News
Stay up-to-date with the latest news from across Thailand and beyond with The Thaiger. Our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from this stunning part of the world, covering a diverse range of topics, including local politics, business, culture, and tourism. Keep yourself informed about the Kingdom’s rich history, stunning landscapes, and thriving expat communities, as well as updates on events, attractions, and transportation.
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Sponsored Pullman Phuket Panwa Beach Resort puts sustainability at its heart
The term sustainability is often thrown around as a buzzword in the hospitality industry, but at Pullman Phuket Panwa Beach Resort, it’s genuinely part of their mission. Located in Makham Bay, just south of Phuket Town, the beautiful resort puts...
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Phuket Airport Immigration denies “express lane’ corruption
PHUKET: Royal Thai Navy officers today called into question alleged corrupt practices by immigration officials at Phuket International Airport, such as soliciting cash payments from tourists. “We have heard that many immigration counters are not open when tourists arrive on international flights, so officers are supposedly soliciting money from them to use a ‘VIP’ lane to avoid the long queues,”…
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Coup leaders invite corruption complaints from Phuket
PHUKET: The island’s representatives of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) are inviting residents and tourists to file anonymous complaints of suspected corruption, as well as suggestions for coup leaders on how to improve the country. Any complaints filed as highly confidential will be treated as such, the island’s leading authorities have assured. “You can report any trouble…
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Phuket Airport shops given three days to clean up, or get out
PHUKET: Owners of the stores operating inside Phuket International Airport have until Thursday to present official proof from the Airports of Thailand (AoT) that they have permission to operate, or see their shops shut down, a Navy captain has warned. “Any airport shops open past the deadline without the appropriate papers posted at the store, or found selling products not…
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Phuket begins fight against slavery on fishing boats
PHUKET: The nationwide push to eradicate slavery in Thailand’s fishing industry started in Phuket today as the Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) began to receive lists of migrant workers employed in the field. Following the order by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), fishing boat operators have until July 21 to report the names of their migrant workers…
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Italian tourist in Hong Kong graft trial under Phuket Police protection
PHUKET: The Italian tourist stabbed in a random gang attack in Phuket last week has been placed under 24-hour police protection. Antonio Papaleo, 44, was stabbed twice in the abdomen during a bungled bag snatch at 3am last Thursday. At last report, police had arrested seven of the nine suspects, most of them teenagers (story here). Mr Papaleo arrived in…
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Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek just around the corner
PHUKET: Phuket is ready to host the award-winning Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek from July 16 to 20 off the Island’s southeast coast. The season-opening event of the prestigious 2014/15 Asian Yachting Grand Prix – a series of 12 of the best regattas in Asia – Raceweek is set to welcome one of the most competitive fleets in the Regatta’s…
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Breaking News: Army launches offensive against Phuket Airport taxi drivers
PHUKET: Soldiers, Navy personnel and a battery of local officials arrived in force at Phuket International Airport this morning to launch a campaign to arrest all taxi drivers illegally picking up passengers at the facility. Security personnel barred any taxis from exiting the airport car park without first obtaining permission to leave. “We have a list of all the drivers…
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No typhoon, but heavy rain and big waves lead to Phuket boat warning
PHUKET: Heavy rain and wave heights that could reach four meters have led Phuket authorities to issue a small boat warning in effect through Thursday. “We are monitoring the waves, which are expected to be about 2-4 meters high,” said Santhad Panbanpeaw, director of the Thai Meteorological Department’s Phuket Office. “Small boat operators must be cautious and check the weather…
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Turkish tourist ignores red flags, drowns
PHUKET: A Turkish man yesterday became the sixth person to drown in Phuket waters this year. Yalcin Dagdelen, 45, a guest at Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort, had been warned by hotel beach guards not to go swimming, but entered the water anyway, Kata-Karon lifeguard chief Uten Singsom told the Phuket Gazette. “The waves were very strong. Mr Dagdelen was…
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Phuket police welcome stricter traffic law regulations
PHUKET: Phuket police have voiced their support for the recently announced national clampdown on traffic scofflaws. Announced by Bangkok’s Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner Adul Narongsak on June 25, the clampdown would mean tougher measures against those who ignored traffic tickets and repeat violators of traffic laws (story here). Electronic tickets would be issued, allowing police and land transport offices to…
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Dazzling Djokovic savours victory over Federer
AFTER almost four hours of mental torture, Novak Djokovic sank to his knees, crouched over the hallowed Wimbledon turf, plucked a blade of grass and put it in his mouth – never before had victory tasted so good. It was a victory that he should have been celebrating almost an hour earlier, it was a victory that almost slipped through…
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Volume of missing rice climbs to 290k tonnes
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community More rice missing from storage The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Military officials yesterday continued to inspect state rice stockpiles stored in provincial granaries and again found evidence that large quantities were missing or in poor condition. The rice inspection follows the junta’s order two weeks…
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Australia says 41 asylum seekers handed back to Sri Lanka at sea
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Australia says 41 asylum seekers handed back to Sri Lanka at sea Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Australia said on Monday 41 asylum seekers had been handed to Sri Lankan authorities at sea, another step that has galvanised opposition to the government’s hardline policy against illegal…
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Miss Myanmar finalists tour Phuket
PHUKET: Finalists of Miss Universe Myanmar 2014 landed in Phuket yesterday and will spend the next four days exploring the island and engaging in pre-training activities for the international beauty pageant. The 20 women are preparing for the pageant final, which will be held at the National Theater in Yangon on July 26. Today, the women did batik painting in…
