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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After Phuket, Capt Tan makes record-breaking landing in Malaysia
PHUKET: Captain James Anthony Tan of Malaysia has completed the world’s youngest solo flight circumnavigation after departing Phuket at 11am today to land safely in Kuala Lumpur at 4:51pm local time. Capt Tan arrived in Phuket yesterday and attended a party in his honor at the Dewa Phuket Beach Resort in Nai Yang last night, hosted by Tourism Malaysia, which…
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Phuket real estate used as bait in gambling ring
PHUKET: Five people have been arrested for operating a real estate scam in which they lured potential customers into illegally gambling on a game of “fan tan”. The scammers used the same ploy as that used by a group arrested in Phuket in February (story here). Massage shop owner Uraiporn Sae-Tung wanted to sell her massage shop in Rawai and…
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Major u-turn for Phuket’s roads; life delivered, not taken
PHUKET: Phuket rescue workers, regular crusaders rendering assistance to all those involved in accidents on the island’s notorious roads, were called to a very different emergency before dawn this morning: the delivery of a baby girl.Staff at the rescue operations center in Mai Khao received a call at 5:15am, asking for assistance to transport Jintara Butrarit, 24, from her home…
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Phuket Finance: Gold plunges to 33 year low
PHUKET: The past month has not been kind to anyone who has bought gold recently. With a nearly 9% loss since its January peak, and nearly 14% from last September’s, the precious metal has been anything but. Last week it had its largest one-day percentage decline since February 28, 1983. For the past 20 months, the price of gold has…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: School closures bite; Forecast for abundance; Seh Daeng revival; Sudarat says no
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community School closings pressure parents The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Enrolling students every other year at primary school level could be one solution to the government’s controversial policy of closing small schools, a leading educator told a Bangkok seminar yesterday. Other proposals included teaching three two-year…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Turkish bombs spark Syrian fear; EU in doubt; OJ Simpson returns; SARS-like virus to spread
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Syrian refugees fear backlash in Turkey after bombings Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Syrian refugees in Turkey say they fear a backlash after car bombings that killed 50 people and wounded many others over the weekend in a border town.Turkey is home to some 400,000 refugees from the…
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Phuket Opinion: Learning to drive
PHUKET: Every motorist I have ever met remembers the day he or she was issued a driver’s license and got behind the wheel… legally. My wife enjoyed that day only this week. The joyous occasion came after months of trying to teach her to drive on the streets of Phuket, where we were slowly denied the opportunity of practicing away…
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Middle-aged Phuket meth dealer goes quietly
PHUKET: Acting on a tip off about frequent drug transactions at the entrance to a soi in Thalang, police arrested a drug dealer in possession of ya bah (methamphetamine), and ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) yesterday. Police questioning led to the confession of Nirun Yokcharern, 58, at the entrance to Soi Lak Muang 2 off of Thepkrasattri Road, said Thalang District…
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Phuket Poll: What would you spend B2.6bn on?
PHUKET: There has been nothing but eerie silence since Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra ignored questions about what happened to the 2.6 billion baht that was once “already dedicated” to building Phuket’s decades-in-waiting International Convention and Exhibition Center (story here). In recognition of that silence – and the fact that the money “already dedicated” was provided by a loan from the…
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Druggy catches Phuket cop on the can, steals firearm, heads to McDonald’s
PHUKET: A Patong Deputy Superintendent was caught with his pants down in Kathu Police Station during the graveyard shift after a meth-fiend robbed his office as he was taking a 20 minute break in the washroom. “When I returned from the toilet, I found my property had been stolen,” said Patong Police Deputy Superintendent Paisarn Sangthep. Among the missing items…
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DNA tests for two more Phuket baby elephants
PHUKET: Officers raided two locations last week suspected of housing baby elephants illegally snatched from the wild and conducted DNA tests on the two animals to determine their parentage. Officers suspect that the two elephants are the offspring of a wild elephant in Kaeng Krachan National Park. Both elephants had microchips in their ears and the necessary registration and transfer…
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A perfect place for shore leave
PHUKET: Sailing smoothly through its second year of operations, the Krabi River Marina (KRM) recently added a second restaurant to its portfolio – a small yet significant indicator of the continuous growth in Phang Nga Bay’s marine leisure industry. One of the main selling points of the newly opened Terrace pub and restaurant, KRM’s second eatery after the Marina Villa,…
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Phuket FC survive execution by Ayutthaya’s Ancient Warriors
PHUKET: The Islanders failed to beat Ayutthaya FC in their Yamaha League One (YL1) away game on Saturday. The 1-1 draw dropped Phuket FC down to 6th in the table, five points behind top of the table Air Force United. Ayutthaya are third from bottom after 10 games. The home team took the lead in the 36th minute after Phuket’s…
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Not open yet, but Phuket’s Chalong Marina already needs repairs
PHUKET: The chief of the Phuket Marine Office has appealed to all boat operators to exercise caution while using the still incomplete Chalong Bay Marina to allow passengers – mostly tourists – to board and disembark vessels. The news comes after a Phuket Gazette reader sent in photos of tourists cautiously avoiding a gaping hole in the gangway that joins…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Poll parents oppose school closures; Rice pledging under microscope; Pheu Thai blames Constitutional Court for crisis
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community School mergers unpopular with parents: Poll The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: More than half the parents surveyed by a Dusit Poll opposed the Education Ministry’s plan to merge 17,000 small schools across the country in order to increase efficiency and save costs.Of the total, 60 per cent…
