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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Governor begins farewell rounds
PHUKET TOWN: Outgoing Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi began the traditional round of farewell functions last night at a farewell party with the media, at which he promoted competitions for singing children and “Good Phuket People.” While the governor was coy about the positive results of three years in the post that he relinquishes on October 1, he was keen to…
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Dead pets thought to be work of poisoner
KAMALA: Residents of a village in Kamala suspect a poisoner has killed six pet dogs belonging to expatriates in the village over the past eight weeks. A Weimaraner German hunting dog valued at 100,000 baht almost became the poisoner’s seventh known victim earlier this month. According to the dog’s owner, Englishman Andrew Scatter, he was fortunate to save the life…
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B14m tourist rescue center opens
CHALONG PIER: After more than six months of setting-up, the Phuket Tourist Rescue Center (PTRC) at Chalong Pier was officially opened by Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi this morning. The PTRC, funded by 14 million baht from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, coordinates emergency response teams for people in distress in the waters off Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga. Dr…
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Bomb emergency practice at airport
PHUKET AIRPORT: Phuket International Airport staff underwent a training session today to prepare its staff to deal with a terrorist bombing aboard an aircraft. More than 40 people from both Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways took part in the operation, while more than 100 personnel from local hospitals and other local organizations looked on. The drill, which began at about…
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Panel probes cheating in OrBorTor polls
PHUKET: Allegations of cheating and vote-buying have delayed the official appointment of Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) executive committees in nine of the 12 tambon in Phuket where polling took place last month. An investigation is underway by the Phuket Election Committee, which will reveal details of the allegations only when it has completed the probe. It was, however, announced that…
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Game over: Two held on software violations
PHUKET TOWN: Police officers accompanied by a lawyer from a software firm seized 25 computers and made two arrests in raids on Internet gaming shops in Phuket Town this afternoon. The attorney, representing Asiasoft International Co Ltd, first went to Net Pic, on Damrong Rd, where 11 computers were confiscated, and then to Log-in Internet, on Ong Sim Phai Rd,…
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Illegal slaughterhouse raided
PHUKET TOWN: Officials from the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO) raided an illegal slaughterhouse in Phuket Town early today and made one arrest. Phuket Town municipal officers accompanied the officials, led by PPLO Chief Suranarth Vongchawalit, to premises on Mae Luan Rd about 1 am as part of a crackdown in a national Safe Food campaign. The meat from five…
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Firms urged to promote tourist VAT refunds
PHUKET TOWN: To help boost the tourism industry and the local economy, all tourism-related businesses should promote and take part in offering value-added tax (VAT) refunds for tourists, Suri Buakhom, Deputy Director-General of the Revenue Department, said today. Speaking at an all-day seminar to promote and explain the system, known as VRT (VAT Refunds for Tourists), K. Suri said, “All…
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F-16 fly-by “no cause for alarm’
PHUKET: The roar of an F-16’s jet engines ripped through the air over Phuket at 3:20 this afternoon, startling more than a few people across the island. The Royal Thai Air Force warplane was on a practice run from its base in Haad Yai and back again, said Sumeth Charoensin, Watch Supervisor of the Phuket branch of Aeronautical Radio of…
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Evason dispute ends
RAWAI: The industrial dispute involving nearly 350 staff of the Evason Phuket Resort is over, following negotiations and arbitration by officials from the Phuket Labor Office. In an official statement released last night, the resort announced, “The Labor Office encouraged both parties to meet and hold discussions. The [hotel staff] union withdrew its outstanding demands and accepted all demands made…
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Land probe turns to tin mines
PHUKET: The Phuket land investigation moved into a new phase this morning when Phuket Provincial Land Office (PPLO) Chief Saroj Ninkhate went to the Governor’s office to present Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi with a list of 57 former tin mine concession land plots in Kathu now in the hands of private owners. The PPLO alleges that all were issued Chanote…
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Second Hilton deal for major Phuket resort
BANGKOK: Hilton International Co is to take over management of Karon’s Phuket Arcadia Beach Resort, which will be rebranded as the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa from October 1 next year. The deal between Hilton International and PPC Holdings Ltd., which currently runs the resort, was announced today. It is the third addition in as many months to Hilton’s…
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Three arrested in porn VCD raids
PHUKET TOWN: Police last night arrested three men and seized 191 lewd VCDs in raids on CD vendors at the Tai Rod market, near the Shell gas station on Phang Nga Rd. Led by Phuket Provincial Security Affairs Chief Nikorn Torhiranyapreuk and Pol Capt Sommai Ornkam, of Phuket Town Police Station, a team of six plainclothes officers raided the vendors…
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Quake tremors stir Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: Tremors from a distant earthquake that measured 5.0 on the Richter scale were recorded in southern Thailand early on Sunday. Thawat Thantumnu, Director of the Southern Meteorological Center, West Coast, said that the quake, with its epicenter about 360 kilometers away in Sumatra, Indonesia, was felt on the island at 3:42 am. “Phuket has nothing to fear,” he…
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Evason staff protest at hotel
RAWAI: About 300 unionists on the staff of The Evason Phuket Resort and Spa staged a peaceful protest at the entrance today in a dispute over pay and conditions. Watched by Chalong Police officers, the demonstrators, many wearing red headbands, sang songs, pounded on drums and waved placards as guests moved unimpeded past the gathering. The protest began at 6…
