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  • FC Phuket coaches step down

    FC Phuket coaches step down

    PHUKET: FC Phuket’s worries continue with the announcement from club director Soranan Sanae that Sompong “Rock Rhino” Wattana resigned as head coach yesterday. Director Soranan said “Coach Sompong still has responsibilities with the Port Authority of Thailand and hasn’t had much time to train the players. We have asked Coach Apichart “Mo” Mosika to caretake for tomorrow’s game in his…

  • Phuket Media Watch: Chinese news round-up

    Phuket Media Watch: Chinese news round-up

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Collapse at coal mine in southwestern China kills 9 Phuket Gazette / News Wires Nine workers have been killed and two others are injured after a collapse at a coal mine in southwestern China, local authorities said on yesterday. The accident happened at around 5:20 p.m.…

  • Phuket prepared for Indian weddings in 2012

    Phuket prepared for Indian weddings in 2012

    PHUKET: The island is prepared to host a number of lavish wedding ceremonies for Indian couples tying the knot in 2012, with top Phuket officials offering their help to smooth the way for wedding parties. Among those planning to hold ceremonies were the parents of one couple who met with Phuket Governor and head of the local Tourism Authority of…

  • Phuket tourists dive in to help Methee’s grieving parents

    Phuket tourists dive in to help Methee’s grieving parents

    PHUKET: A man who has asked to remain anonymous has contacted the Phuket Gazette in response to the story covering the unfortunate death of Methee Khunsuinhu, who died as a result of a drowning accident at a lagoon near Nai Harn Beach on New Year’s Day. The man, a foreigner who lives and works in Phuket, expressed his deep condolences…

  • New Year goes off with a final bang | Thaiger

    New Year goes off with a final bang

    A NEW Year’s Eve celebration went horribly wrong for one family on Koh Samet after a woman shot three bullets into the air to mark the start of 2012. As Rampha Suphasi, 48, lowered her gun it accidentally discharged again, hitting her husband Thanakit Suphasi in the chest. Mr Thanakit, also 48, promptly fell down dead. Police arrived at the…

  • Phuket Media Watch: Bishop quits; Hybrid sharks; Volcano activity; Face failures

    Phuket Media Watch: Bishop quits; Hybrid sharks; Volcano activity; Face failures

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Catholic bishop in California quits after admitting he fathered two kids Phuket Gazette / News Wires The Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Wednesday announced that one of its Catholic bishops has resigned after acknowledging he fathered two children in the past. Gabino Zavala, 60, resigned under…

  • Swede NATO officer dies in Phuket crash | Thaiger

    Swede NATO officer dies in Phuket crash

    PHUKET: A 48-year-old Swedish man who reportedly worked for NATO died in a motorbike accident on Phuket’s west coast early this morning. Pol Capt Somnerk Dumkewa of Kamala Police told the Phuket Gazette that his officers received a call reporting the accident at about 2:30am. At the scene, on the street leading to the Kamala Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor), officers…

  • Phuket Business: Ingredients of good showbiz

    Phuket Business: Ingredients of good showbiz

    PHUKET: Siam Niramit Phuket recently launched the second edition of “Thailand’s Must-See Show”, opening a massive new theater on the bypass road near Phuket Town to house it. Good news for the local entertainment and tourism sectors, Siam Niramit Phuket’s “Journey to the Enchanted Kingdom of Siam” show provides one more compelling itinerary for tourists and residents alike. Pannin Kitiparaporn,…

  • Phuket’s Seven Days of Danger claims six lives

    Phuket’s Seven Days of Danger claims six lives

    PHUKET: The final toll for the “Seven Days of Danger” road safety campaign in Phuket is six dead and 80 injured in 75 reported accidents, all higher than last year’s figures. The final day of the campaign yesterday saw 10 people injured in nine reported accidents, none involving foreigners. During the 2010-2011 New Year campaign four people died and 74…

  • FC Phuket fans say cheers for lifting the ban

    FC Phuket fans say cheers for lifting the ban

    PHUKET: FC Phuket fans will be allowed to cheer during the team’s final home match of the season on Saturday evening against Bangkok FC, the club’s secretary has confirmed today. The latest development comes after an unprecedented ruling by the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) that the club’s final home match could be played at Surakul Stadium on the condition…

  • Six charged for Phuket resort GM stabbing; Hollywood actor Renner caught in brawl

