bangkokpost.com Ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra is being indicted Thursday at the Supreme Court for malfeasance over the rice-purchase scheme - but prosecutors say they're okay if she travels overseas.

skysports.com British and French police are trying to identify the Chelsea fans who were filmed preventing a black man boarding a train in Paris before chanting ''we're racist and that's the way we like it.''

bangkokpost.com Two women wanted for allegedly drugging and robbing foreign tourists in Pattaya have been arrested, police said. Investigators found the pair had preyed on foreign tourists in Pattaya on several occasions.


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



bangkokpost.com National Reform Council member Wanchai Sornsiri, who proposed talks between the prime minister and Thaksin Shinawatra, warned that the new charter will be wasted without reconciliation.

nationmultimedia.com Thailand's budget airline, Nok Air, suspended a domestic flight from Nan to Bangkok, stranding 85 passengers including VIPs for hours. VIP guests included privy councillor Palakorn Suwannarath, National Reform Council president Thienchay Kirananada, PTT chairman and former Thai Airways president Piyasvasti Amranand, and Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul.

scmp.com Setting off fireworks to celebrate Chinese New Year may be a centuries-old tradition, but authorities in China are urging people to light fewer of them this week as cities fight a losing battle against relentless, toxic air pollution.



thedailybeast.com The largest ever health study of trafficking victims has uncovered the brutal scale of modern slavery in Southeast Asia. More than 1000 survivors from Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam delineated the physical and psychological toll their exploitation had wreaked, including sexual abuse, dog attacks, burning, and choking.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/18/dog-attacks-strangulation-and-sexual-abuse-the-horrific-life-of-a-modern-slave.html



nationmultimedia.com Thailand's beaches are featured in TripAdvisor's top 10 list for Asia, with Phuket's Nai Harn beach taking the third spot. Also on Asia's top 10 list under the 2015 Travellers' Choice awards for Beaches are Railey Beach in Krabi (7), Kata beach in Phuket (8) and Phra Nang beach (9), according to a release by the travel web site.

scmp.com Headline; China wades in on badly behaved tourists: 'foreigners are just as bad'

nationmultimedia.com Samui's tourism sector is set to improve after the Civil Aviation Department recently granted approval for Samui Airport to increase its capacity from 36 to 50 flights per day.

bangkokpost.com The recent felling of a giant 143-year-old tree to be used in art work by two renowned artists as a permanent feature in Krabi town has sparked fierce debate on the social media.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/478624/firestorm-online-over-krabi-tree-felling

nationmultimedia.com The number of Chinese visitors to Thailand in the first quarter is expected to increase to 1.35 million, an increase by 30.2 per cent from the same period last year, according to Kasikorn Research Centre. Bangkok is their main destination, but more are heading to provincial destinations in Chiang Mai, Phuket and Krabi.

cnn.com Limpet teeth may contain the strongest biological material ever discovered, say researchers in the UK. The aquatic, dome-shaped creatures that are found clinging to rocky shores have set a new record previously held by spiders.

scmp.com Shanghai is curbing Chinese New Year celebrations by cancelling events and limiting people at tourist spots after a stampede killed 36 people seven weeks earlier.

ft.com HSBC was ''surprised'' by a dawn raid on its Geneva offices. Swiss prosecutors, who are probing money laundering allegations, can congratulate themselves on a job well done. The innuendo that HSBC's Swiss private bank offered services in the grey area between tax avoidance and evasion has prompted a furore.

independent.co.uk In 2013, according to the World Health Organisation, there were 16 deaths from the measles virus each hour, around the world, for the entire year. It is one of the leading causes of death among young children, despite our ability to safely vaccinate against it.

euronews.com Ukraine's President, Petro Poroshenko, has confirmed that government troops are withdrawing from the rebel-held city of Debaltseve. Tanks, armored vehicles and troop carriers could be seen pulling out of the city, and by midday on Wednesday 80 percent had already left according to the government.



afp Indonesia will release the final report into last year's AirAsia plane crash that killed 162 by August, the transport minister told AFP this week.

Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-emergency-declared-burma-cambodia-bars-drones-pays-reef-damage-21901/



AP With a racist song ringing in his ears, a black man trying to board a subway train in Paris stands back after twice being pushed away by a group of Chelsea soccer fans. The maximum penalty possible according to the French criminal code is three years in prison and a 45,000 euro ($51,000) fine.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/video-of-racist-chelsea-fans-sparks-police-hunt-condemnation-in-football-and-politics-20150218-13ip64.html

skysports.com Cristiano Ronaldo scored the opening goal in Real Madrid's 2-0 win over Schalke in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 clash in Gelsenkirchen. The so-called month-long drought is over.



February 19 Chinese New Year

February 26-28 Phuket Old Town Festival

March 1-15 Heroines festival

March 4-8 Bay Regatta

April 11-19 Phuket Bike Week

April 17-19 Songkran Festival

May 4 Additional public holiday scheduled