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The Thaiger key takeaways The most common medical emergencies for expats in Thailand include motorcycle accidents, tropical diseases, and food or water-borne illnesses. Air pollution and heat-related conditions like heatstroke also pose serious seasonal health risks, especially in northern and...
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New District Chief tackles Thalang traffic
THALANG: Newly-appointed Thalang District Chief Samart Waradisai plans to request a budget to build a tunnel and more dedicated U-turns in order to improve traffic flow and safety on Thepkrasattri Rd.Thalang District Office, working with the Phuket Provincial Highways Office (PPHO) and Thalang Police, has already taken steps to improve traffic flow at Heroines’ Monument.During peak hours, from 7 am…
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Phuket investors implicated in human trafficking bust
MAE HONG SON (The Nation): Twenty long-neck Karen women (Paduang) arrested while crossing the Thai-Burmese border on Wednesday night allegedly were to be sold to a group of Phuket investors for 10 million baht, police said on Thursday.Mae Hong Son Provincial Governor Direk Konkleeb urged officers to extend the investigation to arrest those behind the alleged human trafficking.One of the…
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Southern police reinforcements still on hold
PHUKET: Provincial Police are still waiting on reinforcements from the Deep South despite the request already having been approved by Royal Thai Police Headquarters in Bangkok, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Decha Budnampetch has told the Gazette.Gen Decha said that last year he requested 150 police officers to be sent from Police Region 9, which comprises Songkhla, Satun, Yala,…
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Phuket is “bird flu free’ – Livestock Office chief
PHUKET CITY: Phuket is 100% free of H5N1 bird flu, says the island’s top government authority on the disease.Dr Sunart Wongvorachart, who heads the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO), told the Gazette that his officers last month began an inspection and sterilization program at 17 local poultry farms, where samples were collected and sent for laboratory analysis.Thus far, all results…
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B300,000 reward offered for armed robber
PHUKET: A 300,000-baht reward is on offer for information leading to the arrest of a brazen bandit who made off with gold jewelry worth more than one million baht in a daylight robbery on Saturday.Officers report they have been following tips called in by a woman claiming to be the robber’s girlfriend, scouring the areas where she said he has…
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Barami 8 squatters pull up stakes
KALIM: Squatters living on government land on Soi Phra Barami 8 have slowly begun moving out, fearing court-ordered fines and possible arrest if they continue to stay in the area.The move comes about eight months after they received the first eviction notices.Poonsak Naksena, Chief Administrative Assistant of Patong Municipality, told the Gazette that the squatters in the first three homes…
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Phuket Immigration exempt from “smile and wai’ training
PHUKET: Immigration officers at Phuket International Airport are not required to undergo the “smile and wai” training that their counterparts at Suvarnbhumi Airport have been ordered to complete, because they have been doing it for a year already, says Pol Col Surasak Atthapanyawanich, Superintendent at Phuket Airport Immigration Office.Thailand Immigration Bureau Commander Pol Lt Gen Suwat Tumrongsiskul ordered the 1,200…
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Limo driver returns B200,000 in “lost luggage’
PHUKET: Airport limousine driver Prateep Seeponnok has been commended for returning almost 200,000 baht worth of cash and goods to their Norwegian owner who had left them in his car.K. Prateep, accompanied by Phuket Vice-Governor Worapot Rattasima and Tourist Police officers, returned the forgotten luggage to Rolf Bernharn Knobloch yesterday.K. Prateep told the Gazette that, “At 10 pm on January…
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Nai Harn curve claims two lives
CHALONG: Two men, both 20, died in a motorbike accident when the driver overshot Ku Bua curve on Saiyuan Rd around 7:30 am yesterday.Pol Lt Col Sanguan Muangtam at Chalong Police Station said that the two men, one from Nakhon Sri Thammarat and the other from Trang, were friends who had come to Phuket to work.“The men were on their…
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Members only
