Month: April 2015
- Phuket News
Opinion: Stop paying the power bill, Phuket
PHUKET: It’s hard to argue with the objective of the Ministry of Energy’s campaign to reduce electric power consumption on the island by 10 per cent within six months, but the Gazette hopes that more energy will be saved in the effort than calories expended. As mentioned in an announcement by Ministry of Energy Inspector Pramoul Chanpong, primary targets include…
Read More » - Pattaya News
Heavy rain, flash flood warning issued for Phuket
PHUKET: A weather warning for heavy rains, strong winds and possible flash floods was issued by the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) this morning. A prevailing strong easterly wind is expected to bring heavy rains to southern Thailand and the Andaman coast. The warning is in effect for Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun. Wind-driven waves are expected to…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket immigration 90-day check-in now online
PHUKET: An online option for 90-day immigration check-ins is now available in all provinces throughout Thailand. “We tested the system for two months [story here] before officially launching it on April 1,” Phuket Immigration Office Chief Sunchai Chokkajaykij told the Phuket Gazette. “However, it is only compatible with the Internet Explorer browser.” The same rules apply for checking in after…
Read More » - Phuket News
Indian tourists injured as Phuket tour bus slams into taxi
PHUKET: Three Indian tourists were injured when a tour bus slammed into a taxi and a pick-up truck south of the Heroines’ Monument on Thepkrasattri Road yesterday. The taxi, carrying an Indian family of three, and the tour bus, which had just dropped off a group of Chinese tourists at Phuket International Airport, were travelling southbound on Thepkrasattri Road when…
Read More » - Pattaya News
Video Report: Phuket Oilfield Classic golfers drive the fair way
PHUKET: The 7th annual Phuket Oilfield Classic 2015, played at two Phuket golf courses earlier this month, brought more than 120 golfers to the island, together raising more than 2 million baht for charity. Team Hellespont, comprising Andy Lidgard, Candice Lidgard, Rod Nicolson and James Bissett, took top honors in the traditional Texas Scramble at Red Mountain Golf Course on…
Read More » - Property
Phuket Pads: Winter birds looking to cash in on Phuket property market
PHUKET: More and more resorts and hotels in Phuket are offering excellent guaranteed rental returns for properties that buyers are looking to use themselves for only a short period each year. The rest of the year, the property is expected to generate rental income for its owners. This week’s property offers exactly that. Priced at 52 million baht, this one…
Read More » - Thai Life
Fresh food, antique decor at Phuket’s Chicroom Cafe
PHUKET: As you are driving down Phuket Road toward the Surin Circle clock tower in town, you may have noticed on the right-hand side a beautiful, modern looking building called the Chicroom Cafe. This cafe doubles as a gallery of all things eccentric and antique. The decor resembles a fancy secondhand store with all the treasures that you always wanted…
Read More » - Thailand News
Police launch probe after digging up infant corpse
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police launch probe after digging up infant corpse The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Police have launched an investigation after discovering an infant’s corpse, covered in gold leaf and inside a glass coffin, under a Brahma shrine in Chiang Mai province. Police dug up the coffin…
Read More » - Pattaya News
Junta agents force cancellation of event to honor late taxi driver
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Junta agents force cancellation of event to honor late taxi driver The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A symposium and the ceremonial opening of a conference room in honor of a taxi driver who killed himself in protest against the 2006 coup was banned by the…
Read More » - Thailand News
Bonanza execs face charges over park encroachment
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bonanza execs face charges over park encroachment The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Ongoing investigations into alleged encroachment by three big businesses in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pak Chong district, namely Bonanza, Kirimaya and Moon Dance, have progressed significantly. Police have now decided to press charges against three…
Read More » - Phuket News
Officials clear restaurant from Phuket beach
PHUKET: Police have been tasked with pursuing beach encroachment charges after a team of officials cleared a restaurant’s tables and chairs from the sand at Bang Tao Beach on Tuesday morning. About 20 officers led by Thalang District Chief Veera Kerdsirimongkol arrived and removed 34 pieces of beach furniture following complaints of beach encroachment being filed with the Thalang District…
Read More » - Phuket News
Chinese tourists safe as car slams into Patong drain
PHUKET: A Chinese couple escaped serious injury yesterday when their rented car plunged into a large open drain under construction in Patong. The tourists, Po Fai Choy and his female companion Kai Yin Fox, slammed into the open drain near Phuket Simon Cabaret at about 830am. Mr Po and Ms Kai were recovered from the vehicle and taken to Patong…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket Gran Fondo draws world cyclists
