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- Phuket News
Economic recovery facing severe challenges
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s nascent economic emergence from the depths of the crisis is in jeopardy. Recently released indicators provide stark evidence that falling exports are crippling the recovery. The slump has been spurred by a decline in demand in the United States as the economy there slows, but it also reflects a failure to stimulate fresh investment, analysts say. “Foreign…
- Phuket News
Work permits: Governor gets tough
PHUKET: With effect from yesterday, a new multi-department committee will vet all work permit applications in Phuket, Provincial Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi announced today. The committee will also check extensions and renewals, and all information will be added to a central database accessible to all the departments whose chiefs are members of the committee. These departments are the Commercial Registration Office…
- Phuket News
New ‘geezer visa’ rules come into effect
PHUKET: The Immigration Department has recently started applying changes in the regulations covering retired foreigners residing in Thailand. In particular, the department is strictly applying the rules on how much a retiree must have in his or her Thai bank account. The changes were brought into law in October 1998 but it has taken more than two years for them…
- Phuket News
Thai press: New government a disappointment
BANGKOK (AFP): Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s new cabinet was poorly received today by the Thai press who saw only a few promising figures among the discredited veterans and inexperienced newcomers filling its ranks. Thaksin won the January 6 elections after campaigning on a platform of new and unorthodox ideas as well as promises of an administration free from the corruption…
- Phuket News
Malaysia to build free trade zone at Thai border
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – A free-trade industrial zone costing three billion ringgit (789 million dollars) is to be developed near the Malaysian/Thai border over the next decade, a senior official said today. The “ASEAN Industrial Metropolis”, covering 2,400 hectares (5,928 acres), will be built at Bukit Kayu Hitam in the northwestern Malaysian state of Kedah, the state’s chief minister, Syed…
- Phuket News
Prawn farm owner arrested
PHUKET TOWN: The owner of the Wachara Prawn Farm in Pa Khlok, Somsak Wongsawanond, 36, from Songkhla, reported to police in Phuket Town Police Station last night after a warrant was issued for his arrest on one charge of illegal possession of a weapon and another of discharging a weapon in a public area. The warrant was issued last week…
- Pattaya News
Pattaya firm takes over Phuket radio station
PHUKET: The end of a four-year contract has seen Pattaya-based Sunshine Radio win the rights to run the local government radio station, 101.5 FM Phuket. Sunshine Radio won the contract direct from the Phuket branch of the Mass Communications Organization of Thailand (MCOT) in Bangkok. The amount of the winning bid was not announced. “Previously, the contracts were won on…
- Phuket News
Bag-snatchers have a busy week
PHUKET: Motorbike-riding bag-snatchers have been busy over the past week, police report, with two or three cases a day, all in the same area south of Phuket Town. “Most of the thefts took place on Chao Fa Nok Rd, Chao Fa Nai Rd, Kwang Rd, or Sakdidet Rd,” said an undercover policeman who asked not to be named. “They work…
- Phuket News
Common cold drug banned
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PHO), under instructions from the Ministry of Public Health, has announced a ban on the use of Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) in medicines. Research undertaken at Yale University has indicated that PPA may assist the development of a hemorrhagic stroke. PPA is found in many medicines taken for relieving symptoms of the common cold and is…
- Phuket News
German woman in suicide jump
PHUKET TOWN: A 45-year-old German woman apparently committed suicide by jumping from the third floor of the Bangkok Phuket Hospital on Monday at about 7:30 pm. The woman, a tourist, died from severe head injuries, according to Pol Lt Kanuang Pitakulthon of Phuket Town Police Station. The hospital cannot verify the woman’s name because no passport or other identification papers…
- Phuket News
Astrologers say recovery not on cards for 2001
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s influential astrologers say their crystal balls and tarot cards confirm what financial analysts have learned from spreadsheets and graphs — the economy is in for a tough time in 2001. Hopes that Thailand could shake off the legacy of the 1997 economic crisis in the New Year will be dashed, as the forces of nature forecast the…
- Phuket News
Disappointing start to Tourist Police raids
PATONG: The Phuket Tourist Police, under their new inspector, Pol Lt Col Supawat Sookjaroen, have launched a series of raids that will continue until January 15, and which will be aimed at reducing crimes against tourists. Lt Col Supawat was a “little disappointed” by the results of the initial raids on Tuesday, he told the Gazette. “We expected to catch…
- Phuket News
Mob blocks road to get rid of eight police
THALANG: A mob of 500 blocked the road to the airport in front of Thalang Police Station for 2½ hours on Saturday afternoon, demanding the transfer of a police captain and seven other officers whom they accused of planting drugs on people and stealing money. The protestors, from Baan Kain in Tambon Thepkrasattri, marched after Pol Capt Sanich Kongnu raided…
- Phuket News
PAWS elects new chairman
PHUKET: The Phuket Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) committee has appointed Howard Cant as chairman, with responsibility for promoting awareness of the society’s activities and for improving efficiency. Eric Wells, the former chairman of PAWS, has resigned and has now set up Dogs in Danger in Thailand (DIDIT), to continue his work for the welfare of neglected canines. The PAWS committee…
- Phuket News
Villagers issue ultimatum over boy’s death
AO MAKHAM: Dozens of protesters today continued to block the road to Cape Panwa with makeshift barricades, following the killing of a local 16-year-old boy. Some of their leaders threatened that if the police case against the boy’s killers is not sewn up by the end of tomorrow they will rally tens of thousands of Muslims from all over the…
