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 Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?
Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
-
All safe after Phuket tour boat hits mooring, sinks in Chalong Bay
PHUKET: A tour boat carrying 15 tourists collided with a concrete mooring and sank during its approach to Chalong Pier during low tide yesterday afternoon. All 15 tourists on board, and the skipper, were safely rescued. The accident occurred when the tourist boat Darunee, skippered by Suthip Kasathit, 50, was returning with about 15 passengers from a snorkeling trip to…
-
Police suspect Chevy driver in Phuket hit-and-run
PHUKET: Police are searching for the driver of a Chevrolet vehicle believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run in Phuket Town last night. Phuket City Police duty officer Akaradech Phongprom received a report that a man riding a motorcycle had been struck down on Narisorn Road, near Phuket Provincial Hall (map here), at about 10:30pm. Officers arrived at the…
-
Bourgeois tsunami sculptures to return to beach
PHUKET: “Hold me close”, the two sculptures designed by late French artist Louise Bourgeois to commemorate victims of the 2004 tsunami along the Andaman coast, will be given a new, secure home in Krabi. Local officials plan to provide a place on the beach at Hat Noppharat Thara where the metal sculptures can be admired, but will remain safe from…
-
Phuket Gazette Thailand News: NACC freezes B65mn of general’s assets in corruption probe
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international communityPHUKET: The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) yesterday froze 65 million baht of assets belonging to retired General Satien Permthong-in pending a judicial review, on suspicion that they are ill-gotten gains.Well-known Thammasat University Professor Sombat Chantarawong’s name has surfaced in relation to the case, as Satien’s adopted daughter asked…
-
2013 ACYC Keel Boat and Multihull Club Championship Race Series 2 announced
PHUKET: Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC) has announced the 2013 ACYC Keel Boat and Multihull Club Championship Race Series 2 – FCI Watermaker Series. The first race will be on March 3. Eligibility and entry: The series is open to all keel yachts and multihulls with an overall length of greater than six meters. Eligible boats may enter by completing…
-
Vicious Pit Bull Attack: Phuket mother files for compensation
PHUKET: A compensation complaint for a hospital bill totalling nearly 700,000 baht was filed with Wichit Police yesterday after a man was savaged in a vicious pit bull attack.Benjarat Ekpaiboon’s 33-year-old son, Tiensak Ekpaiboon, was attacked by three of their neighbor’s five pit bulls around 8am on February 6.“He’s been in hospital for almost three weeks now. Some of the…
-
Phuket Lifestyle: Day-Lewis makes history as Oscars shared around
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Argo wins best picture Oscar, Ang Lee takes best director Phuket Gazette / The Nation / DPA PHUKET: The political hostage drama Argo won the Oscar for Best Picture on Sunday as the Academy Awards were spread among a wealth of nominees. Life of Pi picked…
-
Phuket Live Wire: Anatomy of a land line meltdown
PHUKET: As I continued my pursuit of a decent internet connection in Phuket for the house I’m moving into, a funny thing happened. That’s funny as in strange, not funny as in hilarious. Depending on where you lived in Thailand, at about 2am on Friday morning, February 15, if you had internet service from TOT your line went down. Again,…
-
Phuket Finance: The many laws of averaging
PHUKET: Averaging is a word that has many meanings when it comes to investing. The investment world is full of conflicting opinions and advice, and a very common mistake people make is following advice that may be intended for short term speculative money and applying it to long term investment money, or money that is meant to be generating a…
-
Phuket Business: Expats rank Thailand highly in global survey
PHUKET: One of the largest ‘expat living’ surveys conducted last year ranked Thailand second in terms of experience and quality of life, while ranking the Kingdom third in economics. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) recently published the results of its 2012 Expat Explorer Survey, which encompassed responses from more than 5,000 expats residing in thirty countries.The same…
-
Phuket Business: OTOP fair to showcase local products
PHUKET: No less than 15 million baht is expected to be circulated during the “OTOP City – Four Regions” fair, an event that will showcase up to 200 booths selling quality local products from Phuket and across the country. The fair being held at the Saphan Hin fair-grounds, in Phuket Town (click here for map), commenced on Friday and will…
-
Phuket Business: Fill “er up with gasohol please
PHUKET: Due to the discontinuation of the supply of pure Benzine (91-octane) petrol nationwide, the consumption of gasohol in Phuket this year is expected to increase by at least 50%.Rattakorn Klinchan, head of research at the Phuket Energy Office, affirmed that supplies of pure Benzine 91 were discontinued nationwide on January 1, with most Phuket stocks already drying out this…
-
Thailand News: Former insurgent urges plea-bargaining scheme to be extended
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Insurgent’s life ‘a sunny day’ after plea-bargain Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: A former insurgent has urged the government to extend the plea-bargaining scheme to cover the entire southern border areas in order to attract more militants to surrender. Rawyalee Bueraheng, who has been released…
-
AMCHAM taxation seminar for Americans
PHUKET: If you are an American and are baffled by the US tax regime on overseas residents, then you do not want to miss an AMCHAM – the American Chamber of Commerce – seminar on March 8 at the Holiday Inn Patong. John Andes, tax partner at KPMG Thailand, will provide an overview of US taxpayers’ 2012 US income tax…
-
Phuket Gazette Sports: Gareth bails out Spurs; Arsenal profit; Laudrup to stay after cup win
Brilliant Bale lifts Spurs up to third Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Gareth Bale’s stunning late goal lifted Tottenham Hotspur to a 3-2 win over West Ham United on yesterday which took them up to third in the Premier League table. Bale opened the scoring on 13 minutes but left his best until the 90th minute when he unleashed a…
