PHUKET: A daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media.
nationmultimedia.com Major hotel operators in key tourist destinations are putting their properties on the market with foreign investors poised to strike. Properties listed for sale by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels include Evason Phuket Bon Island, Six Senses Evason Hua Hin and Centara at Karon and Kata in Phuket. Phuket was hot but now Bangkok is leading despite a glut in rooms.
nhl-red-light.si.com A plane carrying the Russian ice hockey team Yaroslavl Lokomotiv has crashed, killing almost all of the 45 people on board. In the words of Rene Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, it is ”the darkest day in the history of our sport.” The team was heading to Minsk to play the opening game of the season.
nationmultimedia.com Yingluck Shinawatra’s first overseas visit as prime minister, to Brunei on Saturday, has no hidden agenda and is taking place because the sultanate was the first country to say it was ready to receive a visit, government officials said.
telegraph.co.uk A Sussex man who fled to Phuket after being arrested and bailed in connection with a number of UK fraud offences has been arrested for overstaying his visa and is expected to be returned to the UK. Detective Inspector Paul Phelps of Sussex Police said: “Mr [Paul] Ridden is wanted by Sussex Police for offences of fraud. Should he return to the UK he will be arrested. I am not aware of him being detained in Thailand by the Thai authorities, and it has not been at our request, but clearly we would welcome their assistance in his return to the UK.”
birminghammail.net The Home Secretary has approved the extradition of a Birmingham-born kickboxer Lee Aldhouse who is accused of murdering a former US soldier on Phuket.
nationmultimedia.com Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Rapi Pongbuppakit identified the alleged owners of six resort/vacation homes in a forest reserve. All will be summoned to face charges relating to encroachment. He added the team was in the process of gathering evidence relating to 16 other resorts found in the forest reserve. [Ed: Time to name names on Phuket?]
cnn.com The death toll from the storm known as Talas has risen to 49 in Japan, emergency officials said. Another 58 people are missing after the storm hit western Japan, unleashing record rainfall and triggering landslides and flooding.
scmp.com A Nepal Airlines Boeing 757 was grounded at Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Lok airport after a mouse sneaked into the cockpit, the airline disclosed.
bbc.co.uk Malaysia, which started exporting durians to China for the first time on August 15, is hoping to supplant Thailand as the top seller of durians to the mainland. The smell of the pungent fruit with its ferociously spiky skin has been variously compared to sewers or even dead animals.
csmonitor.com A growing number of North Korean defectors are crossing illegally into Thailand via a new ‘underground railroad’ because Thailand processes defectors and sends them to South Korea quickly.
todayonline.com Singapore is the second-most competitive economy in the world and the most competitive among Asian countries, the World Economic Forum says in its latest survey. The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, which surveyed 142 economies, says Singapore overtook Sweden but failed to edge out Switzerland.
eurasiareview.com A Wikileak cable has revealed that an Burmese employee with the NGO, Save the Children, was suspended without pay after they found out he had been trafficking young males, including minors, to be conscripted into the United Wa State Army.
independent.co.uk Fear and anger gripped India’s capital after a bomb exploded outside a court in Delhi, killing at least 11 people and wounding around 75. It was the second such attack at the location within four months.
aap Indonesia’s counter-terrorism chief has called on Australia to relax official warnings against travelling to his country, saying they don’t reflect current threat levels. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s travel advice for Indonesia, last updated on August 29, continues to warn of a “very high threat of terrorist attack,” particularly on Bali.
voanews.com A group of exiled Burmese environmentalists is warning the construction of a gas and oil pipeline from Burma’s Arakan State to China could displace up to 30,000 people and deprive scores of local communities of badly needed development funds. The $1.5-billion 3900 kilometer pipeline is being overseen by China’s National Petroleum Corporation along with South Korean and Indian investors.
media release “I have been told many times that sitting on our expansive oceanfront teak decks, shaded by towering coconut palms, looking out onto the pristine beach that preludes the breathtaking view of our private bay, is truly one of those moments in life that is never forgotten,” commented Anthony Lark, Executive Director and General Manager of Trisara. “We feel an enormous responsibility to both our guests, and our environment, to honour this experience with a world class culinary offer.”
guardian.co.uk Rafael Nadal led an angry players’ revolt at the US Open, berating the tournament organisers for risking the players’ safety by forcing them to play on what they considered dangerously damp courts.
smh.com.au More than 3500 sex workers are primed and ready. By process of extrapolation, we can assume the rest of New Zealand is, too. The Rugby World Cup begins on Friday when New Zealand play Tonga.
September 17-18 Honda Racing, Saphan Hin, Phuket City
September 21-24 Quiksilver Thailand Surf Competition 2011, Patong
September 27-October 5 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket
November 1-6 Women’s Beach Volleyball Series at Karon on Phuket
November 26-27 9th Phuket International Soccer 7s
November 27 Laguna Phuket Triathlon
December 3-4 6th Andaman International Soccer 7s
December 4 Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship, Laguna
March 18-28 National Youth Games, Phuket
March 29-April 1 Phuket International Boat Show, Royal Phuket Marina
November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket
