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 family to climb Mt Kinabalu
PHUKET: Two young sisters, nine-year-old Kasia Sambrook and her sister Alicia, 6, are in training to scale one of the largest mountains in the region next month in order to raise money for stray dogs. The two girls have their eyes on the 4,095-meter peak of Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, the fourth highest peak in the Malay Archipelago. All of…
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FC Phuket take on Trang FC Sunday
PHUKET: FC Phuket will take a giant step towards winning the Football Association of Thailand’s Division Two (Southern Section) if they can defeat Trang at home on Sunday. FC Phuket are currently two points clear of Trang, with a game in hand. The last time the two sides met, back in April, Trang handed the Southern Sea Kirin their first…
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Two teens arrested for Phuket shooting murder
PHUKET: A 17-year-old was left dead after one man’s jealousy turned fatal in Phuket Town on Saturday night. Phuket City Police today announced the arrests 19-year-old Narongchai ‘Tan’ Boonprom of Nakhon Sri Thammarat and 27-year-old Phuket native Kajorn ‘Ee’ Chansri for their involvement in the murder of Phuket youth Witarn Chuaykuea, 17. An accomplice identified only as ‘James’ remains at…
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Kathu culture fair a weekend hit
PHUKET: While many island residents partied the weekend away at the Phuket Music Festival in Karon, Kathu came to life with streetlights, red lanterns and numerous cultural activities as part of the second annual Kathu Culture Road street fair that took place on Kathu Soi 4. Funded at about 1 million baht, the three-night fair was an attempt by Kathu…
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Woman fends off mugger in Phuket
PHUKET: A young woman last week fought off a would-be robber by biting his arm, causing the attacker to flee empty-handed down Soi Yodsane in Phuket. The incident happened around 4am on June 24 after the victim, Rhian ‘Fon’ Hartman, was leaving her job as a public relations officer at a well-known restaurant in Kathu. Ms Hartman drove on her…
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Ax murder ends World Cup dispute
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: A man hacked his boss to death with an ax following an argument over play in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, now into the knockout stages in South Africa. In the early hours of June 22, friends of Suwit Thongkhaha rushed the 42-year-old to hospital, but he was dead on arrival, the Thai-language newspaper Khao Sod (‘Fresh…
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Software Park Phuket ‘Tech Talk’ series for July
PHUKET: Software Park Phuket has announced its schedule of weekly ‘Tech Talk’ discussions for July: July 1: ‘Worry-free, legal-licensed, free open source business software‘, by LisAndi (English presentation with Thai translation). July 8: ‘Get to know Google Docs’ by Phuket Innovation Incubation Center, Software Park Phuket (Thai presentation with English slides, no translation). July 15: ‘CAT CDMA 3G: Wireless technology…
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Phuket flights: Air Bagan to Burma?
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: Myanmar’s two private airlines have announced plans to purchase new aircraft to service new routes, including Phuket, in time for…
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Pair arrested in Phuket for robbery, rape
PHUKET: Tung Tong Police yesterday arrested two members of a gang allegedly responsible for a string of robberies in Patong and one brutal rape in Kathu. Police presented 30-year-old Kathu resident Manat Prabpai at a press conference at Tung Tong Police Station along with Adisak ‘Oom’ Rakkhanam, who was arrested yesterday while trying to escape from police after allegedly committing…
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Dengue Fever spreading in Phuket
PHUKET: The number of dengue fever cases in Phuket is soaring, according to the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO). PPHO Director Narinrach Pichyakamin said figures released by the PPHO at a meeting of public health volunteers on June 17 showed 213 cases of dengue fever in Phuket from January 1 to June 12 this year. The initial target for…
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Something’s getting fishy in Phuket
PHUKET: Faced with high-tech detection technology and sniffer dogs, drug smugglers are resorting to stashing methamphetamine pills inside containers of fermented fish (pla raa) in an effort to hide their smell from authorities, Phuket Police say. Chalong Police held a press conference yesterday afternoon to announce the arrest of four suspects for possession of methamphetamine pills, known in Thailand as…
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Phuket Police squash meth ring
PHUKET: Phuket City Police have arrested a boyfriend-girlfriend team of major drug suppliers, seizing over 6,000 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills in the process. Also arrested in the operation were several dealers working for the couple and some of their customers. The busts were announced at a press conference at Phuket City Police Station yesterday morning. Phuket Police Commander Pekad Tantipong…
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Yamaha pushes jet-skis as Phuket water safety solution
PHUKET: Thai and Australian lifeguard trainers last week staged a surf rescue demonstration at Karon Beach to show local officials how jet-skis, when properly used, can save lives rather than imperil them. Performing the demonstration were six trainers from the Bangkok-based Promedic Rescue Team and three trainers, headed by David Field, from Australia’s Surf Life Saving Association (SLSA). Mr Field…
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Phuket Music Festival starts tonight
PHUKET: This evening marks the first night of the second annual Phuket Music Festival, an all-night full moon party on Karon Beach. Morakot Suddee, Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s events promotion division, said the free-admission event will be very similar to the inaugural Roy Fest held in the same location last year, but with a wider variety of…
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Porsches powering to Phuket
