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Aussie saved off Patong after three weeks adrift
PATONG: An Australian sailor who had been adrift for more than three weeks was rescued by Phuket Marine Police on Saturday.Rocky Bonow, 52, left the Cocos Islands on October 17 on his 13.2-meter boat Moonstar, bound for Phuket.As he was rounding Sumatra, the boat’s engine stopped, leaving Bonow adrift with limited supplies.Pol Lt Col Prathueng Srilamontree of Phuket Marine Police…
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Rawai sea gypsy homes spared
RAWAI: Four sea gypsy houses originally slated for demolition have been spared the wrecking ball in Phuket Provincial Highway Office’s (PPHO) road-widening project in Rawai.Sarayuth Intarawichien, Assistant Project Manager of the PPHO, told the Gazette that the road-widening project will be finished by the contract date in March next year. The project began in May and extends along Chao Fa…
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The root of suffering
“Attachment is the origin, the root of suffering; hence it is the cause of suffering.” – The Dalai Lama at Harvard University, 1988 A devout monk in Phattalung’s Kongra District took the quest for non-attachment to an unprecedented level recently, when he cut off his erect penis, which was was distracting him during a meditation session. News of the story…
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Tuk-tuk driver stabs Welshman
PATONG: A Welsh tourist is expected to be discharged from Phuket International Hospital today after being stabbed in the chest following a dispute over a tuk-tuk fare early yesterday morning.Kathu Deputy Inspector for Crime Suppression, Pol Capt Leucha Polkarn, confirmed that Julien Bennett, 31, was stabbed on Nanai Rd about 3:30 am, following an altercation with Patong tuk-tuk driver Wisut…
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Accidents and crime Phuket’s biggest tourism threats
PHUKET: Despite fears of terrorism, natural disasters and health pandemics, government officials rate everyday crime and road accidents as the greatest dangers to Phuket’s tourism industry, a Phuket Provincial Tourism Management Strategy (PPTRMS) workshop revealed on Tuesday.During the workshop, at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, government officials were presented with the results of a survey from the previous workshop, held…
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Boy driver dies in smash
KOH KAEW: A 12-year-old boy died when he crashed his motorcycle while overtaking a car on a curved section of Thepkrasattri Rd on Tuesday.Pol Lt Apichart Rainchana of Phuket Police Station identified the boy as Adisak Det-aran, a student at Baan Sapam Mongkol Wittaya School. He was still in his student uniform when police arrived at the accident scene, about…
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70 Burmese arrested for having too much fun
KARON: Seventy Burmese workers celebrating a friend’s wedding were arrested and taken to Chalong Police Station after a neighbor complained that they were singing too loud.Chalong Police Inspector Pol Maj Peeranat Chatinkaew told the Gazette that his office received a complaint about 1:30 am on Tuesday, informing police that Burmese workers behind Wat Karon were disturbing the peace by singing…
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Full-House Fiasco
CHON BURI: Three unlucky vacationers from the Islamic Republic of Iran were taught a lesson on November 15, when they learned the hard way that pleasures of the flesh rarely come cheap – even in the steamy sois off south Pattya’s infamous Walking Street. The three men, Sedaghat Heiydari, 30, Saber Mobanazade, 31, and Nohsen Nadsill, 32, came to the…
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That’ll teach him
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: Mystery surrounds the murder of a who was found beaten and stabbed to death, his penis burnt to a crisp. The grisly murder was reported to Thung Yai District Police around dawn on November 2. Arriving at the scene, in a rubber-tapping community in Tambon Prik, police led by Duty Inspector Pol Lt Col Leuachai Thongsin found…
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Aids Day campaign targets “karaoke sex’ kids
PHUKET CITY: As part of the preparations for this year’s World Aids Day on December 1, the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) has called for a close watch to be kept on private karaoke booths in the city because the “unsuitable behavior” by some youths in the rooms is putting them at risk of contagious diseases.The PPHO called for department…
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Couple injured in acid attack
PHUKET CITY: A woman was seriously injured after having acid thrown in her face on Friday. The woman’s boyfriend was also injured in the attack.Pol Sub Lt Thada Sodarak, Duty Officer at Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette that the injured man, Pissanu Praduppet, told police that his wife had committed the attack after he had asked her for a…
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Prostitution rates second in latest crime figures
PHUKET: Statistics released by Phuket Provincial Police show that prostitution-related crime resulted in the second-highest number of arrests, 91, in October, knocking drug offenses from its usual number two position and trailing only the perennial leader, gambling.Of the 214 people arrests for gambling-related offenses, 23 cases involved the sale of illegal underground lottery tickets.Seventy-four people were arrested for drug-related offenses,…
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Patong to try one-way traffic
PATONG: In the hope of bringing some order to Patong’s traffic chaos, on January 15 the town will adopt a one-way road system on a three-month trial.The one-way system will see Rat U-Thit 200 Pi Rd become one-way southbound and Thaweewong Rd (the beach road) one-way northbound from Prachanukhro Rd to Phra Barami Rd.Prachanukhro Rd will become one-way from Rat…
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Man killed in drunken mass brawl
PHUKET CITY: A young man was killed and another critically injured after being stabbed during a drunken melee that broke out in a children’s playground at Saphan Hin early Tuesday morning.Phuket City Police Investigator Pol Lt Col Somkid Boonrat identified the dead man as Sompob Chumpan, 24, who died of a single three-inch-deep stab wound to the abdomen.The other victim,…
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Kathu roadworks to cause tailbacks
KATHU: Motorists traveling between Kathu and Phuket City can expect traffic delays over the next year, as the narrow, hilly stretch of Wichit Songkhram Rd west of Makro is now being widened into a four-lane divided highway with sidewalks on both sides.The work is underway by project contractor Noppawong Kosarng Company, which was awarded the contract after making a 45.9-million-baht…
