News
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Sponsored Phuket workcation: paradise with a side of productivity (is it worth it?)
Dreaming of working remotely under swaying palm trees with the sound of the ocean waves as your background music? Phuket, the "Pearl of the Andaman," beckons digital nomads with its stunning beaches, vibrant culture, and surprisingly good infrastructure for remote...
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Heavy rains in Phuket cause landslide
PHUKET/PATONG: Torrential rain last night caused a massive landslide in Patong which left 200 meters of Sirirat Road covered in thick mud and debris.The road blockage and flood waters caused traffic jams and long delays.The landslide started from a construction site on Petchakut Road, 150 meters above Sirirat road, opposite Simon Cabaret.Patong Deputy Mayor, Prasarn Yordtor said water from a…
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Police identify victims of Phuket shootout
PATONG, PHUKET: Kathu Police have identified the man who died in a wild west-style gunfight that broke out at Patong Beach on Tuesday as 24-year-old Daruwat Burintarakot, nephew of the late Jintana Plaza heiress Komkai Kositkoon who was murdered in July last year. Police have also released the names of the three men injured in the shootout, during which dozens…
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Hillary Clinton in Phuket: Asean urged to be open about human rights
PHUKET: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her diplomatic entourage flew into Phuket yesterday on two private jets. Mrs Clinton was then whisked off to the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket, the Asean Ministers’ Meetings Phuket venue, where she gave a speech that included a call on the Burmese junta to release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been…
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Bomb scare at Laguna Phuket
CHERNG TALAY, PHUKET: A loud boom reported at Laguna Phuket this morning was caused by security officials who blasted a suspicious motorbike with high-pressure water from a fire hose.Reuters news agency reported that a ‘loud blast’ of unknown origin was heard by witnesses.A source at Laguna Phuket confirmed that security officers at the resort found a suspicious motorbike parked near the Laguna Holiday Club, less than a…
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Temporary ICU for Asean talks in Phuket
CHERNG TALAY, PHUKET: Emergency medical facilities including a temporary intensive care unit (ICU) are in place at Laguna Phuket in case any delegates at the Asean Ministerial Meetings fall seriously ill during the talks. Three medical aid points have been set up specifically for such an event. The most well equipped is ‘Medical Center 1201’, located inside host venue the…
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Phuket gangs shoot it out in Patong
PATONG, PHUKET: Tourists ran for their lives when a gunfight erupted between two gangs on the Patong beachfront today. One man was killed and three injured in the Patong shootout.Bystanders said two gangs of Thai men began shooting at each other on the site of the burned out Jintana shopping center on the Patong beach road in the early afternoon.One witness said a…
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New Phuket City market to open by year’s end
PHUKET CITY: Structural work on the new municipal market on Ranong Road is complete, but the 167-million-baht facility probably won’t be open for business until the end of the year. Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwansupana said the four-story market building and the 27 shophouse units surrounding it were finished, but interior work would probably take several months to plan and…
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Phuket swine flu infections drop
PHUKET CITY: Phuket appears to be winning the battle against swine flu, but the island’s top public health official is asking the public to maintain vigilance.Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) director Dr Pongsawas Ratanasang said yesterday morning the number of new cases reported daily has fallen to fewer than five, on average.So far there have been 123 reported cases of…
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Clubbers survive brutal beating in Phuket
CHERNG TALAY, PHUKET: Two people have been hospitalized after a brutal attack in the early hours of Saturday.Narissa Phokabut, 28, and her 30-year-old English friend, were leaving the Stereo Lab nightclub before dawn on Saturday when they were attacked by two Thai men.Yards away, revelers were still partying at the Hed Kandi night, an event put on by the popular…
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Thai PM opens Asean meeting in Phuket
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his entourage arrived in Phuket this morning for the 42nd Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) and related meetings that got underway at the Laguna Phuket resort on Friday. Among those on hand to greet PM Abhisit at the Phuket International Airport VIP room at 8.30am were national police chief Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwan,…
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Phuket residents decidedly calm in run-up to Asean
PHUKET CITY: Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan yesterday told the international community that the upcoming meetings of Asean foreign ministers and dialogue partners would be secure. “I want to assure you all that the security arrangements are superb and the meetings will proceed without disruption,” he said. In April, anti-government protesters stormed into the Asean Summit’s venue in Pattaya, forcing the…
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Internet shop closure not enforced in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The government-ordered closure of internet shops and tutorial schools nationwide to stop the spread of swine flu is not being enforced in Phuket, public health officials admit. Most of the 480 registered internet shops on the island simply ignored the order, which they view as unfair and illegal. Cabinet last Thursday approved a proposal by the Ministry of…
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Phuket plant fair starts next week
PHUKET CITY: Green thumbs take note: the 17th Annual Ornamental Plants & Flowers Fair will take place at Saphan Hin from July 24 to August 2. Somchai Hengwatcharaphaibul, chief of the Phuket Agriculture and Cooperatives Office, said he expects this year’s event to generate about 40 million baht in sales. The fair will include exhibitions, displays, competitions in flower arrangement…
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Readers’ Poll: More buses best solution to Phuket’s transport woes
PHUKET CITY: Gazette readers think an expanded public bus network is the single best solution to Phuket’s transport woes, last month’s readers’ poll has determined. Over 400 readers cast votes in the poll, which is now closed. We asked readers to tell us what they thought was the single best solution to Phuket’s transport problems. The most popular solution, with…
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Phuket still safe despite Jakarta bombings
