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Is tap water in Thailand safe to consume?
Wondering if you can drink the tap water in Thailand? From brushing your teeth to filling up a bottle, it’s helpful to understand a few basics. Tap water safety in Thailand varies by location, and while some people use it...
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World News: Jurassic park will never be – cloning dinosaurs ruled out
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Australian scientists rule out cloning dinosaurs one day Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: Australian scientists have found that bonds in a DNA strand could survive up to 6.8 million years under ideal conditions, longer than previously thought but ruling out the possibility of one day…
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Phuket Governor calls for direct flights between India and Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Maitree Insutut who today met with Indian Ambassador to Thailand Anil Wadhwa called for direct flights from major Indian cities, including Mumbai and Kolkata, to serve the burgeoning number of tourists flying to Phuket. After the closed-door meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall this afternoon, Governor Maitree told the press that “Ambassador Anil agreed, and said he would…
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival starts with elbow grease
PHUKET: Devotees at three shrines in Phuket began their preparation for the Vegetarian Festival with smiles and elbow grease as they gave the shrines a thorough cleaning yesterday. The cleaning started at 7am at Jui Tui Shrine, Pud Jor Shrine and Bang Neaw Shrine in Phuket Town. Students from Bang Neaw Municipality School joined other locals in cleaning the Bang…
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Phuket Police doubt shooting suicide claim, launch investigation
PHUKET: Police are investigating the death of a man shot point blank in the head with a homemade gun while watching television in his home on the outskirts of Phuket Town last night. The investigation, headed by Phuket City Police Superintendent Sermphan Sirikong, continues despite the widow’s claims that it was suicide. Col Sermphan arrived at the family home in…
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Phuket Police cease investigations into two swimming pool drownings
PHUKET: Police are not continuing their investigations into the drownings of two tourists in swimming pools at two separate luxury resorts in Phuket last week. The two unrelated incidents, which both involved newly arrived tourist couples, occurred in Nai Harn, in the south of Phuket. The first drowning occurred on October 6 at a resort at the north end of…
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival vendors protest over street rents
PHUKET: Food vendors to operate stalls near the Jui Tui Shrine in Phuket Town during the upcoming Vegetarian Festival have successfully overturned the shrine committee’s decision this year to hand over the right to collect stall site rents to homeowners in the downtown area. About 30 people representing close to 100 Chinese vegetarian food vendors gathered around noon yesterday to…
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Joyriders nabbed by Phuket Police
PHUKET: In one of his first public press conferences as Phuket’s top-ranking police officer, Maj Gen Choti Chavaviwat this morning announced the arrest of two men for stealing a car to go joyriding around the island. Joining Kamala Police Deputy Superintendent Winai Kongkaew at Phuket Provincial Police headquarters in Phuket Town, Gen Choti announced the arrests of 32-year-old Phuket native…
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World News: British teacher Jeremy Forrest extradited on child abduction charges
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community British teacher who ran away with student extradited from France Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: A 30-year-old British teacher who was arrested in southwestern France last month was extradited to the United Kingdom yesterday and charged with child abduction after running away with a 15-year-old…
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Quebec coroner refutes Thai autopsy results for Belanger sisters
PHUKET: A Quebec coroner has refuted claims by Thai officials that the Belanger sisters died in their Phi Phi hotel room in June after consuming the insecticide DEET. Audrey Belanger, 20, and Noemi Belanger, 25, were found dead in their hotel room on Phi Phi Island on June 15. Both had suffered a violent physical reaction to suspected poisoning. Autopsies…
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Phuket prepares for important ‘footy’ matches
PHUKET: Both of the island’s national-level sports teams have important matches lined up, today and tomorrow. In 11-a-side football, the Phuket FC “Islanders” are ready to host Khon Kaen FC “T-Rex” at Surakul Stadium in Phuket Town with a 6:30pm kickoff this evening. Both sides will be fighting hard for all three points to help them steer clear of relegation,…
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Call for blood donations ahead of Phuket Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) is calling for a boost in blood donations ahead of the upcoming Vegetarian Festival, which begins on Sunday. The PRBC’s blood stocks usually fall dramatically during the festival as demand rises and donor numbers reduce, due to the physical demands made by the festival’s purification rituals. Acting Director of PRBC Pornthip Rattajak told the…
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Phuket misses out on Miss Tourism World 2012
PHUKET: To give other tourist destinations the chance to promote themselves, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has decided that Phuket will not be on the list of places the bevy of beauties from Miss Tourism World 2012 will be visiting.Taking place from December 2-15, this is the first time Thailand will host the Miss Tourism World pageant, which includes…
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Phuket scrubs up ahead of Vegetarian Festival
PHUKET: Residents in Phuket’s Srisoonthorn area today staged their “Big Cleaning Day” to prepare for the upcoming Vegetarian Festival, which will get underway on Sunday night. Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak led the event this morning, which began with cleaning the area immediately surrounding the island’s famed Heroines Monument. Leading an army of volunteers and officers from Srisoonthorn Municipality was…
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Mayor Pian unveils “14 strategies’ to develop Patong
PHUKET: Pian Keesin, launching into his final term as Patong Mayor, has revealed a grand plan of “14 strategies” to transform Patong into a “Livable and Sustainable Tourist Destination City”.Speaking at a Patong council meeting on Monday, Mayor Pian said, “In order to prepare our town for the beginning of the Asean Economic Community [AEC] in 2015, we will have…
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Krabi farm owners pleads for return of fossils
