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Asean disaster specialists meet in Phuket to prepare for the next big one
PHUKET: Doctors and disaster medicine specialists from nine Asean countries are in Phuket to attend a workshop aimed at sharing knowledge and upgrading disaster response systems. Participants at the “Asean Disaster Medicine Workshop”, being held from April 23 to 25, described emergency response systems and international cooperation mechanisms in their own countries. They also took part in a simulation at…
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Australia rules out link between debris and Malaysian plane
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Australia rules out link between debris and Malaysian plane Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Authorities ruled out any link between debris picked up on an Australian beach and a missing Malaysian jetliner on Thursday as a tropical cyclone again threatened to hamper a 26-nation air, surface…
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Phuket’s one-stop yacht center trial period hits first software snag
PHUKET: The long-awaited, 70-million-baht one-stop yacht center at Chalong Pier opened on Monday only to see system bugs force officers to register all inbound yachts and crews by hand. “Monday was our first trial day for the center, and we had a lot of tourists come to Chalong Pier,” explained Phuket Provincial Administration Office Transportation Division Chief Prasit Yotharak. “We…
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Phuket Police brutality at heart of mega-blockade
PHUKET: Four police officers were removed from active duty last night to bring an eight-hour blockade of Phuket’s critical Thepkrasattri Road to an end at about 11:30pm. The officers – Lt Akarapol Siwilai, Sub Lt Manus Faipetch, Sgt Maj Sansak Choti and Sgt Yongyuth Ritplud, all of the Tah Chat Chai Police Station – were transferred to Phuket Provincial Hall…
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Body of Korean boy who raised alarm on sinking ferry believed found
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Body of Korean boy who raised alarm on sinking ferry believed found Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The body of a South Korean boy whose shaking voice first raised the alarm that a passenger ferry with hundreds on board was in trouble has been found, his…
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Fire-preventing pump bursts into flames on old Phuket ferry
PHUKET: A pump meant to reduce the risk of fire by sucking up old oil short-circuited and burst into flames on a ferry in Ao Por on Tuesday afternoon. All three men working on the ferry when the flames broke out jumped overboard and were rescued by a nearby boat. “The ferry was old and the men were cutting up…
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Angry Phuket mob stages blockade over twin teen rape suspects
PHUKET: A mob of angry residents this afternoon blockaded Phuket’s critical main artery, Thepkrasattri Road, amid outrage over the twin teenagers who raped a pregnant woman in the area on Sunday night. The blockade, just north of the turnoff to Phuket International Airport, formed at about 2pm after villagers realized that police would not be bringing the twin brothers to…
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Anything to declare? Airport officials asked to target bags of undisclosed cash
PHUKET: Officers at Phuket International Airport have been asked to target people carrying large amounts of undisclosed cash in the ongoing battle to crack down on transnational crime. The request comes from Glenn Tankard of the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Mr Tankard was in Phuket early this month in his role as head of the Thai Transnational Crime Coordination Network…
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Phuket airport health officials ramp up MERS surveillance
PHUKET: Health officials at Phuket International Airport have ramped up efforts to identify any travellers arriving in Phuket who are suspected of carrying the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (Mers-CoV). The news follows the death of a Malaysian man from complications caused by MERS after returning from Saudi Arabia, in what appears to be the first fatal case of the disease…
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Brazil set to pass Internet bill of rights
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Brazil set to pass Internet bill of rights Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Brazil’s Senate unanimously approved groundbreaking legislation on Tuesday that guarantees equal access to the Internet and protects the privacy of Brazilian users in the wake of U.S. spying revelations. President Dilma Rousseff, who…
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Yingluck offers to quit; Park chief probe over missing activist; Four dead from swine flu
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Yingluck to leave politics if country wants it; hasn’t raised issue with Thaksin The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday she is ready to step down if the people want her out, but added that she had not discussed the…
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First sign of South Korea ferry disaster was call from a frightened boy
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community First sign of South Korea ferry disaster was call from a frightened boy Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The first distress call from a sinking South Korean ferry was made by a boy with a shaking voice to a fire station, three minutes after the vessel…
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Manchester United’s manager canned
PHUKET: David Moyes’s troubled reign at Old Trafford came to an abrupt end on Tuesday when the Scot was sacked after a hugely disappointing 10-month spell as manager after replacing Alex Ferguson last July. Announcing his departure in a terse, two line statement, United thanked Moyes for, “the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role”. Veteran midfielder…
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Blackout in parts of northern Phuket tomorrow
PHUKET: Thalang District Electricity Authority (TDEA) has announced a major blackout scheduled to affect residents in Thalang tomorrow from 9am to 5pm. The scheduled blackout will affect areas along the southbound lane of Thepkrasattri Road, from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Thalang branch to the LPG gas station in Baan Li Porn. Thalang Hospital will be affected, but…
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Phuket residents approve north-south Chalong underpass
PHUKET: Local residents yesterday voted to approve a route for the Chalong underpass: a two-way underpass stretching one kilometer long that joins Chao Fa West Road and Wiset Road. The selected route was chosen at the second public hearing for the project, held at The Metropole Hotel in Phuket Town. The chosen route was among four options presented yesterday. The…
