News

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  • NMG executives brief NRC panel on takeover risk | Thaiger

    NMG executives brief NRC panel on takeover risk

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community NMG executives brief NRC panel on takeover risk The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Top executives of Nation Multimedia Group (NMG), which includes The Nation newspaper, met yesterday with the Media Reform Committee of the National Reform Council (NRC) to express concern over a possible hostile…

  • Police seeking stolen Misiem Yipintsoi sculpture | Thaiger

    Police seeking stolen Misiem Yipintsoi sculpture

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police seeking stolen Misiem Yipintsoi sculpture The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Misiem Yipintsoi’s last unfinished sculpture – Coy Girl (1988) – has gone missing from the private Misiem’s Sculpture Museum in Nakhon Pathom province. “It was stolen on December 26. Displayed at the garden along…

  • Police corruption scandal: DSI agent sacked, faces charges; 2 others face probes | Thaiger

    Police corruption scandal: DSI agent sacked, faces charges; 2 others face probes

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police corruption scandal: DSI agent sacked, faces charges; 2 others face probes The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Two Department of Special Investigation agents face disciplinary probes after initial findings showed they were involved in the contraband petrol trade in the far South, associated with racketeering…

  • Fugitive bomber Singh arrested, faces extradition | Thaiger

    Fugitive bomber Singh arrested, faces extradition

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fugitive bomber Singh arrested, faces extradition The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Thai Police have arrested a Pakistani passport holder convicted of involvement in a high-profile bomb attack in India two decades ago that killed 18 people, including the Punjab chief minister at the time, Beant…

  • Patong immigration officer removed amid corruption claims | Thaiger

    Patong immigration officer removed amid corruption claims

    PHUKET: An official at the immigration office in Patong has been removed after complaints were filed against him for charging foreigners for services that should be free, Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong confirmed today. The news comes more than two and half months after Governor Nisit gave the Patong Immigration chief 15 days to explain why his office was charging for…

  • Phuket closes Seven Days of Danger with 2 dead, 45 injured | Thaiger

    Phuket closes Seven Days of Danger with 2 dead, 45 injured

    PHUKET: The nationwide Seven Days of Danger safety campaign for the New Year holidays drew to a close at midnight last night, with Phuket recording two deaths and 45 people admitted to hospital for injuries in 44 accidents. The last day of the seven-day campaign, which began at midnight on December 30, recorded five accidents in Phuket in which five…

  • Mass worker brawl delays Phuket airport expansion | Thaiger

    Mass worker brawl delays Phuket airport expansion

    PHUKET: Work on the Phuket International Airport expansion project was delayed yesterday due to a gang brawl between construction workers from Cambodia and another group from Myanmar on January 1. The fight took place in the workers’ camp, about 300 meters from the PTT aviation fuel warehouse, which is located about two kilometers from the airport. The melee left more…

  • Phuket’s Boat Lagoon rebrands, sets sail for lifestyle destination | Thaiger

    Phuket’s Boat Lagoon rebrands, sets sail for lifestyle destination

    PHUKET: Do you know why the iPod succeeded? After all, it’s just another MP3 player. Yet it’s so much more than that: a fashion accessory, an icon of a certain lifestyle, a symbol of fun and, of course, a music player. It looks beyond the obvious and expands the concept that leads to such a hit. Here in Phuket, it’s…

  • Man rescued after falling off cliff in Prachuap | Thaiger

    Man rescued after falling off cliff in Prachuap

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Man rescued after falling off cliff in Prachuap The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Thai tourist was rescued yesterday after plunging off a cliff in a national park in Prachuap Khiri Khan province and being stuck there for 18 hours. Khao Ta Mong Lai Forestry…

  • Frenchman escapes flaming car on Phuket hill [video] | Thaiger

    Frenchman escapes flaming car on Phuket hill [video]

    PHUKET: A French tourist narrowly escaped injuries after his Thai girlfriend’s car erupted into flames on Patong Hill this afternoon. Bernard Louis Joseph Hazebrouco fled the Toyota Vios after a fire broke out in the engine and then quickly spread, Maj Teerasak Boonsang of the Patong Police told the Phuket Gazette today. “It took firefighters about 20 minutes to put…

