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Phuket expats, tourists called upon to report corrupt officials
PHUKET: The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) Phuket office announced today that resident expats and tourists in Phuket should report cases of corruption to its officers. “We are encouraging all foreigners on the island to come forward with any allegations of corruption involving local government officials,” said Tawichat Nillakan of the NACC Phuket office. Complaints can be lodged at the NACC…
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Man in maniacal fit jumps from third-floor balcony of Phuket hospital
PHUKET: Officers at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town were forced to restrain a patient in a maniacal fit after he jumped from a third-floor balcony to a balcony on the second floor, and threatened to jump again. The man, who hospital officers declined to name, was preparing to jump from the second floor to the pavement below when officers…
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Phuket freedivers go for distance in the Dynamic with Fins event
PHUKET: Freedivers slipped on a variety of fins from mermaid tails – monofins – to traditional freediving fins to put up some long horizontal dives at the We Freedive Suunto Series at Phuket Country Home late last month. The Dynamic with Fins (DYN) event, which allows divers to use fins, but not their arms, on October 26 saw a non-ranked…
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Bill Gross’s resignation triggers concerns about the health of the market
PHUKET: Bill Gross, regarded by many as the most successful bond investor of modern times, has just made a huge move by leaving the company and fund that he came to represent personally, which raises questions as to the implications this may have for the broader bond market. The timing does not seem to be a coincidence. Why did he…
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Dance World gives island residents a place to move their feet
PHUKET: Since opening its doors in 1991, Simon Cabaret has established itself as a must-see show for tourists visiting Phuket. The show draws in visitors who have equal interest in witnessing the flamboyant show, as they have in seeing the deceptively convincing ladyboy dancers. In fact, the show’s website warns patrons that they will leave confused. The cabaret’s owners, however,…
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The power of a photograph
PHUKET: It comes as little surprise that the mauling of Australian tourist Paul Goudie at “Tiger Kingdom” in Phuket drew unprecedented interest (story here) from readers across the globe. Humankind’s innate fear of big cats – as well as the dearth of such attacks in recent decades – makes it the kind of incident that really moves the needle in…
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King’s Cup dinghy series returns to Phuket
PHUKET: Sailing season will kick off this weekend at Cape Panwa when a fleet of more than 20 Optimists and Lasers set sail today in the Phuket Dinghy Series 2014, ahead of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta to be held in December.. The Series race will start at Cape Panwa in front of the Sailing Club of the Royal Thai…
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Testing times for Phuket’s ACYC yacht racers
PHUKET: Sailors last week were once again tested by contrary winds and complicated tidal flows during Ao Chalong Yacht Club’s (ACYC) Sunday race series. One of the slowest downwind spinnaker starts got the fleet of six boats off on an in-harbor course of three windward leewards. Rounding marks for Race 7 Series 2 included a yellow buoy off the Rawai…
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Phuket police prevent Patong drug dealer shootout
PHUKET: Provincial Police Commander Patchara Boonyasit has praised the Patong Police for taking quick action in arresting an armed Phuket motorbike taxi driver preparing to take down a rival kratom drug dealer with a homemade handgun. At a press conference yesterday, Maj Gen Patchara presented the two kratom dealers, their illegal firearms and more than 10 kilograms of the narcotic…
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Aussie bar owner in Phuket dies after Malaysia visa run
PHUKET: A 63-year-old Australian bar owner has died after returning to Phuket from a visa run to Malaysia. He was to turn 64 today. Philip William Gillham, owner of the Octopus bar in Soi Sea Dragon, off Patong’s famed Soi Bangla, was found dead at his home early yesterday morning. “We received a report that Mr Gillham had died of…
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Yingluck impeachment proceedings in 25 days, says NLA
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Yingluck impeachment proceedings in 25 days, says NLA Phuket Gazette PHUKET: National Legislative Assembly (NLA) vice-president Surachai Liengboonlertchai said yesterday the impeachment proceedings against ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra would take no more than 25 days. Yingluck faces impeachment proceedings for alleged failure to stop corruption in her…
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Koh Tao Murders: Village chief’s son volunteers DNA samples
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Koh Tao Murders: Village chief’s son volunteers DNA samples The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Medical teams from four institutes yesterday joined the process to conduct DNA tests on a 22-year-old man whom many Thai social-media users alleged is a suspect in the murder of two…
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Indian terror fugitive entered Thailand on Sept 7, no record of him leaving
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Indian terror fugitive entered Thailand on Sept 7, no record of him leaving The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Immigration investigations into an Indian fugitive wanted for killing a minister in a car-bomb attack has found that he entered Thailand thrice this year, the last being…
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Tourist run over by jet-ski jeep on Phuket beach
PHUKET: A tourist was run over by a vehicle towing a jet-ski trailer on a Phuket beach on Tuesday, prompting a jet-ski management and safety meeting this afternoon. The Phuket Gazette was notified of the incident by a foreign man, who asked not to be named, who witnessed the incident on Kata Beach. “A woman was run over by a…
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Man shot dead in front of his son in Phuket street
PHUKET: A man was shot dead in cold blood this morning in full view of his son, during busy morning traffic. Police said Chaliaw Piyapanikul, 47, who was with his 11-year-old son, had dismounted from his motorbike at the Wor Kor Intersection, near Phuket Rajabhat University, when the killer struck. Mr Chaliaw’s son told police that his father got off…
