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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New base for anti-smuggling operations
AO MAKHAM: The new Customs House and pier at the Ao Makham Deep Sea Port, officially opened yesterday, is expected to play a major role in the protection of the area around the port from various maritime perils, including smuggling and environmental problems. The Customs Department will base five vessels there to intercept fuel-oil smugglers and drug runners. Anti-smuggling operations…
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Police appeal over headless corpse
KAMALA: Police have appealed for information to help them identify a badly decomposed, headless body that was found washed up on seaside rocks at Laem Son on Sunday. Pol Capt Serm Kwannimit, of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that the body was discovered by local villagers at about 4:30 pm. He said that police believe the victim was probably…
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Mayoral candidate disqualified
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Election Commission (PEC) has barred Thanapong Kho-udom, leader of the Pattana Baan Rao (“Develop Our Home”) Party from running for Mayor of Phuket City in elections due to be held on April 4. Kittipong Thiengkunagrit, Director of the PEC, told the Gazette that electoral rules state that a mayoral candidate must have lived within municipal boundaries…
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Court accepts Blue Canyon case
PHUKET (The Nation): The Phuket Provincial Court has decided that a complaint filed by a founder of Murex Co, developer of the Blue Canyon Country Club, has sufficient merit for it to proceed. The court set March 29 as the date of the first hearing, allowing the accused, Sia Leng Yeun, an executive of Murex, to defend himself against the…
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Democrats in landslide victory
PHUKET TOWN: The ruling Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party’s attempt to become a force in provincial politics in Phuket received a stinging setback in yesterday’s elections for the presidency of the Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), with the TRT candidate coming last by a long way. The winner, after vote-counting ended at about 4 am today, was Democrat candidate and former…
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Dugong not out of the woods yet
PHUKET TOWN: The health of the young female dugong rescued by staff of the Phuket Marine Biology Center (PMBC) on March 5 has improved, but the animal is still far from a complete recovery. The young animal, little more than an infant, was found stranded at the edge of Klong Pa Khlock, exhausted, bruised all over and with a large…
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Obstructive bureaucrats slammed
PHUKET CITY: The President of the recently formed Phuket Real Estate Club (PREC) yesterday slammed bureaucrats for constantly putting obstacles in the way of the booming property market. Announcing that the club plans to stage a public seminar on April 3 at the Royal Phuket City Hotel to address problems faced by those in real estate development, Phummisak Hongsyok, former…
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Phuket must decide on expo center: Chavalit
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket and its tourist trade are essential to Thailand’s economy but what matters most is that the island’s inhabitants decide their own future, Deputy Prime Minister Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyuth said today. “I’d like to ask if Phuket people really want to build the International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) or not,” he said of the controversial 2.5-billion-baht project…
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Bird ‘flu saves prawn farmers
PHUKET CITY: With the appearance of avian ‘flu in Thailand, many consumers have made a switch to fish, seafood and the other “white” meat – pork. Fish, and prawns in particular, have become shoppers’ favorites. Before bird ‘flu, prawn prices were depressed because of caps on imports imposed by the US and Europe, resulting in huge surpluses. For prawn farmers…
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Gazette launches private home delivery
PHUKET: In response to increasing demand from readers for home delivery, as well as pressure from advertisers for paid (vs ‘give-away’) circulation, the Phuket Gazette has today launched a “Phuket Special Delivery” subscription. Available to readers in Phuket Province only, the new service promises direct, hand delivery to homes and offices virtually anywhere on the island – “every Saturday morning,…
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Autopsy finds Russian girl was electrocuted
PHUKET: Police have resumed their inquiry into the death of a 10-year-old Russian girl beside the pool at the Dusit Laguna Resort Hotel, after an autopsy by the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IFM) in Bangkok established that she was electrocuted. It is almost two months since Ksenia Drashinskiy died in mysterious circumstances while on vacation with her parents at the…
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Deadline approaches for fun venues
PHUKET: Entertainment venues on the island have just a few more days to register under a new law that requires all such venues to have licenses. From January 13, owners of the venues were given 60 days to apply for licenses under the revised provisions of Section 3 of the Entertainment Act. The 60-day period expires on Friday. Wisut Romin,…
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Resort guards arrested
CHERNG TALAY: Two former security guards from Banyan Tree Resort Phuket have been released on bail by the Phuket Provincial Court after being charged with attempted murder. Over police objections, the court released the two men the same day they were taken into custody – March 4. Pol Lt Col Suwat Kaewprom, Deputy Superintendent of Cherng Talay Police Station, named…
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Chuan leads Democrat vote drive
PHUKET CITY: Former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and other Democrat Party leaders went walkabout and attended a rally at Saphan Hin on Saturday to support Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr’s bid to win the presidency of Phuket’s Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). Among others in attendance at the walkabout and rally were current Democrat Party leader Banyat Banthadtan and senior members Trairong Suwankiri and…
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Stranded dugong recovering after rescue
CAPE PANWA: A sick dugong was rescued by the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) on Friday, given medication and food, and is making its first steps toward recovery. A fisherman saw the animal, a young female, stranded in Klong Pa Khlock, Baan Para, close to where the klong meets the sea. He contacted the PMBC who came and retrieved the…
