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 tour buses: Two hurt in yet another crash
PHUKET: Another Phuket tour bus, this time carrying a group of Chinese tourists, crashed at the base of Patong Hill last night, injuring two people and causing extensive property damage. The single deck bus was carrying about 18 tourists when its braking system failed coming down Phra Barami Road, near Suwankiriwong Temple, at about 7pm. The bus continued straight along…
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Phuket Sports: Cricket ground is bowled over by plaudits
PHUKET: Sport enjoys more than its fair share of ceremony from presentations to event openings and their eventual finales.Every one of these occasions first heralds, then celebrates the victorious and also commiserates with those that will have to try again, in order to achieve that title, trophy or winning time. Leopard attack bowler.One sporting occasion that inspires hope and limitless…
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Phuket Update: Sea search called off for missing Australian
PHUKET: A sea search for an Australian woman reported to have fallen overboard from a yacht sailing to Phuket late last week was called off today. News that a search was underway for Carmel Brookes, an Australian-born resident of Langkawi Island in Malaysia, was first reported to the Phuket Gazette by her close friend Michelle Black yesterday. Ms Black was…
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Samui hideaway secret unveiled
PHUKET: Ready to lift the veil on Koh Samui’s “best-kept secret”, the boutique Akaryn Samui is set to welcome its first guests next month. As the fourth and latest venture by Thailand hospitality pioneer Anchalika Kijkanakorn, the Akaryn Samui looks to redefine the boutique resort experience. The largely undiscovered, Hanuman Bay is a pristine crescent cove with a 500-meter powder…
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Search for missing Phuket girl hits two-month mark
PHUKET: The mother of a Phuket girl who went missing after a Facebook session over two months ago continues to devote all her energies to locating her child. Samruay Saenthaweesuk, mother of 12-year-old Samudchaya “Nong Pin” Yanpunya, spoke with the Gazette yesterday. “I went to Bangkok for help. I went to The Mirror Foundation, Pavena Foundation for Children and Women…
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Phuket Gazette: Shark attacks surge; Iran grabs ‘BBC journalists’; Teacher facing death for drugs; Five missing in Japan tunnel collapse
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Study: Shark attack deaths worldwide highest since 1993 PHUKET (News Wires): Sharks killed at least a dozen people worldwide last year, the highest number in nearly two decades, according to statistics released by the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) at the University of Florida on Tuesday.…
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“Possessed’ girl leads cops to naught
PHUKET: Police spent hours dredging a pond in Songkhla province earlier this month after a 17-year-old girl told them she had been possessed by the spirit of a young boy whose murdered body was dumped there.Officers eventually abandoned the search after failing to find any remains – except for the skeleton of a dead dog.Mrs Ploi said her daughter Fa…
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Aussie woman falls overboard from yacht near Phuket
PHUKET: Friends of an Australian woman who fell overboard from a yacht on its way to Phuket last Thursday, and who is still missing, are puzzled as to how such an accident could have occurred. Michelle Black, a friend of the woman, said Dr Gerald Goeden and his partner Carmel Brookes were sailing from Lankawai Island to Phuket aboard the…
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Another child drowns at Phuket’s ‘lethal lagoon’
PHUKET: The drowning death of another child at Nai Harn Lagoon in Phuket over the weekend is causing authorities to consider closing the popular recreational area to swimming. The latest victim, six-year-old Supathanwa Choophuek, was reportedly alive when Nai Harn Beach lifeguards pulled him from the water on Sunday, but he died later at Vachira Phuket Hospital. Nai Harn lifeguard…
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Civil servant seeks missing mom in Phuket
PHUKET: A civil servant in Nakhon Ratchasima is appealing to the public for help in finding his mother, last seen in Phuket in early June last year. Kriengsak Muangkod, the Director of Bureau of Rural Roads Region 5 Office in Nakhon Ratchasima, said his 65-year-old mother Boonna Muangkod was last seen at his niece’s home in Karon on June 3…
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Alleged “call center’ gang of expats busted in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Tourist Police arrested three Filipino members of an alleged ‘call center’ gang for fraud, but the alleged mastermind, a Briton, remains at large. Nakkaphan Phota of the regional Tourist Police office in Phuket Town told the Gazette yesterday that all of the suspects were foreigners. Following a tip-off from the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok, three suspects were…
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Phuket ‘White Prison’ raid reveals rectal stashing of telephones
PHUKET: More than 200 officers conducted a surprise inspection at Phuket Provincial Prison yesterday as part of an effort to gain “White Prison” status, said Phuket Prison Chief Rapin Nichanon. The search for drugs was carried out at 5am by officers drawn from all units of the Phuket police, who also targeted mobile telephones, some of which had been smuggled…
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Phuket Business: Get ready for higher petrol prices
PHUKET: Now that we are fully into the swing of 2012, the Christmas tradition of goodwill to all men seems a lifetime away. When I get out of bed and go on my now regular morning beach run in Phuket – yes, my New Year’s resolution is still being adhered to – global problems seem to be a million miles…
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Transportation still the number one issue over Phuket airport’s expansion project
PHUKET: The tricky subject of ground transportation overshadowed other matters at a meeting intended to address concerns over Phuket International Airport’s expansion project. The meeting, which was held at Kata Beach Resort last Thursday, was well attended by both public and private sector representatives from Phang Nga, Krabi and Phuket. Chairing the meeting were Tuyaratt Achariyachai, Chairwoman of the Senate…
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Phuket Live Wire: Why are we being throttled?
