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PM to hold Cabinet meeting in Phang Nga
PHUKET: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will hold a “mobile” Cabinet meeting in Phang Nga on September 5 and 6.On September 5, he will arrive, accompanied by some of his ministers, at Phuket International Airport in the morning, and be driven to Tambon Khuek Khak (Khao Lak) and Takuapa district in Phang Nga, before having lunch with local people.The Prime Minister…
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Bank launches mortgages for foreigners
PHUKET: Bangkok Bank has broken ranks with the Thai banking establishment to become the first Thai bank to offer mortgages targeted firmly at foreigners wanting to buy property in Thailand.The mortgages are fairly limited in scope – they can be applied only to condos; the buyer must come up with the first 50% of the purchase price; and the mortgage…
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Dubai mystery man offers 10,000 tsunami homes
PHUKET CITY: A businessman from Dubai met with Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura today to offer to build 10,000 houses for tsunami victims.The man, who gave his name simply as “John”, visited Phuket Provincial Hall to request that land be donated upon which to build the Australian-designed structures. The prefabricated homes would be shipped as knocked-down kits to Thailand, enabling them…
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TOT blamed for mobile phone jams
PHUKET: Mobile phone operators, who once touted their services as the solution to the lack of land lines on the island, are now finding themselves victims of their own success.They are fending off waves of customer complaints and trying to find solutions to the overloading of telephone networks in the peak hours between 5 pm and 10 pm.Boonkul Masangchai, Manager…
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Phuket Air jumbo seized in S Korea – twice
SEOUL: A Phuket Air jumbo jet has been seized in South Korea after the carrier’s owner, Phuket Airlines Co Ltd, allegedly failed to settle debts owed to its local sales agent.The Nation in Bangkok reported August 23 that the Boeing 747-300 had been impounded at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul.The aircraft had initially been banned from flying back to…
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Thai ambassadors recruited to spread the word
PHUKET: Thai ambassadors based overseas are the best messengers to tell the world that the tsunami-affected areas have fully recovered, Foreign Affairs Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon announced on Saturday.About 80 Thai ambassadors based in 62 countries came to Phuket over the weekend for presentations on the recovery of the tourism industry in tsunami-affected areas.The visit was one leg of a 12-day…
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Duty-free to tempt Thai tourists
PHUKET: The government is launching a temporary duty-free project in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi Provinces from September 1 through December 31, to entice Thai tourists to the region.The announcement was made by Deputy Finance Minister Warathep Rattanakorn at a meeting dubbed “Recover three Andaman provinces with Duty-Free” at Dusit Laguna Resort on Saturday. K. Warathep explained that the government…
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“Mazhofu’ to allay tourists’ worries
PHUKET: In an effort to attract more Asian tourists to Phuket’s yearly Vegetarian Festival the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket Office, Phuket Provincial Administration Authority (OrBorJor), Phuket City Municipality and representatives from Phuket’s Chinese shrines will bring a specially-made “Ruby God” or Mazhofu statue from its original home in Meizhou Island in Fujian Province, China.Suwalai Pinpradab, the Director of…
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Cloud seeders back in Phuket
PHUKET: Despite recent rain showers, the Royal Rainmaking Project has been called in again to help stave off yet another looming water shortage in Phuket.Isara Anukul, Chief of the Water Allocation Division of the Phuket Irrigation Office (PIO), told the Gazette on Wednesday, “The water level in Bang Wad Reservoir [Phuket’s main water source] has dropped to 450,000 cubic meters…
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Minister buries underground cable pleas
PATONG: It appears unlikely that Patong will get the 350 million baht it wants for burying power cables, after Sports and Tourism Minister Pracha Maleenont sternly shot down a budget proposal for the project at a meeting on post-tsunami redevelopment. The meeting, at the Graceland Resort and Spa on Wednesday, was held to discuss progress reports on tourism redevelopment efforts…
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Transportation Office deluged with license applications
PHUKET CITY: Overworked staff at Phuket Provincial Transportation Office (PPTO) are rushed off their feet by the demand for new licenses and license renewals.Teerayuth Prasertphol, Chief Technical Officer of the PPTO, told the Gazette that the office is receiving 80 to 150 applications for new licenses and as many as 200 applications for renewals a day. “There has been a…
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Officials inspect wrecked Kamala resort
KAMALA: Kathu’s top official paid an inspection visit on Wednesday evening to the tsunami-damaged Kamala Bay Terrace Resort, where he asked the hotel’s sole remaining employee to try to organize a clean-up as soon as possible. Kathu District Chief Khantee Silapa, accompanied Phuket Provincial Security Affairs Chief Nikorn Torhiranyapreuk, said the visit was prompted by a complaint to the Phuket…
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Haze gone, unlikely to return
PHUKET: Blue skies returned to Phuket today as the haze from Indonesia receded, thanks to a combination of local winds and increasingly effective fire-fighting on Sumatra. Chumnong Chitpukdee, Chief of the Meteorological Department‘s Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast), told the Gazette this morning that the weather in Phuket has already returned to normal. “Luckily for us we have sea breezes…
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Masks issued to combat Sumatran smoke
PHUKET CITY: Residents with respiratory ailments can protect themselves from the smoke that has enveloped the island by picking up free face masks at Wachira Phuket Hospital. Dr Wanchai Sattayawutthipong, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO), told the Gazette that the average particulate matter reading (PM-10 reading, for particles less than 10 microns in size) in air…
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Scent to jail
UDON THANI: Busting drug mules can be a dirty business, as police in Udon Thani found out on the afternoon of August 15. After receiving a tip-off that a drug deal was about to go down at the Jaroernsri Complex shopping center, police led by Provincial Police Deputy Chief Inspector Yanyong Wechsot set up a surveillance unit. It was not…
