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  • Girl’s killing unleashes media storm for law reform | Thaiger

    Girl’s killing unleashes media storm for law reform

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Girl’s killing unleashes media storm for law reform; SRT chief under pressure to quit The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Social media has been in overdrive since midnight Monday when Wanchai Sangkhao, 22, an employee of the State Railway of Thailand, allegedly confessed that he had…

  • Girl raped, murdered on train: SRT employee says he was drunk when he did it

    Girl raped, murdered on train: SRT employee says he was drunk when he did it

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community SRT employee says he was drunk when he inflicted crime The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A NEW employee of the State Railway of Thailand has claimed he was drunk when he raped and killed a 13-year-old passenger on a Bangkok-bound train early on Sunday.Wanchai Saengkhao,…

  • Police-station construction project to go ahead | Thaiger

    Police-station construction project to go ahead

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police-station construction project to go ahead The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Royal Thai Police have decided to go ahead with the construction of new police stations across the country. “The construction should begin in the next 70 days,” Deputy National Police chief General Worapong…

  • Eight hurt as Yala insurgents open fire on passenger bus

    Eight hurt as Yala insurgents open fire on passenger bus

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Eight hurt as bus guards battle insurgents in Yala The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Suspected insurgents yesterday opened fire at a passenger bus, injuring eight passengers as guards on the bus fought them off in Yala’s Krong Penang district. Bus driver Winai Preechachote told police…

  • Immigration looks to enforce life ban for overstays within weeks

    Immigration looks to enforce life ban for overstays within weeks

    PHUKET: New penalties that will lead to some foreigners caught overstaying their permits-to-stay being blacklisted from re-entering Thailand for life may be introduced before the end of the month. The news follows reports of a new form, titled “The Acknowledgment of Penalties for Visa Overstay”, being distributed to all immigration checkpoints throughout the country. The new proposed penalties are listed…

  • Armed soldiers join inspection of abandoned Phuket resort

    Armed soldiers join inspection of abandoned Phuket resort

    PHUKET: The investigation into land encroachment at Phuket’s Sirinath National Park continued today as officials – including about 30 armed Army personnel – inspected an abandoned resort, with national media in tow. The property, Phuket Peninsular Spa & Resort, is on the original list of 10 – which has now grown to 14 – that have long been under investigation…

  • Phuket fishermen save severely injured sea turtle

    Phuket fishermen save severely injured sea turtle

    PHUKET: Local fisherman saved an olive ridley sea turtle that washed onto a Phuket beach missing a flipper today. The fishermen notified Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers, who collected the turtle from Sai Kaew Beach and transported it to the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) at Cape Panwa. “The turtle’s shell was damaged and its front flipper had been cut off.…

  • Typhoon churns towards Japan, prompting calls to evacuate

    Typhoon churns towards Japan, prompting calls to evacuate

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Typhoon churns towards Japan, prompting calls to evacuate Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Hundreds of flights were cancelled in Japan and more than 500,000 people urged to evacuate as a powerful typhoon brought torrential rain and high winds to southwestern islands and was forecast to reach…

  • Nicaragua approves route for bn canal linking oceans

    Nicaragua approves route for $40bn canal linking oceans

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Nicaragua approves route for $40bn canal linking oceans Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Nicaraguan committee approved a proposed route on Monday for a $40 billion (129.6bn baht) shipping channel across the Central American country that would compete with the Panama Canal. The committee of government…

  • Breaking News: Phuket land verification center to end national park encroachment

    Breaking News: Phuket land verification center to end national park encroachment

    PHUKET: A land legality verification center will be established on Thursday to help investors be assured that the property they are purchasing is not encroaching on national park land or Phuket’s famed beaches. “We will set up a center where prospective investors can establish that the land documents, as well as the land they are looking to acquire, are legal,…

  • Migrant worker registration drive continues

    Migrant worker registration drive continues

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Migrant worker registration drive continues The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Officials from Thailand and Myanmar will meet next week to try to resolve problems in registering migrant workers, Lt-General Thanchaiyan Srisuwan, chief of the Supreme Command’s Directorate of Operations, said yesterday. In a video conference…

