Most of the Orchestra members come from Sweden and beyond, creating a musical mélange of international sounds including jazz, swing, flamenco and bebop. The original members came together more than 20 years ago to form a rehearsal band allowing local freelance jazz musicians a chance to jam. This group was formally created in 1986 and making their debut performance at the Skeppsholmen Jazz and Blues Festival in Stockholm. In result, they achieved nine successful albums to their credit. Nowadays, the band consists of some of the best young jazz players in Sweden.

Their repertoire of modern swingin’ jazz music is rooted in tradition, but their albums highlight a variation of old and new styles as what appeared in Big Band Flamenco Fusion, Tribute to Jaco Pastorius and Tango.

All funds from ticket sales and the pre-show silent auction will be donated to three Phuket schools: Koh Lone School in Rawai, Baan Kohnaka school in Thalang and Koh Maprow school in Koh Kaew. Computers and other learning materials will also be donated to each school.

Both events will be enliven with a cocktail reception starting at 6:30pm, followed by a gala dinner buffet at 7pm. The music starts at 8:30pm. The Phuket Gazette sponsors both of these events. Tickets for the gala dinner and concert event at the Adamas Resort and Spa are priced at 1,600 baht, and tickets for the Metropole Hotel’s gala dinner and concert are priced at 1,200 baht.

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That raid action resulted in several founding of foam coolers at the back of the truck covered for 250 aquarium fish, 300 corals and 20 sea fans ready to transport in plastic bags and other types of packaging. It value was estimated excess 200,000 baht. The arrestment followed by a report of men in a truck would be loading protected species onto a Bangkok-bound tour bus leaving the Phuket Bus Terminal in Phuket Town at 10:50am.

The operation was led jointly by Phuket Marine and Coastal Resources Conservation Center director Paitoon Panchaipum and Phuket Marine Police deputy inspector Lt Natthapong Preugtharathikul. The officers followed the P2 company bus out of the station to Rassada, where the men were waiting to flag down the vehicle and load the containers into the storage hold.

The victims confessed that they indeed transporting the items, but insisted the fishes did not belong to them. They were simply hired to transport the fish and coral to Bangkok, they said.

All four suspects were taken to Phuket City Police Station for questioning and charged with possession of protected species without permission. Police will try to expand the investigation and bring more fish and coral smugglers into the court.

Mr Paitoon said there are still 28 fishing boats operating illegally in Phuket water collecting ornamental fish and transporting them to Bangkok, where there is still high demand from the aquarium supply stores. Each vessel has a crew of seven or eight men, he said.

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Police Lieutenant General Tha-ngai Prasajaksatru, commander of ECOTEC, said that the raid at CAT Tower yesterday focused on the Internet data center and was in response to a radical pro-Thaksin supporter accessing the server to instigate political violence.

Lieutenant General Tha-nga said that on February 26, Pornwat Thongsomboon, widely known as ‘K. Thong’, accessed a chat room titled ‘Voice of Change’ and posted a video clip issuing a bomb threat and stated, “The civil war has commenced”. The video also urged investors to withdraw their investments from the stock market.

The day after the message was posted, four Bangkok Bank branches in the national capital were attacked with hand grenades, followed by a further series of bomb attacks on banks in the southern province of Narathiwat on Tuesday.

Lieutenant General Tha-nga said the message was intended to damage national security and create social unrest, which is a violation of the Computer Crimes Act.

He said the contents of the confiscated server will be inspected by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in an attempt to identify the IP address of K. Thong or any other people posting items in breach of the Computer Crimes Act.

Meanwhile, in the wake of last week’s Supreme Court verdict finding Thaksin guilty of abuse of power, there have been no protests, demonstrations or other potentially damaging activities by any political groups in Phuket or most of the rest of Thailand.

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Around 900 Indian Navy midshipmen are shipping out from Phuket this afternoon after participated in training exercise aboard visiting Indian warship the INS TIR, the INS Krishna and the ICGS Varuna.

An Indian delegation, including Southern Naval Area Commander-in-Chief V/Adm Krishnan Nair Sushil and Indian Ambassador Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, met the Royal Thai Navy Base in Cape Panwa on Monday which was led by Royal Thai Navy Area Three commanding officer V/Adm Choomnoom Ardwong.

The four-day training exercise began on Sunday. The Indian vessels ship out this afternoon from Ao Makham to the Nicobar Islands. From there, their next stop will be Cochin City in India’s Kerala State. The three Indian training vessels’ last port of call was in Burma. In addition to the training, the sailors also had some fun when a team of Indian midshipmen played a friendly football match on terra firma against a Royal Thai Navy team at Rajabaht Phuket University yesterday. The Thai sailors won the match 3-1. V/Adm Choomnoom said the Thai and Indian navies continue to enjoy a strong and positive relationship.

The Indian visit follows a similar training exercise by the Thai Navy in India, he said.

India and Thailand are jointly responsible for preventing terrorism, piracy and securing maritime safety at the north end of the Malacca Strait, which will be started from Phuket and runs between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Half of the world has shipped oil moves though this strait.

The INS Krishna, now under the command of Cdr Nirbhay Bapna, was originally commissioned into the British Royal Navy in 1968 as HMS Andromeda, a Leander-class frigate that witnessed 1982 Falklands War.

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Multiple fires happened along the bypass road in recent days make Phuket firefighters keep battling it. The first broke out in a field opposite Tesco-Lotus in Rassada at about noon on Sunday. There were four car-fires and 20 firefighters tried to extinguish the fires that gradually became big due to the forest’ dense and dried state.

“As we arrived there, we saw one guy who had been burning trash in the area fleeing the scene,” one firefighter said.

