- World News
Tripoli airport becomes Libya’s new frontline between rival militias
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Tripoli airport becomes Libya’s new frontline between rival militias Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: First, there is a single shot. Then Libyan fighters empty their anti-aircraft guns as others crouch for cover at Tripoli International Airport. Until Saturday night, the airport was a hub for Libyans…
- Phuket News
A Phuket success story: British siblings’ locate saviors nearly a decade after the tsunami
PHUKET: A Facebook hunt led by British siblings for a man and woman who helped them during the devastating 2004 tsunami is over; their guardians have been found. Upin Sengmuang, a small shop owner on Tri Trang Beach, learned today that she and her partner Pitchat were being sought by Emily and Ben Willgrass, who had posted a message on…
- Phuket News
Sirinath National Park land tug-of-war continues as chief files complaint against illegal landowners
PHUKET: The Sirinath National Park chief is set to file a complaint against three people who are attempting to upgrade allegedly illegally issued SorKor 1 documents into land title deeds. “Tomorrow morning I will file a complaint to Tah Chat Chai Police against Nakorn Wongsrithong, Chan Pongpa and Anoma Fangsen for encroaching on national park land,” said Sirinath National Park…
- Phuket News
Phuket lawyers push mediation as alternative to court
PHUKET: Lawyers and Phuket officials promoting mediation as an alternative to civil lawsuits held their annual informational event today to raise awareness of the option. “The purpose of our event, Mediation 2014, is to encourage people involved in civil lawsuits to settle their cases outside of court. It tends to be a much swifter process and is offered free of…
- Phuket News
First beach on Phuket’s east coast to be cleared tomorrow
PHUKET: The island’s great beach clearing will reach the east coast for the first time tomorrow when 50 municipal officers and navy personnel descend on the small seaside village of Ao Por. “We officially informed people last week that they had to clear everything off the beach and beachfront,” said Pa Khlok Mayor Panya Sampaorat. “Yesterday, we repeated the message…
- Phuket News
It’s raining snakes: enormous Phuket python seeks shelter
PHUKET: A four-meter-long python gave an unsuspecting Phuket Town resident a fright this morning. “I was cleaning and had just started on the back room of my house when I saw a big snake lying on the floor,” said 67-year-old homeowner Boonsaner Kullavanit. The startled Ms Boonsaner immediately called Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers, who arrived at the house on Surin…
- Thai Life
Environment: Coastal erosion protection system could save Phuket’s shore
PHUKET: Whether people remain in denial or have accepted the inevitability of the effects of global warming, there is no denying that glaciers and ice caps are melting and sea levels are rising. It’s no longer a question of whether or not these factors are happening at the hand of man or by natural processes, but rather a question of…
- Phuket News
Video goes viral of Phuket beach club emptying trash bags in sand
PHUKET: A video posted on YouTube showing Surin beach club staff burying the contents of black garbage bags in the sand is not a matter of concern, says Cherng Talay Mayor Ma-ann Samran. “I saw the video a long time ago and had my staff check it out,” Mayor Ma-ann told the Phuket Gazette today. In the video, taken a…
- Phuket News
Navy tears down Phuket beach restaurants at Nai Yang
PHUKET: About 100 Navy personnel and national park officers are this morning continuing their “mop up” operation after tearing down 11 restaurants and bars at Phuket’s Nai Yang Beach yesterday. “We notified these vendors that they were encroaching on national park land and ordered them many times to remove their buildings, but they ignored us,” Sirinath National Park Chief Kitiphat…
- Phuket News
Brazil 2014 strong contender as best-ever World Cup
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World sport selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community RIO DE JANEIRO – The 2014 World Cup provided an unmatched level of football, outstanding individual moments, shocks, some controversy and it all took place in stadiums packed with knowledgeable and passionate fans. Taken as a whole, the 64 games in Brazil, were unparalleled as a…
- Thailand News
Train rape suspect to appear in court tomorrow
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Train rape suspect to appear in court tomorrow The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Prachuap Khiri Khan police confirmed yesterday that the rape and murder case of a 13-year-old girl on a Nakhon Si Thammarat-Bangkok train would be handed over to the public prosecutor tomorrow. Provincial…
- Chiang Mai News
Tourist’s body found in Chiang Mai lake
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Tourist’s body found in Chiang Mai lake The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The body of a South Korean tourist was found in a large man-made lake in Chiang Mai’s Hang Dong district yesterday. Police believe Song Tae Khy, 22, drowned while swimming with his friends…
- Phuket News
Crackdown on tourist visas sees dozens turned away per month at Phuket’s main portal to Malaysia
PHUKET: Tourists unable to prove the legitimacy of their trip to Thailand are being turned away despite having tourist visas issued by Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed Lt Col Banphot Kittivira, deputy superintendent of the Immigration checkpoint at Sadao. The Sadao checkpoint, the portal for Phuket visa runners bound for Malaysia, sees about 100 foreigners denied entry into the…
- Phuket News
Death of Korean tourist mired in murky Phuket dive company waters
PHUKET: Police have confirmed that they are investigating the death of a Korean tourist who was pulled unconscious from the water while diving near Coral Island, off Phuket’s southeast coast, on Saturday. Kim Sang Min, 47, had been in the water for just a few minutes when the guide saw him floating on the surface shortly before 10am. “The tour…
- Phuket News
No flash flood warning for Phuket – yet
PHUKET: Despite heavy rains throughout Phuket today, the local office of the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) has confirmed that no warning has been issued for flash floods or landslides on the island. “We haven’t been told to issue local warnings,” Santhad Panbanpeaw, director of the Phuket TMD office, told the Phuket Gazette. “The current wet weather is the same as…
