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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 Sports: F1 – Gremlins, graunches, gruffness, grit and glory

    Phuket Sports: F1 – Gremlins, graunches, gruffness, grit and glory

    PHUKET: After qualifying the script for the Abu Dhabi race was clear; Lewis Hamilton would coast around to win. Sebastian Vettel, starting at the back would make no impression; Fernando Alonso would take his customary third, while Kimi Räikkönen and Jenson Button would take some good points. It would be boring, but could open up both championships. I had fortified…

  • Futsal World Cup: Thailand may still qualify for second round despite losing

    Futsal World Cup: Thailand may still qualify for second round despite losing

    PHUKET: Despite losing two of their group stage matches, hosts of the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2012, Thailand, still have a chance to make history by advancing to the second round of the prestigious tournament. If Thailand does advance, it would be the first time in its four appearances. Going into the match last with a world ranking of 13,…

  • Governor urges prompt completion of Phuket mangrove flyover

    Governor urges prompt completion of Phuket mangrove flyover

    PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut yesterday urged officials to complete the Klong Koh Pee flyover, which will traverse 600 meters of protected mangrove forest on the border of Phuket Town, as quickly as possible.During an inspection visit to the site at Saphan Hin, officials told Governor Maitri that Cabinet had approved a budget of 170-million-baht for the project and that…

  • Phuket Sports: IronKids by the kids

    Phuket Sports: IronKids by the kids

    PHUKET: In the build up to IronKids 2012 on December 1, the Phuket Gazette interviewed six participants who will be featured throughout November. The first IronKid is 13-year-old Malaysian, Zoe Bowden. Phuket Gazette:Why are you competing in the IronKids competition?Zoe Bowden: To meet new people, to learn from others and also to have some exposure.Every time you go for a…

  • The Andaman Culture Festival starts tomorrow

    The Andaman Culture Festival starts tomorrow

    PHUKET: Six local provinces are preparing to host the Andaman Culture Festival. From tomorrow until Sunday the event will highlight the cultural identity of the region under the theme “Andaman – The World Experience”. Phuket Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa said that Minister Worawat Ua-Apinyakul has instructed the six coastal provinces of the region, which include Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi,…

  • World Sports: Man Utd through; Celtic hold-up Barca

    World Sports: Man Utd through; Celtic hold-up Barca

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World sporting news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Barca stunned by Celtic as United reach last 16 Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Barcelona wasted their first chance to reach the Champions League last 16 after a surprise defeat by Celtic but Manchester United edged through and six-goal Bayern Munich rocketed closer to progression…

  • World News: Turkey to ask for Patriot missiles; Britian hardens stance on Syria

    World News: Turkey to ask for Patriot missiles; Britian hardens stance on Syria

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Turkey to ask NATO for Patriot missiles – report Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Turkey will imminently lodge an official request with NATO asking the military alliance to deploy Patriot missiles along its border with Syria to guard against violence spilling over, a senior Turkish foreign…

  • British expat dies in Phuket motorbike crash

    British expat dies in Phuket motorbike crash

    PHUKET: A British expat living on the island died last night after the motorbike he was riding slammed into the back of a pickup truck in Thalang. Police named the deceased as Christopher Ian Hart, 44, from Littleborough* in the United Kingdom. Lt Col Somkit Kaosung of the Thalang Police was notified of the accident at 9:34 pm. Officers arriving…

  • Phuket dugong dies from hit by boat propeller

    Phuket dugong dies from hit by boat propeller

    PHUKET: A dugong spotted injured off Cape Yamu, on Phuket’s east coast, last Saturday has died from its injuries after suffering severe cuts to its head and body inflicted by a boat propeller.Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong, head of the Marine Endangered Species Unit at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC), told the Phuket Gazette that the sea cow was an adult female…

  • President Obama survives re-election

    President Obama survives re-election

    PHUKET: President Barack Obama rolled to re-election and a second term in the White House on Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney and overcoming deep doubts about his handling of the US economy.Obama defeated Romney in a series of key swing states despite a weak economic recovery and persistently high unemployment as US voters decided to stick with the first…

