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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Phuket FC to face Yala on Sunday
PHUKET CITY: Looking for some excitement next Sunday? The Phuket FC soccer team will take on Yala at Surakul Stadium on May 10, starting at 5pm. Phuket FC, also known as The Sea Dragons, lost their opening two home matches in Division 2 Southern region play of Thai League Football, Thailand’s first professional football league. However, they showed marked signs…
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Body of Swiss tourist found on Krabi beach
PHUKET: The body of a female tourist from Switzerland was found on a beach in Krabi province today. Police said the tourist had apparently been strangled on Noppharat Beach in Tambon Aonang of Muang district. The beach lies roughly 20 kilometers east of Phuket by boat across Phang-nga Bay. She was found lying down with the strap of her handbag tied around her neck. She was…
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Mystery illness kills foreign tourists on Phi Phi
KRABI: Two foreign tourists have mysteriously died and two others are seriously ill from unknown causes after holidaying on Phi Phi Island. Much speculation surrounds the circumstances of the deaths as authorities have yet to make any official statements regarding the matter. Press Attache at the US Embassy in Bangkok Michael Turner told the Gazette that US citizen Jill St.…
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Two dead in Phi Phi poison mystery
PHUKET CITY: Two tourists died and two others became seriously ill after staying at the same guesthouse on Phi Phi Island in Krabi this week. US citizen Jill St. Onge, 26, died on May 2, shortly after being taken to hospital by her boyfriend Ryan Kells, who also fell ill. Both tourists were vomiting severely before Miss St. Onge’s admission…
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Swine Flu diagnosis now possible in just four hours
PHUKET: Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Hospital says it can now diagnosis a case of swine flu in just four hours. Until yesterday, it took up to 18 hours to determine if a patient has caught the Type A(H1N1) flu virus. “The procedure has become much quicker because we received ribonucleic acid, or the genetic material of the influenza virus prototype, for analysis…
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Flu scare cruise ship given the all clear
PHUKET: Phuket doctors declared all 1,900 passengers on board the holiday cruise ship Super Star Virgo free of the A(H1N1) influenza virus after the vessel docked at Ao Makham Deep Sea Port on May 4 for a seven-hour stopover. The passengers, comprising Chinese, Singaporean, Australian, Indian and European nationals, were all checked for flu symptoms before disembarking in the afternoon…
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Phuket to the world: Web forum zeros in
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette has entered the booming online forum sweepstakes by signing a partnership agreement with ThaiVisa.Com, Thailand’s largest English-language Web board. The agreement results in the birth of the Phuket Gazette/ThaiVisa Forum, a collection of thousands of pages of reader knowledge and observations on just about every aspect of life in Phuket. The Gazette endows the venture with…
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Light rail service proposed for Phuket
PHUKET CITY: A Singapore-based firm has proposed building a light-rail service that would revolutionize transport in Phuket. The network, which would cost almost 13 billion baht to develop, would connect key points on the island including Phuket International Airport, Patong, Chalong Circle and Phuket City. Dr Allina Salima of Jade Trust Fund International presented the plan to Phuket Governor Wichai…
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Swine Flu: Phuket Immigration officials told to wear their masks
PHUKET: While Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai was waiting to welcome teachers and students who flew in from Mexico on Sunday night at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, he noticed that immigration officers were not wearing surgical masks to protect themselves, and were even asking arriving passengers to take off their masks for identification. “From this incident, I realized that immigration officers…
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Phuket friends out in force for Steve Swan
PHUKET CITY: Thanks to a strong response from Phuket’s expat community, accident victim Steve Swan has more than enough blood for his scheduled surgery today, his friends say. Mr Swan, an American who runs the Crow’s Nest bar and tattoo parlor on Soi Seadragon in Patong, suffered fractures of his left leg, hip and pelvis after being hit by a…
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Phuket man’s suicide now seen likely to have been result of strained finances
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Last week’s suicide of well-known businessman Mann “Benz Phuket” Suksawee now seems increasingly likely to have been the result of strained finances. Police were informed of the apparent suicide by local residents at about 10am on Thursday. Mr Mann, whose official residence is listed as downtown Haad Yai, was the manager of the Sanguan Panich group of…
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Thai media marks World Press Freedom Day
PHUKET: To mark World Press Freedom Day yesterday, seven Thai media associations on Sunday issued a list of demands. Journalists put freedom from government intervention in all forms of media as its top priority, calling for the legal prosecution of those who violate press freedom laws. They also called on politicians to understand the valuable role of the media in…
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Swine flu begins to spread in Asia
PHUKET (ANN/The Nation): South Korea on Saturday reported East Asia’s second human case of swine flu as other countries in the region sought to minimize the risks of infection by canceling flights and imposing visa requirements on Mexico, the worst-hit country in the outbreak. No cases have been reported in Phuket or elsewhere in Thailand. The 51-year-old nun in South…
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Asean Summit: Phuket residents asked to help make it safe
PHUKET: The government yesterday called upon Phuket residents to ensure that the Asean Summit with its six dialogue partners, scheduled for mid-July, will go off without incident. Thailand was seeking to reassure Asian leaders that the regional summit would not end in chaos like the Asean meeting in Pattaya in April. That summit of leaders from the 10-member Association of…
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Lifestyle: Have mobs become a fashion statement in Phuket?
