News
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Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
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Phuket Gazette World News: Uruguay legalizes marijuana; Ukraine riot police advance; US nowhere near Afghan troop exit
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Uruguay becomes first nation to legalise marijuana trade Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Uruguay became the first country to legalise the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana on Tuesday, a pioneering social experiment that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug liberalisation.A government-sponsored bill approved by…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Bangkok deadlock; Academics fear coup; No bail for Abhisit; Tortoises snared at airport; B77mn ya bah bust
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Game reaches dead end The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra fought back tears yesterday when asked by reporters to respond to the anti-government group’s demand that the whole Shinawatra clan leave the country.In a shaky voice, her eyes welling with tears, she said…
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Search begins for missing Phuket girl, 7
PHUKET: A distraught mother has made a heartfelt plea to find her seven-year-old daughter, Natthapa “Nong Dear” Papkaew, last seen in a Chalong neighborhood on Friday. Nong Dear is about 120cm tall and about 16kg. “She has long black hair and is missing her two front teeth,” Ms Jaroon Papkaew, 45, told the Phuket Gazette. “She was wearing a yellow…
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Aussies dominate 2013 Phuket King’s Cup Regatta
PHUKET: Australian entries won four of the 14 scheduled classes, followed by Japan with three classes racked up, in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, sailed off Kata Beach all last week. As expected, in the Phuket Dinghy Series, raced as an integral part of the Regatta proper, Thai sailors – boys and girls – reigned supreme in the Optimists, the…
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Compulsory healthcare for foreigners a matter of choice: Poll
PHUKET: A clear majority of Thai nationals believe foreigners should not be compelled to buy health insurance when entering Thailand, but fewer than half of all tourists and expats living in the country shared that view, at least according to the results of the latest Phuket Gazette online readers’ poll. The poll – asking “What is the best insurance solution…
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Body believed to be western woman retrieved from water off Ranong, brought to Phuket
PHUKET: The body of a woman believed to be a westerner was found by a fishing boat off Ranong on November 30, and brought to Phuket yesterday.The woman was estimated to be 40-50 years old, about 170-180cm tall, and had white hair. She was wearing a green shirt and brown underwear when she was found, said Capt Weerachart Srira of…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Putin tightens grip on Russian media; World mourns Mandela; Singapore riots; Jakarta train crash; Lake remains on Mars
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Putin dissolves state news agency, tightens grip on media Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Vladimir Putin tightened his hold on Russia’s media on Monday by dissolving the main state news agency, seen by hawks as too liberal, and creating a new outlet to improve Moscow’s image under a…
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No amnesty for Phuket foreigners waiting for work permits
PHUKET: While illegal taxi, tuk-tuk and tour van drivers continue to work freely in Phuket under a government pledge of immunity from arrest, foreigners waiting for work permits will receive no such protection. In their long-accommodating efforts to encourage drivers working in the tourism industry to become legal, the provincial government has granted amnesty to all illegal transport drivers in…
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Phuket visa-run van crashes in Malaysia
PHUKET: A KBV Visa Run van that left Phuket for Penang last night collided with a motorbike in Malaysia at about 9:30 this morning. Ukrainian Dmytro Kolot, 30, was in the van and called a Russian friend in Phuket, Oleg Spitsin, to report the accident. “Dmytro was sitting next to the driver. He said the van was travelling at a…
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Patong ATM thieves caught with skimming equipment re-enact crime
PHUKET: The trio of professional thieves who were busted in Bangkok after robbing an ATM in Phuket were caught with what police believe to be ATM skimming equipment in addition to safe-cracking tools. Yesid Alexander Ledesma Gutierrez, 50, Luis Fernando Guarin Suta, 44, and Carlos Arturo Amariles Marin, 57 have all confessed to the blowtorch robbery, and took part in…
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Immigration stamps out rumors over retirement visas
PHUKET: Phuket Immigration Superintendent Napat Nusen issued a press release today clarifying that the rules regarding retirement visa extensions will remain unchanged, but will be interpreted more strictly. “Nothing has been changed. It has been the same since 2008. A wife can still use the same type of follower visa as before if her husband applies for a Non-immigrant O…
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Romanian arrested with 3kg of cocaine at Phuket Airport
PHUKET: Customs officers at Phuket International Airport arrested Romanian Pop Florin, 52, on Friday night after finding more than 3kg of cocaine in his baggage. Acting on a tip-off from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Customs officers from Bangkok came to Phuket to assist in the arrest, Phuket Airport Customs Director Montira Cherchoo explained. “Mr Florin departed Sao Paulo,…
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Colombians, Mexican arrested in Bangkok for Phuket ATM robbery
PHUKET: Three men suspected of robbing a Patong ATM last Tuesday were apprehended in Bangkok yesterday and returned to Phuket last night. Phuket Police and fellow officers from the central Bangkok district of Phayathai worked together to arrest the men, who are accused of using a blowtorch to steal almost 300,000 baht from a Thanachart ATM. Mexican Yesid Alexander Ledesma…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Lenin falls in Ukraine; India’s ruling party stumbles; Kim Jong Un uncle dismissed for illicit partying
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Protesters fell Lenin statue, tell Ukraine’s president ‘you’re next’ Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Anti-government protesters toppled a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine’s capital and attacked it with hammers on Sunday in a symbolic challenge to President Viktor Yanukovich and his plans for closer…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Bangkok readies for ‘final day’ protests; Democrats resign, Yingluck requests to dissolve Parliament
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Democrat MPs quit House The Nation / Phuket GazetteUPDATE: Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Monday sought royal approval for House dissolution. She said in a press conference at 8:42am that the dissolution is a democratic way.PHUKET: The opposition Democrat Party yesterday unanimously resolved that all of its…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: U.N., U.S. call for investigations into Thai trafficking of Rohingya
