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 Sports: A gem of a fun regatta
PHUKET: By two first-place and two second-place finishes gave Russian Arbuzov Andrev’s Ruby Tuesday victory in Racing class of the 15th Bay Regatta.Day four of the regatta greeted crews with clear skies and good wind as they left their anchorage off the Sheraton Krabi Beach Resort and headed to Ao Chalong for the regatta’s final party and awards ceremony at…
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New shine for old Phuket shrine
PHUKET: Work is currently underway on a new cultural museum and shrine that will showcase the way of life and traditions of Phuket’s ethnic Hainanese community, which date back to Phuket’s tin mining days. Former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai was in Phuket last week to preside over a pillar-laying ceremony at Thni Kong Thua Shrine in Wichit. Built over a…
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Phuket News: Sinkholes threaten Krabi rubber plantation
PHUKET: Sinkholes have hit a rubber plantation in Muang District Krabi, east of Phuket. Officials there are urging the landowner to fill them as soon as possible before they enlarge. The sinkholes were first reported to the Mineral Resources Department Region 4 Office in Surat Thani on February 7. On the afternoon of February 10, office director Tawatchai Thepsuwan and…
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Tough love for street beggars in Phuket
PHUKET: Government departments are coordinating a crack down on street beggars in Phuket this Valentine’s Day. Tomorrow at 1:30pm, Governor Tri Augkaradacha will implement policies to remove beggars in all three Phuket districts. This will be done in accordance with the Control of Beggars Act BE 2484 (1941), which requires that provincial officers arrest vagrants. “To solve the problem of…
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Phuket Sports: Synergy are BSS soccer champions
PHUKET: Brazilian Soccer School’s second international football tournament took place recently at Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) with hundreds of young enthusiasts there to show their passion and flair for the beautiful game. Team Synergy, a team that is co-sponsored by TSLC, won the U14 title and did so without losing a single match. Nine local boys from Phuket…
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Phuket Sports: Asian kiteboarding gets new media deal
PHUKET: Kiteboard Tour Asia (KTA) and television sailing channel Marine Scene Asia announced recently the signing of a media partnership agreement for the coming season. Marine Scene Asia is a specialist sailing channel that produces programming that covers all aspects of the Asian yachting and boating scene. In particular, it focuses on covering competitive sailing regattas which is an important…
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Phuket Gazette: TV Journalist couple killed; The Sun newspaper staff arrested
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community TV journalist couple murdered in Bangladesh capital PHUKET (News Wires): Two well-known Bangladeshi television journalists were killed at their residence in the capital of Dhaka over the weekend, police said yesterday. The bodies of Golam Mustofa Sarowar and his wife, Meherun Runi, were first discovered on…
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Phuket druggists to restrict sale of ‘Meth Blue’
PHUKET: Phuket pharmacists will restrict the sale of products containing ‘methylene blue’ to minors, following reports of youths taking the compound to avoid testing positive for methamphetamine use during drug tests. The announcement came during a special meeting on Saturday led by Kiattisak Parnrungsri, secretary of the Phuket Pharmacists Club; Duangjai Pasarphan, pharmacist with the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office…
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Phuket Sports: Argies barge into first; Thanyapura top the AFL
PHUKET: After a week’s break, the Fair Play League 2012 resumed back at the British International School (BIS), Phuket recently. Judging by their efforts throughout the day, players had enjoyed the rest and were intent on ridding themselves of excess energy.The U14 division matches were first to the field with one game on each of BIS’s manicured pitches. Thailand and…
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Phuket Sports: Oh Lord, the MCC are coming!
PHUKET: The rise of Phuket in world cricket continues on February 16 with the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), from Lords, the home of cricket, starting their Thailand tour with a T20 match at the ACG. Founded in 1787, MCC is the world’s most famous cricket club and its role in the game remains as relevant as ever. The organization is…
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Phuket “Meth blue’ users at risk
PHUKET: Health officials in Phuket have issued a warning to students not to take the chemical “Methylene blue” in an attempt to hide methamphetamine use from authorities in drug testing. Muang district chief Supachai Pochanakul recently described the trend of growing drug abuse by schoolchildren in Muang district as “very worrying”. The statement followed a recent round-up of 19 truant…
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Phuket Gazette: Singer Whitney Houston dead
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Singer Whitney Houston dies at Beverly Hills hotel PHUKET (News Wires): Grammy Award-winning singer and actress Whitney Houston, one of the world’s best-selling music artists, was found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel room on late Saturday afternoon, police said. She was 48. Beverly Hills Police…
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Phuket Opinion: Why the muddle with maps?