PHUKET: More than 220 cyclists from around the globe joined the Thanyapura Gran Fondo road race last weekend. Cyclists completing the 120km course started in Phuket and completed a lap through Phang Nga before heading back to the finish line at Thanyapura. Riders were individually chip timed and had the right of way at all intersections. The event also included…
Read More » - Property
Phuket’s secondary property sector drifts into autopilot mode
PHUKET: A familiar term for anyone with children is, ‘Where do we go from here?’ Those inquisitive, blank, questioning looks that penetrate deep into the heart of the seemingly innocent question about what’s next? Lately, the topic seems to have shifted to adults in the island’s real-estate trade. It’s been nearly a decade since the dining tables shifted from a…
Read More » - World News
Paris church attack foiled as heavily armed man shoots self
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Paris church attack foiled as heavily armed man shoots self Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: An Algerian man suspected of planning an imminent attack on a church has been arrested in Paris, with police discovering Kalashnikovs, hand guns and ammunition in his possession, top officials said…
Read More » - Bangkok News
Foreign crewmen rescued in Bangkok
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Foreign crewmen rescued in Bangkok The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Twelve Chinese and Myanmar crewmen aboard a cargo ship stranded on the Chao Phraya River were rescued yesterday. Rachen Rangmarerng, head of the Port Authority of Thailand’s labor union, said the crewmen, seven of who…
Read More » - Thailand News
Net spreads wider over UFUN
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Net spreads wider over UFUN The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Investigation into allegedly fraudulent schemes linked to UFUN Co Ltd’s purported branch UFUN Thailand will expand to cover another three or four related firms, as well as focus on 30 key suspects, the Department of…
Read More » - Thailand News
Governor revokes land deeds for Bonanza speedway
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Governor revokes land deeds for Bonanza speedway The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Thongchai Lue-adule has already approved the revocation of land right documents held by Bonanza International Speedway, which is now mired in an encroachment scandal. Solid evidence suggests the firm illegitimately…
Read More » - Koh Samui News
Seven suspects eyed for Samui car bomb attack
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Seven suspects eyed for Samui car bomb attack The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Arrest warrants will be issued for up to seven Koh Samui car bomb suspects once sufficient evidence has been collected, national police chief Gen Somyot Poompanmuang said yesterday. Meanwhile, high-ranking Internal Security…
Read More » - World News
Italian prosecutors blame captain for collision in migrant shipwreck
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Italian prosecutors blame captain for collision in migrant shipwreck Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Italian prosecutors blamed the captain of a grossly overloaded fishing boat for a collision which capsized and sank his vessel off Libya, drowning hundreds of migrants including many women and children locked…
Read More » - Thailand News
Suthep provides clips of ‘men in black’ in 2010
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Suthep provides clips of ‘men in black’ in 2010 The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban yesterday gave the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) video clips and pictures of the “men in black” while testifying in the case in which he is…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket career car robber flunks again
PHUKET: Police have arrested a man who has confessed to breaking into and stealing items from five cars in Phuket Town on Friday and Saturday night. Pongphol Boondetpiti, 25, was arrested at a house in Rassada yesterday. “Officers searched his house and found several items reported stolen from the robbed cars,” Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Somsak Thongklieng said this…
Read More » - Phuket News
Top official in heat-stroke coma after hot spring plunge
PHUKET: A senior official at the Attorney-General’s Office in Bangkok is on 24-hour watch in the intensive-care unit (ICU) at Vachira Phuket Hospital, in Phuket Town, after jumping into a hot spring in Krabi last week. Somkiat Phatkhun, the deputy director of the Training and Development Institute at the Office of the Attorney General in Bangkok, is fighting for his…
Read More » - Thailand News
EU issues yellow card on Thailand over illegal fishing
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community EU issues yellow card on Thailand over illegal fishing The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The European Commission on Tuesday put Thailand on formal notice for not taking sufficient measures in the international fight against illegal fishing (IUU). Thailand has six months to implement a corrective…
Read More » - Phuket News
Lucky sidecar escape in Phuket underpass prompts fines, safety warning
PHUKET: A garbage collector driving a motorbike with a sidecar escaped serious injury in the first road accident in Phuket’s new underpass, prompting fines, improved safety measures and a warning from island officials. At about 2pm yesterday, the motorbike driver entered the new Darasamut Underpass heading southbound toward Chalong, Phuket Highways Office Director Samak Lueduanghad explained to the Phuket Gazette…