RAWAI, PHUKET: Outraged residents of Village 2 are demanding the immediate removal of numerous Sivaleung (Shiva’s member, or lingam) statues that decorate a newly-built spa, claiming that the phalluses will embarrass tourists and other passers-by. On January 20 Aroon Solos, President of the Rawai Tambon Administration Organization, paid a visit to the Suppaya Spa (Suppaya means “Assets of the Supreme…
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Hotels get crash course in disease control
PATONG: Dr Wiwat Sitamanod of the Phuket Provincial Health Office on Wednesday said that the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is investigating claims that six tourists contracted Legionnaire’s disease while on holiday in Patong.“The PPHO received a fax from a foreign embassy on January 9 about some of their nationals who were diagnosed as having Legionnaire’s disease after being on…
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Nai Harn encroachment probe making slow progress
NAI HARN: The investigation into the building of a resort on protected forest land at Ao Sane is making slow progress, though police expect to make more arrests soon, Chalong police have told the Gazette.Some 30 forestry officials raided the illegal construction site on October 25. Two construction foremen, Virot Niyomdechai, 31, of Satun Province, and Viriya Yimsomboon, 25, of…
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Local telephone book has arrived
PHUKET: The 2007 edition of the Gazette Guide, Phuket’s English-language yellow pages, has arrived and guestroom copies are today being delivered to the major four- and five-star hotels and resorts. The book goes on sale to the general public at noon on Thursday, February 1. The price of the directory is 140 baht. A full list of retailers in Phuket,…
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A really dumbo idea
PHITSANULOKE: A drunk was left with critical head injuries after being slammed into a tree by an elephant he was teasing. The unfortunate event transpired on the morning of January 17. A crowd of curious villagers had gathered near the entrance to Wat Muang Hawm (“Temple of the Fragrant Mango”) in Tambon Kaengsopha, Wangthong District, to see an elephant that…
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Brown nectar of the gods
PHRAE: Scores of villagers in Phrae were given a gut-wrenching shock when a “holy” spring they had prayed to and drunk from turned out to be the result of faulty plumbing rather than a gift from the gods. The font was discovered on January 4 by Anong Kwanphetch, 52, in the middle of her lawn in Tambon Mae Jua, Denchai…
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Patong tuk-tuks protest one-way traffic
PATONG: About 40 angry tuk-tuk drivers parked their vehicles on the football field on the beach road from 5 pm until 10 pm on Sunday to protest the town’s new one-way road system, which went into effect on a three-month trial from January 16.Among the drivers’ complaints are that the new system has increased traffic, travel time and operating costs – while…
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Teenager arrested for brutal murder
KATHU: Tung Tong Police have arrested a 17-year-old man for the brutal stabbing murder of 40-year-old Nongying “Sao” Sengton in her home near Tung Tong Market in the early hours of November 27.Pol Lt Col Witoon Kongsudjai, Deputy Superintendent of Tung Tong Police Station, said the arrest was made on January 16 at the youth’s home in Phang Nga’s Thapput…
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Phuket runs out of “smart” ID cards
PHUKET: People looking to be issued one of the new “smart” ID cards will have to wait until about mid-year to get their hands on one, as all District Offices on Phuket have run out of the new cards.Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwannasuppana said that people will have to settle for an old-style card until the Department of Local Administration…
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Kamala to get traditional Thai-Chinese medical center
KAMALA: Cabinet has approved a plan to build a traditional Thai-Chinese medical center with the assistance of the Chinese government at the site of the Kamala Public Health Office.Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) Chief Dr Wanchai Sattayawuthipong told the Gazette the center will provide Thai and Chinese traditional treatments to both Thai and foreign patients.The PPHO, which drew up the…
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Fewer island blackouts predicted
PHUKET: The island’s residents are expected to suffer fewer electricity supply disruptions this year as power supply will be boosted to meet expected increases in demand, the head of the island’s electricity provider has reported.Suthep Jitseree of the Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) said the successful introduction of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) technology to the island’s power grid…
