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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Minister buries underground cable pleas
PATONG: It appears unlikely that Patong will get the 350 million baht it wants for burying power cables, after Sports and Tourism Minister Pracha Maleenont sternly shot down a budget proposal for the project at a meeting on post-tsunami redevelopment. The meeting, at the Graceland Resort and Spa on Wednesday, was held to discuss progress reports on tourism redevelopment efforts…
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Transportation Office deluged with license applications
PHUKET CITY: Overworked staff at Phuket Provincial Transportation Office (PPTO) are rushed off their feet by the demand for new licenses and license renewals.Teerayuth Prasertphol, Chief Technical Officer of the PPTO, told the Gazette that the office is receiving 80 to 150 applications for new licenses and as many as 200 applications for renewals a day. “There has been a…
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Officials inspect wrecked Kamala resort
KAMALA: Kathu’s top official paid an inspection visit on Wednesday evening to the tsunami-damaged Kamala Bay Terrace Resort, where he asked the hotel’s sole remaining employee to try to organize a clean-up as soon as possible. Kathu District Chief Khantee Silapa, accompanied Phuket Provincial Security Affairs Chief Nikorn Torhiranyapreuk, said the visit was prompted by a complaint to the Phuket…
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Gov orders encroachers’ homes demolished
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura yesterday ordered the demolition of 30 terraced houses being built for illegal encroachers on Sirinath Marine National Park land by the Sakoo Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor).The Governor announced his decision at an open meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall, attended by the Sakoo OrBorTor Chief Surapong Panyawai and Sirinath Marine National Park Chief Thanapong Aphaisorn.At the…
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Masks issued to combat Sumatran smoke
PHUKET CITY: Residents with respiratory ailments can protect themselves from the smoke that has enveloped the island by picking up free face masks at Wachira Phuket Hospital. Dr Wanchai Sattayawutthipong, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO), told the Gazette that the average particulate matter reading (PM-10 reading, for particles less than 10 microns in size) in air…
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Scent to jail
UDON THANI: Busting drug mules can be a dirty business, as police in Udon Thani found out on the afternoon of August 15. After receiving a tip-off that a drug deal was about to go down at the Jaroernsri Complex shopping center, police led by Provincial Police Deputy Chief Inspector Yanyong Wechsot set up a surveillance unit. It was not…
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Dead man’s next of kin sought
PHUKET: The British Honorary Consul in Phuket, Alan Cooke, has appealed for help in contacting the next of kin of British citizen Keith Alan Jones, 43, who died yesterday afternoon (August 16) of respiratory problems and severe liver damage. Mr Jones, who was born in Taunton, Somerset, had been in Phuket about a year and is believed to have been…
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New charter flights from Europe
PHUKET: One of the biggest names in European tourism is joining forces with a German airline to launch a new Phuket charter service at the start of the high season. Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium, founded in 2002 and based at Brussels Airport, and low-cost carrier Condor Flugdienst plan to operate flights to Phuket between November and April next year.“Europe will…
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Gamblers top arrest stats – again
PHUKET: Gambling, for the third successive month, topped Phuket’s arrest statistics, according to figures released recently by Phuket Provincial Police, who made 144 arrests for gambling in July. Seventeen of the cases involved the sale of underground lottery tickets.Sixty-seven people were arrested for the illegal possession or use of narcotics, with 1,521 ya bah (methamphetamine) tablets seized.Of the five murder…
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Karon to crack down on tailors
KARON (Kom Chad Luek): Community leaders in Kata-Karon have issued a warning to the 144 tailor shops in the area that they will crack down on any that continue to use aggressive touting techniques or take advantage of tourists. Tambon Karon Chairman Winai Chidchiaw said that, at a meeting among village headmen and other community leaders, it was unanimously agreed…
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“Nation Party’ gay festival plans in doubt
PHUKET CITY: Despite Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura having already given his blessing for Asia’s largest gay and lesbian festival, the Nation Party, to be held in Phuket, the event may be staged elsewhere because Karon Municipality is worried about the possible consequences of hosting the party.The news broke yesterday following a closed-door meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall on Wednesday between…
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Patong, Kamala revamp still 8 months away
PHUKET CITY: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) says that the number of tourists is on the rise since it launched a promotion for tsunami-affected areas.The only place that has not benefited, the TAT says, is Khao Lak, which it believes needs more time to recover before it can be promoted.The TAT’s plans to continue bolstering the recovery of tsunami-affected…
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Runaway groom
TAK: Many are the tales of the foreign man who comes to Thailand, falls in love with a Thai woman and ends up destitute and deserted. But according to an August 4 report, an elderly American man has turned the tables by sweet-talking his way into the lives of at least two Thai women with talk of riches and marriage…
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Airport limo problem gets committee treatment
PHUKET CITY: The problem of transportation at Phuket International Airport has been dumped into the laps of at least 10 ad-hoc committees, who have been given the vaguest of briefs – to discuss solutions to the problem – and no deadline to report back with their conclusions.The decision to set up the committees was made at a public meeting at…
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THAI increases fuel charges – again
PHUKET: Thai Airways International (THAI) has announced yet another round of increases in its fuel surcharge on all foreign and domestic flights, to be applied to tickets issued on or after August 15.The national carrier will raise the surcharge on one-way domestic flights from 200 baht to 300 baht; similar rises will be levied on regional and international routes, depending…
