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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Court issues warrant for Jeab murder suspect
PATTAYA: The Pattaya Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of fugitive murder suspect Sam Van Treeck, who fled to his native Belgium in October, 2004, after his release on bail the previous month. Van Treeck was 24 years old when he was arrested for the brutal stabbing murder of Phuket-based dive instructor Chompoonut “Jeab” Kobram in October, 2004.…
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WTO says tsunami recovery needs publicity
PHUKET: A World Tourism Organization (WTO) report has concluded that complete post-tsunami recovery will not be possible until hotel capacity on Thailand’s Andaman coast, in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and seat capacity on flights to these regions, return to pre-disaster levels.The report noted that Phuket’s latest official statistics show arrivals on the island down by 50% in August, although…
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Tsunami warning towers test on December 16
PHUKET: The 15 operational tsunami warning towers on Phuket will be tested in conjunction with the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) on December 16 at 1:30 pm. The government has also assigned the NDWC to run tests in Ranong, Phang Nga, Trang, Krabi, and Satun Provinces, again at at 1:30 pm.Boonchai Somjai, head of the Phuket Provincial Office of Disaster…
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Gov vows to help with little Solitaire
PHUKET: Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura has assigned a team to help Sascha and Patchara “Riem” Meissmer investigate the identity and whereabouts of the Eurasian-looking girl in a photograph posted on the Internet.The Meissmers believe the girl in the picture may be their daughter, Solitaire, who was identified as having died in last year’s tsunami.The Governor told a news conference this morning,…
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Top golf gals heading for Phuket
PHUKET: Ninety-four professional players are scheduled to compete in the Phuket Thailand Ladies Masters (PTLM) tournament from tomorrow until Saturday (December 14 to 17). The tournament will gather top women golfers from 16 countries or regions: Thailand, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan and Wales. The line-up includes 32-year-old…
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German, 25, stabbed to death
PATONG: A 25-year-old German man died early on Sunday morning of stab wounds received in a furious argument with his Thai girlfriend in their rented room on Nanai Rd.Pol Lt Col Chawalit Niamwadee, of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette, “I received a call from Patong Hospital at 4 am that a man had been brought into the emergency room,…
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Task force formed to blitz illegal labor
PHUKET: A task force of about 50 officers has been set up to crack down on illegal labor in Phuket.Phuket Provincial Employment Services Office (PESO) Chief Boonchock Maneechot announced the crackdown following a closed meeting last Thursday with Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura and new the Phuket Provincial Immigration Office (PPIO) Superintendent, Pol Col Prayut Chommalee.K. Boonchock cited poor sanitary conditions…
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Parents still hope to find daughter alive
PHUKET: Sascha and Patchara “Riem” Meissmer have new hope of being reunited with their five-year-old daughter, Solitaire, who was presumed lost in the tsunami in Phang Nga nearly a year ago. Since friends in Germany alerted them last week to an Internet photo showing a young, Eurasian-looking girl they thought resembled Solitaire, the Meissmers have been trying to determine the…
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Drumstick wins King’s Cup
PHUKET: Ray Roberts’ Drumstick Quantum Racing this morning beat Neil Pryde’s Hi Fi by nearly three minutes to win the final race of the Racing class and clinch this year’s King’s Cup.Drumstick‘s consistent good performance saw the crew amass 7 points for the series, two points clear of Hi Fi.Nick Burns’ Mandrake, despite finishing sixth this morning, came third in…
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Drumstick and Hi Fi head for King’s Cup showdown
PHUKET: Ray Roberts’ Drumstick Quantum Racing will be aiming to make the most of its four-point lead over Neil Pryde’s Hi Fi in tomorrow’s final race of the Racing class of this year’s Phuket King’s Cup Regatta.In winds gusting up to 14 knots today, tight racing saw Hi Fi win Race 6 by just 51 seconds over Drumstick, which in…
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Airport Immigration chief hopes to up staffing
PHUKET: Pol Col Chirdchai Rattanametanon, the new Superintendent of the Immigration Office at Phuket International Airport, has applied for more officers in order to reduce tiresome delays in processing tourists.Col Chirdchai told the Gazette, “I understand that there are not enough Immigration officers at the airport to process the volume of tourists, but I have already applied to my superior…
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Home stay project aims to provide tsunami relief
PHUKET: The Employer’s Confederation of Thailand (ECOT) will launch a “home stay” pilot project this month in a bid to help tsunami sufferers get long-term income. “The project will be launched on Koh Lone and at Cape Panwa, Ao Makham, Khao Khat and Baan Bo Rae. The idea is that local people will welcome foreigners into their homes so the…
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King’s Cup sees fast racing and collisions
PHUKET: Strong winds gusting up to 20 knots sent boats flying across the water from Kata out to Koh Racha and back in today’s racing in the King’s Cup Regatta.The hefty gusts saw two collisions, happily with no injuries. The lovely 100-year-old Eveline was retired after her stern was damaged when was she clipped by Lady M, a 104-foot superyacht.Platu…
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Cigarette tax goes up
PHUKET: A proposal by the Excise Department to increase cigarette tax from 75% to 79% of the factory price was approved by the Cabinet yesterday and came into effect today.Thai brand cigarette prices rose by 5 or 6 baht a pack, while foreign brands rose by 7 or 8 baht. Under Thai law, tax on cigarettes may not exceed 80%…
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Drumstick tastes victory
PHUKET: Ray Roberts’ Drumstick Quantum Racing set a clear lead in the Racing class of this year’s King’s Cup Regatta by pipping Neil Pryde’s Hi Fi on corrected time to win all three of today’s International Racing Class (IRC) races. Although Hi Fi crossed the finish line first in all three races, making amends for yesterday’s fifth-place result, Drumstick won…