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Fire engulfs stalls along Patong beachfront
PATONG: A fire broke out on Thaweewong Rd about 4 am yesterday, destroying eight vendors’ stalls and causing an estimated 10 million baht in damages.Firefighters took two hours to extinguish the blaze.The fire broke out in a row of shops near the Holiday Inn Resort. After being notified of the blaze by Kathu Police, 10 trucks from Patong Municipality Fire…
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Tsunami early-warning buoys to deploy from Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Thailand’s tsunami early-warning system will take a big step forward this month, when a high-tech monitoring buoy able to directly detect tsunami waves will be deployed about 1,100 kilometers off the Andaman Coast, near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.The announcement came during a meeting on disaster preparedness in the six tsunami-affected provinces held at the Royal Phuket City…
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Phuket Prison now a tourist attraction
PHUKET CITY: For most societies, prison is an undesirable place to which law-abiding citizens send the the community’s undesirables, i.e., the deviants, perverts and miscreants. But in Phuket, prison has become just another tourist attraction.Helping to keep alive the strong local tradition of anywhere-anytime tourism, Paisarn Suwannaraksa, Director of Phuket Prison, told the Gazette that the 1,500-inmate prison is now…
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“Peanut gambling’ gang caught
KAMALA: Four men, including a retired police officer, have been arrested for their participation in a “peanut gambling” swindle after a woman, whose name is being withheld at her request, was conned out of 1 million baht before reporting the racket to the police.The woman reported the con to police on November 8 and cooperated in a sting operation, luring…
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Pencak Silat moved to Turkey
PHUKET: The 13th Pencak Silat Martial Arts World Championship, set to open in Phuket this Saturday, has been moved to Turkey due to the coup.The competition was originally scheduled to be held November 18 to 26, with more than 500 competitors from 25 countries registered for the event.Pencak Silat is a group of martial arts of Indo-Malaysian origin that can…
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Jazz Royale Festival schedule announced
KARON: The Jazz Royale Festival – organized to honor HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 80th birthday – will be held at Karon Beach on December 16 and 17, 2006.Among the big names to perform in the show are Kenny G, The Dizzy Gillespie All Star Band, and jazz great Ahmad Jamal.Tickets are priced at 1,500 baht and are available from the…
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Barami 8 squatters spared – for now
KALIM: Fearful of inciting a riot, municipal officials yesterday decided not to remove three squatters homes along Soi Phra Barami 8.The three homes, the first of 61 to be removed to make way for a government road-widening project, was ordered on Monday by Phuket Provincial Chief Administrative Officer (Palad) Nivit Aroonrat at a meeting at Kathu District office.Owners of the…
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Alcohol advertising ban threatens Johnnie Walker Classic
BANGKOK (The Nation): Riche Monde, distributor of Johnnie Walker whiskey, has urged the government to decide within two weeks whether it can use the logo and brand to promote the upcoming Johnnie Walker Classic golf event at Blue Canyon Country Club in Thalang.If the government bans the use of the logo and brand, as well as prohibits the company from…
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Weapons seized in Kathu
KATHU: Four men were arrested yesterday after a routine inspection of their pickup at the Phra Barami Rd vehicle control point uncovered four pistols, ammunition, a walkie-talkie and two pairs of latex gloves.Tung Tong Police Deputy Inspector for Crime Suppression Pol Capt Wiwut Chumnankit said police pulled over the red-gray Mitsubishi pickup, with a Phuket license plate, at the checkpoint…
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Pian authorizes Phra Barami 8 evictions
KALIM: Patong Mayor Pian Keesin has reluctantly agreed to demolish three squatters’ homes on Soi Phra Barami 8, the site of a proposed road-widening project that has been delayed by the numerous illegal dwellings there.The three houses are among 61 that face eventual destruction, but are the only dwellings that the court has thus far ordered demolished. Workers will begin…
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Dive operators get court reprieve
PHUKET: The Administrative Court in Nakhon Sri Thammarat has ruled the new regulations affecting Phuket dive operators suspended indefinitely, pending the results of a court case challenging their legality.News of the suspension came from Aekachai Soonthorn, who has been appointed defense attorney for the province in the case. Aekachai is also Secretary to the Phuket Provincial Chief Administrative Officer (Palad),…
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Chinese take FIVB gold in Phuket
KARON: It was an all-China final in the Swatch FIVB Phuket Thailand Open international women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday. The last stop on the FIVB world tour pitted third-seeded Xue Chen and Zhang Xi against compatriots Tian Jia and Wang Jie in the final.Xue and Zhang went on to win in the third all-Chinese final of this season’s FIVB tour.…
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Chetwynd-Talbot still in Phuket jail
PHUKET CITY: Briton Paul Chetwynd-Talbot is still being held at Phuket Provincial Prison, though he is expected to be transfered to the more comfortable Klong Prem Prison in Ladyao, Bangkok, before the end of the year.Paisarn Suwannaraksa, Director of Phuket Prison, told the Gazette, “It will be more comfortable for the prisoner because he is a foreigner, and easier for…
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A bloody offal story
CHALONG: Residents of Chalong Village 10 called police on the evening of October 11 to report a pile of apparently-human organs tossed into a thicket along Saneh Soi 10. Shocked and in fear that a serial killer was on the loose, they were somewhat relieved to eventually learn that the abandoned innards were of canine, not human, origin. Responding to…
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I’ve got WHAT in my hair?
Hair styling has long been a key part of the female beauty regimen, regardless of what fashions have come and gone. Hair accessories, however, do not usually come flavored, lubricated or coated in spermicidal jelly – well, not until now. The latest rage in hair products was brought to light by some young women in Chiang Mai, who discovered that…
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