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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What’s not covered by health insurance in Thailand?
Health insurance in Thailand has important limits that everyone should know. Many policies do not cover pre-existing conditions, motorcycle accidents, extreme sports, or specific treatments. These gaps can lead to unexpected costs during emergencies. Coverage for outpatient care and hospital...
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Bite set to eat into Suarez’s sponsorship cash
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bite set to eat into Suarez’s sponsorship cash Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Luis Suarez risks losing lucrative commercial deals following his bite on a World Cup opponent, with poker brand 888 saying on Wednesday it was reviewing its sponsorship agreement with the Uruguayan. Suarez, who plays for…
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Nigerian capital shopping district blast leaves 21 dead
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community At least 21 killed in rush-hour blast in Nigerian capital Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: At least 21 people were killed and 17 injured when an explosion tore through a crowded shopping district in the Nigerian capital Abuja during rush hour on Wednesday, a police spokesman…
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NBTC targets huge Cookie Run phone debt
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community NBTC targets huge Cookie Run phone debt The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is considering enforcing monthly debt limits for bills incurred by playing online games. No matter how cute and innocent Cookie Run characters may look, it was…
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Myanmar men arrested over body in taxi murder
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Myanmar men arrested over body in taxi murder The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Two Myanmar nationals have been arrested for allegedly killing a fellow citizen, whose body was found in a large bin in the boot of a taxi in Samut Sakhon’s Muang district. Police…
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Motorists violating road laws face harsher action
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Motorists violating road laws face harsher action The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Motorists are to face tougher enforcement of traffic laws including traffic-fine collection, with the planned introduction of an e-ticket system and driving licence suspension for repeat offences. Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner Maj-General Adul…
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Fugitive Russian mafia boss to be extradited
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fugitive Russian mafia boss nabbed in Chon Buri to be extradited The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Thai authorities are preparing to deport a Russian mafia boss whose name has been linked to more than 60 kidnapping and murder victims. Alexander Matusov, 52, was arrested in…
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Egypt defends itself at U.N. over jailing of journalists
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Egypt defends itself at U.N. amid outcry over jailing of journalists Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Egypt defended its judicial system at the United Nations on Wednesday amid a global outcry over the jailing of Al Jazeera journalists, telling diplomats and reporters that it respects the…
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Local gelato producers serve up the good stuff
PHUKET: In the high season, more than 4,000 scoops of gelato and sorbet – chocolate, licorice, durian, rice and wasabi flavors among them – are produced every day on Phuket by local ice cream makers. Though that’s nearly 10,000 kilograms a month, and does not include sales by big players such as Haagen Dazs and Movenpick, there is still room…
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Phuket deputy mayors surrender to face taxi-mafia abuse of power charges
PHUKET: Four high-ranking officials, including two deputy mayors, have surrendered to police to face abuse of power charges in Phuket’s ongoing campaign to rid the island of taxi-mafia operators. Kata-Karon Deputy Mayors Ithiporn Sangkeaw and Sompong Dabpetch surrendered themselves at Phuket Provincial Police headquarters in Phuket Town. Director of the Kata-Karon Municipality Engineering Division Wanchai Sae-Tan and the Kata-Karon Municipality…
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Police ready to take down high-ranking Karon officials in Phuket taxi-mafia raid
PHUKET: A large task force of police officers is marshalling at Phuket Provincial Police headquarters in Phuket Town, ready to deploy to Karon, to arrest at least four top-ranking officials today for their roles in supporting mafia-style taxi operators. Maj Gen Paween Pongisirin, Deputy Commander of Royal Thai Police Region 8 division who is spearheading the Phuket taxi mafia takedown,…
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Fishery industry invites supply-chain inspection
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fishery industry invites supply-chain inspection The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Thai fishery industry yesterday invited non-governmental organisations and private firms, as well as international government agencies, to inspect their plants and supply chains, insisting that the industry has strongly opposed forced labour. “We dare…
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Rice kingpin gets six years in jail for B200mn fraud
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Rice kingpin sentenced to six years in jail for B200mn fraud The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Samut Prakan provincial court yesterday sentenced a rice businessman reportedly close to former PM Thaksin Shinawatra to six years in jail and fined him Bt12,000 after finding him…
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Suarez faces another ban after biting Italian defender
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Suarez faces another ban after biting Italian defender Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Uruguay striker Luis Suarez looks almost certain to be banned from the World Cup for the second successive tournament after he bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder during his team’s 1-0 win…
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Colombia crush Japan 4-1 and next face Uruguay
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Colombia crush Japan 4-1 and next face Uruguay Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Colombia striker Jackson Martinez scored twice as they thrashed Japan 4-1 to maintain their 100 percent record and claim top spot in Group C on Tuesday to set up a mouthwatering second-round clash…
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Phuket visa runners caught in “cash only’ immigration scare
PHUKET: A van full of foreigners returning to Phuket from a visa run to Penang were delayed at the Malaysian border for more than two and a half hours today as Thai immigration officers demanded that they all present large amounts of cash to confirm that they each had enough money to fund their stay in Thailand. Any foreigners who…