PHUKET: Continuing my series of articles answering questions that I hear most often… the next question has to do with internet speeds here in Phuket, as measured on the Phuket Internet Speed reporting site phuketinternetspeed.com: “Woody, I’ve read your articles in the Phuket Gazette. I understand why we’re measuring international download speeds – for most farang and many Thais, international…
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Phuket Sports: King’s Cup bolsters Thai sailing interest
PHUKET: The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta (PKCR) attracts more and more Thai sailors each year and the 2011 event saw Thai sailors taking podium places throughout the series. There were 74 Thai sailors who took part in the competition, making Thailand the fourth most highly represented nation in the whole regatta. The Royal Thai Navy entered two boats into the…
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Phuket Sports: Diving on a single breath
PHUKET: Freediving. It’s different than scuba diving. There is a quietness underwater. Not a silence, but a quietness. There is the sound of shifting sand and parrot fish chewing on coral. These are the sounds of life that don’t exist for scuba divers bubbling away on their regulators. It is one of the beauties of diving on a single breath.Freediving…
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Phuket Sports: Cream of Thai cricket
PHUKET: In celebration of the ACG opening, a Cricket Authority of Thailand (CAT) Select XI took on a mixed selection organized by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in a 40 over exhibition match. Having won the toss, CAT decided to bat and sent in local boys Martin Foster of the Village CC and Val Guiraud of Laguna CC to open…
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Phuket Business: Cool solutions to cut costs
PHUKET: Despite rising energy prices and the scorching heat outside, home and business owners in Phuket can reduce their electric and utilities overheads by taking advantage of the latest energy saving innovations. Up until recently, Phuket’s green energy market has been supplied with only a limited offering of environmentally friendly technologies and energy saving solutions. Notably, a handful of key…
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DaVinci charters steps forward for 2012 Bay Regatta
PHUKET: It’s not unusual when marinas and yacht brokers cross over into the restaurant business, but co-sponsor of the Bay Regatta 2012, Phuket’s iconic Italian restaurant DaVinci – scored a first when they crossed in the opposite direction. Sponsoring yachting and yacht racing is one thing – and DaVinci has shown other island businesses how that should be done –…
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QSI Phuket welcomes grrrrrrreat new Tiger Turf
PHUKET: Team Tigers of Quality Schools International (QSI) Phuket are getting ready to unveil their new and improved sports den. The US$120,000 (just over 3.7 million baht) new facilities include a multi-purpose basketball court, a football field enveloped by a 100-meter running track and a new garden and waterfall. In a fitting tribute to the home side, their new football…
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Russian tourists stranded including 340 in Phuket
PHUKET: The bankruptcy of one of the largest tour operators in Russia has left thousands of Russian tourists stranded around the globe, including 340 in Phuket. Soopakij Chearavanont, Russian Honorary Consul for Greater Phuket, said the sudden bankruptcy of Lanta Tour Voyage has cost Phuket resorts from tens to hundreds of thousands of baht. Most of the Russians stranded bought…
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“Spider bite victim’ likely drank himself to death
PHUKET: THE man who died after allegedly being bitten by a spider in Phuket more likely died from complications brought on from excessive drinking, a preliminary examination has revealed. Phuket Public Health Office Deputy Director Wiwat Seetamanotch told the Gazette on Tuesday that the preliminary findings of an autopsy on the body of 30-year-old fruit vendor Wanchai Wonglakorn, revealed that…
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Phuket fire guts Kathu home, eight flats
PHUKET: A large fired completely destroyed a home and a row of rental flats in Phuket last night. Thung Thong Police were notified of a blaze on Soi Bangthong, about 50 meters from the Family Mart convenience store on Phra Barami Road on the Kathu side of Patong Hill, at about 8pm. Arriving at the scene, duty officer Capt Sakchai…
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Phuket regatta heads home for the awards
PHUKET: Day Four of The Bay Regatta saw sailors greeted with sunny skies and good wind as they left their anchorage off the Sheraton Krabi Beach Resort and headed back to Ao Chalong for the regatta’s final party and awards ceremony at the Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC). The colourful spinnakers stood out proud as the fleet made the crossing…
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Phuket Gazette: US jobs soar; Russians rally for fair polls; Syrian massacre; Cambodia jails jailer
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.S. unemployment rate drops to lowest in 3 years PHUKET (News Wires): The United States unemployment rate for the month of January dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest number in nearly three years, the U.S. Labor Department (DoL) announced. In its January 2012 Employment Situation report,…
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Phuket’s War on Drugs: Why has Bebe gone?
PHUKET: It is sad that Phuket’s two specially-trained drug dogs have been suspended from “active duty” for lack of dedicated handlers, especially given the time invested in their training and the phenomenal results displayed by the beagle Bebe during her first day on the job last July. [See page 6, this week’s issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click…
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Chinese tourist drowns in Phuket
PHUKET: A woman in Phuket with a Chinese tour group drowned in Rawai on Thursday. The body of 57-year-old Xianmei Wang was found floating off of Koh Hei at about 2pm that day, Chalong Police said. Also known as Coral Island, Koh Hei is a popular destination for snorkelers and divers on group tours. Police are uncertain of what factors…
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Phuket update: US lifts terror alert
PHUKET: Good news for the Phuket tourism industry has come with the US warning of a possible terrorist threat in Bangkok having been removed from its website, where it had been on the main page. The warning was replaced with a more general alert for East Asia. The new warning does not name any specific countries or places, but 14…
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Phuket Sports: Epic final in Aussie Open
PHUKET: World number one Novak Djokovic retained the Australian Open title in an exhilarating victory over second seed Rafael Nadal. Not only was the encounter the longest-ever Grand Slam final to date, at five hours and 53 minutes, it also gave tennis archivists numerous other records to rewrite. Nadal is the first man to lose three consecutive Grand Slam finals…
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