PHUKET: Just days after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government finally managed to restore order to Bangkok, mob militancy was back on the streets of Thailand. This time, it was closer to home. Protesters blockaded Srisoonthorn Road in Baan Bang Tao for almost 24 hours, causing disruption for both residents of the island and the tourists so crucial to our economy.…
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Blood Type ‘O’ Negative still urgently needed for Phuket accident victim
PHUKET: Donations of blood type O Negative are still urgently needed for Phuket motorcycle accident victim Steve Swan, the proprietor of the Crows Nest bar in Patong. Mr Swan is at Phuket’s Vachira Hospital and is suffering from internal bleeding due to severe leg, hip and pelvic injuries after being hit by a car on the Kata/Karon road near Chalong…
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Another corpse found in Phuket’s Rasada area
RASSADA, PHUKET: Police have yet to identify the remains of a man whose badly decomposing body was discovered in a wooded area off the access road to Rassada Harbor on Wednesday. Local residents found the deceased lying in a thicket about 100 meters from the road. They called police, who found no signs of a struggle at the scene. Phuket…
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Phuket Marine Biological Center launches turtle project
CAPE PANWA, PHUKET: Researchers from Bangkok and Phuket are preparing to launch Thailand’s first artificial insemination project for sea turtles at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC). Researcher Kanjana Adulyanukosol, who heads the PMBC Endangered Species Unit, said her team will work with researchers from Kasetsart University’s Faculty of Veterinary Science to extract semen from male sea turtles and store…
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Hilton Phuket Arcadia tipped to host Asean summit
KARON, PHUKET: Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban today leads the defense minister, commanders of the armed forces and the national police chief to visit Phuket ahead of the upcoming Asean summit. The group is meeting with tourism industry leaders and local government officials at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa this afternoon. However, it has yet to be formally…
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Phuket stars in The Dream Hotel TV series
PHUKET: Last month, the cast and crew of TV romance adventure The Dream Hotel celebrated completion of filming in and around Phuket for the German-speaking movie, which will be broadcast in Germany and parts of Scandinavia to approximately 12 million viewers in 2010. Dream Hotel is a popular German-speaking travel documentary TV series that highlights luxury resorts in exotic locations…
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Phuket charity box bandit nabbed by The Magnet
PHUKET CITY: For a combination of stupidity and lack of ethics, few crimes in Phuket in recent years match that of a man who tried to steal a charity donation box placed on the main counter of the Phuket City Police Station. At 12:30pm on April 21, a police officer noticed that the charity donation box for the Foundation for…
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Phuket dive site damaged by trawler
PHUKET: One of the airplanes at the artificial reef dive site off Phuket known as the “Coral Reef Squadron” has been damaged after being hit by the anchor of a fishing trawler. Rainer Gottwald, CEO of the Thai Dive Association (TDA) technical committee, said the damage probably occurred on the night of April 10. It was discovered the following day. A…
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Good support for Phuket Summer Season campaign
PHUKET: Key Phuket tourism industry executives and Tourism officials gathered at The Chedi hotel on Surin Beach yesterday to show their support for the recently launched public relations campaign to promote Phuket Summer Season. The event, organized by Summer in Phuket campaign leader Nick Anthony, attracted about 200 participants who pledged to join forces in “canceling Low Season” and promoting the…
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Phuket well prepared for swine flu outbreak
PHUKET CITY: Despite no cases of “swine flu” being recorded in Thailand, public health officials are taking measures to prevent the spread of the virus into the country through Phuket Airport and other air gateways. Pongsawad Ratanasang, director of the Public Health Office, told the media he is not overly concerned by the danger posed to the island by this…
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Phuket Police gear up for planned Asean summit
PHUKET CITY: It was a busy day yesterday at Phuket City Police headquarters, where some 300 officers began two days of special training in how to deal forcefully but effectively with large crowds and riots.The training, ordered by Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pigad Thantipong, was in reaction to the political turmoil in the capital and other parts of the country.It…
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Phuket dive boat accident relatives urged to file claims
PHUKET CITY: Relatives of several European victims of the Choke Somboon 19 disaster off Phuket Island have yet to file insurance claims with underwriter AIG, which is waiting to pay out 200,000 baht for each of the deceased.The seven victims – Swiss, German and Austrian – were covered under a mandatory group insurance policy taken out by Dive Asia Phuket,…
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Three Phuket businessmen charged with encroachment
PHUKET CITY: Three prominent Phuket businessmen yesterday morning presented themselves at the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) headquarters in Bangkok to face allegations of land encroachment at Koh Yao Yai in Phang Nga. Pol Lt Col Prawuth Wongsrinil, head of the DSI’s consumer and environment protection unit, identified the businessmen as Thawat, Tara and Prasit Tantipiriyakij. A fourth man, Bumrung…
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Burrowes free after paying 500 baht fine
PHUKET CITY: The Simon Burrowes saga appears to have finally come to a conclusion as the Englishman pled guilty to a charge of being impolite to a state official and was fined 500 baht. Burrowes was due to fly back to the UK on January 31, but became involved in an altercation with Immigration Police officials at Phuket International Airport,…
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Pollution solution due in October, 2010
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Municipality last week held a hearing to present to the public its plan to build a second waste-to-energy incinerator, scheduled to go on-line in October, 2010. About 300 government officers and members of the public attended the session, held last Thursday afternoon at the Phuket Merlin Hotel. Phuket Vice-Governor Worapoj Ratthasima chaired the hearing and Phuket…
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Social security contributions lowered
PHUKET: In a bid to increase spending, the Thai Social Security Fund (SSF) plans to lower monthly contributions from both employers and employees during the ongoing economic crisis. The Social Security Office board, which manages the fund, is scheduled to meet today to conclude details of the contribution reduction. “The reduction should be applicable for six months starting from June,”…
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