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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BREAKING NEWS: UN visits Rohingya refugees in Phuket
PHUKET: The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) visited the 33 Rohingya men in custody at Phuket Immigration today, the Phuket Gazette has confirmed. The UNHCR hopes to determine where the men come from, what their protection needs may be, and whether or not they are seeking refugee status. Originally, 68 men were detained in Phuket after their boat…
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Phuket’s Scott Duncanson wins Bay Regatta
PHUKET: Testing weather and clever course design allowed this year’s Bay Regatta to be hailed as one of the best, with Scott Duncanson and his crew on Quantum Fusion M taking top honors in the Racing class. It was not plain sailing for Ducanson, however. He managed to scramble the last of his crew together only on registration day. Racing…
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Phuket Memorial for Tony Knight to be held Saturday
PHUKET: The memorial service to mark the passing of popular Phuket yachtsman Tony Knight has been rescheduled to Saturday night. “There have been many, many messages of sadness over Tony Knight’s death and the loss of a good friend and formidable character, with everyone expressing the desire to attend the wake planned for him,” said Mick Kealy, commodore at Ao…
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Police focus on Phuket youngsters in Valentine’s sweep
PHUKET: More than 100 Phuket police officers and volunteers conducted a sweep of Patong last night in a “Valentine’s Night” crackdown on youth crime. The coordinated raids targeted internet cafes, computer game shops, public parks as well as rented rooms and houses police knew to be occupied by young people. The raids began after a “rallying of the troops” at…
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Kiwi bar owner found dead in Phuket
PHUKET: A Phuket bar operator from New Zealand died early Sunday morning from apparent heart failure. Kathu Police duty officer Jongserm Preecha identified the deceased as Paul Allen, 58. Mr Allen’s body was found at his rented home on Nanai Road by his female companion, Usa Kallaya, 32. The couple married two years ago and opened the KP Bar, located…
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Readers not convinced Phuket tourist shelter “a great idea’: Poll
PHUKET: Online readers are dubious about a plan by the Tourist Police to build a temporary shelter for down-on-their-luck foreign tourists, results of a recent Phuket Gazette poll reveal. The poll asked: “The Tourist Police will build a temporary shelter for down-on-their-luck foreign tourists. How do you feel about this project?” Overall, 22.7% of people who took part agreed with…
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Ex-Phuket police officer’s house burns
PHUKET: The abandoned home of a former policeman went up in flames last night in what police suspect was a fire lit accidentally by people who broke inside to take drugs. Phuket City Municipal firefighters received a report of the fire on Phul Pon Road Soi 13 at about 11:30pm. Firefighters arrived quickly, but their fire truck could not access…
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German expat found dead in Patong
PHUKET: A retired German man was found dead on the sidewalk in front of his rented home in Patong on Sunday night. Police say the body was discovered by neighbors at about 6:30pm. Harald Rainer, 69, had lived in Phuket for about a year. Police Sub Lt Pattapee Srichay told the Phuket Gazette last night that Mr Rainer was found…
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FC Phuket pick up valuable point in league opener
PHUKET: FC Phuket secured a solid 1-1 draw away from home against Suphanburi FC in their opening fixture in Thai League Division 1 football on Sunday. Following the game, Phuket manager Surachai Jirasirichote said he was “satisfied” with the point picked up on the road but somewhat “disappointed” in the manner in which his side conceded the equalizer after going…
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Power outages to hit southern Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has announced scheduled blackouts to carry out maintenance on high-voltage power lines, install new lines and move power poles in Chalong. The dates and locations of the operations, which will be carried out from 9am to 5pm, are: February 17 Along Chao Fa West Road, from in front of Chalong Temple to Land…
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Phuket call for urgent blood donations
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center is calling for urgent blood donations, especially of types A- and O-. Pornthip Ratthajak, director of the Red Cross Phuket Regional Blood Center, said the blood was needed for two emergency cases: a leukemia patient at Bangkok Hospital Phuket and a Danish road accident victim at Vachira Phuket Hospital who desperately needs O-. In…
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Isuzu mechanic dead in Phuket motorbike crash
PHUKET: Phuket City Police are investigating the road death of a young mechanic whose body was found in the central drainage ditch of the bypass road early this morning. Phuket City Police duty inspector Sien Kaewthong was informed of the body’s discovery at about 2am today. Arriving at the scene, the median strip of the bypass road in Rassada, they…
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Phuket road decision spells higher risks for Thailand’s mangroves
PHUKET: The long-awaited approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment for the “Klong Koh Phee Road” project comes as great news for all sides and represents a reasonable solution to an infrastructure hurdle that has needlessly wasted thousands of hours of commuter time over the years. For background on the approval, see page 6, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital…
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Phuket Live Wire: International internet speeds are up
PHUKET: International internet speeds in Phuket this week were generally excellent for 3BB, CAT and True, but bad-to-abysmal for TOT. 3BB customers are being upgraded, free, frequently without any notification before or after the upgrade. TOT Fiber Optic was performing horribly – often half as fast as standard ADSL lines, at five times the price – but the speed has…
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Phuket MET: January 2011 wettest on record
PHUKET: Last month was the rainiest January on record in Phuket, the Meteorological Department (MET) has confirmed. A meteorologist at the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) at Phuket International Airport told the Gazette this afternoon that his station recorded about 77mm of rain at both MET monitoring stations on the island. This amount was about twice the mean annual rainfall…
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PHUKET NIGHTMARE: Missing girl feared sold to Phuket brothel
PHUKET: The girl who vanished from the Chalong Temple Fair on Wednesday was lured away by a teenage boy named “Bow” and taken to Patong, her family has learned. They fear the youth may be planning to sell her to a brothel. La-ongda “Tanyong” Narmsra, 14, was reported missing on Wednesday by her mother. See our earlier report here. La-ongda’s…
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Are you ready for the weekend in Phuket?
