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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Gulu’s goal: to bring mega-yachts to Phuket
KOH KAEW: Royal Phuket Marina (RPM) developer Gulu Lalvani yesterday held a press conference to outline his vision to develop Phuket as the world’s top yachting destination – including his plan to build Zoran Island, a new island off the coast to site a deluxe marina complex capable of berthing mega-yachts.“I am very pleased that at the beginning of this…
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Nation seminar sold out
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s economic strengths and weaknesses were under the microscopes of prominent local and national leaders during “The Drivers of the Economy in Phuket” seminar at The Metropole hotel yesterday.The sold-out event, part of a number of activities to mark the Nation Group’s 36th anniversary, drew many notable speakers from government, industry and tourism sectors and focused on ways Phuket could…
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Thai Navy stages VIP rescue
CAPE PANWA: A “VIP” was rescued by officers from the Royal Thai Navy Third Naval Command yesterday as part of an anti-terrorism drill held off Cape Panwa.About 50 officers from the Navy, Marine Police and Marine Transport Officers took part in the drill, which simulated the rescue of a Thai Government VIP from a terrorist boat in the sea off…
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Miniature elephant or mammoth scam?
TAK: Taking a break from bashing his cousins in the Karen National Union, a sergeant major from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) reportedly crossed the Thai border recently with an unusual piece of merchandise, one he came to hawking at an extraordinary price. Sgt Maj Tinai, from the DKBA 999 Division, claimed to be in possession of none other…
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Phuket’s klong to be cleaned Saturday
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Municipality is organizing a “Clean Up Klong Bang Yai” day on Saturday, May 26, as part of its activities to mark World Environment Day on June 5.The cleanup will take place along a two-mile stretch of Klong Bang Yai, Phuket’s longest watercourse, from the Thipkiri Bridge to the Phra-Aram Bridge in Phuket City. Volunteers are invited…
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Warrant served on thumb-chopping insurance fraud suspect
KATHU: Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police yesterday served a search warrant at the home of alleged insurance fraudster Pichet Porntatipong, who insurers claim chopped off his own left thumb with a butcher’s knife in order to collect 16 million baht in claims on some 30 different insurance polices. Lt Col Akkarat Limsangkard, Deputy Commander of CSD Sub-Division 5, called K.…
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Local moneylender found murdered in his home
TUNG TONG: Police are investigating the brutal stabbing murder of an elderly businessman discovered in his Bangtong Village home in the early evening of May 22.Tung Tong Police Investigating Inspector Pol Lt Col Passakorn Sontikul told the Gazette the bloody corpse of 62-year-old Kajorn “Ko Jorn” Somnam was discovered by his longtime live-in partner Wassana Chookaew, 51, at about 7…
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Man bites dog
“When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.” PATHUM THANI: The above quote, often attributed to 19th-century New York Sun editor John B Bogart, is the standard maxim given to young journalists to remind them what is newsworthy and what is not. It…
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Phuket economy, lifestyle under scrutiny
PHUKET: With tourism resilient and the local property and investment markets sullied by strong central government resistance to globalism, business people in Phuket find themselves at a crossroads. They wonder if the legendary Thai welcome accorded overseas tourists can continue to work its magic amid the walls against foreign land ownership. Will the walls fall? Or will they, along with…
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Phuket and Japan’s Hyoko to be “sistered” soon
PHUKET: Plans are afoot to add the Japanese prefecture of Hyogo to Phuket’s growing list of sister cities.On May 21, Phuket Japanese Association President Kazushi Miyashita met with Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit and Suwalai Pinpradab, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Southern Region 4 office to discuss the idea.Mr Miyashita told reporters he has already met the Vice Governor…
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One teen dead after night of violence
PHUKET CITY: One teenager was left dead on May 20 after a night of gang threats and retaliations ended in a fatal shooting. The 17-year-old victim, Kanchit “Phai” Trupsin, was found at 3 am outside Muslim Puenrak restaurant on Anuphas Phuket Kan Rd. According to testimony given to police, the incident began when a passenger riding pillion on a motorbike…
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Evacuation drills planned for June 30
PHUKET: Evacuation drills will be conducted in all tsunami-risk areas on the island on June 30, Phuket Vice Governor Tri Augkaradacha has announced. The drills will be coordinated jointly by the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC), the local office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket) and local administrative bodies where the exercises will take place. The areas…
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Man denies chopping off thumb to grab insurance
PHUKET (Gazette, The Nation): Kathu apartment owner Pichet Porntantipong, who stands accused of chopping off his thumb to collect 16 million baht in insurance, on May 21 insisted he suffered a mishap in the kitchen and welcomed a police investigation.“I’ve got nothing to hide…I’m ready for the police to investigate the facts,” he said.He declined, however, to go into the…
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Film fest coming to Jungceylon
PATONG: The first-ever Phuket Film Festival will be held from September 30 to October 6 to mark the opening of the SF Cinema, due to open soon at Jungceylon Shopping Center in Patong. The state-run Andaman News service this morning reported the Tourism Authority of Thailand as saying it hopes the festival will become an annual event.The film festival will…
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High tides slam Phuket’s northern beaches
PHUKET: Following Wednesday’s earthquake felt across much of the country, unusually high tides yesterday created fear of another tsunami among some residents of west coast beaches. Authorities said the waves, which damaged a number of seaside restaurants in Thalang District, were unrelated to seismic activity and were just the result of normal tidal conditions and strong monsoon winds.The waves damaged…
