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Thai charter clause to prevent media domination
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Charter clause to prevent media domination The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The new constitution will have a clause that is designed to prevent investor domination over media businesses through hostile takeovers, a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) said yesterday. The move follows the…
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Armed French gendarmes swoop on villages in manhunt for newspaper attackers
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Armed French gendarmes swoop on villages in manhunt for newspaper attackers Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Armed and masked anti-terrorism police swooped on woodland villages northeast of Paris on Thursday in a manhunt for two brothers suspected of being the Islamist gunmen who killed 12 people…
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Vendors to be allowed back on three Phuket beaches
PHUKET: Three of Phuket’s most popular beaches, which have been given the green light for a three-month beach vendor trial period, were inspected by officials yesterday to establish vendor-friendly zones. The trial period was announced at a meeting in Provincial Hall last month by Governor Nisit Jansomwong, during which he laid down a stringent list of conditions under which vendors…
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Finance: The perfect investment for retirees
PHUKET: The headlines for the past few weeks have not been pleasant. Stocks have been dropping, oil crashed and if that wasn’t bad enough we had the Ebola crisis. When news like this hits, some people want to run and hide, but I look at it as an opportunity to put money to work. I never invest 100% of my…
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Human traffickers claim B300k payoffs to clear police checkpoints
PHUKET: Corrupt Thai officials allegedly accepted bribes of about 300,000 baht per truckload of trafficked people in order to allow smugglers past checkpoints, it has been revealed. The revelation comes after police on Tuesday arrested two of three men who attempted to smuggle more than 50 Rohingya through Takuapa, Phang Nga, north of Phuket, to Malaysia on Monday (story here).…
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Police take DNA samples in karaoke waitress rape, murder case
PHUKET: Police investigating the rape and murder of a karaoke waitress in Phang Nga, north of Phuket, are collecting DNA samples from suspects in the hope of identifying the woman’s killer or killers. The manhunt began on Sunday after the body of Ploipailin Ketkeaw, 26, was found in a palm plantation just 300 meters from the Tiew Phai karaoke, where…
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Fighters arrive for Pencak Silat World Championships in Phuket
PHUKET: Fighters from 38 countries arrived in Phuket on Tuesday to take part in the 16th Pencak Silat World Championship, which will get under way at Saphan Hin this weekend. “There will be about 1,000 people, including athletes and support staff, coming to Phuket for the competition,” Nakrob Thongdaeng, deputy secretary general Pencak Silat Association of Thailand (PSAT), announced on…
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Phuket parasailer plunges from sky in free fall
PHUKET: Governor Nisit Jansomwong has vowed to order the Phuket Marine Office to investigate a parasailing accident that saw a staffer free fall from a parachute off Bang Tao Beach on New Year’s Eve. After losing his grip on the parachute ropes, he plunged about 30 meters into the water below. “I will have the Phuket Marine Office look into…
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Phuket’s monkey business flouting the law
Edwin Wiek is founder and director of the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT), an NGO protecting wildlife and nature in Thailand and Laos. He has been living in Thailand since 1989 and in 2001, founded WFFT. Here he talks about the mammoth problems facing wildlife protection forces, including systematic corruption at local level. PHUKET: While most people visit Phuket for…
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Actress ‘Pinky’ questioned by police, cleared in B1.5bn embezzlement case
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Actress ‘Pinky’ questioned by police, cleared in B1.5bn embezzlement case The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Actress Savika “Pinky” Chaiyadej yesterday told police that she didn’t know Kittisak Mattujad, who is believed to be a key person in the Bt1.5-billion embezzlement from the King Mongkut Institute…
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Police hunt three Frenchmen after 12 killed in Paris attack
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police hunt three Frenchmen after 12 killed in Paris attack Reuters / Phuket Gazette PARIS: Police are hunting three French nationals, including two brothers from the Paris region, after suspected Islamist gunmen killed 12 people at a satirical magazine on Wednesday, a police official and government…
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Fifty-nine Bangkok police station chiefs face transfer
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fifty-nine Bangkok police station chiefs face transfer The nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The planned transfers of a large number of police-station chiefs in Bangkok, accused of benefiting from the unlawful display of electronic advertising signboards, went closer to final approval when the Police Commission yesterday…
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NMG executives brief NRC panel on takeover risk
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community NMG executives brief NRC panel on takeover risk The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Top executives of Nation Multimedia Group (NMG), which includes The Nation newspaper, met yesterday with the Media Reform Committee of the National Reform Council (NRC) to express concern over a possible hostile…
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Police seeking stolen Misiem Yipintsoi sculpture
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police seeking stolen Misiem Yipintsoi sculpture The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Misiem Yipintsoi’s last unfinished sculpture – Coy Girl (1988) – has gone missing from the private Misiem’s Sculpture Museum in Nakhon Pathom province. “It was stolen on December 26. Displayed at the garden along…
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Police corruption scandal: DSI agent sacked, faces charges; 2 others face probes
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Police corruption scandal: DSI agent sacked, faces charges; 2 others face probes The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Two Department of Special Investigation agents face disciplinary probes after initial findings showed they were involved in the contraband petrol trade in the far South, associated with racketeering…
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Fugitive bomber Singh arrested, faces extradition