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Twin brothers arrested for rape of pregnant Phuket woman
PHUKET: Police are questioning 17-year-old twin brothers suspected of raping a pregnant woman along a dark stretch of road in northern Phuket on Sunday night. Tah Chat Chai Police have the pair in custody and are currently questioning them over the incident. The brothers are suspected of kicking a 25-year-old woman who is five months pregnant off her motorcycle, causing…
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PACC to dive in on Phuket corruption case on Monday
PHUKET: A Public-sector Anti Corruption Commission (PACC) team will begin its investigation on Monday into extortion charges lodged last month by 41 members of the Phuket dive community (story here). “At least nine PACC officers will form the investigation team. They will stay for as long as it takes to ensure that we have enough information to proceed with the…
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Pregnant woman kicked off her motorbike, raped in northern Phuket
PHUKET: Two men kicked a pregnant woman off her motorcycle, causing her to break a leg, then dragged her off the road and raped and robbed her in Mai Khao on Sunday night. The 25-year-old woman is five months pregnant. She was riding home alone from her job as a convenience store cashier when the attack occurred at about 10:30pm…
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Search for MH370: Seabed scans draw blanks, cyclone nears
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Cyclone threatens to disrupt search for missing Malaysian plane Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A tropical cyclone was threatening to hamper the search for a missing Malaysian jetliner in a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean on Monday, as a submarine drone neared the end of…
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Saudi Arabia sentences eight to death for 2003 attacks
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Saudi Arabia sentences eight to death for 2003 attacks Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Saudi Arabian court on Monday sentenced three more men to death, raising the number of people condemned for their involvement in a suicide attack on expatriate residential compounds in Riyadh in…
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South Korean ferry crew’s desertion ‘tantamount to murder’: Park
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community South Korean ferry crew’s desertion ‘tantamount to murder’: Park Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Monday the actions of some crew of a ferry that sank with hundreds feared dead were tantamount to murder, as a four-year-old video transcript showed…
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Parents search for abducted Nigeria girls, say 234 missing
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Parents search for abducted Nigeria girls, say 234 missing Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Parents of girls abducted by Islamist militants were searching for their daughters in a remote forest, they told the state governor on Monday, adding that 234 were still missing, a much higher…
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Disappearance of Karen activist prompts concern; NACC denies bias; Teacher exam cheating probe begins
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Disappearance of Karen activist prompts concern The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Several organisations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International Thailand, are pressing Thai authorities to speed up investigation into the disappearance of a leading Karen activist. Por Cha Lee Rakchongcharoen, also known as “Billy”,…
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Thaksin ready to sacrifice family; Triple murder in Yala; and more…
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thaksin ‘ready to sacrifice family’ The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is ready to “sacrifice his family” by ending its political roles so the country can emerge from the ongoing political impasse and move forward, his close aide said yesterday. However,…
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Police believe French national killed during robbery
PHUKET: Police believe a French national found dead in his rented Phuket bungalow on Friday was killed in the midst of a robbery. Officers are now working on identifying two suspects recorded by the resort’s CCTV cameras. The body of Fabrice Boigeol, 37, was found lying in a pool of blood partially under a stripped mattress in a room at…
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Employers escape jail terms for Phuket sewer deaths
PHUKET: The investigation into the deaths of four workers in a Phuket Town sewer last month has ruled that the two companies involved will face fines only. The news follows the Phuket office of the Department of Labor Protection and Welfare (DLPW) concluding its investigation on Saturday. “The next step is to send the case to Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut,”…
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Chinese tourist drowns while snorkelling, prompts life jacket warning
PHUKET: The chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) has issued a warning over the improper use of life jackets following a Chinese tourist drowning while snorkelling off Racha Yai Island on Saturday. Chalong Police were notified of the tourist’s death at about 3pm after the body of Ting Hong, 29, had been transferred from Racha Yai Island to…
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Tattooed body found off Phuket beach, believed to be foreigner
PHUKET: Police are trying to establish the identity of a body, believed to be of a foreign man, found floating off Pansea Beach this morning. The gruesome discovery was made by Santisuk Patkhim, a beach guard at the upscale Amanpuri Resort. Mr Santisuk secured the body then called Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers to help bring it to shore. “So far…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Prosecutors extend Korea ferry captain’s detention as death toll mounts
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Prosecutors extend Korea ferry captain’s detention as death toll mounts Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: South Korean prosecutors investigating a ferry disaster said on Sunday they would seek to extend the detention of the ship’s captain and two other crew by 10 days as they tried…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Reds to rally; Election slated for July; Farmers threatened over rice payments
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Red shirts to rally on eve of Yingluck verdict The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) will hold a mass rally of red shirts one day before the Constitutional Court delivers its verdict on whether Yingluck Shinawatra has lost…
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