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New crowd-sourced data shows Phuket yacht sighting, MH370 flight path correlate
PHUKET: Crowd-sourced research plotting the projected flight path of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 by using data from Inmarsat satellites may have confirmed that a British woman sailing from India to Phuket spotted the ill-fated flight over the Andaman Sea. British sailor Katherine Tee, 41, was sailing from Cochin, India to Phuket with her husband when on March 7 she…
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Hazardous rip currents force closures of popular Phuket beaches
PHUKET: Dangerous rip currents at Kata and Karon have forced lifeguards to rope off sections of the beaches in an effort to keep swimmers from entering the most hazardous areas of surf today. “Nobody should swim in the sea right now, the water is extremely dangerous,” Uten Singsom, Kata-Karon chief lifeguard, told the Phuket Gazette this morning. Other areas of…
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Krabi nursery school invaded by mysterious, smelly, burning bugs
PHUKET: An attack of mysterious bugs at a Krabi nursery school has frightened teachers and students and may cause the students to be moved out. The black bugs, about one centimeter long, have a putrid smell and cause a burning sensation when touched, Piyawan Chamnongrak, a teacher at the school, told the Phuket Gazette. “They appeared yesterday afternoon, from where…
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Fish companies to defend themselves from slavery reports
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fish companies to defend themselves from slavery reports The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Eight seafood and fishery associations will today reveal their action plan on labour conditions and send a decisive message against the United States’ decision to downgrade Thailand to “Tier 3” in its…
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Sudan court frees woman sentenced to death for changing faith
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Sudan court frees woman sentenced to death for changing faith Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A 27-year-old woman who was sentenced to death in Sudan last month for converting to Christianity from Islam was freed on Monday after what the government said was “unprecedented” international pressure.…
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Neymar inspires Brazil, Dutch storm on at World Cup
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Neymar inspires Brazil, Dutch storm on at World Cup Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Brazil’s poster-boy striker Neymar fulfilled a nation’s expectations to score twice in a 4-1 destruction of Cameroon on Monday while the Netherlands again showed their potential to win the World Cup with…
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Phuket police slap seahorse, illegal coral vendor with conservation lesson
PHUKET: A vendor selling several pieces of illegal black coral jewellery in a Sea Gypsy village in Phuket was given a stern warning and a lesson on conservation Saturday afternoon. “We got a tip-off about the vendor near Rawai Pier, and asked Chalong Police officers to check it out,” Tanet Munnoy, chief of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources…
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Police beat war drum as arrest warrants issued for ‘untouchables’
PHUKET: Officers are ready to go to war when serving the arrest warrants issued for the “untouchables” of Patong, Deputy Commander of Regional Police Paween Pongsirin told the Phuket Gazette today. “We have enough information to arrest some ‘big people’, including politicians,” Maj Gen Paween said. “At this stage, I cannot reveal how many officers will participate or when we…
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Flooding delays Phuket underpass trial run
PHUKET: The trial opening of Phuket’s first underpass, at the Darasamuth Intersection on the bypass road, will not begin until at least next month, the Phuket Gazette has learned. The 600-million-baht underpass, located beside the Central Festival Phuket shopping mall, missed its mid-May trial deadline after heavy rains flooded the road’s not yet complete drainage system. “The water pumps were…
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Slip on Phuket rocks costs fisherman his life
PHUKET: A man fishing on rocks at Laem Sing promontory, on Phuket’s west coast, slipped and fell to his death yesterday afternoon. Sakorn Lamnaonan, 35, had taken a neighbor’s 10-year-old son to fish with him at about noon, Lt Prasert Thongprom of Kamala Police told the Phuket Gazette. “It was very windy and big waves were washing over the rocks,…
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Phuket Airport Bus plan to use van drivers reveals the road ahead
PHUKET: The chief official in charge of drafting key policy changes affecting Phuket’s public transport has revealed that he will present a request for an airport bus operator to hire van drivers to deliver tourists from Phuket International Airport directly to the taxi-mafia hotbed of Kata-Karon. Jaturong Kaewkasi, the chief policy adviser at the Phuket Land Transport Office, confirmed to…
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Phuket hotel worker dies after being stabbed in head in gang attack
PHUKET: A staffer at a hotel in Karon has died from his injuries after being stabbed in the head during a gang attack north of Phuket Town on Saturday night. Surasri Jupmatta, 19, from Prachuap Khiri Khan, and a male friend were pushing their motorbike along Thepkrasattri Road looking for petrol when they were set upon by a gang on…
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Phuket storms prompt flash flood, landslide warnings
PHUKET: Scattered thunderstorms and isolated downpours forecast for today through Wednesday have prompted disaster officials to issue flash flood and landslide warnings for risk areas throughout Phuket. “We issued a warning to every local administration in Phuket to watch out for flash floods and landslides and to be prepared to respond to emergencies in their areas,” Department of Disaster Prevention…
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Polish foreign minister: ‘We gave the US a blow job’
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Polish foreign minister called ties to USA ‘worthless’ Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Polish news magazine said on Sunday it had obtained a secret recording of Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, in contention for a senior European Union job, saying that Poland’s relationship with the United…
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South Korea conscript who killed five comrades continues standoff with troops
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community South Korea conscript who killed five comrades continues standoff with troops Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A South Korean conscript soldier who killed five of his comrades in a grenade and gun attack continued a standoff on Monday with troops trying to capture him in a…
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