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  • Special Report: Breaching walls for Phuket tsunami safety

    Special Report: Breaching walls for Phuket tsunami safety

    SPECIAL REPORT: Tsunami evacuation drills have become part of Phuket life since the devastating waves struck our shores in 2004. But has familiarity bred contempt for safety in the west coast village of Kamala? The Phuket Gazette reports. PHUKET: Phuket recently hosted a full-scale tsunami drill (story here), with rescue workers practicing the actions they would take should a wall…

  • Phuket Opinion: Stop the tour bus insanity

    Phuket Opinion: Stop the tour bus insanity

    PHUKET: The latest crash of a tour bus descending into Patong highlights yet again the need for tour bus operators – and drivers in particular – to take personal responsibility for the safety of passengers under their care. If it can be considered as such, the only good fortune in this latest tragedy is that no lives were lost and…

  • Phuket Opinion: Coordinate manpower to corral illegal taxis

    Phuket Opinion: Coordinate manpower to corral illegal taxis

    Manaporn Likitmanon, a 31-year-old Songkhla native, was a Police Investigator at Samut Sakhon Immigration from 2008 to 2012 before returning south last year to become a Highways Police Inspector covering the tri-province area of Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi. Here he talks about how to solve the problem of metered and illegal taxis in Phuket. PHUKET: We have received many…

  • Phuket bank stabbing witnesses confirm murder-suicide

    Phuket bank stabbing witnesses confirm murder-suicide

    PHUKET: The two women present in the Bank of Ayudhya meeting room yesterday watched when Phonthakorn Teerabenjakul, 51, pulled out a knife and stabbed Piboon Vachwanichsanong, 71, to death, and then killed himself, police say (story here). “The women saw the whole thing,” Phuket City Police Inspector Yongyuth Kongmalai told the Phuket Gazette today. “They said there was no fight…

  • Phuket Opinion: The heart in darkness

    Phuket Opinion: The heart in darkness

    PHUKET: The island’s streets, along with those in the other 13 Southern provinces, were plunged into darkness for a couple of hours on the evening of May 21, due to the Kingdom’s biggest power outage in three decades (story here) The blackout sparked Thai netizens into a conspiracy theory frenzy, with rumors of everything from a terrorist attack to a…

  • Phuket Police: Mixed up shoes offer only lead to Cinderella snatch thief

    Phuket Police: Mixed up shoes offer only lead to Cinderella snatch thief

    PHUKET: Police barely have their shoe in the door for a case against a pair of snatch thieves after a botched attempt to grab an Irish woman’s purse led to a motorbike crash and a lost flip flop.Hannah Louise O’Hagan, 27, was driving a motorbike to her boyfriend’s place at Baan Term Fun Housing Estate yesterday evening after a trip…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Obama urged to press China; Privacy debate; Letter gives hope; 165 Migrants saved; Search ends; Russian navy deploys to Med

    Phuket Gazette World News: Obama urged to press China; Privacy debate; Letter gives hope; 165 Migrants saved; Search ends; Russian navy deploys to Med

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Lawmakers, activists urge Obama to press Xi on China prisoners Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: U.S. lawmakers and 30 human rights groups yesterday urged President Barack Obama to use a weekend summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping to press for the freedom of 16 prominent political…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Suu Kyi takes center stage; Rice loss touches 400bn; Beams tumble; Tax losses hit 20bn; Elephant poachers arrested

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Suu Kyi takes center stage; Rice loss touches 400bn; Beams tumble; Tax losses hit 20bn; Elephant poachers arrested

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Suu Kyi steals the limelight The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: As in Bangkok last year, Myanmar’s democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi was in the spotlight when over 900 participants gathered for the biggest international event the country has hosted in decades. Participants at the…

  • Mosquito virus news buzz batted down by Phuket Public Officials

    Mosquito virus news buzz batted down by Phuket Public Officials

    PHUKET: The news buzz across the Pacific that has worked its way back to Thailand after a Canadian woman was forced to turn to the American Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to identify a mysterious malady has been batted down by Phuket Public Officials.The 45-year-old Canadian tourist, who visited Bangkok and Phuket, was bitten repeatedly by mosquitoes, reported The Canadian…

  • Phuket event encourages mindful consumption for World Environment Day

    Phuket event encourages mindful consumption for World Environment Day

    PHUKET: Taking part in a global initiative to increase awareness about environmental concerns, Phuket held an event in line with the theme of World Environment Day (WED) this year: Think. Eat. Save. The event in Phuket was held at Vachira Phuket Hospital yesterday morning. “The theme this year strives to encourage people to think about how to reduce the amount…

