News
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Phuket Gazette World News: Iran nuclear deal ‘not perfect’ but buys time – U.S. official
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Iran nuclear deal ‘not perfect’ but buys time – U.S. official Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: An initial agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program was “not perfect” but bought time to try to secure a comprehensive deal, U.S. officials said on Tuesday in response to sharp criticism from…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Scotland becomes 17th country to approve same-sex marriages
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Scotland becomes 17th country to approve same-sex marriages Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Scotland voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to allow same-sex marriages, becoming the 17th country to give the green light to gay marriage despite opposition from its main church organisations.The Scottish government, which will hold a referendum…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Rice farmers to block all major roads; Yingluck richer by the millions; Democrats move for court coup
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Farmers to block all main roads across country tomorrow The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Rice farmers plan to scale up their protests against the government by closing all main roads in the country tomorrow.With their days-long blockade of roads in Ratchaburi having little impact, rice farmers in…
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Getting down and dirty at the Rawai motocross track
PHUKET: Driving a car or riding a motorcycle around Phuket, one will quickly come to grips with the “rules of the road”. It can often make you wonder if you made a wrong turn and ended up on a racetrack. However, if you do indeed feel the need for speed there is a place where you can let loose and…
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Phuket protesters ignore Chalerm’s order to open government offices
PHUKET: Phuket protesters stand united in defying an order from Bangkok to re-open all government offices on February 6.Chalerm Yoobamrung, caretaker Labor Minister and director of the Center for Maintaining Peace and Order, issued the order yesterday.“I don’t care what Chalerm said, we are not under his control,” said Phuket protest leader Amnuay Kumban this morning.“We will maintain our blockade…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Smuggling, fraud cost Philippines US$25.8 billion in 2011, study says
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Smuggling, fraud cost Philippines $25.8 billion in 2011, study says Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: More than $410 billion in illicit money crossed the borders of the Philippines from 1960 to 2011, with customs fraud related to imported goods surging in recent years, according to a study released…
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Phuket Gazette World News: France’s Hollande retreats on family policy after protests
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community France’s Hollande retreats on family policy after protests Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: France’s Socialist government dropped plans on Monday to update family law this year after huge weekend protests by conservatives against gay-friendly reforms they say harm traditional families.The government tried on Monday to reassure the protesters,…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Highway blockade holds fast as economy braces for B240bn hit
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Desperate farmers seek help from King to get rice-scheme payments The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Farmers will appeal to His Majesty the King on Thursday over their plight resulting from overdue payments owing from the rice-pledging scheme. A farmer leader, Prakasit Jaemjumrat, said the group…
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Phuket media blackout on Hungarian execution case
PHUKET: Moshe David was in court today for the execution of Hungarian businessman Peter Reisz, whose body was found with hands bound in a rubber plantation on Phuket in 2012 (story here). The judge ordered a media blackout on reporting evidence presented at the case, which started at 2pm at Phuket Provincial Court. The judge asked for the blackout to…
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March 30 eyed for Phuket alcohol ban
PHUKET: If alcohol bans during the past two weekends for the national election weren’t enough, the Election Commission of Thailand today revealed that another is on its way, most likely on March 30. Election Commission Secretary-General Puchong Nutrawong explained to Phuket Gazette partner newspaper The Nation that the current term for senators will expire on March 3. The regular end…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman dead of suspected drug overdose
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman dead of suspected drug overdose Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the leading actors of his generation, who won an Academy Award for his title role in the film “Capote,” was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Sunday in…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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BREAKING NEWS: Protesters keep Phuket polls closed for national election
PHUKET: Protesters successfully shut down Phuket polling stations by 8:30 this morning. “Phuket elections have been terminated for today,” Phuket Election Commission Director Kittipong Thiengkunakrit told the Phuket Gazette. The anti-government protesters in Phuket prevented the distribution of MP candidate ballots from leaving Thalang Police Station (story here). The national party ballots for Phuket never made it to the island…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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Phuket doctors unable to save girl found at Nai Harn Beach
PHUKET: Doctors were unable to save the 12-year-old girl pulled unconscious from the bottom of the sea yesterday afternoon at Nai Harn Beach. “The Varissara Thongkham was pronounced dead at about 4pm,” a Vachira Phuket Emergency Medical Service officer told the Phuket Gazette this morning. She was in critical condition when she arrived at the hospital at about 3pm (story…
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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,”…
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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…
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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…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Election Special – How did we end up here? From Thaksin to today
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thailand Election Special – How did we end up here? From Thaksin to today Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Yingluck Shinawatra’s journey from political nobody to prime minister was breathtakingly swift. Her premiership’s descent into crisis has been just as rapid. A political neophyte when she…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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Bang Tao Canal ills on course to be solved by 2015
PHUKET: A multitude of infrastructure projects designed to stifle the stench and improve the quality of water being released from the Bang Tao Canal into the ocean are about 30 to 40 per cent complete, Cherng Talay Administrative Organization officer (palad) Krichanut Suphantakit has confirmed. The projects include two wastewater treatment plants: one in Bang Tao and one in Surin,…
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