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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Phuket Business: Laguna Dusit Thani ready for influx of MICE
PHUKET: THE Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket has re-launched its renovated and revitalized meeting space in response to an increase in demand for 2013. The renovation cost 10 million baht and took two months to complete. The 2,408 square-foot Dusit Laguna Hall can now accommodate up to 300 people in a theater-style setting and is able to host 150 people for…
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Rising number of Rohingya crossing borders north of Phuket to flee persecution
PHUKET: Increased violence in Myanmar’s volatile Rakhine State has already forced an “abnormal number” of Rohingya refugees across the Thai border in hopes of finding better lives, said Major General Manas Kongpan of Thailand’s Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) at an emergency meeting on Saturday. Nearly 3,000 Rohingya have been caught entering Thailand as they take advantage of the calmer…
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Phuket Business: FDI shifting from China to ASEAN
PHUKET: Rising costs from higher wages and currency appreciation in China over the last two decades are prompting multinationals to look at expanding elsewhere, with ASEAN countries – particularly Vietnam – poised to benefit most. A recent report published by HSBC Global Research, titled “The great migration – how FDI [Foreign Direct Investment] is moving to ASEAN and India”, outlined…
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Phuket Business: MICE to bring in “the cheese’
PHUKET: THE Kingdom’s central planning authority for inbound corporate and organizational tourism expects to generate 180 billion baht from Asian and Oceanic MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) events over the next three years. The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) recently drafted a three year MICE marketing strategy. The new strategy effectively replaces last year’s “Seven Wonders of the…
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World News: Man runs 7km to catch train and not a cold
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Russian man falls off train, chases it for 7 km in extreme cold Phuket Gazette / News WiresPHUKET: Wearing only sweat pants and a t-shirt, a Russian man was forced to run approximately seven kilometers (4.3 miles) at minus 40 degrees Celsius (-40 degrees Fahrenheit) after he…
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Phuket Police investigate “work conflict’ as motive for Jintana murder
PHUKET: Police are pursuing the possibility that Phuket mother-of-two Jintana Mahattanapak, may have been murdered over a conflict at work. Mrs Jintana was executed with a single gunshot to head while waiting at traffic lights on Chao Fa West Road last night (story here). She was the Human Resources director at the Hilton Arcadia Phuket Resort & Spa at Karon…
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Influx of Rohingya straining Phang Nga Immigration facilities
PHUKET: The mass influx of Rohingya refugees – 400 within four days – landing in Phang Nga, north of Phuket, this week is straining the capacity of immigration detention centers in the province, said Phang Nga Governor Thamrong Charoenkul. The news follows an initial 171 Rohingya refugees, fleeing persecution in their homeland in Myanmar, being taken into custody in Phang…
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New Phuket bus plan breaks “transport barrier’
PHUKET: After decades in the planning, a new bus service will launch on the island in March. The new route will travel between Phuket International Airport and the popular tourist beaches of Patong, Karon, and Kata via Tesco Lotus on the bypass road (click here to see map of the new bus route). For safety reasons, Phuket Land Transportation Office…
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Phuket woman executed was beloved mother, wife, friend
PHUKET: The life of a beloved mother, wife and friend was taken away by a killer on Chao Fa West Road, south of Phuket Town, last night. Police have identified Mrs Jintana ‘Nong’ Mahattanapak, 42, a resident of Yaowarat Road in Phuket Town, as the victim of the execution-style slaying (story here). Mrs Jintana was director of Human Resources at…
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Phuket Island View: No taxi experience impossible
PHUKET: Imagine this headline: “Taxi driver returns money to customer; says she overpaid.” Impossible? It happened to me. All the taxi news seems negative recently, what with high fares, delays in getting illegal drivers to register as legal, and metered cabs being pushed out of some markets (story here). The problem is apparently so bad that even the British Ambassador…
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Phuket Sports: Expecting the unexpected – NFL
PHUKET: After a regular season filled with the unforeseen, I decided to expect the unexpected while watching the Division Playoffs – and that’s exactly what I got. Predicting exactly how it would play out was not part of the equation, foreseeing that I would continue to bare witness to the amazement of the NFL’s 2012 season was a guarantee. Baltimore…
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Phuket Sports: Six of the best at Soccer Island
PHUKET: Season four of the Super Six League started last week at Soccer Island at Phuket’s HeadStart School, and the popularity of the league means there will be three divisions this season. Division 1 continues to exude a high level of performance; the first week’s results from Division 2 indicate that it could be a very tight league and Division…
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PHUKET BREAKING NEWS: Woman executed with single gunshot to head
UPDATE: Police are now searching for a black Mitsubishi Triton pickup truck without license plates, which pulled alongside the victim’s vehicle when the shooting occurred. Police have yet to obtain descriptions of the gunman or the driver. PHUKET: A woman driving alone south of Phuket Town was killed by a single gunshot into her head this evening. Police arrived at…
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Phuket Police release sketch of resort safe box heist robber
PHUKET: Police today released a composite image of one of the two men wanted for the robbery of the guests’ safe boxes at the Karon Place Hotel, on Phuket’s west coast, in the early hours of Monday morning (story here). An arrest warrant has been issued for the man, Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Col Arun Kleawwatee told a press…
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Phuket taxi driver rushes to his death
PHUKET: A taxi driver speeding from JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa at Mai Khao Beach to pick up a passenger at the airport died after losing control of his car on Thepkrasattri Road early this afternoon.Witnesses reported that Warongsak Rungsawang, 29, entered one of the sharp curves in Baan Mak Prok at high speed southbound, lost control and hit…
