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Taxi, tuk-tuk co-ops blame “unfair rules’ for problems
PHUKET: Groups of tuk-tuk and taxi operators in Phuket blame “unfair regulations” as the underlying cause of most problems faced by tourists who use Phuket’s public transport services. The accusations were made during a meeting of senior government officials, including Government Spokesperson Prompong Nopparit, at Phuket Provincial Hall on April 27. Tuk-tuk representative Darun Suksai, the “president” of a consortium…
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Bangkok Police arrest Phuket gold heist bandit
PHUKET: The brazen thief who made off with an estimated 6 million baht in cash and gold jewelry from a Phuket shop in June last year was arrested in Bangkok on Thursday. Krittasak “Den” Heetkaew, 25, was arrested in his apartment by Col Narongyod Unnahabunthit and his team at about 1:30pm. He was then presented at the Region 8 police…
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Phuket police officer held for off-duty killing
PHUKET: A Phuket police officer and his brother are being detained at Phuket Provincial Court tonight after both were charged with accessory to murder over a fatal shooting in Phuket Town’s red-light district early this morning. Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Jamroon Plaiduang told the Phuket Gazette that the shooting occurred at about 2:30am in Phuket Town’s infamous Phun Phol…
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Phuket teenage drug addicts blamed for community center fire
PHUKET: Phuket City Police believe that a fire at the Austria-Phuket Community Center in Rassada in the early hours of this morning was started by a group of teenage drug addicts known to frequent the area. It was the second time the center had been set on fire within a month. Phuket City Police received a report at 1:10am from…
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No lifeguards on beaches as Phuket enters surf danger season
PHUKET: As the southwest monsoon sets in and Phuket enters the most dangerous period for beach swimmers, the Phuket lifeguards have yet to return to their towers at popular tourist beaches along the west coast. The news comes as the Phuket Gazette today received confirmation that not a single company or organization bid for the government contract to provide lifeguard…
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Earthquake aftershock spooks residents in northern Phuket
PHUKET: A 2.3 Richter aftershock centered in Phuket’s Thalang District struck at 4:54am today, waking some residents with a loud bang, while others reported feeling nothing at all of the tremors. “The epicenter of the aftershock was at Latitude 8º 00′ 36″ N, Longitude 98º 21′ 00″ E. It was almost at the same location as the 4.3 quake on…
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Phuket United gets Gov Tri’s backing
PHUKET: Last year’s CAT Regional Futsal Tournament champions Phuket United have been assured financial support from “Phuket’s father”, in a gesture that will ensure the team can compete in the prestigious Thailand Futsal League (TFL) for the upcoming season. Club administrators met with Phuket Governor Tri Augaradacha at his office on Tuesday. Their first agenda was to appoint the governor…
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Speed radar project most helpful: Phuket poll
PHUKET: Phuket Gazette readers overwhelmingly think the installation of radar speed cameras to monitor road traffic and automatically fine violators will be the most helpful of six projects recently approved for Phuket by Cabinet, according to our most recent online poll. In the poll launched March 23, readers were asked which of six projects approved by Cabinet during the “Mobile…
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Weird World News: Trinity of time teams up for postmortem sex, kebabs and asteroid mining
PHUKET: This week’s Weird World News round-up is dedicated to the trinity of time: past, present and future. Postmortem sex-laws in Egypt , a stab victim stemming a wound with a kebab and billionaires funding asteroid mining projects all made headlines this week. Passed away, Egypt plans “Farewell Intercourse Law” RUMORS that Egyptian husbands will soon be legally allowed to…
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Laguna Phuket Marathon to take “Chi Running’ in its stride
PHUKET: The revolutionary “Chi Running” technique will be showcased at the forthcoming Laguna Phuket International Marathon in a workshop led by one of Asia’s leading exponents of the method that has taken the running world by storm. Lit Onrubia of the Philippines, a US-certified Chi Running instructor, will lead the workshop at Laguna Phuket on June 9, the day before…
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Thailand News: Ultralight aircraft to land on river as offering to Thai King
PHUKET: Four Thailand made single-engine aircraft will soon land on the Chao Phraya River in downtown Bangkok as an offering to His Majesty the King if a Royal Thai Navy (RTN) plan is brought to fruition. The navy team is hoping to present the experimental two-seat amphibians to the much-loved monarch who has been undergoing treatment in hospital. Vice Admiral…
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FC Phuket draw Burmese league leaders in friendly
PHUKET: Yadanarbon FC from Myanmar and home favorites FC Phuket played to an uneventful 0-0 draw in a friendly match at Surakul Stadium last night. The game was generally played at a slow pace and had the feel of a match where both sets of coaches acknowledged the low key nature of the contest. Phuket did most of the running…
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Phuket sports: The Golf Guru’s weekly round-up
PHUKET: This week was the turn of players coming through their respective mini-tours, the Challenge for Europe and Nationwide for America. They use this as a stomping ground to see if they are good enough to play on their main tours both had graduated from there as winners could they now bring it to the big show. The players use…
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Phuket Red Cross pumps up blood donation campaign
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (RBC) has stepped up it mobile blood collection campaign as blood stocks are dangerously low following the annual Songkran Festival last month, which resulted in a surge in road accidents in the region. The Phuket RBC, run by the Thai Red Cross Society, is responsible for collection of blood stocks in Phang Nga, Krabi,…
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Express mail truck flips in Phuket, no injuries
PHUKET: The driver of an express mail service truck will be charged with negligent driving and property damage after his delivery truck crossed over a median strip and overturned on Phuket’s main road from Phuket Town to the airport on Tuesday afternoon. Thalang Police were notified of the accident, at the u-turn on Thepkrasattri Road near the Kan Keha public…
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Phuket workers present demands on Labor Day