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Search and destroy at the chicken farm
PHUKET: This week has been Clean Your Chicken Farm Week. Starting on Monday, the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO) initiated a campaign to destroy any viruses in chicken farms and chicken meat companies in Phuket. While the campaign has been deemed successful, PPLO Chief Sunart Wongchawalit and Vice-Governor Niran Kalayanamit took matters into their hands yesterday morning, personally administering the…
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Curb resort guards, mob urges police
CHERNG TALAY: An argument between locals and security guards at the Banyan Tree Phuket resort led to about 100 villagers staging a protest outside the Cherng Talay Police Station last night. The crowd protested for six hours, calling on police to have the guards removed from their jobs, said Pol Lt Col Suwat Kaewprom, Deputy Superintendent of Cheng Talay Police…
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Wind stops as Langkawi regatta starts
LANGKAWI (Gazette, Asian Yachting): Yesterday’s first day of racing in the BMW-Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2004 suffered from a syndrome known all too well to organizers and competitors in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta – fickle winds. For the Racing, Premier Cruising and Sports Boats classes, two windward-leeward courses were planned, but after the first lap of the first race,…
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B145m reservoir budget “a done deal’
THALANG: The head of the Phuket office of the Royal Irrigation Project (PRIP) is “100% confident” that the 145-million-baht budget for the purchase of land to create a reservoir at Klong Bang Neaw Dum will be approved by Bangkok by the end of March. The project, which is intended to provide a second major supply of water on the island,…
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Entertainment venues get temporary reprieve
BANGKOK: The Cabinet resolved today that entertainment venues may stay open until 2 am for the time being because new regulations enforcing earlier closing times have yet to be approved. A source in the Cabinet Secretariat, who asked not to be named, told the Gazette that all venues, regardless of when they received operating licenses, could stay open until 2…
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Police warned they must reform
PHUKET CITY: Police in Phuket were told yesterday that they must make big changes to the way they work and the way they are perceived by the public, or face having massive and humiliating change imposed on them. Speaking to a meeting of officers at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, Pol Lt Gen Somsak Buppasuwan, commander of Police Region 8…
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Spy network to tackle road safety
PHUKET: A new road safety campaign aims to recruit volunteers from government departments, schools, factories, transport operators, private companies and even villages – a large proportion of the island’s population – to look out for and report violations of traffic laws. The scheme was launched last week by the newly-formed Phuket Land Transport Security Center (PLTSC) under instructions from the…
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18,889 register as poor in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: A total of 18,889 people registered as poor in Phuket between January 5 and the registration deadline yesterday. The registration process also brought to light 5,881 people who do not have Thai IDs. It is believed that most of them are sea gypsies, supposedly the original inhabitants of Phuket. People were able to list one or more reasons…
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Marina finally breaks ground
KOH KAEW: The Royal Phuket Marina took its first step toward construction this morning with a ceremonial ground-breaking and the placing of the first stone. Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura was the guest of honor at the ceremony, presided over by the marina’s president, Gulu Lalvani. Mr Lalvani told the Gazette that he hopes the marina will attract anyone who enjoys…
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Som Tam Express wins Champagne Run
ANDAMAN SEA: The Rebak Champagne Run 2004 was a race of extremes, from lulls that left the boats lurching in sloppy waters making no headway, to fresh breezes of 10 to 15 knots. Fifteen boats registered for the Phuket-Langkawi race, the 120-nautical-mile precursor to the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club Regatta, while others joined in unofficially. As with most yacht races,…
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Sipa branch launches cyber future
PHUKET CITY: After years of promises, Phuket today moved one step towards the goal of becoming a center for information technology with the opening of a branch of the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) at Saphan Hin. The opening aligns Phuket with Sipa headquarters in Bangkok and puts the local branch in control of software development throughout southern Thailand. It…
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Third party enters municipal poll
PHUKET CITY: A third party entered the Phuket City Municipality race this morning, on the final day for registration. The Pattana Baan Rao (“Develop Our Home”) Party is led my mayoral candidate Thanapong Kho-udom, 53, who explained the late entry: “We came to register on the last day because we didn’t want to compete [for the number 1 on ballot…
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Illegals top Feb crime stats
PHUKET: Illegal immigration topped crime statistics for February 1 to 23 with 203 illegal migrants arrested, according to figures just released by the Phuket Provincial Police. Arrests for gambling coming in second, with 194 people taken into custody in the course of 106 raids. Police apprehended another 46 people for prostitution and made 34 arrests for possession or use of…
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Beach chair protest falls on deaf ears
KHAO LAK: An angry crowd of about 200 beach chair renters and other residents of the Bangniang area of Khao Lak blocked the road to Bangniang Beach from 9 am to 5 pm yesterday to protest the removal of beach chairs and umbrellas from the beach. Police and military personnel moved all the chairs and umbrellas from the beach earlier…
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Sipa to bring “e-life’ to Thailand
PHUKET CITY: Kruewal Somana, Adviser to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, today explained the aims of the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa), which will open an office on Monday at Saphan Hin. At a seminar in the Royal Phuket City Hotel this afternoon, she said that Sipa will support all sectors of society by bringing them the…
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