News
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Sponsored 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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Swiss man falls to his death in Phuket
PHUKET: A Swiss man fell to his death from the third-floor balcony of his home on a Patong hillside this morning. The man was living in a rented home on Phisit Gorani Rd, Soi 1 in Patong, not far from Suwankhiriwong Temple, at the time of his death. The man’s live-in Thai girlfriend, a woman of about 30 years old…
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Phuket Police nab postal fraud trio
PHUKET: Chalong Police yesterday held a press conference to announce the arrest two employees of a camera store in Chonburi for allegedly defrauding a camera store owner in Phuket out of more than 150,000 baht’s worth of photographic equipment. Ya Paenkaew, a local motorcycle taxi driver, is also in police custody for his alleged role in the scam. Anankorn Itthi-atsakorn,…
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Readers’ Poll: Would an ‘Asean Visa’ help Phuket?
PHUKET: For years, Asean members have been working to develop a single “Asean visa” that would allow free travel within the bloc. Such a visa would closely follow the highly-praised “Schengen visa”, which allows free travel throughout 15 European countries. Last month, former tourism minister Weerasak Kowsurat called for more support for the project, saying it would boost tourism within…
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Phuket Poll: 60% think current ‘low’ season a bad one
PHUKET: About 60% of respondents to a Phuket Gazette poll believe that tourism businesses on the island are doing poorly in the current low season. In total, well over half of respondents (58.7%) had a negative view: 33.6% said the economy was doing “not very well”, while 25.6% said it was doing “very badly” The remainder had positive views: 26.6%…
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FC Phuket beat Phattalung FC, 2-0
PHUKET: FC Phuket rebounded from being bounced out of the Toyota League Cup competition last weekend with a solid 2-0 win at Phatthalung on Sunday. Phattalung FC came into the pairing in tenth place in the 13-team Division 2 South of the AIS Regional League, while FC Phuket had already clinched the division title. Both sides came out aggressively, but…
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Phuket ‘surfer girl’ takes another title
PHUKET: Annisa Flynn, an 11-year-old from Chalong, took top honors in the under-15 category of the Rip Curl GromSearch Surf Series at Kata Beach on Saturday. The event, the second leg of the 2010 Phuket series, was held under very rainy and windy conditions. Despite this, competitors as young as four years of age took part. The GromSearch series is…
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Phuket oil scare ends; Phuket probes asthma
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket oil spill alert ends PHUKET: A Phuket provincial marine official says no more oil is leaking from the sunken tanker. Bhuripat Theerakulpisut told The Nation yesterday that the stricken vessel, the Choke Tavorn 6, was carrying…
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Phuket Opinion: bus U-turn may be red herring
PHUKET: Plans to introduce an “experimental” U-turn channel for the big inter-provincial buses slated to depart Phuket’s new bus terminal on Thepkrasattri Rd exhibit a novel approach to a vexing problem. But the enterprise is likely to confuse motorists who are unfamiliar with the somewhat unique, if not tragic, behavior we witness daily on the roads of Phuket. Let us…
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Phuket Oil Spill: diesel slick drifting toward Phi Phi Islands
PHUKET: A large plume of diesel fuel emanating from the wreck of the Choke Thavorn 6 fuel tanker that sunk in heavy seas off Phuket yesterday is heading in the general direction of the Phi Phi Islands in Phuket’s neighboring province Krabi. Crew aboard Royal Thai Navy helicopters monitoring the situation told a reporter from the state-run MCOT news agency…
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Update: Phuket oil spill
PHUKET: As feared 40,000 liters of diesel fuel is leaking from the wreck of Choke Thavorn 6, a small tanker that sunk about 10 kilometers south of Phuket yesterday morning. The state-run Thai News Agency reported at 1am today that Navy helicopters confirmed a large and growing contamination plume above the site of the wreck, which now sits about 30…
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Phuket pow wow over illegal alien workers
PHUKET: The number of illegal alien workers in Phuket is around 200,000, it was announced at a Senate committee meeting in Phuket on Friday. About 150 government officers, senators and private-sector representatives met at the Kata Beach Resort on Friday morning to brainstorm better ways to legalize the estimated 1.5 million illegal workers from neighboring countries, especially Burma. Suvit Meksereekul,…
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Fuel boat sinks off Phuket: 40,000-liter spill feared
PHUKET: A boat carrying 40,000 liters of oil sank in heavy seas off Phuket yesterday, prompting fears of environmental damage if the vessel could not be salvaged in time. Phuket Marine Police deputy commander Prasert Srikhunrat received a distress call from the crew of Choke Thavorn 6 at about 11am. The vessel was delivering the oil from a tank farm…
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Phuket Town in Bangkok; Phuket King’s Cup
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket Town now in Bangkok Phuket Town is now in Bangkok with the opening of a new restaurant called… well, ‘Phuket Town’. It’s at the corner of Thonglor Soi 6, off Sukhumvit Soi 55, and with a…
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Phuket masseuses robbed at gunpoint
PHUKET: Police are on the lookout for two men wanted for robbing two masseuses at gunpoint in Phuket Town on Wednesday. Phuket City Police duty officer Pol Lt Col Na-non Phithakkultorn told the Gazette he received the report of the robbery at 9:30am on Wednesday and immediately went to investigate. At the scene, in front of the Chao Phraya massage…
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Bt126m funding for Phuket development projects
PHUKET: The central government has approved some 126 million baht for Phuket development projects to be carried out during Fiscal Year 2011, which starts on October 1, 2010. Five Andaman coast provinces were allocated more than 641 million baht in total for local development projects. Trang had the most funding, 140 million baht, followed by Krabi (Bt135m), Phuket (Bt126m), Phang…
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Tsunami drill in Phuket this month