Read More » - Phuket News
Fears raised over new wells fouling Phuket groundwater
PHUKET: The Governor’s Office is taking quick action to prevent a slew of new wells excavated in the Kata-Karon area from threatening the local groundwater supply. Phuket Vice Governor Suthee Thongyam led a meeting yesterday at Provincial Hall, where he heard complaints from residents throughout the entire Kata-Karon area. “Local residents use water from shallow wells for their daily necessities,…
Read More » - Phuket News
Video Report: Indonesian caught smuggling 5.2kg of cocaine into Phuket
PHUKET: An Indonesian man was arrested at Phuket International Airport yesterday in possession of 5.2 kilograms of cocaine, which he was transporting from Columbia to Khao Lak. Jemani Ikhsan, 63, had departed Bogota, Columbia, on April 18 and connected in Panama City, Panama; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Qatar; and Singapore before landing in Phuket at about 7:20pm yesterday. The cocaine, valued…
Read More » - Thai Life
Books: At Last – Melrose finds his place
PHUKET: Edward St Aubyn’s At Last (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 2012, 266pp) is the highly satisfying finale to his Patrick Melrose series of five novels. This is a towering achievement in fiction, psychologically intense, philosophically deep, screamingly funny. Introduced at the age of five in the first novel, Patrick Melrose grows up to be a highly educated heroin-and-cocaine…
Read More » - Phuket News
Phuket health officials to crack open alcohol promotion laws, case by case
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) has confirmed that it will not take action against restaurant and bar owners for showing images promoting alcohol – unless a specific complaint is made against the venue. The news follows a report of a restaurant owner in Bangkok being sentenced to pay 460,000 baht for breaking the Alcohol Control Act of 2014.…
Read More » - Thailand News
New panel to set salary scale for state officials
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community New panel to set salary scale for state officials The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Cabinet yesterday resolved to set up a committee that will be in charge of creating an appropriate salary structure for all state officials, Deputy Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.…
Read More » - Thailand News
New law seeks better control over beggars, and buskers
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community New law seeks better control over beggars, and buskers The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Cabinet Monday gave the green light to a draft bill on street beggars, which empowers the Social Development and Human Security Ministry to send migrant beggars back to their home…
Read More » - Thailand News
DSI provides info for probe into UFUN
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community DSI provides info for probe into UFUN The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) passed information about the case against UFUN Thailand’s alleged pyramid scheme to police yesterday for further investigation, as three more people – one a military officer –…
Read More » - Koh Samui News
Man denies role in Samui car bomb
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Man denies role in Samui car bomb The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Phattalung man who resembled a suspect in a police sketch wanted over the Central Festival bomb attack on Koh Samui two weeks ago met yesterday with police. Nukul Yongnoo, the manager of…
Read More » - Thailand News
Anti-fracking protesters rally at US Embassy
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Anti-fracking protesters rally at US Embassy The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: About 20 members of the ‘Stop Fracking Thailand Network’ rallied outside the US Embassy in Bangkok yesterday to protest against chemical fracking in this country. Two network representatives, Rangsit University professor Dr Smith Tungkasmit…
Read More » - World News
Two arrested after migrant boat capsize horror
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Two arrested after migrant boat capsize horror Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The European Union proposed doubling the size of its Mediterranean search and rescue operations on Monday, as the first bodies were brought ashore of as many as 900 people feared killed in the deadliest…
Read More » - Phuket News
Pakistani tourist found dead in resort swimming pool
PHUKET: A Pakistani woman found in emotional distress by hotel staff early this morning was later pulled unconscious from a resort pool and pronounced dead at Thalang Hospital. Staff at the JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa in Mai Khao recovered Shumyla Mir, 26, from a pool at the resort at about 4:15am. “Her body was later taken to Thalang…
Read More » - Phuket News
Minister battles devastating illegal fishing practices
PHUKET: New fishing regulations are to hit Phuket as Thailand looks to close legal loop holes and enforcement issues being abused by illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishers. Experts estimate that the global value of economic losses from IUU fishing range between $US10 billion and $US23.5bn annually, reported US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2011. “IUU fishing poses…
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