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Back to business amid good conditions at Phuket King’s Cup Regatta Day 4
PHUKET: Consistent winds made a very welcome return for Day Four of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta yesterday. All classes sailed, with exceptionally tight action and some big winning margins. The King’s Cup this year has played host to an offering of IRC class racing, especially at the high-tech “Grand Prix” end of the classes such as in IRC0, where…
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Phuket goes both ways with first underpass
PHUKET: The underpass near Central Festival Phuket is now open to two-way traffic, as officials scramble to complete the intersection. “We opened the underpass to northbound and southbound traffic on Wednesday,” explained Samak Luedwonghad, director of the Phuket Highways Office. “Meanwhile we will continue to work on the surface streets above it.” The 600-million-baht underpass was originally slated for completion…
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Phuket blood center calls for donations in honor of HM The King
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) has invited all qualified island residents to make a blood donation in honor of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 87th birthday today. Those wishing to honor HM The King in this way will have a chance to sign a get-well message for His Majesty, explained PRBC Acting Chief Pornthip Rattajak. “We currently have 700…
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Phuket joins nation to honor HM The King’s birthday
PHUKET: Although Phuket residents will not be able to welcome the Royal Family at Amarin Vinitchai Hall in the Grand Palace in Bangkok, they will no doubt be glued to their television screens as HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej appears for an audience this morning to mark His Majesty’s 87th birthday. Since yesterday evening, members of the public began gathering along…
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Phuket bar owners called to honor Father’s Day booze ban
PHUKET: Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak has signed a formal request to be issued to all bar owners, restaurateurs and other purveyors of alcohol throughout Phuket to refrain from selling booze tomorrow in honor of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 87th birthday. Vice Governor Somkiet told the Phuket Gazette that he understands there is no law to prohibit the sale of…
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Phuket King’s Cup Regatta battles light winds
PHUKET: Very little early wind yesterday brought most of the fleet competing in the 28th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta off Kata Beach to a momentary rest, with racing action to resume today. Thursday is traditionally reserved as the “reserve day” to accommodate days of very light weather such as suffered yesterday, but today will be used as a full racing…
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Police corruption fugitive a billionaire Thai in the business world
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police corruption fugitive a billionaire Thai in the business world The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Nopporn “Nick” Suppipat, president of Wind Energy Holding (WEH), is accused of being involved in a scandal linked to former Central Investigation Bureau chief Gen Pongpat Chayapan. It is alleged…
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Preparations underway for Deep South peace talks
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Preparations underway for Deep South peace talks The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: As moves to restore peace in the Deep South go into motion, the Army’s chief adviser Gen Aksara Kerdpol said yesterday that he will speak with facilitators in Malaysia in the middle of…
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BMA ready to order Aetas hotel demolition
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community BMA ready to order Aetas hotel demolition The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Aetas hotel will be the largest building to face a demolition order from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration for breaking regulations, its BMA deputy permanent secretary Kritsada Kluntanont said yesterday. “We have ordered…
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Koh Tao suspects not coerced, police tell human rights panel
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Koh Tao suspects not coerced, police tell human rights panel The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Police have not used any violence against two Myanmar nationals detained over the murders of two British tourists on Koh Tao, a senior police officer told a subcommittee of the…
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Critical Phuket underpass intersection to close for three months
PHUKET: Phuket City Police have announced that the lanes of traffic flowing between Kathu and Samkong at the Samkong Intersection, the site of the Tesco underpass, will be closed from December 6 to March 1. During that time, motorists approaching the intersection from the east or the west will be forced to make a left turn, and then proceed to…
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Cambodian monks disrobed in Phuket, await deportation
PHUKET: A group of 19 Cambodian monks are awaiting deportation after they were arrested and disrobed for violating several rules of the Buddhist monkhood as practiced in Thailand. The monks were escorted by Wichit Police and Muang District officers to Wat Mongkol Nimit in Phuket Town to be stripped of their monkhood by Phra Kru Mettaphirom yesterday. The monks failed…
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Pregnant mum survives horror Phuket crash
PHUKET: A five-month pregnant woman and five other people are in hospital after the pick-up truck they were travelling in crashed into a power pole on Thepkrasattri Road early this morning. Jantree Harnhong, 30, was on her way to Phuket with her 33-year-old partner Noppol Karnjanaburi and four others when the accident occurred in front of Muang Thalang School at…
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Phuket King’s Cup Regatta: Light winds lead to tricky, tight racing
PHUKET: Following Day One’s extremely close racing, Day Two of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta served up a trickier challenge to crews in the form of very light wind conditions. All of the classes were fought in close-quarters positions, reflecting well on this year’s revised class structure, which was designed to encourage very tight and visually impressive racing action. Karl…
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Prosecutors claim case against Koh Tao Myanmar pair is solid: source
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Prosecutors claim case against Koh Tao Myanmar pair is solid: source The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Public prosecutors expect the case against two Myanmar suspects accused of murdering two British tourists on Koh Tao to be treated seriously by a court in the South because…