PHUKET: The owner of a plot of land in Krabi, believed to be the site of a massive shell fossil discovery, has asked for people to return the fossils stolen from his land and not to steal any more of them . Chob Pankaew, 55, announced news of the discovery of a huge collection of fossil shells on his farm…
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Phuket Business: AirAsia shift to reap Chinese pie
PHUKET: As part of its latest strategic marketing shift, Low Cost Carrier (LCC) AirAsia recently canceled its Phuket flights to Ubon Ratchathani and Bali, topped off with the cancellation last week of its Thailand-Sri Lanka route. Meanwhile, the leading LCC has reinstated its Phuket-Udon Thani route, while revealing additional plans to shift and expand regional focus to the high-volume, high-growth,…
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Phuket Business: Calculating the Sharpe ratio
PHUKET: One statistic you will often see when looking at a fund’s performance is the “Sharpe ratio”. This is an attempt to quantify the excess return for a given level of risk. For example, two funds may both return 12%. If one returns a steady 1% every month while the other swings up and down, common sense and our blood…
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US Navy in Phuket to splash out B2mn a day
PHUKET: Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) Vice President Bhurit Maswongsa today estimated that the US Navy sailors currently visiting Phuket are expected to spend 10 million baht during their five-day stay on the island. The USS John C Stennis and USS Mobile Bay dropped anchor in Ao Makham bay, off Phuket’s east coast, on Sunday, to give the 5,350 servicemen and…
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Brazen Phuket snatch artist targets Russian tourist
PHUKET: A Russian tourist in Phuket Town became the latest victim of a snatch theft yesterday when an unidentified man stole her bag in broad daylight. Phuket City Police inspector Lt Col Yongyuth Krongmalai received a report of the snatch at about 3:30pm. Arriving at a retail store on Patipat Road, Col Yongyuth was confronted with the victim, a rather…
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World News: Cameron joins Twitter promising not to tweet too much
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UK Prime Minister David Cameron joins Twitter Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: After famously criticizing Twitter during a radio interview three years ago, British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday evening joined the social networking website, instantly attracting tens of thousands of followers from around…
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New Phuket Police chief ramps up island security
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Police Commander Choti Chavaviwat today announced that inspections of vehicles passing through the Tah Chat Chai police checkpoint – located on the only road linking Phuket with mainland Thailand – will be subjected to more stringent searches in order to boost security.“The Tah Chat Chai checkpoint is on the only road in and out of Phuket, so…
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Unfinished Bangkok arena forces FIFA to move Futsal World Cup
PHUKET: Organizers of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Thailand 2012 have announced a revision of the match schedule, citing severe weather conditions delaying the construction of the event’s main facility, the 12,000-seat Bangkok Futsal Arena (BFA). Five group matches – mostly involving Thailand’s Group A – initially scheduled to be played at the yet-to-be-completed facility, are now set to be…
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Phuket FC fall in Cavalry charge, stumble on road to survival
PHUKET: The Islanders suffered their third straight loss and subsequently slipped into 15th place of the 18-team team league, following a 2-0 scoreline away at Suphanburi on Saturday night. One goal in each half by the Suphanburi FC Elephant Cavalry’s Yodrak Namangrak and Phaisan Pona on 23 and 53 minutes, respectively, sealed the result, securing the home side’s second-place standing…
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Rescued Phuket dolphin’s health improves
PHUKET: The condition of the injured Spinner dolphin rescued from Mai Khao Beach last month has improved, albeit slightly, thanks to the efforts of staff at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC). However, the one-year-old female dolphin still has only a 50:50 chance of surviving, said Dr Patcharaporn Gaewmong, a veterinarian at the PMBC’s Endangered Species Unit (ESU). “We have…
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Fire damage to Phuket LPG cargo ship estimated at B400k
PHUKET: Damage to the liquid propane gas (LPG) cargo ship that caught fire off Phuket yesterday may reach up to 400,000 baht, the Phuket Gazette was told today.“The communications room was heavily damaged by the fire. We believe that’s where it started. The radio and radar systems were damaged, as were a storeroom and one room in the crew’s quarters,”…
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USS John C Stennis and USS Mobile Bay docked in Phuket until Thursday
PHUKET: THE USS John C Stennis and USS Mobile Bay have docked in Phuket to give their complement of 5,350 servicemen and women the chance to grab some ‘R and R’ before possibly being re-deployed in the Middle East. Sailors will be rotated off the ship daily in groups of 1,500 to 2,000. The Stennis is the seventh Nimitz-class nuclear-powered…
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“Ruptured my right testicle….”
“Ruptured my right testicle, got a knee one minute into the second half, had to have it removed.” PHUKET: Warrington prop forward Paul Wood ruptured a testicle during Saturday’s Rugby League Grand Final. Wood suffered the injury at the start of the second half after catching a knee to the groin, but he played on before going to hospital after…
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World News: Black hole detected in Milky Way
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community NASA satellite detects previously unknown black hole in Milky Way Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: NASA on Friday announced that its Swift satellite recently detected the presence of a previously unknown stellar-mass black hole. A rising tide of high-energy X-rays from a source toward the…
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Go Eco Phuket aims to maintain momentum
PHUKET: Go Eco Phuket, the local marine conservation group launched last weekend with the world’s biggest reef cleanup, is looking to maintain its momentum by joining the Royal Thai Navy in scuttling a ship to use as an artificial reef. Group members have already held discussions with local Naval officers about the project, which is expected to ease the pressure…
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Phuket locals taught to fight crime for tourist safety project
PHUKET: About 150 employees in Patong, including rental car operators, motorbike taxi drivers and beach masseuses, attended a seminar this week designed to train them as active members of the Patong Safety Zone project, which has already been hailed as a success by police.“The Patong Safety Zone project has been running for awhile, and we have already noticed a decrease…
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