Legacy Phuket Gazette
- Phuket News
Uninvited little cobra evicted from Chalong residence
PHUKET: When a resident of Ban Maneekram, Chalong, realized he had unwittingly hosted a visiting 40-cm cobra for the weekend, he knew what to do. “When I noticed the juvenile cobra, I immediately remembered your article headlined, ‘Snakes in the house: who you gonna call?’ (story here) and remembered you suggested calling the number of the Kusoldharn Foundation. So this…
- Phuket News
Phuket gold thieves out of gas, out of luck
PHUKET: Thieves attempting to cut open a safe in a locked strong room at a gold store in Patong on Saturday night most likely ran out of gas for their blowtorch, forcing them to leave empty-handed, say police. Nuchapha Jetsadaruk, the 49-year-old sister of shop owner Sasithorn Jetsadaruk, arrived to open the Yaowarat Gold Shop 9 on Sainamyen Road (map…
- Phuket News
Depressed man carrying a knife coaxed off highway and into hospital
PHUKET: A severely depressed man found despondently wandering along Thepkrasattri Road carrying a knife was taken into the care of Thalang Hospital on Saturday. “When we arrived, we saw the man in front of Muang Thalang School, walking on the median of Thepkrasattri Road and then into an adjacent rubber plantation. He was holding a knife in his right hand…
- Phuket News
Phuket Tourist Court to open late this month
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourist Court will open late this month, while another five such courts will open across the country before year’s end, Court of Justice spokesman Sitthisak Wanachakij has announced. The specialized court, set up to expedite cases involving foreign holiday-makers – about 20 million tourists visit Thailand every year – will encourage negotiations between parties and will video…
- World News
Phuket Gazette World News: Cambodia police unleash teargas on protesters; Assad Victory; Colorado death toll climbs; Sudan sinks in fear
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Cambodian police unleash teargas, water cannons on poll protesters Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Police fired teargas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who had rallied in Cambodia’s capital on Sunday to push for an independent investigation into a July election they say was fixed to…
- Thailand News
Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Fears rice scheme will break budget; Taxi CCTV on the radar; Singles say no to more taxes
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fears rice scheme will break budget The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The Finance Ministry’s sub-committee assessing the cost of the rice-pledging scheme plans to finalise figures for the first year of operations next week, with or without the latest information on inventories, a ministry source said yesterday.The…
- Phuket News
Phuket Magic Eyes relaunch sets sights on ‘Clean Up the World’
PHUKET: A series of cleanup events are to sweep the island this September as Phuket gears up to celebrate “Clean Up the World” as part of the relaunch of the Phuket Magic Eyes Organization. The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) is joining hands with the Phuket Magic Eyes Organization and the Society Environmental Economy Knowledge (SEEK) group to take part…
- Phuket News
Greek claims Thai girlfriend swindled him out of Phuket property, two million baht
PHUKET: A distraught Greek was found lying in the middle of the road in front of a property that he claimed his girlfriend had cheated him out of, along with about two million baht. When Konstantinos Vardas’s mid-road protest caused a traffic jam in the vicinity of Tha Reua Temple, Thalang Police and Kusoldham rescue workers were called to the…
- Phuket News
Thief snatches 5,000 baht from 7-Eleven cash till
PHUKET: Police are searching for a snatch thief who stole 5,000 baht from a cash till at a 7-Eleven in Wichit late last night. “The store’s staffers looked very frightened when we arrived, ” said Wichit Police Superintendent Chaowalit Petchsripia. “The thief was a dark-skinned man who looked about 20-to-30 years old. He was between 1.60 and 1.65 meters tall,…
- Phuket News
VIDEO REPORT: Phuket police stick it to luxury-car owners
PHUKET: Police dished-out parking tickets to about a dozen luxury cars that were illegally parked along Phuket Town’s Dibuk Road yesterday afternoon. A video of the mass-ticketing of the vehicles obstructing traffic flow was posted yesterday on Youtube and has already attracted over 10,000 hits. Many viewers commented to praise Phuket police for observing the same standard for both evidently…