  • FIFA Futsal World Cup: Do or die for Thailand and Paraguay

    FIFA Futsal World Cup: Do or die for Thailand and Paraguay

    PHUKET: It’s do or die for the Thailand national futsal squad, who are set to play Paraguay in their final group stage match of the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2012. To be played at Bangkok’s Huamark Indoor Stadium this evening, the match-up is certain to be tense and full of high energy as both sides fight for passage onto the…

  • Phuket Reminder: Gazette office closed Wednesday | Thaiger

    Phuket Reminder: Gazette office closed Wednesday

    PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette would like to inform our readers and advertisers that our office in Koh Kaew will be closed on Wednesday due to a scheduled, all-day blackout in the area to upgrade power lines. The blackout will affect Soi Harn Farang and Soi Koh Kaew 33, and may affect adjoining areas that are supplied electricity from power cables…

  • Phuket Business: The economic realities of 2015

    Phuket Business: The economic realities of 2015

    PHUKET: A lot of people in Phuket have been talking about the drastic changes, which are meant to happen in the region come 2015, when the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), is to adopt a common economic community (the ASEAN Economic Community, or AEC) similar to the Euro Economic Area. There are some obvious differences such as the…

  • Breaking News: Myanmar drug smugglers sentenced to death for murder of Chinese on the Mekong

    Breaking News: Myanmar drug smugglers sentenced to death for murder of Chinese on the Mekong

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community China sentences four to death for murders on the MekongPhuket Gazette / ReutersPHUKET: A court in southwestern China today sentenced a Myanmar drug smuggler and three members of his gang to death for murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River in a case marking China’s growing…

  • World Sports: Green Moon gives great feeling

    World Sports: Green Moon gives great feeling

    PHUKET: Green Moon thundered down the straight to win the A$6.2 million (192 million baht) Melbourne Cup today, upsetting a host of highly-fancied foreign entrants to bring Australia’s most coveted racing prize back into local hands. The Robert Hickmott-trained stallion charged to the front with 300 meters to the line and held off fast-finishing runner-up Fiorente to win the two-mile…

  • KBank issues ATM advisory to customers

    KBank issues ATM advisory to customers

    PHUKET: Following the arrest of two Bulgarian men for “skimming” customer card details from a Kasikornbank (KBank) ATM in Karon, KBank has issued a statement to the Phuket Gazette calling for all its customers who suspect that their card details have been hacked to contact the bank immediately. The bank has the authority to temporarily stop the ATM and freeze…

  • World News: All eyes on Ohio in frantic final day of campaigning

    World News: All eyes on Ohio in frantic final day of campaigning

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Obama, Romney focus on swing states in late campaigning Phuket Gazette / ReutersPHUKET: President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney engaged in frantic get-out-the-vote efforts and made final pleas to voters in a sprint through battleground states that will determine who wins their agonizingly close White…

  • Phuket Yellow Shirts protest “Red Shirt Village’ project

    Phuket Yellow Shirts protest “Red Shirt Village’ project

    PHUKET: A small group of protesters turned out at Queen Sirikit Park in Phuket Town yesterday to burn images of key local red-shirt leaders in protest of an anticipated official opening of a Red Shirt Village in Phuket. “Our protest was organized after we heard the news that the red shirts planned to announce the ‘opening’ of a Red Shirt…

  • One Burmese dead, four seriously poisoned by “generator fumes’

    One Burmese dead, four seriously poisoned by “generator fumes’

    PHUKET: One Burmese laborer is dead and four others are still in hospital after they spent the night guarding a construction site property, including a running generator in a closed room, police say.“Burmese told us that the five workers were ordered to stay in the office to look after equipment because items were being stolen,” said Lt Col Yongyuth Krongmalai…

  • World Sports: Champions League preview

    World Sports: Champions League preview

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World sporting news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Barca, United, Porto, Malaga are almost there Reuters PHUKET: Barcelona, Manchester United, Porto and unlikely contenders Malaga can book their tickets to the Champions League knockout stages by winning in midweek. The quartet have all won the opening three group games and if they win…

