News
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Phuket’s Andaman Travel Trade expo draws thousands
PHUKET: Thousands of visitors turned out for the opening day of the Andaman Travel Trade 2011 yesterday. The bustling event, held with the aim of linking tour operators with businesses throughout Thailand’s six provinces along the Andaman seaboard, continues today at the Convention Hall at Phuket Rajabhat University. Attending this year’s event are 302 tourism operators from 28 countries and…
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Phuket police nab “serial thieves’
PHUKET: An investigation into a spate of robberies in northern Phuket has led to three arrests, but police believe the break-and-enter gang’s ringleader is still at large. Thalang Police Superintendent Witun Kongsudjai, yesterday, presented the three suspects charged with being “sneak thieves” and receiving stolen property. The suspects were Subandit “Bee” Boonsit, 27, Kittisak Wongsaard, 36, and Somyot Taweesaeng, 44,…
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Athletes flock for Laguna Phuket’s 18th international triathlon
PHUKET: Over 1,000 competitors are descending on the island for the 18th Laguna Phuket Triathlon (LPT) which officially begins today with race registration and a press conference at the Dust Thani Laguna Phuket.Registration numbers have smashed all previous records from the 17 year history of this prestigious Southeast Asian athletic event.Master of ceremonies Whit Raymond will introduce several guest speakers…
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Police confirm handover of 95 Rohingya near Phuket to Thai Army
PHUKET: Police in Kuraburi, Phang Nga province, have confirmed that 95 Rohingya landed on the island of Koh Phra Thong on Thursday morning. The island lies in the Andaman sea about 110km north of Phuket. “We received a call from local villagers on the island saying that a boat full of Rohingya people had landed on the shore there, but…
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Phuket gets dedicated “rape case’ police officer
PHUKET: Phuket now has a female police officer dedicated to handling rape and sexual assault cases, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong confirmed yesterday. Speaking at the quarterly meeting of Phuket’s honorary consuls and top officials on the island, Maj Gen Pekad confirmed that the officer is stationed at Phuket City Police Station and is on call to handle cases…
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Weird World News: Technology fads with “Robocop’ prison guards, indestructible iPads and the “Hi honey’ banner vending machine
PHUKET: Technology is great for providing distractions, but this week’s Weird World News round-up is all about the latest gizmo goings-on designed to get your attention, and keep it. ‘RoboCops’ to patrol South Korean prisons SOUTH Korean prisons will deploy a fleet of robot guards to keep inmates in line. And at one billion won (about 27 million baht) apiece,…
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Phuket Sports – FC Phuket to battle Warlords in Saraburi on Saturday
PHUKET: FC Phuket returns to action tomorrow evening when they meet ninth-placed Saraburi FC. Set for a 6pm kickoff at the Saraburi Provincial Administration Organization stadium, the match follows a 41-day hiatus from league play – a relief period that allowed several footballers, including Phuket’s Sarach Yooyen, to compete in the 26th Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia as well as…
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Phuket jet-skis on the rise
PHUKET: The Phuket Marine Office has decided to take it easy on jet-ski rental operators who haven’t registered their jet-skis, the quarterly meeting of Phuket’s honorary consuls was told at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday. “Since we started managing jet-ski rental operations in 2007, we have had 219 jet-skis registered in Phuket. We are still trying to control the number of…
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FA u-turn on video technology
PHUKET: “Goal-line technology would be a huge boost for the game [football], and for years we’ve thought this was a good addition to a referee’s armory.” So says Alex Horne, general secretary of the FA, and shocking and confusing are ways to describe his statement. Let’s go back to a previous Phuket Gazette “quote of the day” posted on October…
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Phuket MP Anchalee accused of using flood relief to ‘buy’ support
PHUKET: Phuket Democrat MP Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr will defend herself in Parliament against allegations that she gave medical packs meant for flood victims to her own constituents going on the Haj in a bid to boost her support. Pheu Thai spokesman Phromphong Nopparit said the party would this week lodge a complaint with the Election Commission against MP Anchalee, the Thai-language…
