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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  • Breaking News: NLA votes to impeach Yingluck

    Breaking News: NLA votes to impeach Yingluck

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community NLA makes history by impeaching Yingluck The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) today voted overwhelmingly, by 190 votes out of a possible 220, to impeach former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra in the rice-pledging case. Former Parliament president Somsak Kiartsuranon and former…

  • Oil prices jump after Saudi king’s death

    Oil prices jump after Saudi king’s death

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Oil prices jump after Saudi king’s death Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Oil prices jumped in early Asian trading on Friday as news of the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah added to uncertainty in energy markets already facing some of the biggest shifts in decades.…

  • Man surrenders after being charged with killing dog ‘without reason’

    Man surrenders after being charged with killing dog ‘without reason’

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Man surrenders after being charged with killing dog ‘without reason’ The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The murder of a dog, even if it’s a stray, will now matter in Thailand thanks to the newly enforced animal protection law. A 32-year-old man gave himself up to…

  • Judgment day for Yingluck

    Judgment day for Yingluck

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Judgment day for former PM Yingluck The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Pressure is mounting on the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), which votes today on whether to impeach former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and two former parliamentary speakers accused of wrongdoings. Supporters and detractors of the…

  • Lifeguard warns of dangerous conditions at Surin Beach

    Lifeguard warns of dangerous conditions at Surin Beach

    PHUKET: Surin Beach lifeguards have warned beachgoers to exercise caution during the next two days, as a storm system in the Indian Ocean combined with king tides is generating unseasonal waves and dangerous shore break conditions. “Conditions will be especially dangerous near high tide for the next two days, between 10:00am and 2:00pm. Swimmers should stay well away from large…

  • Surin Beach plagued by dangerous jet-skiers

    Surin Beach plagued by dangerous jet-skiers

    PHUKET: The dangerous jet-ski antics that continue to plague Surin Beach have forced local officials to consider installing roped-off swimming areas, despite a complete ban on jet-skis already in place at the beach. “Four jet-skis came to Surin from Bang Tao. They came into the surf line, zig-zagging and driving recklessly in the designated swimming area,” a regular beachgoer, who…

  • Asleep-at-the-wheel driver escapes serious injury in Phuket

    Asleep-at-the-wheel driver escapes serious injury in Phuket

    PHUKET: A man crashed into a tree after having allegedly fallen asleep at the wheel on a dangerous southbound curve on Thepkrasattri Road yesterday evening. Pichayakarn Masuk, 22, was taken by rescue workers to Thalang Hospital for minor cuts and bruises. “We believe Mr Pichayakarn fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of his car, causing him to hit…

  • Aussie Amb wishes Phuket happy Australia Day

    Aussie Amb wishes Phuket happy Australia Day

    Paul Robilliard has been the Australian Ambassador to Thailand since his appointment in October last year. A senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and currently First Assistant Secretary, South and West Asia Division, Amb Robilliard has served twice as Head of the United Nations Security Council Taskforce (July – Oct 2013 and Nov 2012…

  • Employment Office denies delays in issuing Phuket work permits

    Employment Office denies delays in issuing Phuket work permits

    PHUKET: The new chief of the Phuket Employment Office has denied allegations that his office is taking up to two months to process work permits. The Phuket Gazette was tipped-off by a concerned foreigner about an alleged backlog that was causing long delays in the issuance of work permits – a process that usually takes seven working days. However, Pitool…

  • Opinion: The future of the Andaman’s coral reefs is in the hands of Phuket tourists

    Opinion: The future of the Andaman’s coral reefs is in the hands of Phuket tourists

    PHUKET: A recent comment made by a high-ranking government official that seawalking tourists should be allowed to continue hand-feeding bread crumbs to reef fish is a serious cause for concern. Ministry of Tourism and Sports Phuket Office Director Santi Pawai recently went on a fact-finding mission to investigate claims that a marine tourism operator’s seawalker tours off the coast of…

