A daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media.

smh.com.au Passengers and flight crew suffered from food poisoning and turbulence-related injuries on a V Australia service from Phuket early today, paramedics say. Ambulance crews went to Melbourne Airport to meet the plane following reports that eight people - four cabin crew and four passengers - had been injured when VA20 hit turbulence north of Jakarta.

heraldsun.com.au Passenger Kelly Read said the horror turbulence struck about two hours into the flight. She said stewards were serving food when one was thrown about one foot into the air. "The trolleys fell on top of the air host, he was pouring my drink and it went everywhere," she said.

theage.com.au Paramedics team manager Jerome Peyton said: ''One passenger was suffering food poisoning and was vomiting as a result. Others nearby also began to feel ill. At about the same time there was reportedly some turbulence experienced during the flight.''

wsj.com Former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra's lawyers said they have filed a petition to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands to investigate the way Thailand's security forces suppressed massive street protests in the Thai capital last year.

mcot.net ICC Second Vice-President Hans-Peter Kaul met red shirt leaders last week in Bangkok and told them that the court had no jurisdiction over alleged political crimes in Thailand, since Thailand has yet to ratify the treaty it signed in 2000.

cnn.com Hundreds of evacuees streamed out of Egypt aboard aircraft Monday, seeking to escape the continued unrest across the country. The US, Canada, Australia, India, Israel and Thailand were among the nations sending planes to evacuate citizens.

wsj.com Flight ticket prices are highest on weekends, on average, according to online travel agencies, fare trackers and airline pricing executives. When's the best time to buy? Travel experts have long said Tuesday is when sales are most often in place, which is true.

afp A US federal judge sentenced 64-year-old Canadian John Wrenshall to 25 years in prison for the "monstrous conduct" of running a brothel in Thailand where he and American men had sex with Thai boys as young as four years old.

Associated Press The Burmese opposition group led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has launched its first official website. Suu Kyi says she believes the National League for Democracy's site will help achieve the group's goal of democracy at a faster pace. The adress is http://www.nldburma.org

telegraph.co.uk Despite the recession the number of breast reduction operations for men grew by more than a quarter (28 per cent) to 741 last year, said the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.



February 3 Chinese New Year Festival, Phuket
February 8-10 Old Phuket Town Festival, food and walking street fest
February 9-13 The Bay Regatta - Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi
February 18 Makha Bucha public holiday
February 23-26 Phuket Gay Pride Festival, Patong
February 25-26 Phuket International Blues and Rock Festival 2011
February 26-27 Phuket Spicy Soccer 7s, Phuket International Academy
March4-6 Pool Asia Expo and Conference, Hilton, Phuket
March 14-19 ADFEST 2011 at Movenpick Resort, Phuket
March 27 Earth Hour commemoration on Phuket
April 13-15 Songkran Festival
May New PPAO Hospital to open, Phuket City


Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket