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Renowned Phuket hotelier Louis Bronner dies from heart complications
PHUKET: Louis Bronner, the general manager of Phuket’s renowned Boathouse restaurant in Kata, died at 8am this morning from complications following heart surgery on Friday. Mr Bronner underwent extensive surgery to correct several deficient arteries. Although Mr Bronner showed good recovery immediately after the surgery, his condition deteriorated in the following days. Mr Bronner first gained his popular reputation on…
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Home invasion: Saraburi outclasses FC Phuket
PHUKET: FC Phuket suffered its first home defeat of the season on Saturday, going down 2-0 to the Saraburi FC Warlords. Cheered on by about 200 red-shirted supporters, the Warlords controlled the game from the start. Injury-stricken FC Phuket looked lackluster and disorganized, especially without Sarach Yooyen, out with the flu, and Abdoul Coulibaly, who ran on as a substitute…
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Phuket yacht erupts into fireball, casualties unknown
PHUKET: A 40-foot catamaran anchored in Chalong Bay, off Phuket’s east coast, burst into flames at about 10pm last night. Three explosions were heard while the fire engulfed the boat, which sank about two hours later. Police have yet to determine whether anyone was on board. Chalong Police Duty Officer Boonlert Onklang reported witnesses saying that the fire broke out…
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Man shot dead during Phuket drinking session
PHUKET: Phuket police are investigating what happened between two “cousins” last seen sitting together drinking in front of a house in Patong yesterday morning. One man was found still at the scene, shot in the head and grasping a 9mm handgun. The other man is missing. Lt Col Chaowalit Neamwadee, duty officer at Patong Police Station, said police received a…
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Tonight: FC Phuket vs Saraburi FC
PHUKET: After last Sunday’s 2-2 draw on the road at Samut Prakarn, FC Phuket are thirsty for three points in tonight’s home fixture with Saraburi FC. Phuket currently sits seventh in the 18-team Division 1, one place ahead of the Saraburi “Warlords”. Highly anticipating tonight’s 6pm kickoff at Sarakul Stadium, both squads are hoping to prevail and climb up the…
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Election Thailand: Phuket voters face postal vote farce
PHUKET: All Thais who cast ballots by post in the general election four years ago will have to return to their home provinces to cast regular ballots in the general election on July 3. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha announced the voting conundrum on Wednesday after a closed-door meeting with the Phuket Provincial Election Commission. “People who submitted a request to…
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Pheu Thai Party names Phuket candidate
PHUKET: The Phuket branch of the Pheu Thai Party yesterday announced Saman Kebsap as their candidate to contest the Phuket 2 constituency in the upcoming national election, to be held on July 3. Pheu Thai Party Southern region leader Pichet Sathirachawal declared Mr Saman’s candidacy for Phuket 2 at the opening of Mr Saman’s office, located opposite Thalang Hospital on…
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Old Phuket Town to be “wireless’ by November
PHUKET: Municipal workers will start pulling down power poles along Thalang, Dibuk and Theprasattri Roads in the Old Town by November if all goes according to plan, the Phuket City Mayor has announced. Speaking at a meeting at Provincial Hall last week, Mayor Somjai Suwansupapana said that stage two of the project to install all power and telecommunication cables underground…
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Schools re-open: Phuket parents feel the pinch
PHUKET: The new school term will generate more than 40 billion baht, including B5bn in “tea money”, a poll conducted in Phuket and 11 other provinces has revealed. The survey, by Assumption University’s Abac Poll Center, canvassed the opinion of 2,453 respondents aged 15-60 from 12 sample provinces from all regions of the country. It found that 37.9 per cent…
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Correction: Dead American found by partner, not wife
PHUKET: The woman who discovered the body of Albert Alletzhauser on Tuesday was the mother of his daughter but not his wife, the Gazette has learned. The woman, Mikki Ferreira, wrote the following to the Gazette this morning: Dear Editor, “I would appreciate it if you set the record straight about the details of Mr Alletzhauser’s death. He was indeed…
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Phuket vendors protest alleged corruption, extortion
