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Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, December 7
Two fallen electrical poles cause traffic disruption this morning | Severe flooding in Nakhon Si Thammarat | No 3-Star Michelin restaurants in BKK | NACC chasing an explanation from Prawit | Phramongkutklao Hospital bomber sent to jail.
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Patong Tunnel update
Patong Mayor, Chalermluck Kebsup, has provided an update about progress on the long-mooted infrastructure project. She says the proposal has now passed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) stage and will be considered by the main planning committee soon. “After we checked with the Expressway Authority of Thailand, who is responsible for the project, we found out that the tunnel project…
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Kamala vendors complain about illegal foreign vendors
30 local vendors of Kamala Beach led by Samran Kodsan headed to the Kamala Police Station yesterday (December 6) to complain about foreign vendors working illegally on Kamala Beach. The vendors say that the foreigners from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Vietnam have been working as vendors on the beach for a while and often try to pressure beachgoers to buy their…
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THURSDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
A lot of rain overnight so there has been some wet and slippery roads around the island this morning. Patong Police Station, as usual, suffers when there’s heavy rain. More racing down at Kata today for the Phuket King’s Cup. Nakhon Si Thammarat is really copping heavy rains and our Deputy PM is being asked ‘please explain’ about his ‘bling’.…
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Phuket Governor visits dog shelter to check on renovations
Phuket’s Governor, Norapat Plodthong, visited the Suan Pa Bang Kanun Dog Shelter yesterday (December 5) to check on the progress of its renovation. The renovations includes both exterior and interior work as well as management systems and infrastructure such as dog faeces management system, an animal clinic project, clinic building construction and the office and food donation centre. The renovations…
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Phuket locals protest over community land claim
About 100 villagers from the Prachasamakkee community gathered at the Phuket provincial hall at 9 am today (December 6) to call for their rights to live on the land of the community, after 70 villagers have been sued by a person claiming to be the landlord. The protest was led by the community leader, Surasak Tainapriew, alongside the secretary of…
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62 year old jailed over Phra Mongkutklao Hospital bomb attack
PHOTO: Early responders race to the Phra Mongkutklao Hospital following the explosion – The Nation The Criminal Court has convicted a former Electricity Generating of Thailand engineer for launching a bomb attack inside the Phra Mongkutklao Hospital in May. He’s been sentenced to 27 years in jail. Story of the bombing HERE. The court found 62 year old Watana Phummaret guilty…
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THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, December 6
THAIGER TODAY. Wednesday, December 6. Heat on the Deputy PM to explain his expensive watch | Pattaya driver tests positive to drugs | Floods starting to abate | 2 missing after Nakhon Si Thammarat bus gets swept away | Big drug hauls in BKK and Songkhla.
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Positive drug test – awaiting confirmation of epilepsy claim
A man who claims he suffered an epileptic seizure that caused him to lose control of his car and kill two people and injure 15 others in Pattaya on Monday, was under the influence of drugs at the time, police said yesterday. 44 year old Akkaradej Udomrat will face an additional charge of driving while under the influence after police…
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WEDNESDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
Day three of the Phuket King’s Cup today and fresh winds are waiting for the 83-strong fleet off Kata. Our Deputy PM has got into hot water over a flashy watch, a mother is being asked to explain why she chained up her daughter and a truck has fallen on a passenger van killing two in Chiang Mai. Welcome to…
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Phuket King’s Cup Regatta – Day Two. Perfect sailing weather.
Day Two kicked off as strongly as yesterday had ended with consistent, shifting and challenging winds. Race Director Simon James set the two courses around the southern end of the island. The fastest boats finished in around two and a half hours, up to five hours for the slower vessels. “We had gusts up to 18 knots and an average…
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Four-year absence of leatherback turtles at Phuket nesting beaches
With the leatherback turtle already listed internationally as a critically endangered species, the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department yesterday expressed serious concern that none of the animals had returned to beaches in Phuket and Phang-nga to lay eggs since 2013. Director-general Thanya Netithammakun raised the alarm over the survival of the leatherbacks, as there have no reports of…
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Official opening of Wang Kee On Waterfall in Patong
At 9 am today (December 5), Patong Mayor, Chalermluck Kebsup, hosted the official opening of Wang Kee On Waterfall as the new attraction in Patong, even though it’s been there all the time. “As today is the birthday of The Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, we agreed to officially open the waterfall to the public on this special day. Patong Municipality…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, December 5
THAIGER TODAY. Tuesday, December 5. Tragic Pattaya road accidents prompts questions | Songkhla schools closed because of flooding | Wang Kee Aon waterfall re-opens in Patong | Fake bomb causes security alert at Myanmar Embassy | Toon meets the PM.
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Pattaya driver that killed two claims epileptic fit – call for ban on epileptic drivers
A tragic accident yesterday morning in Pattaya is again focussing the public’s attention on a call for the Land Transport Department to ban people with epilepsy from driving. The crash occurred when a 44 year old self-described epileptic patient lost control of his pickup truck in Chon Buri’s Pattaya City, causing it to plough into 10 motorcycles, killing two people…
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Don says he knows nothing about Yingluck British passport
Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai has denied a report of unknown origin that Britain had granted fugitive ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra a passport. Don said before Monday’s Cabinet meeting that his ministry had no such information and that the British Embassy had not informed the Thai government of any such action. “I don’t want to speculate on or anticipate anything,” he said.…
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Phuket King’s Cup – Racing Day One. Plenty of wind!
