Year: 2010
- Phuket News
Thai police seize internet chat logs
PHUKET: More than 20 police from the Economic and Cyber-Crimes Division (ECOTEC) have raided the offices of Thai state-owned telecommunications company CAT Telecom and confiscated chat-room conversation records and a server. Police Lieutenant General Tha-ngai Prasajaksatru, commander of ECOTEC, said the raid at CAT Tower yesterday focused on the Internet data center and was in response to a radical pro-Thaksin…
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More aid for young leukemia patient in Phuket
PHUKET: Several more organizations have donated additional funds to help the 16-year-old leukemia patient in Phuket who wrote a letter to HM The King asking for help. Jenarong Tapklaeng’s mother Wasuthida collected checks totaling 36,000 baht at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday. The money included 30,000 baht from Lions Club of Phuket Andaman Sea, 2,000 baht from Phuket Social Welfare Office,…
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NEWS Hound: Thai MPs opt for bullet proof vehicles
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily, pocket-sized packet of news from around the world, compiled by Phuket Gazette reporters for foreigners who want it short, sharp and straight to the point. PHUKET: Members of Thailand’s Council of Ministers have begun swapping their official sedans for bullet-proof vehicles following a warning by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. According to ThaiVisa.com, this was…
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Kapek almost kaput in Phuket
PHUKET: A rare type of wild rice introduced to Phuket more than 60 years ago is in danger of disappearing from the island, officials say. Four years ago there were seven farms growing Manchurian wild rice – known locally as kapek – for commercial purposes. Now there are only two left, said Pradub Chusakulvong of Kathu Agricultural Office. “The main…
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NEWS HOUND: Renewed efforts to extradite Thaksin
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily, pocket-sized packet of news from around the world, compiled by Phuket Gazette reporters for foreigners who want it short, sharp and straight to the point. PHUKET: Thailand’s Foreign Ministry announced this afternoon that last week’s supreme court decisions, in which a cascade of guilty verdicts rained down on Thaksin Shinawatra, give renewed urgency to…
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NEWS Hound: Songkran celebrations Phuket style
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily, pocket-sized packet of news from around the world, compiled by Phuket Gazette reporters for foreigners who want it short, sharp and straight to the point. PHUKET: The annual Songkran festival, to be celebrated nationally April 13-15, will again see turtles to the fore at Phuket’s beaches. Releases of hundreds of hatchlings of the endangered…
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Phuket to benefit from continuation of stimulus package
PHUKET: Less than one month after Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed Thaivisa.com that the free tourist visa scheme would end on March 5, 2010, the Thai Government has announced that the tourism stimulus package will continue for another year, along with US$10,000 worth of free riot insurance for tourists. The extension of the stimulus package was approved by the…
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Phuket tuk-tuk driver returns Russian tourist’s wallet
PATONG, PHUKET: A tuk-tuk driver last week returned a lost wallet to a Russian couple on holiday in Patong. At about 2pm on February 26, sharp-eyed Seree Yodthueng noticed the wallet in the back of an unmanned tuk-tuk belonging to a fellow member of the Patong Taxi Federation. The tuk-tuk was parked along Phang Muang Road, behind Jungceylon. The wallet…
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FC Phuket Sea Kirin pick up first-ever home win
PHUKET TOWN: FC Phuket recorded their first ever home win on Sunday, scoring two dramatic late goals to down Nakhon Sri Thammarat 3-1. Nakhon Sri Thammarat went into the Sunday afternoon match hoping for a repeat of last year’s success, when they beat Phuket FC 4-3. It was not to be. Strengthened by the return of Ivory Coast midfielder Ali…
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Venerable viewing in Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: An exhibition of sacred Buddhist relics from the worldwide Maitreya Project Heart Shrine Relic Tour will be open for public viewing on Saturday and Sunday in Kamala. Relics believed to be from the Kasyapa Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, and Buddhist masters will be on display for the first time in Thailand at the Karuna Meditation and Yoga Center. This…
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NEWS Hound: Another Phuket Island in the Philippines?
