Month: March 2014
- World News
Phuket Gazette World News: Investigators focus on hijack, sabotage behind Flight MH370
PHUKET: An investigation into a missing Malaysian jetliner, now into its second week, is focusing more on the possibility of foul play as evidence suggests it was deliberately flown hundreds of miles off course, sources familiar with the Malaysian probe said. Two sources told Reuters that military radar data showed an unidentified aircraft that investigators suspect was Malaysia Airlines Flight…
Read More » - Thailand News
Phuket Gazette Thailand News: UN help sought to protect Uighur refugees; CMPO to propose lifting decree; Teacher slaying unsettles South
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UN help sought to protect Uighurs found in Songkhla The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The United Nations and rights organisations are set to take care of a group of 220 people smuggled to Songkhla on Wednesday, who have been found to be Uighurs who fled…
Read More » - Phuket News
Murder brings curfew for Myanmar workers in Patong
PHUKET: Patong police announced today that Myanmar workers living in Patong will be arrested if they are found outside of their camps after 10pm. The curfew is in response to the murder of a Thai man by a group of Myanmar nationals early Tuesday morning in Patong. “Construction operators typically keep the passports of their workers. If we stop workers…
Read More » - Phuket News
Chinese tourists safe after brakes fail on Phuket’s Patong Hill
PHUKET: The driver of a Phuket tour bus avoided a serious accident on Patong Hill this morning by running the bus off the road before driving down the steep slope on the east side of the hill.Bus driver Sutthichai Pohad was ferrying about 20 Chinese tourists from Patong to Phuket Town at about 8am when he realized the brakes were…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket Airport customs officers nail drug mule with B7mn of ya ice
PHUKET: Customs officers at Phuket International Airport on Tuesday arrested a drug mule attempting to smuggle 7 million baht of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) from China into Phuket. The 37-year-old woman, Pornphat Wattanachaisen, was on a watchlist for possible involvement in drug smuggling when she departed Bangkok to China, said Phuket Airport Customs Director Montira Cherdchoo. “We learned that Ms…
Read More » - Phuket News
PGM CCM Rhaman Putra Championship Reduced to 54 Holes
The PGM CCM Rahman Putra Golf Championship, which is the second event to be played on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) this season, will be decided over 54 holes, tournament officials announced on Friday. The third and final round of the RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) ADT event is scheduled to tee off at 7:45am (local time) and conclude on Saturday due…
Read More » - Phuket News
Vichit Bicycle Cup kicks off
PHUKET: This weekend will see the start of the Vichit Bicycle Cup 2014 tournament, which kicks off on Sunday, March 16. The competition aims to promote tourism in the area and encourage more people to use bicycles. On March 7, at the Suan Sriphunaat Park in Phuket, a press conference was held to announce the Cup and was hosted by…
Read More » - Business News
Phuket Business: Quality and convenient coffee
PHUKET: Getting great espresso or coffee for your home, office or hospitality business in Phuket can be a trying task at times. Dealing with messy coffee grounds, cleaning complicated espresso machines, getting a good froth with your milk and training yourself or your staff to make a consistently good coffee are just some of the troubles you have probably faced…
Read More » - Property
Phuket Property Legal: Your lease could be buried with you
PHUKET: Leasing has become a popular option for foreign property buyers to acquire interest in land or apartment units, due to legal restrictions applying to the purchasing of property in Thailand. Many of us may have heard that the maximum term under Thai law for residential leases, that a lessor and his lessee can agree to register with the land…
Read More » - Pattaya News
Special Report: Phuket’s stolen passports shine light on illegal migrant corridor to Europe
Special Report Passports stolen in Phuket that were used to board ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 have placed Phuket in the center of an international maelstrom. Thousands of passports are reported lost or stolen in Thailand each year, and the region is gaining a reputation as a gateway for international asylum seekers to reach Europe. The Phuket Gazette’s Saran Mitrarat…
Read More » - Koh Samui News
Phuket Property Watch: Samui staying strong
PHUKET: One of my favorite movies in recent memory has to be Up in the Air. Given a hectic travel schedule, it’s certainly a subject I can identify with. One of the classic scenes has to be George Clooney, jumping into line behind some people of Asian descent at the foreboding metal detector and commenting how they “travel light”. Profiling,…
Read More » - Property
Phuket Property: The luxury of privacy
SUPERYACHTS, private planes, exclusive jewelry and privacy are just a few of life’s luxuries that people crave and strive for. Wait – privacy? Sadly, yes. It’s supply seems to be shrinking by the day, with the help of our friends from NSA, Google, Facebook and others. It might seem that the ship has sailed and not much can be done…
Read More » - Phuket News
Shark killed off Phuket Beach raises online ire
PHUKET: Photos posted online of a foreigner killing a small shark at Kata Noi Beach prompted outrage, but the act was legal, a marine official said. The pictures, posted on the Go Eco Phuket Facebook page (click here) yesterday, showed a man in the act of killing the shark on a rock. The post read, “We just received these awful…