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Dead man’s next of kin sought
PHUKET: The British Honorary Consul in Phuket, Alan Cooke, has appealed for help in contacting the next of kin of British citizen Keith Alan Jones, 43, who died yesterday afternoon (August 16) of respiratory problems and severe liver damage. Mr Jones, who was born in Taunton, Somerset, had been in Phuket about a year and is believed to have been…
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Sumatra “haze’ reaches Phuket
PHUKET: Hazy atmospheric conditions in Phuket today are the result of forest fires on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra that have left much of Malaysia and Southern Thailand coughing in smoke over the past week.Chumnong Chitpukdee, chief of the Meteorological Department’s Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast), confirmed that Sumatra is the source of the haze, which is being carried here…
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Gamblers top arrest stats – again
PHUKET: Gambling, for the third successive month, topped Phuket’s arrest statistics, according to figures released recently by Phuket Provincial Police, who made 144 arrests for gambling in July. Seventeen of the cases involved the sale of underground lottery tickets.Sixty-seven people were arrested for the illegal possession or use of narcotics, with 1,521 ya bah (methamphetamine) tablets seized.Of the five murder…
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Karon to crack down on tailors
KARON (Kom Chad Luek): Community leaders in Kata-Karon have issued a warning to the 144 tailor shops in the area that they will crack down on any that continue to use aggressive touting techniques or take advantage of tourists. Tambon Karon Chairman Winai Chidchiaw said that, at a meeting among village headmen and other community leaders, it was unanimously agreed…
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“Nation Party’ gay festival plans in doubt
PHUKET CITY: Despite Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura having already given his blessing for Asia’s largest gay and lesbian festival, the Nation Party, to be held in Phuket, the event may be staged elsewhere because Karon Municipality is worried about the possible consequences of hosting the party.The news broke yesterday following a closed-door meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall on Wednesday between…
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Miss Teen Canada delivers the ‘bear necessities’
PHUKET CITY: Miss Teen Canada International 2005, 18-year-old Amanda Klyn, donated some 2,000 teddy bears to children affected by the tsunami, during her visit to Phuket and Phang Nga from August 7 to 9.Miss Klyn was invited to visit Thailand by Sananchart Thephasadin, the Thai Ambassador to Canada, after winning her title in January.She explained that the teddy bears were…
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Runaway groom
TAK: Many are the tales of the foreign man who comes to Thailand, falls in love with a Thai woman and ends up destitute and deserted. But according to an August 4 report, an elderly American man has turned the tables by sweet-talking his way into the lives of at least two Thai women with talk of riches and marriage…
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Airport limo problem gets committee treatment
PHUKET CITY: The problem of transportation at Phuket International Airport has been dumped into the laps of at least 10 ad-hoc committees, who have been given the vaguest of briefs – to discuss solutions to the problem – and no deadline to report back with their conclusions.The decision to set up the committees was made at a public meeting at…
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THAI increases fuel charges – again
PHUKET: Thai Airways International (THAI) has announced yet another round of increases in its fuel surcharge on all foreign and domestic flights, to be applied to tickets issued on or after August 15.The national carrier will raise the surcharge on one-way domestic flights from 200 baht to 300 baht; similar rises will be levied on regional and international routes, depending…
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Méridien Patong to reopen August 15
KARON: Le Méridien Phuket Beach Resort, just south of Patong, one of hotels worst hit by the tsunami, is to re-open on August 15.Philippe Seigle, Regional General Manager of Le Méridien Thailand Resorts, and General Manager of Le Méridien Phuket, told the Gazette that the areas that suffered the most damage were the entire beach and pool space, the ground…
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International rugby comes to Phuket
PHUKET: Rugby fans are in for a feast in the coming week as the first International 80-80 Rugby Tournament is staged on the island.Matches in the four-team tournament will be played this weekend and in the evenings next week, culminating with the play-offs and final on Sunday, August 14.80-80 rugby is a new format whereby players must weigh no more…
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Two brothers stabbed to death
PHUKET CITY: The bodies of two brothers from Udon Thani who had been beaten and stabbed to death were found near an ice factory about 700 meters north of Sri Suchart Grand View housing estate, on the bypass road, about 6 am on Wednesday.Pol Lt Col Chokechai Suthimek, of Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette that the men were…
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Alleged killer cop surrenders
PHUKET CITY: Narcotics agent Pol Sen S/Maj Manot Junjuer, accused of shooting two people at point-blank range yesterday, killing one of them and seriously injuring the other, turned himself in this morning at the Phuket City Police Station.The dead man was named as Seksit Kulra-uk. The injured man, who is in a serious condition at Wachira Phuket Hospital, was an off-duty…
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British woman murdered, boyfriend sought
PATONG: A 31-year old British woman, Debra O’Hanlon, was found dead in the Eric Guesthouse on Nanai Rd around 2 pm yesterday. Police say they are searching for her boyfriend, Briton Paul Chetwynd-Talbot, also 31 and also British, in connection with her death.The two were apparently staying in the same room in the guesthouse and police told the Gazette that…
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Patong and Kamala revival budgets finally settled
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) budget for renovation of Patong and Kamala has finally been settled, at 291.4 million baht, a source in the TAT’s Bangkok headquarters revealed yesterday.The source, who asked not to be named, told the Gazette that the original landscaping plans, proposed in January, foresaw spending of 750 million baht for Patong and 600 million…
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