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Cost of Phuket living rises 4.9%
PHUKET: The consumer price index in Phuket increased 4.9% in 2006, comprising sharp increases in several food categories, the Phuket Commercial Affairs Office has reported.Food and beverage prices increased 6% overall, led by sharp increases in fruits and vegetables (12.9%); basic ingredients (17%); and meat, poultry and seafood (8.6%).The combined increases in all non-food-and-beverage categories was 4%, led by the…
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Doubt lingers over Legionnaire’s “outbreak’ claims
PATONG: Reports in the Finnish press of Legionnaire’s Disease being contracted by a group of tourists staying at a hotel in Patong have yet to be confirmed, as tests are still being conducted by the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), Ministry of Public Health and the World Health Organization.As of press time, no proof of the bacteria Legionella has been…
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Former Sheriff robbed en route from Bangkok
MAI KHAO: A former Sheriff in San Bernadino County, California, had valuables stolen from his luggage while it was on an Orient Thai Airlines One-Two-Go flight from Bangkok to Phuket on January 10.Californian Larry Morgan, who is in Thailand on a month-long trip, said that he checked his bag in with One-Two-Go staff at Suvarnabhumi Airport about 7 pm on January…
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Traffic jams mar Patong one-way system launch
PATONG: The introduction of the new one-way traffic system in Patong passed without accident on its first day, January 15, but was marred by early evening traffic jams along Thaweewong Rd (beach road). Kathu District Police, determined to make the day a success, stationed a total of 75 officers on rotation from 3 am until midnight to direct traffic flow.Pol…
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Desalination plant finally comes onstream
KARON: The new desalination plant capable of producing up to 12,000 cubic meters of potable water a day is in its final testing stages and will begin full production by the end of this month, says the head of the island’s largest water supply system.Phuket Provincial Water Supply (PPWS) Manager Sayan Wareearoonroj told the Gazette that the plant, which uses…
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Property expo expected to set record
PHUKET CITY: The Property Investment Exhibition 2007 (PIE), the annual property show staged by the Phuket Provincial Land Office and Phuket Real Estate Club, is expected to set a record 500 million baht in sales and reservations, Thanet Traiwut, Managing Director of exhibition organizer Delice Thai, told the Gazette.Most of the properties sold or reserved were valued at five to…
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Jungceylon borrows B2.6 billion for expansion
PATONG: Jungceylon’s parent company, Phuket Square Co Ltd, has borrowed an additional 2.6 billion baht to further expand the Patong shopping complex.The money will be spent on the plaza area, building decorations, a road expansion and to finish construction of the on-site hotel. Last week Suchad Chiaranussati, President of Phuket Square Co Ltd, signed a six-year loan with the Bank…
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Bad news for the Tiger of Thalang
THALANG: Being the leader of a youth motorbike gang in Phuket is always dangerous. Occupational hazards include bullets and blades from members of rival gangs, police who will eventually make a charge stick, and carelessly-driven pickups that can quickly put an end to motorcycling mayhem. Despite the obvious risks, gang leader Kroekkriat Jantananon, from Baan Liphon in Thalang, would no…
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Gambling still Phuket’s top vice
PHUKET: With 62 cases resulting in 204 arrests from December 1 to 30, gambling remains the most popular crime committed in Phuket. Illegal lottery ticket sales counted for 44 of the arrests. Drug-related cases totaled 105 with 125 people arrested. Ya bah (methamphetamine) was involved in 35 of those cases, with 53 people arrested and 938.5 pills seized.There were 33…
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Patong to set new parking zones
PATONG: New parking zones will go into effect in Patong on January 15, when a one-way traffic system will begin operating along three major roads in the central tourist district. Starting at 6 am on January 15, all southbound traffic will be routed along Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd, which will become one-way. Northbound traffic will be routed along the beach road.All connecting…
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