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 lifeguards start on Monday
PHUKET: Lifeguards will be back on Phuket beaches from Monday, after the Phuket Lifeguard Club signed a 10-million baht contract with the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) to provide services earlier this week. Club president Prathaiyut Chuayuan inked the agreement on Wednesday, finally putting to rest fears island beaches would be unmanned during the upcoming monsoon season. The club aims…
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Phuket People Network to PM: stay the course
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket People Network is planning a large rally at Saphan Hin to show support for embattled PM Abhisit Vejjajiva. The PPN is a group of Phuket residents who claim to be neither ‘red’ nor ‘yellow’, but are deeply committed to democratic rule with the Thai Monarch as head of state. Members have been holding daily rallies at…
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Phuket hotels count costs of flight bans
PHUKET: Island hotels are counting the costs to the local hotel industry of the volcanic eruption in Iceland that forced airlines to delay and cancel flights between Europe and Phuket for a week. More than 600 tourists remain stranded on the island days after direct flights to Germany and Belgium were canceled, while many more travelers remain stuck here because…
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Grenade attacks rock Bangkok
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community THE NATIONFive grenades were fired from M-79 launchers at BTS Saladaeng Station and nearby areas last night from unknown launch sites in Bangkok, killing a Thai woman and injuring 75 others including three foreigners, officials said. Ten are in…
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‘New’ motorcycle helmet law for Phuket
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Authorities in Phuket say they are about to bring to a halt the dangers of riding a motorcycle without a helmet after the region’s Police queued up new motorcycle safety laws set to come into force later this…
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Will Air Asia become Phuket’s favorite airline?
PHUKET: Given its penchant for quickly fleeing the scene by abandoning routes (such as Phuket-Perth and Phuket-Singapore) when business turns bad, and following notorious fare hikes on routes into Phuket earlier this month, THAI Airways has exposed itself to disenchantment across a wide swath of Phuket’s resident market. And now the island resort province has an increasingly credible suitor –…
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Phuket Governor lobbies AoT for lower airport taxi fees
PHUKET: In a bid to lower taxi fares on the island Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop is lobbying to reduce fees for taxis operating out of Phuket International Airport (PIA). Land Transport Department director Kanok Siripanichkorn told the Gazette today that Gov Wichai sent a letter to Airports of Thailand (AoT) management in Bangkok requesting a meeting by the end of…
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Phuket Police mediate Phanason City dispute
WICHIT, PHUKET: A tentative agreement has been reached between parties involved in a violent confrontation earlier this month at the Phanason City project on Chao Fa East Road in Phuket. In the latest face-off between the two sides, project workers on April 9 demolished local villagers’ vehicles purposely blocking the entrance to the development. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong,…
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Beached dolphin dies in Phuket
PATONG, PHUKET: Marine biologists were unable to save a wounded dolphin found clinging to life off Patong Beach yesterday. Veterinarian Patcharaporn Kaewmong of the Phuket Marine Biological Center’s endangered species unit responded to reports of a beached dolphin just before noon yesterday. Arriving at the scene off Loma Park, Ms Patcharaporn found the 60-kilogram, 2.2-meter spotted dolphin in weakened condition,…
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Foreigners in 25% of Phuket road accidents over Songkran
PHUKET TOWN: About one-quarter of the injuries recorded in Phuket during the recent Songkran ‘Seven Days of Danger’ holiday road safety campaign were foreigners, according to official statistics. Figures released by the Phuket Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office (DDPM-Phuket) show 60 reported accidents resulting in two deaths in the province from April 12 to 18. Of the total number of…
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“Ironman’ thief nabbed in Phuket
CHALONG, PHUKET: Chalong Police on Monday arrested a man with a motorbike sidecar full of pilfered iron, including drainage grates stolen from local roadways.Amnaj Suebsin, 33, was caught with two stolen iron drainage grates, three car ramps, two supports designed to hold exhaust pipes, an industrial pipe-cutter and various other large pieces of iron.Chalong Police became increasingly concerned about public…
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OPINION: A Phuket Perspective on the ‘Protests’
PHUKET: The ‘peaceful’ chaos ruling in Bangkok today cannot mask the kaleidoscope of tumbling loyalties or the withering away of any potentially credible justification that this is any longer (if it ever was) about a need for social change or the defense of democracy. The risk is that the gathering acrimony from all sides is superceding ‘protest’ as the event…
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Man found dead in Phuket Town jungle
PHUKET TOWN: A 47-year-old man was found dead in a forested area just half a kilometer from the Phuket governor’s house. On April 15, police were searching for evidence in an unrelated case when they discovered the body of Khamkong Yodsaeng from Udon Thani. Duty Officer Chukiat Chaiwiset said it looked like Mr Khamkong had been dead for more than…
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PHUKET OPINION: Learn to live with the gridlock
PHUKET: A plan by Kathu Police to reverse the flow along one-way roads in Patong is a good first step toward reducing traffic chaos in the town, but much more needs to be done to provide the millions of people who visit Phuket annually with the safe and affordable transport they deserve.. Put in place early in 2007, the one-way…
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Phuket tourist may be charged in jet-ski death
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: The young man whose jet ski allegedly crashed into 20-year-old Loh Ying Jie in Phuket has not been allowed to leave Thailand and will likely face criminal charges on Thursday, according to the New Straits Times. But the…
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Phuket flights: can Tiger tame THAI?
