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Immigration launches hospital visa service
PHUKET: The Phuket Immigration Office (PIO) has launched a new free visa extension service for foreigners in hospital.Pol Capt Krissarat Nusen of Phuket Immigration Office told the Gazette that the new service, launched a few days ago, covers only genuine inpatients, who must get the hospital to contact the PIO at least one day in advance of the expiry of…
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Luxury yacht grounded after taking on water
PHUKET: The luxury charter yacht Phayoon 3 was grounded off the southern coast of Phuket early this morning after the vessel began taking on water in heavy seas.The 130-foot motor yacht, which is operated by Kingfisher Marine, came back from a season based in Singapore in October, and was on the way to pick up passengers from Myanmar.So far not…
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Patong cracks down on street touts
PATONG: Municipal officials will patrol the streets of Patong day and night this high season in a crackdown on touts and street vendors harassing tourists, Patong Deputy Mayor Chairat Sukbal has announced.“We need to ensure that [touts] do not distribute leaflets or grab tourists’ hands to try to persuade them to buy from their shops. We will arrest them for…
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World Vision denies “aid for souls’ reports
PHUKET: Tim Costello, Chief Executive Officer of Christian aid group World Vision Australia, has rejected reports that the group has used tsunami donations and aid in an attempt to entice Thais to convert to Christianity.World Vision has helped more than 50,000 tsunami-affected people, through food distribution and providing much-needed items including 300 boats, fishing gear for 2,449 families, and 4,848…
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School closed after “pupils possessed by spirits’
THALANG: The Director of Cherng Talay Wittayakom secondary school sent students home for three days from Monday, following an apparent case of mass hysteria the previous Friday.On that afternoon, a number of students were supposedly possessed by a spirit after a backhoe being used as part of a renovation project accidentally damaged an old Chinese shrine behind the school.According to…
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Big blues names coming to Phuket
KARON: The curtain rises on Phuket’s first international blues festival on December 16, with nine bands taking to the stage in the course of the two-day event, hosted by the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa in Karon.The first band to take the stage, at 6:30 pm on December 16, will be Blue On Blue from Bangkok. They will be…
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Suwat raps warning demo delay
PATONG: Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop yesterday rapped the Nonthaburi-based National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) for a mix-up that resulted in a delay in a demonstration of tsunami sirens in Patong.The Deputy PM, who was in Phuket to check on preparations for the December 26 tsunami anniversary, had asked for the demonstration.“We are checking everything, especially the warning system [in…
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2 die, 4 hurt in Patong landslides
PHUKET: Landslides caused by torrential rains claimed two lives in Patong last night and injured four others, according to Patong Hospital. The downpour also caused extensive flooding in Phuket City and many other parts of the island.Padungkiat Utoksenee, Deputy Director of Patong Hospital, said that while flooding in Patong often resulted in accidents, last night was the first time people…
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Starwood buys Le Meridien
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has announced that it has completed its acquisition of the Le Meridien brand and the related franchises and management contracts.It has paid about US$225 million (9 billion baht) for control of the 130 hotels and resorts worldwide – including Le Meridien’s two properties in Phuket, one in Khao Lak and one…
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Tsunami alarm drill set for December 16
PHUKET: The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) will conduct a simultaneous test of all Information and Communications Ministry (ICT) tsunami warning towers in the Andaman provinces on December 16, Suranand Vejjajiva, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office, has announced. The timing of the test has yet to be set.K. Suranand made the announcement at a meeting on Tuesday with…
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Man found dead in rubber plantation
KATHU: The badly decomposed body of a man was found yesterday morning in a Kathu rubber plantation.Pol Lt Prathung Pholmana, Duty Officer of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that he received a phone call from locals saying that they had discovered a male corpse in the Tung Tong area near Patong Hill.Police found the body under a tree but…
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Island has water to last until mid-March
PHUKET: Despite almost daily rain over the past few months, Phuket’s principal water supply source is still only about half full.With the rainy season drawing to a close, Isara Anukul, Chief of the Water Allocation Division of the Phuket Irrigation Office (PIO), told the Gazette yesterday that the Bang Wad Reservoir in Kathu currently has 3.28 million cubic meters in…
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Last minute rush of entries for memorial contest
BANGKOK: The final week for registration of competitors for the Tsunami Memorial Design Competition has seen a flood of new entries.By November 15, the deadline for registration, 679 contestants from 49 countries had signed up for the competition, a leap of 130 from the previous week.The US topped the list with 151 registrants, followed by Thailand (134), Japan (43), Germany…
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Phuket still high in HIV/Aids rankings
PHUKET: The island has the fifth-highest reported number of people infected with HIV in the Thailand, and the second-highest in the South, according to the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO).Eam-on Kittitornkul, Chief of the Aids Division at the PPHO, said that, at the last count, there were 3,729 known cases in the province: a substantial increase from the roughly 2,000…
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PM’s Office announces ‘Andaman Grand Sale’
PHUKET CITY: In order to aid in the region’s post-tsunami economic recovery, the government has announced a special “Andaman Grand Sale” to take place in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi from December 27, 2005 to January 28, 2006. Chaiyapak Siriwat, Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister, announced the campaign at a press conference at the Royal Phuket City Hotel late…
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Tennis tournament axed: lack of funds
