News
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Phuket’s ‘Seven Days of Danger’ announced
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Police are gearing up for the annual ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road safety period that will this year run from December 29 to January 4. Nine main police checkpoints on major roads and 18 more on local roads will be manned around the clock to ensure public safety, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation…
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Government support for Phuket investments
PHUKET: Phuket OEM Co plans to build a 76-million-baht surgical-mesh factory on the island following a grant of tax incentives from Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI). Surgical mesh is used to help surgical wounds heal better and more quickly. BOI senior executive investment adviser Hirunya Suchinai said the company had been successful in turning a Swedish company’s research on synthetic…
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Santa to remain in Phuket for high season
PHUKET: In an exclusive, impromptu interview with the Phuket Gazette earlier this morning, Santa Clause – spotted arriving at a Phuket beach by long-tail boat on the last of his deliveries to the island’s good boys and girls – said he plans to take some time out here. Mr Clause said he had been thrown off his sleigh and dumped…
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Child labor ‘not a big problem’ in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Workplace inspections by the Phuket Provincial Labor Protection Office have found that minors make up a very small fraction of the Phuket workforce. At a meeting at the Phuket Provincial Labor Protection Office chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Tri Augkaradacha yesterday morning, it was revealed that inspection tours in fiscal 2009 discovered 24 unregistered workers under the age…
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TOT rolls out fiber optic Internet service in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: TOT has launched a new fiber optic internet service in Phuket. Starting at 8,600 baht per month, the long-awaited ‘Fiber To You’ service offers internet speeds of 10-20 megabits per second. TOT President Varut Suvakorn said the state-owned company invested 200 million baht to install its ‘fiber to the x’ (FTTx) network in selected parts in each of…
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Catholic mass schedule for Phuket
PHUKET CITY: While Christmas is little more than a celebration of consumerism for most people in Phuket, for the island’s small Catholic community – and many Catholics here on holiday – it remains a Holy Day of Obligation under canon 1247 of Canon Law, which states: ‘On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate…
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Wrong corpse: cremation cut short
ANG THONG: A funeral was called to an abrupt halt on December 12 after mourners opened the coffin just before the cremation was to begin and realized they were about to burn the wrong corpse. The funeral was ostensibly for 39-year-old Prachuap Arachon, found dead of apparent heart failure in Chachoengsao at the end of October. Finding Mr Prajuap’s ID…
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Phuket ‘EM Ball’ project underway
PHUKET CITY: In a bid to help the environment, a group of activists on Saturday released thousands of ‘effective microorganisms’ (EM) balls into the sea off Pa Khlok and into Klong Pakbang in Patong. The event was presided over by Fourth Army Area Commander Lt Gen Pichet Wisaijorn. Joining him were project manager Pareeya Jullaphong of Bangkok Hospital Phuket’s Cooperate…
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Blackout in Rawai tomorrow
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) has announced a blackout in Rawai tomorrow in order to continue its work on high-voltage power lines. The affected area will be along both sides on Patak Road, from Chalong Circle west to the Shell Station. The power will be cut from approximately 9am to 4pm. The PPEA apologizes for any inconvenience.…
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Kathu Police change drug testing policy
PHUKET CITY: To keep Patong free of drugs, Kathu Police have adopted a new strategy that focuses on a new method of random drug testing for nightclub staff. Kathu Police Superintendent Grissak Songmoonnark said that Kathu is compiling lists of staff from participating nightclub owners in order to conduct surprise urine testing to see if staff test positive for ya…
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Phuket to host Canon Photo Marathon Thailand 2009
PHUKET CITY: Central Festival Phuket will host the Canon Photo Marathon Thailand 2009 photography contest on December 26 at in the outdoor area on the ground floor. The Phuket event will be the first and only leg of the photo marathon to take place in Southern Thailand. Similar events have already taken place in Bangkok, Khon Kaen and Chiang Mai.…
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Russian Orthodox Church coming to Phuket
THALANG, PHUKET: A Russian Orthodox Church now under construction in Tambon Thepkrasattri is scheduled for completion by the end of next year. The groundbreaking religious ceremony at 4pm yesterday was performed by Archbishop Hilaion of Volokolamsk from Moscow and other clerics representing the Russian Orthodox Church in Thailand. The service was attended by Vice Governor Smith Palawatvichai and Rasada Mayor…
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Phuket Police promise peace in Patong
PATONG, PHUKET: Kathu Police and supporting organizations held a ceremony on Soi Bangla last night that included a brief photo shoot with tourists, assuring them that their safety is a top concern. Activities started at 7pm in front of the Baan Sukhothai Hotel & Spa on Soi Bangla. The large ceremony was presided over by Phuket Vice Governor Teerayut Eimtrakul.…
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Phuket’s Kajonkietsuksa School signs MOU with PSU Wittayanusorn
PHUKET CITY: Phuket’s Kajonkietsuksa School has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Prince of Songkla University’s (PSU’s) Wittayanusorn School in Haad Yai, one of the top secondary schools in Southern Thailand. Phuket Vice Governor Teerayuth Eimtrakul was guest of honor at the signing ceremony, which took place at the Royal Phuket City Hotel late Friday afternoon Signing the…
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Phuket’s Happy Air launches Langkawi flights
PHUKET CITY: New regional airline Happy Air on Saturday launched its three-times-weekly flights from Phuket to Malaysia’s duty-free island of Langkawi. The service, which takes 40 minutes, is aboard a Swedish-built SAAB 340A aircraft. The 34-seat, twin-engine turboprop plane will be manned by two cabin crew per flight. The Happy Air marketing team told a press conference at the The…
