriding and lighting off firecrackers last night sustained injuries from a shotgun blast that police think was intended as a warning shot. Phuket City Police received a 191 emergency report of the shooting just before midnight. Phuket City Police Superintendent Wanchai Ekpornpit led officials to the scene in front to the Rachada Pub, located along…
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‘India loves Phuket’, travel agents say
PHUKET: The Travel Agents’ Association of India (TAAI) expects at least a 100% increase in the number of Indian tourists coming to Phuket next year, TAAI President Rajinder Rai told the Gazette. Some 1,000 Indian travel agents attended a three-day TAAI conference organized by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The event, hosted by Phuket Fantasea in Kamala, ended yesterday. “Last…
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Phantom pickup: Lost soul lends lottery luck
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: A homeowner in Thung Song District is thanking a “phantom” emergency rescue vehicle for her luck in winning over 500,000 baht in the underground lottery. The bizarre tale began shortly after midnight on September 3. Pracha Ruamjai Foundation coordinator Akhom Phumiwetphong said that as rescue workers were relaxing at the station that night, one of their Isuzu…
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Phuket murder suspect still in UK jail: British Embassy
PHUKET: British Ambassador to Thailand Quinton Quayle this morning confirmed that fugitive murder suspect Lee Aldhouse is still in custody somewhere in the UK. British officials will work closely with their Thai counterparts in their efforts to have the kickboxer extradited to Phuket to face charges for the stabbing murder of American Dashawn Longfellow in Rawai last month, he said.…
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Phuket girl wins Quiksilver Thailand Surf Competition 2010
PHUKET: Indonesian Tipi “The Tiger” Jabrik took first place in the finals of the Men’s shortboard competition at the Quiksilver Thailand Surf Competition 2010 yesterday, while 12-year-old Phuket local Annissa Flynn used her knowledge of the “home surf” to take top honors in the women’s shortboard event. Seventy-seven surfers from 10 countries competed in the events, with total cash prizes…
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Phuket villagers ramp up tunnel protest
PHUKET: More than 100 villagers from Baan Mon community in Patong descended on Provincial Hall last week to hand a formal letter of complaint to the governor against the proposed Patong Tunnel project. The villagers vowed to fight any government effort to expropriate land needed for the project. Current scheduled rates for expropriation set by the Land Department would never…
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Fried chicken vendor is latest Phuket road fatality
PHUKET: A fried chicken vendor was killed instantly last night in Kathu when his motorbike was struck by another traveling at high speed. Thung Thong Police were notified of the accident at 8:10pm. Investigations Inspector Chaowalit Petch-sribia rushed to the scene at the entrance to Soi Boon-erb, a well-known traffic danger spot at the base of Patong Hill. Accompanied by…
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OPINION: Big stink at Phuket landmark
PHUKET: A meeting earlier this month about problems facing the central stage area at Saphan Hin, a Phuket landmark, ended with an unsurprising result. A new committee will be formed to deal with the issues involved. For readers who missed the Gazette‘s online report last week, the key issues are economic, although some stakeholders have donned the mantle of environmentalism…
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Burmese workers camp burns in Phuket
PHUKET: A Burmese workers’ camp in Phuket burned to the ground in just 20 minutes on Friday night, leading an unknown number of occupants to flee. The fire started around 9pm at the site in Chalong, which housed workers for a stone processing company belonging to a prominent Phuket family. Disaster Prevention and Mitigation staff from Tambon Chalong and Wichit…
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‘Toxins for tablets’ with Phuket Safe project
PHUKET: Island residents can now exchange hazardous household waste for medicine at 36 drugstores as part of a new project called “Phuket Safe”. Starting on Monday this week, 20 drug stores displayed stickers showing their participation in the project, which is a joint initiative between Phuket City Municipality and the Phuket Drug Store Association. Club president Jindee Santikayawakul said the…
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Phuket Immigration: No change in visa overstay rules
PHUKET: The Phuket Immigration chief today denied there have been any formal changes in the way Thai Immigration Police deal with foreigners who overstay their permits-to-stay or who are otherwise discovered to be residing in the Kingdom illegally. Phuket Immigration Superintendent Panuwat Ruamrak admitted receiving “many” calls today following an online media report stating that foreigners who try to depart…
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All systems go for Phuket Veggiefest 2010
PHUKET: Final preparations are being ironed out for this year’s Phuket Vegetarian Festival, which will kick off with an opening ceremony at Saphan Hin Park at 9am on October 7. The raising of go teng poles to welcome the Chinese Warrior Gods down from their celestial abode will take place at participating shrines later the same day. The ceremony “proper”…
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Lexus says “take a free ride’ in Phuket
PHUKET: To mark the opening of its 10th service center in Thailand, at the Toyota Pearl showroom on Thepkrasattri Rd in Rassada, Lexus is now offering free test drives of all its models at Central Festival Phuket. The promotional campaign, which runs until Wednesday, was launched by Toyota Motor Thailand Co Ltd vice-president Sittachai Jiratthanyasakul at the Indigo Pearl resort…
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Phuket Muslims prepare for Hajj
PHUKET: A Saudi embassy announcement yesterday that it will issue the 13,000 visas necessary for Thai Muslims to join the Hajj this year comes as welcome news for Phuket Islamic Committee President Bamroong Samphaorat. “Saudi Arabia – under no circumstances – associates its relations with any country, with allowing or forbidding Muslims from performing their fifth pillar of Islam of…
