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Water authorities weigh options
PHUKET: Phuket Irrigation Office Project Director Watchara Arepornsiri today said that if rain does not start to replenish Phuket’s water reserves by the middle of this month, he will call in the Royal Rainmaking Project to seed clouds and make artificial rain.K. Watchara explained to the Gazette that Bang Wad reservoir currently holds 1.9 million cubic meters of water, and…
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Larvae carve an itchy niche
CHIANG MAI, PHUKET: Pity the poor housefly. Free of the ethical dilemmas facing humans, all it can aspire to in its short, frenetic life is to pass its genes onto the next generation. But with drought conditions lingering on in much of the country, flies are apparently finding it more difficult to locate piles of moist excrement in which to…
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Phuket to host big WHO meeting
KARON: Phuket will this week host an international World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting on the health ramifications of the December 26 tsunami.Delegates from Indonesia, Burma, The Maldives, Sri Lanka are due to join colleagues from Thailand at the Hilton Phuket Arcardia Resort and Spa between May 4 and 6 to discuss what the tsunami has taught them about topics such…
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Seminar on natural disasters
PHUKET CITY: Government officers and people involved in the hotel trade and other tourism-related businesses in the six Andaman provinces struck by the December 26 tsunami gathered at the Royal Phuket City Hotel on April 30 for a seminar on “earth-based natural disasters”.The event was organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).The aim…
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Woman “drowns’ in tin mine
KOH KAEW: Police on Tuesday morning recovered the body of Som Taem-ngam, 45, which was floating on an old car tire in a tin mine lagoon to the north of Dulwich International College.It is believed that she drowned while washing her clothes by the banks of the lake while drunk.Pol Maj Wacharin Jiratthitikarlwiwat of Phuket City Police Station said that…
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Mixed reviews for tsunami drill
PATONG: The practice evacuation of the southern half of Patong Beach this morning received mixed reviews, from both tourists and the many government officials who attended. Arriving by helicopter shortly after 10 am, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra met a crowd of some 1,500 volunteer evacuees, many of them children wearing T-shirts made specially for the event. Also on hand were…
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New Dulwich franchise on the table
CHERNG TALAY: Frustrated parents of students at Dulwich International College (DIC) last night gave a bumpy ride to the negotiator from Dulwich College in London (DCL) in the ongoing crisis talks. Parents at the meeting, held at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket, were particularly irked by consistently polite refusals by DCL Deputy Master Ralph Mainard to reveal precisely what the…
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Night Bazaar opening postponed by a year
PHUKET: Construction of the Phuket International Night Bazaar (PINB) has been put back by a year and the number of shops it will include has been slashed by 80%, because of the tsunami.Buildiers should have started work on the 170-rai site off Chao Fa West Rd in March, and the Bazaar should have been completed by November, ready for the…
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PM to attend evacuation drill in Patong
PHUKET CITY: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and ambassadors from some 40 nations are expected to be on hand to witness tomorrow’s evacuation drill in Patong. At a meeting held yesterday morning at The Metropole hotel, Pongpow Ketthong, Deputy Director-General of the national Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department (DPMD), said Patong’s evacuation plan was now 95% complete and that it would…
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Still no decision on ICEC site
PHUKET: After four years of wrangling, the location of Phuket’s much-touted International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) is still very much up in the air.In response to an enquiry from the Gazette about how the ICEC project is progressing, the director of the Phuket office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Suwalai Pinpradab, said the decision on where the…
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Pregnant turtle found dead at Mai Khao
MAI KHAO: A 30-year-old green sea turtle, or Chelonia mydas, weighing some 100 kilograms, was found dead on Mai Khao Beach yesterday morning.It is believed the turtle had been dead for at least three days before its body was found.Kongkiat Kittiwattawong, a biologist at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) at Cape Panwa, said, “The turtle was female and she…
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Prince Andrew says thanks to Thailand
PHUKET: HRH Prince Andrew of Britain toured Phuket today to thank Thai people and the local British community for their assistance to UK citizens in the aftermath of the December 26 tsunami.He made three public appearances. The first was this morning at the Bangkok Phuket Hospital where he met staff who assisted tsunami victims.In the afternoon he went to Nai Yang…
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Chain of tsunami lookout towers planned
PHUKET CITY: Three beach guard stations – out of 50 being built along the coasts of Phuket and the other Andaman provinces – will be in place in Patong before the end of July. A further 16 will be built in Phuket later.The stations will enable beach guards to monitor the sea for signs of tsunamis, as well as watch…
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Fired deputies call for Mayor to quit
PHUKET CITY: Ayuth Tansiriroj, one of three Deputy Mayors recently fired by Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwannasuppana, yesterday called for the Mayor herself to resign.Mayor Somjai dismissed her three deputies – K. Ayuth, Niwate Aroonrat and Piya Siamhan – on April 8. K. Niwate was, however, given another position on the Mayor’s administrative team.K. Ayuth and K. Piya yesterday held…
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Take care not to start fires – Municipality
PHUKET: Phuket City Municipality has issued fire prevention advice and has ordered its Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (ODPM) to be on standby to deal with fires as the dry season drags on.The municipal authorities are advising residents to be especially careful when handling fire, such as when they are lighting offerings at shrines, or when cooking.Residents should also…