Read More » - Thailand News
Phuket Queer News: Man finds fully protected truck floating with no wheels
PHUKET: Despite extreme measures taken to ensure the safety of his vehicle, a man woke up to his pickup truck “hovering” above the ground – without wheels. “I woke up at about 9am and was shocked to find my truck floating in the air with no wheels,” said 54-year-old Bumroong Sri-on at his house in Hat Yai, about 220 miles…
Read More » - Phuket News
30 cops for 30 gamblers in Phuket Town raid
PHUKET: Phuket and Bangkok police arrested more than 30 people for gambling on football in Phuket Town last night. About 30 officers took part in the raid at a shop near the Nimit Circle (also called the Seahorse Circle), said Phuket City Police Superintendent Sermphan Sirikong. “We went in at about 9pm and found more than 30 people either filling…
Read More » - Phuket News
Letter from the Phuket Governor: Creating unity in a time of discord
Maitri Inthusut arrived on the island to take up the position of Governor of Phuket in October 2012. With a master’s degree in political science from Thammasat University, he joined the National Security Council, rising to the position of NSC Secretary-General, before taking up the position of Chief Secretary for Secretariat of the Cabinet. He has also served as Governor…
Read More » - Opinion
Phuket Opinion: Casting aside modern conveniences for an island dream
PHUKET: With the seemingly endless parade of new condo developments springing up like mushrooms all over the island, it’s clear that quite soon, the majority of Phuket’s residents will be living in high density housing. When I first moved here, I too found it convenient to move into a modest, reasonably priced apartment block. I considered it a stop-gap measure.…
Read More » - Opinion
Phuket Opinion: Preventing passport malpractice
PHUKET: The revelation that two passengers aboard the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 were travelling on passports stolen in Phuket (story here) once again highlights the need for a serious and sustained crackdown on the use of travel documents as collateral on motorbike, car, and jet-ski rentals. The need to end this ridiculous practice has already been the subject of…
Read More » - Phuket News
Raging Phuket black market passport trade
PHUKET: Police have admitted they are powerless to prevent motorcycle and car rental operators from holding foreign tourists’ passports as collateral against potential damage to rented vehicles. The news comes as the island’s top police officers try to stymie the fallout from international news reports branding Phuket a key source for stolen passports in the wake of the mysterious disappearance…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket Sports: A fun-filled football function
PHUKET: Yesterday morning, March 13, the Palm House International School Rawai hosted a football skills clinic for their students, as well as a group of fellow students from the nearby Wat Sawang Arom School. About thirty students took part in the activities, which were led by Phuket FC players Ricarte Dos Santos Tales, Namchai Yongyuth, Alef Poh-ji and Wuttichai Sooksen.…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket Police go for the balls to unite Patong
PHUKET: Patong Police Superintendent Chiraphat Pochanaphan, ousted by the tuk-tuk blockade of Patong last week, is back and considering using ball sports, namely a football match, to unite competing factions in the busy resort town. Col Chiraphat quietly returned to work on Monday, less than a week after his abrupt transfer to stave off violence during a blockade of the…
Read More » - World News
Phuket Gazette World News: New York gas explosion kills 7, demolishes building
PHUKET: Federal safety authorities launched an investigation on Thursday into a gas explosion that caused the collapse a day earlier of two New York City apartment buildings, killing seven people and injuring dozens of others. The still-smouldering rubble prevented investigators from getting close enough to examine the main pipe that supplies natural gas to the Upper East Side neighbourhood, said…
Read More » - World News
Phuket Gazette World News: Israel launches retaliatory air strikes on Gaza
PHUKET: A small armed faction in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel on Thursday, drawing retaliatory air strikes and pushing cross-border violence into a third day despite a truce called by the more powerful Palestinian group Islamic Jihad. The clashes have been the most intense since the Gaza war of November 2012. This time, however, casualties have been scant…
Read More » - Thailand News
Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Mass refugees found may be Uighurs; Budget deficit to double; Yingluck pleas for clemency
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Unidentifiable group of Muslims nabbed The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A group of 220 reportedly Muslim immigrants, whose nationality and origin was not known to Thai authorities as of press time yesterday, have been arrested at a rubber plantation in the southern province of Songkhla.…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket Police push Line app to combat passport thefts at motorbike rental shops
PHUKET: Patong Police yesterday recommended motorbike rental operators take photos of renters and their passports and upload them to Line, a smartphone application, in order to prevent passport theft. The initiative follows the discovery that two passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 had boarded with passports stolen in Phuket (story here), at least one of them from a shop…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket murder fugitive “Mick the Pom’ arrested in the Philippines
