xinhua Thursday marked a bloody day for Pakistan as four blasts rocked the country, leaving at least 116 people killed and 235 others injured.

Phuket Update A female dolphin that marine biologists at Phuket Marine Biological Centre hoped to save died on Thursday night. Little hope is held now for her surviving male offspring, about a year old, which is receiving 24-hour care.


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

Phuket Update A Russian man assaulted a Tourist Police volunteer in uniform on Wednesday night when the officer intervened in an argument between the Russian and his Thai girlfriend in Patong's Soi Sansabai. The Russian was arrested, the officer is now on crutches.

bangkokpost.com PC Air, the privately owned Thai charter airline, has sued two South Korean business partners for 1.5 billion baht for damages over a row which left 400 Thais stranded at Incheon International Airport in October.

Phuket Update Naomi Watts was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for 'The Impossible,' the film about the 2004 tsunami that was made north of Phuket around Khao Lak and Takuapa. She's rated a good chance to win next month. 'Lincoln' scored 12 nominations.

straight.com It's a gut-roiling ride for the viewer, given added weight by Juan Antonio Bayona's insistence on using the actual locations and hiring locals who survived the disaster.

huffingtonpost.com Take from the movie lessons you can apply to your own life: Paradise can quickly turn to hell. Circumstances can change in an instant. Life, and those you hold dear, are precious.

bbc.co.uk Twin blasts at a snooker hall in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta have killed 81 people and injured more than 120, police say.

thestar.com Three women, all Kurdish activists, were shot dead in what authorities called an ''execution'' in central Paris, prompting speculation that the long-running conflict between insurgents from the minority group and Turkey was playing out on French shores.

channelnewsasia.com The Ministry of Education says it will abolish a decades-old regulation on school children's hairstyles that requires them to keep short hair. Thailand is one of many countries in Asia which requires school children to wear uniforms and have a neat haircut to go with it.

bangkokpost.com Security officials have rounded up nearly 400 Rohingya migrants who claimed they were being trafficked to Malaysia. The Rohingya were all that was left of a group of 2000 that Thai and Burmese traffickers had brought into Thailand on 10-wheeled trucks via Ranong.

nationmultimedia.com The gang reportedly planned to traffic the Rohingya for 60,000 baht per head to clients in Malaysia to work on fishing boats. The authorities raided the plantation in Padung Besar and rescued the Rohingya, who included five girls and 61 boys under the age of 15.

pri.org Andy Hall, a migration researcher and worker advocate at Mahidol University in Bangkok, says giving migrants a way to work legally is good. In practice, though, Hall says corruption reigns = government agents demand kickbacks and funnel applicants to private, unregulated brokers. He says a process that should cost $30 can end up costing closer to $500 - three months wages for a typical worker.

thestar.com.my A transfer of prisoners (ToP) arrangement between Malaysia and Thailand could be introduced soon so that inmates can serve their jail terms in their homeland.

thewest.com.au Australians should stick to bottled beer in Bali and avoid ''low-end'' bars if they want to limit their chances of exposure to deadly bootleg liquor, says Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr. He insisted again that the Federal Government had asked Indonesian police to investigate the poisoning of Liam Davies and warned the reputation of Bali's tourist industry could hang on the response.

travelmole.com A TravelMole poll indicated a reluctance to recommend Thailand to clients following the shooting of Briton Stephen Ashton during a Full Moon party on the island of Phangan.

bangkokpost.com Thawatchai Arunyik, deputy governor for domestic marketing, said this year's tourism policy focuses on collaboration with neighboring countries to prepare for the launch of the Asean Economic Community in 2016: ''We have also seriously promoted environmentally friendly tourism and culture.''

jagran.com Thailand has recently turned into a preferred nation for Indians to get married. Sethaphan Buddhani, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand [ and formerly Phuket-based] said more than 100 Indian couples chose to get married in Thailand during the past 12 months in typical Indian Hindu tradition in Bangkok, Khao Yai, Ko Chang and Phuket.

dvb.no With its photos of scantily clad women and advice on bedroom secrets, Burma's first sex education magazine has proven a step too far for the country's censors who have banned it from publication. 'Hnyo' was pulled after just one issue.

nationmultimedia.com Hospitality aficionado Blink Design Group is in the hot seat once again, creating two stunning new resorts on Asia's most renowned tropical islands that will herald the rebirth of Regent Hotels & Resorts. Blink has created the new Regent Phuket and Regent Bali from the ground up.

theage.com.au Welcome to the new island paradise. (Sri Lanka.)

guardian.co.uk Marrianne Faithful interviewed: Do you listen to much current pop? Of course not. It's complete shite. Do you regret much or has it all been character building? I think the latter, I hope that's not delusion.



guardian.co.uk Cristiano Ronaldo [Phuket region holidaymaker in 2012] responded to his latest Ballon d'Or snub by hitting a hat-trick to secure Real Madrid's progression in the Copa del Rey at the expense of Celta Vigo.

bangkokpost.com Former paratrooper Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand fired a seven-under-par 65 to take a three-shot first-round lead in the Volvo Golf Champions.

guardian.co.uk Bookmakers were offering odds about which words Lance Armstrong would use in the interview next week with Oprah Winfrey, with Ladbrokes quoting 1-4 for ''apologise'' and evens for ''confess''. They were offering 8-11 over Armstrong breaking down in tears.



January 12 Childrens Day, marked around Phuket

January 30-February 2 Bay Regatta, Phuket Phang Nga Krabi

October 5-13 Phuket Vegetarian Festival



November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket