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Jilted boyfriend leaves ex armless
PATHUM THANI: A man allegedly launched a crazed attack on his ex-girlfriend with a sword, severing one of her arms before grabbing the limb and fleeing. Victim Mali Phuangprachang, who works at a beauty salon, is recovering in Viparam Hospital. The 33-year-old has been left without her right arm and had a huge gash in her face that needed 22…
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Phuket St Patrick’s Day Ball charity event tomorrow
PHUKET: A charity ball marking St Patrick’s Day will be hosted tomorrow evening at the Mövenpick Resort & Spa in Karon. The annual ball is a major fundraising event for the Life Home Project, a local foundation that provides shelter for women and children affected by HIV as well as childcare, vocational training, health education and hospice assistance. The event…
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Phuket Island View: Sidecars extremely dangerous, but not to worry
PHUKET: The crackdown on motorbike passengers having to wear helmets has been excellent, though it hasn’t stopped parents from carrying babies, talking on a mobile phone, or smoking (or all three) while driving.I understand the trusty Honda Dream is the sole mode of transport for many families on Phuket, and that if they could afford something with four wheels they…
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Dr Robert Thurman to lead Buddhist retreat in Phuket this weekend
PHUKET: World-renowned Buddhist scholar Dr Robert Thurman is in Phuket to give a talk and lead a meditation retreat at the Thanyapura Mind Center at Phuket International Academy this weekend. Dr Thurman, Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University in New York City, is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost scholars of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies. A…
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Phuket relief fund for Japan grows
PHUKET: The local community has so far given more than 750,000 baht to the Phuket Tsunami Relief Center for Japan, which will be accepting donations until noon on March 26. Wasana Soonthornsiri of the Phuket Provincial Comptroller General’s Office announced today that the total monetary donations received thus far totaled 764,123.92 baht. The fund more than doubled after two large…
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Phuket beach vendor found hanged
PHUKET: A 25 year old man was found hanged at his rented house in Phuket this morning. Thalang Police named the deceased as Apichart Aoonkaew, a vendor on Nai Yang and Na Thon beaches. A relative discovered the body at the house in Thalang at about 9:30am when he entered the room to wake Mr Apichart for work, police said.…
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Second Phuket hit-and-run killing in a week
PHUKET: A Phuket mechanic was killed instantly last night when his motorbike collided with a pickup truck, the driver of which sped off without stopping. The accident occurred at about 11:30pm on Route 4027, the main road to Pa Khlok from the Heroines’ Monument. At the scene, about one kilometer east of the monument, police and Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers…
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Phuket’s new hospital to open in May
PHUKET: The hunt is on for qualified medical staff to work at the first Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) Hospital, now scheduled to open by the end of May. The hospital, on Sri Sena Road in Phuket Town, will be the first in the country to be administered by a provincial authority. “The outpatient department will open around the end…
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Phuket Opinion: ‘No budget’ no excuse for road mayhem
PHUKET: Last year we pointed out the irony of the central government’s nine-million-baht investment in the Patong City welcome sign on the Patong Hill road, at a time when local authorities were telling us it was impossible to come up with the meager funds needed to simply paint lines on that notorious road. Now, five months later, the bizarre sign…
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Murder suspect arrested in Phuket after 17 years in hiding
PHUKET: After 17 years on the lam, a suspect wanted for a 1994 stabbing murder of a man in Uthai Thani province was arrested by Phuket City Police yesterday. The suspect, 44-year-old Pornsak “Nu” Ketkaew, was arrested when he took a 10-wheel dump truck for repairs at a garage off Thepkrasattri Road. Mr Pornsak was arrested by officers who confirmed…
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Phuket ATM scams run rife
PHUKET: An English expat has gone public about 814,000 baht allegedly stolen from his bank account in an ATM scam. Following the Phuket Gazette report of the arrest of a Romanian gang for ATM fraud in Patong on March 13, Paul Treherne felt it was time to let other people know about his own ordeal. The four Romanians were arrested…
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Phuket hit-and-run: security guard killed
PHUKET: Phuket Police are searching for the driver of a pickup truck that hit and killed an unidentified motorbike driver in Cherng Talay last night. Cherng Talay Police duty officer Somkhit Khawsung was notified of the fatal accident at 7:35pm. At the scene, the road from Koktanode to Layan near the Laguna Phuket Outrigger resort and villa complex, they found…
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British pilot dies in Phuket accident
PHUKET: Police are investigating the death of a 41-year-old British pilot after he came off his bike south of Patong, on Phuket’s west coast, and was run over by an oncoming pickup on Saturday. Capt Weerapong Rakkittoo of Patong Police said that Martin William Wooller was riding northbound to Patong after spending the afternoon swimming at Karon Beach when the…
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Fears of explosion spark Phuket gas shop raid
PHUKET: Fears of a serious explosion at a local store illegally refilling gas cylinders prompted a raid by officials from the Phuket Energy Office this morning. Led by Phuket Energy Office chief Jirasak Tummawetch, the officers arrived at the unnamed gas shop near Kettho Junction on Wichit Songkram Road in Kathu. Energy chief Jirasak said, “Normally, small shops are not…
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Phuket convention center one step closer
PHUKET: Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij told a public hearing in Phuket yesterday that he can “guarantee” the project to build a convention and exhibition center will go ahead if his Democrat Party holds on to power in the upcoming elections. Mr Korn was speaking at a public hearing at The Metropole hotel in Phuket Town to present three architectural plans…
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One dead as Phuket water truck overshoots curve
