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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Phuket Prison: Songkran fuels overcrowding fears
PHUKET: The likely increase in arrests over the Songkran holiday period is worrying officials as the Phuket Provincial Prison is already 408 inmates over capacity. The six-rai prison is intended to accommodate 708 male and 165 female prisoners. On April 9 there were 1007 males and 274 females detained in the facility. “We expect more prisoners during the Songkran Festival,”…
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Phuket Tourism at Ground Zero
PHUKET: While the term ‘ground zero’ became the idiom for the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001, the phrase is far older than that, dating at least as far back as the Manhattan Project and the World War II bombing of Hiroshima. On the heels of Saturday’s tragic events in Bangkok, Thailand’s tourism industry has become the global poster…
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Phuket Bike Week 2010 rolls on
PATONG, PHUKET: Big bike enthusiasts have been enjoying Phuket Big Bike Week 2010, which started with a mechanical roar in Patong on Friday. Riders will today take a break from the many organized activities and prepare for Songkran festivities that start tomorrow. Over the past few days, riders have enjoyed concerts, beach parties, beauty and tattoo contests and convoy rides…
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Phuket safe, but warnings on ‘Thailand’ vary widely
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Germany advised travelers yesterday to avoid going near large crowds when visiting Thailand. The update to the travel advisory, reported by Earth Times, notes that the Foreign Ministry website says Germans should “stay well away from demonstrations” and…
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Phuket FC in first loss of season
PHUKET: First-place Phuket FC lost its first match of the season yesterday with a tough 2-1 defeat on the road against Trang FC ‘Killer Sea Cows’. Phuket FC were in fine form in the first half, with good scoring chances in the first 10 minutes including a header by Adisek that bounced back off the goalpost. Phuket’s Southern Sea Kirin…
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OPINION: Catching the safety wave in Phuket
PHUKET: A key reason for Phuket’s success as a tourist destination is the wide variety of leisure activities available: sailing, golf, bowling, cricket, volleyball, windsurfing, mountain hiking, jet-skiing, go-carting, parasailing, paragliding, billiards, darts – name a pastime and you’re likely to be able to enjoy it here. The news feature in the current issue of the Phuket Gazette, (see pages…
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A THAI LAMENTS: “Our darkest hour”
PHUKET: The saddest thing is everyone had predicted this and there were so many opportunities to prevent it. In the end, either the curse was too strong or the dark wills of some of those involved to see it happen simply overwhelmed efforts to stop it from happening. A nation that once thought it had matured learned the hardest way…
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‘Normal’ Songkran expected for Phuket
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Songkran celebrations in Phuket as well as 13 other Thai provinces are scheduled to take place as planned, despite the current state of emergency and cancellation of official celebrations in Bangkok. Asia One News reports that China has…
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Violence and arson at troubled Phuket project
WICHIT, PHUKET: A violent confrontation and arson attack outside the troubled Phanason City project last night ended when police arrived and fired warning shots, causing those involved to run for cover. The latest skirmish in the months-old battle started at about 9pm. Around 200 men alleged to be project workers tried to destroy and burn some 40 motorbikes and a…
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Phuket bank accounts plundered
PHUKET: Phuket police are warning of fraudulent phone calls informing members of the public they are “lucky winners” and promising them large cash prizes. The criminals ask victims to transfer a small sum of money in order to claim the reward, which is never seen. In some cases, the hapless victims are instructed to make the transaction at a specific…
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Meditation training in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The Middle Way will resume its free meditation training with a special pre-Songkran session at the Phuket Meditation Center starting at 3pm tomorrow. The teaching monk will be Phra River Bhaddako, a Theravadan Buddhist monk for three years with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Swansea University where he founded that school’s Open Meditation Society. Phra River has…
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Phuket protest over Club Med wall
KATA, PHUKET: More than 100 local residents yesterday gathered at the Club Med Hotel in Phuket to protest construction of a concrete wall enclosing the resort’s property. Protester Pradit Thamwatthana said hotel staff began staking out the position of the wall with bamboo poles two weeks ago. The 1.5-meter-high wall would seal off six rai of land that in recent…
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Coming soon: Phuket’s new bridge
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: The construction firm building a new bridge to Phuket has released computer generated images of what the project will look like upon completion. Project engineer Dr Phattanapong Thonsuk of project contractor Italian-Thai Development Co said the old Sarasin Bridge has suffered from years of saltwater corrosion and wear and is being replaced following concerns by the Highway…
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Ya bah going cheap in Phuket
PATONG, PHUKET: The arrest of a volunteer soldier on drug charges on Wednesday may indicate the price of ya bah (methamphetamine) is falling on the island. Kathu Police arrested Sornchai Nop in his room at a small hotel on Ratchaprasong Road in Patong at about 2am. Mr Sornchai, an army scout based in Narathiwat, apparently found selling ya bah in…
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Bike in wrong lane causes Phuket truck flip
PHUKET: A motorcyclist driving down the bypass road in the wrong direction caused a truck to flip over in Phuket this morning. The driver of the modified pickup, 27-year-old Niwasan Duangjan, panicked when he saw the bike heading straight for him, and turned sharply on the highway opposite Premium Outlet around 10am. No-one was injured. — Atchaa Khamlo