  • Snatch thieves nabbed within 24 hours of gold necklace rip ‘n’ run

    Snatch thieves nabbed within 24 hours of gold necklace rip ‘n’ run

    PHUKET: Police in Karon Tuesday took only 24 hours to track down and arrested a 21-year-old man and his 13-year-old accomplice for a snatch-and-run that relieved a tourist of his 38,000-baht gold necklace. Danish national Preben Andersen, 66, told police that he first noticed two youths following him from Karon Circle, as he and his wife rode their motorbike to…

  • Cement truck takes out parked car, small restaurant

    Cement truck takes out parked car, small restaurant

    PHUKET: The driver of a cement truck that slammed into a parked pick-up truck, a motorcycle and a small restaurant on Tuesday in central Phuket, has been charged with reckless driving and will be tested for drug use. The cement truck was en route from Cherng Talay to the Heroines Monument in Thalang at about 3pm when the accident occurred,…

  • UNHCR to help settle Rohingya trafficking victims

    UNHCR to help settle Rohingya trafficking victims

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UNHCR to help settle Rohingya trafficking victims The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would coordinate with related parties to move some Rohingya refugees in Thailand on a voluntary basis to a third country, initially set as the United…

  • Ukraine talks reach agreement on cease-fire line

    Ukraine talks reach agreement on cease-fire line

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Ukraine talks reach agreement on cease-fire line Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Diplomatic progress was made during four-way talks on the Ukraine crisis and an agreement was reached on establishing security zones between pro-Russian fighters and Kiev’s forces, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. “Finally there…

  • Lighthouse Market fully booked at Boat Lagoon – join the fun

    Lighthouse Market fully booked at Boat Lagoon – join the fun

    PHUKET: All available space for the inaugural Lighthouse Market at the Boat Lagoon is sold, bringing the island two nights of quality shopping, food and fun from about 60 vendors. The fun gets underway at 3pm on Saturday and continues until the close at 9pm, returning at the same time on Sunday for five more hours of festivities. Live performances,…

  • Breaking News: Police seize Phuket tourists’ beach umbrellas, chairs

    Breaking News: Police seize Phuket tourists’ beach umbrellas, chairs

    PHUKET: Confusion reigned at Patong Police Station this morning when a group of tourists arrived to reclaim their beach chairs and umbrellas, which were mistakenly confiscated by officers trying to ensure that vendors were not encroaching outside the recently established special beach zones. About 15 tourists arrived at the station, Lt Col Sutthichai Tianpho of the Patong Police confirmed. “Police…

  • Tackling drug use among Phuket’s Muslim youths

    Tackling drug use among Phuket’s Muslim youths

    Pol Sen Sgt Maj Komon Dumluck, president of Narcotics Protection and Suppression of the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand, was born in Phuket on April 5, 1967. He graduated from Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok with a BA and MA from the Faculty of Political Science. He then want on to secure a PhD from Bangkok’s Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University in…

  • Prosecutors agree to indict Yingluck | Thaiger

    Prosecutors agree to indict Yingluck

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Nails in Yingluck’s coffin? The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Former PM Yingluck Shinawatra’s chances of avoiding impeachment on Friday got a lot slimmer yesterday after a joint working group of anti-graft officials and public prosecutors agreed to indict her on a long-standing criminal case. The…

  • Exchange-rate volatility prompts call for urgent meet on baht

    Exchange-rate volatility prompts call for urgent meet on baht

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Urgent meet sought on baht The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: In the wake of global currency volatility, the Board of Trade of Thailand and the Thai Chamber of Commerce will soon call for a meeting with the Bank of Thailand to discuss currency risk and…

  • DSI nabs two suspects for human-trafficking of Thais

    DSI nabs two suspects for human-trafficking of Thais

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community DSI nabs two suspects for human-trafficking of Thais The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) said yesterday that two human-trafficking suspects were arrested for luring Thai men into exploitative work on fishing trawlers in Indonesian waters. At the press conference, DSI…

