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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Punchline Comedy Club returns to Phuket
PATONG, PHUKET: British TV comedy star Bob Mills is among the noted funnymen performing at Punchline Comedy Club when it returns to Phuket on October 14. Mills is best known as star of TV show ‘In Bed With Medinner’, and has a long list of presenting and writing credits under his belt. Time Out magazine called him “a master of…
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Dugong’s last moments a frantic fight for survival
PHUKET: Following an eight-hour autopsy of the 40-year-old female dugong found dead off the coast of Trang on Tuesday, marine biologists say the animal died from trauma and exhaustion, most probably from trying to out swim or escape entanglement in a trawling net.According to Phaothep Cherdsukjai, a researcher at Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC), examination of the dugong’s pulmonary system…
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Tsunami Watch canceled
PHUKET: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has canceled today’s tsunami watch following warnings earlier this evening that a tsunami could hit the region.The warning center’s latest and ‘final’ report issued to government agencies stated that sea level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated by the magnitude 7.6 earthquake off Sumatra. — Gazette Reporters
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Phuket tsunami alert update
PHUKET: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a tsunami alert for Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Thailand, according to an Associated Press report.The center issued the warning following a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.6 about 50km west of Padang in Western Sumatra at 5.16pm.There were no immediate reports of a high waves or injuries, it added.An officer at the Department of…
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Leading financial advisors put on Phuket seminar
PHUKET: Tax-free pension plans for expats will be on the menu of financial advice served up by international investment gurus at the Holiday Inn Resort, Patong Beach tomorrow night.Award-winning fund management advisor Sam Liddle will be joined by Billy Popham – ‘the first Financial Adviser in Thailand to successfully effect transfers from UK pensions to QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension…
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Phuket storms caused by killer typhoon
PHUKET CITY: The rain lashing down on Phuket this week is not normal monsoon rain but the outer rings of Typhoon Ketsana, which arrived in Thailand today, according to Phuket Meteorological Office. Phuket Meteorological Officer Sophon Sanggaew said the conditions would persist for another two or three days. Typhoon Ketsana was downgraded to a tropical storm after making landfall in…
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Phuket autopsy for large dugong
PHUKET: A large female dugong measuring almost three meters long and weighing more than a third of a ton died off the coast of Trang and was brought to Phuket for examination yesterday.The crew of a squid fishing boat found the dugong dying in the sea between Koh Libong and Koh Laoliang in yesterday morning.By the time officials from the Office…
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Phuket Passport Office opens Thursday
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s Thai citizens will be able to apply for new passports without leaving the island once the new Ministry of Foreign Affairs office opens at Phuket Provincial Hall on Thursday.Foreigners hoping for visa services, certificate translations and marriage certification services will have to wait, however.Acting chief of the ministry’s passport section, Jackrid Kanjanasoon, said the office will begin…
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Crowd batters thieves at Phuket’s Roy Fest
KARON, PHUKET: Chalong Police officers had to defend three suspected thieves who were set upon by revelers at Phuket’s otherwise highly successful Roy Fest concert on Karon Beach. The attack took place in the early hours of Saturday morning. Karon village chief Winai Chitchiew said the three suspects, Wittaya Khahapana, 30, Rachet Harun, 25, and Manusak Kobthing, 20, were all…
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival drives need for blood
PHUKET CITY: Entranced participants at Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival can pierce their faces with sharp objects, sprint across hot coals and climb knife-blade ladders – without shedding blood, according to local belief. But that hasn’t stopped Phuket Regional Blood Center launching a fresh donation drive in time for the festival, which starts on October 18. Porntip Rattajak, the center’s acting chief,…
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Fun-filled sunset fundraiser on the beach
PHUKET: Catch an earful of live reggae and the latest dance grooves at Catch Beach Club for Patong Rotary Club’s Beach Fun Fest fundraiser on Saturday, October 17.Reggae band Job 2 Do and a handful of international DJs will be pumping out the tunes at the beach from sunset onwards.Tickets are 1,000 each and include a seafood barbecue and the…
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Aussies put Phuket in World Top 10
PHUKET: According to statistics released to the Phuket Gazette today by giant hotel booking website Wotif.com, Australians have changed their travel patterns and are visiting Asia more and more. And Phuket has ascended into the mega-site’s Top Ten world destinations over the past two years. Pointing to the website’s league tables below, Kristy Harrison, Wotif’s Marketing Director for Asia, notes…
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Phuket people help spread global message of peace
PHUKET: Tonight, people in Phuket will be dancing to a global beat of peace for Earthdance 2009, an annual, synchronized event held every September in hundreds of locations around the world in recognition of the United Nations International Day of Peace.At 4pm Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, September 26 (6am Sunday in Thailand), thousands of people in more than 200…
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Regional IT experts head for Phuket software forum
PHUKET: More than 300 software development experts from nine countries are expected to attend the The Asia Oceania Software Park Forum 2009 scheduled to take place in Phuket next month.The regional IT forum, which will also include the IT Architect Regional Conference 2009, is jointly organized by Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) and Phuket’s recently-opened Software Park.The three-day seminar will…
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New Gazette Poll: Prostitution in Phuket
PHUKET: The new Phuket Gazette opinion poll asks readers to give their views on prostitution in Phuket. When it comes to Phuket’s ‘issues’, prostitution is the elephant in the room. It is technically illegal and receives relatively little official acknowledgment – yet everyone knows it happens. A night out in Patong will confirm it. There are prostitutes in Phuket, and…
