Search Results for: Thailand
- Phuket News
Monkey business at Phuket Provincial Hall
PHUKET CITY: A brazen monkey wandered onto the grounds of Phuket Provincial Hall this morning, making off with a belly full of fresh cucumbers after a standoff with a stunned food vendor. The unusual visit came at about 9:30 this morning at an open-air curry stall on the grounds of Phuket Provincial Hall. The monkey, one of the many pig-tailed…
- Phuket News
Thai Immigration crackdown on border runners
BANGKOK / PHUKET: In a crackdown on foreigners who “abuse” the tourist exemption rule allowing15-day visit extensions at border entry points, the Immigration Bureau has confirmed and informed ThaiVisa.Com of the following new regulation, which went into effect yesterday: A foreigner who has entered the kingdom four consecutive times on 15-day tourist exemption stamps will not be allowed to leave…
- Phuket News
Human smuggling suspects arrested in Ranong
PHUKET CITY: Immigration Police in the early hours of Saturday arrested 34 illegal Burmese immigrants and two Thais in a raid on a house in Ranong’s Muang District, seizing notebooks listing the names of members of security forces who had allegedly been bribed to secure safe passage for the migrants. At 4am, a team of Ranong Immigration Police led by…
- Phuket News
Asean reaffirms regional confidence in Phuket
KARON, PHUKET: The Asean Senior Officials meeting held at the Movenpick Resort and Spa from May 18 to 21 resulted in a number of agreements in addition to the previously reported agreement to hold the twice-postponed Asean Summit in Phuket next October. Manasvi Srisodapol, deputy director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of Asean Affairs, told the Gazette that the Phuket meetings…
- Phuket News
Phuket remains free of swine flu
PHUKET CITY: While the viral disease chikungunya continues to spread in Phuket, the island has yet to record a single case of infection with the A(H1N1) virus that causes swine flu, PPHO Director Dr Pongsawas Ratanasang told the Gazette today. Two foreign tourists – one Australian and one Norwegian – were briefly quarantined and tested for A(H1N1), but both tested…
- Phuket News
Phuket FC tryouts rescheduled for Monday
KATHU, PHUKET: Following the last-minute cancellation of the expat football trial scheduled to take place yesterday, the Phuket FC manager has announced that the trials will now to take place on Monday, June 1, at the Prince of Songkla University stadium, off Wichit Songkram Road in Kathu. The trial will begin at 4.30pm. It is hoped that Friday’s last-minute cancellation…
- Phuket News
Phuket youth incarceration: German ambassador speaks out
PHUKET CITY: German Ambassador to Thailand Dr Hanns Schumacher has spoken out in defense of the German teenager currently incarcerated in the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center on charges of sexually abusing minors. In an interview with the Gazette, Dr Schumacher said he believed the evidence against the youth justified the investigation, but expressed hope that the court would…
- Phuket News
Punchup in Phuket: Oleydong defends WBC belt this afternoon
PATONG, PHUKET: WBC straw-weight champ Oleydong Sithsamerchai has been busy shedding pounds to meet the 105lb limit for his WBC title defense against Muhammad Rachman of Indonesia this afternoon. At a press conference held at the the Bangkok Residence Hotel on Soi Sansabai on Tuesday, Oleydong and Rachman posed for photos with Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop. The fight will take…
- Phuket News
Land purchase through Thai spouse forbidden: Land Dept
PHUKET CITY: The director general of the Land Department has reiterated that foreigners using Thai nominees to buy land anywhere in the country will have their land title deeds revoked if caught – even if the nominee in question is a lawfully wedded spouse.Land Department Director Anuwat Meteewiboonwut made the comments during a recent stop in Phuket as part of a…
- Phuket News
German still in Phuket Juvenile after three months
PHUKET CITY: Despite efforts by the German Embassy, a young man arrested on charges of sexually abusing minors remains in detention at the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center almost three months after his arrest. The youth, who was just 17 when he was arrested on March 9, recently spent his 18th birthday behind bars. His arrest, together with that…