PHUKET: Over the past century, mankind has made astonishing progress in understanding the nature of the universe, but it seems technological advances have now outstripped the ability of many of us to put them to the best possible use. One good example is in the field of cartography. Maps produced with painstaking effort and considerable risk a century ago, pale…
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BREAKING NEWS: Phuket Beach body thought to be Mark Robson’s
PHUKET: A body found strangled in Phuket late last month is almost certainly that of missing English teacher Mark Robson, who was reported missing by his parents recently. The break in the case came yesterday when Phuket Tourist Police Foreign Volunteers Group Leader Frank Tomenson provided the media an updated photo of Mark sent to him by Keith Robson, Mark’s…
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Phuket’s baby elephants under investigation
PHUKET: Three elephant camps in Phuket are being investigated after concerns were raised about the origins of the baby elephants in their possession. Officers of Central Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok investigated Phuthai Souvenir Market in Chalong, ATV Elephant Camp near the Big Buddha image in Karon and Sheraton Camp in Cheng Talay to determine if…
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Phuket resort worker, 20, dies in 4-vehicle hit-and-run
PHUKET: One person died and another was seriously injured in a four-vehicle hit-and-run accident on Patak Road in Karon before dawn today. Just after midnight, Chalong Police received a report that there was an accident on Patak Road involving one truck, one van full of Chinese tourists and two motorbikes. Chalong Police Captain Nitikorn Rawang and Phuket Ruamjai Kupai Foundation…
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Phuket Civil Defense Volunteer dead at the wheel
PHUKET: A Phuket City Civil Defense Volunteer died at the wheel of his car yesterday, possibly even before he crashed the car into a metalworks shop in Chalong at 3am. Police at the scene suspect the driver, Apinun “Nun” Chaibandit, 48, suffered a heart attack just before the crash. The shop workers escaped harm by jumping out of the way…
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‘Ae Inside’ murder suspect prepared to surrender: Phuket Police
PHUKET: Police are in telephone negotiations with murder suspect Atsadakorn “Pod” Seedokbuab, a Phuket businessman they believe was the mastermind behind the shocking assassination of Phuket newsman Wisut “Ae Inside” Tangwitthayaporn early last month. Mr Atsadakorn, owner of KPP Cable TV and a vice president of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce, is demanding immediate bail release in return for his…
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Weekend weather forecast for Phuket
PHUKET: The weekend weather forecast for Phuket calls for good beach weather, with partly-cloudy skies, calm seas and a only a small chance of showers. According to Thai Meteorological Department, there is a chance of widely scattered thundershowers over 10% of the island for today, rising to 20% coverage tomorrow and 30% on Sunday. Seas should be calm, with easterly…
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Phuket officials braced for Valentine wedding blitz
PHUKET: Love is in the air at the Muang District Office, where workers expect to issue marriage certificates to about 150 Phuket couples on Valentine’s Day. Phuket Muang District Chief Supachai Pochanukul told the Phuket Gazette, “We first started paying special attention to how many certificates we issued on Valentine’s Day in 2010, when I started working here.” “We registered…
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Former monk arrested for drugs in Phuket
PHUKET: A former monk was one of six suspects arrested in drug raids in Kathu, Phuket earlier this week. Following a tip-off that a man living in a hut had been selling drugs to local youths, a Thung Thong Police drug suppression unit on Sunday raided the dwelling, located in a rubber plantation near Bang Wad Reservoir in Kathu. They…
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Weird World News: Sightings of a woolly mammoth, a giant river worm and zombies cause concern on planet Earth
PHUKET: The truth is out there. Beasts, monsters and ghouls are lurking in the depths of rivers, skulking in remote wilds and hanging out in town centers in England this week. It’s been a week of strange sightings. We’ll let you decide if they’re hoaxes or the real deal. Iceland has its own Loch Ness Monster IS IT A bird?…
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English teacher reported missing in Phuket
PHUKET: The mother Mark Robson, a 27-year-old with British and South African nationality, is seeking help to find her son who went missing in Phuket last month. Mr Robson arrived in Thailand from Durban on December 5. After short stays in Bangkok, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui in mid-December, he stayed in Phuket. He was in regular email contact with…
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Phuket Gazette: Oracle buys Taleo; PepsiCo cuts 8,700 jobs; Air traffic double; Dreamliner fuels Thai growth
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Oracle to buy Taleo for US$2.9 billion PHUKET (news Wires): Multinational tech company Oracle yesterday announced that it has agreed to acquire Taleo Corporation for approximately US$2.9bn. The Board of Directors of Taleo, a leading provider of cloud-based talent management, unanimously approved the transaction which is…
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Phuket Gazette: Ministers without porno?; Toxic bootleg liquor; Fighter jet crashes
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Three Indian ministers resign after porno scandal PHUKET (News Wires): Three ministers in southwestern India resigned yesterday after being accused of watching pornography during a debate in the state’s assembly, local media reported today. Women and child development minister CC Patil and cooperation minister Laxman Savadi,…
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Surprise tuna catch off Phuket, Krabi
PHUKET: Fisherman have been catching unusually large longtail tuna in the waters south of Phuket recently, experts say. One of the fish, so large it was originally thought to be a “little tunny” or “false albacore”, was brought for examination to the Andaman Sea Fisheries Management Center Krabi on Tuesday. The specimen, weighing in at 5kg, is a good sign…
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Phuket Police nab alleged pickup thief in Thalang
PHUKET: It took Phuket Police just half an hour to arrest a suspect for the theft of a pickup in Thalang District this morning. They think the man may have been deranged or under the influence of drugs. Cherng Talay Police were notified of the theft of the pickup truck at 10:30am by vehicle owner Sakhon Chalermwanphenyo. Mr Sakhon said…
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Crime and Phuket Tourism: Getting it into context
PHUKET: In an editorial in August last year, the Phuket Gazette asked readers to consider whether or not our island’s tourism industry would die from all the deaths. The deaths referred not only to violent crime but also to more ‘natural’ events such as drowning and road fatalities. But crime was of course the focus amid a wave of murders…
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Phuket update: Volunteers continue sea search for missing Aussie
PHUKET: Friends of an Australian woman who fell overboard from a yacht sailing to Phuket late last week are not giving up hope that she may still be alive and are calling on volunteers to continue the search off the coast of Trang. Australian national Carmel Brooks is known to have fallen overboard from the sailboat Moondancer last Thursday night…
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Phuket Gazette: Mississippi executes man; Last World War I vet dies; Teenage suicide in Moscow
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Mississippi executes man for convenience store killingsPHUKET (News Wires): A Mississippi man convicted of killing two men during a robbery spree in December 1995 was executed this morning, officials said. A U.S. Court of Appeals declined to halt the execution based on claims he was mentally ill.Edwin…
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