News
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Sponsored Chef Fabio Genghini takes over Portofino at Le Meridien Phuket for an Exclusive 2-week residency
Food lovers, prepare your taste buds for a gourmet Italian feast! From July 2 to 13, acclaimed Chef Fabio Genghini will take over Le Meridien Phuket’s beloved Italian restaurant, Portofino as a guest chef. It’s a chance for you to...
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Young People’s Party wins by-election
PHUKET TOWN: Watcharapong Anantrakul of the Young People’s Party won by a narrow margin in yesterday’s Phuket Town Municipal Council by-election. K. Watcharapong beat four other candidates in the by-election, which was held to replace Suwit Sa-Ngiamkul, who resigned from the council to run in parliamentary elections to be held around the end of the year. Just over 25% of…
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Ministry aims to get the sex out of massage
BANGKOK (AFP): To restore the image of traditional Thai massage, all public hospitals will be required to offer classically trained masseurs to patients, Health Minister Korn Dabbaransi announced today. “In order to rehabilitate Thai traditional massage, so that it is not misused for commercial sex, all hospitals under the ministry will have to hire masseurs,” Korn said in a statement.…
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Man drowns while fishing in park
PHUKET TOWN: An elderly man was found drowned in the lake at Suan Luang Park on Thursday. Pol Maj Pitsanoo Poolwong of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that he received a report from people living in the area that there was a body floating in the lake. When the corpse was taken out of the water, it was…
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Phuket Town on the wagon for poll day
PHUKET: Planning on going out drinking in Phuket Town this Saturday or Sunday night? If so, change your plans because the town is going dry. A by-election will be taking place on Sunday for one of the seats on the Phuket Town Municipal council, and Thai law requires that the selling and distribution of all alcoholic beverages in town be…
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Father drowns at Kata Beach
PHUKET: A Thai man drowned on Tuesday (July 18) while swimming with his nine-year-old daughter in front of Club Med at Kata Beach. Pol Lt Teerawat Leamsuwan of Chalong Police Station said that Mana Sakulpakdee, a 54-year-old educational supervisor at the Office of Educational, Religious and Cultural Development, drowned while playing in the sea with his daughter Naruecha. Mana and…
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Suspect grabs officer’s gun, fires shot
PHUKET TOWN: A 20-year-old Phang Nga native was arrested on Monday after a fierce struggle with police, during which he grabbed an officer’s gun and fired a shot. Pol Capt Wisan Magnadsare of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that he and Pol LCpl Supachai Pongsuwan were patrolling on their motorbike at around 3:30 am when their suspicions…
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Bangkok-based ya bah dealer arrested
PHUKET: Police on Friday arrested a Bangkok-based ya bah dealer and his local associate, and seized 2,100 pills of the drug. Pol Maj Manat Iamchareonchaikul, an inspector with the Phuket Narcotics Police, told the Gazette that 36-year-old Narumol Bormuang, arrested July 7 on charges of possessing and trafficking in ya bah (methamphetamine), gave them information about the two men, Winai…
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Issues & Answers goes online
PHUKET TOWN: Issues & Answers, the column in which residents and visitors to Phuket can pose questions to government officials and business managers, is now available on line at https://thethaiger.com/issuesanswers/index.asp The questions, often quite challenging, are brought to the attention of the responsible government departments or businesses by Gazette reporters, and the answers provided are published along with the name…
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Dutchman arrested at scene of road accident
KATHU: Johannes W. Wisser, a 53-year old Dutchman currently on trial for assault, found himself in more hot water when he was arrested early yesterday morning for several traffic violations, including reckless driving that caused injury to another motorist. Wisser, who police say has resided in Phuket for eight years, was also charged with drunken driving and attempting to flee…
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Island-wide blackout set for July 25
PHUKET: The entire island will be without power for nine hours on July 25, the Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) has announced. The blackout, from 7 am to 4 pm, is necessary because of work being done by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), which is replacing the main power line into Phuket. The new line will be able…
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Dry spell about to end
PHUKET: The dry sunny days of the past couple of weeks are about to come to a soggy end, Phuket’s weathermen have warned. Amorn Chantanavivate, director of the Southwestern Regional Meteorological Center, told the Gazette today that a southwest monsoon is forecast to hit the Andaman Sea and the entire southwest coast of Thailand tomorrow, lasting about five days. He…
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Sri Lankan envoy thanks Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Thailand, Karunatilaka Amunugama, visited Phuket Governor Charnchai Soontharamut today to express his country’s gratitude to Phuket officials for their investigations into possible Tamil Tiger activity in the province. He also visited the mini-submarine found by Gazette reporters in a Koh Sirae shipyard last month. “The Phuket authorities have been very helpful and concerned about…
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“Don’t smuggle guns to Indonesia,’ ministry warns
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s Foreign Ministry today warned the nation’s fishing fleet of the possible grave consequences of smuggling guns to Indonesia’s Maluku islands, where a sectarian conflict is raging. It said that the Thai embassy in Jakarta had informed the ministry that Indonesia’s Admiral Achmad Sutjipto had vowed to sink any ship found in the area with weapons destined for…
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Don’t shoot at eclipse, mayor warns
PHUKET: With a lunar eclipse taking place next Sunday night, the Phuket Town Municipality has issued a warning to gun owners: Don’t mark the occasion by firing weapons at the Moon. Traditional Thai and Chinese belief is that a lunar or solar eclipse is caused by a malevolent giant attempting to eat the moon. It is therefore the responsibility of…
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TT&T launches new services
