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  • Phuket songtaew driver returns ticket home to forgetful Finnish tourist

    PHUKET: A Phuket public bus driver saved the day for a Finnish tourist who left behind an important bag in a songtaew this morning.Kamala bus driver Kiattisak Hoksad found tourist Sami Oskari Lyytinen’s bag – containing a passport, a plane ticket to Finland and some cash – in the back of his songtaew at about 11:30am today. He immediately reported…

  • Rice farmer protest closes Phuket highway to Bangkok

    PHUKET: The main highway linking Bangkok to Phuket and the rest of Southern Thailand has been closed by rice farmers protesting the government’s failure to pay for rice produced and delivered under the controversial rice-pledging scheme. The blockade is in effect on Petchkasem Road in Ratchaburi, about 100km west of Bangkok. State news agency MCOT reported that the farmers staging…

  • Phuket boy drowns after chasing kite into sea

    PHUKET: A 9-year-old boy died after being pulled unconscious from the sea in northern Phuket yesterday. Noppadol Kerdsin had been flying a kite on Bang Duk beach at Tah Maphrao Bay (map here) with friends when the line snapped and his kite fell into the sea. Noppadol, who could swim, went into the water to retrieve it, but was repeatedly…

  • Body of Phuket fisherman’s son, lost at sea, washes ashore

    PHUKET: The body of a mentally-handicapped man who was knocked off a Phuket longtail boat by a large wave on Friday was found washed ashore yesterday. Jirawat Srisomporn, 27, who had been on the boat with his father, a fisherman, could not swim. After he fell into the sea between Rang Yai Island and Maphrao Island, off the east coast…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Diver dies during Costa Concordia salvage works

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Diver dies during Costa Concordia salvage works Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A Spanish diver died on Saturday during work to salvage the Costa Concordia cruise liner, which capsized off the Italian island of Giglio two years ago, the company in charge of the salvage work said.The diver…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Scores dead as Syrian forces drop ‘barrel bombs’ on Aleppo

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Scroes dead as Syrian force drop ‘barrel bombs’ on Aleppo Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Syrian military helicopters dropped more improvised “barrel bombs” on the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, a monitoring group said, bringing the death toll to at least 83 people in the latest episode…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Ukraine frees tortured activist as president returns to work

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Ukraine frees tortured activist as president returns to work Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The Ukrainian government bowed to intense Western pressure on Sunday to let an opposition activist fly abroad for treatment after his abduction, torture and then attempted arrest by police outraged critics of President Viktor…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Doubt lingers over poll outcome; Did PM slip-up?; Four dead in Pattani attack

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Doubt over poll outcomeThe Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Despite the government’s claim of “victory” after voting was conducted in 89 per cent of the country’s 375 constituencies yesterday, many factors point to the high likelihood that this election – marred by boycotts and a long rowdy…

  • Hurdles mount for successful Phuket elections

    PHUKET: Uncertainty looms over Phuket polls as hurdles multiply for a successful national election tomorrow. Perhaps the most significant obstacle to be jumped is getting the party list ballots for Phuket out of Chumphon Province and distributed throughout the island. Protesters in Chumphon are preventing staffers at a post office housing the ballots from distributing them to other southern provinces,…

  • Phuket yachties petition against boat stay law as wave of contract cancellations hits

    PHUKET: The yachting and marine industry in Phuket has launched a petition calling for Customs officials to repeal the new regulation limiting boat stays in Thailand to a maximum of two months during any one visit. The news comes as contracts for berths at Phuket marinas for six months or longer are being cancelled. “Some boats in Phuket are undergoing…

  • Phuket’s X-Terminal to be tested by Russians, Chinese

    PHUKET: Phuket’s X-Terminal officially opened yesterday and will begin serving the island’s two largest source markets on Wednesday. “The first two weeks are trial weeks for the terminal. We will start with six charter flights per day: three to Russia and three to China,” said Director of Phuket International Airport Pratuang Sornkham. “During this period, we will make sure that…

  • Video Report: Phuket protesters block police transfer of election ballots

    PHUKET: Phuket anti-government protesters are blockading the Thalang Police Station in an effort to prevent the transfer of ballots to voting stations for the national election tomorrow.A large crowd of protesters gathered outside of the police station, where the ballots are being held, at about 9pm yesterday.Five protesters, chaperoned by Thalang Police Deputy Superintendent Pisit Chunpet, were allowed to verify…

  • Phuket boat tracking system operational

    PHUKET: A 15-million-baht system that will track the location of the about 3,000 boats visiting Phuket each year finally has wind in its sails. “Right now, we can use our Automatic Identification System (AIS) to track boats on the north, west and south sides of the island. We are trying to get the budget to cover the east side too,”…

  • Phuket bus ban trial date pushed back, limited to traffic-heavy hours

    PHUKET: The Patong Hill bus ban, set to begin by the end of February, will only bar buses and large trucks from crossing Phuket’s most infamous hill from 6am to 9am and 4pm to 7pm. “We will not prevent buses from using the hill to enter Patong all day, just during rush hour,” Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) Chief Terayout…

  • Search called off for mentally-handicapped man lost at sea

    PHUKET: Phuket Marine Police have given up the search for a mentally-handicapped man who was swept from a longtail boat into the sea today. “We spent more than four hours looking for Jirawat Srisomporn, 27, before we had to call off the mission because of big waves,” said Lt Col Panya Chaichana of the Phuket Marine Police. Mr Jirawat, who…