PHUKET: The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has announced that a full-scale tsunami evacuation drill will be conducted simultaneously in the six Andaman coast provinces on September 13. All 127 tsunami warning towers in the region will be sounded from 9:30am to 10:30am. The 19 towers in Phuket are located at: Mai Khao, Nai Yang, Bang Tao, Kamala, Patong, Kata,…
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Philippine Ambassador puts Phuket tourism on the agenda
PHUKET: In her first official visit to Phuket as Philippine Ambassador to Thailand, Linglingay F. Lacanlale today met Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop to discuss a range of issues. At the top of the agenda was promoting the cross-flow of tourists between the Philippines and Phuket. “This is the one area that I am looking into. We both can learn from each…
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Five-car smash in Koh Kaew, Phuket
PHUKET: An Alfa Romeo was among five vehicles damaged in a road accident near the entrance to the Boat Lagoon marina in Phuket this afternoon. The accident, on Thepkrasattri Road southbound in Koh Kaew, appears to have been caused when one vehicle braked suddenly. The driver of a pickup that was the first of the five vehicles damaged told the…
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More mangrove encroachment in Phuket
PHUKET: Swift action by a Phuket village headman saved several rai of mangrove forest from destruction by encroachers, but not before three rai had already been cut down. Sinchai Limsakul, headman of Palai Village in Chalong, alerted police to the destruction at 4pm yesterday. Some of the uprooted trees were planted by Chalong Tambon Administration, government officers and villagers in…
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Phuket tourism firms win TAT awards
PHUKET: Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced the names of nine local tourism businesses and associations awarded prizes in the 8th Annual Thailand Tourism Awards. The biennial awards are designed to instill awareness and promote responsible management in tourism among tourism entrepreneurs, ultimately leading to sustainable tourism. Bangornrat Shinaprayoon, director of the TAT South Region 4 Office in Phuket…
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Doubts raised over “eggspecting mother’
LOEI: Villagers in Nong Hin District have been rushing to see a woman who had reportedly given birth to an egg. At last report Chawee Chinchaiphum and her husband, Prayut, both 40, have not let anyone see the egg, but enterprising locals have been selling photos of the recently-arrived object for 10 baht each. Demand has been so strong that…
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FC Phuket out of Toyota League Cup after 3-1 loss in Saraburi
PHUKET: FC Phuket are out of the Toyota League Cup after losing to Thai Premier League side Osotspa Saraburi 3-1 last night. Trailing 2-1 from the first leg defeat at the Surakul Stadium last Sunday, FC Phuket faced the daunting task of defeating Osotspa Saraburi on the road if they were to progress to the second round of the cup.…
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Australian tourist dies in Phuket swimming pool
PHUKET: An Australian tourist died while swimming in a pool at a well-known Phuket hotel late yesterday afternoon. Kathu Police duty officer Jongserm Preecha identified the deceased as 58-year-old James Bourke. Staff and customers at the Banthai Beach Resort and Spa in Patong told police they saw Mr Bourke go for a swim after eating a meal at about 5pm.…
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Ron Fanelli still at Phuket Prison
PHUKET: Ronald Fanelli, confessed killer of bar hostess Wanphen Pienjai, today blamed local media coverage for being partly responsible for his decision not to surrender himself to authorities before his arrest. Mr Fanelli spoke to the Gazette briefly today from Phuket Prison, where he is being held for the stabbing murder of Ms Wanphen, a 33-year-old bar hostess at the…
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Phuket’s BIS wins “Best in Thailand’ school award
PHUKET: The British International School Phuket (BIS) has triumphed as the “Best Provider of International Education for 2010” in the Prime Minister’s Export Awards. Collecting the prize in person from PM Abhisit Vejjajiva at Government House in Bangkok last week was BIS Headmaster Dr George Hickman. In a recent school newsletter, Dr Hickman explained that the award follows hot on…
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Identity of Russian car crash fatality in Phuket revealed
PHUKET: The Russian diplomatic mission in Phuket has identified the foreign woman who died in a car crash near Tesco-Lotus on Thursday as 33-year-old Vera Lovtsova, a Russian citizen who was employed by a tour company in Phuket. For the Gazette‘s initial report of the tragedy click here. The confirmation was made by Santi Udomkiratak, Deputy Honorary Consul of the…
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50 largest landholders control 14.3% of Phuket
PHUKET: Land ownership in Phuket is highly concentrated in the hands of a relatively small group of wealthy landowners, according to a prominent Thammasat University economics professor. Prof Duangmani Laowakul, a member of the watch-dog committee Policy Watch, said the top 50 largest landholders in Phuket control 14.3% of the island’s total area. A report published in Krungthep Turakij, the…
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More Dragons for Phuket; Siam Makro expanding
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. More Dragons for Phuket PHUKET: Dragon Air intends to increase services on its Hong Kong-Phuket route. Cathay Pacific Airways, parent company of Dragon Air, says traffic to Phuket is robust with an average load factor of 90…
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Chuan slams money politics
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket leaders and ordinary residents put their heads together at a meeting Saturday to consider how Thailand can reform itself and resolve the ongoing political crisis that caused this year’s violent red-shirt protests. The seminar, “Reforming the Country at a Time of Change“, was the fourth of five organized by the National Economic and Social Advisory Council (Nesac)…
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Two-headed turtle turns one month old in Phang Nga
PHUKET: A two-headed turtle born in late July is thriving under the care of staff at the Royal Thai Navy base in Phang Nga as it celebrates its one-month birthday. The green sea turtle, born in a Thai Navy conservation area in the Similan Islands, was initially earmarked as one of scores of turtles to be set free in Phuket…
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