News
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Sponsored Infinito helps hotels in Thailand with revenue management
Maximising revenue and profit–isn’t that the ultimate goal for every business in the hospitality industry? If you run a hotel, you might have heard that revenue management is an effective way to boost your top-line revenue. It involves using data...
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Thieves take a break in Phuket coffee shop, before making off with loot
PHUKET: Thieves broke into a coffee shop and stole a Samsung tablet and a CCTV recording unit, but not before availing themselves of the shop’s offerings.Police called to the scene found two bottles of Singha beer and two empty cake containers in a garbage bin, and a fan still turned on.Wassana Thanormsak, the owner of The Elephant coffee shop on…
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From planes to trains and back to automobiles
PHUKET: Over the past few weeks, political debates in Thailand have often been centered on the government’s national high-speed railway project. Punches, counter punches and even the kitchen sink have been thrown into the arena. Who the heck needs to run with the bulls when you can get gored by an out-of-control locomotive? During the same period, I was able…
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Phuket kart racing: Grimes eyes New Orleans
PHUKET: After returning from their holiday back in the UK, the Grimes boys (Ben and Sam Grimes) got back into action at the penultimate round of the 2013 Asia Max Challenge at the Sepang International Kart Circuit in Malaysia.The junior category boasted a fierce field of 35 drivers and Sam started the weekend well by out-qualifying his elder brother Ben…
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Police trainees bolster Phuket street presence
PHUKET: Police trainees from Surat Thani saw some frontline action in Phuket this week when they received on-the-job training at a checkpoint in Baan Bang Jo, in Srisoonthorn. Thalang Police Deputy Superintendent Amnuay Kraiwootthinan and a team of officers supervised the 14 trainees assigned to the Thalang precinct, while another 43 trainees from Surat Thani were dispatched to assist in…
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Body of missing Chinese swimmer washes ashore Phuket’s Kata Beach
PHUKET: The body of a Chinese tourist who disappeared while swimming at Karon Beach on Monday was found washed ashore at Kata Beach, about three kilometers away, yesterday afternoon.“We have now found the body of Sheng Caoliang, who was 31 years old and reported as missing on Sunday,” Karon Police officer Lt Sathaporn Seenoon said.“Mr Sheng and a friend went…
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Phuket ladyboys pickpocket Swedish tourist
PHUKET: Karon Police arrested two ladyboys on Tuesday following a theft complaint from a Swedish tourist.Robin Hedberg, 18, told police on Sunday that he and a friend had been walking past the Club Med hotel in Karon at 2:45pm when two ladyboys rode up to them on a motorbike and started talking with them.“While Numpong Phuchai chatted with them, Pairat…
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Driver overshoots Phuket curve, car collides with utility pole
PHUKET: A driver escaped serious injury after he overshot a curve on Phuket’s Baan Don-Thalang road and slammed into a roadside power pole on Monday night.The vehicle, a Ford Fiesta with Phang Nga license plates, was seriously damaged, but the driver and bystanders escaped injury.“We arrived at the scene with Kusoldham rescue workers to find a the car blocking the…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Woman jailed 5 years for lese majeste web comments
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thai woman jailed 5 years for anti-royal web post Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Thai court jailed a woman for five years yesterday for posting online comments insulting to the monarchy, the second ruling of its kind this week under tough lese-majeste laws carrying penalties…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Picture of flood devastation emerges
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international communityPHUKET: Twenty-five provinces – mostly in the North, Northeast and East of the country – remain flooded, though the situation is improving, says the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.Seasonal flooding, which has hit 32 provinces since September 17, has affected 2.86 million people and left 27 dead,…
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Three security men slain in hail of bullets in Krabi
PHUKET: A former Krabi village headman who owned a security company was gunned down at the site of a new job early yesterday morning, along with two of his staff. The three men were shot in a security box at the entrance to the Krabi Rubber Plantation Research Center in Lam Thap just after midnight. Witnesses said the three men…
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One-year-old boy dies, apparent victim of family abuse
PHUKET: A one-year-old boy who died at Vachira Phuket Hospital on Saturday likely died of wounds inflicted by a family member, say police. The child was brought to Thalang hospital by relatives at 11pm on Friday. He was unconscious, and his face and body were covered in bruises. “He was still breathing, but struggling, so the Thalang medical team gave…
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Two Chinese tourists mugged on the way to Cherng Talay supermarket
PHUKET: Two Chinese women on their way to a supermarket in Cherng Talay last night were attacked and robbed by two men on a motorbike.The women were walking to Tesco Lotus when the two men rode toward them.“The passenger got off the motorbike and snatched their bags, and the tourists fought to get the bags back,” said Jirasak Sungwisut of…
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Chinese tourists drowns at popular Phuket day-trip location
PHUKET: A Chinese tourist drowned at Koh Racha Yai yesterday afternoon, 14 weeks after another Chinese national drowned at the popular Phuket day-trip destination. Lin Hunhing, 30, was swimming near the island after lunch when he ran into difficulties. “There were big waves, up to two meters high,” said Thada Sodarak of the Chalong Police. “He tried to swim back…
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Russian expat likely killed in shallow-water blackout, says expert
PHUKET: A freediving expert believes that long-term Phuket expat and Russian freediver Denis Lipatov, 39, drowned off Koh Racha Noi on Saturday afternoon after diving alone and suffering a shallow-water blackout. Mr Lipatov, freediving alone, made his last descent at 3:50pm, to 25.5 meters according to his dive computer. The computer also recorded a very fast ascent, explained one of…
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Seat belt saves Phuket chief judge in auto wreck
PHUKET: Phuket Court Chief Judge Parinya Chaowalittawin became a traffic-accident statistic over the weekend when he survived an accident en route to Krabi. “I was on my way to see my parents in Trang, and had left Phuket at about 4:30am on Saturday,” Mr Parinya told the Phuket Gazette.“It was about 6am and I was some two kilometers past Krabi…