PHUKET: Seaside souvenir stall merchants in Kata and Karon have called on Phuket authorities to take action against alleged unfair treatment and intimidation by local authorities. About 50 Karon and Kata kiosk owners on Tuesday took their grievances to the Damrongtham Center, which serves as the provincial ombudsman’s office. Stall owner Somchai Pandum led the group in submitting an official…
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Body of Phuket artist found floating off Phromthep Cape
PHUKET: Delayed nearly five hours by large waves and blustery winds, rescue workers finally recovered the body of a well-known local artist from Laem Phromthep yesterday evening. The corpse of Chalad Thongdee, 54, was spotted near a rocky crop off Phuket’s iconic tourist attraction at about 12:45pm. Mr Chalad, who lived in Phuket Town, had been missing since Saturday night.…
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Officials raid illegal logging site near Phuket Town
PHUKET: Officials raided an illegal logging site in the Nang Panturat hills in Rassada yesterday morning only to find the site abandoned. Acting on a tip from concerned local residents, Muang District Chief Supachai Pochanukul and Phuket City Police Superintendent Chote Chidchai led a team of Forestry Department officials into the hills near Toh Sae Hill in Phuket Town at…
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Call for blood donors for Phuket Boathouse GM Louis Bronner
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette has received an urgent call for Type A-negative blood to help Louis Bronner, General Manager of the renowned Boathouse restaurant in Kata. “Our GM, Louis Bronner, is in Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok. He needs surgery to correct an aneurysm of the aorta but Chula is still lacking blood of his type. “They need two more donors,”…
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B30mn coke bust at Phuket Airport
PHUKET: Six kilograms of cocaine were seized by officers in two separate airport arrests this week. The suspects, a Swiss man and a Thai woman, face a maximum penalty of death under Thai law for smuggling of Category 2 narcotics. Swiss national Peter Balmer, 47, was arrested on Monday with possession and intent to smuggle 4 kg of cocaine at…
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American man found dead in Phuket
PHUKET: An American man was found dead in his rented home in Phuket’s Paklok subdistrict late yesterday afternoon. Thalang Police duty officer Pratiwat Yodkhwan identified the deceased as 51-year-old Albert Alletzhauser, originally from New York. Mr Alletzhauser’s body was discovered by his wife after someone at his daughter’s school called to ask why nobody had come to pick up their…
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Get the Phuket “Governor’s eggs’ and watch ‘talented’ ladyboys
PHUKET: Fairgoers will be able to get their hands on the “Governor’s eggs” at only 1.50 baht each and enjoy a “Miss Ladyboy Got Talent” show at this year’s Phuket OTOP (One Tambon, One Product) fair, which kicks off at Saphan Hin on Friday. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha revealed the fair’s theme “Phuket Governor’s eggs – 1.50 baht each” at…
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Phuket to endure more blackouts this month
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has announced scheduled blackouts to carry out maintenance on high-voltage power lines, install new lines and move power poles. The dates and locations of the operations, which will be carried out from 9am to 4pm, are: May 12 – Chalong Along Chao Fa West Road, from the entrance to Ananda Garden Hill Villa…
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Phuket property expert Peter Kraus dies, age 55
PHUKET: Peter Kraus, Chief Financial Officer and co-founder of Engel & Volkers (Thailand) and a former long-term resident on Phuket, died at 9:15pm last night after a long battle with cancer. Highly regarded as an expert in his field, Mr Kraus at one time owned the Supper Club at Tinlay Place at the entrance to the Laguna complex, before he…
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Phuket Live Wire: How Twitter is changing the way news breaks
PHUKET: News of Osama bin Laden’s death came to international attention when, around 11:40pm Washington time on May 1, US President Barack Obama announced that American forces had entered bin Laden’s compound and killed him. But if you’d been following Twitter starting more than two hours earlier – from about 10:30am in Phuket – you would’ve already known the whole…
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Phuket Housing Bank overwhelmed by first home buyers
