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

PHUKET celebrated New Year under a blue moon last night, something that apparently hasn't been seen since 1990 and won't reoccur until 2028. Patong was filled with people having a good time, although in even greater numbers than usual. Later we watched a succession of fireworks explode across Phuket City, from a well-placed balcony. How did 2009 rate in the scheme of things for Phuket? We'd say it was an 00 so-so year. Here's hoping that this one breaks the trend. We rate it a 10 so far.

cnn.com The New Year got under way with blasting horns and fireworks shot from the Sky Tower as revellers partied in Auckland, New Zealand. Similar celebrations were moving like a wave from east to west as midnight struck across the globe, starting at the International Date Line in the mid-Pacific Ocean.

Associated Press The attitude toward air travel has changed over the last decade. Flying is no longer fun. It is just one big headache: Flight delays, lost baggage, overbooked flights, fewer onboard amenities and fees for things that used to be free. Despite the hassles, though, people fly more now than they did a decade ago. Why do people take so many flights when it is so unpleasant? Because families are spread out; jobs require travel; and relatively low ticket prices encourage it.

thephuketinsider.com Thai Airways is adding six more daily flights to accommodate extraordinary demand over the holidays through January 3. Expectations are high that load factors will be hitting capacity for the New Year's holiday weekend both with international and domestic travellers coming to the island.

timesonline.co.uk The deaths of seven CIA agents in Khost province have brought into the limelight the secretive and dirty war being fought by America's intelligence agencies - and the Taleban and al-Qaeda - in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Forward Operating Base Chapman, and others like it along the border, are the forward edge of American military and intelligence counter-terrorism operations, aimed principally at hunting down senior figures in al-Qaeda and their allies in the Taleban hiding in the lawless tribal belt.

smh.com.au Would you be like Jasper Schuringa, the 32-year-old Dutch video producer who grabbed the smouldering bomb out of the bomber's underpants, patted out the fire with his bare hands, put the Nigerian in a headlock, told other passengers to douse the flames with bottles of Evian and then manhandled the alleged bomber up to first class, strip him, search him and tie him up? Or would you be like the 20 or so people closer to the bomb who were paralysed with indecision or ran screaming from the flames?