- Business News
Accor steps into high-end ring with Grand Mercure Patong Phuket
THE ACCOR Group’s latest high-end hotel in the province is aiming to quickly ween itself off the source of its current success, TripAdvisor, and use agent-sourced revenue streams to hit its 2014 goal of gross revenue exceeding 160 million baht. “Phuket is an agent-based destination. It’s the bread and butter of the business. It would be too risky to rely…
- Phuket News
Thai dessert seller found drowned under sidecar in canal
PHUKET: A woman who sold Thai desserts was found drowned, trapped under her sidecar in the Klong Koh Pee canal on the outskirts of Phuket Town, yesterday. Police called to the scene in Soi Sakdidet 9 in Wichit at 9am saw the wheels of a sidecar above the water, said Lt Jarus Laempan of the Wichit Police. After 20 minutes,…
- Phuket News
Phuket land titles eating away at national park to be revoked, says Navy Commander
PHUKET: The ownership of 89 plots of land in Sirinath National Park is in the process of being revoked, confirmed the head of the Royal Thai Navy yesterday. The plots encompass a land area of 1,200 rai, said Capt Petcharat Teanjan, speaking on behalf of Royal Thai Navy Commander Narong Pipathanasai. The land is all held under SorKor 1 “claim…
- Business News
Phuket Pearl Group to promote and sell its products in overseas markets
PHUKET: Phuket Pearl Group, a large Thai cultured-pearl producer, plans to promote its “Amorn Pearl” trademark internationally. President Amorn Intorncharoen said last week that the company realizes that to become the leading pearl trader and integrated farm operator in the region – in the face of the seamless trade promised by the fast approaching AEC integration – trademarks and brand…
- Phuket News
Java on fire to win Phuket Multihull Solutions Regatta
PHUKET: Mick Coleman and his crew on Java blazed around the course off the east coast of Phuket over the weekend to win the Racing Multihull Class in the Phuket Multihull Solutions Regatta. Java mastered wind blasts of up to 30 knots to score four firsts and two second-place finishes, amassing a total of just six points to lift the…
- Thailand News
EC defends its proposals to overhaul political system
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community EC defends its proposals to overhaul political system The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Election Commission (EC) yesterday denied that its reform plan put to the National Council for Peace and Order last week came at the expense of politicians, saying its intentions were above-board…
- Thailand News
Anti-graft agency probing rice deals, links to ministers
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Anti-graft agency probing rice deals, links to ministers The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The National Anti-Corruption Commission sub-panel is deeply probing alleged irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme’s financial transactions to identify possible nominees linked to five former ministers under investigation, NACC deputy secretary-general Warawit Sukboon…
- Thai Life
The great gibbon fly-out
PHUKET: A network of light aircraft owners known as the Flying Scouts are pitching in to save the environment through a number of innovative projects, one of which was a recent “gibbon airlift” from Phuket to the animals’ new home in Chiang Mai. Most island residents are familiar with the good work done by the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (GRP) in…
- World News
Thousands flee Gaza after Israeli warning
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thousands of Gaza civilians flee after Israeli warning Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Thousands fled their homes in a Gaza town on Sunday after Israel warned them to leave ahead of threatened attacks on rocket-launching sites, on the sixth day of an offensive that Palestinian officials…
- Property
Property Watch: Life in the days of future past
PHUKET: In my lifetime, small men in white suits have walked on the moon. Well, at least they seemed tiny on the television screen. Now, strangers’ voices come out of an iPhone acting as a personal concierge. I still can’t figure out how they fit a tiny person into the iconic Apple device. Yes, technology is a fast-moving landscape that…
- Phuket News
Germany’s strength in depth delivers ultimate prize
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Germany’s strength in depth delivers ultimate prize Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Germany’s impressive strength in depth proved the decisive factor in their 1-0 extra-time World Cup final victory over Argentina on Sunday as Lionel Messi failed to deliver the golden touch for the South Americans.…
- Phuket News
DNP chief locked and loaded: targets high-ranking officials over Phuket land snatching
PHUKET: More than 1,000 rai of Phuket land illegally owned by former ministers, deputies and provincial governors will be returned to the public, said Samak Donnapee, director of the Bureau of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP). “The 92 plots being taken back are in Sakoo and Cherng Talay,” confirmed Sirinath National Park Chief Kitiphat Tharapiban to the Phuket…
- Phuket News
Phuket police hunt human smugglers after rescuing debt-trapped Burmese fishermen
PHUKET: Fast action by the Phuket Marine Police freed two Myanmar nationals who were trapped in indentured labor on a fishing vessel as Thailand continues its campaign to rebut its downgrade to the lowest tier on the US State Department’s “Trafficking in Persons” report. “We take this issue very seriously,” Lt Col Panya Chaichana of Phuket Marine Police told the…
- Opinion
Phuket Opinion: It’s up to all of us to save the foolish from Phuket’s rips
PHUKET: A friend and I who were surfing in Kata last year came across two young Phuket natives who had gotten into trouble when they were pulled into deep water. We put them on our boards and swam them in to shore, only to watch one of them fade away in front of our eyes. The sight of the 20-year-old’s…
- Opinion
Phuket Opinion: Taxing alcohol – a taxing issue
Sean Gabb is Director of the Libertarian Alliance in London and has written on subjects as diverse as gay marriage, handicapped parking and second-hand smoke. From 1991 to 1992, he served as Economic and Political Adviser to the Prime Minister of Slovakia. He is the author of 20 books, including novels and poetry. His new novel, The Break, has been…
