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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Time bombs near Criminal Court; World Cup broadcast free; Thai AirAsia restarts tourism
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Two time bombs found near Criminal Court The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Two home-made bombs were discovered on Ratchadaphisek Road in two separate locations yesterday morning. The first one was found at around 7am by a Bangkok Metropolitan Administration street cleaner in a bus stop…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Thousands evacuated as toxic dump fire smog blankets Bangkok
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Dump fire creates deadly smog; locals ordered out The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Residents in Tambon Praeksa in Samut Prakan were forced to rush to grab their belongings and flee after a massive fire broke out at a garbage dump near their homes. Inspectors from…
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Phuket Business: Phuket’s plans to trap MICE travellers
PHUKET: A recent conference organized by the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) examined the role of Meeting, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) travellers in Phuket’s diversifying tourism industry. The event, which was co-hosted by AMCHAM, the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) and the Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce (AustCham), featured three experts on Thailand’s rapidly growing MICE tourism industry. The…
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Phuket Drive Thru: Woman blames car for surging into 7-Eleven
PHUKET: A woman parking her car outside a 7-Eleven in Phuket Town this afternoon ended up inside the store when the vehicle suddenly surged forward, injuring a 12-year-old girl in the process. Orathai Kaikong, 31, had pulled into a gas station on Phun Pol Road in Phuket Town with her boyfriend to buy snacks. “I was braking while pulling into…
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Phuket’s B120mn road to Freedom Beach inches forward
PHUKET: The controversial new road planned to provide access to Freedom Beach, south of Patong, took a step closer to becoming reality as the project passed its third and final public hearing on Friday. About 80 of the 100 participants who joined the hearing, held at the Patong Merlin Hotel, voted to approve the project, rebounding from a 64 per…
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Phuket national park encroachment investigation in full swing again
PHUKET: The plot thickened in the ongoing investigation into encroachment onto Sirinath Marine National Park yesterday as five former park chiefs were accused of signing documents allowing encroachment. “After reviewing several land titles from owners in the area, we discovered that five chiefs signed their names, making it legal for landowners to build on land that is part of Sirinath…
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Blackout strikes third of island as Phuket sees year’s first rain
PHUKET: A blown transformer was responsible for a two-hour blackout in parts of Phuket on Saturday afternoon, said an official at the Phuket Provincial Electrical Authority (PPEA). Electricity shut off in Chalong, Rawai, Kathu, Patong, Kathu and some areas of Phuket Town at about 3pm. “After we got calls from the public, we sent a repair crew out. Within two…
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Police post bodyguard for Russian ‘kidnap’ victim
PHUKET: Police have posted an around-the-clock guard outside the hospital room of the Russian woman who was found injured yesterday after having disappeared for nine days. Friends say the woman, Iana Strizheus, 22, may have been the victim of a kidnapping. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Ong-art Phiwruangnont visited Ms Strizheus at Bangkok Hospital Phuket last night. “We don’t know how…
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Phuket Gazette World News: ‘Good night’ – Haunting final contact from missing Malaysian jet
PHUKET: The last words from the cockpit of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 – “all right, good night” – were uttered after someone on board had already begun disabling one of the plane’s automatic tracking systems, a senior Malaysian official said. Both the timing and informal nature of the phrase, spoken to air traffic controllers as the plane with 239…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Court may rule election unlawful; Military reshuffle today; Oil spill in Chon Buri; Hail in Loei
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Ruling on poll could ease crisis The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A political breakthrough could happen this week with the Constitutional Court may rule on whether the February 2 poll was unlawful, and the possibility of a verdict annulling the election. A petition requesting the…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Crimeans vote over 90 percent to quit Ukraine for Russia
PHUKET: Russian state media said Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia on Sunday, as Kiev accused Moscow of pouring forces into the peninsula and warned separatist leaders “the ground will burn under their feet”. With over half the votes counted, 95.5 percent had chosen the option of annexation by Moscow, the head of the referendum commission,…
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Mysterious deaths of Quebec sisters may be due to lethal dose of pesticide
PHUKET: Two Canadian sisters who died mysteriously on the popular resort island of Phi Phi in 2012 may have ingested toxic amounts of a lethal pesticide called aluminum phosphide, reports Canadian news network CBC. The highly toxic pesticide is used to control bedbugs in some holiday hotels in Asia and may have contributed to the deaths of Audrey and Noemi…
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Phuket Gazette World News: West prepares sanctions as Russia presses on with Crimea takeover
PHUKET: The European Union is expected to impose travel bans and asset freezes on Monday on dozens of Russians involved in Moscow’s gradual takeover of Crimea and will choose from a list of up to 130 names over the weekend, European diplomats said. Moscow shipped more troops and armour into Crimea on Friday and repeated its threat to invade other…
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Dazed and confused: Danish expat crashes into Thalang store
PHUKET: Police are still looking for an explanation as to what caused a car driven by a Danish expat to fly off the road and plunge into an appliance store in Thalang on Thursday evening.Police arrived at the scene, about 250 meters from Baan Nai Klam Mosque on the southbound side of Thepkrasattri Road, at about 6:30pm.The 50-year-old driver, Per…
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Australian long-term expat dies after fall from motorbike in Phuket
PHUKET: An Australian expat died early yesterday morning in Phuket after allegedly driving his motorbike one-handed.“The accident happened at about 1:50am. Eyewitness accounts described Wayne Anthony Stone driving his motorbike at high speeds with only one hand holding the handlebars,” Navin Petchan of the Kamala Police told the Phuket Gazette.“Mr Stone fell off his bike at a main junction in…
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Phuket tour bus drivers caught in Patong Hill checkpoint drug blitz
Note: Since this story was posted, a representative from the tour company Pegas Touristik affirmed that no drivers associated with the company tested positive for drugs in the blitz. PHUKET: The new police and transport office safety checkpoint for buses about to cross over Patong Hill netted 16 drivers who tested positive for drugs in its first day of operation…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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.…
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