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Eight venues get “white’ approval
PHUKET: Eight businesses in Phuket have received “white entertainment venue” certificates, indicating that they are scrupulous about following the law.The eight are The Green Man Pub in Chalong; Zanzibar at the Royal Phuket City Hotel and the Walk In Pub in Phuket City; Phuket Bar, Baan Lai Mai and Crocodile Discotheque in Patong; and Surin Beer Garden and Koy Karaoke…
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Mystery surrounds death of Yasothorn woman
RASSADA: Police are investigating the violent death of a woman from Yasothorn Province who was found with her throat slashed on the morning of December 4. Pol Lt Col Amponwat Sangrueng of the Phuket City Police identified the victim as Nittaya Weruwanarak, 30, from Tambon Phai, Saimoon District, Yasothorn. Her body was found at about 6:15 am at an unnumbered…
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Mandrake takes early lead in King’s Cup
KATA: Nick Burns and Fred Kinmonth’s Mandrake from Hong Kong won the first race in the Racing Class in this year’s King’s Cup Regatta with a provisional corrected lead of 28 minutes ahead of Ray Roberts’s Drumstick.Bill Bremner’s Foxy Lady finished third in the class with a corrected time of 5 hrs 44 min 56 s, 1 min 58 sec in…
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Aussies dominate triathlon
CHERNG TALAY: Australians swept the top three places in the 12th annual Thai Airways International Laguna Phuket Triathlon yesterday. Winner Greg Bennett overtook compatriot and two-time winner Craig Alexander at the 6-kilometer marker on the run course and never looked back, winning in 2:31:40 and earning US$3,000 (120,000 baht) in prize money. Less than a minute behind, Alexander claimed second…
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Gov cool to idea of twinning with Denpasar
PHUKET: Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura was noncommittal about a proposal by the Indonesian Ambassador to Thailand that Phuket City and the Balinese capital of Denpasar become “sister cities”, saying he would first have to raise the idea with local tourism industry associations.The idea of twinning the two cities was proposed by Indonesian Ambassador Ibrahim Yusuf during a December 2 courtesy call…
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Woman zapped by her own security device
SURAT THANI: Sakhon Wich-aidit was fed up with thieves trying to steal the mats of rubber stored outside her home, so she installed a security system – she surrounded her property, located in a rubber plantation, with bare wire, then plugged it into the mains power. But the only victim claimed by the system was K. Sakhon herself. At about…
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Sole food
The father of an 8-year-old boy who eats nothing but dirty shoes and sandals is worried about his son’s health and seeking donations for medical treatment to cure him. After neighbors brought the existence of the shoe-eating boy to the attention of staff at the TV program Mun Plak Dee Na, they went to Hao village in Chiang Mai province…
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Arcadia-Hilton split denied
KARON: A representative of the owners of the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa has denied widespread rumors that the Hilton brand will be dumped next year.Hilton International took over management of the Phuket Arcadia Beach Resort on October 1 last year, and the property was rebranded.The rumors posited that the Arcadia owners were unsatisfied with Hilton’s performance, and planned to take…
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Gambling still top of crime stats
PHUKET: According to figures released by the Phuket Provincial Police, gambling once again topped the list of criminal offenses in November, with 217 people arrested. Forty-two cases involved the sale of underground lottery tickets.Eighty four people were arrested for the illegal possession or use of controlled substances, with precisely 2,189½ ya bah (methamphetamine) tablets seized. Fifteen people were arrested for…
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Luxury yacht grounded after taking on water
PHUKET: The luxury charter yacht Phayoon 3 was grounded off the southern coast of Phuket early this morning after the vessel began taking on water in heavy seas.The 130-foot motor yacht, which is operated by Kingfisher Marine, came back from a season based in Singapore in October, and was on the way to pick up passengers from Myanmar.So far not…
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Patong cracks down on street touts
PATONG: Municipal officials will patrol the streets of Patong day and night this high season in a crackdown on touts and street vendors harassing tourists, Patong Deputy Mayor Chairat Sukbal has announced.“We need to ensure that [touts] do not distribute leaflets or grab tourists’ hands to try to persuade them to buy from their shops. We will arrest them for…
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World Vision denies “aid for souls’ reports
PHUKET: Tim Costello, Chief Executive Officer of Christian aid group World Vision Australia, has rejected reports that the group has used tsunami donations and aid in an attempt to entice Thais to convert to Christianity.World Vision has helped more than 50,000 tsunami-affected people, through food distribution and providing much-needed items including 300 boats, fishing gear for 2,449 families, and 4,848…
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Property in the spotlight at forum
PHUKET: The Provincial Land Office and the Phuket Real Estate Club (PREC) will jointly organize a Phuket International Property Forum on December 17 as part of tsunami anniversary activities – and to assure potential buyers that the property market remains as buoyant as ever. PREC President Phummisak Hongsyok, who will serve as the seminar’s moderator, told the Gazette, which is…
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Big blues names coming to Phuket
KARON: The curtain rises on Phuket’s first international blues festival on December 16, with nine bands taking to the stage in the course of the two-day event, hosted by the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa in Karon.The first band to take the stage, at 6:30 pm on December 16, will be Blue On Blue from Bangkok. They will be…
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Suwat raps warning demo delay
PATONG: Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop yesterday rapped the Nonthaburi-based National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) for a mix-up that resulted in a delay in a demonstration of tsunami sirens in Patong.The Deputy PM, who was in Phuket to check on preparations for the December 26 tsunami anniversary, had asked for the demonstration.“We are checking everything, especially the warning system [in…
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