- Phuket News
Phuket trial over fatal Tiger Disco fire postponed
PHUKET: The trial of the operators of the Tiger Disco nightclub for the deaths of four people, including two tourists, in the blaze last year in Patong has been postponed until the end of November. Tiger Group CEO Piya Isaramalai and management representatives of Sara Entertainment Co Ltd were scheduled to appear in court on September 2 to face charges…
- Opinion
Phuket Opinion: The 90-day hassle
PHUKET: Having completed the bureaucratic rigmarole of obtaining a one-year work permit and a one-year non-immigrant B visa, I am soon to embark on my first quarterly “visa run” to have my passport stamped at the Ranong border control office. As a consequence, I have been mulling over the reasons why such a trip is necessary and I confess, I…
- Phuket News
Phuket tourism court on hold
PHUKET: The opening of a new tourist court in Phuket has been delayed while a sortie of judges, Tourist Police and officers from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) complete a 14-million-baht, two-week fact-finding trip to France. The fact-finding tour, which started September 7 and is scheduled to end September 19, is aimed at giving the experts a first-hand view…
- Phuket News
Single lingering regret for Phuket’s top cop as he prepares to retire
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Police Commander Choti Chavalviwat is troubled by only a single lingering issue of unfinished business as he prepares for retirement at the end of this month – the much-needed high-resolution CCTVs he sought to bring to the island. Speaking to the Phuket Gazette, Maj Gen Choti lamented being unable to see the cameras fitted across the island.…
- Phuket News
Phuket Prison marks 113th anniversary with deity statue
PHUKET: A modest ceremony took place at Phuket Provincial Prison today to honor the installation of the Hindu God Chitragupta, who is deemed special by the Department of Corrections in Thailand. “Chitragupta is the Hindu god tasked with keeping fastidious records of all the actions of every human being. This is why he is held in high esteem by the…
- Phuket News
Staffer at Phuket Chevrolet dealership arrested after pocketing B1.2mn
PHUKET: Police arrested an employee of a Chevrolet dealership in Phuket after the man made off with more than 1.2 million baht of company cash. Somkit “Roon” Yukunthorn, a 27-year-old Phuket native, worked faithfully for about a year as a messenger for VST Autosales 2002 Co Ltd, the Chevrolet dealership on the bypass road. But last Friday he failed to…
- Phuket News
Baby buffalo saved from watery death
PHUKET: Quick action by a local Thalang villager prevented a baby buffalo from drowning in an abandoned well today. Khamsue Chanpet, 37, called Kusoldharm Rescue workers to the well behind Wat Baan Don in Thalang, after witnessing the grazing buffalo fall into the well. “I saw the buffalo walking and eating grass with the other buffaloes, and then he fell.…
- Phuket News
Thief says he needed money for sick son
PHUKET: A man caught stealing an air-conditioning compressor from a bus in Phuket Town yesterday morning told police that he needed money to pay for medical treatment for his son.Chaiwut Kongkhaoriab, 28, was caught in the act by mechanics at the garage where the bus was parked.Pramoun Jitpakdee, one of the mechanics, said he was fixing the bus when he…
- Phuket News
9 million baht Chalong Circle study underway
PHUKET: A 9-million baht pre-construction study on how to ease traffic congestion at Chalong Circle is underway, with companies considering seven options including several flyovers in addition to underpasses. The yearlong study will analyze traffic flow around Chalong Circle and potential effects of an underpass or flyover on the surrounding environment, said Director of the Phuket Highways Office Samak Luedwonghad.…
- World News
Phuket Gazette World News: Syria now chemical free; India rape trial; Philippine seige spreads; Ex-CIA seeks pardon in Italy
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Syria says now full member of chemical arms pact, doubts persist Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Syria became a full member of the global anti-chemical weapons treaty on Thursday, the country’s U.N. envoy said, a move that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had promised as part…
- Phuket News
