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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Absolute return funds – Phuket Finance
PHUKET: This short article will take a look at whether absolute return funds will begin delivering again. An absolute return fund or strategy is one which attempts – attempts being a very key word here – to deliver positive year-on-year returns regardless of market conditions. There are very many strategies that are employed in the attempt to generate these returns.…
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Samui’s tender trap – Phuket Property Watch
PHUKET: Everywhere you turn these days, tourism talk inevitably winds up on the subject of the mass market. It’s not unlike barreling down a dead-end street on a supercharged, high-speed bulldozer. There is no such thing as a damage control button to push. Yes, there will be collateral damage. Meanwhile back on the broader Thailand train of thought, and particularly…
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Phuket party thieves arrested with B1mn of stolen goods
PHUKET: Two hedonistic thieves who robbed a liquor store and drove off with their loot in the back of the store’s truck have been apprehended with over a million baht of loot from an extended stealing spree around Phuket. Undercover officers first located Ekkachai “Ek” Sae Kang, 33, on a soi off Sakdidet Road, and he led them to his…
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Baby’s body found at Phuket garbage depot
PHUKET: The body of a dead baby girl was found yesterday at the Karon trash-separating facility.Capt Channarong Prakongkua of the Karon Police told the Phuket Gazette, “One of the trash collectors said he was separating trash at the garbage depot at around 5:30pm, when he opened a plastic bag and found the tiny corpse.“It was a baby girl with the…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Two guards gunned down at rubber rally; Case of missing Saudi reopened; DSI ‘allowing itself to be manipulated’ – Phinyo Thongchai; Supermodel downfall; Magical boy
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Tension rises after killing of protesters The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Tension at the week-long rubber growers’ rally in Cha-uat in Nakhon Si Thammarat intensified early yesterday when unidentified men opened fire on volunteer guards, killing one and seriously wounding another. The shooting came just…
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Campaign launched to preserve Phuket sea gypsy culture
PHUKET: Plans are afoot at a local-government level to improve living conditions and enhance opportunities for the Phuket sea-gypsy community.“We will start working on Phuket sea gypsy communities at Baan Hin Luk Diao and Baan Laem Lah in Thalang on September 5. These are the first areas we will address,” Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut said on Friday.He was speaking after…
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Phuket cobra gunned down in village standoff
PHUKET: Rescue workers in Thalang, in the north of Phuket, last night were forced to shoot dead a meters-long cobra after frantic attempts to remove it from a tree within a workers camp failed. Kusoldham Foundation rescue workers were called to the camp, located in Baan Lipon, Srisoonthorn, at 10:30pm by Somneuk Jaturapushkul, the village headman’s assistant. “Villagers were afraid…
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Chinese tourist comatose after jet-ski, speedboat collision in Phuket
PHUKET: A Chinese tourist remains comatose after being seriously injured in a collision between the rented jet-ski he was riding and a paragliding speedboat at Patong Beach today. Rescue workers and police were called to the beach at about 11am. “We arrived to find Shen Baocheng, a 27-year-old Chinese tourist, already pulled from the water by lifeguards,” said Lt Thawatchai…
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Two Frenchmen and a Thai busted for stealing in Karon
PHUKET: Two Frenchmen and one Thai woman have been arrested after being caught stealing booze and snacks from a local chain of convenience stores in Karon.The arrests followed reports of three people working together to shoplift at three different outlets of the Bamboo store franchise all on one day – Thursday.Their modus operandi was to have one of them distract…
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Phuket Cricket: ICC on a roll, youth team crushes Laguna
PHUKET: In round 8 of Phuket’s Outrigger T20 cricket league, ICC took on Patong in the morning session, while the Youth side faced Laguna in the afternoon session. In the morning match, Patong’s total of 136-5 was comfortably chased down by ICC who reached 139-3 in the 17th over. In the afternoon encounter, the Youth side amassed the league’s highest…
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New goal for Phuket FC – Survival
PHUKET: If there was any hope left for Phuket FC to still get promoted after their home-draw last Wednesday (August 21) to 2nd placed Air Force, then it was all but relinquished with an away-loss the following Sunday night (August 25) to 3rd placed Singhtarua FC. Played in front of an energetic “Klong Toei Army” crowd at the PAT Stadium…
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Rise in Phuket metered taxi fares to thwart cab cheats
PHUKET: Taxi fares are set to rise in Phuket in an attempt to thwart the illegal-taxi trade and to provide legitimate taxi drivers with a decent standard of living. “We will increase taxi fares as part of our campaign to solve the problem of taxi-driver cheats in Phuket,” said Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada. “If the standard fares rise, taxi…
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Ao Chalong Yacht Club Sailing School to host Open Day
PHUKET: On Sunday September 8 Phuket’s ACYC Sail School is holding an “open day” event, starting at 10am. Club members will be taking kids and adults sailing in the Open BIC dinghies and taking bookings for their “dinghy sailing program”. There will also be kayaks to use, mirror dinghy and tasar sailing and onshore games – including a bouncy castle!…
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Beach Volleyball World Tour hits Phuket’s sands in October
PHUKET: The 2013 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour will make its penultimate stop at Karon Beach, Phuket at the end of October. This will be the 8th successive year that Thailand has staged an Open series women’s event on the FIVB calendar. The US$110,000 Phuket Thailand Open powered by PTT, which is organized by Pentangle Promotions Co., Ltd and the…
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Phuket Special Report: One fateful night at the Longhorn Saloon
SPECIAL REPORT POLICE promptly arrested three Thai musicians for the stabbing murder of American tourist Bobby Ray Carter Jr and the assault of his 27-year-old son in Krabi four weeks ago yesterday. Since then, however, the case has slowed to a crawl. A trial date has yet to be set, police have yet to press formal charges and all three…
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Phuket Opinion: The Carnival of Corruption