PHUKET: A one-day international women’s tennis tournament, set to feature such tennis superstars as Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport playing at the Saphan Hin municipal tennis courts on New Year’s Day, has been canceled due to lack of funding. Chaiyapak Siriwat, Vice-President of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand, made the announcement at a press conference on upcoming tsunami anniversary…
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The perils of not wishing to be idle
RASSADA: Nhu Pakjaroong, 59, whose surname means “stop and relax”, was the sort of woman who refused to stay idle, said acquaintances. Rather than sit at home and look after her grandchildren, the resident of Soi Namchai in Tambon Rassada Moo 1 invited two friends to go out and scavenge the neighborhood for saleable junk. That, as it turned out,…
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Disgraced tycoon Boonkeng shot in Bangkok
BANGKOK (Phuket Gazette/Kom Chad Luek): Disgraced businessman Boonkeng Srisansuchart, evicted in 2004 from land in the Panturat Hills along the bypass road, was wounded in a gun attack in Bangkok on Saturday morning.An associate of his, Nimit Pokaphol, a former civil servant in the Phuket Provincial Land Office (PPLO), was killed in the attack by a round from a .22…
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Indonesian property giant buys 123 rai at Bang Tao
BANG TAO: A 123-rai plot of land next to the beach at the northern end of Bang Tao Bay has been sold by Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels (HSH) to Indonesian property giant PT Jakarta Setiabudi Internasional Tbk (JSI).JSI bought the land through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cayman Islands-based Durham Holdings, for just under 865 million baht – about 7 million baht…
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Blues festival program announced
KARON: The organizers of the Phuket International Blues Festival have announced the program for the event, which will be hosted by the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa on December 16 and 17.The festival will be officially opened by Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura at 6:25 pm, with the first band, Blue On Blue from Bangkok, taking the stage five minutes…
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Monorail proposal to be aired
PHUKET: A proposal to build a passenger monorail system in Phuket will undergo its first public hearing in February. The aim of the hearing is to allow discussion between those likely to be affected by the project and the consultancies responsible for the planning and routing of the monorail.The proposed system would provide a route between the airport and Phuket…
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Minimum daily wage may rise by B3
PHUKET: Phuket’s minimum daily wage, currently 178 baht, could rise to 181 baht, matching Bangkok, if the Phuket Provincial Labor Committee gets its way.At a meeting yesterday, the committee – which comprises five provincial officials, five employers and five employees – approved the three-baht increase in principle.Suthep Therdkiatkajorn, an official with the Phuket Provincial Labor Office, said that the proposal…
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Deadline set for Laguna triathlon registration
CHERNG TALAY: The number of participants registered for this year’s Thai Airways International Laguna Phuket Triathlon on December 4, has far exceeded expectations. As a result the organizers have announced that registration for both the individual and the team relay events will close on Friday, November 18 at 5 pm. They warned that no entries received after that deadline will…
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More work ordered on tsunami aid theft case
PHUKET: Orders for police to conduct further investigations into the disappearance of 2.05 million baht of tsunami aid money from Phuket Provincial Hall nine months ago have finally arrived in Phuket.The Special Public Prosecutor in the Phuket State Attorney’s Office, Bantoon Thongtan, told the Gazette yesterday that he had just received, from the Regional Director of Prosecutions in Surat Thani,…
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Low response to free tsunami trip offer
PHUKET: The government had expected some 10,000 relatives of tsunami victims to take advantage of its offer of free flights and a one-night stay for the tsunami anniversary commemoration ceremonies. In the event, only 400 people have signed up so far. The Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Region 4, Suwalai Pinpradab, told the Gazette that the government has…
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Additional tsunami anniversary events announced
PHUKET: The provincial government has announced more of its schedule for the upcoming tsunami anniversary, which is to run from December 24 to January 21.December 26: 10 am-11 am: simultaneous memorial ceremonies to take place at Patong Beach, Kamala Beach and Mai Khao Cemetery. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, along with members of the Thai government and VIP guests, will lay…
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Dutchman rams gunmen into power pole
PHUKET (Gazette, Kom Chad Luek): A Dutchman turned the tables on two men who allegedly fired a gun at him as he drove his pickup along Chao Fa West Rd yesterday morning, chasing them down and ramming their motorbike into a power pole.One of the two men was killed, the other seriously injured.Pol Lt Col Jessada Sangsuree of the Chalong…
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Dog pound to have December grand opening
PHUKET: Sunart Wongchawalit, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office, has told the Gazette that, rather than closing down the controversial Mid Road Dog Shelter in Thalang, it is to have a grand opening in December.At a meeting on August 31, Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura stated that a decision would be reached by the end of September whether or not to…
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432 entrants so far for tsunami memorial contest
BANGKOK: An astonishing 432 entrants from 44 countries have registered so far for Thailand’s Tsunami Memorial Design Competition. Registration closes next Tuesday (November 15). The aim of the competition is to gather conceptual designs for building a memorial at Khao Lak that will be “appropriate and interactive” and “serve as a permanent tribute” to those who lost their lives in…
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Red tape mix-up stalls tsunami aid theft case
PHUKET: Nine months after 2.05 million baht in tsunami aid money went missing from a strongbox at Phuket Provincial Hall, the investigation into the theft has apparently stalled temporarily due to poor communication between the police and the regional court now in charge of the case. The Region 8 Prosecutor’s Office in Surat Thani says it approved a request by…
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