News
Stay up-to-date with the latest news from across Thailand and beyond with The Thaiger. Our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from this stunning part of the world, covering a diverse range of topics, including local politics, business, culture, and tourism. Keep yourself informed about the Kingdom’s rich history, stunning landscapes, and thriving expat communities, as well as updates on events, attractions, and transportation.
The Thaiger is your essential resource for staying connected with Thailand’s captivating blend of tradition and modernity. To remain in the loop with the country’s most trusted news source, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.
-
Sponsored Top 10 reasons for expats to get a comprehensive health insurance in Thailand
Moving to Thailand offers plenty of excitement and adventure, but the local healthcare system can be complex to navigate as an expat. From unique health risks to high costs at private hospitals, having a comprehensive health insurance plan is essential....
-
Free HIV treatment launched
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Social Insurance Office today announced its part in the first publicly-funded scheme to make medicine available free to HIV-positive people following the scheme’s launch on the penultimate day of the XV International Aids Conference in Bangkok. As of August 1, Thais registered as resident in a province or foreigners registered for social security will be able…
-
Phummisak offers Chao Fa City as ICEC site
PHUKET: In what appears to be an attempt to break the deadlock over where to site the International Exhibition and Convention Center (ICEC), Phummisak Hongsyok has offered to earmark 200 rai of his recently announced Chao Fa City development for it.K. Phummisak, former Mayor of Phuket City and Managing Director of Anuphas & Sons, which owns the land where Chao…
-
Pa Khlok candidates deny big party links
THALANG: Leaders of the two parties running in the Pa Khlok Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) elections to be held on July 25 have denied links with major national parties. The upcoming elections will be the first time that Pa Khlok residents will have an opportunity to vote directly for who they want as President. There are 40 candidates contesting 18…
-
Thai Airways extends discount period
BANGKOK: Thai Airways (THAI) has announced that it is extending its “Smile around Thailand” discount fares campaign until September 30 due to keen interest from the travelers. Viset Sontichai, THAI’s District Sales Manager for Upper Southern Thailand, told the Gazette that the price of the tickets is at least 20% cheaper than standard fares. There are, however, conditions attached. Passengers…
-
Pig farmer’s matrimonial madness
SURAT THANI: A mentally disturbed pig farmer threatened to hang himself and his baby daughter from a flagpole if the police did not comply with his demands to be locked up in a prison cell for 18 months. It was later learned that the crazed man was desperate to find a retreat from his long-term lovers. The incident occurred just…
-
Taking candy from baby
BANGKOK: A daughter delivered her father’s safe, containing over 2 million baht in cash and valuables, to swindlers who called her and told her that her father owed them a lot of money. Rapipat Surapipit, 57, Personnel Manager of Plaza Athenee Hotel in Bangkok, told police that his daughter (name and age unreported) was at home with the family’s 24-year-old…
-
Enraged jealousy of a jilted janitor
PATHUM THANI: On the morning of June 4, a group of secondary school teachers sat at some school desks chatting at the Suan Gularb Secondary School in Tambon Pheut-udom, as hundreds of students sat doing their work. The situation is common – and even passes for education – in countless government schools across the country. What wasn’t common was when…
-
Provincial governors “should levy taxes’
BANGKOK: Former Phuket Governor Chadej Insawang, now Secretary of the newly-formed Mahachon Party, which will contest national elections in February, has advocated sweeping devolution of tax-raising powers from Bangkok to the provinces. Speaking with the Gazette in an exclusive intereview, K. Chadej said, “Giving provincial governers the responsibility to set budgets for essential services rather than [only] administer them will…
-
Pirate goods seized in Patong
