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 How one hospital visit in Thailand could cost more than your whole trip
Thailand is a favourite spot for travellers who want to enjoy more while spending less. From cheap street food to low-cost hotels and fun attractions, it’s easy to stretch your budget here. But there’s one thing many people don’t think...
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New Phuket bus plan breaks “transport barrier’
PHUKET: After decades in the planning, a new bus service will launch on the island in March. The new route will travel between Phuket International Airport and the popular tourist beaches of Patong, Karon, and Kata via Tesco Lotus on the bypass road (click here to see map of the new bus route). For safety reasons, Phuket Land Transportation Office…
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Phuket Opinion: Curing the festering sores of “public’ transport
PHUKET: Efforts by the international diplomatic community to pressure authorities in Bangkok to tackle the festering crime in the Phuket public transport sector and improve Phuket’s reputation as a tourist destination are laudable and have the full support of the Phuket Gazette. No subject has been the topic of more futile editorializing in this space than Phuket’s bizarre patchwork of…
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Phuket woman executed was beloved mother, wife, friend
PHUKET: The life of a beloved mother, wife and friend was taken away by a killer on Chao Fa West Road, south of Phuket Town, last night. Police have identified Mrs Jintana ‘Nong’ Mahattanapak, 42, a resident of Yaowarat Road in Phuket Town, as the victim of the execution-style slaying (story here). Mrs Jintana was director of Human Resources at…
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Phuket Island View: No taxi experience impossible
PHUKET: Imagine this headline: “Taxi driver returns money to customer; says she overpaid.” Impossible? It happened to me. All the taxi news seems negative recently, what with high fares, delays in getting illegal drivers to register as legal, and metered cabs being pushed out of some markets (story here). The problem is apparently so bad that even the British Ambassador…
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Phuket Sports: Six of the best at Soccer Island
PHUKET: Season four of the Super Six League started last week at Soccer Island at Phuket’s HeadStart School, and the popularity of the league means there will be three divisions this season. Division 1 continues to exude a high level of performance; the first week’s results from Division 2 indicate that it could be a very tight league and Division…
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Phuket Sports: Laguna continue to dominate island cricket
PHUKET: In a hotly contested fifth match of Phuket’s Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels League on January 13, reigning champions Laguna Cricket Club faced early league contenders Patong Cricket Club (PCC). Dominance seesawed throughout both innings and it was only fitting for the winner to be decided in the last over of the second innings. Despite a determined effort by PCC,…
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PHUKET BREAKING NEWS: Woman executed with single gunshot to head
UPDATE: Police are now searching for a black Mitsubishi Triton pickup truck without license plates, which pulled alongside the victim’s vehicle when the shooting occurred. Police have yet to obtain descriptions of the gunman or the driver. PHUKET: A woman driving alone south of Phuket Town was killed by a single gunshot into her head this evening. Police arrived at…
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Phuket Police release sketch of resort safe box heist robber
PHUKET: Police today released a composite image of one of the two men wanted for the robbery of the guests’ safe boxes at the Karon Place Hotel, on Phuket’s west coast, in the early hours of Monday morning (story here). An arrest warrant has been issued for the man, Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Col Arun Kleawwatee told a press…
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Swede nabbed in Phuket over B100mn tax evasion
PHUKET: Swedish Police ended a two-year hunt for a tax exile on Monday when they arrested Bernt Olov Inge Eriksson at Phuket’s tourist-popular Patong Beach.Mr Eriksson was wanted in Sweden on a 100-million-baht tax evasion charge.A task force of Swedish officers began their hunt in Thailand after learning Mr Eriksson, 67, was in the country through a tip-off.After scouring Pattaya…
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New-look Phuket FC to take on Trang in pre-season friendly
PHUKET: Football fans will get a chance to see the new-look Phuket FC in action for the first time this year, with the Islanders set to take on Division 2 Southern regional champions Trang FC later today. The pre-season friendly match will be played at Surukal Stadium with a 4pm kickoff. Admission is free for all. Operating with an estimated…
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World Sports: Venus trapped as Sharapova flies
Merciless Sharapova eclipses Venus to reach fourth round Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Maria Sharapova missed out on a third successive ‘double-bagel’ but humbled Venus Williams 6-1 6-3 to charge into the fourth round of the Australian Open today.The center court crowd was left stunned as the second-seeded Russian scorched to a 4-0 lead in the first set to rattle her…
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Phuket safety police blitz nets 8 drug, 3 gun arrests in first week
PHUKET: The first seven days of the month-long police safety boost (story here) in Phuket has yielded eight arrests on gun and drug charges in road checkpoint stops alone. Maj Gen Kittisan Detsunthonwat, Deputy Commander of Provincial Police Region 8, announced yesterday that so far his officers had seized over 300 grams of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine), 2,031 pills of…
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World News: Many dead as desert siege ends; Dreams back to earth; WADA gives UCI a bitter pill
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Algeria ends desert siege, but dozens killed Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Algerian forces stormed a desert gas complex to free hundreds of hostages but 30, including several Westerners, were killed in the assault along with at least 11 of their Islamist captors, an Algerian security source told…
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Two Phuket motorcyclists die in separate accidents
PHUKET: The deadly stretch of Thepkrasattri Road that runs through the northern Phuket village of Kor En claimed another life before dawn today after months of no serious accidents. An unidentified man was riding in the northbound lane at about 3am when he lost control of his motorbike and hit a pole, breaking his neck. When Tah Chat Chai Police…
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Phuket Immigration arrests French chef for alleged rape of disabled woman
PHUKET: A French chef working in Phuket’s premier party town, Patong, was arrested yesterday for the alleged rape of a disabled woman in his home country in 2004.Christopher Pierre Verdino, 28, slipped into Thailand in 2007 three years after French authorities issued an arrest warrant. His exact whereabouts became known to the French Embassy in Bangkok after he made a…
