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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Smooth travel to Belgium and the Netherlands: Visa tips & tricks!
Make Belgium and the Netherlands your next destination with the right visa in hand. Explore the iconic tulip fields, cruise through Amsterdam’s scenic canals, or stroll through the historic streets of Bruges. Don’t forget to enjoy some authentic Belgian chocolate...
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Phuket yachties petition against boat stay law as wave of contract cancellations hits
PHUKET: The yachting and marine industry in Phuket has launched a petition calling for Customs officials to repeal the new regulation limiting boat stays in Thailand to a maximum of two months during any one visit. The news comes as contracts for berths at Phuket marinas for six months or longer are being cancelled. “Some boats in Phuket are undergoing…
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Phuket’s X-Terminal to be tested by Russians, Chinese
PHUKET: Phuket’s X-Terminal officially opened yesterday and will begin serving the island’s two largest source markets on Wednesday. “The first two weeks are trial weeks for the terminal. We will start with six charter flights per day: three to Russia and three to China,” said Director of Phuket International Airport Pratuang Sornkham. “During this period, we will make sure that…
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Video Report: Phuket protesters block police transfer of election ballots
PHUKET: Phuket anti-government protesters are blockading the Thalang Police Station in an effort to prevent the transfer of ballots to voting stations for the national election tomorrow.A large crowd of protesters gathered outside of the police station, where the ballots are being held, at about 9pm yesterday.Five protesters, chaperoned by Thalang Police Deputy Superintendent Pisit Chunpet, were allowed to verify…
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Phuket doctors unable to save girl found at Nai Harn Beach
PHUKET: Doctors were unable to save the 12-year-old girl pulled unconscious from the bottom of the sea yesterday afternoon at Nai Harn Beach. “The Varissara Thongkham was pronounced dead at about 4pm,” a Vachira Phuket Emergency Medical Service officer told the Phuket Gazette this morning. She was in critical condition when she arrived at the hospital at about 3pm (story…
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Phuket bus ban trial date pushed back, limited to traffic-heavy hours
PHUKET: The Patong Hill bus ban, set to begin by the end of February, will only bar buses and large trucks from crossing Phuket’s most infamous hill from 6am to 9am and 4pm to 7pm. “We will not prevent buses from using the hill to enter Patong all day, just during rush hour,” Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) Chief Terayout…
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Search called off for mentally-handicapped man lost at sea
PHUKET: Phuket Marine Police have given up the search for a mentally-handicapped man who was swept from a longtail boat into the sea today. “We spent more than four hours looking for Jirawat Srisomporn, 27, before we had to call off the mission because of big waves,” said Lt Col Panya Chaichana of the Phuket Marine Police. Mr Jirawat, who…
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Superbowl fever (pre-hangover) in Phuket
PHUKET: As much as I love the National Football League (NFL), I am no fan of the two weeks of retarded media hype in the run-up to the Super Bowl, or “Stupor Bowl” as I like to call it, given the ungodly time it is broadcast live here in Phuket (Monday, February 4, 6:25am). Before I explain why, I should…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Election Special – How did we end up here? From Thaksin to today
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thailand Election Special – How did we end up here? From Thaksin to today Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Yingluck Shinawatra’s journey from political nobody to prime minister was breathtakingly swift. Her premiership’s descent into crisis has been just as rapid. A political neophyte when she…
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Phuket Opinion: Creating a family for the ill far from home
Anita Somaini, 51, is the owner of Baan Tschuai Duu Lää, a nursing facility in Rawai. She has degrees in nursing, emergency nursing and pharmacology and worked for 20 years in hospitals, geriatric institutes and pharmaceutical companies in her native Switzerland. She came to Phuket in 2010.Here, she talks about why Phuket is a good place for a nursing home,…
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Phuket Opinion: Safe Phuket roads still nowhere to be found
PHUKET: It is hard to imagine that only two countries in the world have more deadly roads than Thailand. Yes, Phuket Land Transport officials should take a measure of pride in the reduction of road accident deaths in recent years, but the island obviously has far to go before conditions on the roadways can be considered anything close to acceptably…
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Girl in critical condition pulled from bottom of sea at Phuket beach
PHUKET: Doctor’s are scrambling to save the life of a girl who was pulled unconscious from the sea floor at Nai Harn Beach today. “She arrived at about 3pm in critical condition,” Vachira Phuket Emergency Medical Service nurse Ladda Thongtan told the Phuket Gazette. The girl was one of four children pulled from the water during the rescue. Eyewitnesses to…
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Bang Tao Canal ills on course to be solved by 2015
PHUKET: A multitude of infrastructure projects designed to stifle the stench and improve the quality of water being released from the Bang Tao Canal into the ocean are about 30 to 40 per cent complete, Cherng Talay Administrative Organization officer (palad) Krichanut Suphantakit has confirmed. The projects include two wastewater treatment plants: one in Bang Tao and one in Surin,…
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Russian tourists spring a leak, saved by Phuket fishing boat
PHUKET: Two Russian tourists foundering in Phang Nga Bay after their kayak sprung a leak were rescued by a passing Phuket fishing boat yesterday afternoon.Maxim Abaturov, 37, and Valerii Grakhouskii, 38, were three kilometers from Phuket when a seal in the front of their two-man vessel began to let in water.Although the kayak remained afloat, it could not support the…
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![Phuket Gazette World News: Syrian forces raze thousands of homes [Video] | Thaiger](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/worldnews_2014131102233902_UmDFCGFOphsLKhngRyNdYonwFpgLVtAgQDTGTBoN_jpeg.jpg)
Phuket Gazette World News: Syrian forces raze thousands of homes [Video]
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Syria peace talks take a break as rivals dig in Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Syrian authorities have flattened seven residential districts for no apparent military objective but to punish civilians living among rebels who had already fled, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.The New York-based advocacy group…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Amanda Knox convicted again of Briton’s 2007 murder