PATONG: Kathu Police seized about 1,000 pirate copies of designer shoes, handbags and clothing on Thursday afternoon and arrested one vendor. Undercover officers posing as customers bought a pair of sport shoes from a vendor operating along Thaweewong Road. She was identified as Pichamon Somji, 25, of Surat Thani. K. Pichamon was arrested and charged with selling goods in violation…
-
CAT slashes international call rates
PHUKET: The Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) has announced a promotion whereby it has slashed to six baht a minute its charges on international calls to 30 countries, regardless of what time of the day the call is made. The discounted rates apply to calls to: the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Belgium,…
-
Top brass check police stations
PHUKET CITY: Officers at Phuket City Police Station yesterday found themselves under the scrutiny of Pol Maj Gen Ronnarong Yungyouen, the Deputy Commissioner of Police Region 8, and five other senior officers from Region 8 headquarters in Surat Thani, who were in Phuket to assess the performance of police stations on the island. The inspection tour, which reached Phuket on…
-
Stray dog round-up suspended
THALANG: The mass round-up of Phuket’s stray dogs – which began on June 18 – has been suspended amid problems including budget overspending, escaping dogs, and a small number of the 200-plus strays at the pound being “liberated” by their former neighborhood feeders. Veterinarian Dr Weerapab Termkiatpaisarn, the head of round-up program at Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO), told the…
-
Duo arrested for snatching
PHUKET CITY: Two young men were arrested yesterday on charges of snatching and receiving stolen property. Police said that Sampan “Ab” Pantunit, 18, and Prakij “Tum” Nariwandee, 20, confessed to snatching a variety of items from their victims but denied receiving stolen goods. Also arrested was the unnamed owner of the SR mobile phone shop on Damrong Rd, who was…
-
Investigators check 400 rai of land
Phuket City: Police from Bangkok and Phuket, and officials from the Land Development Department (LDD) today examined 14 plots of land in the Punturat Hills, next to the bypass road, that are suspected of having illegal land documents.The 14 plots, totalling about 400 rai, purportedly belong to members of the Srisansuchart family and their associates. The papers name the owners…
-
Massive operation to suppress gang violence
PHUKET CITY: Police arrested 100 youngsters at the weekend in a citywide crackdown on teenage gang violence and law-breaking. More than 200 officers from the Phuket City police and Bangkok-based Patrol and Special Operations Division set up some 20 checkpoints around the city, Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette. “We have received complaints…
-
Frenchman drowns at Karon Beach
KARON: A 45-year-old Frenchman drowned while swimming in heavy seas off Karon Beach this morning. Police named the victim as Michael Marcon. Boona Sritong, Mr Marcon’s girlfriend, told police that she had warned him that the waves looked too heavy to swim in but that he had ignored her warning. Pol Maj Anek Mongkol of Chalong Police Station told the…
-
Malaysians arrested for credit card fraud
PHUKET CITY: Police arrested two Malaysians at the Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel on Thursday for using fake credit cards and charge cards. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket City Police Station, explained that the American Express office in Bangkok had notified police in Phuket that the men were known to be on the island and that they were wanted…
-
Rawai Beach vendors evicted
RAWAI: Provincial officials today evicted some 20 stall owners from the Rawai beachfront in a swift conclusion to a long-drawn-out battle to clean up the view. Using an excavator, the eviction crew, led by Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura, took a matter of hours to clear the illegal shops, in stark contrast with almost two years of promises by the Rawai Tambon…
-
Finally, Phuket City has a mayor
PHUKET CITY: Nearly three months after the Phuket City Municipality elections, Somjai Suwannasuppana of the Khon Noom (Young Turks) Party today received official confirmation that she is Phuket City’s first directly-elected mayor. In the April 4 election, K. Somjai polled 11,986 votes, defeating Prawat Suwannadithakul, of the Chao Baan Sarng San (Creative) Party, by a scant 1,406 votes. Phuket City…