PHUKET: Corruption has publicly reared its ugly head as a topic of much heated debate, with one and all tacitly accepting that the situation in Phuket is out of hand. However, few are offering any realistic strategies to combat the problem at its roots: the well-entrenched mind-set that “playing by the rules is for suckers”. The good news is that…
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Grimes brothers take on tough international field – Phuket Sports
PHUKET: The Grimes brothers have had a fairly busy summer with their racing schedules, having took part in the Rotax Invitational Thailand race, which was held in conjunction with the fourth round of the Thailand Rotax Max Challenge at Bira International Kart Circuit, just south of the Bangkok.The Rotax Invitation race was held for the first part of the weekend.…
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Phuket kratom arrests continue as nation ponders decriminalizing the leaf
PHUKET: Three Burmese men were arrested in Thalang yesterday for possession of kratom leaves. Their arrest follows the felling of a kratom orchard in Patong three days ago and precedes a meeting of the Narcotics Control Board, Food and Drug Administration, Public Health Ministry and National Police next week about whether to decriminalize the leaf (story here). The arrests yesterday…
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Phuket jet-ski operators urged to be fair, polite
PHUKET: Complaints about jet-ski operators filed by tourists holidaying in Phuket have prompted the island’s authorities to launch a two-day seminar aimed at educating the operators about charging fair prices and being polite. Tourist complaints about jet-skis reached such a level that Qin Jian, Vice Consul of the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China, based in Haad Yai, lodged…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Britain says no to military intervention in Syria – Stunning parliamentary defeat
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Britain says no to Syrian intervention as U.S. considers actions Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Britain will not join any military action against Syria after a stunning parliamentary defeat yesterday of a government motion on the issue, dealing a setback to U.S.-led efforts to punish Damascus over the…
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Phuket Court orders media blackout on Swedish murder trial
PHUKET: Officials at Phuket Provincial Court today ordered a media blackout on the ongoing trial of Swedish nationals Tommy Soderland and Sebastian Ljung amid concerns that the media was influencing witness testimonies. The two men are on trial for the alleged murder of Maksim Schantz in Phuket in 2011(story here). “We have seen at least one story in the media…
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Phuket expats corralled by new immigration rule for passports
PHUKET: Officers at Phuket Immigration are calling for all foreigners whose passports are set to expire within the coming year to ensure they are issued new passports and apply – and are issued – new long-term permits-to-stay* before their current permits expire. The call follows a new regulation issued by the Immigration Bureau on August 13 (click here), explained Lt…
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Phuket party thieves loot liquor store
PHUKET: Police are on the lookout for the suspects who stole 12 kegs of beer, two cartons of cigarettes and 10 bottles of whisky from a liquor store in Baan Lipon, in Phuket’s northern district of Thalang.They even stole the store’s pickup truck to make off with the party essentials, reported police.So far, officers are stumped for clues.“We have checked…
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Human bones found in Phuket could bolster sea gypsy land claims
PHUKET: Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officers have found human bones in the sea gypsy settlement in Rawai that may help bolster the gypsies’ claim to have lived on the land for generations. Establishing long duration of residency is a key element in the gypsies’ fight against private investors who have already won court orders to evict some villagers from…
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Patong bag-snatcher tracked by phone, caught in Chalong
PHUKET: Police arrested a construction worker in Chalong on Tuesday after tracking a phone stolen during a bag-snatch in Patong.The suspect confessed to conducting a series of bag-snatchings in Patong after losing his job due to his drug habit, police said.Lt Col Somsak Thongglieng led fellow Patong Police officers to arrest Worakiet Sriwong, 32, originally from Mae Hong Son in…
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Chief vows to boost patrols to protect Phuket divers
PHUKET: The chief of the Fishery Management Center in Krabi has vowed to bolster patrols at Phuket dive destination Shark Point after photos surfaced of a gill net being dropped over the protected marine area when divers were in the water.“To ensure diver safety, we will increase the frequency of our patrols in the area to prevent any type of…
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Thailand News: Kratom may be decriminalized; Govt firm on rubber; Chinese tourists in speedboat crash; Blair’s visit confirmed
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Kratom may be taken off narcotics list The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) is responding positively to the proposed legalisation of kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), which is currently on the narcotics list. The ONCB will be meeting with the…
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Aldhouse pleads guilty to Phuket murder charge
PHUKET: Lee Aldhouse, the British kickboxer extradited from the UK to face murder charges in Phuket, today entered a plea of guilty to murdering former US Marine Dashawn Longfellow in Rawai three years ago. The plea was entered after Judge Montri Saroj, speaking via a court translator, reminded Aldhouse that a guilty plea would likely “help” commute a possible death…
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Golfing champion to return for defense
PHUKET: The 2011 Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel will defend his Thailand Golf Championship crown alongside colorful PGA Tour star Rickie Fowler at this year’s edition of Asia’s flagship tournament scheduled for December 12-15 at the picturesque Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi, just outside Bangkok. The Thailand Golf Championship will once again see some of the world’s top golfers competing…
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Sporting Tips: Balance; lifting and pushing the limits
PHUKET: Thanyapura Sports & Leisure Club (TSLC) boasts some of the best sporting facilities in Asia, if not in the world and coaching staff to match. The Phuket Gazette caught up with TSLC’s Tennis Head Coach Roger Cochrane, Fitness Manager Brian Finniss and Aquatics Head Coach Randy Simon to provide tips to “push the limits”. Ensuring good balance – Roger…
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