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Etihad Airways appoints new Thailand GM
PHUKET: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has appointed Dimitrios Karagkioules as general manager for Thailand. Mr Karagkioules, who has more than 20 years of airline experience, takes up the Bangkok-based role after five years as Etihad Airways general manager in Athens, Greece. Before joining Etihad, Mr Karagkioules held a number of Athens-based sales and marketing…
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Fishing around for the answers
Jaroenchai Srisuwan, 48, from Songkhla, has been involved in Phuket’s fishing industry for more than 10 years. In March 2013, he became chief of the Krabi Fishery Management Center. During the short time that he has been chief, he has dealt with more than 100 cases of illegal trawling and arrested more than 250 suspects for illegal fishing. Here, he…
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Halloween will glow at Thanyapura’s family fun run
PHUKET: Themed running events have been making a splash in the world of charity fund-raising sport events. Glow in the dark, colored powder, rock and roll, pink ribbons, rainbows and midnight runs are among the many recurring themes. Never one to be behind the curve, Thanyapura will be taking the themed-run concept a step further this Saturday by combining multiple…
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Asian Beach Games welcome new sports
PHUKET: Several new sports will be added to the 4th Asian Beach Games being held in Phuket this month, making them the biggest Games ever in terms of the number of sporting events. The additional sports will include: Muay Thai, extreme sports, jet-ski sports, beach wrestling and Kurash, a form of Turkish wrestling. The Asian Beach Games is a multi-sports…
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Village chief’s son to face DNA tests for Koh Tao murders
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Village chief’s son to face DNA tests for Koh Tao murders The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Police will today make arrangements for a Koh Tao village headman’s 22-year-old son to undergo DNA tests to either confirm or clear lingering doubts that he may have had…
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New Phuket Governor joins his first White Prison dawn raid
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong joined his first dawn search of Phuket Provincial Prison to re-affirm the facility’s “White Prison” status yesterday morning. The mass search, conducted by more than 100 officers from military, police, Corrections Department, Health Office and other government agencies, failed to uncover any drugs or contraband. Areas searched included personal lockers of all inmates as well…
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First defamation case against Hall dismissed
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community First defamation case against Hall dismissed The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Phra Khanong Court in Bangkok yesterday dismissed a defamation case brought against British rights activist Andy Hall by Natural Fruit Co, a Thai pineapple exporter. According to the court decision, the case was…
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Britain’s Fraud Office launches probe into Tesco accounting scandal
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Britain’s Fraud Office launches probe into Tesco accounting scandal Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has opened a formal criminal investigation into accounting errors at Tesco, raising the stakes in a scandal that has hammered the reputation of the country’s biggest grocer.…
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Bangkok Airways reveals four new direct flights
PHUKET: Bangkok Airways has launched a non-stop daily service linking Phuket and Chiang Mai as one of four new non-stop services for destinations in Thailand and Myanmar. Previously, passengers travelling between Phuket and Chiang Mai had to connect at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. Served by an Airbus A320 aircraft with a seat capacity of 162, Flight PG247 departs Phuket at…
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Multi-billion-baht pyramid scheme magnate arrested in Phuket
PHUKET: A Chinese man who donated 34 million baht to a Phuket temple in July has been arrested along with two other Chinese nationals for their roles in a pyramid scheme that reportedly duped people out of a total of 9 billion baht in China and Malaysia. In making the arrests, police seized cash and assets valued at more than…
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Swingers tee up record golf cart drive from Pattaya to Phuket
PHUKET: Golfers Graham Haslam and Mark Cameron are preparing to set a world record by driving an electric golf cart from Pattaya to Phuket to raise funds for local children’s education charity Phuket Has Been Good To Us. The “standard” electric golf cart selected for the record-breaking undertaking, to begin in March next year, will include some modifications, namely solar…
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Rubber farmers want more than a subsidy, suspect graft
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Rubber farmers want more than a subsidy, suspect graft The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Leaders of rubber farmers in the South have expressed disappointment with the government subsidy of Bt1,000 per rai, limited to a maximum of 15 rai each. Tossapol Kwanrod, chairman of the…
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18-year-old gets 25 years for slaying parents, brother
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community 18-year-old gets 25 years for slaying parents, brother The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Court last week handed down a 25-year jail term to an 18-year-old for murdering his parents and his younger brother on March 9, Pathum Thani police chief Pol Maj-General Montri Yimyaem said…
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Bangkok bans airborne lanterns for Loy Krathong
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bangkok bans airborne lanterns for Loy Krathong The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has banned airborne lanterns for the upcoming Loy Krathong festival – on November 6 – in areas around the capital. The ban will cover areas such as the…
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Myanmar journalist killed by army was former bodyguard of Suu Kyi
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Myanmar journalist killed by army was former bodyguard of Suu Kyi Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Myanmar journalist who was killed in army custody this month was once a democracy activistand a bodyguard for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, his wife said on Tuesday,…
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