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Thailand has a strong healthcare system with both public and private options. Public hospitals offer affordable care, but many people, including expats, choose private health insurance for faster service, modern facilities, and more treatment choices. To decide if private health...
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World News: Mali war spills into Algeria; Many hostages taken
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Sahara hostage siege turns Mali war global Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Islamist fighters have opened an international front in Mali’s civil war by taking dozens of Western hostages at a gas plant in the Algerian desert just as French troops launched an offensive against rebels…
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Dutch tourist autopsy results from Bangkok expected next week: Phuket Police
PHUKET: Police yesterday morning confirmed that the body of 26-year-old Dutch tourist Stephan Buczynski had been sent to Bangkok for an autopsy. Mr Buczynski was last seen by his fellow Dutch travel companion on Saturday night. His body was found floating off the north end of Patong Beach early the next morning (story here). “The body was sent to the…
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Live Wire: Phuket’s Internet options
PHUKET: As many of you know, I am in the process of moving. Sometime in the next month or so, I’ll be moving from a Patong townhouse – where I’ve lived for the past 12 years – to a modest housing development in Kathu, near Loch Palm Golf Course. For most of you, moving is a massive pain. For people…
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Phuket Blood Bank: Urgent call for O-negative blood
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center (PRBC) urgently needs O-negative blood to save the life of a foreign patient. Donors should call 076-251178 ext 2 or 081-9588854. If donors are available, staff will be on hand after the normal the usual closing time of 4:30pm to make the blood draw (map here). The patient in need is waiting for heart…
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Phuket Business: Coping with labor costs
PHUKET: As labor-intensive industries adjust their operations in order to cope with the nationwide 300 baht minimum daily wage, efforts include trimming logistics costs, improving production efficiency and hiring only skilled workers.Tawee Piyapattana, president of Pacific Fish Processing Co, which specializes in the production of frozen seafood, says the company, which employs 3,000 people, will not lay off personnel but…
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World Sports: Armstrong confesses to drug taking – USA Today
Lance Armstrong confronts doping charges in interview Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Lance Armstrong could be jailed and cycling could be dropped from the Olympics as a result of the disgraced American athlete’s reported admission that he had used performance-enhancing drugs during his racing career. USA Today and other media said on Monday that Armstrong confessed to the doping in…
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Phuket Media Watch: Paper defies party; Indian troops shoot Pakistani soldier; Cuban can leave
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community How a feisty Chinese newspaper stood up for press freedom Reuters / Phuket GazettePHUKET: Journalists at the Beijing News were at home late one night last week when their mobile phones started ringing. Colleagues in the newsroom were telling them of a showdown between the newspaper’s management…
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Phuket First Person: Taxi greed still in driver’s seat – Iain Barnes
British tourist Iain Barnes arrived in Phuket to begin his dream of traveling to Asia while in his twenties – he turns 30 on January 19.Here, at the start of his trip, Iain describes his “welcome” to Phuket from the taxi touts stationed at the Phuket International Airport.PHUKET: The scene at the airport was bedlam. The taxi drivers were grabbing…
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Swiss tourist dies after being pulled from Phuket waters
PHUKET: Police are waiting for doctors to confirm whether or not a 75-year-old Swiss man pulled from the water at Patong Beach yesterday afternoon died from drowning or other – more natural – causes. Staff at Patong Hospital notified Patong Police Deputy Superintendent Pratuang Polmana of the man’s death at about 4:15pm. Police named the man as Thomas Nebel, 75.…
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Charges still not laid against Tiger Discotheque owners following fatal fire
PHUKET: Charges are yet to be laid against the owners of the Tiger Bar and Discotheque following a fatal blaze which ripped through the Patong nightclub five months ago. The fire, which took place on August 17, killed four people, including two tourists, and injured 11. Public Prosecutor Vivath Kitjaruk told the Phuket Gazette they were still considering whether to…
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Monk defrocked after robbing Phuket “money tree’
PHUKET: A monk chose to be defrocked at the main temple in Phuket Town, Wat Wichit Sangkharam, this afternoon after being caught stealing a temple donation “money tree” and running off with 1,000 baht in cash. Wichit Police were alerted to the theft at 11:30am after local residents near Wat Nakaram (click map here) reported a monk absconding with a…
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Phuket metered taxis still under the gun
PHUKET: A spat between “regular” taxi drivers and a metered taxi driver broke out in Patong on December 26, highlighting the ongoing tensions between the two groups. The Patong taxi drivers accused the metered taxi driver of trying to pick up a fare from the street while on “their turf”, when all he allegedly did was provide directions to a…
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Hundreds of Rohingya refugees offshore north of Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette has confirmed reports of hundreds of Rohingya in open boats in the Andaman Sea off Phang Nga, just north of Phuket. The news comes as thousands of ethnic Rohingya flee the violence in Myanmar. “We have heard there are about nine boats containing hundreds of Rohingya, but they have yet to land anywhere along the coast,”…
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Phuket “Ae Inside’ killer to face Cha-am justice first
PHUKET: Phuket Police will have to wait for their counterparts in the Thai tourism town of Cha-am to close their murder investigation before taking the confessed assassin of Phuket newsman Wisut “Ae Inside” Tangwitthayaporn into custody (click here). Police from the Crime Suppression Division headquarters in Bangkok, along with local Cha-Am Police, moved in and arrested Tossapol Ketkaew, 36, at…
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Phuket Media Watch: Hindu pilgrims stream to mythical river in their millions for Maha Kumbh Mela
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Millions take to the Ganges at largest Hindu festival Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Upwards of a million elated Hindu holy men and pilgrims took a bracing plunge in India’s sacred Ganges river to wash away lifetimes of sins today, in a raucous start to an…