Alleged extortionist re-elected to run Phuket taxi group
PHUKET: “Brother Pom” was re-elected to head the Central Festival Phuket taxi group yesterday, despite facing charges of extortion and using violence to force member-drivers to make payments. The election was part of a move to restructure the taxi rank at Central Festival, the latest step in a campaign to eradicate taxi mafia from Phuket which has the full support…
- Phuket News
Jaran’s hammer: 73-year-old beaten to death across the bay from Phuket
PHUKET: A man confessed to killing his wife with a hammer yesterday because she moved to Krabi to live with her daughter, leaving him alone in the Isarn province of Yasothon for about a year.Jaran Triphoom, 79, was found by police clutching a bouquet of flowers in a rubber plantation hours after the discovery of his wife’s body, said Adisak…
- Thai Life
Think globally, act locally – Environment
PHUKET: Let’s draw attention to some local happenings. First some negative ones. “Tainted Tide”, a recent Phuket Gazette front page article, revealed that Patong’s already polluted beaches had suffered yet another setback – a patch of brown, unwholesome water in the bay, perhaps a mindless discharge of sewage from local hotels, or a build-up of plankton, courtesy of contaminants in…
- Phuket News
Thailand Tourist Police Road Show to roll into Phuket
PHUKET: A caravan of four mobile homes and a trailer full of facilities free for tourists to use will be set up from 7:30pm to 9:00pm in Phuket this Saturday as part of a promotional campaign to make tourists feel safe about travelling in Thailand.The caravan, called the “Thailand Tourist Police Roadshow 2013”, was launched in Bangkok on Tuesday under…
- Phuket News
Central Festival Phuket takes over taxi management
PHUKET: The campaign to eradicate taxi mafias from Phuket took another step yesterday as Central Festival Management agreed to take over the management of taxis at the shopping center. “We want Central Festival to be a model of taxi management for Phuket,” said Maj Natapol Ditsayatham, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Chief Investigator for Phuket. “We want every driver…
- Thai Life
Fruit: Food of the gods – Phuket Gardening
PHUKET: As any journalist worth his salt will tell you, it is always easier to amplify or pad out a piece than to abridge it. Unless you are very careful, condensing a piece can result in a lack of clarity, in stylistic obfuscation or worse, some painful wrenching of the sense. When, in response to a reader’s question last week,…
- Phuket News
Elephants rescue tourists stranded in Phang Nga jungle
PHUKET: A rescue party of four elephants was dispatched to safely recover 16 tourists stranded in the jungle north of Phuket yesterday after a landslide brought on by torrential rains cut off their return path and the elephants they were riding balked at taking another route.The tourists were on an elephant trek in the hills behind Baan Thung Kamin in…
- Phuket News
Phuket storm pulls down pine tree, power cables
PHUKET: Two women were injured when a pine tree toppled by high winds landed on them as they were riding a motorbike on the Phuket west coast road between Kamala and Cherng Talay yesterday.The tree took down a high-voltage cable as it fell, knocking out power to the nearby area but [the high-voltage cable did] not harming the women.Police responding…
- World News
Phuket Gazette World News: Syria war crimes toll mounts; Myanmar bans anti-Muslim sect; N Korea restarts reactor; Obama observes 9/11
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UN tallies Syrian war crimes massacres Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: U.N. rights investigators have established that Syrian government forces were almost certainly responsible for two massacres last May in which up to 450 civilians were killed, a report published on Wednesday said.The report documented eight mass killings…
- Thailand News
Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Pracha faces Bt6.68bn fire truck probe; Rohingya land at Satun; 5 shot dead in Pattani; Legend crooner Sayan dies at 60
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community AMLO to size up assets of Pracha, ex-official The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The Anti-Money Laundering Office will evaluate assets belonging to former deputy interior minister Pracha Maleenont and a former senior Bangkok Metropolitan Administration official before pursuing possible seizure if they are found to have been…