    Six charged for Phuket resort GM stabbing; Hollywood actor Renner caught in brawl

    PHUKET: Six staff of the Rachada Pub in Phuket Town have been charged with attempted murder for the stabbing of Sri Panwa Resort General Manager Vorasit Issara early yesterday morning.In his first major press conference since taking up his position as Phuket Provincial Police Superintendent last week, Maj Gen Chonasit Wattanavrangku this morning presented the suspects to the press as:…

  • Phuket Business: Time is money

    Phuket Business: Time is money

    PHUKET: One of the first concepts we needed to learn when studying finance was that of the time value of money. In theoretical terms it is quite easy to understand, but when practically applying it to life decisions it can be a little more complicated. Basically the idea is that 100 dollars today is preferable to 100 dollars in a…

  • No sale! FC Phuket still on the market | Thaiger

    No sale! FC Phuket still on the market

    PHUKET: Football fans in Phuket will definitely have at least one local professional team to root for this year, and possibly two, the FC Phuket’s club secretary told the Phuket Gazette this morning. The news follows online reports asserting that FC Phuket has been sold to Bangkok premier outfit Muang Thong United and will move to the capital under a…

  • Phuket resort GM ‘safe’ after stabbing attack | Thaiger

    Phuket resort GM ‘safe’ after stabbing attack

    PHUKET: The well-known general manager of a luxury resort in Phuket is out of danger following emergency surgery for stab wounds sustained in a brawl outside a Phuket Town nightclub early yesterday morning. The victim, 30-year-old Vorasit “Plawan” Issara, was stabbed twice in the abdomen outside the Rachada Pub in the Phun Pol area of Phuket Town at about 4am…

  • Foreigner saves drowning toddler at Phuket beach

    Foreigner saves drowning toddler at Phuket beach

    PHUKET: Just a day after 7-year-old drowning victim Methee Khunsuinhu succumbed to injuries and passed away at Vachira Phuket Hospital, quick action by a foreign tourist today spared a toddler of a similar fate at the same beach. Pawanrat Suetrong, age one year and seven months, was on a family outing to the swimming lagoon near Nai Harn Beach this…

  • TAT calls Phuket businesses to tourism trade show

    TAT calls Phuket businesses to tourism trade show

    PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is inviting tourism-related businesses in Phuket and throughout the region to take part in its Thailand Travel Mart 2012 (TTM 2012), to be held June 6 to 8 at Impact Muang Thong Thani Exhibition Center in Nonthaburi. TTM 2012 will feature products and services related to eco-tourism, golf, health and wellness, and weddings…

  • Methee, 7, passes away at Vachira Phuket

    Methee, 7, passes away at Vachira Phuket

    PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette is sad to report that Methee Khunsuinhu, the seven-year-old boy pulled unconscious from a lagoon near Nai Harn Beach on New Year’s Day, has died. Inquiries have revealed that Methee died in the intensive care unit at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town at 7:15am yesterday. He was put on life support after his rescue on…

  • Best of Phuket Awards announced on line today

    Best of Phuket Awards announced on line today

    PHUKET: The 29 winners of Phuket’s 2011 ‘Best of Phuket’ Awards in the Business, Service, Environment and Restaurant categories have been announced and go on line today. The winners (4) in the ‘Person of the Year’ category were announced in the Gazette Online on Sunday. They won for their hard work and success over many years with the iconic Phuket…

  • Marriott, Destination part ways over Courtyard brand in Phuket

    Marriott, Destination part ways over Courtyard brand in Phuket

    PHUKET: Marriott International and Destination Properties Thailand have parted ways over the management of four hotels in Thailand, three of which are in Phuket.The properties in Phuket are the Courtyard by Marriott hotels in Patong, Kamala and at Surin Beach. The fourth hotel to no longer operate as a Marriott brand is the Courtyard by Marriott in Hua Hin.Another international…

  • Phuket records second day without death on the roads

    Phuket records second day without death on the roads

    PHUKET: Today marks the last day of the “Seven Days of Danger” holiday road-safety campaign. No fatalities were recorded in Phuket yesterday, Day 6 of the campaign, with the number of fatalities standing at six. According to official figures from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket Office (DDPM-Phuket) this morning, Day 6 ended with nine serious injuries in…