PHUKET: British murder fugitive Michael John Taylor, better known in Phuket as “Mick The Pom”, has been arrested in the Philippines. Taylor, who celebrated his 50th birthday on September 20 last year, was wanted for the stabbing murder of his girlfriend Jantra Weangta, 27, in Phuket. Ms Jantra who was found stabbed to death in Taylor’s rented bungalow near Chalong…
Read More » - Phuket News
Local Phuket student could be ‘The Star’
PHUKET: A local Phuket student is battling it out in the last rounds of The Star, a popular Thai singing competition broadcast on nationwide television every weekend. Phuket Governor Maitri called on fellow Phuket residents to cast their votes in support of Natthawadee “Nong Nut” Dokkrathin, a student from Satree Phuket School, who is one of eight final contestants on…
Read More » - Thai Life
Phuket Community: World-standard ISO safety practices to be applied at Nai Harn
PHUKET: The island’s grass-roots water safety initiative Safer Phuket recently announced its plan to certify Nai Harn Beach under an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard. “Phuket can be a lead location in establishing ISO beach standards, which would also make it the first place in the world to introduce these standards,” said Mr Duncan Stewart, managing director and co-founder…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket’s annual Battle of Thalang festival returns
PHUKET: The annual Battle of Thalang festival begins at Victory Memorial Field tonight, marking Phuket’s stand against Burmese invaders at the site 229 years ago. The Victory Memorial Field recently received a 26-million-baht makeover and welcomed the addition of 2.5-meter-tall statues cast in bronze honoring the Nine Heroes (story here). Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut this morning led a wreath-laying ceremony…
Read More » - Business News
Phuket Business: The juice of life
PHUKET: Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired? Yes? Then chances are you could be eating healthier, but like so many of us living hectic modern lives, you probably struggle to find the time to prepare healthy food. But now there is a solution – juice it up! Pura Organics, the island’s premier organic food supplier, have…
Read More » - Business News
Phuket Business: MICE expert to speak at AMCHAM event tomorrow
PHUKET: Tomorrow, March 14, the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) will host a tourism event at Angsana Laguna Phuket focusing on how to sustainably grow MICE business. One of the keynote speakers at the event will be Mrs Supawan Teerarat, vice president of strategic and business development at the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB). The TCEB is a government…
Read More » - Phuket News
Snake jumps queue for ID card at Phuket district office
PHUKET: A snake made its way into the ID card section of the Thalang District Office yesterday, causing people waiting in line and officers alike to run screaming from the building. “I saw the snake go into the ID card section, where a lot of people were queued,” said Chief Administrative Officer Sakorn Liponkate. “I shouted a warning and everyone…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket Red Cross launches March mobile donation mission
PHUKET: The Red Cross Society in Phuket has announced its upcoming mobile donation clinic schedule for the month of March in hopes of restoring essential blood stocks. “We currently only have 20 units of blood type A, 120 units of type B, 190 units of type O and 50 units of type AB,” said Chief Pornthip Rattajak of the Phuket…
Read More » - Phuket News
Missing Flight MH370 strayed to south of Phuket, Malaysia military says
PHUKET: Malaysia’s military has traced what could have been the jetliner missing for almost five days to an area south of Phuket, hundreds of miles to the west of its last known position, the country’s air force chief said yesterday. His statement followed a series of conflicting accounts of the flight path of the Boeing 777-200ER with 239 people on…
Read More » - Thailand News
Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Six dead in elephant crash; Bt2-tn loan bill rejected; Rate cut brings little joy
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Six people and an elephant killed in accidents The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A total of six people and an elephant were killed yesterday when a Pajero crashed into three wild elephants crossing Ban Beung-Klaeng Road at 4am yesterday in Rayong’s Wang Chan district. One…
Read More » - Phuket News
DNA test confirms body parts are of missing Phuket girl Nong Dear, 7
PHUKET: The human remains found in a Chalong pine forest last December are those of missing 7-year-old Nong Dear, police confirmed today. “The Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok unofficially confirmed on Monday that the DNA of the body parts found in Chalong matches those of Nong Dear’s parents,” Capt Thada Sodarak of the Chalong Police told the Phuket Gazette.…
Read More » - Phuket News
Russian on motorbike kills Phuket security guard
PHUKET: A resort employee in Karon who was helping tourists cross the street was struck and killed by a Russian motorcyclist on Friday morning. Sayun Sarawaree, 37, a security guard with Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa, was stopping traffic on Patak Road West so that tourists could get to the beach, said Sub Lt Niphon Temsang of the Karon…
Read More »