PHUKET: Competing for our attention with the omnipresent drone of vuvuzela horns over the next few days will be the sound of 25 Porsche touring cars, now on their way from Singapore and due to arrive in Phuket tomorrow. The drivers, members of the Porsche Club Singapore (PCS), are today on a rally leg from Haad Yai to Krabi, where…
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Phuket Events: Yacht racing dominates
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: The third SEA Property International Phuket Multihull Championship will take place July 16-18 in the Chalong Bay area. This increasingly…
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Don’t coax crocs, Thai tourists told
NAKHON RACHASIMA: Authorities at Khao Yai National Park have given a stern warning to tourists, ordering them to stop taunting the park’s pair of two-meter-long crocodiles. The warning came after officials spotted visitors tempting the beasts with their feet. The reptiles first hit the headlines last year when they were seen swimming around a waterhole in the park, which is…
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Funeral services for Eric Tomlin
PHUKET: Eric Tomlin, founder of Phuket-Villas.com and Lynx Management Group, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 63 last week. A former Cathay Pacific pilot, Mr Tomlin was a pioneer in the development of the upscale villa market on the island. The native of Leicestershire, England is survived by his wife Suchada Chaloemtoem and two young daughters. Cremation services are…
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Murdered woman’s corpse found on Phuket roadside
PHUKET: A man on his commute to work made a gruesome discovery this morning, finding the rotting corpse of a woman stuffed into a suitcase and deposited along Chao Fa Thani Road, behind the new Honda Showroom on Chao Fa West northbound in Wichit. The discovery was made at 9:15am by 35-year-old Prasit Klaigate, an employee of the VSN Service…
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Australian dies in Phuket hotel room
PHUKET: Kathu Police are still uncertain what caused the death of an Australian man in his Patong apartment yesterday. A Kathu Police duty officer identified the body as that of 40-year-old Jamie Thomas Trow. A friend of the deceased, identified only as ‘Mr Eric’, discovered Mr Trow’s body in his second-floor room at the upscale BYD Lofts serviced apartments on…
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Phuket to host travel congress
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) will hold its 59th Annual Travel Congress (convention and exhibition) in Phuket, from…
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Lithuanian father seeks missing son in Phuket
PHUKET: A Lithuanian man desperate to re-establish contact with his missing son is offering a 25,000-baht reward to anyone who can help him find the young man. The father, 40-year-old Andrej Korkus, was at Kathu Police Station yesterday in search of his 24-year-old son who bears the same name. Mr Korkus Sr said his son, his only child, went to…
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Aussie death plunge in Phuket likely an accident
PHUKET: The expat operators of a Patong hotel have dismissed local media reports suggesting that an Australian man who plunged three floors to his death on the morning of June 10 took his own life following a World Cup dispute with a Thai girlfriend. The death was most likely accidental, they said. According to one media report, 29-year-old Shawn Morris…
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Chalong Police arrest murder suspect
PHUKET: Police have arrested a man wanted for shooting dead an 18-year-old student on Wiset Road in Rawai last week. Chalong Police led by Superintendent Wichit Intorrasorn held a press conference yesterday afternoon to announce the arrest of Thaweesak Sukprasit, 29, who was arrested by police at his home in Chalong Village 7 on Sunday. Also known by the alias…
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Phuket Poll: Patong City sign
PHUKET: Work is underway on a 9-million-baht project to create a large welcome sign on Patong Hill, at the border between Patong and Kathu municipalities. The project, funded under the Thai Khem Kaeng (Strong Thailand) financial stimulus package, has drawn criticism from some quarters. What do you think? Have your say in the latest Phuket Gazette readers’ poll by clicking…
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Readers’ poll: Phuket economy hurt by Bangkok turmoil
PHUKET: Most Phuket Gazette online readers think the political turmoil in April and May seriously harmed Phuket’s economy, the results of the latest readers’ poll reveal. Of 536 readers who took part, 59.7% overall said the protests seriously harmed Phuket’s economy. A smaller percentage, 27.6%, said the events had hurt Phuket’s economy ‘a little’, while 5.2% thought Phuket had not…
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Vice Governor Nivit back in Phuket
PHUKET: New Phuket Vice Governor Nivit Aroonrat is on the job as of today, June 21. V/Gov Nivit comes to Phuket from Sukhothai, where he served as provincial vice governor for almost a year. The 59-year-old native of Phuket brings 35 years of public service experience to the job. He is taking over the position from departing Vice Gov Smith…
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Swede dies in Phuket stairwell fall
PHUKET: A Swedish man died over the weekend of injuries sustained from falling down a flight of stairs at a Phuket apartment block. Chalong Police and rescue workers from the Phuket Ruamjai Kupai Foundation were notified of the death at 11:30am on Saturday. Arriving at the six-story Kata Residence apartments on Patak Road, they found the body of 53-year-old Per…
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Is Phuket business ready for the bulls?
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. World Cup? Get instantaneous scores and news updates right here on the Gazette Online (fed directly from FIFA). PHUKET: Robotic as it is, Phuket NEWS Hound is obedient in the extreme. It never fails to do what Gazette editors…
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Love in Phuket: Thai-foreigner marriages that fail
PHUKET: Thai-foreigner relationships accounted for well over half of all contested divorces in Phuket last year, according to the new chief justice of the Phuket Provincial Juvenile and Family Court (PPJFC). Chief Justice Methinee Thipmonthian said at a press conference earlier this month that in 2009 there were 24 Thai-foreigner divorces contested in Phuket, out of a total 36 cases…
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