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Phuket Futsal: Andaman Pearl suffer shark attack
PHUKET: Top of the table Chonburi GH Bank ABAC were too strong for a spirited Phuket United, with the Andaman Pearl losing at home 3-2 last Saturday night.The high tempo match – the 14th match of the GMM Sport Thailand Futsal Premier League 2012-2013 season – was played in front of about 1,200 vocal supporters at the Saphan Hin Indoor…
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Phuket beach turf war leaves car gutted by flames
PHUKET: Phuket police believe a Honda Jazz belonging to a beachfront seafood restaurant owner was maliciously set ablaze last night as part of an ongoing conflict between vendors in the Surin Beach area. Police declined to name the owner of the car for safety reasons. The owner parked the car in front of the restaurant at about 3pm yesterday. Just…
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Phuket Finance: Investing in “frontier markets’
PHUKET: I have recently come across an investment concept that’s caught my interest, and for those of you with a speculative bit of capital to allocate – you might find it interesting also. Fund Management Group has recently launched an equity-based fund, spread across what they call new frontier countries. According to them, frontier markets represent 40% of the world’s…
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World Sports Watch: Man Utd & City put pretenders in place; Euro round-up
Dominant United and City beat pretend pretenders Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Premier League leaders Manchester United and second-placed champions Manchester City put former English heavyweights Liverpool and Arsenal firmly in their place yesterday with United’s Robin van Persie again on song. United sealed a needlessly nervy 2-1 home win over eighth-placed Liverpool to maintain their seven-point lead after Van…
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Phuket Sports Watch: Inter Milan trump Pescara 2-0
PHUKET SPORTS WATCH – World sports news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Inter boost title bid with victory over Pescara Reuters/Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Inter Milan invigorated their Series A title challenge by beating Pescara 2-0 at the San Siro yesterday to move within six points of national football leaders Juventus.Goals in either half from Rodrigo Palacio and…
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Blockade-sparked tour counter blitz, ‘well received’
PHUKET: A blockade of the Karon beachfront road by tuk-tuk and taxi drivers has sparked a police blitz on all tour counters in the area using Russian nationals to sell tours. So far the blitz has been “well received”, Karon Police Deputy Superintendent Narong Laksanawimon told the Gazette on Wednesday. The tour counters allegedly specializing in Russian services were individually…
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Royal Thai Police parade highlights Phuket, Pattaya tourism-safety campaign
PHUKET: Royal Thai Police stormed Phuket’s party street, Soi Bangla, with an 800 officer strong parade yesterday to highlight a 30-day safety campaign aimed at slashing the criminal activity in Phuket and Pattaya. “We expect the 30-day project to decrease the criminal activity in Phuket by 50 per cent, and significantly increase how safe tourists feel on our island,” Phuket…
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Phuket Opinion: Taxis – a decade of blocking progress
PHUKET: The recent police-ordered closure of tour counters run by Russian nationals in Kata-Karon is just the latest in a long series of protest-related events in Phuket that undermine the rule of law by rewarding law-breakers and punishing those who play by the rules.The closure of the counters followed a blockade of the Karon beachfront by members of a so-called…
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Love sick member of the Royal Thai Navy found hanged in Phuket
PHUKET: A member the Thai Royal Navy was found hanged in his Phuket garage, just days after he discovered his girlfriend was having an affair.The body of Wanchai Sripangmol, 23, was found hanging from a rafter in his Kathu garage by his parents yesterday morning.“He took leave over New Year to visit his girlfriend in Kalasin Province only to find…
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Australian tourist found dead from possible drug overdose in Phuket resort
PHUKET: Patong police believe an Australian tourist who was found dead in his Phuket hotel room yesterday died from a drug overdose. The 45-year-old, whose name has yet to be released to the public by police, was staying at a resort in the Patong beach area. Captain Teerasak Boonsang of the Patong Police told the Phuket Gazette the man’s body…
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Phuket Business: The sweet taste of success at Vanich Sweetcorn Farm
PHUKET: Mr Apirag Vanich is the owner of the Vanich Sweetcorn Farm, which produces corn-based foodstuffs and drinks including; corn milk; boiled corn, fresh sweet corn and baby corn.They also produce three healthy drinks which are; butterfly pea flower tea, corn silk tea and mulberry juice. Vanich Sweetcorn Farm, spread out over an area of about 67 rai, uses modern…
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Phuket Sports: Julian Seal’s journey passing the baton
PHUKET: Julian Seal is a man on a mission. Inspired originally by “Met Track”, a London Metropolitan police initiative to get disaffected teenagers off the streets by using sport, his enthusiasm was galvanized by the success of the 2012 Olympic Games, and the inspiring way in which it showed how sport can foster not only excellence, but can instill in…
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No one seriously injured in Children’s Day car crash
PHUKET: A single car crash on the bypass road is slowing down morning traffic on Children’s Day (today) as Phuket commuters and others pause to look at the wreckage. The driver, sitting stiffly on the slope of the ditch where his Suzuki Swift came to its final rest, confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that he was “okay”, given the circumstances.…
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Phuket Police have balls, promise to be gentle with ticket sales
PHUKET: The Karon Police do have balls, but heavy-handed tactics in selling the tickets will stop, the Karon acting police chief confirmed to the Phuket Gazette today. The news follows a mob of angry residents in the popular Phuket tourist area of Karon Beach gathering at the newly-established Karon Police Station yesterday. Their complaint: the “strong tactics” used to sell…
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Phuket Sports: Bay Regatta back in style
PHUKET: THE Bay Regatta, formerly known as the Phang Nga Bay Regatta, will take place January 30 to February 3. The popular sailing event takes in the scenic cruising grounds around Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi. The event is organized by Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC) and is expected to attract around 40 boats this year. The racing is split…
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