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SDF moves to stave off Phuket distemper outbreak
PHUKET: Soi Dog Foundation, one of Phuket’s leading animal welfare organizations, is calling for help in its efforts to prevent an island-wide outbreak of the dreaded canine disease distemper. “Soi Dog is currently working around the clock doing mass vaccinations of dogs at temples and other locations. Distemper has been virtually eradicated in the west; however this is not the…
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Phuket King’s Cup “lost’ crewman
PHUKET: The crew of Pytheas Aura, a 14-meter cutter racing in the King’s Cup Regatta, woke this morning to find fellow crewman, Canadian Joseph James Patrick, 42, dead on his bunk. Police believed he died of a heart attack. Mr Patrick had lived on Phuket for several years, staying in the Kata area, a friend told the Gazette. He apparently…
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Phuket King’s Cup: Split-second separates Racing class winner
PHUKET: Only 0.49 of a second on corrected time separated Neil Pryde’s HiFi and Ray Roberts’ Evolution Racing in race one today at the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta. Frank Pong’s Jelik III took line honors, followed by Sam Chan’s FreeFire then Dubai-based boat Team Premier. But all eyes were on Evolution Racing, which tacked away from HiFi at the bottom…
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Phuket caddie gunned down, killed
PHUKET: A caddie at the Mission Hills golf club in Phuket was killed by single gunshot to the back of the head yesterday morning. Thalang Police identified the victim as Amornrat Petchtrong, 26. Local villagers discovered her body before dawn on an access road about 200 meters from the golf course in Pa Khlok. An eyewitness told police he was…
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Phuket King’s Cup Regatta: Day 2 update
PHUKET: With the final provisional results just in for today’s racing in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta 2010, Ray Robert’s Evolution Racing has kept pole position in the Racing class with arch rival Neil Pryde’s HiFi still in second place. The Evolution crew have so far secured four wins from five races. With three races left in the regatta, the…
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Phuket King’s Cup: Evolution extends lead
PHUKET: Stiff breeze offshore made for good yacht racing today, day two of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta 2010, with Ray Roberts’ Evolution Racing extending their lead in the Racing class by one point. Arch rival Neil Pryde and his crew on HiFi drew first blood yesterday, winning the regatta’s opening race, but Evolution fought back from their disappointing fourth-place…
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Lotto luck sought from double genital dog
MUKDAHAN: There’s a well known – if slightly crude – expression in the United Kingdom: “As happy as a dog with two dicks”. But how happy is a dog with two vaginas? Anyone wishing to find out should pay a visit to Udorn Battasao, 29, who lives in a village in Mukdahan province. Mr Udorn is the proud owner of…
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Top Thai junior golfers to play in Phuket
PHUKET: More than 140 of Thailand’s best junior golfers will compete at the Thai Golf Association (TGA) Junior Regional Championship at Phuket Country Club this week. The four-day competition, for boys and girls between the ages of nine and 17, starts on Wednesday. Play culminates with the final round on Saturday, when the regional junior champion will be crowned. Featuring…
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Phuket ramps up Christmas blood drive
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center is stepping up its blood donation campaign in the run-up to the”Seven Days of Danger”, when more supplies will be needed to meet an expected increase in road accidents over the holidays. The Phuket chapter of the Thai Red Cross Society has announced that the center’s mobile blood collection clinic will accept donations at…
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Acrobuffos set to soak Old Phuket Town
PHUKET: Renowned street artists Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone, better known as The Acrobuffos, are headlining the entertainment set to take over Old Phuket Town on December 17-19. The comic duo will be performing as part of the first-ever Phuket Street Show Festival, which coincides with the Patong Carnival this month. While the Acrobuffos bill themselves as “laughmakers, street players…
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Anapat, 10, sails to Phuket dinghy race victory
PHUKET: Sailing sensation Anapat Ngarmdee, 10, proved to be one of the stars of the opening weekend of the King’s Cup Regatta by clinching first place in the inaugural Phuket King’s Cup Dinghy Series. The four-series event, featuring a total of 20 races, finished off Kata Beach yesterday. Anapat finished in the top spot, heading a field of 19 Optimist-class…
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Phuket drug detection gone to the dogs
PHUKET: Local authorities expect two puppies now under intensive training at Phuket International Dog School (PIDS) to become effective drug detection dogs by January. The two candidates, Bebe and Boo Boo, are both four months old. Bebe is a four-kilogram female beagle, while Boo Boo is a male pit bull currently weighing in at seven kilos. The project is the…
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O’Donnell wins Phuket’s inaugural Ironman 70.3
PHUKET: Former US Navy lieutenant Tim O’Donnell today dominated the formidable 50-strong field of some 800 competitors to win the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship at Laguna Phuket in just under four hours. The American, whose impressive 2010 season included the Ironman 70.3 Florida title, was first out of the water from the 1.9km swim in 24 minutes 34 seconds.…
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Phuket marks His Majesty’s birthday
PHUKET: As dawn broke over Phuket this morning, the island began its celebrations of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 83rd birthday. At the Rassada Municipality office and at Queen Sirikit Park on Dibuk Road in Phuket Town, people gathered at 7am to join in giving alms to Buddhist monks. At 9am, the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) opened its doors for…
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Top-class field set for Phuket’s Ironman 70.3
PHUKET: Reigning Ironman 70.3 world champion Michael Raelert of Germany will head a high-caliber field of international professional triathletes at the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship tomorrow. The race will also include a legend an Ironman legend, Ironman Craig Alexander from Australia. It will get underway with the first wave at 7am at Laguna Phuket resort. Ironman is triathlon’s ultimate…
