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.
-
Sponsored Is private health insurance in Thailand worth it? Real costs vs risks explained
Thailand has a strong healthcare system with both public and private options. Public hospitals offer affordable care, but many people, including expats, choose private health insurance for faster service, modern facilities, and more treatment choices. To decide if private health...
-
Server swamped
PHUKET: Following a bulletin on Wednesday afternoon announcing that the deadline for listings in the Gazette Guide (local yellow pages) for 2005 would be Sunday night, 31 October, the Gazette web server has been under heavy pressure and has suffered sporadic downtime. In what may be a reflection of the booming economy in the Andaman region, approximately 220 new listings…
-
Gambling tops crime stats again
PHUKET: In October gambling once again topped the crime statistics in Phuket, with 166 people arrested for indulging in illegal games of chance during the October 1-25 reporting period. Twenty-two of the arrests were linked to the underground lottery.Other crime figures released by the Phuket Provincial Police included 42 arrests for illegal use or possession of narcotics, with 222 tablets…
-
Night venues win “unofficial’ 2 am reprieve
PATONG: Entertainment venues in Patong and Kata-Karon this evening won an interim “unofficial” reprieve from the Governor, who has said they may stay open until 2 am.In return, they have agreed to call off their protest at the football field on Thaweewong Rd.After meeting with Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura early this evening, Sompetch Moosophon, President of the Patong Entertainment Business…
-
Plague of bugs hits coconut trees
PHUKET: Phuket’s coconut trees have been attacked by an estimated one billion coconut hispine beetles this year.Songwat Tiwthao, of Phuket Provincial Agriculture Office, told the Gazette that the problem was a new phenomenon, with the beetles (scientific name brontispa longissima) being found in Phuket only during the past two years. They are particularly prevalent in Chalong and RawaiThe coconut hispine…
-
“One tambon, one lawyer’ scheme launched
PHUKET: Each of Phuket’s 17 sub-districts, or tambon, should soon have its own lawyer, under a new “one tambon, one lawyer” initiative.The tambon lawyers, who will be paid 7,260 baht a month, will give basic legal advice and information about state laws to residents of the tambon where they work, as well as be responsible for trying to resolve disputes.The…
-
Plans to solve landslide and flood problems
PHUKET: The Chief of the Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (ODPM), Metha Mekarat, has outlined both short- and long-term plans that he hopes will reduce instances of flooding and landslides in Phuket. K. Metha told the Gazette that the recent flooding and landslides were caused both by nature and by human interference.“Some housing projects have caused watercourses to…
-
New law aims to protect Phang Nga
PHANG NGA: The government is debating a new law to preserve and enhance the environment in Phang Nga. The Chief of the Phang Nga Provincial Office of Natural Resources and Environment, Jarin Inkeaw, said the law has been under consideration by the Office of the Council of State (OCS) since September. It will have to be presented to the Cabinet…
-
PM to review 1 am closing – Gov
PHUKET: Following mass protests in Patong and Phuket City today, Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has informed representatives of the entertainment industry in Phuket that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will discuss closing times with the Cabinet next Tuesday (November 2).Packdee Ritthisaman, of the Phuket City Entertainment Association, told the Gazette that the Governor informed him that the Cabinet will discuss a proposal…
-
Night venues set for mass protest
PHUKET: Less than one week before the official start of the high season for tourism on November 1, nighttime entertainment venue operators appear set to move forward with their planned work stoppage to protest the government’s early closing times.More than 200 bar owners, staff and others affected by the new regulations gathered at the Crocodile Pub on Soi Bangla last…
-
One billion firecrackers, one billion baht
PHUKET CITY: Tonight marks the end of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2004, when believers will bid farewell to thousands of Chinese warrior gods as they return to their celestial realm.Sending them on their way at 10 pm will be the explosions of no fewer than a billion firecrackers, according to the official Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) guide to the…
-
Patong Carnival to go ahead
PATONG: Despite the gloom brought on by the enforcement of early closing hours, sparking plans to stage a mass protest next Tuesday and possibly even close all entertainment venues indefinitely from that date, the 19th Patong Carnival is still on track to run from November 1 to 3, marking the beginning of the 2004-2005 high season for tourism.This year’s activities…
-
Locals welcome first hotel on Koh Maphrao
PHUKET: Koh Keaw Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) has welcomed the news that a 600-million-baht hotel is to be built on Koh Maphrao, in Phang Nga Bay, east of Phuket City.Managing director Lily Udomkunnatum unveiled Burasari Resort’s plans for the development, the first hotel on Koh Maphrao, and the company’s third in Phuket, after the Burasari Resort, Patong, which opened in…
-
German dies from knife wounds
RAWAI: Hans Jurgen Ottmar Bayer, 37, from Germany, died on Monday night from knife wounds sustained in a fight with his live-in partner, Nakorn Koipud, 25, at their home in the Happy Home housing estate.Pol Capt Chana Sutthimas, of Chalong Police Station, said that Nakorn told police she was slicing vegetables in the kitchen at about 9 pm, when Mr…
-
TAT backs F1 powerboat race
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has agreed in principle to give the Phuket Chamber of Commerce the 30 million baht it requested to bring F1 powerboat racing to Phuket next March.The decision was made today at Kata Beach Resort after the Vice-Governor of the TAT, Santichai Euajongprasit, and the Director of the TAT office in Phuket, Suwalai Pinpradub,…
-
Phuket Immigration “best in South’
PHUKET: Pol Col Witawat Buranasompop, Superintendent of the Phuket Provincial Immigration Office (PPIO), today announced that his office has been chosen as the best immigration office in the south for its level of service and the improvements it has made.The PPIO received the award from Immigration Division 3 on September 30, Col Witawat said, proudly adding that PPIO Deputy Superintendent…