  • Phuket tourists stranded by Abu Dhabi sandstorm start heading home | Thaiger

    Phuket tourists stranded by Abu Dhabi sandstorm start heading home

    PHUKET: About 100 of the 400-odd tourists stranded in Phuket are about to fly out today, after sandstorms and poor visibility in the United Arab Emirates forced Eithad Airways to cancel its flights to Abu Dhabi on Saturday. The airline transferred the affected passengers by shuttle bus to the Dara Hotel, the Chino Hotel and the Millennium Resort, while alternative…

  • Manhunt begins after karaoke waitress raped, murdered | Thaiger

    Manhunt begins after karaoke waitress raped, murdered

    PHUKET: Police have yet to establish any leads for the rape and murder of a karaoke waitress whose body was found in a palm grove north of Phang Nga Town yesterday. Officers brought in 20 suspects for questioning today, but made no progress in the case. “We are focusing our investigation on local people,” said Lt Pissanu Thaharn of the…

  • Phuket Red Cross Fair winner yet to claim Toyota Altis top prize | Thaiger

    Phuket Red Cross Fair winner yet to claim Toyota Altis top prize

    PHUKET: The winner of the grand prize in the annual Phuket Red Cross Fair lucky draw has yet to claim the brand-new Toyota Altis after the winning ticket was drawn last night. Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong led the lucky draw on the center stage at Saphan Hin at about 10:30pm. Joining Governor Nisit for the lucky draw was his wife,…

  • Three human traffickers evade arrest, 50 Rohingya netted | Thaiger

    Three human traffickers evade arrest, 50 Rohingya netted

    PHUKET: Police are hunting three human traffickers who evaded arrest as they attempted to smuggle more than 50 Rohingya, including six children, through Thailand to Malaysia early this morning. The drivers loaded the refugees into three pick-up trucks in a rubber-tree plantation in Takuapa, north of Phuket, before attempting to evade police checkpoints on the main road. “We received a…

  • Tourism, martial law: Looking back at Phuket in 2014 | Thaiger

    Tourism, martial law: Looking back at Phuket in 2014

    With 2014 behind us, it is time to reflect on 12 months – that is 365 days, or 8,765 hours – of news that transformed Phuket and deeply affected how the island is perceived by the outside world. Here, the Phuket Gazette‘s Somchai Huasaikul looks through our archives at the game-changing moments of 2014. PHUKET: The year that was 2014…

  • Thai woman killed in Bhutan cliff fall ‘was not taking a selfie’ | Thaiger

    Thai woman killed in Bhutan cliff fall ‘was not taking a selfie’

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thai woman killed in Bhutan cliff fall ‘was not taking a selfie’ The Nation/ Phuket Gazette PHUKET: THE family of a Thai woman who died after falling off a cliff near Taktsang Monastery in Bhutan on Friday dismissed conjecture yesterday that she slipped while taking a…

  • Weather frustrates divers as more AirAsia wreckage found | Thaiger

    Weather frustrates divers as more AirAsia wreckage found

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Weather frustrates divers as more AirAsia wreckage found Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Bad weather forced divers trying to identify sunken wreckage from a crashed AirAsia passenger jet to abort their mission on Sunday and Indonesian officials said they had not yet picked up any signals…

  • UK’s Prince Andrew steps up denial of underage sex | Thaiger

    UK’s Prince Andrew steps up denial of underage sex

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UK’s Prince Andrew steps up denial of underage sex Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Buckingham Palace stepped up its denial that Prince Andrew had sex with an underage girl introduced to him by a disgraced U.S. financier, and named the alleged victim whose anonymity was preserved…

  • Phuket Teens surrender for gang slaying of rival on New Year’s Eve | Thaiger

    Phuket Teens surrender for gang slaying of rival on New Year’s Eve

    PHUKET: Two of the six suspects of a drive-by shooting near the Governor’s House in Phuket Town on New Year’s Eve surrendered to police last night, escorted by their parents. Police are still hunting the remaining four suspects. The six are wanted for the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Sakorn Nitipoj on Wednesday night. The attack began in front of the…

  • Israeli tourist injured in Patong jet-ski accident, police call for care | Thaiger

    Israeli tourist injured in Patong jet-ski accident, police call for care

    PHUKET: In response to an Israeli man suffering injuries in a jet-ski accident at Patong Beach earlier this week, police have urged tourists to be more careful while riding the machines. However, no action will be taken to avoid a similar accident from occurring again at Patong, Phuket’s busiest tourist beach. Two Israeli brothers reportedly hired separate jet-skis at Patong…

