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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Phuket marks Royal Thai Police Day
PHUKET: About 500 police officers gathered at Phuket Provincial Police Headquarters this morning to celebrate Royal Thai Police Day today.Phuket Governor Maitree Intusut, who presided over the ceremony, told the officers in attendance, “I would like all police at every level to give their utmost in the practical application of the government’s policy and strategy to suppress drugs and crime.”Governor…
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Phuket Police ordered to boost security, safety for Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Provincial Police Commander Choti Chavaviwat has ordered an island-wide boost in security for the upcoming Phuket Vegetarian Festival, which starts tonight. Maj Gen Choti told the Phuket Gazette that he was only too aware that the island attracted large numbers of tourists, both Thai and foreign during the festival, and their safety needed to be ensured. Gen Choti said…
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Sek Loso to play in Phuket
PHUKET: Scandal-battered rock star Seksan “Sek Loso” Sukpimai will be among the acts performing at the second annual Life Music Festival in Phuket Town tonight. GMM Grammy – who tore up Sek’s contract late last year, when he refused to admit he had an increasingly violent drug problem – say they couldn’t be happier. GMM Grammy Chairman Paiboon Damrongchaitham says…
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Phuket Opinion: Of MICE and mangroves
PHUKET: With more than 50 injured turtles and a dolphin recovering amid news of an “extinct” crab resurfacing in Phuket, one cannot help but reflect upon the state of our island’s current fight for ecological survival. The breathtaking increase in development’s toll on the island’s natural resources has been reported by the Phuket Gazette for well over a decade. The…
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Phuket Sports: Islanders prepared for Bangkok United match tonight
PHUKET: Despite overwhelming odds, Phuket FC’s Coach is confident that his side can share the points in tonight’s away match against Thai Division 1 top-side Bangkok United. Speaking on the phone from the Thai capital this morning, Coach Anuruck “June” Srikerd told the Phuket Gazette that his side’s defensive game is tight and wouldn’t concede goals very easily. “Even though…
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Phuket Town redecorated for Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Ahead of tens of thousands of tourists arriving for the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, which begins tomorrow, shrine committees and local municipal workers have taken to the streets to post flags along major roads across the island and install huge decorations as part of the festivities. All main roads through Phuket Town, and especially those leading from local Chinese shrines…
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Phuket Sports: F1 – Red Bull, bubbles and bumps
PHUKET: It was over some suitably austerity-friendly pink fizz that I heard the bizarre news that Greece has proposed to subsidize a Patras F1 GP by US$37 million. Against a backdrop of 17 Eurozone ministers reviewing budget proposals for a nation facing meltdown, this looks somewhat frivolous. One wonders how it will play in Berlin, in the wake of Schumacher’s…
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Phuket noise: Villagers’ complaints spark raid
PHUKET: Complaints from residents about noise from two entertainment venues in the Heroines Monument area prompted Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak to lead more than 30 officers to raid the venues last night. Vice Governor Somkiet and officers from the Damrongtham Center (provincial ombudsman’s office), the Muang District and Thalang District Offices, and the Thalang Police raided the Relax Live…
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Phuket rapist blames demon drink
PHUKET: A confessed rapist, Peerayut Moottamara, 29, blamed his drunken state for the rape of a work colleague’s 18-year-old girlfriend in Chalong yesterday.“The woman was cooking in a makeshift kitchen behind the row of terraced worker flats [that both of them lived in] yesterday. I was drinking alcohol earlier in the morning, I was out of control. I saw the…
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Phuket Sports: this weekend’s action
PHUKET: Wayne Rooney will captain England against San Marino in the absence of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. England are currently joint-top of Group H with Poland and Montenegro. The match will be played in front of a sell-out crowd at Wembley at 2am Saturday morning, Phuket time. Scotland face Wales in a Group A match, with both teams needing…
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Phuket lawyer takes death plunge after “humiliating’ argument
PHUKET: A Phuket lawyer died after plummeting from his third-floor apartment in Wichit last night, allegedly due to the humiliation of arguing with his girlfriend in front of apartment staff. Puwanart Pijansophon, 48, worked as a lawyer and also helped his relatives run the apartment complex that he fell from on Soi Jai Lau U-Thit 2 off Chao Fa East…
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Vegetable prices skyrocket ahead of Phuket Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Even a major festival such as the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is not spared commerce’s principal ethos of “supply and demand”; as demonstrated by the hike in vegetable prices this week. As has become the usual practice in previous years, with only a few days before the festival starts vegetable prices at the busy Kaset Market in Phuket Town, near…
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Obese abbot breaks all the rules
PHUKET: Keen readers of Queer News will know that monks behaving badly and keeping contraband in their quarters is hardly a rarity in Thailand. But the abbot of Phra Si Maha Phot Temple in Mukdahan might just have set an all-time record for such shenanigans. Early last month, Mukdahan City Police Station officers were alerted to the possibility that something…
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World News: Jurassic park will never be – cloning dinosaurs ruled out
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Australian scientists rule out cloning dinosaurs one day Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: Australian scientists have found that bonds in a DNA strand could survive up to 6.8 million years under ideal conditions, longer than previously thought but ruling out the possibility of one day…
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Phuket Governor calls for direct flights between India and Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitree Insutut who today met with Indian Ambassador to Thailand Anil Wadhwa called for direct flights from major Indian cities, including Mumbai and Kolkata, to serve the burgeoning number of tourists flying to Phuket. After the closed-door meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall this afternoon, Governor Maitree told the press that “Ambassador Anil agreed, and said he would…
