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.
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Thanyapura gives back to the community
PHUKET: “Now more than ever, companies need to demonstrate transparency. They must show they are attuned to environmental issues. They should reduce carbon emissions, promote zero waste and host CSR activities to engage the public,” said the President of International Business Affairs of The Nation Multimedia Group Pana Janviroj in the foreword of the latest issue of CSR Thailand magazine.…
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Tourists on ‘walk-in’ visa entries to get 30-day extensions
PHUKET: The chief of the Phuket Immigration Office, Col Sunchai Chokkajaykij, has confirmed that his office has received an official order to begin issuing extensions of up to 30 days to foreigners who enter the country on visa-exemption status. The order, signed by Immigration Bureau Acting Commissioner Sakda Chuenpakdee, is to come into effect from August 29, said Col Sunchai.…
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TransAsia Airways plane crashes in typhoon-hit Taiwan, killing 47
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community TransAsia Airways plane crashes in typhoon-hit Taiwan, killing 47 Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A TransAsia Airways <6702.TW> turboprop plane crashed on its second attempt at landing during a thunderstorm on an island off Taiwan on Wednesday, killing 47 people and setting buildings on fire, officials…
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Dutch pot lord arrested in Pattaya
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Dutchman, Thai wife nabbed for trafficking pot The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Dutchman and his Thai wife were arrested yesterday in Pattaya for allegedly conspiring to sell marijuana via a network in the Netherlands that reportedly earned Bt600 million to Bt800 million per year.…
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Gaza bloodshed deepens as airlines shun Israel
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Gaza bloodshed deepens as airlines shun Israel Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Gaza fighting raged on Wednesday, displacing thousands more Palestinians in the battered territory as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said efforts to secure a truce between Israel and Hamas had made some progress.…
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Dutch mourn as first MH17 bodies arrive in Netherlands
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Dutch mourn as first MH17 bodies arrive in Netherlands Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The bodies of the first victims from a Malaysian airliner shot down over Ukraine last week arrived on Wednesday at a military base in the Netherlands – a nation in shock and…
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Dozens of Phuket officials under fire for allegedly issuing illegal land documents
PHUKET: At least 30 officials in Phuket are under investigation for their alleged involvement in illegally issuing land documents for plots in Sirinath National Park. Tawichat Nillakan, chief of the Phuket office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), told the Phuket Gazette that his office had received at least 77 formal complaints against local officials for abusing their positions of…
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Phuket SEA Coworking Space hosts iSeahorse workshop tonight
PHUKET: The SEA Coworking Space in Phuket Town will be saddling up to host a free iSeahorse workshop this evening at 6:30. The event is a training workshop for scuba divers, snorkellers and beach goers who have an interest in learning how to survey and identify seahorses in coastal locations, explains Lindsay Aylesworth, lead researcher in Thailand for Project Seahorse…
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Phuket lifeguards issue no-jeans warning after near-drowning
PHUKET: Lifeguards at Phuket’s Nai Harn Beach have called for swimmers to not wear jeans in the surf after a tourist wearing them nearly drowned there late yesterday afternoon. Lifeguards pulled Kammapol Suyapiew, 40, unconscious from the heavy surf after he went swimming with friends in an area marked by red flags. “We tried to warn them when we saw…
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Thalang open their account with a win over Laguna
With both teams chasing their first points of the Outrigger Twenty20 season, last year’s premiers Laguna were pitted against Thalang, recent winners of the 35 over league. The coin fell Thalang’s way and Captain Craig Murphy elected to bat. Manish Sadarangani did what Laguna couldn’t do in the recent grand final when he picked up Andrew McMillan’s wicket in the…
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State oil PTT sued for B350mn for Samet oil spill
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Six businesses file Bt350m lawsuit against PTT The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Tourism operators filed a lawsuit at the Rayong Provincial Court yesterday demanding Bt350 million in compensation from PTT Global Chemical PCL (PTTGC) for the July 27, 2013, oil spill off the coast of…
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NCPO eases controls on media, urges self-regulation
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community NCPO eases controls on media, urges self-regulation The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has amended some points in its announcement – No 97 – on media control after being told that the order banning critical reports was harsh.…
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Boy, 4, dies after being left in car by school driver
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Boy, 4, dies after being left in car by school driver The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Another child has died in tragic circumstances after being left in a car – in Nakhon Si Thammarat yesterday – by the driver of a school vehicle. Driver Anusorn…
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Indonesian president-elect Jokowi calls for unity after bitter election
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Indonesian president-elect Jokowi calls for unity after bitter election Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was declared the winner of Indonesia’s presidential election on Tuesday, bringing the promise of major reforms to the world’s third largest democracy. The Elections Commission, known as KPU, said…
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Police save Phuket van driver from mob after collision kills woman two days before her 24th birthday
PHUKET: Police quickly removed a Phuket van driver from the scene of a fatal accident in Koh Kaew this afternoon that killed a woman two days before her 24th birthday. According to witnesses, Jantima Srilertchalalai was riding her motorbike about one kilometer from British International School Phuket when she braked suddenly while crossing a small bridge. “The van driver [travelling…
