Search Results for: cat

  • Phuket NewsPhuket dealer busted with meth valued at B7mn

    Phuket dealer busted with meth valued at B7mn

    PHUKET: Police arrested a 26-year-old drug dealer found in possession of ya ba (methamphetamine) pills with a street value of more than 4 million baht yesterday. Wuttichai Boonnga, 26, was arrested at the Tah Chat Chai checkpoint at about 4am as he attempted to leave Phuket. “Mr Wuttichai’s car was stopped and searched by officers. Inside, police found 10 ya…

  • Business NewsPhuket expats better buckle up – more changes for UK pension plans

    Phuket expats better buckle up – more changes for UK pension plans

    PHUKET: THE UK government is continuing to shake things up for retirees and expatriate workers trying to make long-term plans for the post-work future with yet another shift of the goalposts, one of many in recent months. The most dramatic change announced in the new budget, to go into effect next year, is the reduction in lifetime allowance to one…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket yachties help re-float Aussie’s beached boat

    Phuket yachties help re-float Aussie’s beached boat

    PHUKET: Local yachties rendering assistance to a 50-foot ketch stranded on Kata Beach hope to have the classic timber yacht afloat tonight. Two Australians were on board the boat, the Inisfail of the Isles of Scilly, when it was beached by a passing storm on Wednesday. They had recently arrived in Phuket from near Ranong when they were caught out…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket Poll: Keeping lifeguards on the beaches

    Phuket Poll: Keeping lifeguards on the beaches

    PHUKET: As regular as the return of the deadly rainy-season surf that will soon lurk off Phuket’s west coast, the island is again facing the reality of not having any lifeguards on the beaches to save and protect swimmers – tourists and residents alike – from drowning. The lifeguards packed up their life-saving equipment and walked off Phuket’s beaches at…

  • Thailand NewsMedia seek clarity over ‘peacekeeping’ officers

    Media seek clarity over ‘peacekeeping’ officers

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Media seek clarity over ‘peacekeeping’ officers The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Four media organizations yesterday issued a joint statement asking the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to shed more light on Peace and Order Maintaining (POM) officers in order to ensure that the…

  • Thailand NewsUS, UN envoys voice worrying concerns over Article 44

    US, UN envoys voice worrying concerns over Article 44

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community New junta order ‘more worrying’ The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The government may have received some plaudits for lifting martial law from the local business community, notably the tourism sector, but the international community, especially the United States and the United Nations, besides rights groups…

  • Thailand NewsBlasts rock Pattani, power poles felled

    Blasts rock Pattani, power poles felled

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Blasts rock Pattani, power poles felled The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Explosions rocked four locations in Pattani’s Muang district, while five power poles were blown up in separate incidents on Wednesday night, causing heavy property damage and blackouts in a wide area. However, no casualties…

  • Thailand NewsNCPO’s 14-point order on maintaining national security | Thaiger

    NCPO’s 14-point order on maintaining national security

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community NCPO’s 14-point order on maintaining national security The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Prime Minister and National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) head Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha on Wednesday replaced martial law with its 14-point Order on Maintaining Public Order and National Security. Here is a…

  • Business NewsBluAnda dodges mass markets, backs quality tours

    BluAnda dodges mass markets, backs quality tours

    PHUKET: For a premium tour company in Phuket, the goal is providing superior services and beating the crowds of a developing mass- tourism market by delivering private experiences at the region’s most well-known destinations. A newcomer to the Andaman island tour market, BluAnda walked onto the scene recognizing exactly that, and within three years has developed a strong client base…

  • Business NewsBusiness Buzz: Facebook – unlimited sales potential at our fingertips

    Business Buzz: Facebook – unlimited sales potential at our fingertips

    PHUKET: Marketing 101: to make money you need customers, and to get customers you need a database to market to. The better quality the database, the better the results. But we will come back to that in a minute… These days everyone has heard of Facebook. Most people who are even mildly computer literate have a Facebook profile, no matter…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket Police laugh off B875mn CCTV prank

    Phuket Police laugh off B875mn CCTV prank

    PHUKET: Phuket Police have confirmed that the rumored installation of 6,000 CCTV cameras on the island in order to catch high-speed motorists is a prank. The message shared yesterday on various social media sites stated that each camera would cost about US$4,500 (about 146,000 baht apiece) and would have the capability to turn 360 degrees and capture high-resolution images. Phuket…

  • Hua Hin NewsHua Hin offers lessons for Phuket’s developing property market

    Hua Hin offers lessons for Phuket’s developing property market

    PHUKET: For Thais, there is little doubt that Hua Hin remains a keen object of desire, be it for a holiday, or a property purchase. Call it legacy, or location, but the magnetic draw of the beach town continues to be a key driver of demand. A few weeks ago I visited the destination and found the extreme makeover movement…

  • OpinionOpinion: Save our trees

    Opinion: Save our trees

    Anawut Prapunwong, 41, is a chairman and landscape architect of Oriental Vista Co Ltd, and the president of Phuket’s Big Tree Club, which was established on March 5 last year. He graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture and has been president of the club since its inception. The Big Tree Club is a sub-club of…

  • OpinionOpinion: Propel Phuket to become a global yacht stop

    Opinion: Propel Phuket to become a global yacht stop

    PHUKET: Efforts by Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul to ease restrictions on a wide variety of bureaucratic measures that are preventing the island’s marine tourism industry from going ‘full throttle’ deserve full support. The aim is to further develop the island into its natural role as one of Asia’s premier yachting and cruise ship destinations. While details of the…

  • World NewsGetty oil heir’s death seen as likely accidental or natural

    Getty oil heir’s death seen as likely accidental or natural

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Getty oil heir’s death seen as likely accidental or natural Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Andrew Getty, the grandson of billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, died from what appears to have been accidental or natural causes, but an autopsy is not expected to be performed…