  • Phuket fishing boat raid nets Myanmar illegals in human trafficking raid

    Phuket fishing boat raid nets Myanmar illegals in human trafficking raid

    PHUKET: A task force of officials from six government agencies today selected just three fishing boats at Rassada Pier to raid in a search for illegal migrant workers. The team found four suspects, who were all charged with entering and working in the country illegally. “They will be deported,” confirmed Phuket Immigration chief Col Sunchai Chokkajaykij. The task force was…

  • Star performers grace Phuket Food Fair [video] | Thaiger

    Star performers grace Phuket Food Fair [video]

    PHUKET: A host of Thai celebrities are performing live in concert at the seventh annual Phuket Local Food Festival, which got underway at Saphan Hin tonight and will continue through Saturday. Governor Nisit Jansomwong helped cook up a monster batch of local dessert tu boh this evening as part of an official opening ceremony. Paiboon Upatising, president of the Phuket…

  • Security concerns threaten Phuket concert for Myanmar nationals

    Security concerns threaten Phuket concert for Myanmar nationals

    PHUKET: The very first concert in Phuket dedicated to entertaining Myanmar nationals may yet be canceled for security reasons. Posters and billboards erected around Phuket Town promote the “Myanmar – Thai Cultural Relationship Concert” to be held in a field behind Bus Terminal 1 on Phang Nga Road on January 31. The event is to feature Myanmar celebrities R Zarni,…

  • Phang Nga Bay Regatta calls for cruisers to take sail

    Phang Nga Bay Regatta calls for cruisers to take sail

    PHUKET: The iconic Phang Nga Bay Regatta returns for its 18th edition this year, with a move to March and calls for cruisers to take sail on the bay. The annual regatta, informally dubbed “the party regatta” from its reputation in its founding years, has for more than a decade been held, or at least started, in February. This year,…

  • Phuket transport saga: A long, strange trip

    Phuket transport saga: A long, strange trip

    PHUKET: Even as my bus was drawing into the new Phuket bus terminal, predators were circling the bus full of unsuspecting, defenceless, bus-lagged tourists who were dying for a fresh shower or a chance to jump straight into the sea. Little did they know that their short remaining journeys would cost them half as much – if not the full…

  • Astrologer arrested for Haad Yai slaying, charged for second murder

    Astrologer arrested for Haad Yai slaying, charged for second murder

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Astrologer arrested for Haad Yai slaying, charged for second murder The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend six years ago in Saraburi has been arrested again, this time on suspicion of killing Doungkhae Khunthongphetch, director of Wiriya Thian Witthaya School,…

  • Prayut urged to act on gold mine, villagers face contamination tests

    Prayut urged to act on gold mine, villagers face contamination tests

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Prayut urged to act on gold mine, villagers face contamination tests The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: People living near a gold mine in the central north are calling for Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to urgently intervene after hundreds of villagers were found to have…

  • Prayut denies ordering NLA to impeach Yingluck

    Prayut denies ordering NLA to impeach Yingluck

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Prayut denies ordering NLA to impeach Yingluck The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday angrily denied an allegation that the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly had been ordered to impeach former PM Yingluck Shinawatra. Gen Prayut was asked to comment on the…

  • Housewife wins new car in Phuket Red Cross Fair lucky draw

    Housewife wins new car in Phuket Red Cross Fair lucky draw

    PHUKET: Chalong housewife Sompit Khaopong claimed a brand-new Toyota Altis 1.6, valued at more than 800,000 baht, as the grand prize in the annual Phuket Red Cross Fair lucky draw. Governor Nisit Jansomwong and his wife Mrs Nutsaree, who is the president of the Phuket Red Cross, presented the car to Mrs Sompit at the Phuket Red Cross head office…

  • Yokohama FC arrives ahead of Phuket friendlies

    Yokohama FC arrives ahead of Phuket friendlies

    PHUKET: About 50 players and support staff from the Japanese football club Yokohama FC arrived in Phuket this morning, ahead of their two friendly matches against Phuket FC at Surakul Stadium on January 22 and 25. The squad will be here until January 26. They will train at the Republic Phuket football field at Chaofa Thani housing estate on Chao…