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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FC Phuket in training in Bangkok
PHUKET: FC Phuket are now in their second week of training for the upcoming “mini-league” playoffs to determine which four of the twelve qualifying teams will move up to Division One of the Thai League. Arjhan Songgamsub, head coach of Division 2 South champion FC Phuket, also known as Southern Sea Kirin, said all of his players are in good…
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‘Toxins for tablets’ with Phuket Safe project
PHUKET: Island residents can now exchange hazardous household waste for medicine at 36 drugstores as part of a new project called “Phuket Safe”. Starting on Monday this week, 20 drug stores displayed stickers showing their participation in the project, which is a joint initiative between Phuket City Municipality and the Phuket Drug Store Association. Club president Jindee Santikayawakul said the…
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Phuket Immigration: No change in visa overstay rules
PHUKET: The Phuket Immigration chief today denied there have been any formal changes in the way Thai Immigration Police deal with foreigners who overstay their permits-to-stay or who are otherwise discovered to be residing in the Kingdom illegally. Phuket Immigration Superintendent Panuwat Ruamrak admitted receiving “many” calls today following an online media report stating that foreigners who try to depart…
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All systems go for Phuket Veggiefest 2010
PHUKET: Final preparations are being ironed out for this year’s Phuket Vegetarian Festival, which will kick off with an opening ceremony at Saphan Hin Park at 9am on October 7. The raising of go teng poles to welcome the Chinese Warrior Gods down from their celestial abode will take place at participating shrines later the same day. The ceremony “proper”…
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Phuket braces for another anti-smoking crackdown
PHUKET: Patong business operators have been given one month to post No Smoking signs and set up smoking areas in their air-conditioned restaurants and nightclubs, or face a fine of up to 20,000 baht.Smokers found breaking the law will face a fine of up to 2,000 baht.The deadline was handed down by Kathu Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakao on September 14.At…
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Phuket Muslims prepare for Hajj
PHUKET: A Saudi embassy announcement yesterday that it will issue the 13,000 visas necessary for Thai Muslims to join the Hajj this year comes as welcome news for Phuket Islamic Committee President Bamroong Samphaorat. “Saudi Arabia – under no circumstances – associates its relations with any country, with allowing or forbidding Muslims from performing their fifth pillar of Islam of…
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Hilton deal to boost golf tourism to Phuket
PHUKET: The Hilton hotel chain has joined Golfasian, a leading inbound golf tour operator in Thailand to create the Thai marketing cooperative ‘Golf in a Kingdom: The Thai Golf Experience’. The initiative will make it easier for visitors looking for a premium golf holiday to book a variety of stay-and-play itineraries. It is also hoped that Hilton’s involvement will help…
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Phuket tourists face jail for long immigration overstays
PHUKET: The Thai Immigration Bureau in Bangkok is now arresting and jailing foreigners with long “overstays” before permitting them to leave the Kingdom, ThaiVisa.com reports. Immigration officers at Suvarnabhumi Airport are apparently fed up with foreigners flouting Thai Immigration law by turning up at the checkpoint with a valid air ticket and the maximum fine of 20,000 baht in hand.…
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Phuket Surf Competition underway
PHUKET: The Quiksilver Thailand Surf Competition 2010 is underway at Kata Beach, with finals scheduled for Sunday. Highlights for tomorrow will be a special surf show from 11am to 1pm with two renowned professionals demonstrating their skills. Taking to the surf will be Indonesian Surfing Championship (ISC) president Tipi ‘Tiger’ Jabrik of Indonesia and ISC board member Jake ‘The Snake’…
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‘Phuket 2.0’: Opportunities for the future seminar on October 1
PHUKET: The American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand is teaming up with Laguna Property, C9 Hotelworks and Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket for a special business networking event on October 1. Mark Armsden of Delivering Asia Communications will join a panel of industry experts to discuss Phuket opportunities in the following areas: Hotels and property: Michael Ayling of Laguna Resorts and…
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Phuket divers gear up for Coastal Cleanup Day
PHUKET: Phuket’s recreational dive community is gearing up for International Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, with two major cleanup activities planned. The Thai Diving Association, Scuba Schools International and Sea Bees are holding a “big clean-up dive” off Phuket to help save local reefs. The meeting point will be at the Anchor Inn restaurant in Chalong at 9am. Finger food…
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Phuket’s budget airlines under fire; Phuket surf; Gas leak
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket’s budget airlines facing heat PHUKET: The Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) is summoning low-cost airlines to respond to complaints of unfair charges. The OCPB has issued letters to all low-cost airlines operating in Thailand…
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TCT to push Phuket as ‘high-end’ tourism destination
PHUKET: The Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) has laid out an eight-point strategy to help develop the tourism industry that includes promoting Phuket as a high-end destination and issuing longer tourist visas to help prepare for the Asean Free Trade Agreement (Afta) that goes into effect in 2015. Piyaman Tejabaibul, the new TCT chairman, said yesterday that building unique and…
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Miss Thailand World in Phuket to fulfill sacred vow
PHUKET: Heads were turning yesterday as Miss Thailand World 2010, Sirirat ‘Noo Si’ Rueangsri, paid her respects to the Big Buddha image high up in the Nakkerd Hills in Phuket. Ms Sirirat, a 22-year-old law student from Chiang Mai, was in Phuket for a one-day visit to fulfill a promise she made to herself to revisit the site if she…
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Phuket Town welcomes Full Moon tonight
PHUKET: A Satree Phuket School student presented a “Moon Goddess” costume as part of a fashion show on the first night of the Moon Festival celebration September 20 at Queen Sirikit Park in Phuket Town. The three-day celebration, officially celebrated by the municipality for the first time this year, ends tonight with a Moon Worship ceremony starting at 8:45 pm…