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Hilton deal to boost golf tourism to Phuket
PHUKET: The Hilton hotel chain has joined Golfasian, a leading inbound golf tour operator in Thailand to create the Thai marketing cooperative ‘Golf in a Kingdom: The Thai Golf Experience’. The initiative will make it easier for visitors looking for a premium golf holiday to book a variety of stay-and-play itineraries. It is also hoped that Hilton’s involvement will help…
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Phuket tourists face jail for long immigration overstays
PHUKET: The Thai Immigration Bureau in Bangkok is now arresting and jailing foreigners with long “overstays” before permitting them to leave the Kingdom, ThaiVisa.com reports. Immigration officers at Suvarnabhumi Airport are apparently fed up with foreigners flouting Thai Immigration law by turning up at the checkpoint with a valid air ticket and the maximum fine of 20,000 baht in hand.…
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Phuket tsunami buoy won’t be redeployed in 2010
PHUKET: Thailand’s Andaman Coast will be without tsunami direct detection capability when the sixth anniversary of the 2004 disaster arrives in late December, the Gazette has learned. Aurasa Paenghom, general manager of Bangkok-based firm Raydant International, which built and maintains Thailand’s tsunami early warning system, estimates that it will take several months before the tsunami buoy that went adrift in…
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‘Phuket 2.0’: Opportunities for the future seminar on October 1
PHUKET: The American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand is teaming up with Laguna Property, C9 Hotelworks and Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket for a special business networking event on October 1. Mark Armsden of Delivering Asia Communications will join a panel of industry experts to discuss Phuket opportunities in the following areas: Hotels and property: Michael Ayling of Laguna Resorts and…
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Phuket divers gear up for Coastal Cleanup Day
PHUKET: Phuket’s recreational dive community is gearing up for International Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, with two major cleanup activities planned. The Thai Diving Association, Scuba Schools International and Sea Bees are holding a “big clean-up dive” off Phuket to help save local reefs. The meeting point will be at the Anchor Inn restaurant in Chalong at 9am. Finger food…
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Phuket’s budget airlines under fire; Phuket surf; Gas leak
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket’s budget airlines facing heat PHUKET: The Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) is summoning low-cost airlines to respond to complaints of unfair charges. The OCPB has issued letters to all low-cost airlines operating in Thailand…
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Fish farming forum underway in Phuket
PHUKET: The world’s leading experts on aquaculture convened in Phuket yesterday for a four-day seminar on the future development of the industry. Phuket’s selection as venue for the “Global Conference On Aquaculture 2010” can be seen as an acknowledgment of the Andaman region’s importance to the industry. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific…
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Miss Thailand World in Phuket to fulfill sacred vow
PHUKET: Heads were turning yesterday as Miss Thailand World 2010, Sirirat ‘Noo Si’ Rueangsri, paid her respects to the Big Buddha image high up in the Nakkerd Hills in Phuket. Ms Sirirat, a 22-year-old law student from Chiang Mai, was in Phuket for a one-day visit to fulfill a promise she made to herself to revisit the site if she…
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Phuket Town welcomes Full Moon tonight
PHUKET: A Satree Phuket School student presented a “Moon Goddess” costume as part of a fashion show on the first night of the Moon Festival celebration September 20 at Queen Sirikit Park in Phuket Town. The three-day celebration, officially celebrated by the municipality for the first time this year, ends tonight with a Moon Worship ceremony starting at 8:45 pm…
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Phuket to Chiang Mai bus set for early 2011
PHUKET: Travelers with plenty of stamina will soon be able to travel directly by bus between Phuket and Chiang Mai, a journey of almost 24 hours. Green Bus, which already holds a concession for air-conditioned bus transport in Northern Thailand, plans to launch the service in early 2011. The journey will take 22 to 23 hours. Somchai Thongkhamkhoon, managing director…
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Sugar palms to revive Phuket’s Laem Phromthep
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop on Saturday led a group of Phuket VIPs in a tree-planting ceremony aimed at increasing the number of palm trees on Phuket’s iconic Phromthep Cape. Accompanying Governor Wichai was his wife Taisika, Phuket MPs Tossaporn Thepabutr and Rewat Areerob, Phuket Senator Thanyarat Achariyachai and Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, Deputy Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office. Local officials…
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2010 to serve up tourism treat
PHUKET: Promising signs are emerging for Phuket’s upcoming high season, as reservation rates have reached 50% for the upcoming Phuket Vegetarian Festival, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced. Wanaphapar Suksombul, Deputy Director of the TAT South Region 4 in Phuket, believes the October 8 to 16 Vegetarian Festival will help the 2010-2011 high season get off to a…
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Phuket marks National Fisheries Day today
THALANG: To mark today’s National Fisheries Day today, Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office last week organized the release of 2.4 million baby banana shrimp and 2,000 milkfish to help replenish diminishing stocks in remaining Phuket mangrove areas. The event, led by Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop, was held at the Phuket Coastal Fisheries Research and Development Center at Laem Sai in Pa…
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