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Mobile diabetes clinic to tour Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) is organizing a year-long mobile diabetes test clinic aimed at testing 50,000 people who fall into high-risk categories for the disease.Reporting to Phuket Vice-Governor Smith Palawatvichai at the “Governor Meets the Media” event at Phuket Provincial Hall on the morning of May 15, PPHO Chief Dr Wanchai Sattayawutthipong said the outreach project…
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OrBorJor launches low season lifeguard training
PHUKET: Phuket’s hazardous low-season beaches will be guarded by 100 lifeguards who are being trained at Phuket Community College this week.The lifeguards are being trained as part of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) lifeguard project. The training program was developed with the help of the Royal Thai Navy Third Naval Command.The project aims to reduce the number of drownings…
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Police urge gold shops to tighten security
PHUKET CITY: Phuket police have requested local gold shops tighten security and limit their trading hours to help police better patrol the shops. The call follows a reported spike in the number of gold shop robberies nationwide.Police met more than 50 local gold shop owners at Phuket City Police Station yesterday to discuss the request along with other possible ways…
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PM downgrades tourism projects in South
KRABI (The Nation): Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has downgraded some major tourism projects in the South, including the reopening of some small airports, and the construction of a convention center in Phuket. The announcement came at a meeting between PM Surayud and the governors of the six Andaman provinces held in Krabi yesterday.The premier is concentrating more on a tsunami-warning…
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Cyclone prompts local weather warning
PHUKET: The Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) issued a regional weather warning for Southern West Thailand at 4 pm today after tracking a Tropical Cyclone “01B” in the Bay of Bengal. The cyclone has winds of up 75kmh and has been causing unusually rainy conditions along the Andaman Coast over the past few days. At 1 pm today the depression…
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Peruvian drug “mules’ busted at airport
PHUKET: Two Peruvians were arrested at Phuket International Airport on Tuesday while attempting to smuggle 1.6 kilograms of internally concealed cocaine into the country. Police said that the drugs had a street value of about 4 million baht. Phuket Airport Immigration Office Superintendent Pol Col Surasak Atthapanyawanich told the Gazette that the arrests followed a tip off from Phuket-based Narcotics Suppression…
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Gazette appoints new Managing Director
PHUKET: Oranee ‘Ann’ Pienprasertkul has been elected Managing Director of the Phuket Gazette Co Ltd, with responsibility for all operating divisions and products of the company.Now in her eighth year with the Gazette, K. Oranee joined as an advertising sales person. She became marketing manager in 2002 and was appointed General Manager in 2005.The Bangkok native is a graduate of…
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Czech Republic names Honorary Consul for Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Anurak Tansiriroj, Managing Director of Phuket International Hospital, has been appointed Honorary Consul for Phuket for the Czech Republic.K. Anurak today met Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit and invited him to the official opening of the Honorary Consulate of the Czech Republic in Phuket, to be opened by the Czech Ambassador to Thailand Ivan Hotek at The Metropole hotel…
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File work permit renewals early, says new PPEO Chief
PHUKET: The new Chief of the Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) has called for holders of work permits to apply for renewals at least three working days before their current permit expires.Nataya Anudit, who took over as PPEO chief two weeks ago, told the Gazette that the reminder aims to reduce the number of foreigners whose work permits needlessly expire…
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Diver airlifted from Similans after “fish’ attack
PHUKET: Russian tourist Rustem Teregulov, 39, was airlifted by Royal Thai Navy helicopter from the Similan Islands to Phuket yesterday after he was bitten by a fish – or possibly a moray eel – while diving in the world-renowned national park. Mr Teregulov today told the Gazette that he was diving off one of the smaller islands about 1:30 pm…
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Police bust Phuket ya bah connection
PHUKET: Police have arrested three men and three women, and confiscated 5,830 ya bah (methamphetamine) pills imported from Laos, in two separate but related raids.On Tuesday evening, police arrested Dej “Reem” Suebsod, 42, from Phuket, after he sold a bag containing about 30 ya bah pills to an undercover officer during a sting operation in front of Moo Baan Iravadee…
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Phuket Immigration nab wanted Korean
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Immigration Police yesterday arrested a Korean hiding in self-exile in Trang’s Kantang District. The man is accused of defrauding a construction company of US$343,000 (11.3 million baht) in his native South Korea.At Phuket Immigration Office yesterday afternoon, Acting Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau Pol Lt Gen Boonraung Ponpanich explained that Immigration officers had, via Interpol, received a…
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53 repossessed vehicles up for auction
PHUKET CITY: Kiatnakin Bank will publicly auction 53 repossessed vehicles on May 19 at the Yee Teng Complex on Bangkok Rd.Kiatnakin Bank Chief of Operations Thanyaporn Suwanyayee told the Gazette that this is the second time that the Phuket branch has held such an auction. The first was in December last year.The vehicles will be available for inspection at the…
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Patong Hospital to become more autonomous
PATONG: Patong Hospital on October 2 will become a public organization, though wholly owned by the Ministry of Public Health, so that local community leaders can join the hospital’s board of administrators.A public seminar was held yesterday to inform staff and the public to the changes the hospital will face.Contrary to reports in the local media, the hospital will not…
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Small retailers call for more government support
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Chamber of Commerce (PCC) has called for the central government to do more to help small retailers cope with the on-going expansion of superstores and convenience store chains on the island – including having the stores pay more in local taxes. PCC President Eam Thavornwongwongse on Friday led a small delegation of PCC representatives at a…
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