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Fugitive bomber Singh arrested, faces extradition The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Thai Police have arrested a Pakistani passport holder convicted of involvement in a high-profile bomb attack in India two decades ago that killed 18 people, including the Punjab chief minister at the time, Beant…
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Patong immigration officer removed amid corruption claims
PHUKET: An official at the immigration office in Patong has been removed after complaints were filed against him for charging foreigners for services that should be free, Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong confirmed today. The news comes more than two and half months after Governor Nisit gave the Patong Immigration chief 15 days to explain why his office was charging for…
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Phuket closes Seven Days of Danger with 2 dead, 45 injured
PHUKET: The nationwide Seven Days of Danger safety campaign for the New Year holidays drew to a close at midnight last night, with Phuket recording two deaths and 45 people admitted to hospital for injuries in 44 accidents. The last day of the seven-day campaign, which began at midnight on December 30, recorded five accidents in Phuket in which five…
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Mass worker brawl delays Phuket airport expansion
PHUKET: Work on the Phuket International Airport expansion project was delayed yesterday due to a gang brawl between construction workers from Cambodia and another group from Myanmar on January 1. The fight took place in the workers’ camp, about 300 meters from the PTT aviation fuel warehouse, which is located about two kilometers from the airport. The melee left more…
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Phuket’s Boat Lagoon rebrands, sets sail for lifestyle destination
PHUKET: Do you know why the iPod succeeded? After all, it’s just another MP3 player. Yet it’s so much more than that: a fashion accessory, an icon of a certain lifestyle, a symbol of fun and, of course, a music player. It looks beyond the obvious and expands the concept that leads to such a hit. Here in Phuket, it’s…
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Man rescued after falling off cliff in Prachuap
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Man rescued after falling off cliff in Prachuap The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Thai tourist was rescued yesterday after plunging off a cliff in a national park in Prachuap Khiri Khan province and being stuck there for 18 hours. Khao Ta Mong Lai Forestry…
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![Frenchman escapes flaming car on Phuket hill [video] | Thaiger](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0naHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmcnIHZpZXdCb3g9JzAgMCAzMjYgMjIwJz48L3N2Zz4=)
Frenchman escapes flaming car on Phuket hill [video]
PHUKET: A French tourist narrowly escaped injuries after his Thai girlfriend’s car erupted into flames on Patong Hill this afternoon. Bernard Louis Joseph Hazebrouco fled the Toyota Vios after a fire broke out in the engine and then quickly spread, Maj Teerasak Boonsang of the Patong Police told the Phuket Gazette today. “It took firefighters about 20 minutes to put…
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Phuket tourists stranded by Abu Dhabi sandstorm start heading home
PHUKET: About 100 of the 400-odd tourists stranded in Phuket are about to fly out today, after sandstorms and poor visibility in the United Arab Emirates forced Eithad Airways to cancel its flights to Abu Dhabi on Saturday. The airline transferred the affected passengers by shuttle bus to the Dara Hotel, the Chino Hotel and the Millennium Resort, while alternative…
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Manhunt begins after karaoke waitress raped, murdered
PHUKET: Police have yet to establish any leads for the rape and murder of a karaoke waitress whose body was found in a palm grove north of Phang Nga Town yesterday. Officers brought in 20 suspects for questioning today, but made no progress in the case. “We are focusing our investigation on local people,” said Lt Pissanu Thaharn of the…
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Phuket Red Cross Fair winner yet to claim Toyota Altis top prize
PHUKET: The winner of the grand prize in the annual Phuket Red Cross Fair lucky draw has yet to claim the brand-new Toyota Altis after the winning ticket was drawn last night. Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong led the lucky draw on the center stage at Saphan Hin at about 10:30pm. Joining Governor Nisit for the lucky draw was his wife,…
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Three human traffickers evade arrest, 50 Rohingya netted
PHUKET: Police are hunting three human traffickers who evaded arrest as they attempted to smuggle more than 50 Rohingya, including six children, through Thailand to Malaysia early this morning. The drivers loaded the refugees into three pick-up trucks in a rubber-tree plantation in Takuapa, north of Phuket, before attempting to evade police checkpoints on the main road. “We received a…
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Tourism, martial law: Looking back at Phuket in 2014
With 2014 behind us, it is time to reflect on 12 months – that is 365 days, or 8,765 hours – of news that transformed Phuket and deeply affected how the island is perceived by the outside world. Here, the Phuket Gazette‘s Somchai Huasaikul looks through our archives at the game-changing moments of 2014. PHUKET: The year that was 2014…
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Thai woman killed in Bhutan cliff fall ‘was not taking a selfie’
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Thai woman killed in Bhutan cliff fall ‘was not taking a selfie’ The Nation/ Phuket Gazette PHUKET: THE family of a Thai woman who died after falling off a cliff near Taktsang Monastery in Bhutan on Friday dismissed conjecture yesterday that she slipped while taking a…
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Weather frustrates divers as more AirAsia wreckage found
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Weather frustrates divers as more AirAsia wreckage found Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Bad weather forced divers trying to identify sunken wreckage from a crashed AirAsia passenger jet to abort their mission on Sunday and Indonesian officials said they had not yet picked up any signals…
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UK’s Prince Andrew steps up denial of underage sex
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UK’s Prince Andrew steps up denial of underage sex Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Buckingham Palace stepped up its denial that Prince Andrew had sex with an underage girl introduced to him by a disgraced U.S. financier, and named the alleged victim whose anonymity was preserved…
![Frenchman escapes flaming car on Phuket hill [video] | Thaiger](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/1_2015151813615_pzJyOiztGzzMLNMZAfKGoArEEoUnSpYsqEsFOfzo_jpeg.jpeg)
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