News
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The power of a photograph
PHUKET: It comes as little surprise that the mauling of Australian tourist Paul Goudie at “Tiger Kingdom” in Phuket drew unprecedented interest (story here) from readers across the globe. Humankind’s innate fear of big cats – as well as the dearth of such attacks in recent decades – makes it the kind of incident that really moves the needle in…
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King’s Cup dinghy series returns to Phuket
PHUKET: Sailing season will kick off this weekend at Cape Panwa when a fleet of more than 20 Optimists and Lasers set sail today in the Phuket Dinghy Series 2014, ahead of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta to be held in December.. The Series race will start at Cape Panwa in front of the Sailing Club of the Royal Thai…
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Testing times for Phuket’s ACYC yacht racers
PHUKET: Sailors last week were once again tested by contrary winds and complicated tidal flows during Ao Chalong Yacht Club’s (ACYC) Sunday race series. One of the slowest downwind spinnaker starts got the fleet of six boats off on an in-harbor course of three windward leewards. Rounding marks for Race 7 Series 2 included a yellow buoy off the Rawai…
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Police identify Phuket rush-hour killer, move to make arrest
PHUKET: Police have identified the killer who gunned down a man in rush-hour traffic yesterday, firing several bullets into his victim before casually mounting his motorbike and riding away. “We have established the identity of the suspect and will seek a warrant for his arrest today,” Phuket Provincial Police Commander Patchara Boonyasit told the Phuket Gazette this morning. The suspect…
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Aussie bar owner in Phuket dies after Malaysia visa run
PHUKET: A 63-year-old Australian bar owner has died after returning to Phuket from a visa run to Malaysia. He was to turn 64 today. Philip William Gillham, owner of the Octopus bar in Soi Sea Dragon, off Patong’s famed Soi Bangla, was found dead at his home early yesterday morning. “We received a report that Mr Gillham had died of…
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Yingluck impeachment proceedings in 25 days, says NLA
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Yingluck impeachment proceedings in 25 days, says NLA Phuket Gazette PHUKET: National Legislative Assembly (NLA) vice-president Surachai Liengboonlertchai said yesterday the impeachment proceedings against ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra would take no more than 25 days. Yingluck faces impeachment proceedings for alleged failure to stop corruption in her…
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Koh Tao Murders: Village chief’s son volunteers DNA samples
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Koh Tao Murders: Village chief’s son volunteers DNA samples The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Medical teams from four institutes yesterday joined the process to conduct DNA tests on a 22-year-old man whom many Thai social-media users alleged is a suspect in the murder of two…
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Four killed, 30 injured in train-truck crash in Khon Kaen
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Four killed, 30 injured in train-truck crash in Khon Kaen The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Nakhon Ratchasima-Nong Khai train crashed into a truck at a railway crossing in Khon Kaen at 10 am Thursday, killing the train driver, the train mechanic, and two passengers…
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Tourist run over by jet-ski jeep on Phuket beach
PHUKET: A tourist was run over by a vehicle towing a jet-ski trailer on a Phuket beach on Tuesday, prompting a jet-ski management and safety meeting this afternoon. The Phuket Gazette was notified of the incident by a foreign man, who asked not to be named, who witnessed the incident on Kata Beach. “A woman was run over by a…
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Man shot dead in front of his son in Phuket street
PHUKET: A man was shot dead in cold blood this morning in full view of his son, during busy morning traffic. Police said Chaliaw Piyapanikul, 47, who was with his 11-year-old son, had dismounted from his motorbike at the Wor Kor Intersection, near Phuket Rajabhat University, when the killer struck. Mr Chaliaw’s son told police that his father got off…
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Etihad Airways appoints new Thailand GM
PHUKET: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has appointed Dimitrios Karagkioules as general manager for Thailand. Mr Karagkioules, who has more than 20 years of airline experience, takes up the Bangkok-based role after five years as Etihad Airways general manager in Athens, Greece. Before joining Etihad, Mr Karagkioules held a number of Athens-based sales and marketing…
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Nightmare holiday in Nai Harn
PHUKET: We are a senior Australian couple who have been lucky enough to have visited Phuket several times over the last ten years. This year we, and our son in a separate booking, paid upfront for eight weeks accommodation in Nai Harn, an area we love. The first six weeks were fine. A number of Muay Thai fighters from various…
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Halloween will glow at Thanyapura’s family fun run
PHUKET: Themed running events have been making a splash in the world of charity fund-raising sport events. Glow in the dark, colored powder, rock and roll, pink ribbons, rainbows and midnight runs are among the many recurring themes. Never one to be behind the curve, Thanyapura will be taking the themed-run concept a step further this Saturday by combining multiple…
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Asian Beach Games welcome new sports
PHUKET: Several new sports will be added to the 4th Asian Beach Games being held in Phuket this month, making them the biggest Games ever in terms of the number of sporting events. The additional sports will include: Muay Thai, extreme sports, jet-ski sports, beach wrestling and Kurash, a form of Turkish wrestling. The Asian Beach Games is a multi-sports…
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Village chief’s son to face DNA tests for Koh Tao murders
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Village chief’s son to face DNA tests for Koh Tao murders The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Police will today make arrangements for a Koh Tao village headman’s 22-year-old son to undergo DNA tests to either confirm or clear lingering doubts that he may have had…
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Slew of tourist injuries prompt Phuket cape safety boost