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Phuket tourism: TAT targets Vietnam
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) hopes the establishment of Phuket as a regional air hub will help the country attract more than 400,000 visitors from Vietnam for the first time this year. Pichai Raktasinha, Director of the TAT office in Ho Chi Minh City, said the number of Vietnamese arrivals in Thailand has risen steadily in recent years,…
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Songkran 2010: Northern turmoil boosts Phuket
PHUKET: With red shirts now rallying in provinces across Thailand’s North and Northeast, Phuket is an increasingly attractive destination for tourists over the upcoming Songkran holiday. Members of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) are gathering in 17 northern provinces to support their fellow protesters in Bangkok, Interior Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul said earlier today. “Although protests are sprouting…
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Phuket Lifeguard Club ready to serve
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) plans to sign a 10-month contract with the Phuket Lifeguard Club that will see 83 lifeguards assigned to 13 island beaches by the end of the month. Phuket Lifeguard Club President Prathaiyut ‘Nut’ Chuayuan said he was still waiting to see the contract and had yet to be contacted by PPAO officials, but…
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Phuket leatherback eggs fail to hatch
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Hopes that two clutches of eggs could spell a reversal of fortune for Phuket’s endangered leatherback sea turtle population were dashed last month when the eggs failed to hatch. Mai Khao Sea Turtle Conservation Group member Somporn Anupun said the 130 eggs, laid in mid-January, failed to hatch as expected in March. The two clutches, thought to…
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Malaysia gains edge over Phuket
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Etihad Holidays, a division of Etihad Airways, has announced a new cooperative agreement with Tourism Malaysia to promote holiday packages to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi and Kota Kinabalu, giving them a clear advantage over Phuket as a popular tourist destination in…
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Tsunami alert prompts confusion in Phuket
PHUKET: Confusion reigned in coastal areas of Phuket this morning after a tsunami ‘advisory alert’ was mistaken by many as a full-scale evacuation order. The alert followed a 7.5-richter earthquake at about 5:15am local time along the north coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, along the same fault zone that triggered the 2004 tsunami disaster. Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop ordered the…
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Cricket sixes on way to Phuket
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Organisers of next week’s (April 14-18) Phuket International Cricket Sixes, to be staged at Karon Beach, today announced that the recently retired captain of Australia, Karen Rolton, will headline the newly introduced Women’s Division at this year’s tournament.…
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Woman charged over Phuket road killing
PHUKET: Chalong Police have charged a 28-year-old Thai woman with causing death by dangerous driving after she ran over a pedestrian in her pick-up truck last night. Sumarin Jaiboon hit Sathit Saenkla, a 57-year-old builder from Phang Nga, at high speed on Chao Fa West Road at the entrance to Soi Yodsane at around 11pm. Mr Sathit, who had just…
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Phuket landlord electrocuted on roof
PHUKET TOWN: A landlord was electrocuted on Saturday while trying to fix the roof of a house in Phuket Town. Phuket native Vissanu Thipsunthornnon, 42, was found dead with his legs dangling off the roof of the house on Wichit Songkhram Road at around 9am. Mr Vissanu’s wife said tenants had complained the roof was damaged in heavy rain the…
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Songkran in Phuket: Road safety clampdown coming
PHUKET: The water-splashing riot of the Songkran Festival draws near and with it the Phuket authorities’ annual road safety clampdown. Between April 12 and 18 police are promising to strictly enforce Thailand’s often-neglected traffic laws. In particular, officers will be on the lookout for drink driving, speeding and motorcycle riders without helmets. Twenty-four-hour checkpoints will be erected at the following…
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Boon for Phuket: Lifeguard training
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: The dangers of Phuket’s beaches have been much in the headlines around the world over the past three years amid a spate of drownings and a protracted period during which there were no lifeguards at all. Although safety…
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Phuket murder suspect gets bail
KATHU, PHUKET: A Phuket taxi driver who allegedly shot and killed a man last week was released on bail the following day. Two friends of the dead man were injured, one seriously, when the vehicle they used to rush him to hospital crashed on the way. Thung Thong Police were notified of the crash on Phra Phuket Kaew Road at…
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Encroachers ordered off Phuket beaches
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Hotels and restaurants in Mai Khao in Phuket have been given one month to vacate illegally occupied beachfront land after a barrage of complaints from local residents. Villagers complained in writing to Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop that it was becoming ever more difficult for them to access public beach land because hotels and restaurants have erected barriers…
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Trial by ordeal shocks parents
BURIRAM: Parents are up in arms after teachers at a government school tried to use black magic to find out which of their pupils stole money from a staff member on March 2. Children complained they were made to swear they didn’t take the cash, then drink ‘magic water’ from a bottle containing various kinds of garbage. Saithong Khareram, a…
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FC Phuket crush Ranong 5-0
PHUKET TOWN: FC Phuket continued their undefeated run with an imperious 5-0 victory over a flimsy Ranong squad at Surakal Stadium on Saturday. FC Phuket have won every home match this season, giving their fans, who continue to grow in numbers with each game, plenty to sing about. With midfield linchpin Diarra Ali injured, striker Chakrit was recalled, while Poramut…
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