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Phuket Gazette World News: US shutdown with no end in sight
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community In first day of U.S. shutdown, no end in sight Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans came no closer to ending a standoff yesterday that has forced the first government shutdown in 17 years and thrown hundreds of thousands of federal employees out…
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Phuket’s new top cop makes a stand for human dignity
PHUKET: The incoming commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, Maj Gen Ong-art Phiwruangnont, has vowed to better protect the privacy and human dignity of suspects by calling for careful consideration before staging public “re-enactments” of crimes and criminal press conferences.“I will not order a ban on officers staging such events, but I will ask the superintendents of all police stations…
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Bangla daylight raid nets Phuket slow loris
PHUKET: Kathu District Chief Veera Kerdsirimongkol yesterday led a team of officers along Patong’s Soi Bangla in a daylight raid that netted one slow loris tout.Warawuth Saiudom, 20, from Kalasin province, was caught in the act of receiving money from a tourist for having a photo taken with one of the nocturnal creatures.“An undercover officer informed us that a slow…
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Phuket’s “Brother Pom’ leads Central taxi flock to legal co-op
PHUKET: The informal network of taxi drivers operating at Central Festival Phuket shopping mall will be registered as a formal co-operative as part of the drivers’ efforts to work as part of a fully-legal entity by November 30. The co-operative will call itself the Andaman Taxi Service Co-operative, explained network leader Pom Sukkasam, also known as “Brother Pom”. “We have…
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Tour operators warned of imposters in Similian National Park
PHUKET: The Similan Islands National Park authority has warned tour operators over a group of people posing as park officers and offering reduced entry fees to the islands. “A couple of weeks ago, a number of tour operators informed me that there was a group of people who approached them, claiming to be national park officers,” Similan Islands National Park…
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Alarmed drunkard dumps temple bell, flees scene
PHUKET: Police are on the lookout for a man who reportedly tried to sell a temple bell to a secondhand store in Thalang while drunk. Natthakarn Rattanaphan, 33, called the Thalang Police yesterday afternoon after a man arrived at her secondhand store in front of the well-known Term Fun housing estate in Baan Manik (map here). “The man, aged about…
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Go Eco Phuket starts eco-warrior recruitment
PHUKET: The first fifty people to contact local marine conservation group Go Eco Phuket will earn a spot at the Go Eco Camp, which plans on certifying and training islanders to be active marine conservationists. “Go Eco camp is now open for applicants. Applications will be accepted from expats, students and locals until November,” Jirayu Naragoonphithak, the project’s coordinator, told…
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Phuket jet-ski thug gets first taste of swift tourist court justice
PHUKET: The first cases heard in Phuket’s tourist court, which involved a jet-ski operator who attacked two tourists on Kata Beach, were resolved less than 36 hours after the incidents happened. Danaichet Yomjinda, 25, who pled guilty to charges of assaulting the two men on Friday with a “No Swimming” flagpole, was issued a 1,000-baht fine and put on probation…
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Krabi’s Andaman Eagles swoop down on Phuket FC
PHUKET: The Islanders fell into 11th place of the 18-team Yamaha League One (YL1) as a result of their latest defeat, 3-1 to Krabi FC in a tense “Andaman derby” match on Saturday evening in Krabi Town. As a result, Phuket FC and the Krabi “Andaman Eagles” swapped rankings, the latter moving up to 9th place with 38 points –…
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Phuket tour bus brakes fail, driver avoids disaster
PHUKET: Faulty brakes almost resulted in a tour bus smashing into a house on Patong Hill last night, in a near-repeat of an accident that occurred at almost the same location about four months ago (story here). “No injuries were reported. The Daow Duang Mai Travel company bus had no passengers. It was only carrying tourists’ luggage when the accident…
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Phuket’s new ‘top cop’ arrives on the island
PHUKET: Phuket’s new Provincial Police Commander, Maj Genl Ong-art Phiewruangnont, has arrived in Phuket. On arriving here yesterday evening, in a convoy of nine police vehicles, Maj Gen Ong-art first visited Baan Muang Mai stone and then the Heroines Monument, to pay his respects to Phuket’s illustrious history and cultural heritage. Speaking to the Phuket Gazette before his arrival, Maj…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Berlusconi plunges Italy into chaos; Air strike on Syrian school; US faces Fed Govt shutdown; Nigerian massacre; Space FalconX launches
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Italian politics in crisis after Berlusconi pulls support Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Silvio Berlusconi’s bid to push Italy into new elections faces a test on Monday when he meets lawmakers from his centre-right party who have shown growing unease over his shock decision to pull support from…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Floods hit, more rain coming; High hopes for baby panda; Govt urged to consider BRN proposal
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PM visits Prachin Buri as flood crisis intensifies The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The flood crisis in Prachin Buri was the focus of attention yesterday amid forecasts of more rain on the way and fears that local industrial estates could be submerged.The eastern province has been the…
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Rubber protests yield gains in Phuket
PHUKET: Rubber protests in recent weeks in Southern Thailand are now paying dividends for plantation owners in Phuket and the rest of the nation. Though the direct demands of the protests, which included a government subsidy for sheets of rubber were not met, the government has allocated a total of over 21 billion baht to be paid out to households…
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Kata jet-ski operator attacks Israeli tourists
PHUKET: Two Israelis, a father and son, were attacked and injured by a jet-ski operator wielding a “No Swimming” flag-pole on Kata Beach yesterday afternoon. The attack was motivated by damage to the jet-ski the pair had rented, the attacker – who was arrested soon afterward – told the police. “When we arrived at the scene, we found a lot…
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