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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30-baht pay-out for stabbing victim
BANGKOK: Stabbing victim Pairat Juntub knew he was entitled to compensation, but he was staggered yesterday at the sum he got from the government. Mr Pairat has the dubious distinction of receiving the lowest amount ever given to a crime victim. “I got 30 baht (approx 86 cents in USD),” Pairat said. “I was speechless when I saw the amount.”…
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Phuket City begins cable work on Thalang Rd
PHUKET CITY: Work on the project to bury power cables along Thalang Road in Old Phuket Town got underway yesterday morning, with workers marking lines near the pavement to mark the trench that will house the conduit. The narrow trench, about half a meter wide, will run along the right-hand side of the one-way road, once the heart of Phuket’s…
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Thai Immigration crackdown on border runners
BANGKOK / PHUKET: In a crackdown on foreigners who “abuse” the tourist exemption rule allowing15-day visit extensions at border entry points, the Immigration Bureau has confirmed and informed ThaiVisa.Com of the following new regulation, which went into effect yesterday: A foreigner who has entered the kingdom four consecutive times on 15-day tourist exemption stamps will not be allowed to leave…
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Czech checks bag bandit and bites back
PHUKET: Authorities in neighboring Phang Nga province are revamping registration procedures for Burmese migrant workers while closely monitoring their activities after a worker attempted to rob a foreign dive instructor yesterday. Provincal governor Yiamsuriya Phalusuk said measures to be taken include more police patrols and possibly stricter regulations on workers traveling at night. Any Thais or employers found to provide…
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Bt119m for new Rajabhat Phuket commencement hall
RASSADA, PHUKET: Work is well underway on a 119 million baht conference room and commencement hall complex on the grounds of Phuket’s Rajabhat University. A contract between the university and Bangkok-based contractor Kumjornkij Construction Co Ltd was signed in mid-November last year. The scheduled contract completion date is December 27, 2010. The project’s oversight director is Rajabhat Phuket University Associate…
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Fourth swine flu case confirmed in Thailand
BANGKOK / PHUKET: While there have been no confirmed cases of A-type (H1N1) in Phuket, the Ministry of Public Health yesterday confirmed its fourth case of the disease in Thailand – a Thai man who just returned from the US. The A-type (H1N1) flu has already hit 53 countries, killing 99. Thai Public Health Minister, Witthaya Kaewparadai, said the 50-year-old…
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Asean reaffirms regional confidence in Phuket
KARON, PHUKET: The Asean Senior Officials meeting held at the Movenpick Resort and Spa from May 18 to 21 resulted in a number of agreements in addition to the previously reported agreement to hold the twice-postponed Asean Summit in Phuket next October. Manasvi Srisodapol, deputy director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of Asean Affairs, told the Gazette that the Phuket meetings…
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Phuket hammered again: Thai justice under fire
PHUKET: One of the many interesting aspects of being a journalist in Phuket is observing the way that stories we break here are picked up by foreign media outlets – and the spin that these outlets put on them. Smaller countries often adopt an ‘us-against-them’ mentality when one of their own gets arrested in Thailand, rushing to defend the suspect…
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Phuket Health and Wellness Festival 2009
PATONG, PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Public Health Office in association with the Phuket Spa Association, public and private hospitals, and government agencies in Phuket will hold the “Phuket Health and Wellness Festival 2009” from June 11 to 13 at the Jungceylon Shopping Complex in Patong. The event is aimed at promoting Phuket as a hub for Thai and foreign tourists…
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Englishman collapases, dies in Rawai
RAWAI, PHUKET: An Englishman living in Phuket collapsed and died of apparent heart failure at a pharmacy in Rawai on Wednesday afternoon.According to witnesses, 59-year-old John Powell entered the pharmacy to buy some medicine but then collapsed.Chalong Police were notified of the death at about 3:30pm.They rushed to the scene, a pharmacy in the Baan Saiyuan residential estate, with rescue…
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Phuket remains free of swine flu
PHUKET CITY: While the viral disease chikungunya continues to spread in Phuket, the island has yet to record a single case of infection with the A(H1N1) virus that causes swine flu, PPHO Director Dr Pongsawas Ratanasang told the Gazette today. Two foreign tourists – one Australian and one Norwegian – were briefly quarantined and tested for A(H1N1), but both tested…
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Phuket FC tryouts rescheduled for Monday
KATHU, PHUKET: Following the last-minute cancellation of the expat football trial scheduled to take place yesterday, the Phuket FC manager has announced that the trials will now to take place on Monday, June 1, at the Prince of Songkla University stadium, off Wichit Songkram Road in Kathu. The trial will begin at 4.30pm. It is hoped that Friday’s last-minute cancellation…
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Phuket youth incarceration: German ambassador speaks out
PHUKET CITY: German Ambassador to Thailand Dr Hanns Schumacher has spoken out in defense of the German teenager currently incarcerated in the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center on charges of sexually abusing minors. In an interview with the Gazette, Dr Schumacher said he believed the evidence against the youth justified the investigation, but expressed hope that the court would…
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Punchup in Phuket: Oleydong defends WBC belt this afternoon
PATONG, PHUKET: WBC straw-weight champ Oleydong Sithsamerchai has been busy shedding pounds to meet the 105lb limit for his WBC title defense against Muhammad Rachman of Indonesia this afternoon. At a press conference held at the the Bangkok Residence Hotel on Soi Sansabai on Tuesday, Oleydong and Rachman posed for photos with Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop. The fight will take…
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Incarcerated German youth’s mother died on Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The mother of the German youth incarcerated in the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center on charges of sexually abusing minors died last month, the Gazette has learned. The woman, who will not be named in order to protect the youth’s identity, died in Vachira Phuket Hospital on April 23. She was 56 years old. The youth was…
