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Phuket fire guts Kathu home, eight flats
PHUKET: A large fired completely destroyed a home and a row of rental flats in Phuket last night. Thung Thong Police were notified of a blaze on Soi Bangthong, about 50 meters from the Family Mart convenience store on Phra Barami Road on the Kathu side of Patong Hill, at about 8pm. Arriving at the scene, duty officer Capt Sakchai…
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More Phuket school kids caught with meth, krathom
PHUKET: Schoolkids in Phuket are taking pharmaceutical drugs after ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) smoking sessions in an attempt to turn up negative in urine tests for the drug, local officials have revealed Muang District Chief Supachai Pochanakul described the trend of growing drug abuse by schoolchildren in Muang District as “very worrying”. The statement follows a recent round-up of 19…
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Phuket regatta heads home for the awards
PHUKET: Day Four of The Bay Regatta saw sailors greeted with sunny skies and good wind as they left their anchorage off the Sheraton Krabi Beach Resort and headed back to Ao Chalong for the regatta’s final party and awards ceremony at the Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC). The colourful spinnakers stood out proud as the fleet made the crossing…
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Phuket Gazette: US jobs soar; Russians rally for fair polls; Syrian massacre; Cambodia jails jailer
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.S. unemployment rate drops to lowest in 3 years PHUKET (News Wires): The United States unemployment rate for the month of January dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest number in nearly three years, the U.S. Labor Department (DoL) announced. In its January 2012 Employment Situation report,…
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Chinese tourist drowns in Phuket
PHUKET: A woman in Phuket with a Chinese tour group drowned in Rawai on Thursday. The body of 57-year-old Xianmei Wang was found floating off of Koh Hei at about 2pm that day, Chalong Police said. Also known as Coral Island, Koh Hei is a popular destination for snorkelers and divers on group tours. Police are uncertain of what factors…
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Phuket update: Swede horror smash driver surrenders
PHUKET: The reckless truck driver who killed four Swedish holidaymakers in Phuket as well as their Thai driver on Wednesday morning surrendered to police in Phang Nga yesterday. The driver, 27-year-old Muhummadyukee Jehyusoh, was held in a cell at Phang Nga Provincial Court yesterday. He has since been transferred to Phang Nga Provincial Prison. Media access to the Narathiwat native…
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Phuket update: US lifts terror alert
PHUKET: Good news for the Phuket tourism industry has come with the US warning of a possible terrorist threat in Bangkok having been removed from its website, where it had been on the main page. The warning was replaced with a more general alert for East Asia. The new warning does not name any specific countries or places, but 14…
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Phuket Sports: Epic final in Aussie Open
PHUKET: World number one Novak Djokovic retained the Australian Open title in an exhilarating victory over second seed Rafael Nadal. Not only was the encounter the longest-ever Grand Slam final to date, at five hours and 53 minutes, it also gave tennis archivists numerous other records to rewrite. Nadal is the first man to lose three consecutive Grand Slam finals…
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No change on a new day: Ruby Tuesday still leads the Bay Regatta
PHUKET: Sailors departed from the waters off Paradise Koh Yao Boutique Resort & Spa yesterday for the 2012 Bay Regatta’s second day of racing. Heading south towards Krabi, competitors navigated through the limestone karsts of Phang Nga Bay, en route to their destination of Ao Nang, where a rest from partying awaited, for a few. Day two Racing Class results…
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What’s the difference between Terry and Suarez?
PHUKET: “Terry will not captain the England team until the allegations against him are resolved.” Chelsea central defender, John Terry, has lost the England captain’s armband yet again – this time over racial abuse accusations involving Anton Ferdinand of Queen’s Park Rangers. The trial will take place on July 9, 2012 – after the Euopean Championship tournament. Terry lost the…
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Phuket Sports Bag: This week in Sports
PHUKET: Grab your balls, bats and rackets for another nosedive into this week’s world of local and international sports events with the Phuket Gazette. In tennis, read about the final to end all finals that pushed Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to their break points at the Australian Open. Maria Sharapova may need another relaxing visit to Phuket after her…
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Royalists protest Nitirat group in Phuket
PHUKET: A small group of Phuket royalists gathered at Phuket Provincial Hall to show their opposition to efforts by the Nitirat group of scholars in Bangkok to amend Chapter 2 of the Constitution and article 112 of the Criminal Code, which deal with lese majeste. The group of about 20 protesters arrived at 10am with a letter of protest, which…
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Phuket Sports: Laguna bailed out by untimely dismissals
PHUKET: The Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) officially came into being last weekend with a two day event opened by Phuket’s youth development rugby and cricket teams. A fine display of strength and skills was exhibited by the Lomas (rugby) and Leopards (cricket) for spectators in their finery, who had gathered as part of a grand ceremony that announced the ACG’s…
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Chevy Phuket to hold ‘Family Rally’, marine life release
PHUKET: The Chevrolet dealership in Phuket is holding a “family car rally” and marine wildlife release ceremony on April 1 to help restore the ocean environment. Organized by Chevrolet Phuket with support from Phuket Marine Biological Center and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office in Phuket Town, this family event is limited to one hundred cars. Although the event…
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Phuket Gazette: Court sentences killers of lesbian; 74 dead in riot
– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community South African court sentences killers of lesbian to 18 years PHUKET (News Wires): Four South African men were sentenced to 18 years in prison on Wednesday for stabbing and stoning 19-year-old lesbian Zoliswa Nkonyana to death in 2006, local media reported yesterday. The men were found to have brutally…
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Laguna Phuket ready for Amway mega-event
