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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Mass refugees found may be Uighurs; Budget deficit to double; Yingluck pleas for clemency
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Unidentifiable group of Muslims nabbed The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A group of 220 reportedly Muslim immigrants, whose nationality and origin was not known to Thai authorities as of press time yesterday, have been arrested at a rubber plantation in the southern province of Songkhla.…
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Phuket Police push Line app to combat passport thefts at motorbike rental shops
PHUKET: Patong Police yesterday recommended motorbike rental operators take photos of renters and their passports and upload them to Line, a smartphone application, in order to prevent passport theft. The initiative follows the discovery that two passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 had boarded with passports stolen in Phuket (story here), at least one of them from a shop…
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Phuket murder fugitive “Mick the Pom’ arrested in the Philippines
PHUKET: British murder fugitive Michael John Taylor, better known in Phuket as “Mick The Pom”, has been arrested in the Philippines. Taylor, who celebrated his 50th birthday on September 20 last year, was wanted for the stabbing murder of his girlfriend Jantra Weangta, 27, in Phuket. Ms Jantra who was found stabbed to death in Taylor’s rented bungalow near Chalong…
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Local Phuket student could be ‘The Star’
PHUKET: A local Phuket student is battling it out in the last rounds of The Star, a popular Thai singing competition broadcast on nationwide television every weekend. Phuket Governor Maitri called on fellow Phuket residents to cast their votes in support of Natthawadee “Nong Nut” Dokkrathin, a student from Satree Phuket School, who is one of eight final contestants on…
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Phuket Business: The juice of life
PHUKET: Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired? Yes? Then chances are you could be eating healthier, but like so many of us living hectic modern lives, you probably struggle to find the time to prepare healthy food. But now there is a solution – juice it up! Pura Organics, the island’s premier organic food supplier, have…
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Phuket Business: MICE expert to speak at AMCHAM event tomorrow
PHUKET: Tomorrow, March 14, the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) will host a tourism event at Angsana Laguna Phuket focusing on how to sustainably grow MICE business. One of the keynote speakers at the event will be Mrs Supawan Teerarat, vice president of strategic and business development at the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB). The TCEB is a government…
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Snake jumps queue for ID card at Phuket district office
PHUKET: A snake made its way into the ID card section of the Thalang District Office yesterday, causing people waiting in line and officers alike to run screaming from the building. “I saw the snake go into the ID card section, where a lot of people were queued,” said Chief Administrative Officer Sakorn Liponkate. “I shouted a warning and everyone…
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Phuket Red Cross launches March mobile donation mission
PHUKET: The Red Cross Society in Phuket has announced its upcoming mobile donation clinic schedule for the month of March in hopes of restoring essential blood stocks. “We currently only have 20 units of blood type A, 120 units of type B, 190 units of type O and 50 units of type AB,” said Chief Pornthip Rattajak of the Phuket…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Six dead in elephant crash; Bt2-tn loan bill rejected; Rate cut brings little joy
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Six people and an elephant killed in accidents The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A total of six people and an elephant were killed yesterday when a Pajero crashed into three wild elephants crossing Ban Beung-Klaeng Road at 4am yesterday in Rayong’s Wang Chan district. One…
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DNA test confirms body parts are of missing Phuket girl Nong Dear, 7
PHUKET: The human remains found in a Chalong pine forest last December are those of missing 7-year-old Nong Dear, police confirmed today. “The Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok unofficially confirmed on Monday that the DNA of the body parts found in Chalong matches those of Nong Dear’s parents,” Capt Thada Sodarak of the Chalong Police told the Phuket Gazette.…
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Russian on motorbike kills Phuket security guard
PHUKET: A resort employee in Karon who was helping tourists cross the street was struck and killed by a Russian motorcyclist on Friday morning. Sayun Sarawaree, 37, a security guard with Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa, was stopping traffic on Patak Road West so that tourists could get to the beach, said Sub Lt Niphon Temsang of the Karon…
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Phuket Sports: Laguna reclaim top spot
PHUKET: Laguna remained undefeated and reclaimed top spot in the Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Phuket cricket league by defeating The Village on Sunday, March 9 at the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG). Things started well for Laguna when they won the toss and chose to bat first, as most teams normally prefer to do. The extremely dry and hot conditions also…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Teen slays own family; Yingluck faces protest murder charge; Pattaya tourism falls
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Teen suspect ‘confesses’ to shooting his family The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A 19-year-old boy has allegedly confessed to shooting dead his parents and younger brother after he tried and failed to pass the blame on to the dead sibling, according to police. Pol Colonel…
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Tourist Police confirm round up of Phuket dive instructors
PHUKET: Tourist Police joined forces with the Chalong Police yesterday afternoon and took into custody more than 20 dive instructors as they disembarked from their respective dive tour boats at Chalong Pier. “I don’t think the Chalong Police pressed charges. To my knowledge, the dive shop staffers were taken to Chalong Police Station to have their work permits checked,” Urumporn…
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Thai Navy relaunches search for missing Malaysian plane off Phuket
PHUKET: The Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command has confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that it will continue its search-and-rescue mission for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the Malacca Strait. The news follows the revelation late this afternoon that Flight MH370 had diverted from its scheduled course and crossed the Malay peninsula toward the busy shipping lanes southwest of Phuket.…
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Unidentified body found off Phuket beach
