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Bus drivers win dispute
PHANG NGA: More than 70 sorng taeow (local buses) blocked Tai Muang Beach Rd in Phang Nga on Monday in a successful protest against an increase in fees demanded by the province’s transport concession holder. The contract between the sorng taeow drivers and the concession holder, Phuket Sa Ha Yan Yont Khon Sog Co Ltd, required the drivers to pay…
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Hotel tax: OrBorJor faces more hostility
PHUKET: Leaders of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) today went out to explain the proposed new hotel tax to the island’s hotels. They found themselves facing hostile and querulous audiences of mostly middle-level hotel employees – hotel owners and senior managers mostly stayed away. Neither the Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) nor the Thai Hotels Association (THA) was represented. In…
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IBAP holds inaugural meeting
PHUKET TOWN: The fledgling International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) held its inaugural meeting today at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, drawing a capacity crowd of 73 people. The meeting was held to introduce the concept and aims of the IBAP and to solicit discussion, questions and suggestions from those who attended. Keynote speaker Dr Prasit Koysiripong, President of the…
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Kao Mai wins OrBorJor by-election
PHUKET: Chockchai Itsarolan won Saturday’s by-election for a vacant seat representing Muang District on the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). The by-election was held to replace Yada Palimapan, who resigned her seat recently in order to run as a Thai Rak Thai Party candidate in parliamentary elections to be held before the end of this year. K. Chockchai, a member…
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National park fees rise by 1,900 pc for foreigners
NAI YANG: In accordance with a nationwide price increase announced in August, the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) is to raise its entrance fee for Sirinath Marine National Park by 1,900% – for foreigners but not for Thais. The entrance fee for foreign adults is to rise from 10 baht to 200 baht a person, while the fee for children under…
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Health system staggering under foreign laborers
PHUKET TOWN: Health officials here have urged the Thai government to force employers of foreign manual laborers to bear the cost of medical treatment for their workers. Their plea came after revelations that the health system is staggering under the increasingly heavy costs of providing health care to both legal and illegal laborers. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, chief of the Phuket…
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Public invited to IBAP luncheon
PHUKET TOWN: In keeping with its policies on transparency, the International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) is inviting the general public to attend its inaugural meeting next week. The event, a luncheon beginning at noon on Tuesday, September 26, at Royal Phuket City, will feature brief speeches by Dr Prasit Koysiripong, president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization; Khun Piriya…
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Double alcohol ban during elections
PHUKET: Elections this weekend will put a considerable dent in drinkers’ plans, with bans on the sale of alcohol affecting both Muang District and Patong. A by-election in Muang District to fill a vacant seat in the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) will be held on Saturday, so the sale and distribution of all alcoholic beverages will be barred in…
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Warning over thefts during festival
PHUKET TOWN: Pol Col Chalit Tinthanee, Superintendent of the Phuket Town Police Station, has issued a warning that people should watch their belongings carefully during the coming Vegetarian Festival. Thieves, he said, take advantage of the dense crowds to pick pockets and snatch jewelry. During last year’s festival, he added, nearly 100 complaints of theft were made to police. Visitors…
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Seven laborers electrocuted in canal
PHUKET TOWN: Seven laborers working in a canal next to the bypass road were rushed unconscious to the Wachira Phuket Hospital today after being electrocuted. The men – six Cambodians and a Thai – were working in the canal when an excavator working alongside them tangled a power line, breaking the cable, which dropped into the canal and electrocuted the…
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Solution found to hotel tax dispute
PHUKET: A special committee set up by Provincial Governor Charnchai Soontharamut appears to have come up with a compromise solution to the disagreement between hotels and the Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) over the OrBorTor’s planned tax on hotel rooms. According to the solution, hammered out on Friday, hotels will pay the tax from October 1, but at a reduced rate…
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Blackout canceled
PHUKET: Following its announcement of September 6 concerning planned blackouts, the Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) today said that the blackout scheduled for Friday (September 22) has been canceled. On that day there was scheduled to be a blackout from Chalong Circle to Baan Laem Promthep, including Viset Rd, Baan Bangkontee, Baan Saiyuan, Nai Harn Beach, Ao Sane, Baan Kokmakham,…
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Police add spice to local BBQ
PHUKET TOWN: A husband and his wife who added a profitable sideline to their barbecued food business – selling ya bah (methamphetamine) – were arrested yesterday. Pol Maj Manus Ieamcharoenchaikul of the Narcotics Division of the Provincial Police identified the couple as Charun Thiwong, 49, and his wife Umporn, 48. The pair were arrested after selling the drug to an…
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Port murders hit double digits
PHUKET: A man believed to be a Burmese fisherman was found dead on the shore opposite the Rattanachai dry dock in Phuket’s fishing port early yesterday morning. The murder was the tenth this year in the same area. Pol Capt Chaum Kaosrisuwan of Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet unidentified, had died from eight…
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Skal Club gets new committee
PHUKET: The Skal Club of Phuket has elected a new committee. The members are: Eric Hallin, President; Andy Dowden, Vice President; Suwit Auttayatmavitaya, Treasurer; and Alan Cooke, Secretary.