PHUKET: The bomb blasts which shattered Jakarta’s Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott Hotels this morning, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens more, have sent the topic of terrorism rocketing to the top of the agenda at the 42nd Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting which got underway in Phuket today. Asean Secretary General Dr Surin Pitsuwan said officials and delegates were…
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Partial solar eclipse in Phuket on Wednesday
PHUKET CITY: Weather permitting, a partial solar eclipse will be visible in Phuket on Wednesday morning. The eclipse, blocking about 20% of the sun at its peak at 8.10am, will last around six minutes. Rajabhat Phuket University is hosting a viewing event at the traffic circle in front of the Dean’s Office on the Rajabhat campus. Assistant Professor Sakchai Phetchuai…
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Dasta holds public hearings in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The public organization pushing to develop the Ao Phuket mega-project off Saphan Hin is conducting public hearings to gauge reaction to the possibility of designating all of Phuket as a special administrative zone for sustainable tourism. Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Dasta), a public organization whose board answers directly to the Prime Minister’s Office, held the first…
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Haunted heister makes amends
CHONBURI: A man claiming to be haunted by a ghost after stealing a 30,000 baht gold bracelet from a shop five years ago turned himself to police today. Jirasak Phahurat, 33, told police that a ghost came to him every day for five years, telling him to return a bracelet with the same value to the shop owner. So, Mr…
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Abbot claims black magic nailed him
UTTARADIT: A temple abbot was admitted to hospital after doctors found nails in his stomach for the second time in two months. Phra Athikananuwat Wisutho, 32, abbot of Wat Hat Song Khwai in Tha Pla District, was admitted to Uttaradit Hospital on July 7 after an X-ray found five 3- to 4-inch nails in his stomach. The director of Utaradit…
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Phuket abuzz with pride and wonder about ASEAN event
PHUKET: Phuket has begun pulsing with vibrancy today. Official cars, police and army officers, and security guards are becoming a common sight. It’s all about the ASEAN foreign ministers meetings and the ASEAN Regional Forum, to be held at Laguna Phuket from Friday to July 23. Phuketians generally welcome the massive security effort, despite all the checkpoints and limitations on…
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Rolly Tasker donates land for Phuket road project
PHUKET CITY: Rolly Tasker Sails Co Ltd yesterday morning donated eight rai of land to the state for construction of a second airport road. Company founder Mr Tasker, an Australian sailing legend, handed over the title deeds to Phuket Governor Wichai Praisa-ngop at a ceremony at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday morning. Gov Wichai has pushed for the new new airport…
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Inmates spruce up Phuket roadsides for ministers’ meeting
PHUKET: The Phuket governor called in Phuket Provincial Prison inmates to help clean up and landscape the Airport Road that delegates to the 42nd Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will pass on their way to the host venue Laguna Phuket.The order followed an inspection tour of the road on Friday during which Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop found the median strip and roadsides…
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Foundered ferry under tow to Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Salvage workers are today trying to tow back to Phuket the unregistered passenger ferry that foundered in heavy seas in Phang Nga Bay over the weekend. Phuket Marine Police on Sunday morning rescued the captain and crew of the unregistered ferry Kacha Marine, which sank during a sea squall near the Mu Sung Rocks about seven miles off…
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Burmese government to open ID centers for illegals
PHUKET CITY: In an effort to legalize untold thousands of its citizens working illegally in Thailand, the Burmese government will tomorrow open ‘citizen identification centers’ at three immigration checkpoints along the Thai border. The announcement came at a seminar at the Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel on Saturday attended by Burmese Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister U Maung Myaint, Thai Labor Minister…
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ASEAN Meetings: Phuket residents rush for stickers for fast-track security clearance
PHUKET: Col Piyapong Wongchan, Deputy Chief of the Internal Security Operations Command in Phuket, said this afternoon that Phuket vehicle owners who want special passes to facilitate clearance through the many special security checkpoints now being set up around the island should contact their village heads in Thalang and Kathu districts. More than 40,000 such stickers have already been issued…
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Phuket to get new 378 million baht bridge
PHUKET: The Sarasin Bridge, which joins Phuket to the mainland, is to be dismantled and replaced by a new four-lane structure in a construction project worth 378 million baht. Italian-Thai Development (ITD) said it signed the contract to carry out the New Sarasin Bridge Project with the Department of Highways, Ministry of Transport and Communications, late last month. The work, which is…
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Outta here! Phuket red shirts off to Chiang Mai during Asean meetings
PHUKET CITY: Even as military troops and hardware deploy in Thalang, the leaders of Phuket’s small ‘red-shirt’ movement say they have no plans to disrupt the Asean-led meetings set to begin in Cherng Talay a week from today.In fact, they plan to be in Chiang Mai for a meeting of their own while the talks are on, their leader says.Phuket…
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Photo Walk in Phuket on Saturday
PHUKET CITY: Calling all photographers: you are invited to join tens of thousands of snappers across the globe for a worldwide ‘photo walk’ next Saturday. Phuket City is one of 915 locations around the world in which groups of photographers will spend two hours walking the streets, talking about the art of photography and, of course, taking pictures. The Scott Kelby…
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Phuket internet cafes to be off line for two weeks
PHUKET CITY: Internet cafes throughout Thailand will be closed for two weeks following the death of a Phuket university student last week. Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai has announced plans to close tutorial schools and Internet cafes nationwide in a bid to prevent the spread of the A(H1N1) virus that causes swine flu. Schools and internet cafes will be asked…
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PSU Phuket closed for two-day cleaning after swine flu death
KATHU, PHUKET: The Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Phuket campus has closed for a ‘big cleaning’ following the death of a 19-year-old student from swine flu complications last week. The cleanup effort will target 1,500 university dorm rooms as well as common areas. Speaking at a press conference at the Phuket Public Health Office on Thursday afternoon, PSU Phuket Assistant…
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