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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Koh Tao murder report to go to prosecutors this week: police
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Koh Tao murder report to go to prosecutors this week: police The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Police plan to forward their investigation report on the killing of two British tourists on Koh Tao to public prosecutors this Wednesday. “We will include DNA test results related…
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At least one dead as typhoon lashes Japan, heading for Tokyo
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community At least one dead as typhoon lashes Japan, heading for Tokyo Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Hundreds of flights were cancelled and thousands of people advised to evacuate as a powerful typhoon lashed Japan on Monday with heavy rains and high winds, leaving at least one…
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Special Report: Phuket’s billion-baht beach ‘scandal’ never kept a secret
Special Report PHUKET: A senior official at Kata-Karon Municipality this week claimed that permits issued to allow local residents to work as beach vendors were introduced at the behest of a Provincial Hall standing committee some 20 years ago. The issue raised a storm of controversy last week when Paween Pongsirin, Region 8 Police Deputy Commander at the time (story…
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Phuket cat burglar robs sleeping couple’s hotel villa
PHUKET: Police have arrested a Phuket cat burglar who crept into a sleeping couple’s hotel villa and stole a mobile phone and about 13,000 baht in cash. “Thung Taothong, 28, was arrested at his apartment in Soi Yod Saneh in Chalong and charged with robbery,” Karon Police Deputy Superintendent Sophon Borrirak told the Phuket Gazette today. “We are still searching…
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Masked men open fire in Phuket drive-by shooting, injure two
PHUKET: Two men were injured just before midnight last night in what Phuket police are calling a drive-by revenge shooting. Four men were sitting round a table drinking at Baan Liporn when a group of eight masked men on motorbikes drove by and opened fire. Watthana Suebsak, 18, was shot in the face and seriously injured, while Prasert Chanthip, 35,…
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DDPM issues flash flood, landslide warnings for Phuket
PHUKET: A weather warning advising Phuket residents and tourists to prepare for flash floods and landslides has been issued by the local Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM). “According to the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD), we can expect increasingly heavy rains tomorrow,” said Weera Amnuayporn, acting DDPM Phuket office chief. “It’s going to take a turn for the worse,…
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Australians’ drunken balcony fall raises Phuket safety concerns
PHUKET: Patong Police have urged local municipality workers to inspect the balcony-railing heights of Phuket Graceland Resort and Spa after three drunk Australians tumbled off their second-floor balcony (story here). “It is beyond our jurisdiction to ensure that the railings are of a safe height. We actually voiced our concern before this accident, and again after it. However, we cannot…
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Phuket Police defend snaring foreign tourists in illegal taxi raids
PHUKET: Police have defended their actions in a raid that saw officers and military personal, clad in flak jackets and carrying assault rifles, besiege an illegal Phuket taxi carrying a family of foreign tourists. “We flagged down a taxi with the assistance of the security guard in front of our hotel at Karon Beach. The driver agreed to take us…
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Opinion: Bilking billions from Phuket’s beaches
PHUKET: The arrest of Karon Mayor Tawee Tongcham and subsequent revelations about the nature and scale of the “beach rental” concession rackets along Phuket’s west coast is just the latest in a stunning series of graft-busting power punches made by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) since it took power on May 22. One of the most remarkable…
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Video Report: Phuket dive boat operators join forces for cleaner reefs
PHUKET: Dive boat operators of all creeds, and all certification affiliations, banded together last weekend to clean popular Phuket dive sites ahead of the high season. Nine boats, including one sport-fishing vessel, piled on about 200 participants and spent the day at various dive sites including Anemone Reef, Shark Point, Koh Mai Thon and many others. About 2,000kg of trash,…
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PWA announces Phuket Town water shutoff
PHUKET: The Phuket Water Authority (PWA) has announced that water supply in some areas of Phuket Town will be shut off from 9pm tomorrow to 3am on Sunday. Water is being shut off to allow for new pipes to be laid in Suan Luang Park* – part of the PWA’s plan to improve Phuket Town’s water-treatment process. Those affected include:…
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Living the life of Riley in Phuket
PHUKET: One morning, about six months ago, a bedraggled black dog appeared at the rear doorway to our office at Gazette Square. He looked worse for wear and had clearly been fending for himself on the street for some time. He managed to beg a few scraps of food, and before long, he was waiting each morning for the first…
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Show the Russians some Phuket love
PHUKET: Is Phuket on the brink of losing its Russian comrades? According to a recent report published by the Kasikorn Research Center, Russian arrivals to Thailand are expected to drop 5.5% by the end of this year. When you consider that Russian visitors to Thailand (1.73 million) were almost double the number of visitors from the whole of Europe last…
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Opinion: Hope for Phuket metered-taxi drivers
Chomsorn “Patty” Chaowai, 57, from Prachuap Khiri Khan, has been working as a taxi driver on the island for more than 20 years. The long-time Phuket resident and mother of two was the first female taxi driver in Phuket and became one of the first metered-taxi drivers in 2004. Here, she talks about the rapidly changing world of taxis on…
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Myanmar workers’ DNA matches semen found on Koh Tao murder, rape victim, say police
PHUKET: A police source has confirmed that DNA samples from two of three detained Myanmar workers matches the DNA extracted from semen found on the body of British tourist Hannah Witheridge. Ms Witheridge and fellow national David Miller were brutally murdered on the popular island on September 14. — The Nation
