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  • Phuket forecast: good chance of rain this weekend

    PHUKET: The weekend forecast for Phuket calls for “widely scattered to scattered” thundershowers through Monday, with variable winds and temperatures at night reaching as low as 22°C.For the 24-hour period starting at noon today, the forecast by the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) center at Phuket Airport calls for partly cloudy conditions with scattered thundershowers covering 60% of the province.Similar forecasts…

  • Phuket kickboxer murder fugitive Lee Aldhouse wins right to appeal extradition

    PHUKET: The return to Phuket of fugitive British murder suspect Lee Aldhouse remains on hold, as the kickboxer has won the right to appeal an extradition order, the UK media has reported. Lee Aldhouse, 27, successfully fled Thailand after he allegedly stabbed American Deshawn Longfellow to death in August 2010. He was later arrested at Heathrow Airport on an unrelated…

  • Phuket Gazette Sports Bag: This week in Sports

    PHUKET: The starter’s gun has fired and first out of the blocks is this week’s Phuket Gazette sports round-up.Your international sports page features a sprint through the Premiership with a glance to the side at Spurs’ rout of Newcastle, Thierry Henry’s parting gift to Arsenal, Zambia’s African Cup of Nations win, another Luis Suarez shake-down and why Carlos Tevez is…

  • Air Australia tourists tired, angry over Phuket ordeal

    PHUKET: Australian tourists stranded in Phuket after low-cost carrier Air Australia went bust overnight last night are losing patience with the wait to get home, and some are running out of the cash needed to pay for their flight home. Trevor Moloney, 30, and Caley Wilkinson, 30, arrived Phuket 12 days ago. They were supposed to leave Phuket on board…

  • Battle to keep Phuket beaches clear continues

    PHUKET: The battle to keep Phuket’s beaches free of illegal vendors continues to be a pitched one, with each small advance seemingly followed by a setback.In the latest development, four local residents have set up small restaurants on the sands of Kata Beach with low-to-the-ground Japanese-style dining tables selling grilled and barbecued meats every evening starting at dusk.Orders by Karon…

  • Phuket alcohol ban ahead of local elections | Thaiger

    Phuket alcohol ban ahead of local elections

    PHUKET: A ban on the sale of alcohol goes into effect in Srisoonthorn Municipality at 6pm tonight ahead of local elections tomorrow.Phuket Election Commission Director Kittipong Thiengkunakrit told the Phuket Gazette, “The alcohol ban will be in effect from 6pm Friday night through to midnight Saturday night due to the Srisoonthorn municipal elections on Saturday, February 18.”Mr Kittipong explained that…

  • Qantas, Jetstar offer way home for stranded Air Australia tourists

    PHUKET: National Australian airline Qantas and low-cost carrier Jetstar have announced special fares for tourists left stranded by the financial collapse Air Australia yesterday. Air Australia management declared going into voluntary administration late last night Phuket time, which resulted in the immediate grounding of their entire fleet. Qantas this morning announced the airline was drawing up a plan to assist…

  • Phuket struggles to airlift stranded Air Australia tourists

    PHUKET: Scores of Australian tourists have been left stranded at Phuket International Airport after low-budget carrier Air Australia grounded all flights yesterday due to insolvency. The state-run Australian Broadcasting Commission news quoted a source as saying that Air Australia was even unable to buy fuel at Phuket Airport last night for a flight ready to take tourists home. The directors…

  • Blasts hit confidence; Security tightened; Bomb expert trained suspects

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Confidence of tourists will be hit by blasts PHUKET (The Nation): Tourism business operators believe that Tuesday’s bomb blasts in Bangkok will have a slight impact on the industry in the current first quarter of the year, according to a survey by the Center for Economic…

  • Phuket coral bounces back from bleaching blight

    PHUKET: Considerable improvement in the condition of bleached coral reefs around Phuket and along the Andaman Coast has been noted by government researchers, it was announced at a meeting early this week. Boonchob Sudthamanaswong, Director-General of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources Andaman Coast Group (DMCR-Andaman), chaired a seminar at the Phuket Merlin Hotel on Monday to discuss government…

  • Phuket’s Paiboon calls for snap election

    PHUKET: Paiboon Upatising, who earlier today announced his shock resignation as president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), this afternoon explained that his resignation is to pave the way for elections before April 20. Mr Paiboon officially resigned from his position yesterday. “I submitted my resignation to Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha yesterday. My term as president was scheduled to…

  • Phuket officials set agenda for Cabinet visit

    PHUKET: Local government officials and private sector groups will tomorrow finalize which projects will be presented to the Cabinet during the top-level ministerial visit to Phuket on March 19-20. The news comes following a brainstorming session in on Tuesday. “We discussed the monorail project, Patong tunnel project, the Convention and Exhibition Center and the airport expansion,” said Phuket Governor Tri…

  • Phuket’s Paiboon resigns in shock move

    PHUKET: Paiboon Upatising has resigned his position as president of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (OrBorJor). More details about the shock resignation will be revealed at a press conference this afternoon, the Phuket Gazette has been told. Mr Paiboon was elected to office in April 2008, and was cleared of vote-buying allegations by the Appeals Court in Bangkok on September…

  • Phuket Video Report: Alleged contract killer surrenders to Phuket police, claims innocence

    PHUKET: Phuket businessman Atsadakorn “Pod” Seedokbuab, wanted by police for being the mastermind behind the assassination of Phuket newsman Wisut “Ae Inside” Tangwitthayaporn early last month, surrendered to police this morning. “I had nothing to do with it. I knew Ae very well. Even when he joined the red shirt protests in Bangkok, he called and asked me for money…