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Patong motorbike taxi drivers get free helmets
PATONG, PHUKET: Hoping to improve both safety standards and their public image, scores of blue-vested motorbike taxi drivers on Saturday took part in a training project and received free safety helmets. The initiative is part of a road safety and crime prevention campaign created by Kathu Police Superintendent Grissak Songmoonnark. At 1 pm on Saturday, about 400 members of the…
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New tsunami buoy deployed off Phuket
PHUKET: Thailand’s tsunami direct detection buoy has been successfully replaced and the new unit began transmitting data via satellite at 9:15am Thursday morning.Staff of the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) and technical experts from the US who conducted the mission returned aboard MV Seafdec at 8am yesterday, as planned.NDWC Director Viriya Mongkolveerapan told the Gazette the old unit will be…
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PTT expands search for liquid gold off Phuket
PHUKET: PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTEP) will continue its search for oil and natural gas reserves off Thailand’s Andaman Coast, with the possibility of drilling as early as 2013, a company project manager told the Phuket Governor on Thursday.PTTEP project manager Bandit Chaisilboon, responsible for three concession areas (A4/48, A5/48 and A6/48) off the Andaman Coast, said PTTEP has…
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OPINION: Tuk-tuks clearly a bane to Phuket tourism
PHUKET: The past week saw the launch of the Gazette’s new readers’ forum that allows readers to post their comments on news stories. The interactive feature was an instant hit, with more than 120 comments in three days on a single story: the demand by a group of tuk-tuk drivers for a bigger slice of the transport pie at a…
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Englishman dies in Phuket boating accident
CHALONG, PHUKET: An Englishman died yesterday after the catamaran he was sailing in with two friends capsized off Koh Hei.Chalong police identified the deceased as UK national Kevin Corrigan, a retired former employee of AIG Insurance.One of the survivors, 67-year-old English expat Bill Dobbs, told the Gazette that he and Mr Corrigan left Chalong Bay in the catamaran owned by…
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Phuket – Udon Thani flights start Monday
PHUKET CITY: Thai AirAsia will launch a new direct flight service connecting Phuket and the Isarn town of Udon Thani on Monday, December 21. The new service, with a 1 hour and 40 minute flight time, will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Thai AirAsia CEO Tassapol Bijleveld said “Udon Thani is in the central part of the Northeast…
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Phuket Sea Gypsies face lawsuit, possible eviction
RAWAI, PHUKET: Thirteen Moken sea gypsy families are being threatened with eviction after a businessman bought the title for the land their homes are built on. The families claim they occupied the land before the chanote land title was issued. The owner of the 2.7 rai plot of land in Rawai Village 2 has applied to the Phuket Provincial Court…
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Krabi motorbike monk seeks media justice
PHUKET CITY: A monk from Krabi made his way to the Phuket press club office yesterday in an effort to clear his name following a newspaper report that he was breaking the monk’s code of conduct by using a motorbike instead of walking during his morning alms collection. A photo of Phra Tossaponchana Kommasutho of Wat Tamtheppratan in the Muang…
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Phuket lifeguards seek back pay from PPAO
PHUKET CITY: Fifty former members of the provincial beach guard gathered at the offices of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PPAO) yesterday morning to protest over non-payment of two months’ salary. The guards, led by Kamala Beach head lifeguard Tawee Sariya, were met by PPAO Vice President Chawalit Na Nakorn at about 11:30am. The guards complained that all 67 members…
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Phuket Gov seeks end to Darasamuth Road impasse
WICHIT, PHUKET: A poor family with no place else to go is the only thing holding up government plans to complete a road project that could reduce traffic congestion on the bypass road at the Darasamuth School Intersection. Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop held a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall Tuesday afternoon to discuss the impasse. The 550-meter-long road starts just…
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Phuket’s ‘Golden Boy’ back in town
PHUKET CITY: Satree Phuket student Peerasak Sae-eung returned to Phuket yesterday as the island’s first-ever gold medal winner at the International Junior Science Olympiad in Azerbaijan. A crowd was on hand at Phuket International Airport to congratulate him on his victory, which took place earlier this month. Later the same day, he returned to his school where he told reporters,…
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Royal Project outlet shop opens in Phuket City
PHUKET CITY: Phuket residents can help improve the lives of some of Thailand’s poorest citizens by purchasing products from ‘Thung Ngern Thung Thong’, a new store that opened in Phuket City on Saturday. Thung Ngern Thung Thong, which translates as ‘bag of silver, bag of gold’, is the first-ever store in Phuket with permission from the Office of the Royal…
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Water truck crashes in Kata
KATA, PHUKET: A six-wheel water tanker owned by the Diamond Cottage Resort and Spa yesterday rolled about 10 meters downhill on Patak Rd, crashing into two nearby shops in Kata Center and damaging their front canopies. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. Staff at the hotel said the tanker was pumping water into the hotel at about 3:30pm when the handbrake…
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Phuket tsunami memorial services announced
PHUKET CITY: Memorial services marking the fifth anniversary of the 2004 tsunami disaster will take place on December 26 at locations in Patong, Mai Khao and Kamala. In Patong, a religious ceremony will take place at Loma Park on Patong Beach from 8am to 12pm, and again in the evening from 6pm to 7pm. In Mai Khao, similar ceremonies will…
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Man drowns in Phuket tin mining pond
KATHU, PHUKET: An unemployed former monk died of apparent drowning in a tin mining pond opposite Kathu Temple yesterday.The deceased was identified by his Thai ID card as 59-year-old Sa-ngiam Sompanpaing, a resident of Srisaket province.His friend and regular fishing partner Thiti Srinakuang, 59, said the pair regularly cast fishing nets into the pond.After arriving at the pond around noon…
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