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This Christmas, give the gift of health: essential options for expats in Thailand
The holiday season is here, bringing warmth, joy, and a chance to reflect on the year gone by. As an expat in Thailand, this Christmas is a great time to invest in something that truly matters: health. Whether for you...
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Resort guards arrested
CHERNG TALAY: Two former security guards from Banyan Tree Resort Phuket have been released on bail by the Phuket Provincial Court after being charged with attempted murder. Over police objections, the court released the two men the same day they were taken into custody – March 4. Pol Lt Col Suwat Kaewprom, Deputy Superintendent of Cherng Talay Police Station, named…
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Chuan leads Democrat vote drive
PHUKET CITY: Former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and other Democrat Party leaders went walkabout and attended a rally at Saphan Hin on Saturday to support Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr’s bid to win the presidency of Phuket’s Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). Among others in attendance at the walkabout and rally were current Democrat Party leader Banyat Banthadtan and senior members Trairong Suwankiri and…
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Stranded dugong recovering after rescue
CAPE PANWA: A sick dugong was rescued by the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) on Friday, given medication and food, and is making its first steps toward recovery. A fisherman saw the animal, a young female, stranded in Klong Pa Khlock, Baan Para, close to where the klong meets the sea. He contacted the PMBC who came and retrieved the…
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Search and destroy at the chicken farm
PHUKET: This week has been Clean Your Chicken Farm Week. Starting on Monday, the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO) initiated a campaign to destroy any viruses in chicken farms and chicken meat companies in Phuket. While the campaign has been deemed successful, PPLO Chief Sunart Wongchawalit and Vice-Governor Niran Kalayanamit took matters into their hands yesterday morning, personally administering the…
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Curb resort guards, mob urges police
CHERNG TALAY: An argument between locals and security guards at the Banyan Tree Phuket resort led to about 100 villagers staging a protest outside the Cherng Talay Police Station last night. The crowd protested for six hours, calling on police to have the guards removed from their jobs, said Pol Lt Col Suwat Kaewprom, Deputy Superintendent of Cheng Talay Police…
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Wind stops as Langkawi regatta starts
LANGKAWI (Gazette, Asian Yachting): Yesterday’s first day of racing in the BMW-Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2004 suffered from a syndrome known all too well to organizers and competitors in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta – fickle winds. For the Racing, Premier Cruising and Sports Boats classes, two windward-leeward courses were planned, but after the first lap of the first race,…
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B145m reservoir budget “a done deal’
THALANG: The head of the Phuket office of the Royal Irrigation Project (PRIP) is “100% confident” that the 145-million-baht budget for the purchase of land to create a reservoir at Klong Bang Neaw Dum will be approved by Bangkok by the end of March. The project, which is intended to provide a second major supply of water on the island,…
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Entertainment venues get temporary reprieve
BANGKOK: The Cabinet resolved today that entertainment venues may stay open until 2 am for the time being because new regulations enforcing earlier closing times have yet to be approved. A source in the Cabinet Secretariat, who asked not to be named, told the Gazette that all venues, regardless of when they received operating licenses, could stay open until 2…
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Police warned they must reform
PHUKET CITY: Police in Phuket were told yesterday that they must make big changes to the way they work and the way they are perceived by the public, or face having massive and humiliating change imposed on them. Speaking to a meeting of officers at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, Pol Lt Gen Somsak Buppasuwan, commander of Police Region 8…
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Spy network to tackle road safety
PHUKET: A new road safety campaign aims to recruit volunteers from government departments, schools, factories, transport operators, private companies and even villages – a large proportion of the island’s population – to look out for and report violations of traffic laws. The scheme was launched last week by the newly-formed Phuket Land Transport Security Center (PLTSC) under instructions from the…
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18,889 register as poor in Phuket
PHUKET CITY: A total of 18,889 people registered as poor in Phuket between January 5 and the registration deadline yesterday. The registration process also brought to light 5,881 people who do not have Thai IDs. It is believed that most of them are sea gypsies, supposedly the original inhabitants of Phuket. People were able to list one or more reasons…
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Marina finally breaks ground
KOH KAEW: The Royal Phuket Marina took its first step toward construction this morning with a ceremonial ground-breaking and the placing of the first stone. Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura was the guest of honor at the ceremony, presided over by the marina’s president, Gulu Lalvani. Mr Lalvani told the Gazette that he hopes the marina will attract anyone who enjoys…
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Som Tam Express wins Champagne Run
ANDAMAN SEA: The Rebak Champagne Run 2004 was a race of extremes, from lulls that left the boats lurching in sloppy waters making no headway, to fresh breezes of 10 to 15 knots. Fifteen boats registered for the Phuket-Langkawi race, the 120-nautical-mile precursor to the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club Regatta, while others joined in unofficially. As with most yacht races,…
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Sipa branch launches cyber future
PHUKET CITY: After years of promises, Phuket today moved one step towards the goal of becoming a center for information technology with the opening of a branch of the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) at Saphan Hin. The opening aligns Phuket with Sipa headquarters in Bangkok and puts the local branch in control of software development throughout southern Thailand. It…
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Third party enters municipal poll
PHUKET CITY: A third party entered the Phuket City Municipality race this morning, on the final day for registration. The Pattana Baan Rao (“Develop Our Home”) Party is led my mayoral candidate Thanapong Kho-udom, 53, who explained the late entry: “We came to register on the last day because we didn’t want to compete [for the number 1 on ballot…
