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.
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Sponsored How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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Rayong’s Wild Stallions prevail over Phuket FC
PHUKET: Allegations of match-fixing and crooked referees have become rampant in the Facebook fan club forums of many Thai football teams, including Phuket FC, as the Yamaha League One enters its final stretch of the 2013 season. Although no concrete ties have been made between match-fixing and the shooting earlier this month of controversial Thai referee, Thanom Barikut, there is…
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Phuket officials bag six kratom, dope peddlers in 24 hours
PHUKET: A Rassada village headman busted five men for possession of kratom and marijuana on Saturday – and yesterday, in concert with the Phuket Internal Security Office (PISO), arrested a man bringing kratom leaves to Phuket by bus. PISO deputy chief Thammarong Chuayaksorn and Baan Bang Chi Lao village chief Sangkom Sinthupradit, acting on a tip-off that kratom would be…
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Uninvited little cobra evicted from Chalong residence
PHUKET: When a resident of Ban Maneekram, Chalong, realized he had unwittingly hosted a visiting 40-cm cobra for the weekend, he knew what to do. “When I noticed the juvenile cobra, I immediately remembered your article headlined, ‘Snakes in the house: who you gonna call?’ (story here) and remembered you suggested calling the number of the Kusoldharn Foundation. So this…
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Phuket gold thieves out of gas, out of luck
PHUKET: Thieves attempting to cut open a safe in a locked strong room at a gold store in Patong on Saturday night most likely ran out of gas for their blowtorch, forcing them to leave empty-handed, say police. Nuchapha Jetsadaruk, the 49-year-old sister of shop owner Sasithorn Jetsadaruk, arrived to open the Yaowarat Gold Shop 9 on Sainamyen Road (map…
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Phuket Tourist Court to open late this month
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourist Court will open late this month, while another five such courts will open across the country before year’s end, Court of Justice spokesman Sitthisak Wanachakij has announced. The specialized court, set up to expedite cases involving foreign holiday-makers – about 20 million tourists visit Thailand every year – will encourage negotiations between parties and will video…
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Two Phuket cop-kickers caught
PHUKET: Police have arrested two of the four suspects they believe are responsible for assaulting police officers trying to make an arrest of a suspect wanted for attempted murder and other charges (story here). “I was trying to arrest Wirat ‘Kam’ Prabpet, 36, wanted for attempted murder, possession of illegal firearms and mugging,” said Cherng Talay Deputy Superintendent Sommai On-khum,…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Cambodia police unleash teargas on protesters; Assad Victory; Colorado death toll climbs; Sudan sinks in fear
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Cambodian police unleash teargas, water cannons on poll protesters Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Police fired teargas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who had rallied in Cambodia’s capital on Sunday to push for an independent investigation into a July election they say was fixed to…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Fears rice scheme will break budget; Taxi CCTV on the radar; Singles say no to more taxes
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fears rice scheme will break budget The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The Finance Ministry’s sub-committee assessing the cost of the rice-pledging scheme plans to finalise figures for the first year of operations next week, with or without the latest information on inventories, a ministry source said yesterday.The…
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Greek claims Thai girlfriend swindled him out of Phuket property, two million baht
PHUKET: A distraught Greek was found lying in the middle of the road in front of a property that he claimed his girlfriend had cheated him out of, along with about two million baht. When Konstantinos Vardas’s mid-road protest caused a traffic jam in the vicinity of Tha Reua Temple, Thalang Police and Kusoldham rescue workers were called to the…
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Phuket Opinion: Beauty is only skin deep – even in paradise
PHUKET: The emergence of Phuket as an important regional center for plastic surgery is great news for the local economy, but raises some important ethical concerns about elective surgeries in general. Throughout history, people – especially women – have wanted to look their best. Until very recently, however, the only certain way to achieve this came, like everything worthwhile in…
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Thief snatches 5,000 baht from 7-Eleven cash till
PHUKET: Police are searching for a snatch thief who stole 5,000 baht from a cash till at a 7-Eleven in Wichit late last night. “The store’s staffers looked very frightened when we arrived, ” said Wichit Police Superintendent Chaowalit Petchsripia. “The thief was a dark-skinned man who looked about 20-to-30 years old. He was between 1.60 and 1.65 meters tall,…
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VIDEO REPORT: Phuket police stick it to luxury-car owners
PHUKET: Police dished-out parking tickets to about a dozen luxury cars that were illegally parked along Phuket Town’s Dibuk Road yesterday afternoon. A video of the mass-ticketing of the vehicles obstructing traffic flow was posted yesterday on Youtube and has already attracted over 10,000 hits. Many viewers commented to praise Phuket police for observing the same standard for both evidently…
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Phuket Opinion: The 90-day hassle
PHUKET: Having completed the bureaucratic rigmarole of obtaining a one-year work permit and a one-year non-immigrant B visa, I am soon to embark on my first quarterly “visa run” to have my passport stamped at the Ranong border control office. As a consequence, I have been mulling over the reasons why such a trip is necessary and I confess, I…
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Phuket Opinion: Providing a safe haven for abandoned pets
Dr Suchon Jittanon, 58, is a Krabi native. After earning a degree in Veterinary Medicine from Kasetsart University, he ran his own veterinary clinic in Bangkok until 1997. After that he moved to Phuket and opened another veterinary clinic, the Phuket Animal Hospital in Chalong. Here, he talks about caring for abandoned pets and urges people to think carefully before…
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Phuket tourism court on hold
PHUKET: The opening of a new tourist court in Phuket has been delayed while a sortie of judges, Tourist Police and officers from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) complete a 14-million-baht, two-week fact-finding trip to France. The fact-finding tour, which started September 7 and is scheduled to end September 19, is aimed at giving the experts a first-hand view…
