News

Stay up-to-date with the latest news from across Thailand and beyond with The Thaiger. Our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from this stunning part of the world, covering a diverse range of topics, including local politics, business, culture, and tourism. Keep yourself informed about the Kingdom’s rich history, stunning landscapes, and thriving expat communities, as well as updates on events, attractions, and transportation.

The Thaiger is your essential resource for staying connected with Thailand’s captivating blend of tradition and modernity. To remain in the loop with the country’s most trusted news source, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.

  • Sponsored

    Infinito helps hotels in Thailand with revenue management

    Maximising revenue and profit–isn’t that the ultimate goal for every business in the hospitality industry? If you run a hotel, you might have heard that revenue management is an effective way to boost your top-line revenue. It involves using data...

  • Manhunt launched for Swedish suspect in slaying of fellow Swede

    PHUKET: Phuket City Police have issued an arrest warrant and appealed to the public to keep an eye out for the prime suspect in last night’s murder of Russian-born Swedish national Maksim Schantz, 25. Police have launched a manhunt for 26-year-old Tommy Viktor Soderlund, also from Sweden, and another white male who are said to have recently rented a home…

  • Swedish expat stabbed to death at luxury villa in Phuket

    PHUKET: Phuket Police are investigating the stabbing murder of a Swedish man ambushed and stabbed to death as he returned to his luxury villa in Koh Kaew subdistrict last night. The murder took place in full view of neighbors. The police identified the deceased as a 25-year-old Swedish national. The name of the victim is known to the Phuket Gazette,…

  • Phuket in the mood for seafood

    PHUKET: The Phuket Seafood Fiesta got underway today with an official launch at Jungceylon in Phuket’s resort town of Patong. The festival offers a 10 to 20% discount on seafood dishes at more than 60 restaurants on the island from today through August 31, explained Bangonrat Shinaprayoon, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) regional office in Phuket. Coinciding…

  • Phuket daycare teacher charged over child beatings

    PHUKET: The Phuket daycare teacher allegedly caught on video beating her students has been charged with child abuse, with the possibility of more charges to come. Meanwhile, Wichit Municipality has taken over the Wat Thepnimit daycare center, where parents and other teachers say the beatings took place regularly. The scandal unfolded on July 24 when teachers from the daycare center…

  • FC Phuket still waiting for away success

    PHUKET: FC Phuket’s match on Sunday against Rajapracha FC in Nakhon Pathom ended in a scoreless draw, irritating Phuket’s winless wound in its eighth away game this season. There were about 1000 spectators that showed up to cheer the Rajpracha “Crowns” at Mahidol University Salaya campus stadium. As expected, Phuket fielded three of their new players: goalkeeper, Jonathan Matijas from…

  • Missing Aussie tourist found alive and well in Phuket | Thaiger

    Missing Aussie tourist found alive and well in Phuket

    PHUKET: Missing Australian tourist Geoffrey Hoffmann has been found alive and well. Mr Hoffmann disappeared while going for a morning walk at the lake at Karon Park on Saturday. His family raised the alarm after he failed to return four hours later. Their concern was heightened by the fact that Mr Hoffmann suffers from short-term memory loss. Mr Hoffmann’s brother-in-law…

  • Final countdown

    PHUKET: “It is not an easy draw. You have to be really, really focused and play every game like a final – but that will be another manager’s job.” England’s Italian manager, Fabio Capello, leaves advice for the next head on the chopping-block, that is the national team’s managerial role. Capello was present for the 2014 World Cup qualification draw…

  • Buried alive in Phuket: How much longer do we need to suffer the landslides?

    PHUKET: Another rainy season in Phuket, and yet another death from a landslide. The trench collapse on Monday that killed Burmese laborer Min Hla Thein came just nine days after new workplace ‘health and safety’ legislation came into effect. [See news feature, pages 4-5, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.] Among…

  • Aussie on holiday in Phuket reported missing

    PHUKET: A worried Australian family on holiday in Phuket is urging anyone who identifies Geoffrey Hoffmann, 77, to contact them immediately. Mr Hoffman was last seen walking near the lake at Karon Park this morning. Mrs Hoffmann told the Phuket Gazette this afternoon that she arrived with her husband, sister and brother-in-law on a family holiday to Phuket on Tuesday.…