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Phuket begins registering illegal migrant workers
PHUKET: The first wave of illegal migrant workers made their way to Phuket Provincial Community Hall today to apply for legal working status at the one-stop registration center. The center opened at 8:30am and will operate every day until August 21, as instructed by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), to streamline the process of registering illegal migrant…
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No life-time ban for overstays
PHUKET: Thailand’s Immigration Bureau has dropped its proposal for a lifetime ban on foreigners re-entering the country if they are caught overstaying their permits-to-stay by 10 years or more. The Immigration Division 1 in Bangkok announced the news by posting a special notice on its website this morning (click here). Under the new proposed rules, there is no re-entry ban…
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Pinot plays down Bardet rivalry ahead of Pyrenees
THIBAUT Pinot has played down an all-French rivalry with fellow youngster Romain Bardet by saying his compatriot is not his biggest threat for a rare home podium finish on the Tour de France. Pinot, who is fourth just behind third-placed Bardet, believes Spain’s second-placed Alejandro Valverde, American Tejay van Garderen in fifth and France’s Jean-Christophe Peraud have greater time-trial prowess…
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One man killed, one injured in two fruit-picking accidents on Phuket
PHUKET: One fruit harvester was injured and another killed yesterday in separate accidents on northern Phuket. At about 4:30pm, a Myanmar national named only as Maen fell from a tree to his death at a west coast resort while harvesting coconuts. The tree was situated on the edge of a cliff, and Mr Maen, 32, fell 30 meters before striking…
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South Korea ferry disaster: Body of fugitive boss found
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community South Korea ferry disaster: Body of fugitive boss found Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: South Korean police said on Tuesday that a body found last month in the south of the country was that of a fugitive businessman who headed the family that owned the operator…
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Bodies, black boxes handed over from Ukraine crash site
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bodies, black boxes handed over from Ukraine crash site Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The remains of some of the nearly 300 victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane downed over Ukraine were making their way to the Netherlands on Tuesday as a senior Ukrainian separatist leader…
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Gaza death toll tops 500 as U.S. steps up ceasefire efforts
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Gaza death toll tops 500 as U.S. steps up ceasefire efforts Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Palestinian death toll in an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip jumped to more than 500 on Monday, as the United States, alarmed by escalating civilian bloodshed, took a…
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Land Dept explains legal loophole to owning park land
PHUKET: A legal loophole dating back more than 50 years may be just what those accused of encroaching on Phuket’s Sirinath National Park need to legally claim privately owned plots within the park’s boundaries. The surprise was delivered to Governor Maitri Inthusut this afternoon by a Deputy Director-General of the Land Department, Thammasak Chana, accompanied by Phuket Land Office chief…
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Angry Rawai residents demand water
PHUKET: A group of angry residents from the Saiyuan Med Village housing estate in Rawai descended on the Phuket Water Authority (PWA) office at Bang Wad Reservoir today to demand action to fix their water supply. Water supply had been intermittent since the start of the year, and for the past two months 55 homes in the estate have had…
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Soi Paradise staff tested for drugs in police sweep
PHUKET: An 88-strong brigade of Phuket police, military officers and local officials took to the streets of Patong’s gay quarter last night to conduct random drugs tests on Soi Paradise bar staffers. “We arrived at Soi Paradise at about 9pm and were finished by about 10pm,” Patong Police Deputy Superintendent Khunnadet Nanongkhai told the Phuket Gazette this morning. “During the…
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Woman shot dead in Phuket Town
PHUKET: Police are hunting for the suspect of a shooting on the east side of Phuket Town last night that ended in the death of a woman from Trang. Local residents who heard the sounds of gunfire in Soi Hatchananivet, near the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PPAO) Hospital in Rassada, notified Phuket City Police of the incident by at about…
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Phuket visa runs surge as expats scurry for legitimate stays
PHUKET: The ongoing crackdown on foreigners staying in Thailand by doing visa runs to re-enter the country on visa-exemption status has sparked a surge in the number of foreigners in Phuket travelling to Penang to obtain visas issued by the Royal Thai Consulate there. Preeyapan Adithepwarangkul, owner of KBV Visa Run, told the Phuket Gazette that demand for the Penang…
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Drug dealer serves time in Pattalung, arrested in Phuket for dealing again
PHUKET: A drug dealer who had recently been released from a six-year stint in prison was arrested in Phuket yesterday in possession of 105,000 baht of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine). Jakkarin Songpet, 33, was stopped by Thalang Police at the Baan Bang Jo checkpoint on Thepkrasattri Road at about 5:30pm. “We pulled him over because he was driving a motorbike…
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Call from abroad leads to discovery of Australian tourist’s body in Phuket
PHUKET: An international phone call led Phuket hotel staff to find an Australian guest dead in his room yesterday afternoon. The phone call was from a friend who said he had been unable to contact Adam Arthur Sahyoun, 31, said Lert Paiboon, an employee at the Happy Cottages Phuket resort in Chalong. Hotel staff checked the room of Mr Sahyoun,…
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Bosnia buries 284 war victims unearthed from gruesome death pit
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bosnia buries 284 war victims unearthed from gruesome death pit Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The remains of 284 victims of the Bosnian war were laid to rest on Sunday having been unearthed from what is believed to be the largest mass grave of Europe’s worst…
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