  • Phuket on high alert in wake of Bangkok terror bombs

    PHUKET: Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha has ordered all police units on the island to be on high alert following the arrests of three Iranians for the bomb blasts in Bangkok on Tuesday. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Chonasit Wattanavrangkul has also ordered all police to boost patrols in Phuket’s popular tourist areas. The move follows the police learning that at least…

  • Phuket Gazette: Bangkok bomb plot update

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Bangkok bomb plot deepens PHUKET (The Nation): Iran and Israel dropped diplomatic bombshells on each other yesterday, accusing one another of being behind Tuesday’s bomb blasts in Bangkok. Israel was quick to implicate Iran in the bomb incidents. “The attempted attack in Bangkok proves once again…

  • Bahrain F1 get Bernie’s backing

    PHUKET: “I don’t think it’s anything serious at all. It doesn’t change our position in any shape or form.” Bernie Ecclestone, head of Formula One, told British media that despite recent outbreaks of violence in Bahrain, the scheduled April 22 Grand Prix (GP) should take place. He added that if he was advised by the government in Bahrain not to…

  • Phuket select XI to play the MCC

    PHUKET: The famous Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) based at the historic Lords ground in England play their first Thailand tour game tomorrow in a momentous event for the ACG and Phuket cricket. Starting at 2pm, a selection of Phuket’s cricket fraternity will don their whites and play a match to be remembered for the rest of their lives. Non-cricketers may…

  • Phuket Business: Toyota Sure opens shop

    PHUKET: With so many new cars hitting the streets, the island’s used car and trade-in market is rapidly growing – particularly good news for car owners having second thoughts about a recently purchased or leased vehicle. Benchmarking market growth, Phuket’s Toyota Pearl recently held the soft opening of Toyota Sure, the brand’s renowned second-hand car dealership, located off Chalermprakiat (Bypass)…

  • Phuket Business: Medical tours vital to economy

    PHUKET: Medical tourism in Phuket is flourishing and contributing greatly to the local economy, a representative from one of Phuket’s major international hospitals has said. Speaking exclusively with the Phuket Gazette, Peter Davidson, assistant manager of international services at Phuket International Hospital, said that “the number of people coming to Phuket for dental work and plastic surgery continues to expand…

  • Phuket Gazette: Thai Deputy Premier wants fast execution of drug convicts

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET (The Nation): A legal study is underway on orders from Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung to determine whether drug-related convicts on death row can be executed within 60 days after final verdicts have been reached. With national drug-related crime statistics reflecting the surge in arrests…

  • Phuket Gazette: Americans alerted in update on bomb blast in Bangkok; US Embassy issues warning

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UPDATE: Bomb blast in BangkokPHUKET (News Wires): Three explosions, six injured; first one goes off at rented house; UK embassy issues warning; Iranian lobs bomb at taxi, then at police car, loses his legs in blast; another Iranian arrested. An Iranian man was badly injured and…

  • Phuket Gazette: ‘Morality Police’ nail Valentines couples; Google gobble of Motorola moving forward

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Malaysian police arrest couples on Valentine’s Day PHUKET (News Wires): Islamic “morality police” have arrested at least five couples in a Malaysian city for being intimate on Valentine’s Day, local media reported last night. It follows similar operations in previous years. The Star, the country’s largest…

  • Phuket Gazette: Bomb blasts in Bangkok

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Arab-looking man launches two bomb attacks in Bangkok PHUKET (News Wires): Pol Lt Col Witthaya Poonsin, deputy commander of Klong Tan traffic police, said a foreigner, who has yet to be identified, threw the first bomb at a taxi on Soi Pridi Panomyong. The taxi was…

  • Phuket Gazette: Reactor temperature rises at Fukushima Daiichi; Schiphol reopened after bomb threat

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Nuclear reactor at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant rises to 82°CPHUKET (News Wires): The bottom of one of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in eastern Japan rose to 82 degrees Celsius (179.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday afternoon, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said…

  • Phuket flower shops report blooming sales

    PHUKET: Flower shops in Phuket are doing brisk business today, St Valentine’s Day 2012. Many flower shops report record orders for floral arrangements, from both inside Phuket and off-island. Classic red roses remain the most popular items among the adults, while teddy bears and chocolates are increasingly popular among teenagers. Flower shops in Phuket Town are displaying special flower arrangements…

  • Phuket Business: “Q day’ is fast approaching

    PHUKET: Many expatriates in Phuket with UK pensions have held off on transferring them offshore due to the relative infancy of the industry and the fact that there has been little guidance on some of the more technical aspects relating to the transfers from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). That is all changing as the new legislation introduced recently in…

  • Phuket Live Wire: Yet another PayPal scam

    PHUKET: A reader wrote to me, asking if she’s been scammed. Ends up, she’s been taken for a ride, and the scam artist threatened to sue. Here’s how it happened, in her words, with a few minor edits: “Woody, I ran a series of ads in the Phuket Gazette, advertising an item I have for sale. I got an email…

  • Trousers to go on at Phuket Village Health Volunteers Fair

    PHUKET: For people looking for a cheap night out on Valentine’s Day, the alternative band Kangkeng (Trousers) will take the stage in a free concert at Saphan Hin tonight as part of activities in the Phuket Village Health Volunteers Association Fair. The little-publicized fair, organized by the Phuket Provincial Health Office and Phuket City Municipality, got underway last Tuesday and…

  • Phuket Sports: A gem of a fun regatta

    PHUKET: By two first-place and two second-place finishes gave Russian Arbuzov Andrev’s Ruby Tuesday victory in Racing class of the 15th Bay Regatta.Day four of the regatta greeted crews with clear skies and good wind as they left their anchorage off the Sheraton Krabi Beach Resort and headed to Ao Chalong for the regatta’s final party and awards ceremony at…