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Jungceylon working out money woes
PATONG: Junceylon, the new entertainment complex in Patong, has hit liquidity problems, but these are being worked out and the giant center will still open in November, a source told the Gazette yesterday.The source, who asked not to be named, said that Jungceylon’s money woes started in April and the company has applied for help from the Bankruptcy Court in Bangkok…
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International rugby comes to Phuket
PHUKET: Rugby fans are in for a feast in the coming week as the first International 80-80 Rugby Tournament is staged on the island.Matches in the four-team tournament will be played this weekend and in the evenings next week, culminating with the play-offs and final on Sunday, August 14.80-80 rugby is a new format whereby players must weigh no more…
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Two brothers stabbed to death
PHUKET CITY: The bodies of two brothers from Udon Thani who had been beaten and stabbed to death were found near an ice factory about 700 meters north of Sri Suchart Grand View housing estate, on the bypass road, about 6 am on Wednesday.Pol Lt Col Chokechai Suthimek, of Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette that the men were…
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Alleged killer cop surrenders
PHUKET CITY: Narcotics agent Pol Sen S/Maj Manot Junjuer, accused of shooting two people at point-blank range yesterday, killing one of them and seriously injuring the other, turned himself in this morning at the Phuket City Police Station.The dead man was named as Seksit Kulra-uk. The injured man, who is in a serious condition at Wachira Phuket Hospital, was an off-duty…
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O’Hanlon murder suspect surrenders
PATONG: Paul Chetwynd-Talbot, sought for the murder of his girlfriend, Debra O’Hanlon, who was found dead on Tuesday afternoon (see story here), turned himself in to the police last night. Pol Col Teeraphol Tipjaroen, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that Talbot had come to the front of the police station at about 8pm last night and had…
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Patong and Kamala revival budgets finally settled
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) budget for renovation of Patong and Kamala has finally been settled, at 291.4 million baht, a source in the TAT’s Bangkok headquarters revealed yesterday.The source, who asked not to be named, told the Gazette that the original landscaping plans, proposed in January, foresaw spending of 750 million baht for Patong and 600 million…
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Patong Bay “cleaner’ after tsunami
PATONG: When people noticed that, right after the tsunami, the water in Patong Bay seemed to be the clearest it had been in years, they were not imagining things.Levels of harmful bacteria in the bay were reduced to nearly zero right after the tsunami, researchers from the Pollution Control Department (PCD) learned when sampling the water on January 20.The announcement…
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The morning after
NAKHON PATHOM: The 47-year-old host of a wedding ceremony in Nakhon Chaisri District currently stands accused of twice raping a 98-year-old neighbor while drunk. A report of the alleged rape was made on July 18 by Nakhon Chaisri District Police Deputy Superintendent Surapoj Phisuttiwong, who identified the alleged rapist as Udon Som-in, a native of Ubon Ratchathani Province. Udon was…
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Roads claim 11 lives in June
PHUKET: Official figures obtained from Wachira, Thalang and Patong hospitals, as well as Phuket International and Ruampaet private hospitals show that 11 people died in motorcycle accidents on Phuket’s roads during June.In addition, one person was killed in a car accident.The hospital records also show that, during June, 1,134 people were injured in road accidents. Of these, 1,056 were on…
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Gov under siege from limo drivers
PHUKET CITY: Some 100 furious limousine drivers today blocked Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura’s car, preventing the Governor from leaving Provincial Hall for lunch.The drivers arrived at Provincial Hall at 7:30 this morning, angered by a report in the local newspaper Siang Tai, in which the Governor was quoted as threatening to use the army to bring order to the increasingly…
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Tennis ace Vijay due in Phuket
PHUKET: World-renowned tennis player Vijay Amritraj, from India, will visit Phuket next week to tour tsunami-hit areas in the region as part of his role as a United Nation Messenger of Peace. Mr Armritraj, well-known, since retiring from professional tennis, as a commentator on Grand Slam tennis events on the ESPN Star Sports network, was appointed one of only nine…
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La Samudra takes the lead
PHUKET: Scott Duncanson and the crew aboard Securicor Som Tam Express were first across the finish line again today in both races on the second day of the Evason Phuket Race Week – but not by a large enough margin to repeat yesterday’s outright win.On corrected time, Som Tam was overtaken in Race 2 in the IRC 1 class by…
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Man found murdered in Pa Khlok
PA KHLOK: A Thai man was found battered and dead this morning on the shore near Bangpae Seafood restaurant. Pol Maj Chamroon Plaiduang, inspector of Thalang Police Station, told the Gazette that the discovery of the body by local people was reported at about 8 am. An ID card found on the corpse identified him as Prasit Laowongsa, aged 27,…
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Nightclub clampdown resumes
PHUKET CITY: The province is resuming its late-night inspection tours of entertainment venues and will order 30-day closures for any nightclubs that fail to comply with the government’s Better Social Order Policy, Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura announced yesterday at the weekly Governor’s meeting.Since the beginning of June, nine venues on the island have been shut down for 30 days for staying…
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B2m aid theft case takes a step
PHUKET CITY: The case of the stolen 2.05 million baht in tsunami aid money has entered a new stage, Deputy Provincial Public Prosecutor Thanit Adisakpaisan has revealed.The Chief of the Finance Division of the Phuket Provincial Financial Office, Apichart Nooprod, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, is accused of being the ringleader in the theft, which was reported on February 15. Apichart…
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