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Brazen youths caught after bag snatch in front of Phuket police
PHUKET: Three teenagers were arrested minutes after they snatched a bag from a Chinese tourist right in front of four Phuket police officers in a patrol pickup truck on Saturday night.“The officers watched as the young men on a motorbike with no license plate approached the woman, Wang Ying, while she was walking by the side of the road with…
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Phuket’s “Non Tanon’, 16, wins The Voice Thailand
PHUKET: Phuket teenager Tanon “Non” Chamroen won the national singing talent quest The Voice Thailand 2012 last weekend. Standing on stage in Bangkok on Saturday night, Non sang the Thai love song Yung Mai Koey (“Still Never”) live on Channel 3’s nationwide broadcast of the finals.Now called “Non Tanon”, the Mattayom 4 student at Satree Phuket School in Phuket Town…
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World News: These tragedies must end: US President Obama
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Funerals begin for Newtown victims as schools confront tragedy Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The small Connecticut town shattered by an act President Barack Obama called “unconscionable evil,” held today the first two of 20 funerals for schoolchildren massacred in their classrooms last week. Meanwhile, schools across…
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Explaining UK pension transfers
PHUKET: For the many people who leave the UK each year to live, work and retire in Thailand, or many popular countries across the world, a decision needs to be made as to whether they will keep their private or occupational pension funds in the UK or transfer them overseas. Since April 6, 2006, an individual looking to transfer their…
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Police, officials knew of death threats, alleges Reisz girlfriend
PHUKET: A woman close to Hungarian murder victim Peter Reisz gave her statement to Phuket police, claiming that Samui Police and officials at the Hungarian embassy in Bangkok were aware of death threats being made against Mr Reisz but failed to act appropriately on them. The woman, a Vietnamese national who asked not to be named in fear of compromising…
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Phuket Opinion: Just slow down
PHUKET: Samak Luedwonghad, 45, has been trying to make Thailand’s roads safer for 23 years, and is currently the Phuket Highways Office Director. Before he moved to Phuket in February, he had worked for the Department of Rural Roads’ Bureau of Bridge Construction for 10 years, and then for more than five years as the head project engineer of the…
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Phuket Opinion: Parking management not “The Impossible’
PHUKET: Rising property prices, poor public planning and a dire lack of public transport options have combined to leave Phuket with a lack of public parking in some of its most densely-settled areas.In few places is the problem more acute than in shopping center parking garages. While some are better than others, the traffic nightmare that persists in some, during…
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Family positive in identification of missing American Brett Bean
PHUKET: Based on CCTV footage the family of missing American Brett Bean have identified the man using Brett’s ATM card on November 23 as Brett. “My husband, my daughter and I all thought that the video on the 23rd was Brett. None of us are sure of the other videos. We are actively working on those videos, so that we…
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Phuket labor chief confirms illegal Burmese workers will be deported
PHUKET: Any migrant workers found in Phuket without having completed the nationality verification process will be deported, the chief of the Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) has warned. “The deadline for migrant workers to complete the nationality verification process was extended by six months, from June 15 until December 14,” PPEO chief Yaowapa Pibulpol told the Phuket Gazette. “During that…
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World News: Connecticut in mourning; Gunman kills 28
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Quiet Connecticut town rocked by mass school shooting Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The peace and security of the suburban Connecticut community of Newtown lay shattered yesterday after a gunman attacked a primary school in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.Tearful parents and children gathered…
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Patong Carnival underway today
PHUKET: The island’s premier party town of Patong is set to kick off the tourism high season with its annual carnival, starting today and running to December 20. Organized by the Patong Municipality, the annual festival draws thousands of visitors from all over the world to mark the start of the tourism high season in Phuket, which traditionally runs from…
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Phuket Sports: Andaman Pearl’s home games under threat
PHUKET: Phuket United’s home at the new 4,000-seat futsal arena in Saphan Hin is under threat after Phuket City Municipality has asked that the parquet playing surface be relayed with rubber. The Andaman Pearl’s Saturday game was postponed to Sunday, at Fashion Island in Bangkok, because of issues with the playing surface at Saphan Hin’s futsal stadium, said Samak Rattanadilokna,…
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Phang Nga officials implicated in illegal palm plantation
PHUKET: Several high-ranking Phang Nga officials have been implicated in the operation of an illegal 16-rai palm plantation raided by officers yesterday after the site was deemed to be encroaching on protected park land.More than 70 officers cleared 420 palm trees in yesterday’s raid.The offensive targeted a district border area at the tourist-popular Ton Pariwat Wildlife Conservation Area, north of…
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‘Paris Hilton’ Phuket beach party gets green light
PHUKET: The “Paris Hilton” New Year beach bash organized by Sydictive Element on Surin Beach has, after strong opposition, finally been approved, local officials have confirmed to the Phuket Gazette. The approval came after Sydictive Element assured the local government that they will take care of three key areas of concern, Ma-ann Samran, president of the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration…
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Phuket first-time car buyers overload Excise Office
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Excise Office (PPEO) is calling in extra officers from other departments to help cope with an overload of tax-rebate applications being filed by first-time car owners. The office has processed 9,000 applications for tax rebates since the government campaign to encourage young people to buy cars was launched on September 16 last year, said policy specialist…