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Illegals top Feb crime stats
PHUKET: Illegal immigration topped crime statistics for February 1 to 23 with 203 illegal migrants arrested, according to figures just released by the Phuket Provincial Police. Arrests for gambling coming in second, with 194 people taken into custody in the course of 106 raids. Police apprehended another 46 people for prostitution and made 34 arrests for possession or use of…
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Beach chair protest falls on deaf ears
KHAO LAK: An angry crowd of about 200 beach chair renters and other residents of the Bangniang area of Khao Lak blocked the road to Bangniang Beach from 9 am to 5 pm yesterday to protest the removal of beach chairs and umbrellas from the beach. Police and military personnel moved all the chairs and umbrellas from the beach earlier…
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Sipa to bring “e-life’ to Thailand
PHUKET CITY: Kruewal Somana, Adviser to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, today explained the aims of the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa), which will open an office on Monday at Saphan Hin. At a seminar in the Royal Phuket City Hotel this afternoon, she said that Sipa will support all sectors of society by bringing them the…
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2004 Thailand Tourism Awards launched
PHUKET CITY: The Thailand Tourism Awards 2004 were given their regional launch yesterday at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, showcasing the dual themes of environmental conservation and sustainable tourism. The Director of the local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Suwalai Pinpradab, said that the fifth annual tourism awards competition will also encourage greater competitiveness vis a vis…
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New benchmarks for central funding
PHUKET CITY: Provincial projects must meet meet one of two new criteria if they to receive funding from the central government: profit or “communal benefit”. Speaking at Phuket Provincial Hall this morning, Gov Udomsak Usawarangkura told provincial government department chiefs that only projects that make money or that offer benefits to other provinces will be considered when it comes to…
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Two more boat taxes dropped to zero
PHUKET CITY: In the wake of the dropping last week of customs duty on yachts comes more good news for the local yachting industry with the announcement that excise tax has been reduced from 5% to zero. A third impost on yachts, the Ministry of Interior Tax, which is calculated as a percentage of excise tax, also automatically falls to…
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Province requests B2.5bn for expo center
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Province and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) have jointly requested 2.5 billion baht in funding from the central government for construction of the proposed International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) at Saphan Hin – a site still seen by most island residents as inappropriate for such a project. Speaking after a planning seminar at the Royal…
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Beach encroachment survey begins
CHERNG TALAY: Around 40 restaurateurs and café owners at Lay Pang Beach will find out soon whether their premises are encroaching on public land. Officials from Thalang District Office and Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) began a cadastral survey of 17 rai of the Lay Pang area yesterday in order to define boundaries in preparation for taking court action…
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Langkawi Regatta draws 70 entries
LANGKAWI: The BMW Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2004 (RLIR) will be contested from March 3-6 in waters off the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club in Kuah, Langkawi. The organizers say that almost 70 boats from Switzerland, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, the US, Alaska, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Vanuatu have registered to take part. The official closing…
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Crime fighters set up in Phuket
PHUKET: In a bid to tackle serious crime around the country, the Bangkok-based Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) has formed local crime-fighting forces for each police region, CIB Deputy Commissioner Pol Maj Gen Chatchawal Suksomjit announced on Sunday. Gen Chatchawal has been appointed chief of the CIB office for Region 8, based in Phuket and covering Ranong, Krabi, Phang Nga, Phuket,…
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A flap but no bird ‘flu
PHUKET: The Chief of Phuket Provincial Health Office confirmed today that a hospital patient originally suspected of having bird ‘flu had been allowed to go home after doctors found he was free of the disease. Virat Hongsib-paed, 33, a garbage man employed in Kamala, was admitted to the Mission Hospital Phuket on Friday after feeling ill for several days. Concern…
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Warehouse blaze causes B2m damage
PHUKET TOWN: An electrical fire this morning caused damage estimated at two million baht in a recently built warehouse belonging to furniture company Phuket Intercraft Co Ltd, on Chao Fa East Rd. Police at first suspected arson until they were told that the building was not insured. Nutchanart Benchakij, owner of the company, told the Gazette that no one was…
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Drive against alcohol and tobacco
PHUKET CITY: In a scene reminiscent of the US in the 1920s, some 100 people turned out this morning to burn cartons of cigarettes and smash bottles of alcohol. The “No tobacco, no alcohol for a better life” project was organized by the Kalyanamitra Organization, Phuket, along with Rajabhat University Phuket, where the bottle-smashing was staged. The message of the…
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First small step toward Cyber-Paradise
PHUKET CITY: A branch of the Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) will open on March 1 at Saphan Hin – the first small step toward the island’s much-imagined golden future as an IT hub. Manoo Ordeedolchest, President of SIPA, told the Gazette, “The Board of Investment and the provincial government will be responsible for setting up and running a one-stop…
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Yacht customs duty dropped to zero
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s marine leisure industry broke out the Champagne today as the government finally dropped the customs duty on imported boats to zero, following publication of the change to the tax law in the Royal Gazette yesterday. Theera Paesathitthavorn, Deputy Chief of the Phuket Customs Office Region 5, told the Phuket Gazette today that he anticipates an increase in…
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