Plenty of wind on Day One and the rest of the week is shaping up well in the wind department. Race Day One kicked off with some of the best conditions seen at the PKCR in recent years, winds around 19 knots and more of the same anticipated tomorrow. A total of 83 keelboats and multihulls took to the waves,…
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Social media blowback in Myanmar for Pope. Meanwhile international aid dries up for refugee camps on the Thai-Myanmar border.
PHOTO: Voice of America Pope Francis’s embrace of the Rohingya during a trip to Bangladesh has sparked some angry comment on social media in Myanmar, where just days earlier he chose not to publicly air their plight. On Friday the head of the Catholic church met a group of refugees from Myanmar’s stateless Muslim minority in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.…
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Patong Municipality announces the reopening of the waterfall in the town’s heart
Patong Mayor, Chalermluck Kebsup, says that the Wang Kee Aon waterfall in the middle of Patong used to be the main attraction in Patong and HRH King Bhumibol Adulyadej 9 also paid a visit in 1959, which was an important early part of putting Patong on the domestic map for Thailand tourism. “However, later, when the land in front of the…
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Jail, plus a fine, for taking alcohol into national parks
Tourists risk a jail term plus a fine if they step into national parks with alcohol beverages. Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation’s director-general Thanya Netithammakun yesterday warned tourists to stay alcohol-free inside national parks. “Offenders are liable to one month in jail and/or a maximum fine of ]1,000 Baht,” he said. Thanya said he had instructed all…
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MONDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
First day of the Phuket King’s Cup at Kata today, the island’s most prestigious and popular yacht racing regatta. We wish all competitors fair winds and good sailing for the week. Winds are expected to be up to 20 knots from the ENE. Sure there will be plenty of ‘bubbly beverages’ flowing around Kata this week during the regatta. Not…
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Phuket King’s Cup kicks off today
(left to right) M.L. Tridhosyuth Devakul; Kevin Whitcraft, President of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta Organizing Committee; Norapat Plodthong, Phuket Governor; Rear Admiral Arkom Tang-on, Deputy Commander, Third Naval Area Command, the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand representative and Chairman of Kata Group Resorts Pramookpisitt Achariyachai join the opening ceremony of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta 31th at Beyond Resort…
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Phukethon – 9,600 runners competing next weekend
The exciting running event – marketing itself as ‘Asia’s major running festival’ – Phukethon 2017, is being held on December 8-10 with plenty of running categories from fun run to full marathon at Sapan Hin Park. The event’s director of competition from Move Asia, Boonperm Intanapasat, says that there will be 3 distances – 42.19km full marathon, 21.1km half marathon…
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SUNDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
Welcome to your Sunday news briefing Phuket. Surrounding Phuket Province, many large areas in the south are mopping up serious flooding in the wake of heavy rains all last week – from Chumpon to Yala, mostly along the Gulf of Thailand coast. But Phuket’s been largely spared the extreme rains although it’s been mostly cloudy with moderate rain over the…
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Viral video exposes an alleged call-centre scam
A viral video clip has prompted police to track down the man whose bank account is apparently used by a fraudulent call centre. Investigators from the Muang Lampang Police Station on Friday headed to the house of 37 year old Poonsawat Khamphira to question him over his role in the alleged scam. “I was paid 1,000 Baht to open this…
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SATURDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your news in 3 minutes
Welcome to the weekend. As usual you can start your day with all the main local news stories from Phuket and Thailand. During the day we also have weather updates every 30 minutes on The Thaiger 102.75 FM (download the free App on your phone). Southern floods claim two, one missing A highly regarded nurse of 12 years service in…
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Upgrading Phuket’s stray dogs
At the Governor-Meets-Media conference today (December 1), the Governor announced a new management strategy for Phuket’s stray dogs, following the project “Disease-Free Animals, Rabies-Free Humans” of HRH Princess Chulabhorn. “There is an estimated total of 11,500 dogs in Phuket, of which a thousand of them are stray dogs that live in public and around tourism attractions and are at risk…
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Conference reports on Phuket’s drop in road death stats
In the decade previous, 1997-2006, Phuket was among Thailand’s five worst provinces in terms of death and injury resulting from road accidents. The dramatic reduction in accidents and casualties has been credited to a focus on accident-prone locations (where crashes were cut by 30 per cent), strict law enforcement using speed guns, breathalysers and cameras at intersections (leading to 10…
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More than 2,000 amphetamine tablets seized at Thachatchai Gateway
Two men from Trang province, 41 year old Uthai Chankarn and 20 year old Puwadol Pornsawangniwate, were arrested at 11pm last night (November 30) while trying to smuggle amphetamine pills onto the island. The two men travelled with a private van and arrived at the Thachatchai checkpoint around 11pm. Officers searched the vehicle and one of the officers, Private Manop…
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SPIA Asia raise $5,000 for Thai CSR project by AFC Dream Asia Foundation
Mr. Eric M. Gottschalk, CEO of MMC Sportz Marketing LLC, organiser of SPIA Asia – Sports Industry Awards & Conference (left) presenting USD5,000 (approx. 160,000THB) to Dr. Annadurai Ranganathan from the AFC Dream Asia Foundation. Asia’s premier sports conference and awards platform, SPIA Asia – Asia’s Sports Industry Awards & Conference, recently concluded in Bangkok with a black-tie Awards Gala Dinner at…
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