  • Phuket white mask protest to take place Sunday at Saphan Hin

    Phuket white mask protest to take place Sunday at Saphan Hin

    PHUKET: The anti-Pheu Thai “V for Thailand” group who have been using the Guy Fawkes white mask to obscure the identity of their supporters across the Kingdom plan to stage a protest in Phuket on Sunday. The protest, slated for 5pm at the Milestone in Saphan Hin, is one of nine nationwide rallies the group has planned, extending from Chiang…

  • Thailand Super Series at Sepang: Mission Accomplished

    Thailand Super Series at Sepang: Mission Accomplished

    PHUKET: The new era of Thai motor sports is already a thriving reality as the drivers, teams, support personnel and racing cars have made their way back from Sepang, which hosted the first ever round of Thailand Super Series (TSS) from May 25-26. Not just a Super Car: Toyota’s 86 has arrived in Super 2000 One new race car that…

  • Phuket Police hit “abductor’ taxi-driver with two more charges

    Phuket Police hit “abductor’ taxi-driver with two more charges

    PHUKET: Two more charges have been levied against the illegal taxi driver who denies having sexually assaulted a Chinese tourist after picking her up at Phuket International Airport on May 17 (story here). Already accused of deprivation of liberty for holding the 19-year-old woman captive in his vehicle for five hours, as well as sexual assault and being under the…

  • Police pin down suspect in Phuket elephant smuggling ring

    Police pin down suspect in Phuket elephant smuggling ring

    PHUKET: Police have identified a prime suspect in an illegal elephant smuggling ring that led to the recent DNA testing of two baby elephants in Phuket (story here). A Kamnan in Chaiyaphum province who police have yet to name will be charged with making and using fraudulent elephant certification documents, Col Watcharin Phusit, Superintendent of the Regional Natural Resources and…

  • World News: Venezuela deports gringo spy; WikiLeaks case update; US soldier pleads guilty to murder

    World News: Venezuela deports gringo spy; WikiLeaks case update; US soldier pleads guilty to murder

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Venezuela deports US filmmaker accused of being a spy Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Venezuela yesterday deported an American filmmaker who was arrested in April on accusations of spying for Washington and plotting with opposition student groups to destabilize the South American OPEC nation. “The gringo…

  • Thailand News: Thai-Americans charged with exporting firearm parts – update; Tax loss on luxury cars; Man dies after ambulance moved

    Thailand News: Thai-Americans charged with exporting firearm parts – update; Tax loss on luxury cars; Man dies after ambulance moved

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UPDATE: Thais arrested in US over suspicious gun-parts shipments The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: National Police Chief Pol General Adul Saengsingkaew has assigned a deputy to handle a case in which US authorities have arrested and indicted three Thais and three Thai-Americans on charges of…

  • Phuket Red Cross makes urgent call for O-negative blood

    Phuket Red Cross makes urgent call for O-negative blood

    PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC), often called upon to save the lives of Thais and foreigners, has no reserves of O-negative type blood. “We try to maintain a daily minimum stock of 200 units of A, B and O blood types, and 20 units of Rhesus-negative blood,” said PRBC Acting Chief Pornthip Rattajak. “We need all types of…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: US arrests 6 Thais; Bombings amid NSC uncertainty

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: US arrests 6 Thais; Bombings amid NSC uncertainty

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community US arrests six Thais for illegally exporting weapon parts to Thailand The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: US authorities have arrested and indicted a Thai woman residing in Berkeley, California, and five others for illegally exporting restricted firearm parts from the US to Thailand, federal prosecutors…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: US woman raped in India; Nerve gas used; North Korean abuses exposed

    Phuket Gazette World News: US woman raped in India; Nerve gas used; North Korean abuses exposed

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.S. woman is latest gang-rape victim in India Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: An American woman was the latest gang-rape victim in northern India, local media reported Tuesday. The incident occurred at around 1am local time when the woman decided to hitchhike her way back…

  • Russian tourists injured as Phuket tour bus slams into Patong house

    Russian tourists injured as Phuket tour bus slams into Patong house

    PHUKET: Five Russian tourists were injured when the brakes failed on a Pegas Touristik bus while the vehicle was descending the steep hill into Phuket’s premier resort town of Patong at about 6pm this evening. The Bangkok-registered bus came to a thudding halt as it slammed into a house by the side of the road near Suwankiriwong Temple, known locally…