PHUKET: Following a slew of accidents causing injury, and sometimes death, to tourists at Phuket’s idyllic Promthep Cape, officials have decided to install fences in the area to enhance safety. After refusing to post fences on the grounds that it would alter the natural beauty of the landscape (story here), Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos has confirmed that sling wire fences…
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First defamation case against Hall dismissed
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community First defamation case against Hall dismissed The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Phra Khanong Court in Bangkok yesterday dismissed a defamation case brought against British rights activist Andy Hall by Natural Fruit Co, a Thai pineapple exporter. According to the court decision, the case was…
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Britain’s Fraud Office launches probe into Tesco accounting scandal
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Britain’s Fraud Office launches probe into Tesco accounting scandal Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has opened a formal criminal investigation into accounting errors at Tesco, raising the stakes in a scandal that has hammered the reputation of the country’s biggest grocer.…
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Bangkok Airways reveals four new direct flights
PHUKET: Bangkok Airways has launched a non-stop daily service linking Phuket and Chiang Mai as one of four new non-stop services for destinations in Thailand and Myanmar. Previously, passengers travelling between Phuket and Chiang Mai had to connect at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. Served by an Airbus A320 aircraft with a seat capacity of 162, Flight PG247 departs Phuket at…
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Bus driver dodges charges for Patong hill killing
PHUKET: The bus driver who ran over a teen that fell from his motorbike on Patong Hill last week will face no charges, police confirmed to the Phuket Gazette today. CCTV footage showed Natthapol Ritthipan, 17, falling from his bike on the wet road descending into Patong last Thursday (story here). “The bus coming up the hill from Patong, couldn’t…
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Swingers tee up record golf cart drive from Pattaya to Phuket
PHUKET: Golfers Graham Haslam and Mark Cameron are preparing to set a world record by driving an electric golf cart from Pattaya to Phuket to raise funds for local children’s education charity Phuket Has Been Good To Us. The “standard” electric golf cart selected for the record-breaking undertaking, to begin in March next year, will include some modifications, namely solar…
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Rubber farmers want more than a subsidy, suspect graft
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Rubber farmers want more than a subsidy, suspect graft The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Leaders of rubber farmers in the South have expressed disappointment with the government subsidy of Bt1,000 per rai, limited to a maximum of 15 rai each. Tossapol Kwanrod, chairman of the…
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18-year-old gets 25 years for slaying parents, brother
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community 18-year-old gets 25 years for slaying parents, brother The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Court last week handed down a 25-year jail term to an 18-year-old for murdering his parents and his younger brother on March 9, Pathum Thani police chief Pol Maj-General Montri Yimyaem said…
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Indian car-bomb fugitive ‘may not be in Thailand’
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Indian car-bomb fugitive ‘may not be in Thailand’ The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Investigation into the whereabouts of fugitive Indian car-bomb suspect, who escaped from a maximum-security jail in India in 2004, found no evidence that he had entered Thailand, Army chief General Udomdej Sitabutr…
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Myanmar journalist killed by army was former bodyguard of Suu Kyi
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Myanmar journalist killed by army was former bodyguard of Suu Kyi Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Myanmar journalist who was killed in army custody this month was once a democracy activistand a bodyguard for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, his wife said on Tuesday,…
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Suwana becomes the first woman to head DSI
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Suwana becomes the first woman to head DSI The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Suwana Suwanjuta is the first woman to be chosen to lead the Department of Special Investigation (DSI). The Cabinet approved the appointment of Suwana, a deputy permanent secretary for Justice, as the…
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Supply rocket for space station explodes on liftoff
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Supply rocket for space station explodes on liftoff Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: An unmanned Antares rocket exploded seconds after liftoff from a commercial launch pad in Virginia on Tuesday, marking the first accident since NASA turned to private operators to deliver cargo to the International…
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Sneaky Russians caught lifting vodka in Phuket
PHUKET: Three Russians are sitting in Phuket Provincial Prison after a second attempt at stealing booze from a Patong convenience store this month. Evgeny Balashov, 31; Nikolay Chuvilyaev, 30; and Vadim Afanasev, 31, were caught on CCTV stealing five bottles of liquor on October 1. However, it wasn’t until they returned on October 23 and attempted to steal a bottle…
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Phang Nga triple homicide suspect arrested
PHUKET: A man turned himself in yesterday for the murder of his in-laws and estranged wife in Phang Nga, north of Phuket, on October 20. Pornchai Pitak, 28, who fled into the jungle after the shooting, claims that a foot in his face was the catalyst for the slayings (story here). “I went to their house to see my one-month-old…
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Police scour Phuket migrant worker camps for armed 7-Eleven robber
PHUKET: Police are searching migrant worker camps in the Wichit area for the man who robbed a 7-Eleven store at knifepoint early Sunday morning. Staffer Thanit Krittiyapiphat, 20, was stocking shelves at the 7-Eleven on Soi Bangyai, at about 3:30am, when a thin man standing about 165-170cm tall, entered the store. “He was wearing a checked shirt, football shorts and…
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