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Phuket Sports: New Monte Carlo master
PHUKET: The arrival of the clay court season always throws up some surprises. Many players have taken an extended break from the game, others are adjusting to the vagaries of the slower surface. No such problems for a renascent Rafael Nadal who defeated an in-form Juan del Potro in the Paribas Open final at Indian Wells. Apparently it did not…
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Phuket Sports: Fergie time is here – again; EPL roundup
PHUKET: Manchester United claimed their 20th top-flight league title last weekend with their 3-0 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford. A first half Robin Van Persie hat trick sealed the win for United and ensured that the Premier League title went back to Old Trafford with four games of the season left. Last season’s champions, Manchester City, lost 3-1…
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Phuket Sports: Revelations, rumors and rivalry – F1
PHUKET: Before Bahrain, I said that I believed that, barring accidents, three-time winner Alonso would triumph, followed by The Iceman. Well Alonso did not triumph, thwarted by a jammed DRS wing flap, hammered closed by Ferrari’s mechanics during an emergency pit stop. It jammed open again, Alonso was forced into yet another pit stop and that was the end of…
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Shots fired as Phuket yacht robbery thwarted
PHUKET: Witnesses reported at least two shots fired in the dark on Chalong Bay tonight as a gang of thieves gave chase to a Phuket boat captain who outfoxed the criminals until the police arrived in force. Capt Bruce Issell was warned by a silent alarm at about 11:30pm that intruders had boarded the well-known Davinci catamaran, renowned in local…
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Phuket MICE city promotion strategy revived
PHUKET: The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has revived its efforts and moved its attention to once again help promote Phuket as a regional hub for corporate and organizational tourism. A new four-year strategy was presented to local, regional and national officials at a seminar on April 26 at the Metropole Hotel in Phuket Town. Entitled “Developing Phuket as…
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DSI re-opens probe into Phuket Police killing of a thief suspect
PHUKET: Officers from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) yesterday returned to the scene of the fatal shooting by police of a thief on the run in Phuket Town in 2009. Thaweewat Surasit, regional director of the DSI’s Bureau of Special Crime, led a team of officers to Rama IX Park, also known as Suan Luang, on Chao Fa Road…
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Killer gold robber still on the run on Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket Police received a tip-off today that the armed robber of a Phuket gold shop who gunned down a customer on April 8 was still on the island. “We are continuing to gather information from witnesses [story here]. I got another phone call this morning that confirmed our belief that the robber is still on the run in Phuket,”…
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Pressure from illegal Phuket taxis wins airport reprieve
PHUKET: After days of protests by taxi drivers operating under the Mook Andaman Cooperative, officials at Phuket International Airport will allow 25 of the drivers to serve passengers at the airport without further delay. Airport management, a division of the state enterprise Airports of Thailand (AOT), capitulated yesterday by allowing 25 of the drivers to operate under one of the…
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Phuket Opinion: Plenty to do, if you can get there
PHUKET: Participants in popular online forums indicate that long-time expatriate residents of Phuket tend to decry the changes that have transformed the island over the past two decades, yet fail to appreciate many of the positive developments that have taken place over the same period. In this space since 1994, we have chronicled, criticized and editorialized – often in futility…
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Phuket teens nabbed for Russian tourist bag snatch
PHUKET: Karon Police yesterday arrested two teenagers for a bag snatch after eight days of tracking down their suspects. Russian tourist Tatiana Suslirova reported to Karon Police on April 18 that her yellow bag had been snatched from her while she was walking near the Karon Princess Hotel. She told the police that two young men riding a motorbike rode…
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Thai FA Cup: Phuket FC shoot down Air Force United
PHUKET: The Islanders kept their Thai FA Cup prospects alive, last Wednesday defeating Yamaha League 1 (YL1) rivals Air Force United 1-0 in the second round. The match was played at Thupatemee Stadium, on the northern side of Bangkok, where the islanders are set to play the Air Force “Blue Eagles” again, tomorrow, April 27, in a YL1 week 8…
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Laguna Phuket’s “Run Paradise” marathon rocks with new theme song
PHUKET: This year’s Laguna Phuket International Marathon is rocking its thousands of runners and fans around the world with a specially-commissioned “Run Paradise” theme song. The upbeat rock anthem was composed by Phuket-based musicians Gary Crause and Rob Cooke at Gary’s Legend Music Studios. The anthem celebrates the event’s unique blend of enthusiasm for running and community fund-raising on the…
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DSI turns to Facebook to catch illegal foreigners in Phuket
PHUKET: The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is considering launching a Facebook page so that people can report foreigners working illegally in Thailand by uploading photos directly onto the Internet.The news came after DSI Deputy Director-general Yanapol Yungyuen heard a slew of complaints from Phuket business owners at a meeting in Cherng Talay yesterday.“I will open an official email address…
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Thailand News: ASEAN begins to row back on AEC deadline – quietly
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Southeast Asia’s 2015 unity dream collides with reality Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Southeast Asian nations have quietly begun to row back on a deadline of forming an “economic community” by 2015, confirming what many economists and diplomats have suspected for years as the diverse group…
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Phuket Police nab serial snatch thief after hot pursuit
PHUKET: Thalang and Phuket City Police have arrested a bag snatcher who reportedly committed 20 snatch thefts within two weeks, and three yesterday in the hours before his arrest. “We arrested Boonserm Chaluaysri, 22, yesterday after we received a report from Phuket City Police of a bag snatch in Rassada in the morning,” Thalang Police case investigator Chatree Chuwichian told…
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B1bn Patong Tunnel payout “not enough’, say residents