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New Pink Bus route announced
PHUKET: The award-winning Pink Buses in Phuket Town will ply a new route between Saphan Hin and Rassada early next year. Paiboon Upatising, president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO), told the Gazette that the new route will be serviced by eight new vehicles, known locally as po thong. It will be the third PPAO Pink Bus route to…
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Phuket “night tsunami’ drill update
PHUKET: The center of operations for Phuket’s first “night tsunami” drill will be at the Rajaprachanukroh 36 School in Kamala. The drill, to be held on December 14, will begin at 8pm. The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) has confirmed that more than 200 volunteers will take part, and Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha will preside over the exercise.…
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Phuket ‘mangrove road’ wins EIA approval
PHUKET: Construction of the Klong Koh Pee Road project moved a step closer to becoming a reality yesterday when Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha confirmed the Special Committee on Environment had given the plan the green light. Gov Tri received the news at a meeting with the special committee on Wednesday in Bangkok, which was also attended by Phuket MP Raewat…
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Police arrest Phuket’s “midnight arsonist’
PHUKET: A homeless man living under a telephone exchange box near Phuket Town has confessed to setting ablaze five cars last month, say police. Presented to the press this morning was Sangworn Toe-udtha, 37, from Phang Nga, who is now facing charges of five counts of arson. Officers on patrol yesterday afternoon recognized Mr Sangworn, who was standing by the…
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Phuket golf prodigy Pariwat drives on
PHUKET: Pariwat Pinsawat, Phuket’s top-flight 14-year-old golfer, was in devastating form last weekend at Phuket Country Club. The youngster finished top of the leader-board at the end of the two-day event to win the PCC-Mazda Championship Cup. Not only did he lift the prestigious Amateur Cup, he also went home with a brand-new Mazda2 car after firing a hole-in-one at…
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Phuket police denied drug-testing center
PHUKET: THE Office of Forensic Science has denied Phuket police permission to set up its own Scientific Crime Detection Center. Phuket Police Commander Pekad Tantipong explained the request was turned down due to the lack of experienced officers to staff the center. “Urine tests [for drugs] must be overseen by experts. If the urine is not well kept and protected,…
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Phuket to drill for “night tsunami’
PHUKET: Those hoping for a lie in on Phuket’s west coast yesterday were disappointed when the Thai national anthem was played at 8am on all 19 of the island’s tsunami warning towers. Meanwhile, it was also revealed that the island’s first “night tsunami” evacuation drill would take place in Kamala later this month. Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM)…
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Phuket black spot claims another life
PHUKET: A woman was killed instantly on Tuesday night at the notorious entrance to the Anuphas Manorom housing estate, in front of Promphan supermarket on Chao Fa West Road. Witnesses told police that Nantawan Suebsa, 33, was waiting for traffic to clear before turning right into the estate when a Subaru sedan, driven by Niphon Itthipon, 37, crossed the center…
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Mentally handicapped man found dead in Phuket Town well
PHUKET: A mother looking to transfer her 36-year-old mentally handicapped son to a mental hospital in Surat Thani yesterday arrived at his house in Phuket Town to discover his body at the bottom of a 15-meter-deep well. Kusoldham Foundation workers told the Gazette that the man, Yodchawan Puttarakma, was to be taken to Suan Saranrom Hospital in Surat Thani yesterday…
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Phuket police seize 10,000 discs in pirate family raid
PHUKET: Police arrested six members of the same family and confiscated more than 10,000 CDs and DVDs in a pre-dawn raid north of Phuket Town yesterday. Phuket’s top-brass police led a sortie of 30 officers in the early-morning raid on three adjacent homes on Soi Han Farang in Koh Kaew. Inside the houses, police caught the family literally in the…
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Jet-ski smash turns Phuket honeymoon into tragedy
PHUKET: A Chinese couple on their honeymoon died this morning after the jet-ski they were riding on slammed into a catamaran. Police confirmed to the Gazette that the accident occurred about 11am nearly a kilometer offshore from the bridge at the south end of Patong Beach. Zhao Qiang and his fiancee Chu Fang, both 28, suffered serious trauma to their…
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Netherlands ambassador lauds honorary consuls
PHUKET: Netherlands Ambassador to Thailand Tjaco van den Hout last night praised the work of honorary consuls, saying it was a “thankless” job requiring the consuls to be available at all hours to attend to often “grisly” affairs. “I am so happy to have a consulate here to take care of an estimated 1,500 to 1,800 Dutch residents in this…
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Phuket gets nearly Bt 1bn for Asian Beach Games
PHUKET: Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silapa-archa on Monday had good news for sports development on the island. Phuket had applied for 700 million baht to develop and prepare the island to host the Asian Beach Games 2014. Instead, the central government has approved nearly a billion baht, he said. “Phuket will host the Asian Beach Games in 2014, and…
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Foreigner appointed as advisor to Phuket Governor’s office
PHUKET: Who is that foreigner standing next to the governor welcoming HRH Princess Sirindorn to Phuket? There he is again, with the party greeting President Jimmy Carter. He can be seen quietly slipping in and out of meetings with the governor, vice governors and the many ambassadors and senior government officials who visit Phuket every year. Now, for the first…
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Big bikes to roar into Phuket
PHUKET: More than 2,000 bikers from around Thailand and Southeast Asia are set to come roaring into Phuket next month for Southern Big Bike Party and Charity 2010. Organizer Kittiwong Jansattham met Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha at Provincial Hall last week to finalize arrangements for the event, activities for which will be centered at Saphan Hin Public Park December 17…
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