News
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Amway to deliver B2.5bn boost to Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects the 18,000 Amway sales representatives arriving from China to spend up to 2.5 billion baht during their month-long stay on Phuket.Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak together with Director Bangonrat Shinaprayoon of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket Office welcomed and gave flowers to the first group of…
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Phuket struck twice by earthquakes
PHUKET: Phuket was struck by a 4.3-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter believed to be in the center of the island just minutes before another quake struck off Sumatra this afternoon. San Jantharawong, chief of the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket) said his officers were now working on locating the exact center of the first…
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Phuket Police re-open road to Patong as earthquake fears subside
PHUKET: Police have re-opened the main road over Patong Hill, linking Phuket Town with Patong on Phuket’s west coast.The road was closed as a precaution following the earthquake felt across the island earlier this afternoon.Traffic remains heavy in the area.The Phuket Gazette urges all motorists to exercise caution and patience while travelling through the area.
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Phuket Earthquake: NDWC gives all-clear, removes alert watch
PHUKET: The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has removed its “alert watch” order for tsunamis and further earthquakes, the Phuket Gazette has been told.“The NDWC removed the alert watch just before 6pm,” said San Jantharawong, chief of the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket).“The alert was removed because this was a much smaller earthquake than…
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Phuket Opinion: Take off the gloves
PHUKET: The recent ban on mixed martial arts (MMA) events by the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) is a sad but unsurprising development, and one which will deprive growing numbers of MMA enthusiasts in Thailand from watching these exciting events live, while costing the country millions of baht in lost revenue. (See current issue of the Phuket Gazette.) Thailand is…
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Blazing a trail through Phuket
PHUKET: AN EXHILARATING new event is coming to Phuket in the form of trail running with the first experience being episode two of the Columbia Trail Masters, 2012 Thailand Trail Running Championship. Organized by Active Management Asia, Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club will host the island’s maiden excursion into the world of off road running on May 6 with Khao…
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Breaking News: No tsunami warning or evacuation order yet: Phuket DDPM
PHUKET: The Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket) have confirmed that a tsunami warning has not yet been issued.“There has been no tsunami warning and no evacuation alert. We are still monitoring the situation,” DDPM-Phuket chief San Jantharawong told the Phuket Gazette.“We are now on alert watch. We will remain on alert watch until the…
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Breaking News: 5.3 earthquake rattles Phuket
PHUKET: The Thai Meteorologicial Department has reported a 5.3-magnitude earthquake striking off the coast of northern Sumatra at 4:46pm. See here: https://www.tmd.go.th/en/earthquake_report.php The earthquake struck at a depth of only two kilometers. The Gazette has received a report from Patong Beach that some people have left the beach area as a precaution. The Gazette has received no reports of any…
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Phuket Police arrest armed drug suspects in Good Friday raids
PHUKET: Phuket Police on Saturday announced the arrest of six drug suspects, two of them in possession of firearms.Phuket City Police Superintendent Chote Chitchai said the six were arrested on April 13, this year celebrated as Songkran Day (Thai New Year) and as Good Friday.The first suspect named was Pramin Narksuwan, 31, from Nakhon SriThammarat. He was found in possession…
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Phuket’s Patong one-way system to go anti-clockwise from June
PHUKET: A long-awaited plan to reverse the direction of one-way traffic flow in Patong should go into effect in June, as soon public hearings and work to complete a new roundabout at the north end of the beach road is completed, local officials say.Phunsak Naksena, Patong Municipality Chief Administrative Officer, or “Palad”, said the public-hearing process to approve the project…
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Two dead in Phuket as pickup slams into house
PHUKET: A pickup truck travelling at high speed collided with a motorbike on the main road through Pa Khlok yesterday evening, killing the rider and passenger, and slamming into a house set back from the road at about 7:30pm. Emergency rescue first-responders from the Kusoldharm Foundation arrived at the accident scene, in front of the Pak Cheet Mosque about five…
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Renowned Political Analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak speaks to Phuket
PHUKET: Dr Thitinan Pongsudhirak Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University and a former op-ed contributor to the Phuket Gazette, spoke to the island’s International Business Association last week. In an exclusive interview before that talk, he sat down with Phuket Gazette News Editor Stephen Fein and News Manager Chris Husted to discuss several issues…
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8 dead, 69 injured in Yala bomb blasts
PHUKET: At least eight people are dead and 69 injured after three bombs exploded in a busy shopping district in Yala Town at 11:50am today. Yala Governor Decharat Simsiri confirmed to the press that two explosions detonated near the Park View Hotel on the Ruammitr Road in Tambon Sateng of Muang district. While firefighters were trying to contain the blaze,…
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Weird World News: When love is just not enough
PHUKET: Three sad tales of love gone horribly wrong blot this week’s Weird World news line-up, from a husband who shot his wife and dogs over a poop row, to a man who divorced his wife because she’s “annoying”, to a jealous boyfriend who killed his lover over her cyber affair. Husband shoots wife over dog poop row A TEXAS…
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Phuket Gazette: Record-breaking US$640 million jackpot shared
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Winning ‘Mega Millions’ tickets sold in Maryland, other states Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A winning ticket for the record-breaking US$640 million ‘Mega Millions’ jackpot was sold in Maryland, lottery officials confirmed on early Saturday. Winning tickets were also sold in several other states. The Maryland Lottery said…
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Phuket Gazette: News Watch – Afghanistan and Pakistan