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Work restarts on fire-ravaged Phuket homes
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Work to rebuild 17 houses that were burned to the ground in a fire at a sea gypsy village in Phuket at the end of June restarted yesterday after a two-month hiatus. Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop arrived at Ban Hin Look Diow village in the morning to set 150 builders off to work again. The rebuilding of…
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Roy’s the word at Phuket’s beachside shindig
KARON, PHUKET: Thousands of youngsters converged on Karon Beach last night for the first ever Roy Fest, the island’s new music festival. A hefty dose of Roy – Southern Thai for ‘fun’ – was in the air as a succession of bands and DJs did their thing from an enormous stage erected by the beach road. The rain that had…
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Phuket businesses face software inspection raids
PHUKET: Computers used in Phuket businesses will be targeted in raids by modern bounty hunters on the lookout for unlicensed copies of software from October 26 onwards.Under intellectual property rights legislation, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) will be sending inspectors acting on behalf of copyright holders to search offices, first in Bangkok and then in Phuket, which is a principal…
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Viagra goes to new lengths in Phuket
PHUKET: Viagra will soon be sold in Phuket pharmacies following a decision by Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).The drug was previously only available through hospitals or illegally on the black market.The drug, sildenafil citrate, most commonly known under the Pfizer company trade name ‘Viagra’, alleviates erectile dysfunction syndrome (EDS or male impotence).In a bid to stem the illegal sale…
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Phuket Gazette Poll Results: Prevent drownings with better safety campaign
PHUKET: Phuket Gazette readers favor a tourist information campaign as the most effective way to prevent drownings on Phuket’s beaches, according to the last Gazette Poll. Of 806 readers who voted, 34 percent thought a campaign warning of the dangers of swimming in the sea was the best way to prevent more deaths. Thai nationals were only 25 percent in favor…
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Phuket sea gypsies to get Bt2mn culture center
RASSADA, PHUKET: A two-million-baht cultural center at a sea gypsy village close to Phuket City has been given the go-ahead, a spokesman for the Phuket Provincial Culture Office announced on Tuesday.Planning for the Urak Lawoi Culture Center at Ban Tukkae sea gypsy village on Koh Sireh, in Tambon Rassada, is still in its early stages and a contractor has yet…
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Autism treatment success at Phuket hospital
PHUKET CITY: Vachira Phuket Hospital says it is successfully treating children with autism using a treatment known as ‘hyperbaric oxygen therapy’ (HBOT). HBOT patients spend periods inside a ‘hyperbaric chamber’ – the same sort of high-pressure oxygen chamber commonly used by divers for decompression and treatment of the bends. Parents of children who have completed a course of HBOT at…
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Crown Prince arrives in Phuket today
PHUKET: HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, together with Royal Consort HRH Princess Srirasmi and HRH Prince Teepangkorn Rasmichoti, arrives in Phuket today on an unofficial visit.The Crown Prince and his family will leave the island at 3pm on September 29 via Phuket International Airport, where he will grant an audience to the people.Anyone who wants to attend is advised to…
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Bids invited for Phuket jet-ski insurance contract
PHUKET CITY: Insurance companies have 15 days to submit bids for a contract to insure every jet-ski on Phuket, it was announced at the latest ‘jet-ski summit’ at Phuket Provincial Hall today. By November 8 – thirty days after the bid deadline – every operator in Phuket will have to apply for insurance or stop doing business. For our previous…
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Huge contingent of US sailors arrives in Phuket
PHUKET: Almost 7,000 US Navy sailors arrived in Phuket this afternoon on board the enormous aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, as well as the USS Chancellorsville and the USS Gridley.The crew will enjoy five days of R&R on Phuket – though they have been forbidden from using the island’s increasingly infamous jet-skis.Look out for a report from on board the…
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Phuket people wish His Majesty a speedy recovery
PHUKET: Following His Majesty the King’s admission to Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok on Saturday, a book has been placed outside the Phuket Governor’s office at Phuket Provincial Hall for people to sign and wish His Majesty well. According to statements issued by the Royal Household Bureau, His Majesty was admitted to Siriraj Hospital with a high fever and has been…
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OPINION: Let computers deal with Phuket’s jet-skis
PHUKET: Wouldn’t it be better if Phuket’s government were turned over to computers? Surely an application exists whereby, having keyed in the facts, viable results emerge. As it is, local government tends to tip-toe around decision-making until matters are manifestly out-of-hand. Let’s take as a case in point the current eruption involving jet-skis precipitated by a YouTube video-clip showing a…
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Wake for Bill Owen
RAWAI, PHUKET: A wake will be held at Nikitas on the Rawai beach road tomorrow night (Tuesday, September 22) for long term Phuket resident Bill Owen, who died on Tuesday last week. Mr Owen, a popular entrepreneur who made his home on Phuket for more than 20 years, died in a hospital in Swansea, South Wales after a battle with…
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Norwegian tourist drowns in calm waters off Phuket
WICHIT, PHUKET: An elderly Norwegian tourist drowned off Phuket in calm waters yesterday after the lilo she was sunbathing on drifted out to sea. Oslo native Jorunn Olden, 65, was on vacation with her husband in Ao Yon, on Phuket’s east coast, when the tragedy struck. Witnesses told Phuket City Police Inspector Anek Mongkol they saw her drift out at…
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Pedal power proves popular in Phuket
PHUKET: Environmental awareness was given a boost in Phuket on Sunday when about 250 Phuket cyclists took a tour of the island in support of Phuket Car Free Day.The cyclists, all dressed in orange shirts provided by Phuket City Municipality, pushed off from Phuket Provincial Hall at 9am with a send-off from Phuket Provincial Energy Office director Jirasak Thommayet.The cyclists…
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