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Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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Phuket coastal developments under scrutiny
PHUKET: Phuket governor Wichai Phraisa-ngob has backed concerns raised in an environmental impact assessment report that claims continued, unchecked development of Phuket coastal areas would destroy marine life and negatively impact local communities.The governor’s comments came after the release of the report last week compiled by a panel of Phuket-based environmental experts, including scientists from the Phuket Marine Biological Center…
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Phuket based celebrity chef Keith Floyd passes away
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette has learned that Phuket-based celebrity chef Keith Floyd, owner of Floyd’s Brasserie at Burasari Resort Patong, Phuket, has died following a heart attack on Monday at his home in Dorset in the UK.He was 65 years old. — Gazette Reporters
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Bill Owen has passed away
PHUKET: Bill Owen, the founder of The Travel Company and, later, the events management firm Oriental Leisure, passed away in hospital earlier this morning in Swansea, South Wales. The popular entrepreneur had been a Phuket resident for more than 20 years and was best known for his enthusiasm about Thailand and southeast Asian travel, and for his zest for life.…
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Air crash simulation at Phuket Airport
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: A full-scale air crash simulation took place at Phuket International Airport this morning under the banner of the Emergency Plan Exercise 2009. From 9.00am to 12pm officials from the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, Phuket Provincial Police, Tourist Police, Marine Police, airline staff and other local government and private sector agencies combined efforts to evaluate their readiness…
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Phuket police hunt ‘ballot box killer’
PA KHLOK, PHUKET: Phuket police are hunting a killer who stabbed a 26-year-old man to death before straddling the body and carving a bizarre symbol into the torso with a knife.Pornsit Pongsakornsopa’s corpse was found on Sunday morning in the middle of Srisoonthorn Road, opposite Boom Boom Karaoke, about 100 meters from Heroines’ Monument.There was some disagreement over the exact form of…
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JJ in new Phuket jet-ski dispute
PATONG, PHUKET: New footage has emerged showing Phuket’s infamous jet-ski man, Winai ‘JJ’ Naiman, in another dispute with marines – this time from the US Navy. The video, released by British TV producer Gavin Hill, shows police officers standing by as Thai jet-ski operators demand cash for damage to a vehicle. The footage ends with one US serviceman handing over…
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Phuket license plate goes for 800,000 baht
PHUKET: A man paid 800,000 baht for a single license plate at the Department of Land Transport’s 5th Annual License Plate Auction at the Metropole Hotel in Phuket City last weekend.Kampanat Thantiwat was the winning bidder for the plate ‘Kor Tor 9999′, the most expensive at the auction.Department of Land Transport Director General Chairat Sa-nguanchuen presided over the event, which was…
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OPINION: Is Phuket ready for welfarism?
PHUKET: Thailand’s leading think tank has proposed a “survival strategy” for the nation: an exit from the current economic and political distress by transforming the country into a “welfare state” that would help bridge wealth and income disparity. The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), led by its chairman, Dr Nipon Poapongsakorn, says the group’s research has found that disparities in…
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Phuket’s infamous jet-ski man bailed
PATONG, PHUKET: Winai ‘JJ’ Naiman, the jet-ski operator arrested on extortion charges in Phuket this week, was bailed yesterday. An officer at Phuket Provincial Court said Mr Winai had posted a land title deed worth 700,000 baht to secure his release. Footage of Mr Winai, 28, threatening a group of British Royal Navy Marines with a gun was broadcast on…
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Phuket police seize almost 4,000 ya ba pills
THA CHAT CHAI, PHUKET: Phuket police arrested a 26-year-old man in possession of almost 4,000 ya ba (methamphetamine) pills at Tha Chat Chai checkpoint yesterday. Mr Pakorn Sa-nguansin told police he was a courier delivering the pills to a customer in Mai Khao. He picked up the drugs from a Burmese man in Phang Nga, he said. Tah Chat Chai…
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Appeal for help from Phuket’s divers
PHUKET: The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources is appealing to Phuket’s dive industry for volunteers to take part in its ‘Reef Watch’ surveying program. The program aims to assess the health of Thailand’s coral reefs. The collected data will be used as part of World Ocean Day 2010, and all findings will be available to the public. The research…
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Phuket parents outraged over school beating
KATHU, PHUKET: A 12 year-old student at a Phuket school claims her math teacher gave her a severe beating with a steel ruler in front of a class full of students because she did not do her homework. The girl’s parents have complained to police about the incident and are demanding that Baan Mai Riab School in Kathu issue the…
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Phuket Airport to get Asean upgrade
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Phuket may have lost out to Hua Hin in the race to host October’s Asean Summit, but a 30-million-baht upgrade of Phuket Airport planned to help cope with the meetings will go ahead anyway, the Gazette has learned. The improvements, which include increasing the number of channels through Immigration, adding X-ray machines and expanding the car park,…
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New Phuket airline launches regional flights
PHUKET: A new Phuket-based airline has announced the launch of daily flights between Phuket and Haad Yai along with a new weekend Phuket-Langkawi route. The newly-launched Happy Air will begin operating flights from Phuket next month with its 34-seat Saab 340A aircraft. The daily 40-minute Phuket-Haad Yai flights are currently scheduled to depart from Phuket at 9:30am and arrive in…
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Landlocked Chinese eye up Phuket’s beaches
PHUKET CITY: Representatives from three landlocked Chinese provinces were in Phuket this week to examine the island’s appeal as a tourist destination for their sand- and sea-deprived residents.The delegates from Yunnan, Hunan and Guizhou provinces, which have a combined population of over 150 million, held talks with Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop and other officials at Provincial Hall yesterday.The six Chinese…