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.N., U.S. call for investigations into Thai trafficking of Rohingya Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The United Nations and the United States on Friday called for investigations into the findings of a Reuters report that Thai immigration officials moved Myanmar refugees into human trafficking rings. The…
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Phuket road accidents claim lives of two men with same last name
PHUKET: Police have yet to establish whether two men who died in separate road accidents in Phuket yesterday were from the same family. Sutep Yotarak, 33, died after his motorbike collided with the motorbike driven by Araya Sanguannam, 62, in Mai Khao at about 11:30am. After Mr Sutep fell off his bike, he was struck by a passing car and…
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Nine Phuket heroes due to arrive next month
PHUKET: A 50-million-baht project to honor important figures in Phuket’s history moves closer to completion next month with the arrival of nine bronze statues. The statues represent individuals important in the defense of Phuket against Burmese invaders, including the well known Phuket Heroines, sisters Thao Thepkrasattri and Thao Srisoonthorn (story here). Cast in Ang Thong province, the statues will be…
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Phuket boy, 16, murdered with throat cut and body burned in woods
PHUKET: Police are investigating the murder of a 16-year-old boy who had been stabbed multiple times and whose throat was cut before his body was dumped and burned at a wooded location in a remote part of central Phuket. Police called to the scene – on Muang Chaofa Road, about 3km from Chao Fa West Road (map here) – shortly…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Ukraine’s Yanukovich defies protesters to meet Putin; France enters CAR; Clashes in Athens; Japan enacts state secrets act
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Clashes break out in Athens Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Police and protesters clashed in Athens on Friday on the fifth anniversary of the killing of a teenager by police, an incident that sparked Greece’s worst riots for decades.Thousands of protesters, many dressed in black, marched through the…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Suthep sets D-Day Monday; Referendum proposed; Baht falls; Fears over New Year gouging; Floods in South
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Suthep sets December 9 as D-day against Thaksin Regime The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Anti-government rally leader Suthep Thaugsuban on Friday night set December 9 as the D-Day for what he called “people’s uprising” against the Thaksin Regime and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government.Speaking at the rally…
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Phuket Employment Office re-opens to process work permits
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO), which processes work permits for foreigners, quietly reopened today. “We are now back to working normally,” PPEO Chief Yaowapa Pibulpol told the Phuket Gazette. “Our office was closed for two and a half days, from the afternoon of December 3 through the public holiday for HM The King’s birthday yesterday,” she explained. “But…
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Boy, 14, killed by Phuket tour bus
pHUKET: A tour bus carrying Chinese tourists to view the sunset at Phuket’s iconic Promthep Cape yesterday afternoon struck a motorbike carrying three teenagers in Rawai. One of the three teens died instantly in the impact. The other two are in hospital. Police arrived at the scene, on the southbound lane near the intersection with Sai Yuan Road (map here),…
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Phuket python nabbed after exposing itself
PHUKET: Construction workers breaking the floor of a new house in order to remake it were shocked when instead of earth they saw the tail of a snake through the broken concrete. Kusoldharm foundation workers who were called to the site on Palien Road (map here), behind Provincial Hall this morning managed to capture the snake on their second attempt.…
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Leaders fight to consolidate in King’s Cup before final day’s racing
PHUKET: The fleet set sail following the Royal Thai Navy sail pass on day four of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta in light rain; the first such weather pattern of this week of racing. The key element though was brisk wind which was constantly shifting direction making for a high work-rate day for all of the crew members (numbering almost…
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British tourist withdraws complaint of spiked drink in Phuket
PHUKET: The British woman who told police that she tumbled from the second storey balcony of her Phuket hotel room on November 11 because she was given a spiked drink on Soi Bangla has asked police not to pursue the case. Extensive media coverage of the night’s events, which included 21-year-old Romany Mitchell’s claim that she was escaping an assailant…
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Phuket Gazette World News: World mourns Mandela; Arctic storm slams UK ; France vows African action; Pope probes child abuse; Italy to deport KKK head
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community World mourns death of Nelson Mandela Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela died aged 95 at his Johannesburg home on Thursday after a prolonged lung infection, plunging his nation and the world into mourning for a man hailed by global leaders as a…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: HM calls for unity; Protests to resume today; Red-shirts to rally in Ayutthaya
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community HM issues call for unity The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej yesterday called on all Thais to carry out their duties for the benefit of their homeland and ensure its security.In his birthday speech, His Majesty said Thailand had maintained happiness due to…
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Phuket Opinion: Quest to conquer island transport
PHUKET: Mount Everest, K2, Cape Horn; the Sahara Desert – conquering these places represents the pinnacle of human potential and achievement. To this list, I would like to to add the streets of Phuket! For most, just a mere mention of the above places will conjure up images of sweat, tears, pain, joy, patience and adrenaline: all ingredients of “willpower”.…
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Phuket Opinion: Patong’s good-time juggernaut spins on
PHUKET: Reports that Patong Municipality hopes to install a huge Ferris wheel along the beach road have generated considerable interest within Phuket’s large and ever-growing expat community, and some skepticism with regard to the cost/benefit of such an erection.But the fact that this is even a serious topic of discussion clearly demonstrates just how good we have it here in…
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