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Phuket to Chiang Mai bus set for early 2011
PHUKET: Travelers with plenty of stamina will soon be able to travel directly by bus between Phuket and Chiang Mai, a journey of almost 24 hours. Green Bus, which already holds a concession for air-conditioned bus transport in Northern Thailand, plans to launch the service in early 2011. The journey will take 22 to 23 hours. Somchai Thongkhamkhoon, managing director…
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Teen hurt after running red in Phuket
RASSADA, PHUKET: A 16-year-old girl was seriously injured after she allegedly jumped a red light on her motorcycle and was hit by a car in Phuket yesterday. Shortly before midnight, Phuket City Police Inspector Chaliao Thaihoo received a report of an accident at the Narisorn Intersection on Surin Road in tambon Rassada. Capt Chaliao rushed to the scene with Kusoldharm…
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2010 to serve up tourism treat
PHUKET: Promising signs are emerging for Phuket’s upcoming high season, as reservation rates have reached 50% for the upcoming Phuket Vegetarian Festival, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced. Wanaphapar Suksombul, Deputy Director of the TAT South Region 4 in Phuket, believes the October 8 to 16 Vegetarian Festival will help the 2010-2011 high season get off to a…
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Phuket marks National Fisheries Day today
THALANG: To mark today’s National Fisheries Day today, Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office last week organized the release of 2.4 million baby banana shrimp and 2,000 milkfish to help replenish diminishing stocks in remaining Phuket mangrove areas. The event, led by Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop, was held at the Phuket Coastal Fisheries Research and Development Center at Laem Sai in Pa…
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Phuket monkey viewpoint half complete
PHUKET: The “monkey viewpoint” being developed on Koh Sireh is costing Rassada Municipality 14 million baht and tenders are now being accepted for a separate 24-million-baht tourism development project at nearby Mali Kaew, also on Koh Sireh. Rassada Mayor Surathin Leunudom said the 14 million baht is being spent on renovating and extending a footpath along a 750-meter stretch of…
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Krabi ya bah mules arrested at Phuket checkpoint
PHUKET: Police at Tah Chat Chai checkpoint on Saturday arrested two Krabi men in possession of 3,932 ya bah (methamphetamine) tablets with an estimated street value of nearly 1.2 million baht, police said. At around 11am, officers led by Lt Col Thawat Tansakul stopped the Krabi-registered pickup being driven by Sayan Dumkeaw, 30, with Thirapong Naun-on, 21, as passenger. “The…
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Single Asean visa would benefit tourism: Phuket poll
PHUKET: The results of the latest Phuket Gazette Poll show that a slight majority of readers overall think that a single Asean visa, similar to the Schengen visa used by 15 European countries, would benefit tourism to Phuket. Results of the poll showed that 53.2% of readers overall thought having a single Asean visa would bring more tourists to Phuket.…
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Phuket blackouts continue in Chalong tomorrow
PHUKET: The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has scheduled another blackout in Chalong tomorrow to carry out maintenance on high-voltage power lines. The power cut is set to begin at 9am and expected to end around 4pm. The affected areas will be along the east side of Chao Fa West Road from Wat Chalong to Chalong Circle, including Soi Mae Lamai,…
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Phuket water shutdown postponed
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Waterworks Authority (PPWA) this morning canceled the major water mains shutdown that was set to affect key parts of Phuket Town and nearby areas today and tomorrow. PPWA Manager Sayan Wareearoonroj said the new water mains could not be installed because some parts did not fit the old mains. The department needs a few more days…
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Thais eye nuclear power; steroids as gay lube; drug bust
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Is Thailand ready for nuclear energy? PHUKET: The Nation reports that energy officials and private operators renewed their support for nuclear power development in Thailand at a seminar on Friday, amid resistance from protesters as well as…
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Phuket calm while Thailand on red alert
PHUKET: In Phuket as well as the rest of Thailand today all eyes will be on the red shirts and the national security situation as protesters commemorate the fourth anniversary of the September 2006 military coup and the fourth month since the crackdown on the bloody rally in Bangkok. Security has been beefed up in Chiang Mai and Bangkok but…
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Phuket Opinion: Muslim prayer rooms are part of local life
PHUKET: News that Rawai Municipality is considering building a surau (Muslim prayer facility) at Laem Phromthep has ruffled some feathers among Gazette readers, though at this stage it is difficult to understand why. Few details have been made available about the project because it is just in the conceptual stages. However, that fact hasn’t stopped readers from expressing concern that…
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Storm off Phuket sinks trans-Pacific kayakers’ dream
PHUKET: While paddling nine kilometers off Phuket’s southeast coast just after midday on August 24, two men in a kayak braced as a wave shattered the support beam holding together their twin-hull sailing kayak. As strong winds lashed the raised sail, the kayak listed and seawater gushed into the left hull. The boat began to sink, and along with it…
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Korean commits suicide in Phuket
PHUKET: A Korean man found hanging by the neck at a Patong guesthouse this week had told his long-term Thai girlfriend he had safely returned to South Korea, police said. The body of 34-year-old Lee Jai Yup was discovered at Tina Guesthouse on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pee Road on Tuesday afternoon. Just days earlier, Mr Lee had seen off his girlfriend…
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Phuket Town officials tackle Saphan Hin woes
PHUKET: Foul smells, litter strewn throughout the area and a downturn in local trade were named as three of the biggest problems arising from large-scale events being held at the Saphan Hin central stage area, officials were told on Wednesday. Located at the Tin Mining Monument roundabout, the stage and its large brick-paved open area (about the size of a…
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