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Single lingering regret for Phuket’s top cop as he prepares to retire
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Police Commander Choti Chavalviwat is troubled by only a single lingering issue of unfinished business as he prepares for retirement at the end of this month – the much-needed high-resolution CCTVs he sought to bring to the island. Speaking to the Phuket Gazette, Maj Gen Choti lamented being unable to see the cameras fitted across the island.…
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Staffer at Phuket Chevrolet dealership arrested after pocketing B1.2mn
PHUKET: Police arrested an employee of a Chevrolet dealership in Phuket after the man made off with more than 1.2 million baht of company cash. Somkit “Roon” Yukunthorn, a 27-year-old Phuket native, worked faithfully for about a year as a messenger for VST Autosales 2002 Co Ltd, the Chevrolet dealership on the bypass road. But last Friday he failed to…
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Breaking World News: Death sentences for Indian gang rapists
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Four guilty of Delhi gang rape sentenced to death Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: All four men convicted of raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman in Delhi were sentenced to death today, nine months after a crime whose savagery triggered furious protests across India and rare national debate…
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Baby buffalo saved from watery death
PHUKET: Quick action by a local Thalang villager prevented a baby buffalo from drowning in an abandoned well today. Khamsue Chanpet, 37, called Kusoldharm Rescue workers to the well behind Wat Baan Don in Thalang, after witnessing the grazing buffalo fall into the well. “I saw the buffalo walking and eating grass with the other buffaloes, and then he fell.…
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Thief says he needed money for sick son
PHUKET: A man caught stealing an air-conditioning compressor from a bus in Phuket Town yesterday morning told police that he needed money to pay for medical treatment for his son.Chaiwut Kongkhaoriab, 28, was caught in the act by mechanics at the garage where the bus was parked.Pramoun Jitpakdee, one of the mechanics, said he was fixing the bus when he…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Syria now chemical free; India rape trial; Philippine seige spreads; Ex-CIA seeks pardon in Italy
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Syria says now full member of chemical arms pact, doubts persist Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Syria became a full member of the global anti-chemical weapons treaty on Thursday, the country’s U.N. envoy said, a move that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had promised as part…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Bangkok police chief ethics probe; Security Council denies BRN demands met; University admissions under fire
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bangkok police chief under investigation The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A Police investigation into Bangkok police chief Pol Lt Gen Camronwit Thoopgrajank’s ethics as recommended by the Office of the Ombudsman is underway.The Ombudsman’s office spokesman Raksagecha Chaechai said Thursday that all further queries will be put…
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Alleged extortionist re-elected to run Phuket taxi group
PHUKET: “Brother Pom” was re-elected to head the Central Festival Phuket taxi group yesterday, despite facing charges of extortion and using violence to force member-drivers to make payments. The election was part of a move to restructure the taxi rank at Central Festival, the latest step in a campaign to eradicate taxi mafia from Phuket which has the full support…
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Jaran’s hammer: 73-year-old beaten to death across the bay from Phuket
PHUKET: A man confessed to killing his wife with a hammer yesterday because she moved to Krabi to live with her daughter, leaving him alone in the Isarn province of Yasothon for about a year.Jaran Triphoom, 79, was found by police clutching a bouquet of flowers in a rubber plantation hours after the discovery of his wife’s body, said Adisak…
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Phuket flower-seller caught in drain
PHUKET: Heavy rains caused another accident yesterday when a Phuket flower vendor slipped on wet pavement and got his foot stuck in a drain.Unable to dislodge himself, Preecha Petpradab, 36, relied on rescue workers to free him.Mr Preecha was organizing the flowers in front of his shop on Pattana Thongtin Road in Wichit when he tumbled into the drain.Kusoldharm Rescue…
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Central Festival Phuket takes over taxi management
PHUKET: The campaign to eradicate taxi mafias from Phuket took another step yesterday as Central Festival Management agreed to take over the management of taxis at the shopping center. “We want Central Festival to be a model of taxi management for Phuket,” said Maj Natapol Ditsayatham, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Chief Investigator for Phuket. “We want every driver…
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Elephants rescue tourists stranded in Phang Nga jungle
PHUKET: A rescue party of four elephants was dispatched to safely recover 16 tourists stranded in the jungle north of Phuket yesterday after a landslide brought on by torrential rains cut off their return path and the elephants they were riding balked at taking another route.The tourists were on an elephant trek in the hills behind Baan Thung Kamin in…
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Phuket storm pulls down pine tree, power cables
PHUKET: Two women were injured when a pine tree toppled by high winds landed on them as they were riding a motorbike on the Phuket west coast road between Kamala and Cherng Talay yesterday.The tree took down a high-voltage cable as it fell, knocking out power to the nearby area but [the high-voltage cable did] not harming the women.Police responding…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Pracha faces Bt6.68bn fire truck probe; Rohingya land at Satun; 5 shot dead in Pattani; Legend crooner Sayan dies at 60
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community AMLO to size up assets of Pracha, ex-official The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The Anti-Money Laundering Office will evaluate assets belonging to former deputy interior minister Pracha Maleenont and a former senior Bangkok Metropolitan Administration official before pursuing possible seizure if they are found to have been…
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Swiss man despondent over health problems attempts suicide
PHUKET: A Swiss man despondent over several chronic health problems, including diabetes and asthma, cut his throat last night, but was saved by his wife.It was his second suicide attempt.Patong Police received a call at 10pm from a woman who reported that her 58-year-old Swiss husband had used a kitchen knife to slit his own throat.“He did it in the…
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