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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More landslides strike Phuket
PHUKET: Two more small landslides were reported in Phuket’s Rassada subdistrict yesterday, one causing a temporary road closure and the other damaging the wall of a hillside residential estate. The first slide hit on Monday night the Ban Thepkrasattri housing estate just south of Mission Hospital on Thepkrasattri Road inbound, damaging a five-meter section at the base of a retaining…
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Phuket meth users hooked by cosmetic claims
PHUKET: Crystal meth dealers in Phuket are attracting new users by claiming the drug has cosmetic benefits. Doctors say that although the stimulant may cause some changes in a user’s physical appearance, it is far from the desired effect. Concerned about a rise in the use of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) in Phuket and nearby provinces, police and health officials…
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Iranian Actress sentenced to 90 lashes for role in Australian film
Phuket NEWS Hound – World news selected by Phuket Gazette editors for Phuket’s international communitySydney Morning Herald An Iranian actress has been sentenced to one year in prison and 90 lashes for her role in an Australian film, media reports said on Tuesday, days after a student activist was lashed 74 times for insulting the country’s president. Marzieh Vafamehr was…
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Rains, landslides cause B100mn in damage to Phuket roads
PHUKET: The ongoing downpours that continue to plague the island have caused 100 million baht in damage to Phuket roads, Governor Tri Augkaradacha revealed today. The news came as Governor Tri today ordered Phuket’s three District Chiefs to take precautionary measures to protect people in their respective areas from floods and landslides. “Because of the floods and landslides that have…
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Phuket Live Wire : TrueMove-H: New kid on the wireless block
PHUKET: Last week in Live Wire I talked about finding a good wireless Internet service provider. At the time I didn’t have enough first-hand experience with the new True wireless system, called TrueMove-H, to give you a definitive opinion about the service. Now I have a week of “3G+” under my belt, and the results are good, but not great.…
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Phuket gets ready for the Banana Walk
PHUKET: Patong Beach Hotel Ltd – owners of the Patong Beach Hotel and Banana Disco – today announced the opening of a “new-lifestyle” shopping center in Patong, on Phuket’s west coast. The news follows the developer breaking ground last week for the Banana Walk shopping mall, scheduled to open in May next year. The complex will be located along Thaweewong…
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Training tips for the Phuket Triathlon
PHUKET: For most triathletes swimming seems to be the most demanding technical aspect of the three disciplines. I remember my first triathlon. I was very nervous about the swim start, about being in the open water and I was not sure how to manage swimming in a straight line. It took a while to become an experienced open water swimmer.…
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Illegal dam bursts, mudslide hits Phuket housing estate
PHUKET: Continuing rains across Phuket last night caused a mudslide that forced the evacuation of a residential estate in Rassada. There was considerable property damage, but no injuries were reported. After another night of heavy rain, the mudslide hit the Baan Natkamon estate at about 3am. The first home inundated with flowing mud was that of Opas Chupan, whose unit…
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Phuket’s Young gunning for India
PHUKET: Atlantic Racing Team driver Dylan Young from Phuket proved his worth to sponsors and other supporters with a superb drive at the JK Racing Asia Series in Singapore recently. Young finished Race One in 8th place and Race Two in 6th position, which gave the 22-year-old a double-points scoring finish for the weekend. Under lights at the Singtel Singapore…
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Swedish expat dies on notorious Phuket coastal road
PHUKET: A Swedish expat who ran a Phuket guesthouse died on Saturday in a motorbike accident in Karon on Saturday. Patong Police received a report that a “tourist” crashed his motorcycle and died on Patak Road in Karon early Saturday morning. Peter Nyman, 48, died when he overshot a curve on his motorcycle in heavy rain and struck a power…
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Phuket landslide update: Ongoing concern over road stability
PHUKET: One westbound lane of the road over Patong Hill will remain closed to traffic indefinitely as authorities survey the damage of a recent landslide and draw up plans to stabilize the slope before the situation worsens. Phuket Provincial Highways Office chief Arun Sanae today told the Phuket Gazette, “We are now co-ordinating with Kathu and Patong municipalities to fix…
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Phuket Police to send body of fallen tourist to Bangkok
PHUKET: Police will send the body of an Australian tourist to Bangkok for forensic examination in order to rule out any foul play in his fatal fall from a Phuket balcony over the weekend. Friends of the late Dean McKeon were questioned by Patong Police today about the events leading up to the discovery of his body in the car…
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Phuket dinghies join flood relief effort
PHUKET: Five rubber dinghies loaded with safety equipment left Phuket this morning for the flood-ravaged central plains, where they will assist in transporting goods and passengers until the situation there returns to normal. Four of the vessels are on loan from the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) Region 5 office in Phuket, and are operated by that agency’s…
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Mystery surrounds Aussie death plunge in Phuket
PHUKET: An Australian tourist on holiday in Phuket died over the weekend after falling off a hotel balcony in Patong. It is believed he was sleepwalking at the time. The story broke in the Thai press by Manager Online news site, which identified the deceased as 33-year-old Dean William McKeon. The site also posted graphic images of the late Mr…
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Thailand Floods: A Phuket view of the damage in a nutshell
PHUKET: Severe flooding has wreaked havoc and caused enormous damage across Thailand. Although Phuket is not among the 28 provinces currently on the radar of the national government’s new flood crisis ‘War Room’, monsoon rains are an ongoing threat here, despite the hiatus so far today. The damage nationally: 30 provinces in all regions except the South (where Phuket lies)…
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Phuket Opinion: Signs of progress against roadside pollution
