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Thailand News: Govt warns scammers; ACMECS single visa today; optimism for tourism
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Govt warns scammers as Thailand is named top destination The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Thailand has long been ranked as one of the world’s best tourist destinations, with so many awards under its belt. However, the Kingdom’s tourism industry is not untainted. Now that Thailand…
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Tsunami memorial morning service draws “handful of foreigners’
PHUKET: About 100 people joined the tsunami remembrance service at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Mai Khao this morning to mark eight years passing since the devastating tsunami struck Phuket’s shores. Among the attendees, only five were foreigners. The service began with Buddhist monks conducting a mass prayer, followed by a Muslim service and then a Christian service. After the…
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Rape test results for Burmese teen handed over to Phuket Public Prosecutor
PHUKET: Police have confirmed that the Phuket Provincial Public Prosecutor is now in possession of the case notes needed to proceed with bringing to trial a 29-year-old man who raped an 18-year-old Burmese woman in Phuket in October. “Even if the attacker confesses to having raped a person, we still conduct a rape test so that the scientific results can…
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Phuket votes for tough action against illegal taxis
PHUKET: In our most recent Phuket Gazette poll, readers have overwhelmingly voted for local authorities to take a tough approach in tackling illegal taxi drivers on the island. The poll, launched a month ago, highlighted the recent efforts by the Phuket authorities to bring order to the long-running problem of illegal taxis, and all the violent repercussions they have had…
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Thailand News: 3 monks killed in UK; Warning towers
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Three monks killed in tragic UK car crash The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The Thai consul in London is visiting two Thais who survived a head-on car crash yesterday in Scotland in which three Thai monks were killed, the Foreign Ministry says.One of the victims was from…
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Phuket tourists run for their lives as Patong hotel fire breaks out
PHUKET: Tourists staying at a luxury hotel in Phuket ran for their lives after waking up to smoke and fire in the pre-dawn dark today. Seven fire trucks arrived at the well-known Royal Phawadee Village hotel in Sawatdirak Road, near the Patong beachfront, at about 5:30am. Firefighters took about an hour to bring the flames under control. Suchanart Khonkaew and…
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Man found hanged at Phuket park
PHUKET: Police are investigating the death of a man who was found hanged early yesterday morning near the entrance to the Bang Neaw Dum reservoir, a popular recreational park located in the heart of Phuket. Police believe the man’s body remained undiscovered for about five days before it was spotted by local villagers. “The man was hanged by a blue…
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World News: Pope’s Christmas message thinly veiled: Italian news agency Ansa
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Pope gives advice as Italians prepare for bitter campaign Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Pope Benedict sent a political Christmas greeting to Italians as they head into an election campaign expected to be brutal and bitter: think, cooperate for the common good and don’t discard values when making…
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Sydictive Element New Year “mega-beach party’ is on in Patong
PHUKET: The Sydictive Element New Year’s Eve “mega beach party” will be held at the southern end of Patong Beach from December 30 through to daybreak on January 1. The news broke this afternoon after more than two hours of negotiations that followed hours of inconclusive negotiations last night. “Sydictive will have its own party zone within the general area…
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Phuket Governor calls for public transport to resolve traffic jams
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut has called for officials to ramp up efforts to develop Phuket’s pitiful public transport options as the top way of beating the island’s ever-increasing traffic congestion. Speaking at a public seminar at the Pearl Hotel in Phuket Town last Saturday, held by the Phuket Real Estate Association specifically to discuss Phuket’s growing traffic jams, Governor…
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Irish tourist “bottled’ within 24 hours on Phuket
PHUKET: Patong Police are trying to identify the culprit who split open an Irishman’s head with a bottle within 24 hours of the tourist landing in Phuket.Lt Col Jongserm Preecha told the Phuket Gazette that the incident occurred at about 1:30am yesterday.“By the time we arrived at the scene, in front of The Pizza Company restaurant on Soi Bangla, a…
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Phuket’s Prab says Sydictive New Year Party can ‘move it, move it’ to Patong
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette was told today that Patong Municipality sent Preechavude “Prab” Keesin, son of Patong Mayor Pian Keesin and head of the largest taxi driver association in Patong, to Bangkok to discuss with party organizers Sydictive Element about moving the controversial Sydictive party from Surin Beach to Patong Beach at Loma Park.However, Thai Beverage has for years used…
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Phuket Annual Red Cross Fair 2012 sets prize at over half million baht of gold
PHUKET: The Phuket Annual Red Cross Fair 2012 is ready to rock Phuket from December 27 to January 5 as it offers more than 500,000 baht in gold as the top lucky draw prize this year, eligible to anyone who buys a ticket to support the Red Cross.For the entirety of the 11-day festival, hundreds of stalls at Saphan Hin…
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Phuket Opinion: Santa says a smile is the best Christmas gift of all
ON DECEMBER 25, Santa Claus will be attending a plethora of activities being held across Phuket, among them will be the annual Christmas celebrations at Bangkok Hospital Phuket. Here, the jolly “Hospital Santa” explains what Christmas in Phuket truly means to him.There are many foreigners living in and visiting Phuket, and I am sure that they are going to celebrate…
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International Sports: Queen goes 3D; Clarke to miss Boxing Day test; Messi gets another
Queen Elizabeth goes 3D for Olympics tribute Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Queen Elizabeth will use her traditional Christmas Day message, filmed in 3D for the first time, to pay tribute to the world’s athletes for delivering a “splendid summer of sport” at the London Olympics.In her personal address to the nation, the monarch will pay tribute to the competitors’ “skill,…