  • Superbowl fever (pre-hangover) in Phuket

    PHUKET: As much as I love the National Football League (NFL), I am no fan of the two weeks of retarded media hype in the run-up to the Super Bowl, or “Stupor Bowl” as I like to call it, given the ungodly time it is broadcast live here in Phuket (Monday, February 4, 6:25am). Before I explain why, I should…

  • Phuket Opinion: Airport expectations hit rough turbulence

    PHUKET: Phuket is an international tourist destination – few can argue differently. Islanders may whine that it isn’t what it used to be, but even they are likely to admit that one of the benefits of progress is having an international airport, with international standards.The airport does meet standards, doesn’t it?World travellers and even domestic puddle jumpers have some basic…

  • Phuket Opinion: Creating a family for the ill far from home

    Anita Somaini, 51, is the owner of Baan Tschuai Duu Lää, a nursing facility in Rawai. She has degrees in nursing, emergency nursing and pharmacology and worked for 20 years in hospitals, geriatric institutes and pharmaceutical companies in her native Switzerland. She came to Phuket in 2010.Here, she talks about why Phuket is a good place for a nursing home,…

  • Phuket Opinion: Safe Phuket roads still nowhere to be found

    PHUKET: It is hard to imagine that only two countries in the world have more deadly roads than Thailand. Yes, Phuket Land Transport officials should take a measure of pride in the reduction of road accident deaths in recent years, but the island obviously has far to go before conditions on the roadways can be considered anything close to acceptably…

  • Girl in critical condition pulled from bottom of sea at Phuket beach

    PHUKET: Doctor’s are scrambling to save the life of a girl who was pulled unconscious from the sea floor at Nai Harn Beach today. “She arrived at about 3pm in critical condition,” Vachira Phuket Emergency Medical Service nurse Ladda Thongtan told the Phuket Gazette. The girl was one of four children pulled from the water during the rescue. Eyewitnesses to…

  • Officer accused of trafficking Rohingya to be investigated by PACC | Thaiger

    Officer accused of trafficking Rohingya to be investigated by PACC

    PHUKET: The Public-sector Anti Corruption Commission (PACC) Region 8 is awaiting final approval from Bangkok to start an investigation into a Phang Nga police officer accused of trafficking Rohingya women over eight months ago. The charges against the officer, Sen Sgt Maj Weerayuth Feuangfu, stem from the case of a Rohingya woman who reported that she was repeatedly raped after…

  • Russian tourists spring a leak, saved by Phuket fishing boat

    PHUKET: Two Russian tourists foundering in Phang Nga Bay after their kayak sprung a leak were rescued by a passing Phuket fishing boat yesterday afternoon.Maxim Abaturov, 37, and Valerii Grakhouskii, 38, were three kilometers from Phuket when a seal in the front of their two-man vessel began to let in water.Although the kayak remained afloat, it could not support the…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Syrian forces raze thousands of homes [Video] | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette World News: Syrian forces raze thousands of homes [Video]

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Syria peace talks take a break as rivals dig in Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Syrian authorities have flattened seven residential districts for no apparent military objective but to punish civilians living among rebels who had already fled, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.The New York-based advocacy group…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Amanda Knox convicted again of Briton’s 2007 murder

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Knox and Sollecito convicted again of Briton’s 2007 murder Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: American student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty on Thursday for the second time of the 2007 murder of Briton Meredith Kercher, in a retrial that reversed an…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Congo’s poachers threatened with U.N. sanctions

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Congo’s poachers threatened with U.N. sanctions Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The U.N. Security Council warned on Thursday that it would sanction individuals and entities supporting militants in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through illegal wildlife trafficking.The council’s unanimously adopted resolution on Congo extended the arms embargo…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Suicide bombers storm Iraq ministry building, 24 killed

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Suicide bombers storm Iraq ministry building, 24 killed Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Six suicide bombers burst into an Iraqi ministry building, took hostages and killed at least 24 people including themselves on Thursday before security forces regained control, security officials said.The brazen attack on the building belonging…

  • Phuket Finance: Sri Lanka could be the next frontier for investors

    PHUKET: When most Westerners think of Sri Lanka, the island nation off the coast of South India that was once known as Ceylon, they probably think of tea (as the country has long been a major tea exporter), science fiction author Arthur C Clarke (who spent most of his adult life living there) or the now defeated Tamil Tiger guerillas…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Tourism takes B50bn hit from protests

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bt50 bn loss expected in Q1 revenue from tourism The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Thailand’s tourism sector has lost income so far in the new year because of he political turmoil plaguing Bangkok, experts said.Small hotels and restaurants near protest sites have started to cut down their…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Violence stakes rise as red shirts ordered to protect poll; Chiang Mai named coup retreat capital; Govt fails to secure loans to pay rice farmers

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Violence feared as red shirts ordered to protect poll The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The likelihood of a volatile confrontation during this Sunday’s snap election has increased after a red-shirt leader yesterday urged government supporters to help ensure the voting would not be interrupted.Thida Tavonseth, chairperson of…

  • Aussie bar owner takes deadly tumble down Phuket stairs

    PHUKET: A 47-year-old Australian expat fell down a flight of stairs to his death yesterday after a night spent at his bar in Phuket. Adin Medzic had allegedly been drinking at his bar in the OTOP Market in Patong since 7pm Wednesday. He and his Thai partner, Fon Somwong, left together after the bar closed, Maj Weerapong Raktito of the…