- Phuket News
Banks continue threatened by bad loans
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s embattled banking sector will slowly begin to recover in 2001, but a morass of non-performing loans will continue to dog the industry, Merrill Lynch said in a report released today. The outlook for the banking sector next year is cautiously positive, but recovery could be pushed off course by the mountain of bad loans, or if the…
- Phuket News
King’s Cup sees better conditions on Day 2
KATA: After a first day’s racing that ended with no results in most classes thanks to lack of wind, yesterday’s King’s Cup racing saw better conditions. An enthusiastic start to the Boathouse-QBE race saw a collision on the start line between Mats Johansson’s Diah Tantri and Rodney Cran’s Slice of Heaven in the Performance Cruising class, which cost the former…
- Phuket News
Cyberport meeting identifies challenges
PHUKET TOWN: Experts who gathered on Thursday in Phuket all agreed that the island has the potential to be a “cyberport” — a center for information technology — but that it still has challenges that need to be met. “We still need to address three important factors,” said Prof Dr Pairash Thajchayapong, president of the National Science and Technology Development…
- Phuket News
International hunt for murder suspect
KAMALA: Police are trying to track down a German national, 39-year-old Walter Ober Lener, who is wanted in connection with the murder of his 21-year-old Thai girlfriend, Waraporn Tawaetwong, on Monday. The hunt began after K. Waraporn’s body was found yesterday afternoon in the house she shared with Lener. Her neck had been broken and she had been sexually mutilated.…
- Phuket News
Phuket Rugby Sevens canceled
PHUKET TOWN: It was announced yesterday that this year’s Phuket International Rugby Sevens tournament has been canceled. The announcement came just 10 days before the tournament was due to start. The Thai Rugby Union (TRU) blamed the cancellation on a 2-million-baht shortfall in sponsorship. No hint of these problems was given in the last meeting between organizers and sponsors, held…
- Phuket News
New driving test area to be built
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Provincial Transportation Office (PTO) is to set up a new area for conducting driving tests. The project, which has received the go-ahead from the Department of Land Transport, is expected to be completed within the coming 12 months. Driving tests currently take place on an area next to the PTO office which, the PTO says, is…
- Phuket News
Phuket bus service a step closer to reality
PHUKET: Phuket Town is one step closer to having the bus service that has been promised for so long. The Provincial Administration Organization – which earlier announced its intention to take over the bus project from a private company, after the plan stumbled in the wake of soaring fuel prices – has received the official go-ahead from the Phuket Provincial…
- Phuket News
Police announce softer traffic policy
PHUKET TOWN: Although they will continue stopping those who break traffic laws, Phuket’s police say they will be more systematic about it, and will issue fewer tickets for traffic offenses than before. The new policy follows riots in the streets of Nakhon Sri Thammarat recently when motorcycle owners went on the rampage in protest against what they saw as excessively…
- Phuket News
Parks coupon scheme sees few takers
BANGKOK: Only 150 tour and dive operators in the whole of Thailand have submitted applications to join a concessionary coupon scheme recently announced by the Marine National Parks Department (MNPD) of the Royal Forestry Department (RFD). The coupon scheme allows operators to take foreigners into parks at the old rate of 20 baht or 40 baht, rather than the new…
- Phuket News
Red-tape nightmare for parks entry
PHUKET: It’s official: the postponement of the fee hike for foreigners visiting national parks in Thailand has been canceled. Thais will be allowed into the parks at the old price, ranging from as little as 5 baht to 20 baht, whereas foreigners (including foreigners resident in Thailand) will have to pay 200 baht for adults and 100 baht for children.…
- Phuket News
Chaos reigns over park fees
PHUKET: Conflicting announcements from the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) have left tour operators and dive companies wondering just what the policy on national park entry fees is, how it will be applied, and when. On August 15, the RFD announced an increase in entry fees – for foreigners only – to 200 baht for adults and 100 baht for children.…
- Phuket News
Phuket chosen for crime prevention experiment
PHUKET TOWN: The commander of the Royal Thai Police today chaired a meeting at Phuket Town Police Station to discuss a project to make Phuket a model for crime prevention and suppression. If the project, due to start next year, is a success, the lessons learned will be applied to Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Hua Hin, and then to other…
- Phuket News
Massive manhunt for rapist
PHUKET TOWN: The Provincial Police Office today launched a city-wide hunt for a man who raped a British tourist, Dawn Farmer, 22, on Tuesday night. They also issued a sketch of the man, drawn from a description given by the victim. Saying that the crime is “a blot on Thailand’s reputation in the tourism industry”, the head of all Thailand’s…
- Phuket News
Boat operators warned over Similans
SIMILAN ISLANDS: Boat operators wanting to enter the Similan Islands Marine National Park before November 2 have been warned that they must get special permission first, or face action for contravening the National Parks Act of 1961. The warning was issued after two vessels were halted on Wednesday by Wittaya Hongwiangchan, who took over as the park’s Chief in May.…
- Cannabis News
Pavena raid fails to free sex slaves
TUB LAMU: Politician Pavena Hongsakul, champion of abused women in Thailand, yesterday accompanied police on a raid on a brothel in this Phang Nga village in a bid to free women believed to have been forced into prostitution. But she and the police came away empty-handed, the owner of the brothel having apparently been tipped off minutes before they arrived.…
