Search Results for: cat

  • Phuket NewsPolice trainees bolster Phuket street presence

    Police trainees bolster Phuket street presence

    PHUKET: Police trainees from Surat Thani saw some frontline action in Phuket this week when they received on-the-job training at a checkpoint in Baan Bang Jo, in Srisoonthorn. Thalang Police Deputy Superintendent Amnuay Kraiwootthinan and a team of officers supervised the 14 trainees assigned to the Thalang precinct, while another 43 trainees from Surat Thani were dispatched to assist in…

  • Thailand NewsPhuket Gazette Thailand News: Pressure builds to publicly explain dam project

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Pressure builds to publicly explain dam project

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international communityPHUKET: The Standing Committee on National Security yesterday proposed that the Water and Flood Management Commission (WFMC) explain to the public the likely impacts of the Mae Wong Dam project in a show to be aired on Channel 9 on October 13.The show would follow an episode of…

  • Phuket NewsTwo Chinese tourists mugged on the way to Cherng Talay supermarket

    Two Chinese tourists mugged on the way to Cherng Talay supermarket

    PHUKET: Two Chinese women on their way to a supermarket in Cherng Talay last night were attacked and robbed by two men on a motorbike.The women were walking to Tesco Lotus when the two men rode toward them.“The passenger got off the motorbike and snatched their bags, and the tourists fought to get the bags back,” said Jirasak Sungwisut of…

  • Phuket NewsRussian expat likely killed in shallow-water blackout, says expert

    Russian expat likely killed in shallow-water blackout, says expert

    PHUKET: A freediving expert believes that long-term Phuket expat and Russian freediver Denis Lipatov, 39, drowned off Koh Racha Noi on Saturday afternoon after diving alone and suffering a shallow-water blackout. Mr Lipatov, freediving alone, made his last descent at 3:50pm, to 25.5 meters according to his dive computer. The computer also recorded a very fast ascent, explained one of…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket’s new top cop makes a stand for human dignity

    Phuket’s new top cop makes a stand for human dignity

    PHUKET: The incoming commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, Maj Gen Ong-art Phiwruangnont, has vowed to better protect the privacy and human dignity of suspects by calling for careful consideration before staging public “re-enactments” of crimes and criminal press conferences.“I will not order a ban on officers staging such events, but I will ask the superintendents of all police stations…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket wild boars ravage football-golf greens

    Phuket wild boars ravage football-golf greens

    PHUKET: A sounder of wild boar has settled on an 18-hole “Football Golf Course” in Chalong as their preferred dining area, but in the pigs’ quest for cuisine, they’ve left damaging divots on the greens. “Our course is currently under attack by wild boars, which are rampaging through it at night and ripping up our greens,” said Neil Simmons of…

  • Phuket NewsGo Eco Phuket starts eco-warrior recruitment

    Go Eco Phuket starts eco-warrior recruitment

    PHUKET: The first fifty people to contact local marine conservation group Go Eco Phuket will earn a spot at the Go Eco Camp, which plans on certifying and training islanders to be active marine conservationists. “Go Eco camp is now open for applicants. Applications will be accepted from expats, students and locals until November,” Jirayu Naragoonphithak, the project’s coordinator, told…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket tour bus brakes fail, driver avoids disaster

    Phuket tour bus brakes fail, driver avoids disaster

    PHUKET: Faulty brakes almost resulted in a tour bus smashing into a house on Patong Hill last night, in a near-repeat of an accident that occurred at almost the same location about four months ago (story here). “No injuries were reported. The Daow Duang Mai Travel company bus had no passengers. It was only carrying tourists’ luggage when the accident…

  • Thailand NewsPhuket Gazette Thailand News: Floods hit, more rain coming; High hopes for baby panda; Govt urged to consider BRN proposal

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Floods hit, more rain coming; High hopes for baby panda; Govt urged to consider BRN proposal

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PM visits Prachin Buri as flood crisis intensifies The Nation / Phuket GazettePHUKET: The flood crisis in Prachin Buri was the focus of attention yesterday amid forecasts of more rain on the way and fears that local industrial estates could be submerged.The eastern province has been the…

  • Phuket NewsRubber protests yield gains in Phuket

    Rubber protests yield gains in Phuket

    PHUKET: Rubber protests in recent weeks in Southern Thailand are now paying dividends for plantation owners in Phuket and the rest of the nation. Though the direct demands of the protests, which included a government subsidy for sheets of rubber were not met, the government has allocated a total of over 21 billion baht to be paid out to households…