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Thousands packed Phuket streets for final day of Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Thousands of people celebrated the end of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival last night, packing the streets as processions from each of the island’s shrines made their way to Saphan Hin for the midnight finale. Each of the Chinese shrine processions carried images of the Jade Emperor and the Nine Emperor Gods on palanquins as firecrackers blazed a pathway for…
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Woken by prayers, Phuket man kills brother
PHUKET: A man has confessed to killing his brother for “praying too loudly” at their home in Phuket’s Wichit subdistrict yesterday morning. A local resident called police after discovering the body of Chaiyadol Nawee, 43, amid undergrowth by the side of a street across from the Villa California housing estate on Chao Fa East Road. “CCTV footage taken from the…
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Don’t let emotions cloud financial judgment
PHUKET: There are two emotions that tend to cloud our collective judgments and cause major swings in the financial markets: fear and greed. They lead to the ever-repeating cycle of boom and bust and are not likely to disappear anytime soon, so gaining a good understanding of them – as well as how they can affect an investor’s financial decision…
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Myanmar migrant worker confesses to Koh Tao murders, say police
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Migrant ‘confesses to Koh Tao murders’ The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A migrant worker has confessed to the murder of two British tourists on Koh Tao in Surat Thani province, deputy national police chief General Jakthip Chaijinda said yesterday. He is among three Myanmar men…
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Thai women’s volleyball team win first Asian Games medal in 48 years
PHUKET: Thailand suffered mixed fortunes at the Asian Games yesterday when the women’s volleyball team made history by clinching a bronze medal, the first ever for the country at an Asiad, while the men’s soccer team ended fourth – for the fourth time. The Thai spikers made the country proud after ending the 48-year Asiad medal drought following a hard-fought…
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Video Report: Phuket’s new governor arrives, Maitri says farewell
PHUKET: A welcoming committee and hundreds of joyous people greeted Phuket’s new governor, Nisit Jansomwong, at Phuket International Airport yesterday. “Phuket is home to many nationalities, not just Thais. I would like to encourage these people to learn to love Phuket as their real home, so that it becomes a place of real value to them – not just a…
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Koh Tao killer confesses
PHUKET: A Myanmar national has confessed to killing two British tourists on Koh Tao in Surat Thani, acting Deputy Police Commissioner Jakthip Chaijinda said today. David Miller and Hannah Witheridge were brutally murdered on the island on September 14. Both suffered serious head wounds. Police said Ms Witheridge was also sexually assaulted. The migrant worker was identified only as “Win”,…
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Boat operators ordered to move away from Phuket Navy base, or face jail time
PHUKET: The Phuket Marine Office has issued an official order for boats to stay at least 500 meters away from the Royal Thai Navy’s Third Area Command base in Cape Panwa, or face jail time. The directive was handed down by the Marine Office on Tuesday, following an order from the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to re-organize…
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Phuket flash floods lead to tailbacks on Thepkrasattri Road
PHUKET: Flash floods inundated Thepkrasattri Road in front of SuperCheap’s flagship store early this afternoon, causing a kilometer-long tailback of traffic leaving Phuket Town. “The flood continued for more than an hour, but drained away by about 2:30pm,” Wirat Sinthuwong, chief of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) for Rassada Municipality, told the Phuket Gazette. “However, flooding is…
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Russian killed in crash after leaving Phuket reggae bar
PHUKET: A helmet-less Russian national was killed in Phuket after he lost control of his motorbike and crashed into the sidewalk early this morning. Chalong Police and Ruamjai Foundation rescue workers were called to the scene next to the canal near Nai Harn lagoon at about 1am. “We found the body of Pavel Dzembo, 23, on the sidewalk that circles…
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Phuket ladyboys arrested for drunken “hug and run’ thefts
PHUKET: A pair of pick-pocketing ladyboys were arrested in Phuket yesterday after two tourists reported having been robbed by the duo while receiving a hug. Pavel Abramov, 24, from Russia, and Moris Fosaati, 38, from Italy, both reported at separate times to Karon Police on Monday that they had been pick-pocketed by two ladyboys, said Karon Police Deputy Superintendent Sophon…
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Phuket truck driver held after woman crushed by 18-wheeler
PHUKET: A truck driver has been taken into custody after one woman was crushed under his 18-wheeler and another woman injured at the Tah Chat Chai checkpoint yesterday morning. The driver of the truck and trailer, Niran Sawasdee, 37, told police that he was driving onto Phuket from Phang Nga when the accident occurred at about 11am. “I didn’t see…
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Woman caught smuggling drugs in pumpkins
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Woman caught smuggling drugs in pumpkins The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Police yesterday caught a woman allegedly trying to smuggle in marijuana and amphetamines stuffed in pumpkins. Kanjana Srijuisai, 37, was arrested at a border checkpoint in Ubon Ratchathani after returning from Laos. Noticing her…
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Phuket freedive floats Wierenga to third in US rankings
PHUKET: American Katie Wierenga was ranked third among the USA female Dynamic No Fins (DNF) athletes after an outstanding performance at the We Freedive Suunto Series in Phuket on Sunday. Wierenga covered 105m underwater in what many believe is the most technically difficult of the eight Association Internationale pour le Développement de l’Apée (AIDA) freediving disciplines. “She had performed in…
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Phuket Navy base swaps top brass
PHUKET: After three years at the helm, Royal Thai Navy Vice Admiral Taratorn Kajitsuwan has been transferred from his post as the commanding officer at Phuket’s Third Area Command, the leading naval base for the entire Andaman coast. An assembly of sailors welcomed his replacement, Rear Admiral Sayan Prasongsamrej, at a handover parade at the base at Cape Panwa yesterday.…
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