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Dispute leaves Phuket homes on a precipice
WICHIT, PHUKET: More than a hundred angry Phuket residents took to the streets last night to protest against a new housing development which they say will make them homeless. Panason City Village is a modern housing complex being built on 78 rai next to Soi Thep Anusorn off Chao Fa East Road in tambon Wichit. A number of the protesters have lived in…
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Loan shark shaken by suicide cell
BANGKOK: A loan shark found the police were the least of his worries after being detained in a haunted cell. On September 1, Crime Suppression Division (CSD) officers arrested Sombun Thong-kham, 39, for extortion and unauthorized money lending, and placed him in custody at CSD headquarters on Phahonyothin Rd. Around 3am the following morning, the duty sergeant heard Mr Sombun…
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Drunk driver chows on cops
UDON THANI: A drunk driver bit two police officers who asked him to take a breathalyser test. Police said salesman Chatsak Ploicharoen, 36, was weaving all over the road as he drove his pickup truck towards a police checkpoint in Udon Thani. Police signaled for him to stop, but he drove straight through the checkpoint. Two officers chased after him…
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Chinese celebrate Por Tor festival in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s ethnic Chinese community celebrated the annual Por Tor festival in style over the weekend with ceremonies at the new Phuket City Fresh Market 1 on Ranong Rd. Science and Technology Minister Kalaya Sophonpanich presided over the opening of the festivities, which featured Thai and Chinese cultural shows on a stage in front of the market. It was…
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Movie to entice more Koreans to Phuket
PHUKET: A new 5-million-baht short film about Phuket aims to tempt more Korean tourists to visit the island. The film, simply entitled Phuket, stars a well-known Korean movie star, Im Soo Jung, and Thai actor Sorapong Chatree. Phuket will be previewed at the Pusan International Film Festival 2009 next month and screened on board airlines, including THAI and Korean. The…
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Bt2 billion for Phuket conference center: Anchalee
PHUKET CITY: Phuket will receive a two billion baht central government budget in fiscal 2010 to build the long-awaited international convention and exhibition center (ICEC) at the island’s northern tip, the Prime Minister’s Office has announced. Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, who currently serves as Deputy Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister’s political affairs section, made the announcement via a press…
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Phuket prepares for lucky number nine
PHUKET: Tomorrow – the ninth day of the ninth month of the year 2009 – is considered a highly auspicious day by Thais.In Phuket, Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop will preside over a ceremony attended by his deputies and other government officials at Phuket Community Hall to mark the special date.A large number of couples will also register marriages at Phuket’s registry offices…
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Phuket president cleared of vote-buying
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) President Paiboon Upatising has been cleared of vote-buying following an Appeals Court ruling earlier today. Mr Paiboon said he would return to work ‘immediately’ following the ruling by the Region 8 Court of Appeals in Bangkok. The verdict overturned a ‘yellow card’ ruling by the Election Commission (EC) in Bangkok, which found there…
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Big Phuket birthday party for ‘World’s oldest man’
PHUKET CITY: More has been revealed about the amazing life of Luang Pu Supha, claimed by adherents to be the oldest man in the world. Luang Pu Supha, abbot of a temple named after him in Chalong, is preparing to celebrate his 113th birthday in Phuket next week. Government-issued identification records presented to the Gazette show he was born on…
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UFOs drop into Phuket
PHUKET: A family in Phuket had a close encounter with unidentified falling objects at the weekend when about a hundred small spheres ‘dropped from the sky’ onto their roof and garden.The family of six said the transparent balls fell on their home in Wichit about 9am on Sunday directly after a rain shower.“After the rain had stopped, we heard the…
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Opinion: Nature punishing man’s folly in Phuket
Developments in recent weeks underscore the need for better engineering design when planning construction projects on the island. Phuket was able to withstand centuries of tin mining with enough of its natural beauty intact to subsequently develop into a world-class tourist destination. Yet as destructive as tin mining was, its legacy has been no match for the environmental destruction that…
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Phuket’s police find nothing in drug raids
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop, some top officials and a lot of police officers crashed some of Phuket City’s most popular parties on Friday night – on the hunt for drugs and weapons. But those who fret about the loose morals of Thailand’s youth of today will be relieved to find out the police came out empty-handed. Gov Wichai,…
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‘Mermaid’ baby passes away at Vachira Phuket Hospital
PHUKET CITY: The Burmese infant born in Phuket with ‘mermaid syndrome’ has died of kidney failure after a month-long struggle for survival, doctors have confirmed. The infant, named Nichapa, was born at Vachira Phuket Hospital on July 9 after just 35 weeks of gestation. She suffered from the rare congenital condition known technically as Sirenomelia, which is found in approximately…
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Phuket police report rise in prostitution
PHUKET CITY: Police reported a rise in arrests for prostitution in Phuket during August 2009, with 164 arrests representing a 70.8% increase over the same month last year. Statistics for August released by the Phuket Provincial Police show that drug-related offenses were the most common crimes, with 208 people arrested in 179 cases. The figure is a 50.4% increase year-on-year.…
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Plans for wind farm near Phuket’s “Big Buddha’
PATONG, PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Energy Office plans to build windmills in the Nakkerd Hills near the ‘Big Buddha’ image, a seminar on alternative energy was told on Thursday. Phuket Energy Office chief Jirasuk Tummawetch made the announcement during the seminar, held at the Royal Paradise Hotel in Patong. Chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Smith Palawatvichai, the seminar was organized…
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