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Phuket amnesty prisoners make merit for HM
PHUKET: Phuket prisoners today helped to clean up Wat Charoen Samanakit, located behind Phuket Provincial Hall, in order to make merit for HM The King Bhumibol Adulyadej ahead of his 84th birthday on December 5. The 40 prisoners involved in the cleanup are all under consideration for amnesty under His Majesty’s annual birthday pardons, explained Phuket Prison Director Rapin Nichanon.…
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Bangkok bus, train services to South return to normal
PHUKET: After a month of Bangkok suffering from one of the worst floods to hit Thailand in the past century, bus services to Phuket and bus and train services to other destinations in southern Thailand have returned to normal. Rising flood waters forced bus services from the New Southern Bus Terminal (Sai Tai Mai) on Borom Maratchachonnani Road in Bangkok…
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Phuket police bust uncovers dope ‘brick’ in woman’s shorts
PHUKET: Phuket Police acting on a tip-off arrested two people for possession and intent to sell marijuana on Monday night. One of the arrested was a woman who had a “brick” of marijuana stuffed into her shorts. The other was a man who was already wanted for dope charges. After receiving the tip-off that “someone” was selling drugs at a…
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7th Phuket International Sport Fishing tournament underway
PHUKET: The 7th Phuket International Sport Fishing Tournament (PIST) has cast off with the first day of competition taking participants out into the waters off Chalong Bay. With 80 participants who comprise 20 teams, the tournament has earned its place as the island’s premier annual fishing event which runs from November 24 to 26. Fishing enthusiasts from around the world…
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Phuket Governor confirmed to stay another year
PHUKET: Governor Tri Augkaradacha will remain the Governor of Phuket until October 2012, Manas Nurak, personal secretary to Governor Tri, confirmed today. Mr Manas said that the news comes following his office’s receipt of formal notification of the Thai Cabinet’s approval of the 34 transfers to be made among high-ranking positions in the Ministry of Interior, including the position of…
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Island View – Fighting for British pensions in Phuket’s paradise
PHUKET: Your signatures are needed to end the unfair frozen overseas pension policy of the British government. Some of you may not be aware that when a United Kingdom state pensioner retires to live abroad in certain countries their pension is frozen and they do not receive annual cost-of-living increases. There are over half a million of these pensioners affected…
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Phuket Rajabhat to staff local hotels with flood-affected students
PHUKET: Rajabhat University (PRU) in Phuket is accepting applications from students nationwide who have been affected by the flood crisis, to join its latest tourism “work-and-study” program.The 4 R project is an extension of last year’s 3 R project and is organized in collaboration with the Phuket Office of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Phuket Tourist Association…
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Indigo Pearl Phuket wins spa design of the year
PHUKET: Leading luxury Phuket resort Indigo Pearl was honored recently with the Spa Design of the Year award for its Coqoon Spa at the prestigious AsiaSpa Awards 2011 held at The Mira Hotel in Hong Kong. The seventh annual AsiaSpa Awards are presented by AsiaSpa, the only magazine in Asia entirely dedicated to the pursuit of complete well-being. The AsiaSpa…
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Evoque SUV ideal for “new age’ business folk in Phuket
PHUKET: The Range Rover Evoque, the latest high-end Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) by Land Rover, hit the Phuket market with an official open-house party. The Evoque, with a starting price tag of 4.09 million baht, was introduced at the Benz Ramkhamhaeng Group (BRG) showroom in Rassada. The British-assembled SUV was initially unveiled in the United Kingdom in July, before making…
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Canon camera distribution unaffected by Thailand’s floods
PHUKET: Supply of Canon camera equipment in Thailand has not been disrupted by the recent flooding, a senior manager at Cannon Marketing (Thailand) has confirmed. “Luckily, our camera production facilities are not located in the affected areas,” said Warin Tantiphongpanid, Senior Director and General Manager Consumer Imaging and Information of Cannon Marketing (Thailand) Co Ltd. “We have a printer factory…