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World News: Somali pirates release hostages after 33 months in captivity
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Somali pirates release longest-held hostages after 33 months Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: A ship and its crew of 22 sailors held by Somali pirates for almost three years have been freed by maritime police after a two-week-long siege, the government of the breakaway region of Puntland said…
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Phuket villager speaks out on Sydictive New Year beach party
PHUKET: While the debate rages on over whether or not the Sydictive Element New Year Phuket beach party will move to Patong – despite already being granted permission to be held at Surin Beach – one local resident has spoken out about how the party would affect the beachfront community, for better and for worse. Somchai Prasongphon, 42, was born…
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Phuket child-exploitation gangs put in the spotlight
PHUKET: A 12-year-old girl fleeing her captors to the safety of officials on Soi Bangla last week, has raised the ugly specter of Phuket becoming a prime human-trafficking and child-exploitation destination, according an international children’s rights agency. The girl, nicknamed “Aoi” to protect her identity, ran up to Patong Deputy Mayor Chairat Sukban and about 10 other officers on night…
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Phuket Opinion: Family, the best defense against technology risks
PHUKET: With the holiday season upon us, we would like to encourage all of our readers to take a few moments to pause and reflect on how lucky we are to live in this incredible age of technology. Technology is perhaps the most notorious of double-edged swords. Shakespeare wrote famously in Hamlet that “…there is nothing either good or bad,…
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Fresh ATM action prompts hope for finding missing Phuket expat
PHUKET: Police investigating the disappearance of American Brett Bean, last seen on Phuket on November 25, are now searching for a man who used Mr Bean’s debit card to withdraw cash from a Phuket ATM on Monday. “We were informed by Mrs Bean [Brett’s mother] that on December 17 someone used Mr Bean’s debit card to take the money out…
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Bad vibes over Phuket Sydictive party shift to Patong
PHUKET: Leading Phuket tourism figure Sarayuth Mallam has voiced grave concerns about the Sydictive Element New Year’s Eve beach party being moved from Surin Beach to Patong, citing strong resistance from local businesses and Patong Mayor Pian Keesin. “As far as I know, the party organizer wants to change the party venue from Surin Beach to Patong Beach since they…
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Tsunami Memorial Wall ready for remembrance
PHUKET: The Phuket chapter of the US Navy League has announced that the Tsunami Memorial Wall, which in years past has fallen into a deplorable state, has been readied for this year’s tsunami remembrance service on December 26. The Navy League volunteered for the role of caretaker for the remembrance site last year, and the volunteers organized a community project…
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Phuket Sports: Man Utd get Real in last 16 of Champions League
Ronaldo returns to Man United in Champions League Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Cristiano Ronaldo will return with nine-time winners Real Madrid to Manchester United, where he developed into one of the world’s greatest forwards, and Lionel Messi’s Barcelona take on AC Milan in the Champions League last 16.Bayern Munich, last season’s beaten finalists, play Arsenal and Juventus take on surprise…
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Phuket Finance: Understanding your fund’s “duration’
PHUKET: As I have written extensively about the dangers of bond funds in the current environment, it is worth mentioning a standard measurement used to determine approximately how sensitive a bond portfolio or fund is to interest rate increases. Don’t let the word duration fool you; what the measurement actually means is, the approximate decrease in value for a 1%…
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Aldhouse trial pending UK documents
PHUKET: The trial of British national Lee Aldhouse, charged with the murder of former US Marine Dashawn Longfellow in Phuket in 2010, has yet to be put in motion as the Phuket Prosecutor’s Office is awaiting the arrival of further documentation from the UK, the Phuket Gazette has been told. Aldhouse confessed to police to stabbing Mr Longfellow, but denied…
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Ladyboy survivor sole link to lethal Phuket motorbike crash mystery
PHUKET: Police have released the name of the man who died in a motorbike accident near Chalong Circle just after midnight on Wednesday as 51-year-old American tourist Theodore Paul Roe. Chalong Police Capt Thada Sodarak told the Phuket Gazette that he was notified of the accident, near the base of the hill near Friendship Beach, at 12:30am. “Mr Roe was…
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Stranded Air Berlin travellers airlifted from Phuket
PHUKET: All 249 Air Berlin passengers stranded in Phuket after their plane was forced to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff last night have been airlifted off the island and are currently en route to their original destination: Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Prathuang Sornkham, Director at Phuket International Airport, told the Phuket Gazette that Air Berlin…
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Sydictive Party: One night without Paris
PHUKET: Global celebrity Paris Hilton will not be attending the three-day New Year beach party originally slated to be held on Surin Beach from December 30 to sunrise on January 1. The news of Ms Hilton’s imminent no-show at the event came in an email from her lawyer sent to the Phuket Gazette clarifying that Ms Hilton’s name was not…
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Phuket Airport closure leaves more than 1,000 stranded
PHUKET: More than 1,000 passengers were stranded at Phuket International Airport last night after an emergency landing by an Air Berlin flight forced authorities to cancel all inbound and outbound flights. Air Berlin flight AB-7425 from Phuket to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, took off from Phuket at its scheduled time of 9:26pm, but was forced to make…
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Phuket blood center needs donors for New Year
PHUKET: A New Year blood drive will start tapping veins to save lives on December 24, and will run to January 6 at the Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC). With the national road safety campaign of the deadly “Seven Days of Danger” just around the corner, anyone who wants to boost their karma as they head into the new year…
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