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Nike to host running clinic at Laguna Phuket
CHERNG TALAY, PHUKET: Sportswear giant Nike and Laguna Phuket will host a free running clinic and shoe trial on Saturday, June 6, as part of pre-event activities for the upcoming 2009 Laguna Phuket International Marathon. The clinic, from 4pm to 6pm at the Laguna Beach Resort tennis courts, will feature 2002 Bangkok Marathon winner Jason Mayeroff of the US as…
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Land purchase through Thai spouse forbidden: Land Dept
PHUKET CITY: The director general of the Land Department has reiterated that foreigners using Thai nominees to buy land anywhere in the country will have their land title deeds revoked if caught – even if the nominee in question is a lawfully wedded spouse.Land Department Director Anuwat Meteewiboonwut made the comments during a recent stop in Phuket as part of a…
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Phuket PO Box 101 is a hit, says governor
PHUKET CITY: The number 101 is a cinch to remember for those who have read George Orwell’s grim parable of totalitarianism Nineteen Eighty-Four or taken a freshman college class. Whether this fact figured in Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop’s thinking when he launched PO Box 101 – an address any Phuket resident can use to inform the governor, anonymously, of crimes…
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Bt20m for tourism improvements in Rassada
RASSADA, PHUKET: In a recent meeting, Rassada Municipality agreed to allocate almost Bt20 million to improve landscaping and build new facilities near the causeway leading to Koh Sireh, in a bid to promote tourism and improve the quality of life for local people. The work will take place near the Malikaew embankment in the Koh Sireh community in Rassada Village…
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Power cut on Sakdidet Road tomorrow
WICHIT, PHUKET: There will be a power cut along part of Sakdidet Road in tambon Wichit tomorrow, as the Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) conducts maintenance and repair work on power lines in the area. The affected area will start near Soi Thanit and run south along Sakdidet Road all the way to the Muang Thong three-way intersection, including Soi…
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Land tax could spur the economy
BANGKOK: A respected economist has backed a proposal that the government impose a land tax, saying the move will ease concentration of land ownership in the hands of a few rich people and open more land to agriculture. Speaking at a round table conducted by Krungthep Thurakij newspaper last week, economist Duangmanee Laovakul said the faculty’s Economic Research and Training…
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German still in Phuket Juvenile after three months
PHUKET CITY: Despite efforts by the German Embassy, a young man arrested on charges of sexually abusing minors remains in detention at the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center almost three months after his arrest. The youth, who was just 17 when he was arrested on March 9, recently spent his 18th birthday behind bars. His arrest, together with that…
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German manslaughter suspect gets bail, whereabouts unknown
PHUKET CITY: German tourist Florian Zehentmair, charged with the manslaughter of his friend Sebastian Wolff in Khao Lak, has been released on bail. Police do not know where he is staying. In another development in the case, preliminary investigation into the cause of death by the police forensics institute in Surat Thani has determined the cause of Mr Wolff’s death…
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Man loses leg in Phuket shophouse explosion
PHUKET: An explosion this morning at an air-conditioning service shop in Phuket has seriously injured two men and caused extensive damage to the single-story shophouse.According to police at the scene, a large gas tank used for servicing air-conditioning units exploded in the shop at about 10am. The shop’s owner is reported to have had his leg blown off in the…
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Body found on Nai Harn Beach Phuket remains unidentified
CHALONG, PHUKET: Phuket Police have yet to identify the remains of a heavily tattooed Caucasian man found washed ashore on Nai Harn Beach late last week. For the original report click here. Lt Col Boonlert Onklang of the Chalong Police told the Gazette today that no missing person reports have been filed to aid in identification of the body, which…
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Phi Phi tourist deaths possibly food poisoning
PHUKET CITY: The mysterious deaths of two female tourists on Phi Phi Island earlier this month were possibly caused by food poisoning, preliminary lab findings suggest. Krabi Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Pasin Noksakul told the Gazette today that researchers at the Police Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok have found signs of microbial infection in blood samples taken from…
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85 confirmed chikungunya cases in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) has set up a “war room” to halt the spread of the viral disease chikungunya, which now has 85 confirmed cases in Phuket alone. The war room, which will host regular meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, is also tasked with monitoring flu patients to see if there are any cases of infection…
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Swede dead in Phuket of apparent cocaine overdose
CHALONG, PHUKET: Police have confirmed that a 48-year-old Swedish man found dead in the room of a guesthouse late yesterday afternoon appears to have died of a cocaine overdose. The 48-year-old Swede, whose name is being withheld pending notification of kin, was found in a room at the Happy Days guesthouse, located at Chalong Bay. Chalong Police Duty Officer Thienchai…
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Phuket kids eyed by Ronald McDonald clinic
PHUKET CITY: The Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Thailand Foundation, in association with the Thai Red Cross Society, the Top Charoen chain of optical shops, and Bangkok’s Phyathai Hospital, gave free eye exams to hundreds of Phuket students earlier this week. The event, at a mobile eye clinic parked on the grounds of the Phuket City Municipality offices, was attended…
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Fuelish mistake at PTT Phuket station in Chalong
CHALONG: A mix-up at a gas station in Chalong caused large headaches for a number of motorists on Monday morning. Staff refuelling the PTT station on Chao Fa West Road near Wat Chalong accidentally pumped 500-600 liters of diesel fuel into the station’s benzene 91 tank. A number of customers who thought they were getting benzene 91 ended up with…
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