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Phuket flights: can Tiger tame THAI? Tiger Airways has launched a promotion with special fares for travel from Singapore to Phuket. Asia Travel Tips reports that the deeply discounted tickets, on sale until 21 April, are priced from…
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Songkran 2010: Two teens dead on Phuket roads
PHUKET: This year’s Songkran celebrations were marred by the deaths of two teenage boys in road accidents, according to the Phuket Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office (DDPM-Phuket). From April 12 to 15 there were 38 accidents resulting in the two deaths and 42 injuries, DDPM-Phuket said. On Monday around 11:30am a 14-year-old boy was killed when the motorbike he was…
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AFC Cup football match to be played in Phuket
PHUKET: Once again Phuket is set to benefit from political turmoil in Bangkok as an international football match is moved to the island. Bangkok’s Muang Thong United will face Hong Kong’s South China in an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup group match which kicks off at 6:30pm on April 20 at Surakul Stadium. It is the second year in a…
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Phuket’s Soi Bangla declared “iguana free’ zone
PATONG, PHUKET: Following complaints from tourists and animal rights activists, Kathu Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakhao has declared Patong an ‘Iguana Free Zone’. “Many tourists complained about iguana handlers putting the reptiles on them without permission, especially on Soi Bangla. Some tourists got scratched when the handlers pulled them off. NGOs have also complained about the practice,” he told the Gazette.…
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TAT Songkran celebrations a hit in Phuket Town
PHUKET TOWN: Three nights of entertainment organized by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) ended last night on Thalang Road in Old Phuket Town. This was the first year the TAT has organized Songkran activities in Phuket Town, where a variety of staged shows put on nightly at Queen Sirikit Park were a hit with local residents. Among the performances…
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Phuket jet-ski accident fatal
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Eleven days after a friend crashed into him while they were on jet-skis in Phuket, 20-year-old Loh Ying Jie died at Singapore General Hospital from swelling of the brain. The New Straits Times reports that Loh, a former…
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Phuket incinerator project to begin in June
PHUKET TOWN: Work on a second solid waste incinerator at Saphan Hin should get underway in a few months’ time, according to Phuket City Municipality. Deputy Mayor Thaworn Jeeraphat said work on the waste-to-energy incinerator, originally scheduled for completion in October this year, should get underway in June. The incinerator, to be built by Malaysian firm PJT Technology Co Ltd,…
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Patong CCTV units on the blink
PHUKET: The majority of closed-circuit television (CCTV) security cameras in Patong don’t work, the Gazette has learned. There are more than 20 security cameras sited in key locations in Patong, but only eight are still functioning properly. Most of the ten CCTV units provided by Patong Municipality are still in operation, but most of the units provided by the Phuket…
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Vietnamese man, 26, commits suicide in Phuket
PATONG, PHUKET: Kathu Police are treating as a ‘probable suicide’ the case of a Vietnamese man found hanged to death in his rented home in Patong early Monday morning. The corpse was identified as that of 26-year-old Huynh Tan Phong, shown in his passport as a resident of Thua Thien-Hue province in Vietnam. The body of Mr Phong, wearing white…
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Songkran stabbing in Phuket
CHALONG, PHUKET: Chalong Police are searching for the man responsible for a stabbing attack that left a young man in critical condition yesterday. Police were notified of the attack at about 5:30pm. By the time they arrived at the scene, an unnamed curry shop and dry goods store on Soi Thanuthep in Chalong Village 8, the victim had already been…
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Phuket tuk-tuk driver to be charged with theft from tourist
PATONG, PHUKET: Kathu Police will charge a Patong tuk-tuk driver with theft after a Maltese tourist claimed the man purposely drove off with a bag containing his cash and valuables. The tourist, 44-year-old Charles Bonavia, appeared at Kathu Police Station accompanied by a friend and two Thai women on Monday afternoon. At around 2pm that day, he and five friends…
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Thai Foreign Minister on rampage
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Thailand’s foreign minister Kasit Piromya lashed out at the global community yesterday for failing to take action against fugitive premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whom he branded a terrorist and blamed for the country’s deadly political violence. AFP reports that…
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Phuket Police road safety crackdown underway
PATONG, PHUKET: Scores of motorists were stopped and charged with road safety violations at a police road checkpoint set up on Patong Hill at midnight on Sunday. The violators, mostly foreign tourists, had to make their way to Kathu Police Station to pay fines for a variety of infractions including operating a motorbike without a helmet, driving without a license…
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Increase in flights to Phuket Intl Airport: AOT
PHUKET CITY: The effect of the political turmoil on passenger traffic at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport has thus far been limited, with increased traffic at Phuket International Airport making up for some of the shortfall, Airports of Thailand (AoT) has announced. Suvarnabhumi Airport Director Niran Theeranatsin said that before the protests 16 international and domestic carriers had requested an additional…
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Hong Kong shuns Bangkok, Phuket not affected
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Hong Kong travel agents yesterday announced the cancellation of all tours to Bangkok until at least April 21 because of the political violence in the Thai capital. Earth Times reports that around 80 tour groups with more than…
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