  • Thailand NewsUN envoy slams PM’s threat to media

    UN envoy slams PM’s threat to media

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UN envoy slams PM’s threat to media The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A United Nations expert on freedom of expression, David Kaye, yesterday urged Thailand to distance itself from the prime minister’s intimidating statements against freedom of press, and take immediate measures to allow space…

  • Thailand NewsDomestic accuses WHO executive of exploitation

    Domestic accuses WHO executive of exploitation

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Domestic accuses WHO executive of exploitation The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Law Society of Thailand has taken up the case of an Ethiopian domestic worker, who has filed a police complaint, accusing her employer – an executive at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in…

  • Thailand NewsPheu Thai warns impact of Article 44 will be worse than martial law | Thaiger

    Pheu Thai warns impact of Article 44 will be worse than martial law

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Pheu Thai warns impact of Article 44 will be worse than martial law The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Pheu Thai Party yesterday tried to dissuade the government from invoking Article 44 of the interim charter, warning of an even more adverse impact than martial…

  • World NewsIran nuclear talks miss deadline, US threatens to walk away

    Iran nuclear talks miss deadline, US threatens to walk away

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Iran nuclear talks miss deadline, US threatens to walk away Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Six world powers and Iran negotiated past a March 31 deadline into the wee hours of Wednesday, struggling to conclude an outline accord on Tehran’s nuclear program in the face of…

  • Thailand NewsLifting of martial law gets the thumbs up

    Lifting of martial law gets the thumbs up

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Lifting of martial law gets the thumbs up The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday sought royal approval for lifting martial law, which was imposed shortly before the coup in May last year, and replacing it with Article 44 of the…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket beach wedding nightmare as couple’s plans bounced

    Phuket beach wedding nightmare as couple’s plans bounced

    PHUKET: There are no solutions for a distraught wedding couple who already booked everything for a beach wedding before discovering through a Phuket Gazette story (click here) that such ceremonies were banned on the island, confirmed Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak. “We’ve a small beach wedding planned for the end of March. When we paid deposits three weeks ago, nobody warned…

  • World NewsAir strike kills at least 40 at Yemen camp for displaced

    Air strike kills at least 40 at Yemen camp for displaced

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Air strike kills at least 40 at Yemen camp for displaced Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: An air strike killed at least 40 people at a camp for displaced people in north Yemen on Monday, humanitarian workers said, in an attack which apparently targeted nearby Houthi…

  • World NewsSingapore police arrest teen for online comments | Thaiger

    Singapore police arrest teen for online comments

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Singapore police arrest teen for online comments Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Singapore teenager, who criticized Lee Kuan Yew on social media soon after the former leader’s death, has been arrested and will be charged with making “insensitive and disparaging” comments about Christians, police said…

  • World NewsGermanwings crash pilot had been treated for suicidal tendencies

    Germanwings crash pilot had been treated for suicidal tendencies

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Germanwings crash pilot had been treated for suicidal tendencies Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The German pilot suspected of deliberately crashing a plane in the French Alps last week was treated for suicidal tendencies years ago before he received his pilot’s license, German prosecutors said on…

  • Thai LifeEnvironment: Dealing with DDT – Nature’s greatest enemy

    Environment: Dealing with DDT – Nature’s greatest enemy

    PHUKET: Almost all of us can point to what James Joyce called ” epiphanies”, moments or experiences in our lives that ineradicably changed us or our world view for ever. Such events may have been seared in our memories by pain or fear, others may have been moments of insight or ecstasy. One such experience for me came from reading…

  • OpinionOpinion: Help tourists discover true Thainess

    Opinion: Help tourists discover true Thainess

    PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently launched a multi-million-baht tourism campaign to lure foreign visitors to the Land of Smiles under the banner ‘Discover Thainess’. What they did not do is explain what “Thainess” is before unleashing their latest marketing ploy. A catchy campaign and slogan with so much potential was immediately lost in translation. Tourists new to…

  • PropertyProperty: Self-centered Patong lures seven new hotels

    Property: Self-centered Patong lures seven new hotels

    PHUKET: Patong remains Phuket’s epicenter of development, as it attracts seven new hotels to its shores. Hoteliers investing in Patong see the non-seasonal beach as establishing a stable market, while some believe that other beaches such as Kata and Nai Thon are perceived by visitors as being more seasonal, explained Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks and Gazette columnist.…

  • Thai LifeBalance Matters: Autism isn’t misbehaving

    Balance Matters: Autism isn’t misbehaving

    PHUKET: Robert, a 7-year-old boy, had been anxious about his upcoming trip for weeks. His mother’s job involved an overseas relocation and the family had to take both him and his older sister on a plane journey to visit new potential schools and houses, check out locations and all the usual rigmarole involved in moving countries. Robert’s family had prepared…

  • World NewsGermanwings crash pilot was psychiatric patient, planned big gesture

    Germanwings crash pilot was psychiatric patient, planned big gesture

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Germanwings crash pilot was psychiatric patient, planned big gesture Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing an airliner, killing 150 people, had told his girlfriend he was planning a spectacular gesture so “everyone will know my name”, a German daily said on…

  • World NewsMajor 7.7 quake strikes off Papua New Guinea, tsunami warning issued | Thaiger

    Major 7.7 quake strikes off Papua New Guinea, tsunami warning issued

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Major 7.7 quake strikes off Papua New Guinea, tsunami warning issued Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A major earthquake with a magnitude 7.7 struck off Papua New Guinea on Monday, official monitors said, and a tsunami warning was issued soon after. The epicenter of the 33km…