- Phuket News
German manslaughter suspect gets bail, whereabouts unknown
PHUKET CITY: German tourist Florian Zehentmair, charged with the manslaughter of his friend Sebastian Wolff in Khao Lak, has been released on bail. Police do not know where he is staying. In another development in the case, preliminary investigation into the cause of death by the police forensics institute in Surat Thani has determined the cause of Mr Wolff’s death…
- Phuket News
Phuket kids eyed by Ronald McDonald clinic
PHUKET CITY: The Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Thailand Foundation, in association with the Thai Red Cross Society, the Top Charoen chain of optical shops, and Bangkok’s Phyathai Hospital, gave free eye exams to hundreds of Phuket students earlier this week. The event, at a mobile eye clinic parked on the grounds of the Phuket City Municipality offices, was attended…
- Phuket News
Thai senator stunned by ‘new media’
PHUKET: Thai people have little “need” for multiple media outlets such as cable TV and websites since most spread misinformation, Bangkok Senator Rosana Tositakul opined yesterday. “Do we really need so many media channels? And how could we “control” a large number of media channels, anyway?” Rosana asked at a seminar entitled “How to Reform the New Media”, held by…
- Phuket News
Melbourne mum reunited with kids after Phuket ordeal
PHUKET CITY: Australian holidaymaker Annice Smoel is safely home after leaving Phuket on a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok at 9pm yesterday, then catching a connecting flight to Melbourne. During a visit to the Phuket Immigration Office yesterday, accompanied by her husband Darren, Ms Smoel was smiling broadly in the knowledge that her departure from the ‘Land of Smiles’ was…
- Phuket News
Tossaporn pushes for Phuket conference center and sports complex
PHUKET: Funds for Phuket’s long-awaited convention center are to be included in next year’s budget, according to Phuket MP Tossaporn Thepabutr. If the budget is approved, the center could be finished within three years.The convention center has been on the drawing boards for well over a decade. The center was initially proposed to be built on reclaimed land off Saphan…
- Phuket News
Gloomy outlook for Phuket tourism
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) has forecast that Phuket hotels will see average occupancy rates dip to as low as 25-30%, compared to 60% in the summer season last year. Citing a number of negative factors, PTA Vice President Bhurit Maswongsa said the spread of the type-A (H1N1) flu virus was one of the main problems hitting the…
- Phuket News
Phuket Police: Aussie arrest no laughing matter
PATONG, PHUKET: Kathu Police Superintendent Grissak Songmoonnark has defended the actions of his men in detaining Aussie holidaymaker Annice Smoel for stealing a branded bar towel from the Aussie Bar in Patong earlier this month. Col Grissak told the Gazette today that the matter was a clear case of theft and that his officers had sufficient evidence to prove her…
- Phuket News
Update: Phuket tourist jailing
PHUKET / MELBOURNE (AAP): The Australian woman arrested in Phuket, Thailand for allegedly stealing a bar mat says she’s “scared, helpless and alone” and is pleading for the Australian government to intervene. Annice Smoel, who spent four days in a cramped Thai jail with three other women, described her holiday gone wrong as “totally unbelievable”. Ms Smoel, 36, from Montrose…
- Phuket News
Another foreign tourist arrested, jailed in Phuket
PHUKET: According to a story released this morning by AAP, Australia’s national news agency, a Melbourne mother of four is facing five years in a Thai jail after allegedly “stealing” a bar mat [‘coaster’] from a Phuket pub. The report says 36-year-old Annice Smoel was arrested by undercover police as she left the Aussie Bar in Patong on May 3.…
- Phuket News
Star mayor gunned down in Haad Yai
SONGKHLA: The mayor of Khlong Hae Town in Songkhla’s Haad Yai District was gunned down in his car on the evening of May 16. Aphichat Sangkhachat, 39, was shot at around 10:30pm as he stopped at an ATM on Ratyindee Road in downtown Haad Yai City while on the way home from a funeral at Wat Khlong Ple. He was…
- Phuket News
Land borders to Phuket under intensive flu screening