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily, pocket-sized packet of news from around the world, compiled by Phuket Gazette reporters for foreigners who want it short, sharp and straight to the point. Business Mirror Banyan Tree’s $300-million development project to turn the 60-hectare Diwaran Island, Philippines, into the next tourist paradise in Southeast Asia should start very soon with the release…
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New Phuket Bus Station to open mid-2010, at the earliest
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Land Transport Office appears resigned to run the new Phuket Provincial Bus Terminal by itself after two local governing bodies have lost interest in operating the facility. Work on the new station was completed in early December, but efforts by the Transport Office to find a local government body to administer operations there appear to have…
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Meet Phuket’s most dogged new reporter
PHUKET: Readers of the Phuket Gazette who have been in Thailand for awhile will recall the days of ‘Outside/In’, our regular weekly column summarizing news about Thailand from around the world. We’ve brought it back today, under the watchful eye of Master News Hound, a soi dog with an allergy to ‘long’. While the daily harvests of media scouting in…
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NEWS Hound: Phuket quiet in wake of court ruling
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily, pocket-sized packet of news from around the world, compiled by Phuket Gazette reporters for foreigners who want it short, sharp and straight to the point. Business WeekDespite the bomb attacks on Bangkok Bank on Saturday night, in which four branches were targeted with grenades, the outlook may not be all bad for the Thai…
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More CCTV coverage for Phuket
RAWAI, PHUKET: Rawai Municipality has installed 34 CCTV cameras throughout Rawai in order to ensure tourists’ safety. Officers at Rawai Municipality Office are monitoring the cameras by day, while Chalong Police are watching them at night. The municipality has spent 20 million baht on the project. Phuket Deputy Governor Chaiwat Tepee chaired the opening ceremony, which took place on February…
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Phuket Gazette Readers’ Poll: Do you drink and drive?
PHUKET TOWN: Road safety is always a hot topic in Phuket, especially drunk driving. The latest Phuket Gazette Poll, posted today, asks readers if they have ever operated a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol in Phuket and, if so, how often. Let us know by clicking here or on the icon at the top right corner of…
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Readers’ Poll: Phuket economy after Court ruling
PHUKET: The court on Friday found Mr Thaksin guilty of abuse of power, ordering the seizure of 46 billion baht of the fugitive former prime minister’s 76 billion baht in frozen assets. There were 523 respondents to the poll, which asked readers what they thought the Supreme Court’s ruling would be, and what effect it would have on Phuket tourism.…
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MOTORBIKES: Let’s get honest with tourists
PHUKET: Apart from the obvious need to fit all taxis and tuk-tuks on the island with meters, another pressing topic emerged during this month’s meeting between Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop and Phuket’s 16 honorary consuls: the need to give foreign tourists a better chance of returning home alive should they insist on renting a motorbike. Casualty figures alone justify the…
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Phuket jet-skis still uninsured
PHUKET: A number of jet-skis continue to operate in Phuket uninsured, despite a scheme launched last year aimed at having every jet-ski in Phuket covered by accident insurance. Of the island’s 219 registered jet-skis, 43 still have not joined the scheme. In addition, around 40 unregistered jet-skis continue to operate illegally on Patong Beach. Marine Transport Department Officer Songchai Na…
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Deliberate truck crash in Phuket
PHUKET: A tractor-trailer carrying 27 tons of building materials ended up in a roadside drainage ditch Wednesday afternoon after the driver decided to crash rather than risk hitting other vehicles. The 22-wheel rig was on its way from Bangkok to Patong with a shipment of ceramic tiles to be used on a building project at the Baan Laimai Beach Resort.…
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Phuket Police prepared for Thaksin assets ruling
PHUKET: Phuket’s most senior cop says he has no intelligence suggesting there will be political protests in Phuket today, when the Supreme Court delivers its verdict on the fate of Thaksin Shinawatra’s Bt76bn in seized assets. Despite this, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong said there could be ‘other kinds of mobs’ to deal with, so police need to be…
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Phuket ready for Blues Rock Fest
KARON, PHUKET: Artists taking part in the two-day Phuket International Blues Rock Festival that kicks off at 5pm tomorrow gathered today inside the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort ballroom for a brief pre-event press conference. Festival Director Andy Andersen started by thanking new sponsor Thai Airways, then welcomed the artists and told the media about some exciting new developments for this…
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Accident victims now monitoring Phuket roads
PHUKET TOWN: In a long awaited project to provide accident victims with gainful employment, four disabled people are now monitoring screens in the CCTV control room at Phuket City Police Station. Following a week of training on how to operate the cameras, the four new employees started work on February 11. They are spending eight hours a day watching live…
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Weather advisory for Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: Following heavy rains over much of Phuket this morning and afternoon, the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) office at Phuket International Airport has issued its first weather advisory of 2010. Issued at 1pm, the advisory warns people in risk areas to beware of thunderstorms and strong gusts of wind. Meteorologist Sopon Sangkaew told the Gazette there was no…