  • Thai LifeMa Song on their way for Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival

    Ma Song on their way for Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival

    PHUKET: Final preparations are underway as the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival draws closer. This year the festival will start on October 5. According to tradition, it will continue for nine days and draw to a close on October 13. Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Phuket Office, Mr Chanchai Doungjit said: “This year we expect an influx of tourists…

  • World NewsIran paying it back; Anti-coco mission crashes; Sudanese hit with tear gas; Global warming mankind’s fault

    Iran paying it back; Anti-coco mission crashes; Sudanese hit with tear gas; Global warming mankind’s fault

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Iran makes payments on old loans to World Bank Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Iran resumed payments on old loans to the World Bank, the bank said on Friday, just as the country held the highest level conversation with the United States in more than three decades.The poverty-fighting…

  • Phuket NewsVideo Report: Transnational drug lord Hunter deported, new Thai search laws enacted

    Video Report: Transnational drug lord Hunter deported, new Thai search laws enacted

    PHUKET: High on the United States authorities’ most-wanted list, Joseph Manuel Hunter was deported back to the US this morning, days after the Prevention and Suppression of Transnational Organized Crime Act was enacted in Thailand. Mr Hunter, 48, who was arrested in Phuket by officers from Phuket Immigration and the Crime Suppression Division on Wednesday (story here). He was taken…

  • PropertyPhuket Property: Local retail sector booming

    Phuket Property: Local retail sector booming

    PHUKET: Our paradise island has been famed (and defamed) the world over for its many “s” attractions (and distractions) – sea, sun, sand, surf, sailing and sport… among others. Nowadays, the island is increasingly associated with one more “s”: shopping. Although residential projects – condos, housing subdivisions, hotels and luxury villas – continue to make up most of the island’s…

  • OpinionPhuket Opinion: “Tis the season to crack down

    Phuket Opinion: “Tis the season to crack down

    PHUKET: A recent crackdown on Westerners working illegally in the marine leisure industry has generated a great deal of comment from readers, yet the debate focused almost solely on Thailand’s notoriously vague definition of what constitutes work, while missing out on some fundamental aspects of the issue.Comments posted on the Gazette website failed to reference the fact that arrests of…

  • Phuket NewsGunman Dj Bee on the run

    Gunman Dj Bee on the run

    PHUKET: Police suspect Dj Bee and his two alleged accomplices in the gunning down of man in Phuket’s party town of Patong on Sunday have fled the island. “The court issued an arrest warrant yesterday for Wanchit Sornsaree (also known as Dj Bee), Tookta Saleekoop and Moe Than Daroo for attempted murder and the possession of an illegal firearm and…

  • World NewsPhuket Gazette World News: UN makes Syria deal; Kenya says White Widow not wanted for mall seige; Pakistan gets new island; Human remains found on salvaged cruise liner

    Phuket Gazette World News: UN makes Syria deal; Kenya says White Widow not wanted for mall seige; Pakistan gets new island; Human remains found on salvaged cruise liner

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community U.N. council agrees on Syria chemical arms measure Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Ending weeks of diplomatic deadlock, the United States and Russia reached an agreement on Thursday on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at ridding Syria of its chemical weapons arsenal.Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador…

  • Thailand NewsPhuket Gazette Thailand News: Bank security boost; Floods unabated; Granny kratom grower gets 3 years in jail

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Bank security boost; Floods unabated; Granny kratom grower gets 3 years in jail

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Banks to up security in wake of robberies The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Royal Thai Police has held a meeting with 16 banks and six security-truck firms to discuss the recent spate of bank, gold-shop and convenience-store robberies (story here), deputy police spokesman Thana…

  • Thai LifeA village on the edge: San Tin

    A village on the edge: San Tin

    PHUKET: In the bad old days of the Cold War and Mao’s Cultural Revolution, this part of Hong Kong, San Tin, used to be called the “Bamboo Curtain” – the 30-kilometer border, and a few kilometers either side, between what was a British Crown colony and the People’s Republic of China.Just to the southwest of the Lo Wu border-crossing between…

  • Thai LifeVenturing into the unknown: reflections by Don Battles

    Venturing into the unknown: reflections by Don Battles

    PHUKET: NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft recently became the first human-made object to venture beyond the boundaries of our solar system and into what is known as interstellar space, a part of space that our sun has little to no influence on. The 36-year-old probe is now about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun. New and unexpected data…

