News
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Is tap water in Thailand safe to consume?
Wondering if you can drink the tap water in Thailand? From brushing your teeth to filling up a bottle, it’s helpful to understand a few basics. Tap water safety in Thailand varies by location, and while some people use it...
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No alcohol ban on Phuket passenger, tour boats
PHUKET: The Phuket marine chief will not order a ban on the sale or consumption of alcohol on any passenger or tour boats operating to or from Phuket. The decision was made at a meeting of marine officials and more than 220 Phuket boat operators at the Katina Hotel in Phuket Town yesterday. “At this stage, we will not ban…
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Opinion: Social media’s role in unwanted pregnancy
Yaowanit Nongkom, 33, a Vachira Phuket Hospital psychologist originally from Roi Et province, has been working at Vachira Phuket Hospital for nine years. She graduated with a degree in clinical and community psychology from Ramkhamhaeng University. Ms Yaowanit is head of the One Stop Crisis Center (OSCC) at the hospital. Here, she talks about how social media networks can play…
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Opinion: Lovin’ the python
PHUKET: I love snakes. Whenever there is a news story about snakes sneaking into houses during the southwest monsoon season – I’m clicking on it. Snake in the road? I’m getting as close as possible to get a picture – which I admit is probably not the best idea in some situations, depending on the type of snake. So, naturally,…
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Phuket’s ACYC Open Day takes sailing back to its roots
PHUKET: Sailing gets back to its roots this weekend as Alfie Rowson of the reigning national champion Platu crew on Kingdom Property is set to lead free dinghy sailing lessons for kids and adults at the Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC) Open Day tomorrow. Rowson, along with fellow Phuket-based sailor Scott Duncanson and Kingdom Property crewmates Trent Pedersen and Tony…
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Business Buzz: Cashing in on Google’s greed
PHUKET: When asked what Google is, most people answer ‘where to find things’, while the more technically minded reply ‘a search engine’. Google’s own mission statement is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. What many people do not realize is the true dominance that Google already has in the online world. Put simply, Google…
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Trial over lethal Phuket Tiger Disco inferno begins
PHUKET: The long-awaited manslaughter trial over the deaths of four people in Patong’s notorious Tiger Disco inferno began yesterday with the presentation of witness testimonies. The lethal blaze killed four people and injured 11 others after fire broke out in the busy nightclub on Soi Bangla in the early hours of August 17, 2012. The flames claimed the lives of…
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Phuket tsunami drill to be held away from tourist fleshpots
PHUKET: A full-scale tsunami evacuation and emergency-response drill will be held on Koh Sireh, on the east side of Phuket Town, on May 7. The full-scale annual drill was originally slated to be held on Christmas Day last year (story here), but was later postponed due to sensitivities over the exercise being held one day before the 10-year anniversary of…
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![Ring in the rainy season at this year’s final Lighthouse Market [video] | Thaiger](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/201542410719988_tbTAShIsvGqDnbeRZbgPwwDNCkFKGwAwLFiIVMON_jpeg.jpeg)
Ring in the rainy season at this year’s final Lighthouse Market [video]
PHUKET: The Boat Lagoon Lighthouse Market returns next month to ring in the rainy season with a three-day extravaganza of shopping, chilling and eating at Phuket’s liveliest marina. The market will be on hiatus during April, confirmed market organizer By Kanittha, as there is a high chance of stormy weather toward the end of the month. However, the market will…
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Patong book place in cricket league final
PHUKET: A dominant victory over Village CC by an innings and 257 runs at the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) in Thalang last Sunday secured Patong CC the minor premiership and place in the league final, to be played on May17. Both teams were missing many of their regular players, who were busy with work, travel commitments or out with injuries,…
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US admits it killed US, Italian hostages
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community US admits it killed US, Italian hostages Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A U.S. drone strike in January targeting an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan near the Afghan border inadvertently killed an American and an Italian who had been held hostage for years by the group,…
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Opinion: Stop paying the power bill, Phuket
PHUKET: It’s hard to argue with the objective of the Ministry of Energy’s campaign to reduce electric power consumption on the island by 10 per cent within six months, but the Gazette hopes that more energy will be saved in the effort than calories expended. As mentioned in an announcement by Ministry of Energy Inspector Pramoul Chanpong, primary targets include…
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Heavy rain, flash flood warning issued for Phuket
PHUKET: A weather warning for heavy rains, strong winds and possible flash floods was issued by the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) this morning. A prevailing strong easterly wind is expected to bring heavy rains to southern Thailand and the Andaman coast. The warning is in effect for Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun. Wind-driven waves are expected to…
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Indian tourists injured as Phuket tour bus slams into taxi
PHUKET: Three Indian tourists were injured when a tour bus slammed into a taxi and a pick-up truck south of the Heroines’ Monument on Thepkrasattri Road yesterday. The taxi, carrying an Indian family of three, and the tour bus, which had just dropped off a group of Chinese tourists at Phuket International Airport, were travelling southbound on Thepkrasattri Road when…
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Video Report: Phuket Oilfield Classic golfers drive the fair way
PHUKET: The 7th annual Phuket Oilfield Classic 2015, played at two Phuket golf courses earlier this month, brought more than 120 golfers to the island, together raising more than 2 million baht for charity. Team Hellespont, comprising Andy Lidgard, Candice Lidgard, Rod Nicolson and James Bissett, took top honors in the traditional Texas Scramble at Red Mountain Golf Course on…
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Police launch probe after digging up infant corpse
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police launch probe after digging up infant corpse The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Police have launched an investigation after discovering an infant’s corpse, covered in gold leaf and inside a glass coffin, under a Brahma shrine in Chiang Mai province. Police dug up the coffin…