  • It’s Official: Phuket Town still the worst for drugs

    PHUKET: Phuket Town has maintained its place as the top district in upper Southern Thailand for drug crime, an accolade the popular tourist town has held for the past three years, a Bangkok health official was told yesterday. The news was revealed at a meeting of the Phuket Provincial Anti-Drug Committee at Provincial Hall. Regular chiefs on the committee include…

  • Hurtling Phuket hill boulders continue to threaten resort

    PHUKET: Heavy rains in Phuket over the past week have caused more boulders to hurtle downhill into the L’Orchidee Residences in Patong. Although the boulders were smaller than the original two-tonne “devil’s marbles” that crashed into the resort at the beginning of this month, they have still caused damage and much concern, said Wassana Yukhunthon, the resort’s public relations manager.…

  • Weather warning for Phuket

    PHUKET: The Thai Meteorological Department has this morning issued a wet weather warning covering much of Thailand due to Tropical Storm “Nock Ten” in the South China Sea. At 5am today, Nock Ten was centered over the west coast of Hainan Island, in China, with sustained winds of about 50 knots, about 90kmh, said the warning. The storm was moving…

  • Phuket parents furious over teacher hitting young children

    PHUKET: A Phuket temple’s daycare program is under fire after video footage surfaced allegedly showing a long-time teacher beating her students. About 200 parents and children gathered at Wat Thepnimit daycare center in Wichit today to complain about the teacher and the subsequent firing of four other teachers who parents claim were responsible for exposing the abuse, not inflicting it.…

  • FC Phuket to resume league campaign on Sunday

    PHUKET: FC Phuket will kick off the second half of the Thai Premier League (TPL) Division One 2011 season this weekend in Nakhon Pathom. Phuket face Rajapracha FC, or the “Crowns”, who sit 7th in the table, two places ahead of Phuket in 9th position. Speaking to the Phuket Gazette this afternoon, club secretary Soranun Sanae, clarified details of this…

  • Phuket ‘luggage truck’ in fatal collision

    PHUKET: Police are awaiting test results to confirm whether alcohol was a factor in a fatal traffic accident this morning involving a luggage-transport truck and a motorbike. Thalang Police responded to reports of the crash in Srisoonthorn Subdistrict – about 300 meters north of the Heroines’ Monument – shortly after 1am. At the scene was a bronze-colored Isuzu D-Max pickup…

  • Like father like son

    PHUKET: “Low point of the day so far, being called ‘Chris’ by an 8 year-old.” Stuart Broad, England’s opening strike bowler, having just finished coaching kids at the Urban Cricket Center in Nottingham, was not entirely happy when mistaken for his father by one of the children. Stuart was quick with a retort saying his ‘dad’ was terrible in the…

  • New GM appointed for Phuket’s renowned Boathouse

    PHUKET: Marie Laure Fleury, formerly the resort manager at the upscale Triasara, Phuket, has been appointed General Manager of the Boathouse, the renowned 37-room boutique resort on Phuket’s Kata Beach. Effective immediately, Ms Fleury will oversee the lead-up to the reopening of the resort in October, the Gazette was told today. The Boathouse resort and its adjacent Oasis Restaurant have…

  • House and home expo opens in Phuket

    PHUKET: More than 50 exhibitors from across Thailand today unveiled their products for the first time in Phuket at the opening of the Architect & Engineering Exhibition 2011. Products on show at the expo, now in its 11th year, run the gamut from construction materials through to custom-made home decor items. The theme of this year’s A&E expo is “New…

  • Archaeologist confirms 2,000-year-old relics safe in Phuket

    PHUKET: An inquiry into the whereabouts of ancient beads, ceramic vases and glass shards excavated by a Phuket archaeological team in 2005 has revealed that the artifacts are safe on the island. The relics are all estimated to be more than 2,000 years old. A letter of complaint was filed with the Crime Suppression Division by Sutha Pratheep Na Thalang…

  • Phuket rescue drill targets sea safety

    PHUKET: Emergency service agencies staged their annual coordinated sea rescue drill off Phuket’s east coast yesterday, simulating a tourist boat catching fire after colliding with a cargo ship. The exercise aimed to improve coordination among a battery of rescue personnel from different agencies, including police, health officials and hospital staff, the Royal Thai Navy, local administration organizations and related departments…

