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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Gov proposes changes to entertainment zones
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura has announced proposals for new, larger entertainment zones for Phuket, subject to public consultation.The proposed new entertainment zones, in all three districts, were discussed at a meeting yesterday at Phuket Provincial Hall.“This is the first step in the expansion of our entertainment zones,” Gov Udomsak said. “Each district will conduct a one-month round of consultations…
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B36m awaits tsunami jobless
PHUKET CITY: Huge amounts of money are sitting waiting for employees who lost their jobs because of the tsunami. Of more than 40 million baht set aside for this purpose, only four million baht has been disbursed, the Ministry of Labour said on July 1.Surin Chiravisit, Director General of the Ministry of Labor’s Department of Labour Protection and Welfare said…
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Phuket City to get new beach
PHUKET CITY: In an effort to spruce up the city’s premier recreation area, Phuket City Municipality will spend a total of 39 million baht on drainage, repairs and other improvements at Saphan Hin.Once the project is complete, Saphan Hin will have a 500-meter-long beach, created from recovered sand, near the remaining mangrove stands on the north coast of the peninsula.…
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Milk needed for tsunami kids
PHANG NGA: A charity daycare center in Bang Muang has appealed for donations of milk for small children.The “Nice Care Center” behind the Tambon Administration Organization in Baan Bang Muang, near Baan Nam Kem, is run by the Duang Pratheep Foundation in Bangkok. Coordinator Rojana Phraesrithong explained that the daycare center looks after more than 150 children as their parents…
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TT&T introduces high-speed ‘Max Net’
UBON RATCHATHANI: In an all-bells-and-whistles launch in this eastern Isarn city on July 1, telephone company TT&T went into the ISP business, with the introduction of a nationwide broadband service.The launch included video conference link-ups with both Phuket and Chiang Mai, via the Internet, as a way to demonstrate what may be achieved with TT&T’s new system.The company boasts that high-speed…
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SIM card registration underway
PHUKET: Phuket Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit has urged all Phuket residents who bought prepaid Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards for their mobile phones before May 10, 2005 to register them with the government.Registration began July 1 and phone users have until the end of the year to submit their registrations. A source at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MoICT)…
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No danger from morning tremor
PHUKET CITY: An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale, centered in the sea off the west coast of Sumatra this morning, posed little danger to Phuket, where its shock waves passed largely unnoticed.The US Geological Survey website put the epicenter at 1.901ºN, 97.099ºE, about 120 kilometers west of the Sumatran coast, and at a depth of 30 kilometers.Chamnong Chitpukdee,…
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Motorbike gang accused of arson attack
PHUKET CITY: A second police booth has been destroyed by fire, leading police to believe that a earlier, similar incident was not due to an electrical fault, as was previously thought.Police received reports of the latest fire, at the police booth at the intersection of Wichit Songkram Rd and the bypass road, at 2:30 am yesterday. Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart,…
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Phuket landing fees to be cut by half
PHUKET: Airports of Thailand (AOT) is set to cut as much as 50% off landing fees for both international and domestic arrivals at Phuket International Airport (PIA) until December, in an effort to boost the region’s flagging tourist industry.The Director of PIA, Sq/Ldr Pornchai Eua-aree, confirmed that AOT had had a meeting in Bangkok to discuss the cut in fees.…
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Mystery suicide identified
PHUKET CITY: The British Embassy in Bangkok has confirmed that the body of a man who committed suicide at the Phuket Merlin Hotel on June 18 is that of British national Lyndon John Pedley, 44, of Liverpool, England.Mr Pedley, who apparently swallowed a large number of antihistamine and tranquilizer pills in order to end his own life, was initially identified…
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New land committee sees first arrest
KAMALA: The new special committee set up by Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura to investigate land encroachment and abuses of environmental protection has garnered its first arrest – that of Boonchuay Reungpetch, 40, on June 25, for encroaching on and building three homes on national forest land in Kamala.The arrest came days before the Governor had even officially ratified the committee,…
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Irish, Danish get local representation
PHUKET: Requests by the Republic of Ireland and Denmark to establish consular representation in Phuket have been approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.The Deputy Director-General of the Ministry’s Department of Information, Kiattikhun Chartprasert, told the Gazette on Friday that both countries had proposed setting up official consulates on the island in order to serve their nationals living and traveling in…
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Taiwan finally cancels travel warning
PHUKET: Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has finally lifted its “orange” alert, which warned against travel to Phuket.The ministry announced on Tuesday that it had received a report from Taiwan’s representative office in Thailand confirming that Phuket’s tourism facilities and transportation networks have been successfully repaired and rebuilt. Daily living for locals has returned to normal, the report said, and…
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Austrian Airlines plans Phuket flights
PHUKET: Starting November 4, Austrian Airlines will operate non-stop direct flights between Phuket and Vienna.Austrian Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer, Dr Josef E Burger, told the Gazette that the airline is expecting to carry at least 14,000 passengers a year on the route, generating revenue of as much as 500 million baht a year.From November to December 10 the flights will…
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Art exhibitions “to boost tourism’
PHUKET CITY: In an attempt to revitalize post-tsunami tourism, the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC) is organizing a series of art exhibitions in Phuket between July and December.“Unique Andaman”, which will be held at Central Festival Phuket in July – the exact date has not yet been decided – will feature works entered in a contemporary art contest…