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Phuket buses hailed a success
PHUKET TOWN: The revamped Phuket bus service is a success, Samroeng Chaisorn, Vice-President of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), said today. Speaking at a press conference at the OrBorJor offices at Phuket Provincial Hall, K. Samroeng said, “Under the old system, the bus service cost the OrBorJor 1.7 million baht in rent and operating costs a month, but in…
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Whale bombing unlikely, says biologist
PHUKET TOWN: A local marine biologist has cast doubt over local press reports that the whale that washed up on a Koh Racha Yai beach on Monday died as a result of the illegal use of explosives for fishing. Phuket Marine Biology Center (PMBC) biologist Kongkiat Kittiwattawong, who has been contact with island residents by telephone, told the Gazette today…
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200 villagers demand justice in shooting
PHUKET TOWN: About 200 villagers from Rawai descended on Phuket Provincial Hall this morning to demand that police expedite the investigation into the September 6 shooting of a 17-year-old boy, allegedly by an off-duty policeman. The shooting, which occurred at 2 am at the Monkey Pub on Takuapa Rd, in Phuket Town, has left the first-year Phuket Technical College student…
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Man arrested in VCD raid
KATHU: After complaining that it was frequently difficult to arrest sellers of fake goods, officials yesterday finally scored with the arrest of a man and the seizure of 8,040 VCDs with a street value of 800,000 baht. Tharadol Thongruang, Deputy Director of the Phuket Commercial Affairs Office, told the Gazette that PCAO and Tungtong Police officers raided a shop in…
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Drunk with noose cooks own goose
TRANG: One can cheat death for only so long, as residents of tambon Kok Lor in Trang province learned recently when an elderly villager hanged himself “accidentally on purpose” while drunk. The “accidental” suicide occurred on August 16, when 76-year-old Sian Ninlata suspended a rope from a roof beam, placed his head in the noose and stumbled around drunk on…
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Murder 101: lessons in killing
PHITSANULOKE: Region 6 police apprehended three members of a five-man gang in Phitsanuloke province who shot and killed at least three people and injured several others in at least 10 shooting incidents in Phichit and Phitsanuloke provinces. Among their victims were teachers, military personnel, secondary school students and even a little girl. In confessing to the shootings, the suspects –…
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Officials monitor Singapore Sars case
PHUKET: Officials are monitoring the progress of a new case of Sars in Singapore in case precautionary measures again become necessary for direct flights from the island-nation to Phuket. A 27-year-old post-graduate student in Singapore has contracted the virus and 25 other people who had been in contact with him have been quarantined. While the case brought back memories of…
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Motorcycle theft gang nabbed
PHUKET TOWN : Police have cracked a gang involved in stealing motorcycles over the past several months with the arrest of seven young men and a young woman early today. Announcing the arrests this afternoon, Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, expressed frustration with the legal system. “Because of the softness of the punishment these days,…
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One-year stay financial threshold to double
BANGKOK: A high-ranking official in the Immigration Bureau in Bangkok has confirmed that the minimum financial requirements for any foreign man wishing to apply for a one-year permit to stay on the basis of being married to a Thai will double from July 10 next year. Currently, a foreign man married to a Thai woman may obtain a one-year permit…
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Protesters seek power for the people
PHUKET TOWN: More than 200 villagers protested today at Phuket Provincial Hall about the lack of adequate electric power for their homes in a small community off Chao Fa East Rd in Chalong. About 1,000 people live in 570 dwellings at Kok Tanode, also known as Chalermprakiat, without permanent electricity, Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi was told when he met a…
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10 Indonesian fishermen nabbed
AO MAKHAM: Ten Indonesian fishermen are being held at Phuket Provincial Prison after being arrested on Saturday night for fishing illegally in Thai waters. The two fishing boats the men were crewing were seized after being intercepted by two patrol craft from the Third Fleet, Royal Thai Navy, about 30 kilometers from Koh Racha Yai. Thai fishermen alerted authorities to…
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Stolen coral seized but gang flees
RAWAI: More than 400 pieces of stolen coral were returned to the sea today after police interrupted a gang transferring it from a boat to land on Saturday night. Marine Police were given a tip-off that the gang would be landing their contraband at Rawai at 10 pm. When the officers arrived, they saw four people moving the coral to…
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Dolphin, whale die on beaches
PHUKET: Monsoon storms are probably to blame for the deaths of a young dolphin found on Mai Khao Beach and a whale found at Koh Racha Yai. The 1.7-meter spinner dolphin was discovered by staff of the JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa at 4 pm yesterday. Supot Chantrapornsyl, Marine Biologist at the Phuket Marine Biology Center, told the Gazette…
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Finance Minister has high hopes for growth
CHERNG TALAY: Suchart Jaovisidha, Thailand’s Minister of Finance, today annnounced that he expects steady economic growth in the Asian region for the rest of the year. “We are pleased that, despite a weak international environment due in part to the Sars outbreak and the war in Iraq, which affected the first half of the year, we expect the region to…
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Chanote title project underway soon
PHUKET TOWN: As part of a national campaign to standardize land ownership titles, people who have property deeds other than Chanote have been asked to contact the Phuket Provincial Land Office (PPLO). Thailand’s Land Department is currently undertaking a survey of the entire country and, starting in the 2004-2005 budget year, will launch a drive to upgrade all land papers…
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