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DNA tests confirm Phuket sea gypsy village “of 100 years’
PHUKET: DNA tests on skeletal remains unearthed at the sea gypsy village in Rawai have confirmed that seafaring nomads have used Phuket’s southern beach to call home for more than 100 years. “The bones were buried deep in the ground at least 60 years ago,” said Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Director Chatchawal Suksomjit. The DNA from the bones matched…
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House robbed, car stolen while Phuket resident sleeps
PHUKET: Police are trying to track down a thief who robbed a house in Pa Khlok while the home owner was asleep, then stole his car and dumped it on a quiet street in Phuket Old Town early this morning. A resident on Bangkok Road notified Phuket City Police of an abandoned Toyota Fortuner parked in front of his house…
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Counterfeit goods worth B495mn destroyed in Phuket Town
PHUKET: Nearly half a billion baht of counterfeit goods that were seized last year in Phuket and other provinces in Southern Thailand were torched at the incinerator in Phuket Town yesterday. The 86,803 destroyed items, valued at 495 million baht, included bootlegged copies of DVDs, CDs, brand-name watches, bags, clothing, wallets and shoes. “This is the standard, final step in…
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Phuket protest wins Thai guides promise of Chinese national ouster
PHUKET: The return of a mob of about 100 Thai-national Chinese tour guides outside the office of a major tour company in Phuket Town yesterday won them a promise that the company will stop hiring Chinese nationals as guides. Led by fellow tour guide Choochart Rungrattanapaiboon, the protesters massed outside Tranlee Travel Co Ltd, brandishing signs and voicing allegations of…
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Seven arrested for stabbing theft attacks on Phuket tourists
PHUKET: Seven suspects have been arrested and charged with theft and attempted murder for the stabbing of two tourists, one in Kata and one in Karon, early Thursday morning. Police arrested Ekkawat Ninpoo, 20, at his house on Koh Sireh yesterday. He confessed to the stabbings and accepted charges of theft and attempted murder. Police withheld the names of the…
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Weaker Hurricane Arthur takes aim at Nantucket, Cape Cod
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Weaker Hurricane Arthur takes aim at Nantucket, Cape Cod Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A weakened but fast-moving Hurricane Arthur swept into southern New England on Friday night, wielding tropical storm-force winds, after an earlier landfall in North Carolina that caused only slight damage. The Massachusetts…
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Junta did right thing: Myanmar chief
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Junta did right thing: Myanmar chief The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Myanmar’s Commander-in-Chief General Min Aung Hlaing yesterday praised Thailand’s ruling junta, saying it was right to seize power to protect national security and people’s safety. During a meeting in Bangkok with Supreme Commander General…
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World Cup: Neymar out of Cup as Brazil and Germany make semis
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Neymar out of Cup as Brazil and Germany make semis Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Hosts Brazil suffered a huge blow when they lost leading forward Neymar for the rest of the World Cup through injury on Friday as they set up an epic-looking semi-final against…
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DSI digs deep into land records to recover Sirinath National Park
PHUKET: The new Director-General of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) today announced that his officers will order the Land Office to hand over records and copies of land titles for plots along the border of – or allegedly in – Phuket’s Sirinath National Park. The Land Office had repeatedly refused to hand over land register documents to Department of…
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Patong one-way streets not changing direction just yet
PHUKET: The plan to change the direction of one-way traffic in Patong is still on the books, but is on hold until other transportation issues are sorted out. “I intend to follow through with the direction-change initiated by the former mayor, but first I want to organize public parking and taxi stands,” said Patong Mayor Chalermluck Kebsab. The current traffic…
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Dodging the dengue fever bullet
Special Report Phuket consistently has among the highest number of dengue sufferers in the country, and the disease has killed one 24-year-old woman in Patong and hospitalized hundreds of others on the island already this year. Yet hope is on the horizon. French company Sanofi Pasteur has a vaccine in the works that may be ready for deployment by late…
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No island is immune
PHUKET: I once lived for a short time on another island, a tiny speck of volcanic rock, surrounded by seemingly endless ocean, more than 500 kilometers south of Java and almost 2,600km northwest of Perth. Christmas Island, as it is known, is the epitome of the remote, exotic, island paradise; difficult and expensive to get to and only rarely visited…
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Upgrade service to lure quality Phuket tourists
Anoma Wongyai, 44, a Phuket native, has been the Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket and Phang Nga Office since March. She has a master’s degree in Tourism from the James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, and has been working for the TAT since she was 21 years old. Here, she talks about how quality service must…
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Changes in Phuket: Make them last
PHUKET: Even as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) continues to roll on with its unprecedented and long overdue law-enforcement campaign, pressure inevitably continues to rise – both within the country and internationally – over when new elections will be held and democracy restored. “Branding” a military coup is never an easy task, but images of a pristine…
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Driver escapes serious injury in Phuket pick-up truck flip
PHUKET: A man escaped serious injury yesterday when the pick-up truck he was driving flipped over on Thepkrasattri Road. Worawit Jawaort, 32, was crawling out of the vehicle when police arrived at the scene, a few hundred meters from the Baan Hongyok School in northern Thalang, at 9am. “Mr Worawit didn’t appear to have any serious injuries, just a few…
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Phuket is ready to host 2014 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek
Phuket Island is ready to host the award-winning Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek from July 16 to 20 off the Island’s southeast coast. The season-opening event of the prestigious 2014/15 Asian Yachting Grand Prix – a series of 12 of the best regattas in Asia – Raceweek is set to welcome one of the most competitive fleets in the Regatta’s…
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