UPDATING All Day, Every Day
nnt Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was seen with her son at Suvarnabhumi Airport last night, bringing along 11 pieces of luggage to head for France as part of her European trip scheduled until August 14. She's expected to celebrate her brother Thaksin's birthday on July 26.
komonews.com Anesthesiologist Eric Jay Smith is taking leave as US investigators continue to build a case alleging he ran a large prostitution ring using young women smuggled from Thailand and housed in ritzy Washington apartments.
bangkokpost.com Bangkok Airways will launch a non-stop daily jet service from Chiang Mai to Phuket in late October to spark its northern hub. Three more new routes will also link Yangon and Mandalay in Burma (Myanmar) and the northeastern city of Udon Thani.
bangkokpost.com The Thai embassy in Tel Aviv has asked the Israeli government to move Thai workers 10-20 kilometres away from the Gaza Strip to ensure their safety after a farm worker from Nan province was killed by a mortar shell.
PhuketWATCH Daily Media Wrap
PHUKET: The daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media. Beware of inconsistent imitations.
Today's Top News Items
bangkokpost.com The Lands Department says it is prepared to revoke any illegal land possession documents in Phuket's Sirinath National Park if they are found to be illegal by an investigation to be held over the next 60 days. ''These documents must be scrutinised very carefully, as the land in question is worth billions of baht,'' said new director-general Peerasak Hinmuangkow.
nationmultimedia.com Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said that Provision 44 of the interim constitution has provided the National Council for Peace and Order with unprecedented special powers independent of the prime minister and without checks and balances. The NCPO is empowered to issue laws, orders and even overturn court decisions.
bangkokpost.com The junta is imposing a regime of ''forced smiles'' on an unwilling populace as their rights are progressively eroded, says Human Rights Watch (HRW). The Foreign Ministry quickly countered the claims, with ministry spokesman Sek Wannametee saying the NCPO had no policy to censor the media and martial law was imposed to reconcile conflicting groups.
bbc.com A passenger plane has crashed after a failed emergency landing in Taiwan, killing more than 40 people, local officials say. The domestic flight crashed near Magong airport on the outlying Penghu island, reports said.
afp Major airlines shunned Israel for a second day amid fears that rocket fire from Gaza could endanger flights into Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport.
nationmultimedia.com A Thai worker in Israel was killed when a rocket landed near him, Employment Department Director General Sumet Mahosot said.
Phuket World of People
bangkokpost.com Authorities have seized assets worth more than 100 million baht from Dutchman Johannes Petrus Maria van Vanarhoven and his wife Mingkwan Kaen-in who were arrested in Pattaya. The couple are wanted for transnational drug trafficking and money-laundering [as first reported in Phuketwan on Wednesday.]
nationmultimedia.com Wanchai Rujanawong, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney-General, said the gang reportedly gathered drugs in Asia to be smuggled into the Netherlands, where they had coffee shops as a cover-up business. He hoped this would lead to further cooperation to crack down on transnational criminals in tourist destinations such as Pattaya and Phuket.
meetpie.comThailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has announced a raft of special promotions designed to lure the meetings industry back to Bangkok.
abc.net.au The United Nations has launched an international inquiry into allegations of human rights violations and war crimes that may have been committed by Israel during its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
independent.co.uk Four members of Sri Lanka's Commonwealth Games team sparked a police response after going for a ride down one of Scotland's busiest stretches of motorway.
bangkokpost.com Nam tok moo, or spicy sliced grilled pork, has become the most popular dish in Thai restaurants in the European Union and the United States, according to the latest survey by the National Food Institute.
AP Sierra Leone's health minister confirmed that the doctor in charge of battling the current Ebola outbreak has become ill with the deadly disease. The minister described the stricken doctor as a national hero for the sacrifices he has made during the current outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever. More than 500 people have died.
smh.com.au ''Australia is a country of 22 million, we are 1.2 billion, yet you've got a continent that is double the size of ours,'' he said. ''So why should we accept them?'' A former Indian diplomat responds to an odd request from Australia.
theregister.co.uk Apple talked up strong Mac and iOS device sales in its latest quarter - but the real news is a slump in iPad numbers.
The Shooting Down of Flight MH17
smh.com.au Grieving relatives of the MH17 crash victims have had chilling confirmation that their loved ones' possessions have been looted. Relatives in the Netherlands dialled the victims' mobile phone numbers and said the phones were answered by people with ''eastern European-sounding voices.''
afp The first bodies from flight MH17 arrived in the Netherlands almost a week after it was shot down over Ukraine, as the conflict flared yet again near the Malaysian airliner's crash site. Church bells rang throughout the country as the planes touched down in a much-delayed return.
newsweek.com For a brief moment on Wednesday morning, Twitter users nearly had a collective blip of a heart attack when the AP tweeted that one of the Dutch planes carrying bodies from the downed Malaysia Airlines flight ''crash lands in Eindhoven.''
scmp.com The Obama administration released satellite images and other sensitive intelligence that officials said proved Moscow had trained and equipped rebels in Ukraine responsible for the attack.
theindependent.com British Prime Minister David Cameron was under pressure to clarify Britain's policy on arms exports to Russia following claims of hypocrisy over continuing weaponry sales to the country.
dailytelegraph.com.au The MH17 disaster has rocked Australia's sense of security in a way not experienced since the 2002 Bali bombings, international relations expert Dr Michael Fullilove says.
Around the Asean Region
nytimes.com Prabowo Subianto, the former army general who was declared the loser in Indonesia's emotionally charged presidential election, will appeal the results to the country's Constitutional Court, saying that there were widespread voting irregularities, senior advisers to his campaign said.
afp An Indonesian court jailed Frenchman Francois Giuily, 49, for 15 years for smuggling three kilos of crystal methamphetamine into the resort island of Bali.
dw.de Cambodia's opposition party has struck a deal with PM Hun Sen, after almost a year of boycotting Parliament over alleged electoral fraud. But critics say that the vague agreement ''will come back to haunt the opposition.''
Phuket World of Sport
afp Manchester United are prepared to break transfer records in order to give new manager Louis van Gaal the players he wants, according to executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward. United are rebuilding under Van Gaal after a dismal 2013-14 season.
belfasttelegraph.co.uk Everton defender Seamus Coleman will miss their pre-season friendly in Thailand to ensure he does not aggravate a hamstring problem.
stv.tv Excitement is building in Glasgow as thousands of people arrive to take their seats for the opening ceremony of the 20th Commonwealth Games.
Coming Events on Phuket 2014
August 11 Special holiday for Queen's Birthday
August 12 Queen's Birthday
September 24-October 2 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket
October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day
November 6 Loy Kratong
November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket
December 5 King's Birthday
December 10 Constitution Day
December 25 Christmas Day
December 26 10th Anniversary, 2004 Tsunami
December 31 New Year's Eve
Coming Events on Phuket 2015
February 13-15 Phuket Yacht Show
11 pcs of luggage by Yingluck traveling to France
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She probably is traveling First Class, so then luggage allowance is 40kg per person , or 80 kg for two (if no servants are traveling together).
11pcs look to be far beyond 80kgs.
So she normally should be charged 1% of "Y" class eco cabin ticket for every kg, that is not small money, but insignificant for First Class traveller.
And she probably travelled THAI.
I wonder if she was charged for overweight luggage , or the airline took such burden on its account ...
Posted by Sue on July 24, 2014 12:55