Month: July 2004
- Phuket
Phang Nga politician assassinated
PHANG NGA: Nithat Siribenjakul, the chairman of the Phang Nga Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), was gunned down in a hail of bullets at the Takuapa bus terminus about 8 pm last night.Police officers investigating the murder told the Gazette that K. Nithat was heading home after visiting a fellow OrBorJor member.“K. Nithat drove his Jeep Cherokee into the parking lot…
Read More » - Phuket
Bars urged to close for two days
PHUKET: Police have requested bar and nightclub owners, alcohol sellers and butchers to close for the next two days out of respect for Buddhist religious holidays.Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette this evening, “We have asked night venues and places selling alcohol to close on Asarnha Bucha Day [tomorrow] and on Buddhist Lent…
Read More » - Phuket
FantaSea owner facing smuggling charge
BANGKOK (The Nation): The owner of Safari World and Phuket FantaSea will be charged with illegally importing orangutans, Forestry Police commander Maj Gen Sawek Pinsinchai said yesterday.Safari World and FantaSea managing director and owner Pin Kiewkacha is accused of violating provision 23 of the Wildlife Conservation Law by importing orangutans without permission, and provision 53 for concealing the wildlife. The two…
Read More » - Phuket
Crackdown on peddlers and ladyboys
PATONG: Police yesterday evening arrested about 30 people in a crackdown aimed at reducing the number of street peddlers pestering tourists to buy trinkets, plastic flowers, garlands or, in some cases, sex.Pol Lt Col Boonlert Onklang, of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that Kathu police officers arrested about 30 vendors who annoyed tourists walking along the beach road by…
Read More » - Phuket
Stab victim recovering
PHUKET CITY: Briton Aden Simpson, 21, a teacher at Satree Phuket School who was stabbed on July 16, has been discharged from Wachira Phuket Hospital.Pol Capt Sathit Noorit, of Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette today, “Mr Simpson is still recovering, but he is feeling better and has left the hospital.”Now that Mr Simpson is feeling better, said Capt…
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High-tech cameras to boost security
PHUKET: Provided that the money is forthcoming, 100 security cameras using the latest-generation Internet communications protocol will be installed at 70 points across the island, including the tourist areas of Patong, Karon and Kata, to deter crime and monitor traffic flow.Manoo Ordeedolchest, President of the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa), told the Gazette, “The idea originally came from the former…
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Sipa targets B470m budget for 2005
PHUKET CITY: Dr Manoo Ordeedolchest, President of the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa), has announced that the agency will apply for 470 million baht to carry out projects in 2005 to develop the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in Thailand.Key projects slated for implementation next year include the development of software for small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in…
Read More » - Phuket
High-speed bedmakers put to the test
PHUKET CITY: This year’s Hotelex Exhibition Food and Beverage Show, which will be held at the Royal Phuket City Hotel from August 12 to 15, will open with a thrilling “speedy bed-making” contest. The novel competition, with 6,000 baht in prize money up for grabs, will get underway at 1 pm on August 12, marking the start of the four-day…
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New airport proposed for Phang Nga
PHANG NGA: The Deputy–Minister of the Transport Ministry, Vichet Kasemthongsri, has backed a proposal to upgrade a disused World War II airfield into a new airport to serve Phang Nga Province, at a projected cost of 900 million baht. K. Vichet gave his backing during a visit on Saturday to the disused airstrip on Koh Kho Khao, an island off…
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Crackdown after “neighbor labor’ amnesty ends
PHUKET: Deputy Prime Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha yesterday warned employers of illegal foreign laborers from Burma, Laos or Cambodia that they have until Saturday to register their illegal foreign employees, or face a fine of up to 100,000 baht or up to 10 years in jail, or both.The warning came at a meeting at the Pearl Village Hotel at…
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Downpours prompt flood and landslide warnings
PHUKET: Strong winds and heavy rain along the coasts of the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand have prompted the Meteorological Department to issue warnings of the possibility of flooding and landslides.Vichit Phuangsombat, Director of the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast), which is near Phuket International Airport, today told the Gazette, “The heaviest recorded rainfall in Thailand yesterday was…
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Incumbent wins Pa Khlok poll