  • Ministry looks into Cambodia kidney scandal | Thaiger

    Ministry looks into Cambodia kidney scandal

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Ministry looks into Cambodia kidney scandal The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Thai Public Health Ministry is looking into a report published in The Cambodia Daily about a Cambodian woman allegedly running an organ-transplant racket in which she reportedly persuades people to sell their kidney…

  • Brazil without captain as nation awaits Germany clash

    Brazil without captain as nation awaits Germany clash

    PHUKET WORLD SPORT – World sport selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Brazil without captain as nation awaits Germany clash Reuters/Phuket Gazette Brazil will be without captain Thiago Silva for their World Cup semi-final against Germany after FIFA on Monday rejected an appeal against his yellow card, denting home hopes of lifting the trophy for the sixth time.…

  • Sihasak to brief UN’s Ban Ki-moon on Thailand’s post-coup status | Thaiger

    Sihasak to brief UN’s Ban Ki-moon on Thailand’s post-coup status

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Sihasak waiting to brief UN chief The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A delegation led by Foreign Ministry’s permanent secretary Sihasak Phuangketkeow was, as of yesterday, still waiting for a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to be confirmed. They hope to update UN…

  • Israel launches military offensive against Gaza

    Israel launches military offensive against Gaza

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Israel launches military offensive against Gaza Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Israel launched an aerial offensive in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, bombing more than 30 targets including homes and calling it part of a campaign named “Operation Protective Edge” targeting Hamas Islamist militants firing rockets…

  • Phuket Airport Immigration denies “express lane’ corruption

    Phuket Airport Immigration denies “express lane’ corruption

    PHUKET: Royal Thai Navy officers today called into question alleged corrupt practices by immigration officials at Phuket International Airport, such as soliciting cash payments from tourists. “We have heard that many immigration counters are not open when tourists arrive on international flights, so officers are supposedly soliciting money from them to use a ‘VIP’ lane to avoid the long queues,”…

  • Phuket Airport shops given three days to clean up, or get out

    Phuket Airport shops given three days to clean up, or get out

    PHUKET: Owners of the stores operating inside Phuket International Airport have until Thursday to present official proof from the Airports of Thailand (AoT) that they have permission to operate, or see their shops shut down, a Navy captain has warned. “Any airport shops open past the deadline without the appropriate papers posted at the store, or found selling products not…

  • Phuket begins fight against slavery on fishing boats

    Phuket begins fight against slavery on fishing boats

    PHUKET: The nationwide push to eradicate slavery in Thailand’s fishing industry started in Phuket today as the Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) began to receive lists of migrant workers employed in the field. Following the order by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), fishing boat operators have until July 21 to report the names of their migrant workers…

  • Phuket Provincial Hall smoked out during parlor fire

    Phuket Provincial Hall smoked out during parlor fire

    PHUKET: A fire erupted in a private reception room at Phuket Provincial Hall after an air-conditioning unit short-circuited this afternoon, causing about 30,000 baht in damage. “We were notified by an officer in Provincial Hall at about 4pm that a second-storey parlor had caught fire,” said Lt Col Kritsana Jannit of the Phuket City Police. “Firefighters from Phuket City Municipality…

  • Italian tourist in Hong Kong graft trial under Phuket Police protection

    Italian tourist in Hong Kong graft trial under Phuket Police protection

    PHUKET: The Italian tourist stabbed in a random gang attack in Phuket last week has been placed under 24-hour police protection. Antonio Papaleo, 44, was stabbed twice in the abdomen during a bungled bag snatch at 3am last Thursday. At last report, police had arrested seven of the nine suspects, most of them teenagers (story here). Mr Papaleo arrived in…

