nationmultimedia.com Cabinet appointed Phuket's Anchalee Theppabutr as the new PM's secretary-general, replacing Korbsak Sabhavasu.

bangkokpost.com The 17-year-old Bangkok girl at the wheel of the sedan involved in a crash with a passenger van on December 27 that left nine people dead has been charged with reckless driving and driving without a licence.


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

bangkokpost.com Phuket's foreign property market will continue to improve with estimated sales of five billion baht in 2011 despite buyers' confidence taking a hit from an increase in unfinished projects, says the Bangkok-based property developer Seacon Group. Executive director Piya Sosothikul said this year's performance would still fall below the peak of 10-12 billion baht in annual sales from 2006-07.

thestar.com A Hamilton couple was killed on Phuket just minutes after the new year began when their pickup truck veered off the road and rammed into a pole. Kongseng Sunthorn, 61, and his wife Aryporn Sunthorn, 50, had moved to Canada from Laos in the 1970s. They were about to return for the first time this month during a five-week trip to Southeast Asia.

thespec.com The death of the couple has rocked the local Laotian community because both were very active after Laos refugees came to Canada following the Communist takeover of that nation in 1975. ''The community is in shock,'' said Chanpheng Koumphol, who had known the couple for years.

bangkokpost.com Cabinet approved a proposal to declare 2011 the year of campaigning for 100 percent of motorcyclists to wear crash helmets, government deputy spokesman Supachai Jaisamut said. State agencies, enterprises and local administrations are to make staff wear helmets on motorcycles. Violators face disciplinary action. [Phuketwan's Phuket Person of the Year, Colonel Wanchai Eakpornpit, pioneered helmet compulsion in 2010.]

news.com.au Australian identities are being stolen on a grand scale by spies and dealers in drugs, migrants and dirty money. Passports were used in 525 frauds in the last financial year and many people were caught lying to get a passport. In July, police raiding the home of a slain crime patriarch in Melbourne and found 36 blank passports.

thejakartapost.com Indonesia and Singapore have agreed to jointly develop cruise ship tourism in the neighbors' latest move to boost bilateral economic ties. ''Singapore is enjoying a cruise tourism boom and they need areas that the cruises can visit; one of them being Bali,'' an Indonesian minister said.

bernama.com One in three of Indonesia's 73,000 villages is prone to natural disasters, Antara news agency quoted National Disaster Management Agency Chief Syamsul Maarif as saying. While 150 cities are facing the risk of being engulfed by tsunami, 78 cities and districts can be impacted by a volcanic eruption, 176 districts are prone to flooding and 154 cities to landslides.

chathamdailynews.com When Pat Zimmer received news of a multi-million dollar inheritance, she reported the letter to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. The letter said she was entitled to millions as the long-lost relative of a person killed in the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia.

voanews.com In Thailand, children of migrant workers, most of them from Burma, can get caught in a legal limbo that leaves them stateless, unrecognised as citizens of any country. There are thousands of stateless children with limited access to education and health care, and with limited freedom of movement.

dailyrecord.co.uk An ambulance man who took a tea break while a woman died of a heart attack has been told he can keep his job. Ambulance crew members are entitled to an undisturbed 30 minute break - though some choose to opt out. When the ambulance man decided not to respond, a crew took 21 minutes to drive to the woman's home, by which time she was dead.

wsj.com A top Navy admiral permanently relieved the commander of the USS Enterprise for showing a "profound lack of good judgment" by recording offensive and vulgar videos on a previous tour of duty. Admiral John C. Harvey Jr., commander of Navy Fleet Forces, said he was immediately and permanently relieving Captain Owen Honors from command of the Enterprise, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

usatoday.com ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz told USA Today's Game On! blog today that Ron Franklin is out after a 25-year career because of his actions toward fellow announcer Jeannine Edwards. Franklin issued an apology to Edwards through an ESPN spokesman for calling her "sweet baby" then when she objected, amending it to "a-hole."

nme.com Gerry Rafferty has died aged 63. The 'Stuck In The Middle With You' and 'Baker Street' singer/songwriter died after a long illness. His family said he passed away peacefully.

etravelblackboardasia.com The Tinidee Hotel@Phuket has opened its doors on a strategic piece of real estate located equidistant from the clubhouses at Loch Palm Golf Club and Red Mountain Golf Club. Phuket's first dedicated golf lodge, The Tinidee Hotel@Phuket was developed by the MBK Group, owners of Red Mountain, Loch Palm and the new Riverside Golf Club in Bangkok.



THE Old Phuket Town Festival, a much-loved food and walking street fest, extended this year between February 8-10 to four roads instead of two: Phang Nga Road, Krabi Road, Phuket Road, Thalang Road, plus Soi Romanee. The first Phuket Street Show Festival late last year set a high standard and it will be a hard act to follow. The Old Phuket Town Festival may be as much about the food as the fun.

Until January 9 Phuket Red Cross Fair, Saphan Hin park, Phuket City
January 6-9 Pimex boat show, Royal Phuket Marina
January 15-16 Phuket Air Park fly-in, Phuket
January 22 QSI International fun run day at Bang Wad Dam, Kathu
January 23 Great Phuket Rubber Duck Race Day, Laguna Phuket
February 3 Chinese New Year Festival, Phuket
February 9-13 The Bay Regatta - Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi
February 11 Phuket Chinese New Year
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
March 14-19 ADFEST 2011 at Movenpick Resort, Phuket
March 27 Earth Hour commemoration on Phuket
April 13-15 Songkran Festival


Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket