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  • Three more suspects in custody for shooting of Phuket cop

    Three more suspects in custody for shooting of Phuket cop

    PHUKET: Police in Phuket have arrested three more suspects wanted for the shotgun shooting of a Chalong police officer in a live music venue last month. The victim, Snr Sgt Maj Nikom Jeenyuen, received shotgun wounds to the neck, chest, stomach and arm in the June 19 shooting at Saraphanpleng Bar, a live music venue on Patak Road, about 300…

  • Nong Som cremated

    Nong Som cremated

    PHUKET: Sunisa “Nong Som” Saiyoy, 17, who was strangled to death in her home on July 10, was cremated yesterday at Wat Tai. Family members, classmates from Wichit Songkram School, Chalong Mayor Samran Jindapol and Chalong Municipality council members attended the afternoon ceremony. At the ceremony Khaneung Saiyoy, Nong Som’s father, thanked the police for quickly finding the killer Kittikhun…

  • Phuket Gazette: HFMD blamed for deaths in Cambodia

    Phuket Gazette: HFMD blamed for deaths in Cambodia

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Hand, foot and mouth disease blamed for 54 deaths in Cambodia Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: A severe form of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of more than 50 children in Cambodia in recent months,…

  • More parking, CCTV for Phuket Bus Terminal 2

    More parking, CCTV for Phuket Bus Terminal 2

    PHUKET: The committee responsible for operation of Phuket Bus Terminal 2 say the station will soon get additional parking and CCTV cameras. The announcement came following a meeting on Thursday of the ten-person committee that oversees operation of the station, which opened in April this year, 28 months after it was completed. Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) chief Teerayut Prasertpol…

  • Abhisit Vejjajiva collects data for Phuket “blueprint’ at Simon Cabaret

    Abhisit Vejjajiva collects data for Phuket “blueprint’ at Simon Cabaret

    PHUKET: Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva called on the people of Phuket recently to help develop a “blueprint” to solve the problems facing the tourism industry on the island. About a thousand local people who joined the seminar at the Simon Star Theater in Rassada were asked to help construct a clear picture of the issues to be faced. “Phuket…

  • Phuket Deep Sea Port ‘not deep enough’

    Phuket Deep Sea Port ‘not deep enough’

    PHUKET: In an effort to kick-start the stalled Phuket Deep Sea Port expansion project, the head of the local Marine Department Office escorted representatives from two major cruise line companies to a meeting with Governor Tri Augkaradacha on July 12 to discuss the problems encountered by large ships using the facility. Located at Cape Panwa, the deep sea port has…

  • Phuket Business: Google extending online reach for local businesses

    Phuket Business: Google extending online reach for local businesses

    PHUKET: Celebrating its inaugural year and 100,000 new businesses online, Google Thailand’s ‘Thai Businesses Go Online’ program (TBGO) has paved the way for the next stage in the evolution of an economically prosperous online ecosystem. Highlighting TBGO’s success, the IT and Marketing mega-icon’s country office reported that it has attracted more than 100,000 participants nationwide in a year – far…

  • Phuket Sports: Thailand’s Olympic hopefuls

    Phuket Sports: Thailand’s Olympic hopefuls

    PHUKET: Since the arrival of the Olympic Torch in the United Kingdom during May, anticipation for the games has continued to grow. The torch is being carried across the UK by around 8,000 people ranging from athletes such as Sir Steve Redgrave, local people and celebrities. The torch will finish its 70 day relay by lighting the flame that will…

  • Two elephants join Phuket migrant labor force

    Two elephants join Phuket migrant labor force

    PHUKET: Two young elephants were approved to work in Phuket this week, bringing the total number of registered pachyderms on the island to 190, which is 14 more than the existing limit set by the Provincial Office in 2003. The increase in the number of elephants beyond the set limit was noted during the meeting by Phuket Provincial Livestock Chief…

  • Phuket FC scorched by ‘Fire Power’, Joksic resigns

    Phuket FC scorched by ‘Fire Power’, Joksic resigns

    PHUKET: Serbian national Milos Joksic has resigned from his post as Phuket FC head coach, with a former Thai national team defender expected to fill in the vacancy immediately. First reported in Thai language on the Nok Sanarm website, the announcement comes at the climax of a tiring week marked by three back to back losses – the last two…

  • Harsher sentencing the best approach to violent crime: Phuket poll

    Harsher sentencing the best approach to violent crime: Phuket poll

    PHUKET: Readers see harsher sentences for convicted criminals as the best deterrent to violent crime in Phuket, the results of the latest Phuket Gazette online readers poll revealed. The poll was launched in the wake of a particularly heinous crime that rocked the island last month: the slaying of Australian travel agent Michelle Smith in Kata. Given these crimes and…

  • Phuket Opinion: Journalistic ethics cannot be digitized

    Phuket Opinion: Journalistic ethics cannot be digitized

    PHUKET: One memorable scene from the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz is the moment when Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal that the “mighty and all-powerful Oz” is no more than an ordinary man who, by circumstances beyond his control, finds himself thrust into a position of power that he never sought or wanted. This revelation may come…

  • National Parks Dept to charge Phuket resort owner with encroachment

    National Parks Dept to charge Phuket resort owner with encroachment

    PHUKET: The owners of a Phuket beach resort project will likely face legal action for encroaching on national park land following an inspection of the site this week by the Director General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP). The resort is one of ten the agency will be investigating for possible land encroachment. “In May…

  • Phuket Sports: F1 – A quick look back

    Phuket Sports: F1 – A quick look back

    PHUKET: The next race will be at the Hockenheimring and will mark the half way point of the F1 season, so it’s a good time to sit back and review where everyone is. At the start of the season, McLaren looked unbeatable except by error. They seemed exhausted by Silverstone. Why? Because Ferrari and Red Bull had upgraded their aerodynamics,…

  • ‘Creative Tourism’ seminar in Phuket next week

    ‘Creative Tourism’ seminar in Phuket next week

    PHUKET: In preparation for the measures of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) set to take effect in less than three years, the Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) will host a seminar on Friday, July 20 to promote sustainable tourism under the concept of “creative tourism”. Among the distinguished guests invited to speak are former Bangkok Governor and current Democrat Party deputy…

  • Bus from Phuket to Narathiwat crashes in Phang Nga

    Bus from Phuket to Narathiwat crashes in Phang Nga

    PHUKET: A tour bus full of school directors from Narathiwat province overturned in Phang Nga late this morning, causing numerous injuries, but fortunately no deaths. The bus was en route to Krabi when the accident occurred on a sharp curve known locally as “Chong Kub Tha Yu“, located on the road from Lo Yung to Tha Yu in Takua Thung…

  • BREAKING NEWS: Phuket boy, 6, drowns in wastewater pool

    BREAKING NEWS: Phuket boy, 6, drowns in wastewater pool

    PHUKET: A six-year-old boy who went missing this morning was found drowned in a water treatment pool at the Patong Municipality Water Treatment Plant this afternoon. The child, Yutthakarn “Marvin” Limtek, was staying with his aunt Siriwan Noothong, who lives near the water treatment plant on an unnamed soi that connects Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi and Phang Muang roads. Ms Siriwan…

  • Full budget for Chalong hospital project unlikely to materialize

    Full budget for Chalong hospital project unlikely to materialize

    PHUKET: The mayor of Chalong handed a formal letter of complaint to Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri for the ministry’s failure to provide 186 million baht in funding for the establishment of a new hospital. The financial package, provisionally agreed to by the Cabinet at the mobile meeting on Phuket in March, was to turn the “Chalong Health Promoting Station”…

  • Drug-addicted thief confesses to murder of Phuket teen “Nong Som’

    Drug-addicted thief confesses to murder of Phuket teen “Nong Som’

    PHUKET: Security is expected to be very tight in Chalong this morning, when police and the confessed drug-addicted killer of 17-year-old Sunisa “Som” Saiyoy re-enact the brutal strangling, attempted rape and robbery that took place on Tuesday. Confessed murderer Kittikhun Wonghajak, who goes by multiple aliases including “Aek”, “Mac” and “Goong”, told the press yesterday that he did not intentionally…

  • Phuket Sports: A look ahead to this weekend’s action

    Phuket Sports: A look ahead to this weekend’s action

    PHUKET: Three-time Olympic track champion Bradley Wiggins is looking to become the first British man to win the Tour de France. He is currently in first place after he and his Sky Team held off numerous attempts by other riders on stage 11 to unsettle him. Fellow Brit and Sky team member Chris Froome is in second place on the…