  • World News: Heartbeat could power pacemakers

    World News: Heartbeat could power pacemakers

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Experimental device lets heartbeat, not battery, power pacemakers Phuket Gazette / News WiresPHUKET: An experimental device that converts energy from a beating heart could provide enough electricity to power a pacemaker, eliminating the need for expensive surgeries to replace pacemakers with depleted batteries, according to results from…

  • Phuket Business: Andaman tourism campaign aims for 20 million

    Phuket Business: Andaman tourism campaign aims for 20 million

    PHUKET: Woravat Auapinyakul, Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, has told the Phuket Gazette that he expects the “Andaman – The World Experience” tourism initiative to attract more than 20 million tourists to the region. At a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall held recently to chart the progress of the tourism initiative, Mr Woravat said that intense competition within the…

  • Phuket Business: Makro – now bigger and better

    Phuket Business: Makro – now bigger and better

    PHUKET: The newly renovated Makro Phuket has reopened its doors, announcing that it is better equipped to meet the cooking and catering needs of local hotels, restaurants and cafés (HoReCa).With an emphasis on enhancing the capabilities of businesses to maintain international standards, the membership-based wholesaler has increased the quantity and diversity of its consumer products, which include both fresh and…

  • Americans, Australians injured in Phuket-bound tour bus crash

    Americans, Australians injured in Phuket-bound tour bus crash

    PHUKET: A tour bus carrying Australian and American tourists heading from Krabi to Phuket flipped and slammed into a wall of a house in Phang Nga early yesterday afternoon. Seven of the 18 tourists on the bus were taken to hospital. The rest were administered first aid by rescue workers and then taken to their hotel in Patong. Officers at…

  • International Sports: Liverpool draw; Lotus wins; Ferrer’s first

    International Sports: Liverpool draw; Lotus wins; Ferrer’s first

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World sporting news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Suarez goal gives Liverpool draw with Newcastle Phuket Gazette / ReutersPHUKET: Liverpool failed to mark captain Steven Gerrard’s 600th appearance for the club with a win when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Newcastle United in the Premier League at Anfield which leaves them…

  • World News: Housing crisis for victims of Hurricane Sandy

    World News: Housing crisis for victims of Hurricane Sandy

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community US storm victims face housing crisis as cold snap hits Phuket Gazette / Reuters PHUKET: A housing crisis loomed in New York City as victims of superstorm Sandy struggled without heat in near-freezing temperatures yesterday and nearly 1 million people in neighboring New Jersey shivered in…

  • Futsal World Cup: Thailand falls to Ukraine

    Futsal World Cup: Thailand falls to Ukraine

    BANGKOK: Reinforced by a loud and synergetic home crowd, the ‘War Elephants’ climbed back from a five goal deficit, only to fall 3-5 to Ukraine in the two sides’ second group-stage match of the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup. Played last night at a full-capacity Huamark Indoor Stadium in East Bangkok, the match’s first half was dominated by the world’s…

  • FIFA Futsal World Cup: Day 3 roundup

    FIFA Futsal World Cup: Day 3 roundup

    EXCLUSIVE REPORT BY STEVEN LAYNEBANGKOK: The Futsal World Cup 2012 concluded the first of three rounds in the group stage, with the final eight teams in groups E and F playing their opening matches last night in Bangkok.It was the first night since the tournament kicked off on Thursday that there were no shared points – only winners and losers.Guatemala,…

  • Human Rights Commission investigates Racha Yai land titles

    Human Rights Commission investigates Racha Yai land titles

    PHUKET: The Human Rights Commission of Thailand is investigating claims by villagers on Koh Racha Yai that the Phuket Land Office is refusing to issue title deeds for plots that families there have been living on for generations. The land in question is not in a national park and is not registered as any type of protected area. The villagers…

  • Phuket “Minute Man’ bank robber re-enacts heist, gives advice to banks

    Phuket “Minute Man’ bank robber re-enacts heist, gives advice to banks

    PHUKET: The Phuket “Minute Man” re-enacted both of his armed bank robberies, which he has confessed to, in front of police this morning after they tracked him down and arrested him late yesterday. A reported 2.7 million baht was stolen in Anusit Kaewmookda’s latest Kasikorn Bank branch heist, and about 650,000 was stolen in the January 29 robbery at a…