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Phuket Gazette World News: 19 hurt in Mother’s Day shooting; SARS in France; Syria deaths hit 82,000; Mexico volcano alert
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Nineteen shot in New Orleans Mother’s Day parade Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Nineteen people including two young children were shot on Sunday when gunfire erupted at a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans, police said.Shots rang out at 1:45 p.m. local time as the second line of…
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Phuket’s Tourist Court given “absolute support’
PHUKET: The move to establish a new series of Tourist Courts in Phuket and at other key holiday destinations in Thailand – including Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Phang Nga and Krabi – has received much support on the island. Chanchai Duangjit, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket office, gave his “absolute support” for the idea. “This is…
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Phuket serial resort thief confesses
PHUKET: A serial resort thief down on a “holiday crime spree” in Phuket from Bangkok has only confessed to two thefts of high-end resorts on the island, but police believe more confessions will be forthcoming. Ritthimeth Singhaumpai, 33, and his girlfriend Sasithorn Seekam, 22, were arrested on May 1 for robbing guest rooms in five high-end Phuket resorts. “We have…
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Phuket Opinion: Finding life balance through Daodexinxi
Sopin Koaysomboon, a 53-year-old Phuket native, is a vice president of the Phuket Daodexinxi International Club. She has been practicing Daodexinxi for more than three years. Here, she talks about how to improve our lives with exercise, meditation, songs and charity. PHUKET: People in the modern world are making a great deal of unnecessary sacrifices. Youths give up their vital…
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Phuket Opinion: Tourist Court, another pie in the sky
PHUKET: Recent talk of establishing a special court to fast-track legal cases involving foreign visitors raises some interesting issues, but at the end of the day is unlikely to result in little more than that: just talk. The reasons put forward to establish such a court are probably well-intended and certainly easy enough to understand. Thailand’s tourism industry is a…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Programmer denies hacking; River basins protection; Bearly love
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Programmer denies any part The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A man who turned himself in to police yesterday denied having anything to do with hacking into the PM’s Office website or posting rude remarks about Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Meanwhile, the “Unlimited Hack Team”, which was mentioned…
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Patong finish top of Phuket’s cricket league
PHUKET: In the final round robin match before the finals, Patong played TNT on Sunday, May 5 at Phuket’s premier cricketing facility, the ACG. A Patong win would see them finish top of the league, whereas TNT were hoping to secure a confidence boosting end-of-season win. Patong ran out comfortable winners in the end, posting a solid total of 272…
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Phuket Raceweek sails into view
PHUKET: The award-winning Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek, presented by Mount Gay Rum, is set to take place again on July 17-21. The event is celebrating its tenth anniversary and will feature four days of world-class yacht racing and four nights of magical, beach-side parties at the five-star Cape Panwa Hotel Principal Race Officer Simon James is planning a variety…
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Tennis at Phuket’s TSLC
PHUKET: The final of the second International Tennis Federation (ITF) women’s tournament between number six seed Melanie Klaffner from Austria and Serbia’s Eric Doroteja was held at Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) last weekend. Melanie won the final 3-6, 6-3 and 6-2 to make up for her semifinal defeat in the first ITF women’s tournament by Luksika Kumkhum. Eric,…
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Phuket Governor starts to tame stench of Bang Yai Canal
PHUKET: The stench of Bang Yai Canal that has been wreaking havoc in areas of Phuket Town, making some residents physical ill (story here), was partially tamed today as Phuket’s Governor launched his four-step Bang Yai Canal wastewater project. Local officials, residents and organizations joined Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut in Rassada at the Soi Paneang water pump station to inaugurate…
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Illegal taxi drivers beaten at Phuket Airport
PHUKET: Illegal taxi drivers still attempting to serve passengers at Phuket International Airport filed a complaint with the Phuket Governor today, alleging they have been threatened, beaten and unjustly denied a way to provide for their families. The complaint comes just weeks after the protesting taxi drivers, operating under the Mook Andaman Cooperative, won a reprieve and were allowed to…
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Search for Phuket gold shop killer now covers Southern Thailand
PHUKET: Police have extended their search to the whole of Southern Thailand for the man wanted for a gold shop robbery in Phuket on April 8 during which he gunned down a customer in cold blood (story here). “Police are doing their best to arrest the villain. We cannot be sure about the culprit’s whereabouts. He might or might not…
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Kazakh tourist, 22, killed in Phuket motorbike crash
PHUKET: A tourist from Kazakhstan has died from head injuries after a motorbike accident on the Patong beach road early yesterday morning.Lt Thawatchai Srimai of the Patong Police explained that the tourist, aged 22, was riding his motorcycle at high speed from the Thara Patong Beach Resort & Spa at about 1:30am.“He tried to make a turn [onto Sawatdirak Road]…
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Out of Rh-negative blood, Phuket Blood Bank calls for donors
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC), often called upon to save the lives of Thais and foreigners, has no reserves of type O-negative and A-negative blood. The blood bank is also low on stocks of blood types A and B. “We try to maintain a daily minimum stock of 200 units of A, B and O blood types, and…
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VIDEO: Brothers Grimes grill Phuket’s Dylan Young
PHUKET: Young karters Ben and Sam Grimes, who compete in the 125cc Junior Class in the Rotax Asia Max Challenge (AMC) in Malaysia and the Thai Championships, recently interviewed racing driver Dylan Young about his career. The interview was the perfect opportunity for Dylan to pass on some of his experience to the brothers and for Ben and Sam to…
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