PHUKET: Lifeguards stationed at the Karon Rescue Center, on Phuket’s west coast, recovered an unidentified body near Yanui Beach this afternoon. “The body was discovered a few kilometers offshore,” Kata-Karon chief lifeguard Uten Singsom told the Phuket Gazette. The remains had deteriorated extensively due to exposure in the sea, Mr Uten explained. “From the remains, our lifeguards believe it was…
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Third Naval Area Command calls off search for MH370
PHUKET: After three days of fruitless searching, the Third Naval Area Command, based in Phuket, will stop looking for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 this evening. “We’ve been working with navies from other countries since March 8, when the aircraft was reported missing,” Third Naval Area Commander Vice Admiral Tharathorn Khajitsuwan said this morning. “We were asked to search the…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Stolen Austrian passport used by Iranian teenage migrant
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: One of the two passengers who boarded the missing Malaysia Airlines plane Flight MH370 on stolen passports was an Iranian man seeking to relocate to Germany, Malaysian police said Tuesday. Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, 19, was travelling on an Austrian passport earlier declared stolen in Thailand,…
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Phuket Police hunt for suspects involved in decapitation
PHUKET: Police are hunting for five men who allegedly beheaded their co-worker and dropped the severed head and body in the jungle near the San Chao Phor Suea Shrine on Patong Hill on Sunday night. The head of 21-year-old Myanmar national Wai Phyo Kyaw was found near a clump of banana trees. His decapitated body was discovered about two meters…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: CMPO considers lifting emergency decree; PDRC holds forum; Corruption now worse, says poll
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community CMPO considers lifting emergency decree The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: It is believed that the Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) will seek government approval to lift the state of emergency and replace it with the Internal Security Act (ISA) this week. National Security…
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Phuket officials combat Karon wastewater, put heat on hotels
PHUKET: Phuket officials yesterday suggested threatening hotels in Karon with having their licenses revoked if they failed to adequately treat wastewater before releasing it. The meeting between officers of the Karon Municipality and Regional Environmental Office 15 follows reports last month of rank black water pouring out of Nong Harn Canal into the ocean at Karon (story here). “Karon Municipality…
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Phuket Sports: The BMW Golf Cup International teed off today
PHUKET: Today marks the beginning of the BMW Golf Cup International at the Blue Canyon Country Club in Thalang. Amateur golf finalists from 50 countries will battle for international glory at the five-day tournament, which plays out from March 10 to 15. The contest is the culmination of about 100,000 players having teed off at 800 tournaments throughout 50 different…
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Eight candidates enter race for Phuket senator, one rejected
PHUKET: Eight candidates have registered to contest Phuket’s sole seat in the Senate in the national election for the upper house to be held on March 30. However, one application to enter the senatorial race was rejected by the Phuket Election Commission (PEC). “The application filed by Siripong Luangchawee was rejected because he resigned as a member of the Pheu…
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Phuket Police arrest drug mule with crystal meth, dealer escapes
PHUKET: Phuket Police on Friday arrested a drug courier with 950 grams of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) and began a search for a drug dealer who fled from officers, leaving behind one kilogram of ya ice and a motorbike near Srisoonthorn Temple. A Nakhon Sri Thammarat inmate, Kee Honzaitong, tipped police off about members of a drug network transporting ya…
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Phuket stolen passports may unravel missing Malaysian flight mystery
PHUKET: Police are investigating how two passports reported stolen in Phuket were used by persons unknown to board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared over the South China Sea on Saturday (story here). The probe was announced yesterday after two tourists who visited Phuket on holiday were found alive and well after being listed among the 239 passengers on board…
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Phuket Gazette World News: FBI not in on Malaysia crash probe; other U.S. agencies to arrive today
PHUKET: The FBI has not sent agents to Kuala Lumpur to assist in the investigation of a Malaysian Airlines plane that went missing on Saturday, according to a senior U.S. law-enforcement official, though representatives from other U.S. agencies and plane-maker Boeing are expected to arrive on Monday. The plane, a 777-200ER, disappeared suddenly, and though no wreckage has been found,…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Interpol says use of stolen passports on Malaysian flight ‘of great concern’
PHUKET: Interpol is investigating more suspect passports used to board a missing Malaysia Airlines flight, in addition to two European ones that were falsely used by unidentified passengers, the global police agency said on Sunday. An Italian man and an Austrian man were falsely listed as passengers on Beijing-bound flight MH370, which disappeared after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur early on…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Krabi coal plant fight heats up; Senate election nears; Issara assures innocence
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fights at hearings over Krabi coal plant The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Villagers in the southern province of Krabi have come out in strong opposition to a coal-fired power plant and coal seaport, saying the planned project would cause pollution and damage eco-tourism industries which…
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Phuket expat volunteers back on beat after misunderstanding, says Patong’s new top cop
PHUKET: Striking Region 8 International Volunteers are back to work after negotiations with police, announced Acting Patong Police Superintendent Sakchai Limcharoen. Col Sakchai told the Phuket Gazette this afternoon that the entire issue had stemmed from a misunderstanding. “They are all back on the force. Patong Police and the expat volunteers were patrolling together last night,” Col Sakchaisaid. “Even the…
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Video Report: Uninsured Phuket ship sunk by fire, owners estimate 5mn in losses
PHUKET: The wooden cargo ship that caught fire yesterday off Phuket’s east coast in Phang Nga Bay was not insured and represents a 5-million-baht loss, its owners said. One of the owners, Sompong Maikhaew, and three other men were on the ship when it caught fire, but jumped overboard and were safely rescued by a passing speedboat. “We left Koh…
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