PHUKET CITY: Island residents hoping to get their first home loan queued up at the Phuket branch of the Government Housing Bank as early as 6am yesterday – the first day of receiving applications under the government mortgage scheme for first time homeowners. Welcomed by lower and middle-income earners, the scheme promises zero interest during the first two years of…
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Phuket football: Kamala, Wichit host tournaments
PHUKET: Phuket football enthusiasts are welcome to enter teams in the third annual Kamala Cup, a seven-a-side football tournament with 120,000 baht in prize money up for grabs. All are welcome to take part in the event, including foreigners. Competition will be divided into three groups: Open (entry 3,000 baht per team), Over -35s (2,000 baht) and Under-13s (1,000 baht).…
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Election set for July 3, PM Abhisit to address nation
PHUKET: HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej has approved the royal decree to dissolve the House of Parliament, it was announced late this afternoon. Sathit Wongnontaey, Minister for the Prime Minister’s Office, said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva countersigned the decree this afternoon. The dissolution of Parliament procedurally paves the way for the Election Commission to announce the date set for the national…
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Thunderstorms, wind and rain prompt Phuket weather alert
PHUKET: The Thai Meteorological Department (MET) today issued a thundershower and flash flood alert for Phuket effective through Wednesday. Other provinces named in the warning as potential disaster areas were Ranong, Phang Nga, Chanthaburi and Trat. Prevailing southwest monsoon winds, expected to reach up to 40kph, will cause wave heights of up to three meters along Southern Thailand’s west coast…
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Phuket population “only’ 525,000: Census
PHUKET: Preliminary figures from the nationwide census conducted last year report 525,018 people living in Phuket: 409,137 Thai (77.9%) and 115,881 foreigners (21.1%). Of those, 261,957 are male (49.9%) and 263,061 are female (50.1%), said Prapai Pukngarm, of the Statistical Techniques and Planning Branch at Phuket Provincial Statistical Office. The tally gives Phuket a population density of 967 persons per…
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Phuket woman found hanged in Pa Khlok
PHUKET: Police are treating as suicide the death of a Phuket woman found hanged by the neck in her Thalang home on Sunday morning. Thalang Duty Officer Pratueng Polmana identified the deceased as 58-year-old Thitima Boonrueng, a resident of the Baan Suan Neramit 1 housing estate off Route 4027 in Pa Khlok. Relatives discovered Ms Thitima’s body hanged by the…
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AMCHAM seminar sees Phuket property stronger than in rival resorts
PHUKET: The Phuket property market, though not yet back to the boom years, is staging a slow but steady recovery and is perceived to be offering better growth prospects than competing resort-based markets in the region. That, at least, was the conclusion of a panel of experts at a seminar in Phuket late last month. The meeting, organized by the…
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FC Phuket 2 – 2 Samut Prakan
PHUKET: FC Phuket pulled back from down two-nil to salvage a point on the road at Samut Prakan in the Thai League’s Division 1 yesterday. The Southern Sea Kirin appeared to be on yet another hard-luck road trip when Samut Prakan’s Lee Tuck scored early in the second half and then set up teammate Weerasak Kiatsoong-nern put his side up…
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War of the Wires: Phuket cable TV providers suspect sabotage
PHUKET: Following a spate of cable-cutting incidents over the past few months, local cable providers around the island are fed up. Suspecting sabotage, Atsadakorn Sidokbuap of KPP Cable TV and Kampanat Thantiwat, managing director of PA Business Phuket, filed a formal request for action to Phuket Electricity Authority (PEA) chief Somchai Krueapat on Tuesday. Mr Kampanat said he was acting…
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Phuket coral gets its groove back
PHUKET: Recent shallow-water surveys conducted off Phuket have documented significant regrowth of coral, marine biologists say. Researchers headed by divers from the Marine and Coastal Biology and Ecology Unit of Phuket Marine Biology Center (PMBC) reveal the island’s coral reefs are starting to show signs of recovery from last year’s devastating coral bleaching episode. Initial post-bleaching damage assessments showed that…
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