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Swede nabbed in Phuket over B100mn tax evasion
PHUKET: Swedish Police ended a two-year hunt for a tax exile on Monday when they arrested Bernt Olov Inge Eriksson at Phuket’s tourist-popular Patong Beach.Mr Eriksson was wanted in Sweden on a 100-million-baht tax evasion charge.A task force of Swedish officers began their hunt in Thailand after learning Mr Eriksson, 67, was in the country through a tip-off.After scouring Pattaya…
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World Sports: Venus trapped as Sharapova flies
Merciless Sharapova eclipses Venus to reach fourth round Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Maria Sharapova missed out on a third successive ‘double-bagel’ but humbled Venus Williams 6-1 6-3 to charge into the fourth round of the Australian Open today.The center court crowd was left stunned as the second-seeded Russian scorched to a 4-0 lead in the first set to rattle her…
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Phuket safety police blitz nets 8 drug, 3 gun arrests in first week
PHUKET: The first seven days of the month-long police safety boost (story here) in Phuket has yielded eight arrests on gun and drug charges in road checkpoint stops alone. Maj Gen Kittisan Detsunthonwat, Deputy Commander of Provincial Police Region 8, announced yesterday that so far his officers had seized over 300 grams of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine), 2,031 pills of…
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Phuket blood bank grateful for urgent donations, calls for more in case
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) received two units of Rh-negative blood and two single-platelet donations yesterday, in response to urgent requests on behalf of a foreigner due to undergo heart surgery (story here). “We do not know what condition the patient is in. However, I think the patient will be okay… “The hospital itself has seven units of…
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World News: Many dead as desert siege ends; Dreams back to earth; WADA gives UCI a bitter pill
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Algeria ends desert siege, but dozens killed Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Algerian forces stormed a desert gas complex to free hundreds of hostages but 30, including several Westerners, were killed in the assault along with at least 11 of their Islamist captors, an Algerian security source told…
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Phuket Immigration arrests French chef for alleged rape of disabled woman
PHUKET: A French chef working in Phuket’s premier party town, Patong, was arrested yesterday for the alleged rape of a disabled woman in his home country in 2004.Christopher Pierre Verdino, 28, slipped into Thailand in 2007 three years after French authorities issued an arrest warrant. His exact whereabouts became known to the French Embassy in Bangkok after he made a…
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171 Rohingya refugees arrested north of Phuket
PHUKET: The flow of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar continues unabated with Border Patrol Police in Phang Nga, the province immediately north of Phuket, today taking into custody two boats carrying 171 Rohingya men, women and children. Today’s apprehension follows 73 Rohingya being arrested off the southern coast of Phuket on January 1. Those refugees were subsequently deported back to Myanmar (story…
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Thailand Futsal League: Phuket United edge Si Saket
PHUKET: The island’s pro indoor soccer club Phuket United came from behind to beat Sripatum Sunrise Si Saket Futsal Club 4-3 in a fantastic and exciting match in Phuket Town last night. Played in front of an energetic crowd of about 1,000 fans at Phuket’s 4,000-seat Indoor Sport Complex in Saphan Hin, the match was Phuket’s seventh home match of…
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Phuket Police suspect Arabs in B3mn locker heist
PHUKET: Phuket Police are on the lookout for three men, all thought to be from the Middle East, who are suspected of doping a front desk officer at a resort near Karon Beach and robbing the resort’s guest safe boxes of about 3 million baht in valuables.The front desk officer at Karon Place Hotel who was allegedly drugged by the…
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Thailand to help Rohingya with UN assistance
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UN, 20 nations join Thailand to help Rohingya Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Envoys of more than 20 countries yesterday joined a teleconference that was held to address the grievances of and get help for more than 850 Rohingya people. These illegal migrants were arrested…
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World Sports: Arsenal and Man United sneak FA Cup wins; EPL update
Arsenal and Man United sneak FA Cup replay wins Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Jack Wilshere’s late strike gave Arsenal a 1-0 FA Cup third-round replay win over Swansea City and Manchester United also progressed with a 1-0 victory over West Ham United on Wednesday. Arsenal wasted a hatful of good chances before sealing the win over Swansea thanks to…
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World News: Mali war spills into Algeria; Many hostages taken
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Sahara hostage siege turns Mali war global Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Islamist fighters have opened an international front in Mali’s civil war by taking dozens of Western hostages at a gas plant in the Algerian desert just as French troops launched an offensive against rebels…
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Dutch tourist autopsy results from Bangkok expected next week: Phuket Police
PHUKET: Police yesterday morning confirmed that the body of 26-year-old Dutch tourist Stephan Buczynski had been sent to Bangkok for an autopsy. Mr Buczynski was last seen by his fellow Dutch travel companion on Saturday night. His body was found floating off the north end of Patong Beach early the next morning (story here). “The body was sent to the…
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Phuket Blood Bank: Urgent call for O-negative blood
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) urgently needs O-negative blood to save the life of a foreign patient. Donors should call 076-251178 ext 2 or 081-9588854. If donors are available, staff will be on hand after the normal the usual closing time of 4:30pm to make the blood draw (map here). The patient in need is waiting for heart…
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Phuket Finance: UK bill reassures QROPS retirees
PHUKET: With the recent release of the draft finance bill for 2013, the UK government has eased worries of the QROPS (Qualified Recognized Overseas Pension Schemes) industry that new legislation might close down the market. Last year, offshore pension providers were quite shocked when HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) removed overnight the ability of expat retirees to transfer their…
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