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Knox and Sollecito convicted again of Briton’s 2007 murder Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: American student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty on Thursday for the second time of the 2007 murder of Briton Meredith Kercher, in a retrial that reversed an…
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UAE woos foreign direct investment
PHUKET: Under the directive of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, UAE Ministry of Economy recently announced that preparations for the 4th Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) scheduled from 8 to 10 April 2014 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center are in full swing.Delivering the speech…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Suicide bombers storm Iraq ministry building, 24 killed
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Suicide bombers storm Iraq ministry building, 24 killed Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Six suicide bombers burst into an Iraqi ministry building, took hostages and killed at least 24 people including themselves on Thursday before security forces regained control, security officials said.The brazen attack on the building belonging…
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Phuket Finance: Sri Lanka could be the next frontier for investors
PHUKET: When most Westerners think of Sri Lanka, the island nation off the coast of South India that was once known as Ceylon, they probably think of tea (as the country has long been a major tea exporter), science fiction author Arthur C Clarke (who spent most of his adult life living there) or the now defeated Tamil Tiger guerillas…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Tourism takes B50bn hit from protests
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bt50 bn loss expected in Q1 revenue from tourism The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Thailand’s tourism sector has lost income so far in the new year because of he political turmoil plaguing Bangkok, experts said.Small hotels and restaurants near protest sites have started to cut down their…
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Phuket Finance: A time tested formula
PHUKET: A question I am often asked by clients, who do a bit of stock trading on their own portfolios, is how to determine the appropriate position size. Indeed, there have been studies that show that this aspect can be just as important as the actual security selection in the long run. The reason this is so important is that…
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Aussie bar owner takes deadly tumble down Phuket stairs
PHUKET: A 47-year-old Australian expat fell down a flight of stairs to his death yesterday after a night spent at his bar in Phuket. Adin Medzic had allegedly been drinking at his bar in the OTOP Market in Patong since 7pm Wednesday. He and his Thai partner, Fon Somwong, left together after the bar closed, Maj Weerapong Raktito of the…
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No salvage for sunken Similan dive boat
PHUKET: Liveaboard dive boat MV The Flying Carpet will remain on the sea floor, 75 meters below the Andaman Sea surface, after sinking yesterday between Koh Bon and Koh Tachai, north of Phuket. “There will be no salvage possibility,” said the manager of Aladdin Dive Safari, the company that owned the boat. When asked about insurance, the manager, who asked…
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Phuket’s “Nine Heroes’ land at Victory Field
PHUKET: The long-awaited nine bronze statues of important figures in Phuket’s history arrived on the island yesterday and were officially installed at Thalang Victory Memorial Field this morning. Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut led a blessing ceremony at Saphan Hin yesterday evening to welcome the Nine Heroes. “These historical figures will serve to remind all Phuket people of their brave ancestors…
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Phuket’s one-stop yacht center to open next week
PHUKET: Phuket’s one-stop center for arriving yachts is scheduled to open next week. The opening of the facility, on Chalong Pier [map here], was initially set for 2012, then delayed until 2015 before being moved forward to February 7. “We are opening now for financial reasons,” Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) President Paiboon Upatising said. “We signed a three-year contract…
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Missing Chinese couple found alive after kayak swamped by waves
PHUKET: A Chinese couple whose rented kayak was swamped by large waves off Ao Nang, Krabi, late yesterday afternoon have been found safe. Tourists Li Qi Ying, a 40-year-old businessman and his 28-year-old wife, Li Bei, were paddling with a friend when a large wave swamped the couple’s kayak, dumping the pair into the sea. “We were paddling out to…
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Phuket taxi driver returns more than 3,000 euros to Frenchman
PHUKET: A Phuket taxi driver yesterday returned a bag containing nearly 150,000 baht’s worth of euros and other valuables to a Frenchman who left it in his taxi. The 57-year-old tourist, Andre Cellier, arrived on January 22 and took a taxi to Patong. When he discovered he had forgotten his bag – which contained his passport and a mobile phone,…
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Phuket Property: Building materials index “unrealistic’
PHUKET: Provincial authorities seek a revision to the central price index for construction materials, pointing to outdated and inaccurate value estimations for building supplies imported to the island. Meanwhile, the Revenue Department reported collecting 9.6 billion baht in tax revenue in Phuket in 2013, exceeding their target by 5%.The economic issues headlined the agenda at the latest Phuket meeting of…
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Phuket tourism market eyed for semi-submarine pilot
PHUKET: Looking to build on its recent successful launch in Malaysia, one Korean marketeer is now eying the Phuket and Phang Nga marine leisure markets for its simple yet innovative semi-submarine vessel.“The Penguin” was one of several interesting marine products that stood out at this year’s Phuket International Boat Show (see page 44 for more details about the event); To…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Malta agrees to curtail plans to sell EU citizenship
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Malta agrees to curtail plans to sell EU citizenship Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Anyone wishing to buy an EU passport from Malta must first live in the island nation for a year, the European Commission and Malta agreed on Wednesday, curtailing its contentious plan to sell EU…
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Phuket Gazette World News: U.S. readies financial sanctions against Ukraine
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.S. readies financial sanctions against Ukraine Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The Obama administration is preparing financial sanctions that could be imposed on Ukrainian officials and protest leaders if violence escalates in the political crisis gripping Ukraine, congressional aides said on Wednesday.Congressional aides, who asked not to be…
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