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Mystery over suicide case’s real identity
BANGKOK: The New Zealand Embassy has appealed for help in identifying a man who committed suicide in a Phuket hotel on June 18 (the previous story can be seen here. The man, who was found dead in the Phuket Merlin Hotel after apparently swallowing a large number of antihistamine and tranquilizer pills, was initially identified from the hotel register as…
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Fine behavior
BANGKOK: The daughter of a retired police general ran amok at Dusit Police Station after suffering the indignity of seeing her boyfriend fined for driving without a license. The incident occurred at about 11 pm on June 26. Kwanreuthai Taensawat, 31, and her 25-year-old brother Supakorn were in a pickup truck being driven by her boyfriend, Thongchai Khombaramee, when it…
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PSU dumps controversial casino course
PHUKET: The Phuket campus of the Prince of Songkhla University (PSU) has decided that it will no longer offer its controversial course in casino and gaming management after the Senatorial Committee on Education, Religion, Arts and Culture declared that the course was “opposed to Buddhism”.Even though casinos are illegal in Thailand, the university offered its first – and only –…
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Phuket and Andamans to be twinned
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Province will be officially “twinned” with Port Blair, capital of India’s Andaman & Nicobar Islands, at a signing ceremony to take place at Phuket Provincial Hall tomorrow. At a meeting yesterday to prepare for the arrival of the Indian delegation, Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura told attendees that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was keen to expand trade and tourism…
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Volunteers sought for Samaritans’ office
KHAO LAK: The legacy of emotional trauma left by the tsunami is generally unquantified, but perceived to be widespread throughout the affected communities.In response to this, the Samaritans of Thailand is seeking volunteers to man telephones, answering calls from people in distress at the Samaritans’ office at the Mental Health Recovery Center in Khao Lak.The Samaritans have also asked Thai…
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Navy completes home-building on Lanta
KOH LANTA: The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) yesterday handed over the last 16 of a total of 60 homes it has built for tsunami victims on Koh Lanta. The Navy builders will now move on to Koh Khor Khao, near Baan Nam Khem in Phang Nga, to build a further 28 houses.Adm Phirasak Watcharamul, Deputy Commander of the RTN, handed…
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Dog pound in dire straits
THALANG: Food supplies are dwindling at the Mid Road Dog Shelter in Thalang, leaving some 300 dogs to subsist on rations of cat food donated after the tsunami.Even this supply is expected to run out by the end of July and there appears to be no long-term solution to the problem.The controversial facility, opened last July, was intended as a…
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Dulwich no more
KOH KAEW: As of midnight tonight Dulwich International College (DIC) will no longer exist, as the island’s premier private school becomes the British Curriculum International School, Phuket.This afternoon, on the school’s final day as DIC, the annual secondary school prizegiving assembly was held.During his speech to the assembly, the Academic Director, Dr George Hickman, said, “Yes, we are undergoing a…
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Patong to get B20 tuk-tuk service
PATONG: A fleet of 24 tuk-tuks will ply a circular route through the streets of Patong for no more than 20 baht per passenger by the time the next high season arrives, Teerayuth Prasertphol, Chief Technical Officer at Phuket Provincial Transportation Office, announced today.K. Teerayuth explained that the tuk-tuks will pass along the route every five to 10 minutes, though…
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Wissanu recommends tsunami complaint centers
BANGKOK (The Nation, Gazette): Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, back in Bangkok after reviewing the tsunami aid situation on the ground, will ask the Cabinet to set up complaint centers in the six disaster-hit provinces to field queries about the distribution of state funds and private donations to tsunami victims.Government spokesman Chalermdej Jombunud said K. Wissanu would inform the Cabinet…
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Trip of lifetime for Phuket IMPAC winner
DUBLIN, IRELAND: A Phuket student and her mother were among the 250 international guests at the City Hall here on June 15, when the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award was presented to American Edward P Jones for his novel, The Known World. The annual IMPAC Award is, at 100,000 Euros (about 5 million Baht), the richest prize in the…
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Phuket Immigration to open Saturdays
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Immigration Office is to extend its service hours by opening Saturdays from 8:30 am until midday and staying open during the lunch hour on weekdays.Pol Capt Krissarat Nusen of the Phuket Immigration Office told the Gazette that the new hours for the office, in Phuket City, came into force on Saturday (June 18).“From Mondays to Fridays…
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Deputy PM checks on stalled relief funds
PHUKET: Six months after the tsunami, local people in the stricken areas are still asking the same question; “When will we receive our compensation?” The man given the job of answering that question, Deputy Prime Minister Vissanu Kreangam, appointed by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as chairman of the Tsunami Victim Administration, came to the region on June 18 for a…
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Police booth demolished after fire
PHUKET: A police booth at the intersection of Patipat Rd and Ranong Rd has been demolished after being badly damaged in a fire at 3 am on Saturday.Phuket City Police Station Superintendant Col Paween Pongsirin discounted rumours that the fire had been started by vandals, or by a bomb placed by gangsters. He told the Gazette it was thought the…
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Man drowns while fishing
RAWAI: Chartchai Chumkaew, 27, from Nakorn Sri Thammarat, drowned after being sucked into the sea Friday while fishing near Nai Harn Beach, Rawai. His body was found Sunday by a scuba diving team.K. Chartchai reportedly went fishing among the rocks at Ao Sane Bungalows near Nai Harn Beach. It is thought that a large swell pulled him off the rocks…
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