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171 Rohingya refugees arrested north of Phuket
PHUKET: The flow of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar continues unabated with Border Patrol Police in Phang Nga, the province immediately north of Phuket, today taking into custody two boats carrying 171 Rohingya men, women and children. Today’s apprehension follows 73 Rohingya being arrested off the southern coast of Phuket on January 1. Those refugees were subsequently deported back to Myanmar (story…
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Phuket Police suspect Arabs in B3mn locker heist
PHUKET: Phuket Police are on the lookout for three men, all thought to be from the Middle East, who are suspected of doping a front desk officer at a resort near Karon Beach and robbing the resort’s guest safe boxes of about 3 million baht in valuables.The front desk officer at Karon Place Hotel who was allegedly drugged by the…
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Newborn baby’s body found dumped in Phuket trash heap
PHUKET: Police are searching for the mother of a newborn baby girl whose body was found dumped in a garbage heap in Wichit yesterday.A woman collecting recyclables discovered the three-day-old’s body stuffed into a rubbish bag among a heap of trash along Chao Fa West Road, said Sub Lt Suporn Muangkai of the Wichit Police.“Wan Rattanawilai, 57, told us that…
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Thailand to help Rohingya with UN assistance
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UN, 20 nations join Thailand to help Rohingya Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Envoys of more than 20 countries yesterday joined a teleconference that was held to address the grievances of and get help for more than 850 Rohingya people. These illegal migrants were arrested…
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World Sports: Arsenal and Man United sneak FA Cup wins; EPL update
Arsenal and Man United sneak FA Cup replay wins Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Jack Wilshere’s late strike gave Arsenal a 1-0 FA Cup third-round replay win over Swansea City and Manchester United also progressed with a 1-0 victory over West Ham United on Wednesday. Arsenal wasted a hatful of good chances before sealing the win over Swansea thanks to…
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Dutch tourist autopsy results from Bangkok expected next week: Phuket Police
PHUKET: Police yesterday morning confirmed that the body of 26-year-old Dutch tourist Stephan Buczynski had been sent to Bangkok for an autopsy. Mr Buczynski was last seen by his fellow Dutch travel companion on Saturday night. His body was found floating off the north end of Patong Beach early the next morning (story here). “The body was sent to the…
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Live Wire: Phuket’s Internet options
PHUKET: As many of you know, I am in the process of moving. Sometime in the next month or so, I’ll be moving from a Patong townhouse – where I’ve lived for the past 12 years – to a modest housing development in Kathu, near Loch Palm Golf Course. For most of you, moving is a massive pain. For people…
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Phuket Blood Bank: Urgent call for O-negative blood
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) urgently needs O-negative blood to save the life of a foreign patient. Donors should call 076-251178 ext 2 or 081-9588854. If donors are available, staff will be on hand after the normal the usual closing time of 4:30pm to make the blood draw (map here). The patient in need is waiting for heart…
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Phuket Finance: UK bill reassures QROPS retirees
PHUKET: With the recent release of the draft finance bill for 2013, the UK government has eased worries of the QROPS (Qualified Recognized Overseas Pension Schemes) industry that new legislation might close down the market. Last year, offshore pension providers were quite shocked when HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) removed overnight the ability of expat retirees to transfer their…
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World Sports: Armstrong confesses to drug taking – USA Today
Lance Armstrong confronts doping charges in interview Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Lance Armstrong could be jailed and cycling could be dropped from the Olympics as a result of the disgraced American athlete’s reported admission that he had used performance-enhancing drugs during his racing career. USA Today and other media said on Monday that Armstrong confessed to the doping in…
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Phuket Media Watch: Paper defies party; Indian troops shoot Pakistani soldier; Cuban can leave
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community How a feisty Chinese newspaper stood up for press freedom Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Journalists at the Beijing News were at home late one night last week when their mobile phones started ringing. Colleagues in the newsroom were telling them of a showdown between the newspaper’s management…
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Phuket First Person: Taxi greed still in driver’s seat – Iain Barnes
British tourist Iain Barnes arrived in Phuket to begin his dream of traveling to Asia while in his twenties – he turns 30 on January 19.Here, at the start of his trip, Iain describes his “welcome” to Phuket from the taxi touts stationed at the Phuket International Airport.PHUKET: The scene at the airport was bedlam. The taxi drivers were grabbing…
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Phuket Island View: Deporting Rohingya only feeds traffickers – Phil Robertson
PHUKET: The Rohingya refugees rescued off of Phuket on January 1 reportedly requested to be sent back to Myanmar, according to Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut.Since Thai authorities systematically deny access to detained Rohingya for humanitarians, NGOs and journalists, it’s impossible to actually know what the Rohingya told the officials, but you can bet they were not given much choice in…
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Charges still not laid against Tiger Discotheque owners following fatal fire
PHUKET: Charges are yet to be laid against the owners of the Tiger Bar and Discotheque following a fatal blaze which ripped through the Patong nightclub five months ago. The fire, which took place on August 17, killed four people, including two tourists, and injured 11. Public Prosecutor Vivath Kitjaruk told the Phuket Gazette they were still considering whether to…
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Monk defrocked after robbing Phuket “money tree’
PHUKET: A monk chose to be defrocked at the main temple in Phuket Town, Wat Wichit Sangkharam, this afternoon after being caught stealing a temple donation “money tree” and running off with 1,000 baht in cash. Wichit Police were alerted to the theft at 11:30am after local residents near Wat Nakaram (click map here) reported a monk absconding with a…
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