PA KHLOK: Panya Sumphaorat from Pa Khlok Gao Na (Progress) Party yesterday won the Pa Khlok Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) presidential election, polling 2,540 votes to beat his rival by just 186 votes.K. Panya, who was President of the OrBorTor in the term leading up to the election, beat Sa-ard Kongnam, from the Pa Khlok Pattana (Development) Party, who scored…
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Burmese sought over stabbing murder
KATHU: A Burmese worker is being sought by police after the corpse of a motorbike taxi driver was found last week by villagers near Talay Keeree village, in the foothills around Kathu.The body, with 15 stab wounds in it, was identified as that of 45-year-old Narongsak Bunyalertnimit from Phatthalung, a van driver with the Take-A-Trip travel agency, who worked as…
Read More » - Other News
Death by aromatherapy
BANGKOK: A woman in Bang-wa District died of asphyxiation after turning her bathroom into a makeshift sauna and aromatherapy chamber in an attempt to shed unwanted flab. Tanakrit Kianthong, a grilled pork vendor, told police he returned home on July 3 to find his wife Pattaporn, 43, lying dead on the floor of the second-story bathroom of the couple’s three-story…
Read More » - Phuket
Businessman ordered off SorPorKor land
PHUKET: The Phuket Appeal Court today overturned a judgment of the Provincial Court and ordered Phuket businessman Narong Nopdara to vacate 21 rai of land in the Nakkerd Hills in Karon.The successful appeal was launched by the Phuket Land Reform Office (ALRO), which argued that Narong was not entitled to occupy land issued under the SorPorKor land reform program, which…
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Push to get tourists to shop till they drop
PHUKET CITY: As part of a drive to get tourists to do more shopping while in Phuket, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will stage an exhibition of Phuket batik designs on July 30 and 31 on the second floor of the Big C supercenter.Suwalai Pinpradab, Director of the local office of the TAT, said that Thailand currently receives income…
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15 minutes of fame evaporates
PHUKET: Bangkok-based film company Hub Ho Hin has canceled all roles offered to Phuket residents for the movie Jaew (Operation Maid), starring Pornchita “Benz” na Songkhla, because a decision has been made to film location shots in Chiang Mai instead of Phuket. Jarunee “Maew” Boonsake, second assistant director on the movie, explained, “The director, Yongyuth Thongkongtoon, has decided to shoot…
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Hotels president slams oil pipeline plan
NAI YANG: Vichit Na Ranong, a former senator and current President of the Thai Hotels Association, yesterday spoke out against the oil pipeline slated to be built in Phang Nga, saying, “It will ruin all tourism here and we will never get it back.”Speaking at the opening of the new convention facilities at his Pearl Village Hotel in Nai Yang,…
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Government plans marina at Chalong
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura has announced that Phuket province plans to build a marina in Chalong Bay. The announcement was made during a seminar at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, attended by about 80 participants from both government and private sectors. Panjit Pissawong, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Commercial Office, told the Gazette that Chalong Bay is the most…
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OrBorJor sets up planning board
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) has set up a committee of professional town planners and architects to study ways in which Phuket’s development can be better regulated. The committee, which will work together with the Phuket Public Works and Town Planning Office, will focus initally on architectural issues.At an open meeting of the OrBorJor on July 16,…
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TAT boss raps Phuket’s failings
BANGKOK: Suwalai Pinpradab, Director of the local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said that the goal of Phuket becoming a truly ‘world-class’ destination is a pipe dream unless a variety of problems are dealt with.These, she said, include high-volume, low-paying tourists; poor service in all sectors of the hospitality industry; and a crumbling natural environment.Speaking with the…
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“Cyber Paradise’ training begins
PATONG: The Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) yesterday launched a two-week seminar with the aim of training software programmers in Thailand to develop open source software for Thai small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).Forty programmers from Phuket, Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen assembled at the Patong Merlin Hotel, where software developer David Jones explained how to develop the commerce-focused open-source software OFBiz.Mr Jones is…
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