-
Myanmar upheaval “no cause for concern’
PHUKET CITY: The current political upheaval in Myanmar should not cause any material changes to the position of Burmese labourers in Phuket, the Superintendent of Phuket Immigration Office, Pol Col Witawat Buranasompop, said today.Col Witawat told the Gazette that his office had been advised by the national immigration office to monitor Burmese labourers on the island in the wake of…
-
Early hours will cut flesh trade – Gov
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has revealed a long-suspected but until now unstated reason for the new rules mandating 1 am closure of entertainment venues – the need to reduce prostitution.The Governor was responding to threats by entertainment business leaders in Patong to close their doors indefinitely from October 26 to protest recently introduced rules requiring venues in entertainment zones…
-
Vice-Governor to move
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Vice-Governor Pongpow Ketthong has been appointed Deputy Director-General of the national Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department (DPMD).V/Gov Pongpow was officially informed of his new appointment yesterday and will take up his post on October 26. His replacement as Vice-Governor has yet to be announced.He told the Gazette that one of his tasks in his new job would…
-
A cut above
CHON BURI: An enraged woman in Chon Buri’s Banglamung District cut off her partner’s penis at about 2 am on October 18, the second such incident in a month in the same province. The victim, 24-year-old furniture shop employee Songram Yospanya, explained that his long-term partner Rungnapa Pongaree, 32, felt neglected after he took on a “minor wife”. It should…
-
Work permit rules tightened
PHUKET: Changes to the criteria for granting work permits were quietly introduced in Phuket on October 8, tightening many of the rules, closing some loopholes and clarifying some gray areas.Labor Department offices around the country received the new rules in an order dated September 30 and signed by the Director General of the Department of Employment, Juthathawat Intharasuksri.The main points…
-
Road death toll shows improvement
PHUKET: Official figures for the year to September 20 show 122 deaths of people on motorcycles on the roads of Phuket, 15 more in cars, and one on foot for a total of 138.The figures are an improvement on those for the same period of 2003, when 145 died on Phuket’s roads, 139 of them while riding motorbikes.Sixteen people died…
-
Patong flooded again
PATONG: Phuket’s favorite entertainment district flooded again last night, less than a week after heavy rains inundated the town on the nights of October 9 and 10, leaving one tourist dead by electrocution.After several days of partly sunny weather, the skies opened again last night.Vichit Phuangsombat, Director of the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) told the Gazette that 69 millimeters…
-
Phuket “still free of bird ‘flu’
PHUKET: With the official start of the tourism high season just two weeks away, the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO) has reconfirmed that Phuket is still free of bird ‘flu.The head of the PPLO, Sunart Wongchawalit, said today that his office had once again checked all the poultry farms in Phuket and had found no sign of the disease.The PPLO…
-
5-4-3-2-1-blastoff!
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Highways Office (PPHO) has installed “count-down” traffic lights at three points on Thepkrasattri Rd.The Chief of the PPHO, Wanchai Wattanasiri, said the installation of the new lights – which show how many seconds are left before the signal changes – is aimed at cutting the number of accidents resulting from people running red lights.The new lights,…
-
Thaksin, Badawi tackle border issues
LAGUNA PHUKET: In two hours of consultation yesterday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin and Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi discussed progress on initiatives aimed at improving bilateral ties and improving security in the troubled region along the border between the two countries. The initiatives, laid out in the nine-point Joint Development Strategy (JDS) Action Plan signed by the…
-
Jeab murder suspect escapes to Belgium
PATTAYA: Sam Van Treeck, the 24-year-old Belgian tour leader accused of the brutal stabbing murder of Phuket-based dive instructor Chompoonut “Jeab” Kobram, is now back in his home country after fleeing Thailand while out on bail. The Belgian Consul in Bangkok, Hilde Van Inthoudt, confirmed that Van Treeck arrived in Belgium on Friday, but denied emphatically that the embassy had…
-
THAI offers cut-rate Bangkok-Phuket flights
PHUKET: Thailand’s national airline, THAI, is slashing the price of flights between Phuket and Bangkok by nearly 1,000 baht for two months from November 1.The special fare of 1,700 baht one-way will be available for passengers who book “e-tickets” over the Internet and fly between November 1 and December 31. The full one-way fare is 2,625 baht.In a promotion called…
-
Tourist electrocuted during rains
PHUKET: A 19-year-old Canadian tourist was electrocuted by a downed power cable in Patong during Saturday’s torrential rains.Noah Yelizarov, of Richmond, was found on the sidewalk near the Jintana Hotel. A broken electrical cable was nearby.Firefighters used a piece of wood to move the cable away and retrieve Mr Yelizarov’s body, but he was pronounced dead at Patong Hospital.Hospital director…
-
Patong businesses threaten “mob’ action
PATONG: After two weeks of unsuccessfully petitioning the government to compromise on operating hours, members of the Patong Entertainment Business Association (PEBA) said in a meeting at Patong Hospital on Friday night they would have no alternative but to demonstrate if a last-ditch appeal to PM Thaksin Shinawatra is ignored.PEBA President Sompetch Moosophon said, “We will send the final petition…
-
Inter Milan soccer clinic for Phuket
PHUKET CITY: A soccer clinic affiliated to top Italian side Inter Milan and featuring former Thai national players will be held in Phuket from December 4 to 6.Pimkamol Prasertwongse, Managing Director of Inter Campus Thai, a soccer academy set up by Inter Milan, said, “We expect that the island will be at the center of the sport’s development in southern…
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.