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Official held in B2m aid theft case
PHUKET CITY: Police this evening arrested the Chief of the Finance Division of the Phuket Provincial Financial Office, Apichart Nooprod, as the ringleader in the theft of more than 2 million baht of tsunami aid money, which was reported missing on February 15.Apichart, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, has denied the charge, and was tonight undergoing questioning at Phuket City Police…
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Evacuation practice set for April 29
PHUKET: Tourists hitting the sands of Patong Beach early next Friday morning may find themselves in for a bit of a surprise, as the province plans to conduct a tsunami evacuation drill in the area at 10 am on April 29. An “evacuation route map” and a variety of warning signs were presented Wednesday to a seminar at The Metropole…
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Phang Nga Gov raps banks over slow loans
PHANG NGA: Phang Nga Governor Anuwat Metheeviboonwut yesterday criticized banks and other financial institutions for taking too long to process applications for soft loans by business owners affected by the tsunami.Gov Anuwat said, “The problem we have today is that 80% of the business owners are still waiting for loans from financial institutions to be approved.“If the financial institutions were…
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Phuket recovery impresses Sri Lankans
PHUKET CITY: Government officers from Sri Lanka, on a three-day fact-finding visit to Phuket and Phang Nga, declared themselves impressed by the speed with which the region is recovering from the tsunami.The 17 officers from tsunami-affected areas of Sri Lanka are here to see if the experiences of Phuket and Phang Nga could be used to help their own regions…
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Schoolkids launch tsunami education book
PHUKET: Pupils at Satree Phuket school have unveiled a book they have produced about the tsunami.The book, titled Tsunami Monton Phuket Mahantapai Leuad Yen (Tsunami: Phuket’s Cold-blooded Killer) contains information about tsunamis, how and why they happen, and advice on what to do if another one should hit Phuket.Launching the book on Tuesday morning, school Principal Kiattisak Pillawart said he…
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Britain’s Prince Andrew to visit Phuket
PHUKET: HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, will arrive in Phuket on Monday evening to thank Thai people and the local British community for their assistance to British citizens in the aftermath of the December 26 tsunami.During his stay on the island, the Prince – younger brother of Prince Charles, heir to the throne of England – will make…
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Police still bamboozled by bomb
THALANG: Police remain bamboozled in their investigation into the mysterious time bomb that was discovered in a quiet residential area of Pa Khlok more than a month ago.Police said the device, which was eventually destroyed in a controlled explosion, consisted of two sticks of C4 plastique wrapped tightly in black insulating tape and connected by wires to a cheap alarm…
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Eel makes meal of diver’s digit
PHUKET: A 32-year-old Briton is recovering in hospital here after his left thumb was bitten off and eaten by a giant moray eel while he was diving at the well-known East of Eden dive site in the Similan Islands.Matt Butcher, of Stanstead, Essex, said he had fed the 2.2-meter eel regularly over the past 18 months, and that she was…
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Similans tsunami monitoring station operational
PHUKET: The first of nine tide monitoring stations is now operational on the Similan Islands’ Koh Mieng and the remaining eight should be ready within six months, the head of the Royal Thai Navy announced on April 20.The project was announced this morning by Navy Commander Adm Surin Roengarom, who chaired a meeting with officials from the six tsunami-affected provinces,…
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Mayor denies machinations
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwannasuppana has denied that political machinations were behind the shock dismissal of her entire deputy mayoral team on April 8 and says the move was merely intended to ensure that the “most suitable people” served under her.The three former Deputy Mayors, Niwas Aroonrat, Ayuth Tansiriroj, and Piya Siamhan, are all members of the “Young…
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Arthit fails to convince Dulwich parents
PHUKET: In a stormy meeting in the Dulwich International College auditorium this afternoon, the school’s CEO and founder, Dr Arthit Urairat, clearly failed to allay parents’ worries about the future of the school.Central to the parents’ concerns is the relationship between Dr Arthit’s team and the franchiser, Dulwich College, London (DCL), with several parents making it quite clear that if…
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In very poor taste
KATHU: Police arrested a 66-year-old English language teacher from Canada on charges of sexually molesting a minor, after the man allegedly enticed his five-year-old student to perform oral sex on him by covering his penis with honey. At 9:40 pm on April 18, a team of Kathu District Police officers led by Pol Capt Serm Kwanimit entered the home of…
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New rules for motorbike taxis
PHUKET CITY: Motorcycle taxi drivers in Phuket will have to be registered and fitted with yellow license plates from May 11, it was explained at a public information seminar at The Metropole hotel yesterday.Regulation 13 of the Car Act of 2004, which includes clauses aimed at regulating motorcycle taxis, will come into force on May 11, Phuket Provincial Transportation Office…
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Appeal for info on missing Briton
PHUKET: The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has appealed for anyone who has seen Eddie Gibson, a young British national, to get in touch. Mr Gibson has not had any contact with his family since October 24, when he emailed his mother to say he was planning to return to Britain from Cambodia on a flight due to leave…
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Arthit introduces new Dulwich team
PHUKET: As the crisis over the future of Dulwich International College continues unresolved, the school’s CEO and Founder, Dr Arthit Ourairat, is in Phuket for two meetings, one with teachers this afternoon, and another with parents, scheduled for 2 pm tomorrow.At this afternoon’s meeting he introduced the new Headmaster he has chosen for the school, Canadian Prof Dr George Hickman,…
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