News
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Sponsored 5 hidden healthcare costs in Thailand and how to avoid them
Thailand's healthcare system is affordable and supported by the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) scheme, offering essential services to most citizens. However, hidden healthcare costs can surprise patients and lead to unexpected expenses. These include specialist fees, insurance gaps, emergency services,...
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20 injured in Deep South bomb attacks
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Two more injured in further small blasts in Yala town Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Bomb attacks continued to erupt in Yala’s Muang district yesterday, raising the number of injured over the past two days to 20. Despite that, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister…
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No Rohingya holding center for Phuket, says Gov
PHUKET: Top Phuket and Navy officials have voiced support for the government’s move to find islands on which migrants, Rohingya and otherwise, can stop over on their way to their destination. However, they expressed concern about Phuket and islands which are part of Thailand’s National Marine Parks system being used as stop-over points. The move follows an order from Prime…
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Phuket Gov, Vice Gov return lost wallet to doctor
PHUKET: Governor Nisit Jansomwong and Vice Governor Suthee Thongyam teamed up to return a lost wallet to a Phuket doctor today. “Vice Governor Suthee’s friend, Sorachai Sirichoti, along with two other friends, found the wallet at Rang Hill yesterday,” Prapan Kanprasang, chief of the Damrongtham Center (ombudsman’s office) said. “However, they ended up handing over the wallet to the vice…
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Woman dies in car crash on slippery Krabi road
PHUKET: A woman died yesterday when she lost control of her pick-up truck on a wet road in Krabi and slammed into a pole. Police arrived at the scene on Petchkasem Road in Khlong Thom district at about 10am to find a pick-up truck wrapped around a sign pole in the median of the road. “Phonphan Khongyot, 31, died instantly…
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BISP swim team racks up records, 2016 Summer Olympics qualifiers
PHUKET: When the JSA Swim Academy at British International School Phuket first took to the pool in August 2013, the team had five international swimmers on scholarship, four swimmers from the school’s Flying Fish club team and high hopes. During the August to December 2014 swim season, the team’s nine swimmers (five girls and four boys) competed in the Thailand…
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HK Express takes flight in Phuket market
PHUKET: Hong Kong’s low-fare airline has seen significant first-quarter growth as it continues its campaign to woo both the Thai and expat markets in Phuket. HK Express has carried close to 500,000 passengers in the first quarter of this year, which represents a 102 percent growth compared with the same period in 2014. The airline reports total passengers for March…
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106 suspected Rohingya found on Koh Ree, northwest of Phuket
PHUKET: More than 100 suspected Rohingya were found last night on Koh Ree in Mu Koh Surin National Marine Park, northwest of Phuket. The group – consisting of 89 men, 15 women and two children – was searching for food in the sea when they were spotted by local sea gypsies, who then notified park officers. “Yesterday evening I received…
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Marine officials clamp down on IUU fishing in Phuket
PHUKET: Local maritime officers and fishing operators gathered yesterday to discuss measures launched to shut down illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities in the region. The push for solutions follows the EU putting Thailand on formal notice on April 21 for not taking sufficient measures in the international fight against IUUs (story here). Thailand was given six months to…
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Opinion: Russian Return – just victims of ‘host fatigue’
PHUKET: Good news for Phuket’s all-important tourism industry comes with indications that the sharp downturn in arrivals from Russia in the first quarter of this year is expected to be short-lived, with a solid recovery for this important market sector projected for the fourth quarter, according to industry analysts. The huge increase in the number of tourists from Russia to…
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Govt surveying two isles for detention of migrants
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Govt surveying two isles for detention of migrants Phuket Gazette/The Nation PHUKET: The prime minister has ordered a survey of two unpopulated islands off Ranong with the view of using them to detain Rohingya migrants. Sources familiar with the matter yesterday identified the islands as Kangkao…
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New Banyan Tree Phuket hotel manager “at home’
PHUKET: Hery Kuswoyo has taken the helm as the hotel manager for Banyan Tree Phuket, the Banyan Tree group’s flagship property. Mr Kuswoyo joined the Banyan Tree family in 2010 as the Food and Beverage Executive Assistant Manager for Banyan Tree Bangkok. Prior to joining the Phuket team, he was the executive assistant manager for Banyan Tree Macau – the…
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Finance: Sometimes you can buy happiness
PHUKET: I recently read a study about buying experiences versus material things and their relative effects on happiness. Interestingly, studies show that money only increases happiness up to a certain point, and buying experiences can have a longer effect on happiness than buying material things, even though the ‘things’ will be around for a substantial amount of time. The reason…
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Bikers baffled by nails scattered in bicycle lane
PHUKET: Island officials are searching for the culprit – or culprits – who left more than 100 nails in the bicycle lane at Saphan Hin, resulting in three punctured bicycle tires this week. A group of cyclists noticed the scattered nails when one of their bikes’ tires deflated while the group was riding on the path on Tuesday. “We didn’t…
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Video Report: Malaysian top cop vows to co-operate with Thai police in human-trafficking investigation
PHUKET: Malaysia’s top cop has agreed to fully co-operate with the Royal Thai Police in hunting down and arresting human-trafficking bigwigs who are believed to have fled to Malaysia. “We believe that there are several suspects wanted for human trafficking who are hiding in Malaysia,” said Royal Thai Police Commissioner-General Somyot Poompanmoung at the 23rd annual Departmental Review of Joint…
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Phuket lifeguards to sign new contract
PHUKET: The Phuket Lifeguard Club (PLC) will sign a new contract tomorrow and lifeguards are expected to return to Phuket’s beaches by next Wednesday, just as the southwest monsoon season and corresponding dangerous sea conditions take hold. This year, the contract stipulates that there will be a total of 95 employees: 83 lifeguards, nine chief lifeguards and three managers. There…