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Junta agents force cancellation of event to honor late taxi driver
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Junta agents force cancellation of event to honor late taxi driver The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A symposium and the ceremonial opening of a conference room in honor of a taxi driver who killed himself in protest against the 2006 coup was banned by the…
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Officials clear restaurant from Phuket beach
PHUKET: Police have been tasked with pursuing beach encroachment charges after a team of officials cleared a restaurant’s tables and chairs from the sand at Bang Tao Beach on Tuesday morning. About 20 officers led by Thalang District Chief Veera Kerdsirimongkol arrived and removed 34 pieces of beach furniture following complaints of beach encroachment being filed with the Thalang District…
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Chinese tourists safe as car slams into Patong drain
PHUKET: A Chinese couple escaped serious injury yesterday when their rented car plunged into a large open drain under construction in Patong. The tourists, Po Fai Choy and his female companion Kai Yin Fox, slammed into the open drain near Phuket Simon Cabaret at about 830am. Mr Po and Ms Kai were recovered from the vehicle and taken to Patong…
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Phuket Gran Fondo draws world cyclists
PHUKET: More than 220 cyclists from around the globe joined the Thanyapura Gran Fondo road race last weekend. Cyclists completing the 120km course started in Phuket and completed a lap through Phang Nga before heading back to the finish line at Thanyapura. Riders were individually chip timed and had the right of way at all intersections. The event also included…
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Paris church attack foiled as heavily armed man shoots self
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Paris church attack foiled as heavily armed man shoots self Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: An Algerian man suspected of planning an imminent attack on a church has been arrested in Paris, with police discovering Kalashnikovs, hand guns and ammunition in his possession, top officials said…
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Net spreads wider over UFUN
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Net spreads wider over UFUN The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Investigation into allegedly fraudulent schemes linked to UFUN Co Ltd’s purported branch UFUN Thailand will expand to cover another three or four related firms, as well as focus on 30 key suspects, the Department of…
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Governor revokes land deeds for Bonanza speedway
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Governor revokes land deeds for Bonanza speedway The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Thongchai Lue-adule has already approved the revocation of land right documents held by Bonanza International Speedway, which is now mired in an encroachment scandal. Solid evidence suggests the firm illegitimately…
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Seven suspects eyed for Samui car bomb attack
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Seven suspects eyed for Samui car bomb attack The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Arrest warrants will be issued for up to seven Koh Samui car bomb suspects once sufficient evidence has been collected, national police chief Gen Somyot Poompanmuang said yesterday. Meanwhile, high-ranking Internal Security…
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Italian prosecutors blame captain for collision in migrant shipwreck
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Italian prosecutors blame captain for collision in migrant shipwreck Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Italian prosecutors blamed the captain of a grossly overloaded fishing boat for a collision which capsized and sank his vessel off Libya, drowning hundreds of migrants including many women and children locked…
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Phuket career car robber flunks again
PHUKET: Police have arrested a man who has confessed to breaking into and stealing items from five cars in Phuket Town on Friday and Saturday night. Pongphol Boondetpiti, 25, was arrested at a house in Rassada yesterday. “Officers searched his house and found several items reported stolen from the robbed cars,” Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Somsak Thongklieng said this…
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Top official in heat-stroke coma after hot spring plunge
PHUKET: A senior official at the Attorney-General’s Office in Bangkok is on 24-hour watch in the intensive-care unit (ICU) at Vachira Phuket Hospital, in Phuket Town, after jumping into a hot spring in Krabi last week. Somkiat Phatkhun, the deputy director of the Training and Development Institute at the Office of the Attorney General in Bangkok, is fighting for his…
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EU issues yellow card on Thailand over illegal fishing
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community EU issues yellow card on Thailand over illegal fishing The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The European Commission on Tuesday put Thailand on formal notice for not taking sufficient measures in the international fight against illegal fishing (IUU). Thailand has six months to implement a corrective…
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Lucky sidecar escape in Phuket underpass prompts fines, safety warning
PHUKET: A garbage collector driving a motorbike with a sidecar escaped serious injury in the first road accident in Phuket’s new underpass, prompting fines, improved safety measures and a warning from island officials. At about 2pm yesterday, the motorbike driver entered the new Darasamut Underpass heading southbound toward Chalong, Phuket Highways Office Director Samak Lueduanghad explained to the Phuket Gazette…
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Video Report: Indonesian caught smuggling 5.2kg of cocaine into Phuket
PHUKET: An Indonesian man was arrested at Phuket International Airport yesterday in possession of 5.2 kilograms of cocaine, which he was transporting from Columbia to Khao Lak. Jemani Ikhsan, 63, had departed Bogota, Columbia, on April 18 and connected in Panama City, Panama; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Qatar; and Singapore before landing in Phuket at about 7:20pm yesterday. The cocaine, valued…
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Phuket health officials to crack open alcohol promotion laws, case by case
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) has confirmed that it will not take action against restaurant and bar owners for showing images promoting alcohol – unless a specific complaint is made against the venue. The news follows a report of a restaurant owner in Bangkok being sentenced to pay 460,000 baht for breaking the Alcohol Control Act of 2014.…
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