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette fully supports the long-overdue effort by the Phuket Highways Office to remove billboards and other unsightly advertising signage from roadsides under its authority, and we would encourage the local Department of Rural Roads and other agencies with similar authority to follow suit as soon as possible. If there is another “tropical island paradise” with roadsides that…
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Phuket braced for landslides as more rain falls
PHUKET: Phuket officials are urging more residents to evacuate as torrential rain continues to fall on exposed soil at a landslide risk zone along the bypass road northbound in Rassada. Rassada Mayor Suratin Lianudom, who has been at the scene all day, told the Phuket Gazette this afternoon that officials are closely monitoring several stretches of the road. This morning…
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Special report: Phuket foreigners losing homes to con men
PHUKET: Phuket homeowners are a prime target for regional fraud gangs that leave their “marks” heartbroken and penniless, with wives of wealthy foreigners often falling victim. Reports of people being cheated out of tens of millions of baht in such scams are rife on the island, but the victims are often too ashamed to come forward to warn others. Under…
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Phuket crash uproots tree, two slightly injured
PHUKET: Two people were injured in Phuket this afternoon when the driver of a pickup truck lost control on the bypass road, hit a tree on the median strip and collided with a sedan heading in the opposite direction. The accident occurred at about 2pm on the stretch of the bypass road in front of the Premium Outlet Mall in…
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Phuket Gazette: ‘War Room’ intensifies fight against Thai floods
PHUKET: Representatives of numerous government agencies started work this morning at the newly established ‘Flood-Relief Operations Command’ in a concerted effort to help Thailand through one of the worst flooding crises in its recent history. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced the establishment of the command in a televised address last night. “This is now a national effort,” she said. “We…
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Phuket News Hound: Thai flood deaths continue climb; 36 more dead in Mexican drug bloodbaths; Italians love wiretaps
Phuket NEWS Hound – world NEWS compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.S. Immigrant Population reaches 40 million Phuket Gazette The population of immigrants in the United States has grown to more than 40 million people, according to a study released yesterday by the nation’s New Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). The center’s analysis of Census Bureau data…
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Phuket officials “helpless’ in bypass road landslide threat
PHUKET: Local officials have decided on a “hands-off” approach to the nearly 250,000 cubic meters of soil threatening to break loose, destroy buildings and spill across the heavily-trafficked bypass road, a major artery skirting Phuket Town Following a landslide on Wednesday morning and the alarming results of an examination of the risk area, the Rassada Municipality mayor, local officials and…
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Phuket PAD remembers protest victims
PHUKET: Phuket members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) yesterday took part in an alms-giving ceremony to remember the victims of the October 7, 2008 clashes between PAD protesters and government troops who forcibly removed them after a 193-day blockade at Government House in Bangkok. The merit-makers offered donations of food and other necessary items to monks at Wat…
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OPINION: Phuket’s Battle for the Beaches – a poster child in distress
PHUKET: Much of Phuket’s allure as a leading resort destination in Asia is its number of beaches. Put shopping in the bag, along with Bangkok, and Thailand’s second most vital generator of tourism demand is the motion of the ocean. Views and proximity to the water are catalysts for real-estate values, accelerated sales and capital appreciation. Premium residential and hotel-managed…
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Weird World News: Recipes for disaster when entertaining guests
PHUKET: If you’ve ever had a friend or date come over for a meal only to wince in disgust, spit out a half-chewed mouthful of goop, make a few nonsensical excuses and promptly leave, then it’s safe to say you’re a dud in the kitchen. If you don’t know a courgette from a zucchini or a spatula from a spade,…
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Tush-tattooed teens end clerical career
NAKHON SAWAN: A monk at a local temple in this central Thailand province has been defrocked after tattooing the buttocks of two 15-year-old schoolgirls. In a single session, Phra Theera Chaya Chansophana tattooed the two girls and nine male students, all of whom were wearing school uniforms when they arrived to see him. Parents and teachers of the teens claim…
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Phuket divers sought for coral cleaning day
PHUKET: Fifty divers are needed to take part in the clean-up of a popular dive site off the coast of Phuket later this month. The clean-up, to take place at Koh Hei (Coral Island) on October 29, is part of three days of activities organized by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office in Phuket Town, the Thailand Diving Association…
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Frenchman arrested for fraud in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Tourist Police on Wednesday arrested a Frenchman for ATM card fraud in Patong, but his alleged accomplice managed to flee on foot. The suspect, 31-year-old Rodi Yagir, was presented to the media by Tourist Police at their office in Phuket Town. Also displayed were a variety of electronic devices including a laptop computer, a credit card “skimmer”, two…
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Phuket panel pushes for minimum wage hike
PHUKET: The Phuket provincial subcommittee for minimum wage rate review has applied to the Central Wage Committee in Bangkok to increase the minimum daily wage in Phuket to 300 baht, effective from January 1. A 300-baht-per-day minimum wage for all government employees was passed by Cabinet on Tuesday and made retroactive to October 1 of this year. Sutthipong Saisakares, chief…
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Phuket officials assess Patong Hill landslide damage
PHUKET: Phuket Highways Department engineers are today assessing the damage from a landslide that toppled electric power poles and may have dangerously undermined the foundation along a stretch of Patong Hill road yesterday. The slide occurred at about 1pm, washing some 100 rubber trees downslope and toppling four electric poles. A crack of a few centimeters wide appeared along a…
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