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Special report: Struggling to end Phuket’s transgender stigma
PHUKET: Bad news moves quickly – constantly – and there is a cast of usual suspects who society likes to push the blame on, people who are “different” or somehow not representative of the whole. Who are they? Illegal immigrants, stateless people, migrant workers and essentially any other minority group that has the misfortune of being a convenient scapegoat. One…
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Phuket death curve crash: Grieving father pleas for drivers to slow down
PHUKET: The father of Anupong Sae-Yu, the four-year-old boy who died in the accident at the Kor En curve on Thepkrasattri Road on Sunday, today tearfully urged motorists to slow down while passing the village. Speaking beside his son’s grave this morning, Somkid Opartwanitchkul told the Phuket Gazette, “He was only four years old and a kindergarten student. I want…
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Phuket gears up for first World Musiq Festival
PHUKET: Popular Thai artist Todd Tongdee Lavelle, a main organizer of the Phuket World Musiq Festival, has confirmed the lineup of artists who will be performing at the event. The festival, to honor the 84th birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, will be held at Saphan Hin, in Phuket Town, from December 2-5. The festival will open on December 2…
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Swedish snorkeler “likely died of heart attack’
PHUKET: The Swedish man who died off Racha Yai Island earlier today likely died of a heart attack, the Phuket Gazette has been told. Martin Anders Christer Nilsson, 63, was on a Phuket fishing tour with his stepdaughter’s boyfriend and her children when the incident occurred. “He had gotten off of the boat to go snorkeling,” said Phuket Tourist Police…
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Phuket Sports: Thailand World Cup hopes still alive
PHUKET: Thailand’s senior national football squad are still in the race for the 2014 World Cup, despite back-to-back losses to Saudi Arabia and Australia on November 11 and 15. In what was a closely contested match at Supachalasai National Stadium in Bangkok last week, the War Elephants were narrowly defeated by the Socceroos who went ahead with a header by…
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Phuket Sport – Tri a rest before Triathlon day
PHUKET: Many athletes feel insecure about their training during the week before race day. This is a highly important time used to recover from the load of training in the previous weeks. Experts call this the “Taper Phase”. A triathlete’s last long workout should be done exactly a week before the event. For the Laguna Phuket Triathlon I recommend a…
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Phuket sport tips: Tennis – power is balance
PHUKET: Balance is one of the fundamentals to developing great tennis ground strokes. In today’s game of power tennis, many of the players are leaping in the air to hit their forehands and backhands. This results in not only many errors but also many injuries. One of the great ground-strokers and inventor of the power game, Andre Agassi, had phenomenal…
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Swedish “fishing tourist’ found dead near Phuket
PHUKET: The body of a Swedish man was found today floating in the waters off Racha Yai Island, about 20 kilometers south of Phuket, police have confirmed. Phuket Tourist Police Volunteers were informed at 12:20pm that the body of the 63-year-old Swede had been found by staff of a diving company. The victim is believed to have fallen into the…
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Two new Phuket biz-consumer apps launched
PHUKET: Software developer Boonsoong Technology Co Ltd and media consultants, Phebe5 Co Ltd have partnered with local coffee shop chain Tiny Coffee to launch two new business-to-consumer mobile applications, designed exclusively for the Phuket consumer base. The two new mobile applications; “Tiny Coffee” and “Check in 4 Good Deals” were simultaneously launched last week at a press conference held at…
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Phuket Live Wire – Fiber 2U seems slow 2me
PHUKET: A couple of years ago, TOT unveiled its Fiber 2U service in a gala presentation at Royal Phuket Marina, replete with pounding music and dancing girls – sure signs of technological superiority. At the time, the service didn’t work very well. It went down for long periods of time, with all sorts of stalls and glitches. And it cost…
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