  • Phuket Live Wire: AIS rolls out 3G coverage

    PHUKET: Finally, it’s here! 3G has arrived on Phuket and will be available later this month. AIS marketing and sales manager, Paiboon Rinsakul, gave a ground-breaking presentation at the Computer Clinic meeting last Sunday. Mr Paiboon demonstrated AIS’s new HSPA 3G service, with full internet access over AIS’s about-to-be-released wireless network. In front of 50 observers at the meeting, Mr…

  • Phuket flight forced back to Bangkok now on the ground in Phuket

    PHUKET: The Thai Airways flight that was forced to return to Bangkok this morning due to bad weather has safely landed in Phuket with all 316 passengers on board. “Flight TG301 left Suvarnabhumi Airport at 7:35am and was to land in Phuket at 9am,” said Boonlert Nuanla-or, chief of the Thai Airways critical information unit. “But when the plane arrived…

  • Phuket police claim “breakthrough’ with drug mule bust

    PHUKET: Police believe they have made a major breakthrough in breaking a Phuket drug delivery chain that leads all the way to Bang Kwang Prison in Bangkok. A provincial anti-drugs task force together with Border Patrol Police from Takuapa in Phang Nga arrested Prapan “Ae” Nammali during a sting operation in Saphan Hin Village on Sunday night. The arrest was…

  • Football star Therdsak to coach at Phuket’s Thanyapura

    PHUKET: Thailand Premier League midfielder, Therdsak Chaiman, will be in Phuket on Saturday, July 30 to conduct the “Bend It Like Therdsak Football Clinic” at Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC). Therdsak, who plays for Chonburi FC and has captained the Thailand national team, will coach players on improving techniques and how to play together on teams more effectively. The…

  • Phuket landslide kills Burmese migrant worker

    PHUKET: A Burmese migrant worker was buried alive at a Phuket construction site this morning when a large pile of dirt slid into the trench he was working in. Min Hla Thein, 45, was working on a large drainage system at the Phuket Villa 5 project in Wichit when the landslide filled the 2.5-meter ditch, police said. Phuket City Police…

  • Dane’s death accidental: Phuket police

    PHUKET: The Danish man found dead at a Phuket hotel last Tuesday likely died as a result of diabetes and heavy drinking and smoking, police said. The body of 62-year-old Preben Thamsen Schmidt was found in the gardens of the Print Kamala Resort early in the morning. He had wounds to his face and arms and was last seen drinking…

  • Japanese to power up Phuket offshore students

    PHUKET: Koh Lone School will receive their first free wind turbine in August following a joint initiative by a Japanese manufacturer and the Phuket Provincial Energy Office (PPEO). PPEO Chief Jirasak Tummawetch along with representatives from A-Wing Co Ltd, the Thai affiliate of the Japanese small wind turbine manufacturer, made the announcement at a meeting with Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet…

  • Driver “not drinking’ in fatal Phuket crash

    PHUKET: Police have confirmed that alcohol was not a factor in a fatal car accident in central Phuket on Friday. The driver of the car, Lithuanian Tamara Latvijas Rabo, 31, died instantly in the crash and Kuwaiti Waleed MHH Alostad, 37, the front-seat passenger, later died at Phuket International Hospital (PIH), Police Duty Officer Kittiphum Tinthalang told the Phuket Gazette.…

  • Murder the ultimate risk in Phuket land. Did it trigger the temple murders? | Thaiger

    Murder the ultimate risk in Phuket land. Did it trigger the temple murders?

    PHUKET: Murder the ultimate risk in Phuket land deals. Did it trigger the temple murders? The significance of the armed attack by six gunmen at Suwanpadit temple in Surat Thani last Sunday is not lost on Phuket people. The men, armed with pistols, entered the temple and opened fire on Songwut Noppakhun, an official serving with the Surat Thani Provincial…

  • Storming last day ahead for Phuket Six Senses Raceweek

    PHUKET: An eight point gap keeps Neil Pryde’s Team Premiere in pole position of the 2011 Raceweek regatta’s Racing class heading in to the final day of competition. A resurgent Katsu skippered by Ben Copley on 13 points has laid down a late challenge by taking over at second place from KukuKERChu with David Ross, while Ricky Pointon’s Jing Jing…