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival starts with elbow grease
PHUKET: Devotees at three shrines in Phuket began their preparation for the Vegetarian Festival with smiles and elbow grease as they gave the shrines a thorough cleaning yesterday. The cleaning started at 7am at Jui Tui Shrine, Pud Jor Shrine and Bang Neaw Shrine in Phuket Town. Students from Bang Neaw Municipality School joined other locals in cleaning the Bang…
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Man crushed by Phuket Town juggernaut
PHUKET: A man wearing a safety helmet was crushed beneath a 10-wheel water-bowser truck, causing heavy traffic congestion for about an hour on Kra Road in Phuket Town this morning.The unidentified man, thought by Phuket Town Police to be in his forties, was transporting roasted-rice-bamboos on the rear of his motorbike at the time of the accident.The driver of the…
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Phuket Police cease investigations into two swimming pool drownings
PHUKET: Police are not continuing their investigations into the drownings of two tourists in swimming pools at two separate luxury resorts in Phuket last week. The two unrelated incidents, which both involved newly arrived tourist couples, occurred in Nai Harn, in the south of Phuket. The first drowning occurred on October 6 at a resort at the north end of…
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival vendors protest over street rents
PHUKET: Food vendors to operate stalls near the Jui Tui Shrine in Phuket Town during the upcoming Vegetarian Festival have successfully overturned the shrine committee’s decision this year to hand over the right to collect stall site rents to homeowners in the downtown area. About 30 people representing close to 100 Chinese vegetarian food vendors gathered around noon yesterday to…
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Joyriders nabbed by Phuket Police
PHUKET: In one of his first public press conferences as Phuket’s top-ranking police officer, Maj Gen Choti Chavaviwat this morning announced the arrest of two men for stealing a car to go joyriding around the island. Joining Kamala Police Deputy Superintendent Winai Kongkaew at Phuket Provincial Police headquarters in Phuket Town, Gen Choti announced the arrests of 32-year-old Phuket native…
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Phuket FC Islanders devour T-Rex in seven goal thriller
PHUKET: Seven of at least nine goals netted were allowed in Phuket FC’s survival match last night against the Khon Kaen FC T-Rex, with the Islanders earning a convincing three points at home by a 5-2 scoreline. Played at Surakul Stadium in Phuket Town, the midweek match was played in front of a humble crowd of 2,100. Languishing in 15th…
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Quebec coroner refutes Thai autopsy results for Belanger sisters
PHUKET: A Quebec coroner has refuted claims by Thai officials that the Belanger sisters died in their Phi Phi hotel room in June after consuming the insecticide DEET. Audrey Belanger, 20, and Noemi Belanger, 25, were found dead in their hotel room on Phi Phi Island on June 15. Both had suffered a violent physical reaction to suspected poisoning. Autopsies…
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Phuket prepares for important ‘footy’ matches
PHUKET: Both of the island’s national-level sports teams have important matches lined up, today and tomorrow. In 11-a-side football, the Phuket FC “Islanders” are ready to host Khon Kaen FC “T-Rex” at Surakul Stadium in Phuket Town with a 6:30pm kickoff this evening. Both sides will be fighting hard for all three points to help them steer clear of relegation,…
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Call for blood donations ahead of Phuket Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) is calling for a boost in blood donations ahead of the upcoming Vegetarian Festival, which begins on Sunday. The PRBC’s blood stocks usually fall dramatically during the festival as demand rises and donor numbers reduce, due to the physical demands made by the festival’s purification rituals. Acting Director of PRBC Pornthip Rattajak told the…
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World News: NATO pledges ‘solidarity’ for Turkey
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community NATO warns alliance is ready to defend Turkey if necessary Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen yesterday called on all parties in the region to avoid an escalation of tensions along the Syria-Turkey border, warning that the military alliance is…
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Phuket scrubs up ahead of Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Residents in Phuket’s Srisoonthorn area today staged their “Big Cleaning Day” to prepare for the upcoming Vegetarian Festival, which will get underway on Sunday night. Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak led the event this morning, which began with cleaning the area immediately surrounding the island’s famed Heroines Monument. Leading an army of volunteers and officers from Srisoonthorn Municipality was…
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Mayor Pian unveils “14 strategies’ to develop Patong
PHUKET: Pian Keesin, launching into his final term as Patong Mayor, has revealed a grand plan of “14 strategies” to transform Patong into a “Livable and Sustainable Tourist Destination City”.Speaking at a Patong council meeting on Monday, Mayor Pian said, “In order to prepare our town for the beginning of the Asean Economic Community [AEC] in 2015, we will have…
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Krabi farm owners pleads for return of fossils
PHUKET: The owner of a plot of land in Krabi, believed to be the site of a massive shell fossil discovery, has asked for people to return the fossils stolen from his land and not to steal any more of them . Chob Pankaew, 55, announced news of the discovery of a huge collection of fossil shells on his farm…
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Phuket Business: Challenges ahead of ASEAN’s young union
PHUKET: Eliminating tariffs that financially penalize members of ASEAN, is one of the stated long-term goals of the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community).When economic unions were proposed in the United States and Europe, tariffs became a defining factor that would later determine the outcome of those unions.Now that ASEAN has decided to form an economic union – the AEC – in…
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Phuket Business: Calculating the Sharpe ratio
PHUKET: One statistic you will often see when looking at a fund’s performance is the “Sharpe ratio”. This is an attempt to quantify the excess return for a given level of risk. For example, two funds may both return 12%. If one returns a steady 1% every month while the other swings up and down, common sense and our blood…
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