  • Phuket officials scramble over missing Rohingya

    Phuket officials scramble over missing Rohingya

    PHUKET: Officers at the Phuket Shelter for Children and Families on Koh Sireh this afternoon called an emergency meeting to discuss reports of Rohingya refugees disappearing from the center early yesterday morning. The meeting was called when news reports surfaced that Muslim women and children were noticed missing from the shelter at about 2:30am. The mass disappearance followed two other…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: China poultry fire kills 119; N Ireland resorts to ‘fake shopfronts’ for G8; Assange talks resume; Oklahoma toll reaches 18

    Phuket Gazette World News: China poultry fire kills 119; N Ireland resorts to ‘fake shopfronts’ for G8; Assange talks resume; Oklahoma toll reaches 18

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Chinese slaughterhouse fire kills 119 Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A blaze at a locked poultry slaughterhouse in northeast China killed at least 119 people on Monday with several still unaccounted for, officials and state media said, triggering online outrage in a country with a grim…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: 2 workers missing in quarry collapse; Luxury car crackdown; False bomb threat alerts

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: 2 workers missing in quarry collapse; Luxury car crackdown; False bomb threat alerts

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Phetchaburi mine ‘may have been operating illegally’ The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Rescue workers continued to search for the bodies of victims in a fatal rockslide yesterday at a mine in Phetchaburi, south of Bangkok, which authorities say may have ignored an order to improve its work…

  • Governor looks for direct flights between Phuket and Nice, France

    Governor looks for direct flights between Phuket and Nice, France

    PHUKET: Fresh off the plane from France, Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut revealed plans to support direct flights between two sister cities – Nice and Phuket. Such a flight would bolster the plans laid out in February by the French Ambassador to Thailand, Thierry Viteau, of inviting small and medium enterprise (SME) businesses to Phuket to discuss cooperative investment opportunities (story…

  • Expose your biz through FC sponsorship

    Expose your biz through FC sponsorship

    PHUKET: Sponsorship experts Paul Poole (South East Asia) Co Ltd will represent the island’s pro soccer team, Phuket FC, in the club’s drive to find new sponsors for the second half of the 2013 season and beyond. The team is offering three tiers of sponsorship packages as follows: The first tier comprises a Main Shirt Sponsor, which will give the…

  • Phuket Finance: Educational arbitrage

    Phuket Finance: Educational arbitrage

    PHUKET: I think everyone would agree that a big part of long term financial planning is saving for their children’s university fees, which continue to reach more and more astronomical heights. However, very few people realize there are many ways to greatly reduce these costs without reducing your child’s value on the job market. Arbitrage usually refers to buying a…

  • Phuket lifeguards warn tourists of dangerous surf at beaches

    Phuket lifeguards warn tourists of dangerous surf at beaches

    PHUKET: The lifeguards stationed at Phuket’s popular beaches have urged tourists to beware the dangerous surf and rip tides brought on by the return of the annual southwest monsoon. Strong winds and swirling currents together with big tides are creating dangerous swimming conditions at Phuket’s key tourist beaches, Phuket Lifeguard Club President Prathaiyut “Nut” Chuayuan explains. “I urge all visitors…

  • Phuket danger season surf claims one life, endangers fishing vessel

    Phuket danger season surf claims one life, endangers fishing vessel

    PHUKET: The heavy waves striking Phuket’s west coast over the weekend claimed the life of one man fishing at Patong last night and demanded the Marine Police assist a fishing boat in distress.Police responded to an emergency call at about 7pm yesterday, reporting that one man had drowned while fishing at Patong.The officers arrived at the scene, the southern headland…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Turkey rocked by riots; Prague flood alert; Gulf states eye Hezbollah Syria support; Hong Kong leader cleared

    Phuket Gazette World News: Turkey rocked by riots; Prague flood alert; Gulf states eye Hezbollah Syria support; Hong Kong leader cleared

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thousands clash with police in Turkey Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Turkey’s four biggest cities on Sunday and clashed with riot police firing tear gas on the third day of the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years.The din of…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Press freedom failing in Asia; Isolated schools get merge pass; 11 dead in capsize off Ranong

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Press freedom failing in Asia; Isolated schools get merge pass; 11 dead in capsize off Ranong

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Newpaper chiefs confer on challenges facing industry The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Global newspaper chiefs are here in Bangkok to confer on the big challenges that face the industry, which include poor press freedom and financial struggles.At the International roundtable entitled ‘The New Media Landscape and its…