There was some assisting from around 20 officers of Phuket Provincial Wildfire Prevention Unit and some 10 local volunteers. Fortunately, the flames did not spread to structures on nearby Songkhla Road, which is separated from the lot by a two-meter-high concrete wall. A recycling warehouse on the road nearby is filled with paper, plastic and other flammable materials.

Firefighters thought they had the fire under control late Sunday, but it reignited three more times: yesterday morning, again at about 8:30 last night, and again at around noon today. The latest flare-up was extinguished at about 2pm today. Over 100,000 liters of water have been used in the operation: 60,000 liters for the first fire, 20,000 for the second and 30,000 liters for the most recent.

“It is very difficult to stop the fire because we can’t see it flame beneath the surface, and this is why it continues to reignite… The best method is to spray the entire area to ensure everything is saturated,” one firefighter told the Gazette.

An even larger fire broke out at about noon today opposite the Chevrolet showroom on the bypass road northbound, also in Rassada.

Firefighters continue to battle the blaze this evening, but say they are sure it can be contained. Already about 30 rai have burned up.

There have been 15 fires in Rassada this month alone.

“This year is worse than last year because the weather is very hot and dry. When people burn their trash, it is very easy for the fire to spread and become uncontrollable,” the firefighter said.

Earlier this month, there was a fire at a recycling plant in Wichit.

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Those who want to ride for the downtown should take note that there are several major traffic lines that is closed for the Old Phuket Town Festival in which it take place starting from February 19th.

From 3pm until midnight on all three days of the festival, the following roads will be blocked off:, they are Phuket Road: From the intersection with Dibuk Road south to the intersection of Phang Nga Road. There is also Thalang Road: Entire length, Krabi Road: From Yaowarat Road Junction to Satun Road Junction, Phang Nga Road: From Phuket Road Junction west to the Sinthawee Hotel. Then, the other two are Yaowarat Road: From Dibuk Rd south to Suriyadet Circle and Soi Romanee: Entire length.

The festival began with ‘Fun Fun Poh Thong’ – culture tours of local Chinese shrines aboard old-style ‘songthews’. The tours leave the Tourism Authority of Thailand offices on Thalang Road at 1pm, 1:20pm and 1:40pm daily and space is limited to the first 20 passengers. Fees for the trips, which last about four hours, are just 50 baht per passenger. Those taking part also receive Chinese sweets and paper lanterns.

The songthews return to Queen Sirikit Park in time to allow passengers to enjoy dinner and the evening’s main event: dancing and cultural performances by troupes from 10 different provinces of China.

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Club president Woody Leonhard said matching donations from the Canadian government would result in more than 800,000 baht going to the charity. Shelter Box is a worldwide Rotary project that is sending survival kits to the devastated Central Caribbean republic.

Mr Leonhard said Rotary members, other Phuket residents and others including the Rotary Club of St Moritz, Switzerland had raised 405,000 baht for Shelter Box.

“Our efforts are ongoing, with the next round headed to the Graubundner Club in Switzerland, where it will go directly to the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the Artibonite Valley of central Haiti,” he said.

A recent Phuket Red Cross fundraising drive raised around 2 million baht for the country.

“It looks like Phuket has hit 3 million baht,” Mr Leonhard added.

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The Phuket Chapter of the Thai Red Cross Society is holding a large fundraiser for victims of the Haitian earthquake in Patong tonight.

There are performers from Phuket FantaSea and Simon Cabaret will take to a stage set up by the beach at Loma Park. The show begins from 6pm until midnight. In that show also there will also be a fashion show staged by the local chapter of the Business and Professional Woman’s Association of Thailand and other entertainment. Besides, there will be also a booth selling T-shirts will be set up to raise money for the relief effort in Haiti, where at least 170,000 lives were lost in the January 12 earthquake.

Moreover, in Phuket Town today, students from local schools could be seen collecting donations in front of local businesses. The proceeds will be turned over tonight to the Phuket Chapter of the Thai Red Cross, which is chaired by Thaisika Praisa-ngop, wife of provincial governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop. Gov Wichai will announce the total amount raised at the end of the night.

Among donations already handed over to the Red Cross were 60,000 baht from Satree Phuket School and 100,000 baht from the Kusoldharrm Foundation, which runs a network of volunteer rescue workers on the island. Then, for those who want to watch the event, it will be broadcast live on NBT Channel 11 and Radio Thailand from 9pm to midnight.

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A car crushed a cobra that was trying to cross Thepkrasattri Road in Thalang traffic late yesterday afternoon.

Estonian freelance photographer Ardo Kaljuvee, who happened to be driving past at the time, was among the many motorists who stopped to view the remains of the flattened serpent, which was at least three meters in length.

The snake’s final slither took place at about 5pm on the stretch of Thepkrasattri Road near the Susco gas station in Muang Mai, Mai Khao.

“About fifty people gathered to look. It’s the biggest snake I have ever seen,” said Mr Kaljuvee.

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Foreigners entering Thailand under the Tourist Visa Exemption category (free of charge) must possess a return or onward ticket plus adequate finances for the duration of stay in Thailand. The permitted length of stay given is 30 days when entering via an International airport, or 15 days if entering through land border crossing or sea border. Therefore, countries went under visa exemption are : Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America and Vietnam.

Thailand holds bilateral agreements on visa exemption for holders of passports from Brazil, South Korea and Peru, and these passport holders are given a 90-day stay.

Citizens of Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Maldives, Mauritius, Oman, Poland, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Taiwan and Ukraine who need to apply for a 15 day Visa on Arrival at designated checkpoints and Airports will again be charged from March 5, 2010.

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