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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Phuket expats risking lives on the road to stay in paradise
PHUKET: The visa van crash that took the life of Filipina singer Renita Dequina Polido on October 21 (story here) sent shock waves through the Phuket expat community and raised questions about the logic of a system that requires foreign workers to leave the country to get visas and renew 90-day permits-to-stay so regularly. The early morning accident occurred on…
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ABBA Fever has Phuket organizers, ticket sellers maxed out
PHUKET: With less than 36 hours remaining before the doors open to Friday night’s ‘ABBA Forever’ concert at Laguna Phuket, organizers Events International have asked the Phuket Gazette to advise readers as follows. The entourage from London arrives in Phuket today. Tomorrow night’s concert is sold out. There are still some tickets available for Saturday night, but few if any…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Dutch seek to free Greenpeace activists; Toronto Mayor admits smoking crack; China eyes adopting international law; Irish referendum on same sex marriage
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Dutch take Russia to maritime court to free Greenpeace activists Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Netherlands will ask an international court tomorrow to order Russia to release 30 people detained during a protest against oil drilling in the Arctic. The detainees, two of whom are…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Govt ready to retreat; Illegal loggers shot dead forest officer; Locals at borders concerned; Logo lawsuit against stalls
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Govt ‘ready to retreat’ The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Pheu Thai government appears to be retreating from its stance on backing the controversial amnesty bill, which is facing growing public opposition, while the Senate also seems to be ready to reject the bill. Though…
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Phuket beach closed after croc scare
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut asked hotel staffers and local residents yesterday to help keep people out of the water along Mai Khao Beach after a 2.5-meter-long crocodile was spotted in the area on Sunday (story here). “To ensure the safety of tourists and residents, Governor Maitri declared the area a no-swim zone,” Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR)…
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Phuket’s BIS to host largest international schools’ football tournament
PHUKET: Over 1,100 young footballers aged 8 to 18 years and from nine different countries will congregate in Phuket this Friday and Saturday (November 8-9) for the 12th annual British International School Phuket (BISP) International Football Tournament, sponsored by Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort and the Phuket Gazette. The expansive 39-acre BISP campus with 10 seven-a-side football pitches, is the…
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Breakfast blaze cooks Phuket Town vegetarian restaurant
PHUKET: A fire that broke out in a vegetarian restaurant during the breakfast rush today caused customers to scatter.Only minor injuries were reported from the incident. The cook at the Num Heng vegetarian restaurant on Chana Charoen Road told police that she was cooking when the fire started from the gas canister she was using.“I turned my back to get…
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Phuket gold snatch duo hail police pickup as getaway car
PHUKET: Two men who snatched a gold necklace from a 50-year-old woman on Sunday night were arrested after they accidentally waved down a police pickup truck to hitch a ride as they fled. Preeda Adam, 25, from Pathum Thani, and Phuket native Somsak Puangcharoen, 23, were arrested just after midnight yesterday. Both men reportedly worked as kitchen hands at the…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Capt charged for Pattaya deaths; Senate may stop amnesty; Home CCTV relayed to police; SET plunges
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Ferry tragedy prompts safety call The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: In the wake of Sunday’s fatal ferry accident, Chon Buri Governor Comson Ekachai has demanded the Marine Department and Pattaya City boost water-transport safety and put security guards on duty on Koh Lan around the…
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In wake of Pattaya ferry disaster, top brass stages safety tour in Phuket
PHUKET: Police Region 8 Commander Panya Mamen yesterday morning led a team of officers on a safety inspection of passenger vessels at Rassada Pier, a major jump-off point for tourists boarding ferries and tour boats to islands in Phang Nga Bay and along the Andaman coast. The safety blitz followed a heavily overloaded ferry from Pattaya capsizing off Koh Lan,…
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Crocodile spooks Phuket beach tourists
PHUKET: A large crocodile spotted offshore Phuket’s northern beach of Mai Khao yesterday morning has raised concerns that the amphibious predator may return and endanger local residents and tourists. The alarm was raised at 8:30am by a staffer at the Maikhao Dream Villa Resort and Spa Phuket, at the southern end of Mai Khao Beach (map here). “A crocodile was…
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SuperCheap Burmese miss Phuket employment office deadline
PHUKET: None of the 100 Myanmar nationals who allegedly quit SuperCheap after an enormous blaze demolished the megashop (story here) reported to the Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) by the November 1 deadline (story here). “The workers were required to report their resignation to us by November 1, but until now none of them have shown up,” PPEO chief Yaowapa…
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Dozing motorist brings blackout to northern Phuket
PHUKET: A man who fell asleep at the wheel while returning home from dropping his girlfriend off at Phuket International Airport early this morning slammed into a power pole and caused a blackout throughout a large residential area in Thalang. Col Sarit Bootnongsaeng of the Thalang Police and first responders from the Kusoldharm Foundation arrived at the scene on Thepkrasattri…
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Oh what a feeling… walking on the ceiling
PHUKET: Lionel Richie’s feel-good 80s tune is about to apply in a more literal sense, with the opening of Phuket’s newest quirky, off-the-wall attraction which will enable visitors to actually dance, or walk, or crawl, or slide… on the ceiling. The beginning of 2014 is set to welcome a three-story, fully furnished house which will become the newest tourist attraction…
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Telly just like back home
PHUKET: As expats, we all have things that we miss about our home countries. For me, I have to say what I miss the most is American television. I miss having hundreds of channels (all in English) that I can watch whenever I want. There’s nothing quite like ESPN, HBO, Showtime, Starz (NASDAQ:STRZA) and AMC Networks (NASDAQ:AMCX) with their hit…
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How and why to get a Thai credit card
PHUKET: I am so often asked by foreigners living in Phuket about how to obtain credit cards, that I thought it might be helpful to explain the how and why of the situation. While some may be able to qualify for the traditional unsecured revolving card that we normally think of as a credit card, the normal situation is that…
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Phuket FC unlucky 13th in season finale
PHUKET: The Islanders ended their Yamaha League One (YL1) 2013 on a low note, falling to their final position of 13th place following a 3-0 away loss to Nakhon Ratchasima FC on Saturday night in Thailand’s Northeast. Following the opening exchanges, it was Phuket who looked to be the most threatening, with Giorgi Tsimakuridze netting the ball in the 20th…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Toronto mayor in crack up; Egypt’s Mursi trial begins; Anonymous hacks Australia; France rues journalists’ executions
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Toronto mayor urges police to release video, apologizes for ‘mistakes’ Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford on Sunday urged his police chief to release a video that media reports say show him smoking what appears to be crack cocaine and issued an apology for unspecified…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Amnesty bill protests spread; Tourism takes a hit; Six killed in Pattaya ferry disaster
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Amnesty opponents to rally nationwide The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Yingluck Shinawatra’s government is walking a tightrope as opposition against the Amnesty Bill has now gained momentum with various groups, including the Democrat Party and many red shirt groups who formerly supported her, openly launching their campaigns…
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China beats USA in FIVB Phuket Thailand Open final
PHUKET: It took just two sets for the Chinese team, Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia to beat the American pair Emily Day and Summer Ross and win the gold medal in the FIVB Phuket Thailand Open Powered By PTT 2013. The Americans failed to crack the great Chinese wall despite numerous attempts and the high flying, petite Xinyi Xia’s precise…
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Top cop warns new officers over bribes, extortion
PHUKET: Phuket’s new top cop warned the island’s police reinforcements that swift disciplinary action will be taken and criminal charges will be levied against them if they go crooked. “The most important thing is to not use your career to benefit your own pocket,” Phuket Provincial Police Commander Ong-art Phiwruangnont told the 97 recruits, all recent graduates of the police…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: House pushes Amnesty Bill through
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community How the bill was pushed through The Nation/Phuket GazettePHUKET: Since the Senate is expected to debate the amnesty bill by Friday or next Monday, with the deadline for the bill’s final passage set at 60 days, the House pushed the bill through to its third and final…
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Phuket Gazette World News: One killed in LA airport; U.S. drone kills Pakistani Taliban leader; Man sentenced in rape, murder that shocked South Africa; Call to cease excessive surveillance
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community TSA agent killed, 6 hurt in Los Angeles airport shooting Reuters/Phuket GazettePHUKET: A gunman opened fire with an assault rifle in a terminal of Los Angeles International airport on Friday, killing a Transportation Security Agent and wounding at least six other people before he was shot and…
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Phuket taxi driver killer turns himself in
PHUKET: The man who fatally stabbed a Karon taxi driver in Samkong early yesterday morning turned himself in today.Jirawat Kongtanote, 22, has been charged for the murder of his neighbor, Teeranan Phongkrathin, 29 (story here). Mr Jirawat accepted the charge, saying, “We were friends and I stabbed him.”The two men had a long-running argument that involved, at least in part,…
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Phuket Opinion: The meter of madness
PHUKET: After landing at Phuket Airport on October 7, I passed all the scam businesses and made my way to the metered taxi stand.I’ve used it for years and know that despite the word “metered” in the name, the price is fixed, about 550 baht to Patong. But with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) visits, it’s a new era.…
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Phuket Opinion: Slicing up Thailand’s cash cow
PHUKET: Reports of government plans to raise both arrival and departure taxes on foreign tourists reflect an almost complete lack of cohesion on tourism policy by government officials, and fly in the face of previous pronouncements that Thailand stands at the ready to become the “tourism hub” of the Asean region.The proposed increases, a 100-baht hike in airport departure tax…
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UK backs cross-cultural negotiation education for Phuket government officials
PHUKET: High-ranking local government officers in Phuket will start an English language and cross-cultural negotiation course this month as part of the ongoing cooperation between the United Kingdom and Thailand, said British Ambassador to Thailand Mark Kent. The announcement of the course came after a closed-door meeting between Amb Kent and Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut yesterday afternoon. “The UK embassy…
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Letters from Abu Dhabi: It’s the F1 pits and a flying circus
Abu Dhabi: The motorway to the Yas Marina Circuit hops from Abu Dhabi onto Sadiyaat Island, en-route they are building a Guggenheim Museum, a Louvre, and lots of expensive housing. Right now Sadiyaat Island it is a flat naked barren sun-blasted atoll interspersed with cranes, but when Abu Dhabi has a will, there is a way. Then we crossed onto…
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Phuket taxi driver’s feud leads to fatal stabbing
PHUKET: A Karon taxi driver was stabbed to death early this morning by a neighbor he was feuding with. Police were called to the Samkong Shrine area at about 3:30am. When they arrived, they found Teeranan Phongkrathin, 29, lying in the road with a knife protruding from his chest. Friends who witnessed the stabbing told police that Mr Teeranan had…
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Russian found dead in Phuket resort pool
PHUKET: A 38-year-old Russian man was found dead in a Phuket resort swimming pool early this morning.Royal Crown Hotel & Palm Spa Resort staffers informed Patong police of the death at 4:30am.Police and Kusoldharm rescue workers arrived at the scene to find the man floating face down in the pool.“He was only wearing swimming trunks, and there was a bottle…
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