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UN: Fighting in northwestern Pakistan displaces over 100,000 Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: Military operations against militant groups in northwestern Pakistan have left more than 100,000 people displaced since the fighting began in late January, the United Nations (UN) said yesterday. The Office of the…
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Phuket Sports: World sports news round-up
PHUKET: Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou gave the Blues a huge advantage in their quest to reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals with an one-nil away win at Benifca. Kalou made up for a dreadful miss early in the game to side-foot home Fernando Torres’ cross from close range. Juan Mata had a shot come back off the post on the 60th…
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Phuket Sports: Monsoon magic in Malaysia
PHUKET: Formula 1’s second race of the season saw McLaren occupying the front two grid positions again. It was their race to give away again, and they did. Lewis Hamilton held his lead into the first corner, followed by Jenson Button, the two Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari. Romain Grosjean tagged Michael Schumacher and both drivers dropped…
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Phuket Sports: Golf Guru
PHUKET: This week the PGA tour moved to Bay Hill Golf Club in Florida for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It’s been Palmer’s back yard since 1974 when he purchased Bay Hill. Apparently he was not best pleased when the world’s number one player Luke Donald and world number two player Rory McIlroy didn’t take up his invitation to play. Palmer…
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Phuket Sports: Patong CC back in the hunt
PHUKET: Last season’s 35 Over Champions Patong CC were in an ‘all or nothing’ situation last Sunday for their Island Furniture League encounter against the Thanyapura Tigers at the ACG, knowing that not only it was necessary to win, but that securing all available bonus points would also be crucial to keeping their title aspirations alive. Patong’s early arrival to…
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Phuket’s Tiger Group roars back at MP Chuwit’s allegations
PHUKET: A representative of Phuket’s Tiger Group of entertainment and nightlife venues has publicly lashed out against the allegations made by controversial MP Chuwit Kamolvisit.The entertainment group is even considering legal action, said Thamrongsak Boonrak, legal counselor to the Tiger Group management.The threat of legal action follows Kathu Police yesterday afternoon conducting surprise raids of businesses run by the Tiger…
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Phuket’s new incinerator online “by May’
PHUKET’s second trash incinerator at the Saphan Hin facility is almost fully complete and is expected to be operational by May.Prachum Suriya, chief of the Phuket City Municipality Environment Office, told the Gazette that construction of the second waste incinerator is now 95 per cent complete.“The remaining five percent includes office accommodation and surrounding environment. At present, the staff is…
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Community Enterprise Phuket street market under way
PHUKET: A three-day street market featuring items produced under the Ministry of Agriculture’s “Small and Micro Community Enterprise” (SMCE) program will taking place in Phuket Town started at 2:30pm today. Kanda Pantong of the Department of Agricultural Extension, Phuket Office (DOAE-Phuket) in Phuket Town told the Phuket Gazette yesterday that the street market would start with an address by Phuket…
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Phuket’s Courtyard by Marriott in Kamala to reopen as Swissotel
PHUKET: Global chain Swissotel will reportedly take over management of the former Courtyard Marriott Kamala Beach effective April 1, reports Phuket Gazette Property Watch columnist Bill Barnett. The 180-key, all-suite hotel, which is owned by Destination Properties, is part of a Phuket portfolio that includes former Courtyards in Surin Beach and Patong. The news follows Marriott and Destination Properties announcing…
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Thai teen makes a splash in Phuket dive community
PHUKET: A 15-year-old Thai girl has set her sights on becoming one of the youngest Thai Dive Masters in the world, having already completed 55 dives. Nicole Christin-Hartmann attends Satree Phuket School, but in her free time she has been racking up dive experience with Nick Fawcus-Robinson of ScubaNicks. Already she has completed her PADI Openwater, Advanced and Rescue Diver…
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Phuket Gazette: Good news for US economy; Texas executes baby killer; Another dead Russian in a suitcase
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.S. jobless claims lowest since in four years Phuket Gazette / News WiresPHUKET: Initial claims for unemployment insurance in the United States dropped to 359,000 in the week ending March 24, which is the lowest in four years, the U.S. Labor Department (DOL) reported yesterday.The DOL report…
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Greater Phuket healthcare advances with Krabi’s first international hospital
PHUKET: Phuket’s Andaman neighbors in Krabi province will soon be able to take advantage of superior healthcare facilities when the long-awaited Krabi Nakharin International Hospital finally opens its doors later this year. The private hospital, located on Pisalpop Road in Tambon Pak Nam, is nearing completion and due to welcome its first patients in the second quarter of 2012. The…
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Bob Dwyer calls England rugby coach
PHUKET: “Why would they give the job to anybody else? Stuart has been going great guns since he took over and England has played some of the best rugby I’ve seen them produce in years.” Australia’s rugby World Cup winning coach Bob Dwyer was recently on Phuket and the Gazette asked him about England’s coaching predicament with Lancaster as caretaker…
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Phuket scam artists boost another 14 cars
PHUKET: Following the recovery of 17 stolen cars from a “car pawn yard” in Nakhon Sri Thammarat earlier this week, a host of Phuket car rental agents gathered late last night to highlight the extent of scam operation. Collectively, the group claim that at least 14 more cars have been stolen by the alleged scam artists, identified as Sukanya Janthanarak…
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Phuket pyre flames B182mn of pirated goods
PHUKET: The Phuket Town incinerator today flamed counterfeit products valued at more than 182 million baht as part of the Intellectual Property Department’s crackdown on copyright infringement across the country.A total of 79,524 items seized by officers of Provincial Police Region 8 and 9, as well as the Regional Customs Bureau 4, were destroyed in the incinerator.“Intellectual property infringement is…
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