-
BGH to take over Bangkok Phuket Hospital
PHUKET: Bangkok Dusit Medical Service Plc, better known by its stock market moniker BGH, is to buy 51% of shares in the privately-owned Bangkok Phuket Hospital (BPH), giving it 100% ownership of the medical facility. The move is part of a grand strategy – BGH is also buying out the remaining 67% of shares in affiliate Samitivej Plc and the…
-
Tourism industry to protest oil pipeline plan
PHUKET: Vice-Governor Vinai Buapradit will represent Phuket at what promises to be a heated meeting on Friday with Ministry of Energy (MoE) officials to discuss a proposed oil pipeline from Tab Lamu in Phnag Nga to Nakhon Sri Thammarat. The proposed 240-kilometer pipeline, known as the Strategic Energy Landbridge, is intended to link oil production sources in the Middle East…
-
Friends mourn murdered dive master
PHUKET: Members of the dive community in Kata and friends of dive master Chompoonut “Jeab” Kobram, 23, are mourning her loss after she was found stabbed to death in a Pattaya apartment on Friday. Police in Bang Lamung District, Pattaya, have arrested and charged Sam Van Treeck, a 24-year-old Belgian, with her murder. K. Jeab, who came from Buri Ram…
-
Democrat rallies draw thousands
PHUKET CITY: Thousands of people who turned up for two Democrat Party rallies on June 25 and 26 heard a speech by Democrat Party deputy leader Jurin Laksanavisit in which he berated the Thai Rak Thai government as a failure, and outlined his party’s platform for the upcoming general election. The well-attended rallies were held on consecutive nights, the first…
-
Cops put squeeze on soccer bookies
PHUKET CITY: Some Phuket residents are burning the midnight oil to watch Euro 2004 matches out of sheer love of the game or their homeland. But those wishing to spice up the action by placing wagers on the results had better beware: the island’s top law enforcement officer has stated that his department will continue its crackdown on gambling throughout…
-
16 die on roads in May
PHUKET: Traffic accidents remain the No 1 killer in Phuket, with 16 people dying as the result of accidents on Phuket’s roads in May. Twelve of the 16 who died were riding motorbikes. According to the latest statistics from the three government hospitals in Phuket – Wachira, Thalang and Patong – 1,045 people were injured in road accidents in May.…
-
Thank you, 29 million times
PHUKET CITY: Pol Col Chalit Thintanee, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, yesterday received a bouquet of flowers to show appreciation for his arrest of a postman from Sakhon Nakhon who had stolen 29 million baht. The postal worker, Wirachai Gaiseeta, was in charge of the remittances section of the Sakhon Nakhon Post Office, and diverted money intended for remittances into…
-
No second runway “in near future’
PHUKET: Lt Cdr Boonchart Prompoon, Director of the Airports Authority of Thailand, Phuket, has denied reports in national newspapers that Phuket International Airport is to get a second runway in the near future. Cdr Boonchart told the Gazette today that there are no plans for a second runway but that the existing runway will be extended from its current 3,000…
-
Democrat roadshow heads for Phuket
PHUKET: Democrat Party Deputy Leader Jurin Laksanavisit will speak to people in Phuket on June 25 and 26 as part of his party’s nationwide Meet The People campaign. The campaign is aimed at increasing support for the main opposition party in the run-up the next general election, scheduled to take place in February next year. Democrat Party MPs Suwit Sa-Ngiamkul…
-
Pian “wins’ Patong election
PATONG: Former mayor Pian Keesin, leader of the Rak Patong Party (RPP), beat rival Songserm Kepsap of the Patong Progress Party (PPP) by just 147 votes in the replay of municipal elections held yesterday. The results have yet to be confirmed by the Central Election Commission, which declared the previous election void. Of the 9,213 Patong residents eligible to vote,…
-
Fake visa stamps probe faltering
PHUKET: The investigation into the alleged issue of 20 fake entry permits by a Phuket-based visa service company appears to have stalled at the Sadao Police Station, which is now in charge of the case. Last December Phuket Immigration officers seized 20 passports with forged exit and entry stamps during a raid on the visa and accounting company, but were…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.