PHUKET: The Laguna Phuket resort complex in Cherng Talay is gearing up for its largest-ever incentives event in April and May, when it will host some 16,000 Amway sales representatives from China. Phakwiphoo Tanpradit, project manager for Laguna, said the Amway employee seminars will run from April 15 to May 14. They will arrive in staggered batches, with about four…
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Phuket Bay Regatta 2012 gets a bit of everything for day one of racing
PHUKET: The 15th Bay Regatta got underway yesterday with crews’ patience and skills tested by a mixed bag of conditions on the first day of racing. GoYachting’s Richard Valentine remarked on the unusual weather.”The regatta gave us a little bit of everything,” he said. “Some sunshine with blue skies and wind early on, then the wind died and we were…
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Phuket News Wires: Soul Train’s Don Cornelius dead in apparent suicide
– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Soul Train’s Don Cornelius dead in apparent suicide World News: Television host and producer Don Cornelius was found dead at his California home on Wednesday from a gunshot wound to the head in an apparent suicide. He was 75. Cornelius, born Donald Cortez Cornelius in Chicago, Illinois, is famously…
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Phuket to launch anti-AIDS campaign on Valentine’s Day
PHUKET: Public health officials will launch a “Getting to Zero AIDS” campaign on Valentine’s Day to combat HIV/AIDS in Phuket, which has the highest incidence of HIV infection in Thailand, according to government statistics. The campaign will kick-off with a festival on February 14 at Phuket Rajabhat University, said Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) chief Sak Tanchaikul. There will be…
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Phuket medical tourism threatened by taxi thuggery
PHUKET: One of Phuket’s leading hospitals has complained that ‘taxi mafia’ are preventing its drivers from picking up patients staying at certain resort hotels. The complaint was one of many aired at a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall on the topic of tourists being cheated in Phuket. The meeting was chaired by new Phuket Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa. Pareeya Jullaphong,…
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Phuket weather radar out of service
PHUKET: The weather radar at Phuket Airport has been out of service for almost a week, but a technician at Phuket Airport says it should be operational again in a few days. According to the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) website, the Phuket weather radar has been out of operation since midday last Friday. Narongsak Gumroob, a radar technician at the…
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Phuket Business: New biz center opens
PHUKET: Kasikorn Bank Group opened Southern Thailand’s first Business Services, Securities and Leasing Center, located on Thepkrasatri road in Phuket Town recently. The center will specialize in investment and lending services for Kasikorn clients in Phuket and the entire southern region. Padermpob Songkroh, Managing Director of Private Fund Management, Kasikorn Securities said, “The center is one of only 12 nationwide…
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Phuket Business: White-collared workers to gain from boom
PHUKET: The local work force and overall economy of Phuket stand to benefit from the ensuing boom in real estate, an executive of a major real estate developer has said. Speaking exclusively with the Phuket Gazette, Suriya Wannabuit, Executive Vice President of the Project Management and Marketing Department of Sansiri Pcl, shared his thoughts about the local economy. “Locals don’t…
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Phuket Business: Hydrofoil pilots
PHUKET: An innovative technology which looks to give a boost to the Andaman coastal region’s sea transport industry, is now being piloted off the shores of Phuket. Benchmarked by the unofficial launch of a hydrofoil sea transport and tour service, swift and seamless day trips from Phuket to distant, offshore havens in Krabi and Phang Nga provinces are not only…
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Phuket Update: British tourist ‘stabber’ awaits trial in Krabi
PHUKET: A Thai man accused of stabbing a young British tourist at a beach party on Phi Phi Island last year is in Krabi Provincial Prison awaiting trial. Hamed Poonyung, 23, has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing 22-year-old Nicholas Palmer in October, 2011. The attack, which took place on a crowded beach at Ton Sai Bay, occurred…
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4 Swedes, 1 Thai dead in horror smash near Phuket
PHUKET: Two young Swedish couples and their Thai driver were killed instantly yesterday morning when their rented car was hit head-on by a six-wheel refrigerator truck in Takua Thung District, Phang Nga. The dead were identified by their ID cards as: Elin Marita Hedbris, 21Frida Madeleine Falk, 22Anders Tobias Larsson, 22Johan Olof Nikolas Svensson, 22Wichit Phromluang, 26, from Udon Thani…
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Phuket Business: Save yourself
PHUKET: I am personally a very big fan of Napoleon Hill, and I have just finished re-reading his original work The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons. Each lesson is based on a quality or aspect which was a common denominator amongst all of the various successful men he had studied over a thirty year period, such as Henry Ford…
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Phuket Live Wire: Protect yourself from ATM skimming
PHUKET: Recently the Gazette ran a story about ATM skimming, describing how two long-term Phuket residents lost hundreds of thousands of baht at the hands of clever thieves. The banks involved came up with good advice: use ATMs either inside or at the front of bank branches; use ATMs from major banks as they have better anti-tamper systems and beware…
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World number four pair set to give back to Phuket schools
PHUKET: Schools beach volleyball received a top endorsement recently with the world’s number four pairing of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross from the USA offering to help promote the sport on Phuket. Bob Selznick continues to do sterling work for youth volleyball on the island and his friendship with the 2011 FIVB Phuket Beach Volleyball finalists [Kessy and Ross] has…
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Phuket Sports: FPL round two
PHUKET: Phuket’s Fair Play League (FPL) moved venues to take advantage of the excellent facility at Youth Football Home in Thalang for the second round of the competition. With two immaculately kept grass pitches at the ground, participating boys and girls enjoyed an afternoon of great football. In the U11 Division, spectators were treated to three hard-fought games with every…
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