PHUKET: A water tanker overshot a dangerous curve in Phuket this morning, leaving the passenger dead and the driver badly injured. The accident happened at about 9:30am on Thepkrasattri Road northbound, along a stretch of road known as the “Bang Duk Curve”. The six-wheeled vehicle, owned and operated by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), was on a routine delivery…
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Phuket Live Wire: CAT runs out of fast wireless receivers
PHUKET: Internet speeds in Phuket continue their roller coaster ride with True and 3BB delivering generally good speeds on international downloads, and TOT’s speeds highly dependent on where you’re located. 3BB had a five-hour outage in the southern part of the island last Thursday. Expensive TOT Fiber Optic service continues to go up and down: when it’s working, it’s fast,…
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Japan tragedy touches Phuket
PHUKET: Earthquakes are a part of daily life in Japan, so are the ensuing tsunami alerts. This is a country that is a product of 15 million years of tectonic movement that ripped it away from mainland Asia. But nothing – not even the Japanese people’s millenia-long struggle with Mother Nature – could have softened the blow that was dealt…
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Breaking news: FC Phuket 3 – JW Rangsit 1
PHUKET: Excellent teamwork led FC Phuket to a 3-1 win over Thai League Division 1 side JW Rangsit FC in rainy conditions at Surakul Stadium in Phuket this evening. FC Phuket dominated the first half during a driving rainstorm that started just minutes into the game. Goals by Niran Phantong and Ivory Coast player Nenebi Sylvestre at seven and 20…
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Top official dispells Phuket tsunami rumors
PHUKET: The director of the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC), the agency in Thailand that issues tsunami warnings, yesterday called on people to ignore rumors that a tsunami will strike Thailand. NDWC Director Somsak Khaosuwan was in Phuket to lead public information seminars about natural disasters. The seminars were held at Wat Suwan Kiriwong School in Patong. Mr Somsak said…
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Phuket parents seek return of runaway girl, 14
PHUKET: The parents of a 14-year-old Phuket girl who ran off with her young boyfriend are asking the public for help in securing her safe return. Jintana Wangnurat and her English husband Huwy Williams came to the offices of the Phuket Gazette this morning with a picture of their daughter Grissana “Green” Wangnurat, age 14. Mr Williams, a nine-year Phuket…
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Breaking News: Suspects arrested for Butti murder
PHUKET: Police have arrested at least four people in connection with the shooting murder of Italian resort owner Luciano Butti, 61. Mr Butti was gunned down while riding a rented motorbike in Pa Khlok on Tuesday night. Takuapa District Police Inspector Wannarat Mahachode and his team of investigators arrested 23-year-old Rachanon Saowaree at the Takuapa Bus Station yesterday, according to…
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Luangta Maha Bua remains in Phuket, in spirit and reality
PHUKET: Scores of people are expected to join a ceremony tomorrow morning to place bone fragments of the highly-revered Luangta Maha Bua Yanasampanno at a temple in Phuket Town. The fragments will be installed at Wat Jaroen Samanakij, known locally as Wat Lang San, near Phuket Provincial Hall. The event will begin at 7am with the giving of alms to…
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Phuket police nab Chinese ‘stopover thieves’
PHUKET: Chalong Police have arrested three mainland Chinese they think are part of a gang who specialize in burglarizing guests at luxury hotels the world over. Chalong Police Deputy Superintendent Narong Laksanawimol identified the three suspects at a press conference today as: Liu Shuiping, 45; Liu Jianhua, 39; and Liu Shuidong, 40. All are listed as residents of Jiangxi, China.…
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Phuket, Pattaya police earn big thanks from Germany
PHUKET: The German Embassy in Bangkok has issued an official letter of commendation to the Royal Thai Police Immigration Bureau praising the efforts of officers in Phuket and Pattaya in helping to track down, arrest and deport three Germans found hiding in Thailand over the past 12 months. The letter, from German Ambassador Dr Hanns H. Schumacher to Royal Thai…
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Phuket home to UN marine management project
PHUKET: Getting eight culturally diverse countries with varying systems of government and historically contentious relationships to co-operate on environmental management is a mammoth task. That is precisely what the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem project (BOBLME) hopes to facilitate over the next four years with nations in the Bay of Bengal region. BOBLME, covering about 6.2 million square kilometers…
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Hungry ghost feasts on villagers
PHITSANULOK: Residents of a village in Phitsanulok province believe they are being stalked by a pret – a Thai “hungry ghost” – following the mysterious deaths of three old villagers in the same week late last month. Terrified residents of Village 9 in Aranyik subdistrict believe the pret is going to kill again. Last week they performed a Buddhist ritual…
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“LOVE AID – To Japan From Phuket With Love’ benefit concert scheduled
PHUKET: A benefit concert entitled “LOVE AID – To Japan From Phuket With Love” has been scheduled for April 2 on Karon Beach, with 100 per cent of proceeds going to help victims of the Japan earthquake, tsunami and subsequent explosions at a nuclear power plant. The event was originally scheduled for next Thursday, but has been changed to Saturday,…
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Free anti-radiation tablets for Phuket travelers to Japan
PHUKET: Passengers traveling to areas in Japan where they may be exposed to radiation are being offered free Potassium Iodide tablets at Phuket International Airport. The anti-radiation tablets are available at a Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) booth set up today on the second floor of Terminal 1. The booth is open from 6:30am to 9:30pm daily until further…
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Phuket honors respected civil servant
PHUKET: A Royal Cremation ceremony was held in Phuket today for Wannapreuk Sukyiran, who died of natural causes on Thursday at the age of 79. Mr Wannapreuk, father of Phuket deputy chief prosecutor Tawan Sukyiran, had a distinguished career in civil service as a member of the Phuket Public Health Office. More than 300 people attended the service, including Phuket…
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