  • Traffic policeman added to Phuket’s New Year casualty list | Thaiger

    Traffic policeman added to Phuket’s New Year casualty list

    PHUKET: A traffic policeman has been added to Phuket’s New Year casualty list during the nationwide Seven Days of Sanger safety campaign, which began at midnight on Tuesday. Cpl Thanan Paisornarong, 27, was run down while attempting to stop a motorcycle at a checkpoint in Phuket Town at 2:50pm yesterday. He was taken to the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization Hospital…

  • Baby boy of Phuket’s first gibbon twins found dead | Thaiger

    Baby boy of Phuket’s first gibbon twins found dead

    PHUKET: One of the first set of gibbon twins to be born at the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (GRP) in Phuket has died. Staffers at the center hope to return the surviving twin to her mother on Monday. “These are our first gibbon twins since the center was established in 1992. The twins are the son and daughter of mother Mee…

  • Chinese duo caught in Phuket skim scam | Thaiger

    Chinese duo caught in Phuket skim scam

    PHUKET: Police arrested two Chinese men and a Thai employee at a Phuket tour office for processing an estimated 700,00 baht in fake transactions charged to accounts of people whose ATM cards had been skimmed. Officers arrested Thongtam Bamrajken, 23, and Chinese nationals Tang Yongjie, 39, and He Haibin, 24, at the Ping Boom tour office in Wichit on Tuesday.…

  • Laguna Phuket cleans up in dirty laundry trade | Thaiger

    Laguna Phuket cleans up in dirty laundry trade

    PHUKET: Part of the pleasure of holidaying in a good hotel is that you don’t have to do your own laundry. Yetsomeone has to do it for you and for all the other guests. Can you just imagine what a gigantic pile of dirty clothes all the resorts in Phuket generate? But where some see nothing but a lot of…

  • Opinion: Phuket’s AEC success hangs in the balance | Thaiger

    Opinion: Phuket’s AEC success hangs in the balance

    PHUKET: While the past year brought unprecedented developments in reclaiming public beaches from the hands of corrupt local politicians, the fact remains that the days of Phuket getting by solely on its merits as a beach-tourism destination have gone. The terms of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) are set to come into effect in 2015, in theory transforming its 10…

  • Daughter warned of suicide before family found poisoned, children hanged | Thaiger

    Daughter warned of suicide before family found poisoned, children hanged

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Daughter warned of suicide before family found poisoned, children hanged The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The former wife of a man who was found dead with four members of his family in a rented house in Bangkok’s Thon Buri district on New Year’s Eve told…

  • Search teams battle rough weather in hunt for AirAsia wreck | Thaiger

    Search teams battle rough weather in hunt for AirAsia wreck

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Search teams battle rough weather in hunt for AirAsia wreck Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Ships and aircraft criss-crossed the seas off Borneo on Friday hunting for the wreck of an Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet, but bad weather again hindered the search for the plane and…

  • Police nab armed thugs for Patong gang shootout | Thaiger

    Police nab armed thugs for Patong gang shootout

    PHUKET: Police tracked down and arrested two men at a bus station in Phang Nga yesterday after one of the suspects shot a rival gang member in the face in a shootout on the streets of Patong just hours earlier. Staff at Patong Hospital notified the police of the shooting at 5am after Boonprom Chupeng, 18, was rushed to the…

  • After Phuket New Year celebrations, man dodges Seven Days fatality list | Thaiger

    After Phuket New Year celebrations, man dodges Seven Days fatality list

    PHUKET: A man walked away from a dramatic accident at Heroines Monument early this morning, leaving Phuket’s death toll during this year’s Seven Days of Danger safety campaign for the New Year at just one fatality. Police promptly arrived at the iconic roundabout in central Phuket at about 3:30am after Jamnian Sinthong, 55, called to report that a white Toyota…

  • Woman dies from injuries after Russian tour bus crash | Thaiger

    Woman dies from injuries after Russian tour bus crash

    PHUKET: The driver of a car that crashed head-on into a tour bus carrying 37 Russian tourists on Tuesday has died from her injuries. Tantima Thaworn, 37, was pronounced dead at 11:35am yesterday, staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town confirmed. However, the hospital staff declined to give further details. Ms Tantima is the sole fatality from the accident,…