-
Phuket Gazette World News: Myanmar banks given green light by US Treasury
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.S. gives banking green light to Myanmar tycoons Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Two banks owned by tycoons associated with Myanmar’s former military regime will start to do business with U.S. companies and investors in the latest reward for the Southeast Asian country’s rapid political transformation.…
-
Three Phuket residents die on journey to make merit
PHUKET: Three Phuket residents died and two were injured on their way to make merit for Makha Bucha Day when their car went off the road and landed in a pond in Phang Nga today. One of the passengers, a five-year-old girl, was thrown from the car and was found dead in the pond water. “At about 8am this morning,…
-
New Zealanders make Phuket flight despite multi-vehicle crash
PHUKET: Three tourists from New Zealand made their flight out of Phuket today despite a concrete truck hitting their limousine and sending it careening under the bed of a parked 10-wheeled truck on Thepkrasattri Road. “The limousine driver, Worrathat Chaikajorn, 47, had picked up the three tourists in Patong and was taking them to Phuket International Airport shortly before 11am…
-
Bottlenose dolphin, rare in Phuket, found dead
PHUKET: A bottlenose dolphin was found dead on Bang Tao Beach this morning, the first to be found beached in Phuket in years. “The dolphin was a female bottlenose dolphin,” Dr Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong of the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) said. “They mostly live west of Maithon island in Phang Nga and in Ranong. This dolphin was about 2.2 meters…
-
Alcohol banned tonight for Makha Bucha
PHUKET: A nationwide ban on the sale and purchase of alcohol is in effect today, Makha Bucha Day, one of the four annual religious holidays in Thailand.“Alcohol is banned in Phuket and across the country out of respect for the holy day,” Peerayuth Karajedee, Deputy Commander of Phuket Provincial Police, told the Phuket Gazette this morning. “We have sent out…
-
Phuket officials squelch Dengue fever rumors
PHUKET: Residents must do their part in controlling dengue fever by not allowing water to stand in containers around their homes, officials have told the Phuket Gazette as rumors started to grow last week of an outbreak in Karon. In response to a complaint from a reader living on Patak Road Soi 24 in Karon that at least nine people…
-
Thailand Futsal: Phuket United back on track with away victory
PHUKET: Five different Phuket United players scored the goals that contributed to the team’s away-victory (2-6) against Samut Songkhram on Sunday afternoon in Bangkok. Played at Bangkok’s Fashion Island Futsal Arena, the match was both side’s 24th of the 30-fixture GMM Sport Thailand Futsal Premier League (TFPL) 2012-2013 season. Phuket United’s goals were scored by Brazilian Jardel, who scored both…
-
Phuket hosts single-day CITES program on ivory trade
PHUKET: Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) officers, non-governmental organizations and legal wildlife and fauna traders attended a one day meeting in Phuket as part of the 16th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) being held in Thailand. Members of the meeting expressed their gratitude for the honor of holding…
-
Phuket Opinion: Time to rein in rogue cops
PHUKET: Provincial Police Commander Choti Chavalviwat should be applauded for getting personally involved in the investigation into the attack on a teenage couple who claim to have been assaulted by two sons of a Thalang Police officer on St Valentine’s Day (story here). Reports of assault involving minors are all too common in Thalang, which has a history of teenage…
-
Phuket Gazette World News: Japanese Prime Minister sees bright future
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Abe vows to revive Japanese economy, sees no escalation with China Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Americans yesterday “I am back and so is Japan” and vowed to get the world’s third biggest economy growing again and to do more…
-
Phuket Gazette Sports: Premiership managers fed up with questions over future
Mancini swears he is fed up of questions over future Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: If Mario Balotelli had left his “Why Always Me?” T-shirt behind in Manchester, his former manager Roberto Mancini might well have fancied wearing it yesterday. The Manchester City boss, who used to joke that all his news conferences started with questions about fellow Italian Balotelli…
-
French Ambassador sees SME business opportunities in Phuket
PHUKET: The new French Ambassador to Thailand, Thierry Viteau, made his first visit outside of his station in Bangkok to Phuket on Thursday to discuss the need to strengthen relations in the tourism market. “Phuket and Nice in France have been ‘sister cities’ since 1989; I want to take this opportunity to re-strengthen and renew our relations,” Amb Viteau, who…
-
Thailand Futsal: Phuket United get new coach after losing streak
PHUKET: The spirits of Phuket United futsal fans are in a state of recovery, following the announcement of a new head coach after the resignation of Coach Suphol “Hum” Senapeng on Thursday. Initially reported on the Thai website, SMM Online, Coach Suphol’s resignation announcement follows the team’s recent loss to Samut Sakhon FC by a score of 6-1 on Wednesday…
-
Phuket Sports: Fair play league
PHUKET: THE 5th Annual Fair Play League (FPL) kicked off its new five-week season at British International School (BIS) last Sunday. Run by Phuket Soccer Schools (PSS), the league is designed to promote fair play in football and help players integrate and play with other children from different schools, as well as cultural and social backgrounds. Before the under-14 matches,…
-
Phuket Sports: Laguna end first round undefeated
PHUKET: In the final match of the first round, and one of the most highly anticipated matches so far this season, Jabudays took on the undefeated Laguna at the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) on last Sunday. Many thought this match might see the Laguna side capitulate to a very strong Jabudays side, the only side to defeat them in 2012.…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.