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Govt urged to defer increase in VAT
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Govt urged to defer increase in VAT The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Thailand’s leading private organisations are urging the government to delay the planned increase in value-added tax next year, saying that Thais will not be ready to pay more during what is expected to…
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Missing Karen activist ‘never released’ after arrest
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Missing Karen activist ‘never released’ after arrest The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A police probe into CCTV footage suggests that missing Karen activist Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen was never released following his arrest on a petty offence by Kaeng Krachan National Park officials, police investigators said…
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Police Corruption Scandal: Seized artifacts to be repatriated
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police Corruption Scandal: Seized artifacts to be repatriated The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Some of the 50 artifacts worth more than 50 million baht found in the treasure trove seized by officers raiding the homes of disgraced former crime-buster Lt Gen Pongpat Chayaphan will be…
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Royal family to hold much-awaited public audience
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Royal family to stage much-awaited public audience The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Their Majesties the King and Queen, HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, and HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, will grant a much-awaited public audience at the Amarin Winitchai Throne Hall at 10.30am on Friday.…
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Court orders demolition of luxury Bangkok hotel
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Court orders demolition of luxury Bangkok hotel The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: AETAS, a luxury 24-storey hotel in Soi Ruamrudee, Bangkok, faces demolition within 60 days on the orders of the Supreme Administrative Court, which yesterday upheld an earlier ruling that the construction violated building…
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Phuket beach vendors protest with national anthem
PHUKET: Dozens of Phuket beach vendors gathered at the Patong Police Station and sang Thailand’s national anthem yesterday, after they were forced off the beach by police and municipality officers. “The Navy told us that we were allowed – that only umbrella vendors were prohibited,” one vendor told the Phuket Gazette. “We are just trying to make a living. Why…
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Father, son arrested for Phuket bag-snatch
PHUKET: Police arrested a father-and-son bag-snatching duo for robbing a woman in Phuket Town yesterday, allegedly in order to make payments for the motorbike used in the crime. Officers arrested Narongchai Aroonmek, 39, and his 15-year-old son at a rented room in Rassada at about 7pm. “We tracked them down after reviewing CCTV footage in the Vanich Road area of…
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One dead, three injured in family trip to Phuket
PHUKET: One woman died and a father and daughter were rushed to Vachira Phuket Hospital with critical injuries after their car crashed into a roadside canal yesterday in northern Phuket. Police and Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers were called to the scene, on Thepkrasattri Road northbound, about 200 meters from the Hongyok Bumrung School in Baan Suan Maphrao, at about 5:15pm.…
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Victories down to seconds at Phuket King’s Cup Regatta
PHUKET: Racing began in earnest in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta yesterday with a fleet of 93 keelboats and catamarans from 16 countries, jostling in close-quarters competition in honor of the birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Neil Pryde’s HiFi team opened their account with a six-second win on corrected times over Team Beau Geste in light winds in Race…
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U.S. Congress deals blow to plan to shut Guantanamo prison
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.S. Congress deals blow to plan to shut Guantanamo prison Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: U.S. lawmakers dealt a blow to President Barack Obama’s five-year-long effort to close the prison camp at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba by omitting a plan to shut the…
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VAT hike will give more room for budget deficit: Sommai
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community VAT hike will give more room for budget deficit: Sommai The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Finance Ministry is likely to increase the value-added tax (VAT) by at least 1 per cent at the end of next year, giving it room to widen the budget…
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Plan to tear down palace wall opposed
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Plan to tear down palace wall opposed The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: THE Fine Arts Department has registered the whole compound of King Taksin’s palace, including its wall, as a historical site since 1929, ruling out any moves to have it dismantled. The Royal Thai…
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Bank auditor jailed 20 years in billion-baht fraud case
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bank auditor jailed 20 years in billion-baht fraud case The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A key suspect in the Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC) fraud scandal was yesterday sentenced to 20 years in prison, commuted originally from a total term of 155 years resulting from…
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Prosecutors set to arraign Myanmar men for Koh Tao killings
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Prosecutors set to arraign Myanmar men for Koh Tao killings The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Public prosecutors are preparing to arraign two Myanmar suspects today on charges related to the murder of two British tourists on Koh Tao in September. “Evidence presented by investigators is…
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Police corruption scandal: B1mn reward for ‘Sia Jo’
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police corruption scandal: B1mn reward for ‘Sia Jo’ The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A bounty of 1 million baht has been offered for information leading to the arrest of a much-wanted Pattani-based businessman accused of trading in contraband petrol and bribing police. Royal Thai Police…
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