  • Phuket Gazette: U.S. companies to do business in Myanmar

    Phuket Gazette: U.S. companies to do business in Myanmar

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Obama allows U.S. companies to do business in Myanmar Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced his administration has eased certain financial and investment sanctions on Myanmar, allowing American companies to do business in the Asian country for the first…

  • Navy rescue drills off Phuket declared a success

    Navy rescue drills off Phuket declared a success

    PHUKET: The Royal Thai Navy conducted training drills on Tuesday with the aim of improving coordination among the different emergency response units in Phuket. The exercise, which ran from 9am to midday, was staged on the beach in front of the Third Naval Area Command base at Cape Panwa. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha and Vice Admiral Taratorn Kajitsuwan, Commander of…

  • Senate seeks action on foreign tour guides in Phuket

    Senate seeks action on foreign tour guides in Phuket

    PHUKET: An adviser to the Senate Standing Committee on Tourism has spoken out against the long-standing problem of foreign tour guides operating in Phuket. Phanomphon Thammachartniyom, an honorary adviser to the upper house committee, told a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall that he had been working for 10 years to solve the problem of Russians, Chinese and Koreans working as…

  • Phuket Gazette: Salmonella strain might reinfect kids

    Phuket Gazette: Salmonella strain might reinfect kids

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Salmonella strain might reinfect kids Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: A drug-resistant strain of Salmonella bacteria, found in eggs causing 500 schoolchildren to fall ill, might continue lingering and re-infect them for another three months. The provincial health office will send a team to tackle…

  • Krabi Police search for mother of murdered newborn | Thaiger

    Krabi Police search for mother of murdered newborn

    PHUKET: Police are searching for the mother of a brutally-murdered newborn found in a plastic trash bag on a Krabi roadside yesterday morning. The baby, thought to be less than a day old at the time of death, was discovered by an Ao Nang Tambon Administration Organization sanitation worker sorting trash destined for the Ao Nang landfill. “This morning there…

  • Phuket Gazette: Hackers release more than 420,000 passwords

    Phuket Gazette: Hackers release more than 420,000 passwords

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Hackers release more than 420,000 Formspring passwords Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: The questions and answers website Formspring yesterday disabled the passwords of its more than 29 million registered users as a precaution after nearly half a million of them were posted on a website,…

  • Phuket Customs director: Illegal diesel probably used to support terrorism

    Phuket Customs director: Illegal diesel probably used to support terrorism

    PHUKET: Customs officials who seized over 200,000 liters of smuggled diesel fuel off Phuket on Monday suspect the profits from such sales are likely being channeled to support terrorist activities. “Customs have been cracking down on illegally imported goods, especially fuel, which is probably being used to support terrorism,” said Rakob Srisupa, director of the Customs Department Marine Investigation and…

  • Phuket Sports: Lance gets a shot in the arm with extended deadline

    Phuket Sports: Lance gets a shot in the arm with extended deadline

    PHUKET: Seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong was given an extended deadline of 30 days to answer charges last month that he used performance enhancing drugs during his illustrious cycling career.The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) originally gave Armstrong until Saturday to answer the charges. If found guilty he could be stripped of his tour titles and face a…

  • Phuket Sports: An endless summer

    Phuket Sports: An endless summer

    PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette recently caught up with hometown hero Miss Annissa Tita Flynn, to talk about her recent accomplishments. If you haven’t heard much about this 14 year old surfing starlet, “Anni”, as her friends call her, has been travelling and competing in recent months on the 2012 Asian Surfing Championship tour (ASC).Phuket Gazette: What is it like to…

  • Phuket Sports: Bitter cup exit for Phuket FC

    Phuket Sports: Bitter cup exit for Phuket FC

    PHUKET: Phuket FC were one of five losers among the seven southern teams contesting the Thailand Toyota League Cup second round played last night. The losers included all four Yamaha League One (Division 1) southern representatives – Phatthalung FC, Songkhla FC, Krabi FC and Phuket FC – the latter three of whom lost in penalty shootouts. Phuket’s 4-3 defeat on…