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Phuket Sports: Patong CC slay old foe
PHUKET: Patong Cricket Club (PCC) squared off against old foes Island Cricket Club (ICC) in the second game of the Jones Lang LaSalle League last Sunday. Patong Cricket Club emerged victorious after an exciting day of cricket. PCC won the toss and elected to bat, losing their fist wicket in the second over. After a cautious start, opener Mike Khan…
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Phuket human trafficking victim now safe in children’s home
PHUKET: The Cambodian child who literally ran to the safety of Phuket officials to escape her life as a human-trafficking victim and being forced to beg on the streets of Soi Bangla is now safe in a home for children, Patong Deputy Mayor Chairat Sukban confirmed to the Phuket Gazette today. “We coordinated with all relevant departments immediately after she…
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Turtle egg find floats hope of leatherbacks returning to Phuket region
PHUKET: Hopes that turtles are returning to their traditional nesting sites along the Andaman Coast soared as a second clutch of leatherback turtle eggs was discovered on Tai Muang Beach in Phang Nga, just north of Phuket, within an eight day period.The discovery of the nest on Tuesday follows a leatherback turtle being spotted laying eggs on the beach on…
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World News: North Korean launch sends out shock-waves
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community For North Korea, next step is a nuclear test Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: North Korea rattled the world yesterday by putting a satellite into orbit using the kind of technology that appears to demonstrate it can develop a missile capable of hitting the United States.…
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Phuket Prison to investigate alleged “death beating’
PHUKET: Phuket Prison officials are investigating the death of a male inmate following a grieving widow alleging that her husband was beaten to death. Prison guards found Pranom Duksukkaew, 48, dead from what they believed to be natural causes when they went to rouse the inmates at 6am on Tuesday. Pranom was serving a 16-year sentence for raping a minor,…
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World News: Death toll from Hurricane Bopha reaches 900; Many still missing
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Philippines typhoon toll tops 900, hundreds still missing Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has climbed above 900 while hundreds more, many of them tuna fishermen, remain missing and are feared dead, emergency…
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International Sports: Assumptions that cricket has largely eradicated corruption are challenged
Spot fixing threatens integrity of modern game Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Any comfortable assumptions that world cricket has largely eradicated corruption after the shock of the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal are challenged in a disturbing new book investigating India’s illegal bookmaking underworld. In “Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy; A Journey to the Heart of Cricket’s Underworld”, English author and cricket…
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Police to charge tour van driver today over lethal Phuket crash
PHUKET: Tuan Russala Samae, the tour van driver involved in the fatal crash that killed 9-year-old British International School student Kunnarree Lattuada-Lancini on November 29, has been discharged from Vachira Phuket Hospital. “He is to present himself at Chalong Police Station on Thursday [today] to be charged with reckless driving causing death,” Sub Lt Kraisorn Boonprasop told the Gazette on…
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CCTV captures unidentified man using missing American’s bank card in Phuket
PHUKET: The mother of missing American Brett Bean was unable to confirm if images captured by CCTV cameras in Patong and Chalong show her son making ATM transactions after his disappearance in Phuket. Lynne Bean, who posted a 50,000 baht reward to help find her son was asked to visit Karon Police Station today to try to identify a man…
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Live Wire: A decade of hard internet knocks
PHUKET: This is the final installment in a four-part series of articles about getting connected to the internet in Phuket. High season is upon us and many people are looking for good internet connections – for a month, a year, or the rest of their lives. In these four articles I’ve tried to distill more than a decade’s worth of…
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Phuket Business: B300 minimum wage hike to worsen labor shortage
PHUKET: With the nationwide minimum wage set to rise to 300 baht, a labor shortage tops the list of business risks for property and construction firms in 2013. To consumers, this could mean longer construction periods while they wait to take possession of their new homes.Thailand’s construction, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors are now facing a shortfall of about 200,000 workers.…
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Phuket Business – Think outside the box: Pornthip
PHUKET: The island’s most recognized local food-gift company Pornthip (Phuket) Co Ltd, was recently honored with the “Good Design Award” in Japan for the packaging of its Sino-Portuguese snack gift items. This was the second year in a row the company received the accolade for its unique and innovative packaging design. Also recognized with the “G Mark”, the annual award…
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North Korean native found dead in Phuket
PHUKET: A Russian national, but born in North Korea, was found dead in his rented Phuket apartment room this evening.The unclothed body of the man, 46, was found face-up on the floor by the apartment owner after she unlocked the room to access the air-conditioning unit.“I knocked on his door and asked for him to open up for me and…
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World News: Doctor rescued by Navy Seals in Afghanistan
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.S. forces rescue kidnapped American doctor in Afghanistan Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: Seven Taliban insurgents were killed yesterday in a successful operation by US special forces to rescue an American doctor who had been abducted in eastern Afghanistan, officials said. A US service member…
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Phuket ready to rendezvous
PHUKET: Organizers are making final preparations for the 12th annual Asia Superyacht Rendezvous and the anticipation is palpable. Most yachts have arrived, bringing with them captains, crew and VIP guests who are getting revved up for sun, sailing and socializing. The buzz is growing with Christmas around the corner and Phuket’s beaches bustling with families, honeymooners, holiday makers and friendly…
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