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Thai economy continues fragile: World Bank
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s economic recovery is on track but remains fragile, volatile and uncertain, the World Bank said today. Thailand’s recovery will remain difficult as long as the ongoing process of financial and corporate reform lags behind most of Asia, the bank said in a report on East Asia. “The pace and quality of the financial and corporate reforms continues…
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Crowd accuse police of beating man
PHUKET TOWN: An angry crowd of about 50 people from Tambon Vichit, Ao Makham, gathered at Phuket Town police station on Thursday to complain about the alleged beating by police officers of a man living in the area. Yamarn Yukolthorn, a member of the Vichit Tambon Council (OrBorTor), who led the crowd, said that on Tuesday night Wisith Sarika, a…
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Couple ‘delivered drugs with laundry’
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Police detectives yesterday arrested a husband and his wife on charges of selling ya bah (methamphetamine). Pol Capt Somkid Boonyarat identified the couple as Somkiet Charoenjit, 25, who has a small laundry business, and Malee Sorn-un, 29, a singer. Detectives had been watching Somkiet and Malee for a while, Capt Somkid said. They had gathered evidence…
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Norwegian murder suspect arrested in Phuket
PHUKET: Thai Immigration Police yesterday arrested a Norwegian man accused of brutally murdering his 3-month-old son in Norway, and then fleeing to Thailand. Morten Storborg, 32, was arrested in Rawai at the Phuket Island Resort, five days after arriving in Thailand. Pol Col Apirak Hongtong, superintendent of the Phuket Immigration Police, told the Gazette that Storborg was arrested and then…
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Jet Ski accident victim flown to Phuket
PHI PHI: The Phuket Police Aviation Division (PPAD) dispatched a helicopter to Koh Phi Phi yesterday morning to pick up a Swedish tourist injured in a jet-ski mishap. Dr Somchai Viriyakhattiyaporn, a brain surgeon at Bangkok Phuket Hospital, told the Gazette that he received a phone call at 10:30 am yesterday from a Swedish insurance agency, informing him that a…
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Suspect in warehouse raid to be prosecuted
PATONG: Kathu Police will prosecute Naowarat Sompong, the owner of counterfeit goods seized during a raid in a Patong warehouse last week. Kathu Police have officially charged Naowarat with violating the Trademark Act of 1991 after consulting with legal representatives and experts from factories of the goods in question. The companies, including such brand names as Nike, Adidas, Calvin Klein…
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Donation center to help flood victims
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Government opened a temporary donation center yesterday to help people hit by recent floods in the north and northeast. The center has been set up in the Phuket Provincial Welfare Office at the Provincial Hall, Narison Rd, and is accepting donations of money, consumer goods and food. “We have received a lot of help from…
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Monks make complaint about stray dogs
PHUKET TOWN: A committee of monks from Wat Langsarn on Narisorn Rd, behind the Provincial Court House, have written a letter to the Muang Municipality complaining about nearly 30 stray dogs living in the wat’s compound. Udom Tansakul, an official at the Municipality, said that the letter, received yesterday, requested that his office remove the dogs. “The main problem is…
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Dolphin rescued at Nai Harn Beach
NAI HARN: Villagers at Nai Harn Beach found two striped dolphins trapped in shallow waters this morning. One dolphin was lying on the beach in obvious distress. Its body was covered with wounds from scraping on the rocks. The other dolphin was swimming in shallow water nearby. The villagers contacted a biologist at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC), Kongkiet…
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Two held on fake gold charges
PHUKET TOWN: Two women were arrested on Saturday night for pawning fake gold in order to get money to gamble at a casino near Kathu. Pol Maj Sermpan Sirikong, Chief of the Special Duties Division of the Phuket Provincial Police Department, said that he received a complaint from Paisarn Vechawanichsanong, a pawnbroker, that he had paid 90,000 baht to vegetable…
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Tourist raped on Koh Samui
KOH SAMUI: A 26-year-old Norwegian tourist was allegedly raped by a sorng taew (local bus) driver around midnight yesterday. The woman, identified by police as Gry Slaem, told police that she had been drinking with a friend and had fallen asleep. When she woke, her friend was gone and she did not know the way back to her room at…
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Still no sign of fugitive mayor
PHUKET: Almost a year after a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of involvement in a murder, the former mayor of Patong, Dr Anan Ananthanawat, is still being sought by police. Pol Lt Col Paween Pongsirin, Deputy Superintendent of Investigation at Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette that a team of Provincial Special Duty Squad officers had…
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Flyers A win Patong 7s soccer
PATONG: Patong Flyers A won the 2nd Annual Patong Sevens soccer championship yesterday, beating their opponents 3-1. The win, however, came at the expense of their good friends on the Patong Flyers B squad – both teams are sponsored and managed by Peter Koch, owner of the Austrian Restaurant in Patong. Organizers were considering canceling the final game of the…
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Police raid clothing warehouse
PATONG: Phuket Tourist Police yesterday evening raided a warehouse allegedly used to store forged brand-name shoes and clothing. Pol Capt Sanya Poachsalee, Sub-Inspector Section 14 of the Phuket Tourist Police, said that officers were tipped off by an informant that the warehouse, at 179/11 Soi Talad Nud Patong, off Rat-U-Thit Rd, was being used to store the counterfeit goods. The…
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PTA moves to new offices
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) this morning opened its new offices on the bypass road, opposite the Nissan showroom. It previously had offices in the Tourism Authority of Thailand building on Phuket Rd. At the ceremony, Sombat Atiset, managing director of the Kata Thani Hotel and Beach Resort, was officially installed as the new president of the PTA.…
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