  • Breaking News: Army launches offensive against Phuket Airport taxi drivers

    Breaking News: Army launches offensive against Phuket Airport taxi drivers

    PHUKET: Soldiers, Navy personnel and a battery of local officials arrived in force at Phuket International Airport this morning to launch a campaign to arrest all taxi drivers illegally picking up passengers at the facility. Security personnel barred any taxis from exiting the airport car park without first obtaining permission to leave. “We have a list of all the drivers…

  • No typhoon, but heavy rain and big waves lead to Phuket boat warning

    No typhoon, but heavy rain and big waves lead to Phuket boat warning

    PHUKET: Heavy rain and wave heights that could reach four meters have led Phuket authorities to issue a small boat warning in effect through Thursday. “We are monitoring the waves, which are expected to be about 2-4 meters high,” said Santhad Panbanpeaw, director of the Thai Meteorological Department’s Phuket Office. “Small boat operators must be cautious and check the weather…

  • Crackdown on Thai fishing fleet ‘slave labour’ underway

    Crackdown on Thai fishing fleet ‘slave labour’ underway

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Crackdown on ‘slave labour’ underway The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Gen Ake Angsananont, the deputy national police chief in charge of suppressing human trafficking, yesterday vowed to crack down on “slave labour” in the fisheries industry and among foreign beggar gangs. The registration of migrant…

  • Turkish tourist ignores red flags, drowns

    Turkish tourist ignores red flags, drowns

    PHUKET: A Turkish man yesterday became the sixth person to drown in Phuket waters this year. Yalcin Dagdelen, 45, a guest at Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort, had been warned by hotel beach guards not to go swimming, but entered the water anyway, Kata-Karon lifeguard chief Uten Singsom told the Phuket Gazette. “The waves were very strong. Mr Dagdelen was…

  • Dazzling Djokovic savours victory over Federer

    Dazzling Djokovic savours victory over Federer

    AFTER almost four hours of mental torture, Novak Djokovic sank to his knees, crouched over the hallowed Wimbledon turf, plucked a blade of grass and put it in his mouth – never before had victory tasted so good. It was a victory that he should have been celebrating almost an hour earlier, it was a victory that almost slipped through…

  • Volume of missing rice climbs to 290k tonnes

    Volume of missing rice climbs to 290k tonnes

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community More rice missing from storage The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Military officials yesterday continued to inspect state rice stockpiles stored in provincial granaries and again found evidence that large quantities were missing or in poor condition. The rice inspection follows the junta’s order two weeks…

  • Six Jewish suspects arrested over death of Palestinian teenager

    Six Jewish suspects arrested over death of Palestinian teenager

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Six Jewish suspects arrested over death of Palestinian teenager Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Israel has arrested six Jewish suspects in the abduction and killing of a Palestinian teenager whose death sparked violent protests in Jerusalem and Israeli Arab towns, a security source said on Sunday.…

  • Australia says 41 asylum seekers handed back to Sri Lanka at sea | Thaiger

    Australia says 41 asylum seekers handed back to Sri Lanka at sea

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Australia says 41 asylum seekers handed back to Sri Lanka at sea Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Australia said on Monday 41 asylum seekers had been handed to Sri Lankan authorities at sea, another step that has galvanised opposition to the government’s hardline policy against illegal…

  • DNA tests confirm Phuket sea gypsy village “of 100 years’

    DNA tests confirm Phuket sea gypsy village “of 100 years’

    PHUKET: DNA tests on skeletal remains unearthed at the sea gypsy village in Rawai have confirmed that seafaring nomads have used Phuket’s southern beach to call home for more than 100 years. “The bones were buried deep in the ground at least 60 years ago,” said Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Director Chatchawal Suksomjit. The DNA from the bones matched…

  • House robbed, car stolen while Phuket resident sleeps

    House robbed, car stolen while Phuket resident sleeps

    PHUKET: Police are trying to track down a thief who robbed a house in Pa Khlok while the home owner was asleep, then stole his car and dumped it on a quiet street in Phuket Old Town early this morning. A resident on Bangkok Road notified Phuket City Police of an abandoned Toyota Fortuner parked in front of his house…