PHUKET: Today’s Andaman Edition of the hard-copy Phuket Gazette newspaper went on sale late last night and our Nationwide Edition was released in Bangkok and placed aboard the major international airlines serving Phuket early this morning. Both editions contain reams of information not available here in the Gazette Online. NEWS – In-depth reports about the fate of the 68 Rohingya…
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BREAKING NEWS: 33 Rohingya remain detained in Phuket, tell of hardships at home
PHUKET: The whereabouts of the 68 Rohingya refugees who were arrested on January 31 when their boat drifted to Phuket’s shores has been confirmed by the Phuket Gazette. Phuket Immigration late yesterday gave the Gazette access to 33 Rohingya men in custody at the Immigration Detention Center (IDC). The youngest in the cell was only nine years old and the…
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Serial thief arrested, charged with 13 burglaries in Phuket
PHUKET: A 33-year-old Nakhon Sawan man who was just released from prison last year was arrested and charged yesterday with 13 counts of burglary in Phuket. His previous jail time, 18 months in Phuket prison, stemmed from multiple instances of purchasing stolen goods from colleagues in the trade, according to police at a press conference this afternoon. The accused, Weerapat…
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Phuket Reminder: Business law tops agenda for IBAP meeting tonight
PHUKET: The keynote speaker at the International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) meeting tonight will be Michael Doyle, a US attorney and partner of the Bangkok-based law firm Seri Manop & Doyle. Mr Doyle, co-author and contributing editor of the recently released book Doyle’s Practical Guide to Business Law in Emerging Countries in Asia, will speak on the issue: Business…
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Phuket sea gypsies fear losing rights to ancestral burial ground
PHUKET: Phuket sea gypsy villagers at Laem Tukkae are living in fear that access to their ancestral burial ground will be closed permanently. The issue was raised directly today with Somchai Seanglai, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, who led a delegation of officers to the area to hear a variety of complaints from the villagers. The graveyard…
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Hot time in Old Phuket Town tonight
PHUKET: Tonight is the last night of the annual Phuket Old Town Festival, centered in Thalang and Phang Nga Roads and in Queen Sirikit Park in Phuket Town. Despite being held mid-week, this year’s event has been busier than ever with a wide range of staged entertainments, food and drink, and exhibitions focused on life in the olden days. The…
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Anchalee calls for all islanders to register as Phuket residents
PHUKET: Anchalee Vanich Thepabutr, Secretary-General to the Prime Minister, this morning urged all people living in Phuket to register as residents so that appropriate-size development budgets could be allocated for the number of people actually living on the island. The rapid pace of development in Phuket was a serious concern of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the Cabinet, and the…
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German methadone survivor out of Phuket ICU
PHUKET: A German man whose male partner died of an apparent methadone overdose by penile injection last week is out of a coma, staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital have confirmed. The German, in his mid-30s, was transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital from Bangkok International Hospital last Friday. “He was released from the ICU [on Tuesday], but is still under close…
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Phuket yachting icon succumbs to road accident injuries
PHUKET: Tony Knight, a leading figure in Phuket yachting for more than a decade, died in Brisbane, Australia last night after succumbing to injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. “Tony had a motorcycle accident in Australia on Friday and seemed not too bad, but his condition deteriorated over the next few days as we believe his lung or spleen was…
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Phuket Old Town Festival starts today
PHUKET: The 12th-annual Phuket Old Town Festival kicks off at 7pm tonight, offering a wide range of performances, food and fun activities along Thalang Road and at Queen Sirikit Park. Coming less than a week after the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, one of the highlights of this year’s events is two objects related to reverence of the…
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Phuket committee agrees to set standard tuk-tuk fares
PHUKET: A maximum fare of 200 baht has been set for any tuk-tuk or taxi ride within Patong, a Phuket provincial committee confirmed today. The committee was tasked to address problems associated with tuk-tuk drivers overcharging customers. Members held a meeting at Provincial Hall today to reach a final agreement on the fares, which are now set to be standard…
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Phuket “mangrove road’ EIA approved
PHUKET: After more than a decade, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) has finally approved an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a controversial road through a mangrove forest in Phuket Town. News that the EIA of the Klong Koh Phee Road project had been approved was announced yesterday at a project committee meeting chaired by Phuket Governor Tri…
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Sky-blue robotic cat invades temple
SUPHAN BURI: A Temple in Suphan Buri province has become a national sensation after an unusual character was spotted hiding in its wall paintings: the Japanese cartoon character Doraemon. Noticing Doraemon’s huge popularity with Thai schoolchildren, artist Rakkiat Lertjitsakun added the sky-blue robotic cat to murals at Wat Samp Pa Siew in Muang district. Now Doraemon and his schoolboy friend…
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Phuket Police: Drug war crippled by slow test results
PHUKET: Procedural problems in drug testing are crippling efforts by the Phuket Police to suppress narcotics use on the island, a provincial committee on drug suppression was told last week. At the first annual meeting of the committee, held at Phuket Provincial Hall, Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha said central government policy on drug issues was straightforward and progress easy to…
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