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Woman zapped by her own security device
SURAT THANI: Sakhon Wich-aidit was fed up with thieves trying to steal the mats of rubber stored outside her home, so she installed a security system – she surrounded her property, located in a rubber plantation, with bare wire, then plugged it into the mains power. But the only victim claimed by the system was K. Sakhon herself. At about…
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Sole food
The father of an 8-year-old boy who eats nothing but dirty shoes and sandals is worried about his son’s health and seeking donations for medical treatment to cure him. After neighbors brought the existence of the shoe-eating boy to the attention of staff at the TV program Mun Plak Dee Na, they went to Hao village in Chiang Mai province…
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Arcadia-Hilton split denied
KARON: A representative of the owners of the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa has denied widespread rumors that the Hilton brand will be dumped next year.Hilton International took over management of the Phuket Arcadia Beach Resort on October 1 last year, and the property was rebranded.The rumors posited that the Arcadia owners were unsatisfied with Hilton’s performance, and planned to take…
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Gambling still top of crime stats
PHUKET: According to figures released by the Phuket Provincial Police, gambling once again topped the list of criminal offenses in November, with 217 people arrested. Forty-two cases involved the sale of underground lottery tickets.Eighty four people were arrested for the illegal possession or use of controlled substances, with precisely 2,189½ ya bah (methamphetamine) tablets seized. Fifteen people were arrested for…
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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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Property in the spotlight at forum
PHUKET: The Provincial Land Office and the Phuket Real Estate Club (PREC) will jointly organize a Phuket International Property Forum on December 17 as part of tsunami anniversary activities – and to assure potential buyers that the property market remains as buoyant as ever. PREC President Phummisak Hongsyok, who will serve as the seminar’s moderator, told the Gazette, which is…
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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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Aussie teen latest jet-ski casualty
PATONG: An Australian teenager was critically injured on Wednesday afternoon when his rented jet-ski was in collision with another jet-ski operated by a friend.Both men were rushed to Patong Hospital after the crash, which happened at the south end of the beach at about 4 pm.Pol Maj Sophon Borrirak of Kathu Police said 19-year-old Antonio Scognamigli, was rushed unconscious to…
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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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Vice-Governor’s home burgled
PHUKET CITY: Police have few leads in their investigation of the burglary on Tuesday of Phuket Vice-Governor Niran Kalayanamit’s official residence on Kamnan Rd.Phuket City Police Superintendent Pol Col Nos Avettalekha today confirmed to the Gazette that K. Niran’s house had been broken into while the island’s senior Vice-Governor was in Bangkok attending a meeting on preparations for next month’s…
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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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Police hunt porn panty perv
CHON BURI: Police are on the lookout for a pervert who has been breaking into the unattended homes of young women in order to indulge in some rather messy fantasies. The most recent break-in was reported on October 31 by Kedchadarat Thepchaiphum, 22, a resident of Tambon Sattahip. K. Kedchadarat told the Sattahip Police that she left home at 7:30…
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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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Alcohol sale rules tightened
PHUKET: The hours when alcohol may be sold in shops and supermarkets are to be shortened with effect from January 1, 2006, the Phuket Provincial Excise Office has announced, after receiving orders from Minister of Finance Thanong Bidaya.From New Year’s Day, sales of alcohol in retail outlets will be allowed only between 11 am and 2 pm, and between 5…
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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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Free concert to feature top Japanese acts
PHUKET: In a bid to lure more Japanese visitors to Phuket this high season, “Sawasdee Phuket”, a free concert to be held in Patong on Saturday, November 19, will feature singers famous in Japan.The concert is scheduled to take place from 5 pm to 1 am at the soccer field on Thaweewong Rd.Performers will include Ai Kawasaki, Ryota Mitsunaha, Asuka…
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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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