PHUKET: Thailand yesterday tightened the screening of people entering the country through its southern borders as Malaysia confirmed its second case of swine flu. The southern Thai borders are the land gateways to Phuket and the Andaman region’s other international resort areas. The borders are also used heavily by expatriates working in Phuket, Krabi and Khaolak for their visa runs.…
- Phuket News
Homeward bound: Simon Burrowes finally gets off Phuket
PHUKET: After spending a his final night in Phuket under the observation of Phuket City Immigration officers, British national Simon Burrowes finally left Phuket at 5.50pm yesterday aboard a Silk Air flight destined for Singapore, where he was scheduled to catch a connecting flight to the UK. Asked why Mr Burrowes had to spend his final night on the island…
- Phuket News
Thai Prime Minister does not believe in media neutrality
BANGKOK: Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjiva said yesterday that he did not to want to discuss media neutrality because he did not believe that such a thing exists, pointing out that everyone has an opinion. “The point is that opinions must be expressed freely and responsibly,’ he said. He was addressing the Congress of National Media on “The media’s lesson, the…
- Phuket News
Simon Burrowes misses flight from Phuket!
PHUKET CITY: It seems that British tourist Simon Burrowes’s troubles in Thailand will never end. His flight out of Phuket left at 3pm today, but, in a situation that is all too familiar to Burrowes, he was not on it. Immigration officials at the airport told him they wanted to make some “additional inquiries” before permitting him to board the…
- Phuket News
Phuket Poll: How do we brand the virus?
PHUKET: It’s all about ‘branding’, baby, and the Phuket Gazette Poll is asking for your views on how a tourist-oriented community might best brand a pest. Two weeks ago, we learned that the island had lost its romantic rainy season, traditionally known as “The Low Season”. The Low got summarily canceled and “Summer Season” was ushered in. (The weather itself,…
- Phuket News
Like a Virgin? Aussie carrier seeks Phuket entry
PHUKET CITY: At a time when the Phuket tourism industry could use some good news, Australian low-cost carrier Virgin Group has applied for permission to begin a daily service from Australia to Phuket, according to a company press release published this morning by online Australia-based tourism industry newsletter etravelblackboard. If approved, it would be Virgin Group’s first destination in Thailand.…
- Phuket News
Asean summit postponed until October
PHUKET CITY: Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya today announced the postponement of the Asean summit in Phuket from the middle of next month to late October. Delegations of several countries found the June schedule too inconvenient, he said. But while the Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government has cited the busy schedules of other heads of state, some skeptics believe unsettled political…
- Phuket News
Local PAD commends Phuket red shirts, but issues warning
PHUKET CITY: The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) spokesperson for Phuket has commended the local “red shirt” group for its commitment not to disrupt the upcoming Asean-led summit meetings in June, but vowed to mobilize PAD members to prevent any incursion onto the island by red shirt protesters from other parts of the country. Phuket PAD coordinator Aparat Chartchutikumjorn this…
- Phuket News
Four Chikungunya cases reported in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Chikungunya, the viral disease that is sweeping the Deep South, has now surfaced in Phuket, according to the Phuket Provincial Health Office. A press release issued by Kusuma Sawangpan of the Disease Control and Prevention Division confirmed four cases of the disease on the island, with all the patients being treated at Vachira Phuket Hospital. The vector for…
- Phuket News
Abhisit, in Phuket, confirms Security Act for Asean summits
MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has confirmed the government intends to invoke the Internal Security Act during the Asean summits scheduled to be held at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort in mid-June. The announcement came at a press conference at Phuket International Airport last night. PM Abhisit was on his way back to the capital following a secret…