PHUKET: Thai Telephone & Telecommunication (TT&T) has launched a new gadget that it says will make the use of phones “more effective” – a caller ID box. The box, attached to a telephone, shows on a small screen the telephone number of the person calling in. It will also record the numbers of people trying to reach you while you…
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“Satanic fishermen’ blamed for gruesome murder
PHANG NGA: Villagers in Baan Kalai, Takuatung district, have blamed Satan-worshipping fishermen” for the murder of a man whose disemboweled body was found floating in a canal on Saturday night. Baan Kalai villagers were alerted to the murder by a foul smell coming from a sack stuck in the canal, which links to the Andaman Sea. They retrieved the sack…
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Two busted for selling ya bah
PHUKET TOWN: Narcotics agents yesterday arrested two people on drug-trafficking charges and seized 450 pills of “ya bah” (methamphetamine). Pol Lt Worapoj Wattanasuwan, deputy inspector of the Phuket Narcotics Police, told the Gazette that the police were tipped off by an informant that ya bah was being sold from a rented house in Soi Patcharee 4 in Baan Kuku, Tambon…
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170 arrested in narcotics crackdown
PHUKET: A total of 170 drug dealers and users were arrested in Phuket during June, after orders were issued by the Commissioner of Provincial Police Region 8, Pol Gen Somsak Saibua, to crack down on narcotics abuse before the commencement of the new academic term. Six people were arrested after being caught selling narcotics, 22 for possession with intent to…
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Province campaigns against dining on dog meat
BANGKOK (AFP): A province in northeastern Thailand is asking local folks to treat dogs more like man’s best friend — and less like their breakfast. “Sakhon Nakhon province is now launching a campaign…to reduce consumption of dog meat,” announced the local provincial government earlier today. Officials are organizing trade fairs to urge people to switch to other sources of protein,…
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Airport passenger traffic jumps 17pc
PHUKET: Heartening news for the low season comes with the latest monthly figures issued by the Phuket International Airport. These show a 17.04% rise in passengers arriving at and departing from the airport, compared with May 1999. The statistics show that 245,634 passengers went through the airport, compared with 209,876 last May. Due mostly to an increase in the number…
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Dead katoey puzzles police
PATONG: Police are scratching their heads after beach guards pulled the body of a katoey (transsexual) from the sea near Patong Beach yesterday morning. Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that the corpse was clad only in a black brassiere, white women’s panties and short white pants. The body has been identified as that…
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Red faces over Saphan Hin reclamation
PHUKET TOWN: Local authorities were red-faced this week after learning that part of the land reclamation at Saphan Hin appears to have been done illegally. The reclaimed land in question is next to the sea at the southeastern end of the road leading into Saphan Hin. It currently has a car park on one side and an open area on…
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21 die in traffic accidents
PHUKET: Twenty-one people were killed in traffic accidents between April 20 and May 20, according to statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office reports that 17 of the victims died while on motorcycles, three in cars and one while riding a bicycle. In the same period, 48 people were injured…
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China Eastern to launch Phuket-Shanghai service
PHUKET: China Eastern Airlines (CEA) has announced that it will launch a new direct flight from Shanghai to Phuket later this month. CEA will conduct the new service on a trial basis from July 18 to August 12 to assess popularity with passengers. Flight MU 5085 from Shanghai will arrive twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, at 1:20 am.…
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Foreign investment goosing local economy
PHUKET: Foreign investment in Phuket is still booming, according to the latest statistics from the Provincial Commercial Registration Office, which show that 95% of the businesses registered between June 1, 1998 and May 31, 2000 have foreign capital in them. This compares with about 65% in the two years up to May 31, 1998. “If we didn’t have the foreign…
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Policeman kills karaoke critic
BANGKOK (AFP): A police officer has confessed to killing one man and attempting to kill another because they didn’t like his karaoke performance, police said today. Pol Cpl Jirawat Sangworn, 25, has admitted both charges, claiming he was provoked by the victims’ booing and name-calling when he was about to sing the same song – a sentimental Thai ballad –…
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Turtles fail to cooperate with researchers
SIMILAN ISLANDS: Scientists, ecologists and navy personnel from Phuket and Japan combined recently on a project to attach satellite tracking tags to sea turtles in Thai waters. The only thing missing was the turtles; over a two-week period, the 12-person research team camping on Mun-Nai Island in the Similans managed to find only five turtles they could tag. Involved in…
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Opposition MPs begin mass resignation
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s largest opposition party staged a mass resignation today in a bid to force the government to call a general election. The New Aspiration Party (NAP) said 50 of its 116 MPs – including leader Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and secretary general Wan Muhamad Nor Matha – had quit and 41 planned to follow later in the day, the first…
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Academic warned to stay away “or risk injury”
PHUKET: The instigator of a campaign to get a Bangkok-based academic to apologize for allegedly slandering the revered former abbot of Chalong, Luang Por Cham, has urged the academic to stay away from Phuket or risk injury at the hands of irate locals. Amnuay Koombarn, a member of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization, is leading a petition to press Dr…
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PIWC sports day raises 28,000 baht
KARON: The Family Sports Day organized by the Phuket International Women’s Club (PIWC) on Saturday at the Phuket Arcadia Hotel in Karon raised just over 28,000 baht toward the PIWC’s scholarship fund. As in previous years, fun games were organized by Claire Ratcliffe and Mark Breit of Coral Seekers. The event attracted 138 adults and children. Sponsors included the Phuket…
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