PHUKET: Residents of the Baan Mon community yesterday continued their opposition to the proposed 6-billion-baht Patong Tunnel project, urging officials to choose a route that would not go right through their neighborhood. The opposition comes in the face of the announcement that the government would be looking to pay a total of about 1 billion baht to some 20 households…
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Phuket Gazette World News: EU looks to immigration barriers; Peace talks in Sudan; Train bomb suspect set for court
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Swiss bring back quotas to control EU immigration Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Switzerland said it will reintroduce quotas for European Union workers, bowing to growing unease about immigration from poorer neighbours, in a decision Brussels says violates an accord. Prosperous, landlocked Switzerland has seen the…
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Woman leaps to her death from Phuket bridge
PHUKET: A woman died after leaping from Phuket’s Thao Thepkrasattri Bridge this afternoon. Police identified the woman as Khemmanit Jantharaapa, 38, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat. Local resident Arun Wanayao, 22, explained that he saw Ms Khemmanit alight from a bus and wait at the roadside passenger shelter in front of the Tah Chat Chai temple. “She was crying and asked…
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Phuket hotels, businesses targeted in dirty beach canal probe
PHUKET: Hotels and businesses located along the canal that empties onto Bang Tao Beach will be inspected and forced to conform to wastewater-treatment standards, Government Spokesman Prompong Nopparit has announced. The news follows the public exposure of dirty water in the canal that has caused a rash of health problems for tourists and local boatmen in the area, some of…
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Thai innovation may resolve Phuket’s dirty water woes
PHUKET: Officers at the Phuket Office of Natural Resource and Environment (NRE) are promoting a new mini wastewater treatment machine developed in Thailand as a possible savior for Phuket’s ongoing water-pollution woes. The machine was developed by Kanok Nakaew, the Research and Development chief at the Energy and Environmental Engineering Center (EEEC) of Kasetsart University in Bangkok. “This new wastewater-treatment…
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Former illegal taxi drivers pressure AOT chief over Phuket Airport counter
PHUKET: About 50 taxi drivers who previously operated illegal “black plate” taxis arrived at Phuket International Airport on Monday to request permission to open a counter inside the terminal. The drivers, all members of the newly-formed Mook Andaman Business & Travel Co-operative Ltd, asked to open a counter inside the main terminal while Airports of Thailand (AOT) chiefs decide on…
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Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Army explosives expert says IEDs best defused ‘on-site’
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bombs ‘best defused on site’ Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Insurgent bombs should be defused or dismantled at the site instead of being done at military ordnance labs, a senior Army explosives expert said yesterday.He was referring to an explosion on Monday, which killed three…
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Phuket Gazette World News: Myanmar releases political prisoners; FBI grilled on Boston bombers; Ricin letter man freed; France same-sex marriage approved
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Myanmar frees 56 political prisoners one day after sanctions dropped Reuters/ Phuket GazettePHUKET: Myanmar’s president announced an amnesty on Tuesday for about 100 prisoners, a senior official said, 56 of whom were confirmed as political detainees by a group monitoring activists held in the country’s jails.The release…
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Phuket motorbike arson continues to spread
PHUKET: Two more motorbikes and the front of a small restaurant went up in flames in Phuket yesterday, bringing the total number of motorbikes scorched by arson since the beginning of March to nearly 30, say police. At 2pm yesterday, Kamala Police received three reports of fires: two were of motorbikes ablaze and the third was of flames at the…
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Phuket Sports: Brothers Grimes step up a gear
PHUKET: After completing their rookie karting season at the national level in 2012, Phuket’s Ben and Sam Grimes took a well-earned rest for a couple of months over the New Year and reviewed their options and priorities for 2013. For Ben, it was about improving on his 3rd place finish in last year’s Thai National Championship and consistently competing at…
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Phuket Sports: Day 2 results of the ITF at TSLC
PHUKET: Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) is hosting a round of the prestigious International Tennis Federation (ITF) pro tennis circuit. The 2013 ITF round consists of two consecutive women’s tournaments from April 20 to April 27 and April 27 to May 4. Result for Main Draw 1st round, April 22: Luksika Kumkhum ( THA ) beat Yi Chen (…
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Melbourne Super Kings Win 10th Asia Escape Phuket International Cricket Sixes
PHUKET: The Melbourne Super Kings were crowned Cup champions at the 10th annual Asia Escape Phuket International Cricket Sixes. The Super Kings demolished defending champions MG7 from Kuwait in the Cup final. In other tournament divisions, MG Warriors won the Bowl, Phuket Cricket Group won the Plate and Lamma CC won the Spoon. Eighteen teams from around the world have…
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Polluted water plagues Phuket beach
PHUKET: Dirty water emptied into the canal that separates Phuket’s Bang Tao and Layan Beaches has caused a spate of health problems and has even sent unsuspecting people to the hospital for skin rashes and blood infections, local residents claim.To bring the issue to the public’s awareness, the Bang Tao Longtail Boat Club and local restaurant owner Chaiya Boonyuen on…
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Second big bike fatality in 24 hours claims life of British national
PHUKET: A British national died in a high-speed motorbike crash on Chao Fa East Road early this morning. The 31-year-old man, whose name the Phuket Gazette is withholding until family members are notified, overshot a curve while driving a 1000cc Yamaha R1 and crashed into a roadside post near Wat Ladthiwanaram (map here) just after midnight, explained Sub Lt Kraisorn…
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Teen masseuse falls from fourth floor after argument with boyfriend
PHUKET: A 17-year-old masseuse is in a coma after falling from the fourth floor of a building following an argument with her boyfriend. The young woman was discovered unconscious and severely injured on the ground behind the Phuket Town massage parlor where she worked, a Kusoldharm Foundation rescue worker told the Phuket Gazette. Rescue workers administered emergency first aid before…
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