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Supercheap employee strangled
PHUKET: Police are hunting for the boyfriend of a Supercheap employee found strangled to death in her room yesterday. Miss Thipkasen ‘Khwan’ Heep-phech, 24, was found in her room in Koh Kaew by a colleague after she was absent from work for two days. She had a mobile telephone charger cord wrapped around her neck and a pillow over her…
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Indian navy training in Phuket ends today
PHUKET: Some 900 Indian Navy midshipmen are shipping out from Phuket this afternoon after taking part in training exercises aboard three visiting Indian warships: the INS TIR, the INS Krishna and the ICGS Varuna. An Indian delegation, including Southern Naval Area Commander-in-Chief V/Adm Krishnan Nair Sushil and Indian Ambassador Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, met their Thai counterparts at the Royal Thai…
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Readers’ Poll: Thaksin assets verdict won’t impact economy
PHUKET TOWN: The majority of Phuket Gazette readers do not think Friday’s Supreme Court ruling on Bt76 billion in assets linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin will have an impact on Phuket’s tourism economy, according to the latest readers’ poll. As of this morning, over 475 readers cast votes in the poll. Overall, 66% of readers thought the ruling would…
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Wildfires flare in Phuket
RASSADA, PHUKET: Phuket firefighters have been battling wildfires along the bypass road in recent days. The first broke out in a field opposite Tesco-Lotus in Rassada at about noon on Sunday. Rassada Municipality dispatched four firetrucks and 20 firefighters to try to douse the flames, which were fueled by thick, dried out vegetation. “As we arrived there to put it…
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Phuket leukemia patient gets royal treatment
PHUKET: After writing a letter to HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej asking for help, a sixteen-year-old leukemia patient has been granted 800,000 baht to pay for medical treatment. Jenarong Tapklaeng was first diagnosed with leukemia about one year ago. Due to his illness, he has been unable to attend classes at Dowroong Wittaya School for over a year. In a letter…
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Tiger pelts gone to the dogs
NAKHON RATCHASIMA: More than 200 tiger skins seized near Khao Yai National Park recently weren’t quite what they first seemed: examination revealed that the majority actually came from dogs and cows and had been painted with stripes. The 204 animal pelts were seized from a temple in Pak Chong District by officers from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and…
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Phuket drug detectors under fire
PHUKET: The Science and Technology Ministry is set to test the effectiveness of the Alpha 6 ‘molecular resonance’ substance detector in use by anti-drug agencies in Phuket. The move comes after tests on the similar GT200 bomb-detection device revealed it was ineffective. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said double-blind tests carried out by the Science and Technology Ministry showed the GT200…
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Briton, Thai killed in head-on bike crash in Phuket
CHALONG, PHUKET: A young British man and a Thai man were killed in a motorcycle crash in Phuket early this morning. A Danish man was seriously injured. Police found the bodies of Adam William Menagh, 22, and Chainarong Wathana, 24, lying on Chao Fa East Road opposite Soi Thanoothep in Chalong at 5:30am. Mr Menagh was in Phuket for Muay…
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Phuket Readers’ Poll: Thaksin assets verdict
PHUKET TOWN: With the Supreme Court ruling on the fate of 76 billion baht in seized assets allegedly linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra due on Friday, what do you think the judgment will be? What impact will it have on the Phuket tourism industry? Have your say by voting in the latest Phuket Gazette readers’ poll by clicking…
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Belgian fraud suspect nabbed at Phuket Bus Station
PHUKET TOWN: A Belgian fugitive wanted by police for nine months in connection with two fraud cases was arrested on February 15 at Phuket City Bus Station aboard a bus bound for Bangkok. Yvon Van Eyersen, 57, was sought for his involvement in the misappropriation of 6 million baht in customer investments from his Phuket Patong Assest Company last year.…
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Phuket launches ambitious debt reduction program
PHUKET: More than 4,000 Phuket residents owe a total of 432 million baht to loan sharks, it emerged last week. The figures were revealed at a recent meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall attended by government officials, police officers and bank representatives, all members of a new provincial committee set up to deal with the problem of usury and indebtedness. The…
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Phuket Gazette Readers’ Poll: 2am best closing time for Patong
PHUKET TOWN: Opinion on the best closing time for bars and other nightlife entertainment establishments in Patong varies widely, but overall 2am was the most popular closing time according the results of the latest Phuket Gazette Readers’ Poll. In the poll, readers were asked: What do you think is the best closing time for nightlife venues in Patong? Possible answers…
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OPINION: Phuket needs to bite the bag charge soon
PHUKET: The delay of an initiative by 24 island retailers to begin charging for plastic bags comes as a disappointment, especially given all the publicity and fanfare that went into organizing the three-day ‘Phuket Green Island’ event intended to kick off the project last weekend. According to Phuket Energy Office Chief Jirasuk Tummawetch, the initiative has been put on hold…
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