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) Accolades For The Empire Hotel In Travel Poll
Bandar Seri Begawan - The Empire Hotel & Country Club has collected three accolades in Smart Travel Asia's 'The Best in Travel 2007' awards - an annual travel poll, a press release stated.The Empire Hotel & Country Club was voted in the Top 25 of three categories in a poll of readers. Readers ranked the resort 19th among Asia's Best Business Hotels, 18th among Asia's Best Conference Hotels and 12th of Asia's Best Leisure Hotels & Resorts. Other hotels and resorts featured in this reputable poll include The Peninsula Hong Kong, The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay, Grand Hyatt Shanghai, The Datai Langkawi. JW Marriot Phuket Resort and Spa, Banyan Tree Phuket, One & Only Royal Mirage Dubai, Ritz Carlton Bali, The Oriental Bangkok and Pangkor Laut Resort. More>>
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) Kingdom's diversification policy pays off
JEDDAH � The Asian investment diversification policy of the Saudi-owned Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI) has contributed substantially to the company's first-half earnings, and is expected to grow in the years ahead, according to the Bangkok Post.Chief executive Sarmad Zok was quoted as saying: "Since the beginning of 2006, KHI has acquired interests in approximately $2 billion worth of hotels in high-growth emerging markets. The 19 hotels acquired since 2006 represented a strong delivery on our acquisition objectives. We are now approaching a new phase in our development as we focus on integrating the diversified assets in our portfolio; we are on track to continue deploying capital in key areas of under penetrated growth or where we have invested."
The daily said that nearly all the hotel expansion undertaken by KHI in the past year has been in Asia, a region which generated 21 per cent of the group's total consolidated hotel revenues in January-June 2007, which according to the company report, was up from 1 per cent in the same period of 2006. More>> - (
) As Bangkok slowly sinks, Thailand hunts for solutions
At Bangkok's watery gates, Buddhist monks cling to a shrinking spit of land around their temple as they wage war against the relentlessly rising sea.During the monsoons at high tide, waves hurdle the breakwater of concrete pillars and the inner rock wall around the temple on a promontory in the Gulf of Thailand. Jutting above the water line just ahead are remnants of a village that already has slipped beneath the sea.
Experts say these waters, aided by sinking land, threaten to submerge Thailand's sprawling capital of more than 10 million people within this century. Bangkok is one of 13 of the world's largest 20 cities at risk of being swamped as sea levels rise in coming decades, according to warnings at the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change held here. More>>
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) Teacher paedophile suspect faces Thai court
A Canadian teacher arrested in northeast Thailand after an Interpol manhunt was remanded in custody today.Christopher Neil, 32, became the world's most wanted paedophile suspect after police reconstructed a digitally obscured picture of him which he had posted on the internet. He is accused of sexually assaulting dozens of young boys.
Neil will be held in a Thai jail for at least 12 days, a Bangkok court ordered, pending a trial on molestation charges.
Interpol today called on Neil's other alleged victims to come forward.
“The investigation must now continue. All victims of this man must make themselves known," the head of Interpol's police services, Jean-Michel Louboutin, said at a news conference in Lyon, France, the organisation's headquarters. More>>