PHUKET: Union leaders in Phuket yesterday demanded that the government initiate measures to reduce and control the soaring cost of living, which they insist has long outstripped minimum wages. The formal demands for pricing controls headlined a list of six demands presented to Phuket Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa at the island’s annual Labor Day Fair held at the Phuket Provincial…
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Phuket sports: Siraracha reel in Southern Sea Kirin
FC Phuket were taken for an unpleasant ride by the Sriracha Suzuki FC “Blue Marlin”, with the “Southern Sea Kirin” succumbing 4-2 in a grueling away match on last Sunday evening in Chonburi. The fixture was played in front of about 1,000 fans at Suzuki Stadium, situated some 20 kilometers north of Pattaya. Among spectators were a few loyal “Hulk”…
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Phuket property developer agrees to pay back buyers after tax protest
PHUKET: After staging a successful protest in front of the office of a local property development firm yesterday, residents of the Chao Fa Garden Home 3 housing estate in Phuket will get back taxes they claim they were duped into paying by the home builder. About 100 residents of the sprawling estate, located off Thepkrasattri Road in Koh Kaew, gathered…
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Phuket neighborly dispute ends in fatal stabbing
PHUKET: Thung Thong Police today held a re-enactment of the assault that resulted in the death of Kamonchai Suwanin, 38, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, on Sunday evening. The suspect, Arak Kraisap, 38, from Nonthaburi, confessed to police that following many arguments he stabbed Mr Kamonchai in the throat outside their apartments, opposite the 7-Eleven store on Wichit Songkhram Road near…
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Tourist, 25, survives six-storey fall from Phuket hotel balcony
PHUKET: A 25-year-old woman from the Philippines has escaped serious injury after falling from the balcony of her sixth-floor Phuket hotel room late last night. Rescue workers from the Kusoldharm Foundation in Patong told the Phuket Gazette that they received a call notifying them of the incident at about half past midnight. The rescue workers arrived to find Jardeliza Samireh…
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A Phuket Star is born
PHUKET: Phuket-born Jaruwat “Dome” Cheawaram has won the eighth season of the nationally televised singing talent quest The Star. The 21-year-old law student at Thammasat University, Thailand’s premier law school, was a surprise win in the show’s season finale held at the Impact Muang Thong Thani stadium, better known simply as the “Impact Arena”, on the outskirts of Bangkok last…
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Phuket ‘lucky license plate’ auction raises over B30mn
PHUKET: The “Lucky License Plate Action” held by the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) at The Metropole Hotel in Phuket Town on April 28 to 29 raised more than 30 million baht. The money raised from the auction, close to 30.5 million baht, will go to the Road Safety Fund, which provides assistance to road-accident victims and conducts road-safety campaigns…
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Phuket Events: Large crowds expected for Sunday’s trail runs
The Columbia Trailmasters 2012 Phuket Edition will add yet another stunning sport event to the Phuket calendar when it gets underway this Sunday (May 6) at the Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club. The competitions, comprising a 21.5km Off Road Half Marathon; a 10km Trail Run; and a Fun Run for kids and adults less athletically inclined, look set to see…
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Russian language warning sought for Phuket tsunami sirens
PHUKET: Phuket officials will ask the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) to add Russian language to the spoken messages played by its 19 warning towers along Phuket’s coast.Preedee Aengseng, Communications Officer at the Phuket office of Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket), told the Phuket Gazette that the request will be made on May 16, when NDWC officers come…
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Red light confuses alleged drunk driver into taking out Phuket power poles
PHUKET: An alleged drunk driver took down a power pole and damaged two Phuket homes and after mistaking a flashing light on the road for a police checkpoint over the weekend.Thung Thong Police were notified of the accident at 12:45am on Saturday.At the scene, a densely populated area along Wichit Songkram Road near the Kathu Chinese Shrine, police found a…
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Phuket moves to set up Andaman-wide integrated disaster-response IT system
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) is spearheading a project to set up an integrated information system to better coordinate emergency response efforts throughout the Andaman coast provinces in disaster situations. Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT), rescue personnel, communications experts, police and local administration organization officials met in Phuket Thursday last week to provide input into what the system…
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Phuket business: What does the UK budget mean for British expats?
It’s that time again when George Osborne tries to tighten the purse strings for the UK economy and cut down the huge debt levels the youth of today have inherited from poor decision making and fiscal policies of the past. Inconsequential it may well be to certain socio-economic brackets with Mr Osborne’s large outstretched arm unable to ruffle their financial…
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Live Wire: Google Street View has Phuket all mapped out
Google announced recently that it had released Google Street View for Phuket, Bangkok and environs, and Chiang Mai. Many of you read about the new service but have you had a chance to look at it? Mind boggling. The Nation quoted Pornthip Kongchun, head of marketing for Google Thailand, as saying, “In Asia-Pacific, Google Street View is available in Japan,…
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PHUKET OPINION: Where property speculation meets superstition
PHUKET: There never seems to be a dull moment covering the news in Phuket, and the rumor-mongering that followed the recent seismic activity has been particularly captivating. A basic review of facts: an 8.6-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra on April 11 prompted the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) to issue an evacuation of tsunami-risk areas. A total breakdown…
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FC Phuket hoping for a big catch in Sri Racha
PHUKET: FC Phuket are in Chonburi province set to play Sriracha Suzuki FC this evening for the Thai Yamaha 1 (TD1) 2012 season’s seventh fixture. Kickoff for the match, to played at Suzuki Stadium, located about 20 kilometers north of Pattaya, will be at 6:30pm. Now in 11th place of the 18-team TD1, with a win, four draws and two…
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