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Phuket lucky licence plate auction next weekend
PHUKET: The Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) is hoping to raise more than 20 million baht from this year’s Lucky Licence Plate Auction, which will be held in Phuket Town next weekend. The two-day event at the Phuket Merlin Hotel will begin on May 23 at 9am, with 301 licence plates to go to the highest bidders. All licence plates…
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Enormous king cobra caught creeping into Phuket hotel
PHUKET: A four-meter-long king cobra was wrangled into submission by rescue workers as it tried to sneak into a Phuket hotel room last night. Saiyan Thamaphan, chief of the Phuket Ruamjai Rescue Foundation, and his team arrived at Star of Phuket Resort to find panicked tourists and locals gathered outside. “We found the king cobra trying to gain access to…
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Phuket youth football team wins international championship
PHUKET: Four teams from Cruzeiro Football Academy at British International School Phuket (BISP) brought home gold, silver, bronze and shield medals from the Bangkok International Youth Football Festival 2015, held on April 25-26. Head Coach Jonathas Candido said the Under-11 team earned championship gold, the U9 squad struck silver, the academy’s U15 team garnered bronze and the U13’s took shield.…
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Senior Bangkok official dies from Krabi hot spring splash
PHUKET: A senior official at the Attorney-General’s Office in Bangkok was pronounced dead on April 30 after a leap into a Krabi hot spring left him in a coma a few weeks earlier. Somkiat Phatkhun, the deputy director of the Training and Development Institute at the Office of the Attorney General in Bangkok, was on vacation with his wife when…
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Government vows to revisit Koh Kaew canal dredging project
PHUKET: The Marine Department director-general has vowed to renew efforts to find the best solution to the congested Koh Kaew canal, which links two of Phuket’s prominent marinas to Phang Nga Bay. The extension of the Koh Kaew canal, which leads to Royal Phuket Marina and the Boat Lagoon, was reported as being completed on December 28, 2014, allowing easier…
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Thailand takes four-pronged approach to maritime-hub goal
PHUKET: The government will be pushing Thailand as a major yachting destination in the region using a four-pronged approach, the Marine Department director-general revealed at a public meeting in Phuket yesterday. To achieve Thailand’s goal, government offices will be working closely with maritime industry leaders to establish potential locations for new marinas in Thailand, develop and promote a yacht show,…
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Man dies, son in ICU after fainting in Krabi well
PHUKET: A man died and his son is in Krabi Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after the two fainted while digging a groundwater well in Krabi. Prapan Chaikhao, 59, and his son, Somnuek Chaikhao, 38, were hired to deepen the 1-meter-wide, 7-meter-deep well because it had dried up, local villagers told police. “The two went down together to dig, while…
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Police identify alleged ‘money man’ behind Rohingya trafficking
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community ‘Trafficking bag man’ named Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Police yesterday obtained an arrest warrant for a man they said was a key financier behind the entire Rohingya trafficking racket in the South. The suspect, the 50th and latest wanted in connection with human labor…
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Summons issued for dangerous Phuket driver
PHUKET: The Phuket City Police are demanding that the owner of a black Fortuner SUV, whose vehicle was captured on video being driven recklessly, endangering other drivers, present himself to police. The video clearly shows the Fortuner cutting off two men on a motorbike in heavy traffic as it merges onto the bypass road from Yaowarat Road, and then coming…
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Massive python found near Phuket Town school
PHUKET: A five-meter-long python was found coiled up at the entrance of a street across from Bangneaw School in Phuket Town yesterday morning. Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers rushed to the scene at Soi Jan Asawaksuk after being notified of the massive reptile by local villagers. “It took eight of us to lift and bag the snake. It weighed about 60…
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Opinion: Coming together in times of need
Phanuphong Limbuprasertkul, 46, is the president of the Phuket branch of the Thai-Nepalese Foundation, officially called the Shree Bhagawat Dhaam Sanatan Mandir Foundation, which is located in Patong. Mr Phanuphong was born in Kanchanaburi, and has lived in Phuket for the past 24 years. Here, he talks about how important it is for citizens of the world to come together…
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Opinion: Turn them off, folks
PHUKET: Because I’m an anxious flier, I have always been overly aware of my surroundings while taking commercial flights. With all the drama surrounding the ban of Thai carriers to Japan, South Korea and China following the United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organization audit, which found that Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation met only 21 out of 100 operational and…
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Koh Lanta tagged as potential hotspot for human trafficking
PHUKET: Officials investigated Koh Lanta yesterday, following the popular tourist island being named as a potential hotspot for human trafficking. “We were alerted to the potential issue of people being smuggled into Thailand through Koh Lanta District after locals reported seeing a group of suspected Rohingya,” said Koh Lanta District Chief Suriyan Narongkul. “By the time we got there, the…
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Video Report: Only B600k of B4mn raised for quake victims handed to Nepal Embassy so far
PHUKET: Charitable islanders raised more than 4 million baht in the past week for the victims of the earthquake in Nepal, which killed more than 7,500 and affected an estimated 8mn people, according to the UN. The funds raised through the ‘Phuket Together For Nepal Disaster Victims’ were originally to be given directly to the Embassy of Nepal on March…
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Business Buzz: Steal your Facebook
PHUKET: With the advent of social media and its meteoric rise in popularity, technology has grown at a rate much faster and in ways that the law has not been able to keep up with or envisage. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest now have billions of users. There are a couple of areas in particular…
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