  • Phuket NewsVideo Report: Driver trapped in car for 30 minutes after crash

    Video Report: Driver trapped in car for 30 minutes after crash

    PHUKET: A pickup truck collided with a car on Thepkrasattri Road last night, trapping the driver of the car in her badly mangled vehicle for more than 30 minutes.The pickup truck driver, Rapeeporn Chonlasi, told police that while heading north, she lost control of her vehicle on a curve and crossed the median trip into southbound traffic. When police arrived…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket Police arrest US drugs fugitive

    Phuket Police arrest US drugs fugitive

    PHUKET: Officers led by Lt Gen Preawphan Damapong, the assistant police commissioner in charge of national drug suppression, this afternoon moved in and arrested American Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, at his rented home in Kathu. The squad of officers from Phuket Immigration and the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok arrived at the home, located near the Loch Palm Golf Course,…

  • Thailand NewsPhuket Gazette Thailand News: PM defends her performance; China wants Asean rail-link; BRN demands; Girl swept away in floods; 3 heists

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: PM defends her performance; China wants Asean rail-link; BRN demands; Girl swept away in floods; 3 heists

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PM defends performance in ‘challenging’ first year The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra finally delivered her administration’s first-year performance declaration to Parliament yesterday, stressing that the period was filled with challenges and problems on many fronts, ranging from politics, society and natural…

  • Phuket NewsPhuket transport council agrees to 36% jump in taxi fares

    Phuket transport council agrees to 36% jump in taxi fares

    PHUKET: The ruling committee for Phuket’s public transportation authorities today agreed to price hikes of up to 36 per cent for metered taxi fares in Phuket. Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada, who chaired the meeting of the provincial transportation committee, explained that the proposed increases in taxi fares were the same as those proposed at a meeting on August 29…

  • Phuket NewsPatong water-quality test results in – some of them

    Patong water-quality test results in – some of them

    PHUKET: Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) yesterday released the test results for only two out of four water-quality test points along Phuket’s famous beach, Patong. Test results were released for two sites in the tourist-dense midsection of the beach, away from the mouths of the two canals that discharge water into the bay. The testing of Patong Bay water came…

  • Phuket NewsStiff penalties for Phuket slow loris touts in wake of Rihanna Instagram

    Stiff penalties for Phuket slow loris touts in wake of Rihanna Instagram

    PHUKET: The changing faces of touts in Phuket exploiting the slow loris – a vulnerable and protected species – is a sign that the penalty for the crime is stiff enough, said Patong Police Deputy Superintendent Pratuang Polmana. Police action and determination to re-apply pressure to the issue of animal touts in Phuket follows global celebrity Rihanna posting photos on…

  • Thailand NewsPhuket Gazette Thailand News: Flood under control, media blamed for ‘panic’

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Flood under control, media blamed for ‘panic’

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Floods ‘under control’ The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: While industrial estates and households along waterways are bracing for heavy water runoff, the authorities have soothed public fears, saying the situation will not be as bad as in 2011. “The situation, so far, is not as…

  • Phuket NewsVideo Report: Phuket rescue worker shoots man over love triangle

    Video Report: Phuket rescue worker shoots man over love triangle

    PHUKET: A 24-year-old man was shot in Patong over a love-triangle dispute yesterday afternoon. The victim, Worrawut Thaweeapideeserm, was rushed to Patong Hospital with a bullet wound to his shoulder.“After initial treatment, he was transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital to have the bullet removed,” said Pattapee Srichay of the Patong Police.Police named the shooter as Wanchit Sornsaree, also known as…

  • OpinionPhuket Opinion: Tourist Court vs Holiday Justice

    Phuket Opinion: Tourist Court vs Holiday Justice

    PHUKET: The opening of a new court to resolve non-criminal cases involving foreign tourists in Phuket tomorrow is a welcome step in the right direction, but only time will tell if the initiative will achieve its goal of bringing about prompt justice for visitors and improving Thailand’s image as a tourist destination abroad. When the idea of establishing such a…

  • World NewsPhuket Gazette World News: Merkel wins German election; 1.3 tonnes of cocaine on Air France flight in Paris; Bo Xilai found guilty

    Phuket Gazette World News: Merkel wins German election; 1.3 tonnes of cocaine on Air France flight in Paris; Bo Xilai found guilty

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Venezuela arrests three soldiers over 1.3-tonne Air France cocaine haul Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Venezuela has arrested three National Guard officials for alleged involvement in smuggling 1.3 tonnes of cocaine on an Air France flight from Caracas to Paris, the South American nation’s public prosecutor’s office said…