  • Phuket’s New Year revelers start the long journey home

    Phuket’s New Year revelers start the long journey home

    PHUKET: Phuket Land Transport Office Chief Terayout Prasertphol has ordered more buses be provided to ensure that all tourists who came to Phuket to celebrate the new year will get home in time to start 2012 without delay. “I have ordered the [state bus operator] BorKorSor to boost bus services by 20 per cent to ensure that no passengers are…

  • Phuket Media Watch: Sword master behind Darth Vader dies

    Phuket Media Watch: Sword master behind Darth Vader dies

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Sword master behind Darth Vader, Bob Anderson, dies at 89 Phuket Gazette / News Wires PHUKET: English actor and fencer Bob Anderson, who portrayed Darth Vader in the original Star Wars saga, died on Sunday, the British Academy of Fencing announced yesterday. He was 89. Anderson,…

  • FC Phuket to appeal home match ban

    FC Phuket to appeal home match ban

    PHUKET: FC Phuket has filed an appeal with the Football Association of Thailand (FAT), asking that it be allowed to play its final home match of the season at Surakul Stadium on January 7, as originally scheduled. FC Phuket secretary Soranan Sanae said the appeal follows a ruling by the FAT board that the team lose its right to host…

  • Phuket Tourism 2011: “It was what it was’

    Phuket Tourism 2011: “It was what it was’

    SPECIAL YEAR-END REVIEW A look back at the roller-coaster ride that Phuket’s tourism industry took from start to finish in 2011.PHUKET: The past year was marked by an ever faster and more furious flow of information on the crest of a digital technology wave. Tuk-tuk drivers beating tourists, bus crashes, landslides on the only road over Patong Hill, and the…

  • Buakaw wows Phuket’s Muay Thai fans

    Buakaw wows Phuket’s Muay Thai fans

    PHUKET: Muay Thai fans gathered at Patong Boxing Stadium for a special performance of the ancient martial art by Thailand’s number one fighter, Buakaw Por Pramuk. Buakaw exhibited a range of techniques with his sparring partners, Kaolanlek Kaovichit and Paosee Kaovichit. They performed ritual dancing to pay respects to the Muay Thai guardian (Wai Kru) which was followed by an…

  • After “bloody’ New Year, Phuket holiday road toll eases

    After “bloody’ New Year, Phuket holiday road toll eases

    PHUKET: After New Year’s Day claimed the lives of three Phuket motorists, carnage during Day 5 of the “Seven Days of Danger” holiday road-safety campaign was relatively light, with no fatalities and just six injuries reported. According to figures provided by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket Office (DDPM-Phuket), none of the six accidents reported yesterday were attributed…

  • ACG official opening dates announced

    ACG official opening dates announced

    PHUKET: Dates for the official opening of Phuket’s first dedicated cricket facility, the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG), have been announced with a two-day event scheduled for January 28 and 29, 2012. The ACG has already hosted a number of international touring teams in celebration of the ground’s establishment, including the prestigious Singapore Cricket Club who played in Phuket at the…

  • Phuket Cricket: The South will have to rise again

    Phuket Cricket: The South will have to rise again

    PHUKET: Cricket’s stronghold of Southern Hemisphere (SH) representatives on Phuket had their Christmas celebrations cut short after a sound thrashing from their Northern Hemisphere (NH) counterparts at the ACG on Boxing day. In a 40 over seasonal special, the batting of Seemant Raju and Rishi Sadarangani proved too strong for the southeners with both players scoring 50 to help secure…

  • Parents hold onto hope as boy lies comatose in Phuket

    Parents hold onto hope as boy lies comatose in Phuket

    PHUKET: The parents of seven-year-old Methee “Shogun” Khunsuinhu have told the Phuket Gazette they will hold on to whatever time they have left with their young boy. Methee remains comatose on life support in the intensive care unit at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town after being rescued unconscious in a natural pool at Nai Harn Beach on Saturday. Sitting…

  • Russian woman dies in Phuket motorbike accident

    Russian woman dies in Phuket motorbike accident

    PHUKET: A young Russian woman died when her motorbike was hit by a car early yesterday, making her the sixth road accident fatality in the first four days of the “Seven Days of Danger” holiday road-safety campaign in Phuket. The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket Office (DDPM-Phuket) identified the deceased as 26-year-old Elena Kireeva. According to DDPM-Phuket, Ms…