nzpa One New Zealander is dead and a second, Amanda Eliason, 24, is in intensive care recovering from emergency heart surgery after eating toxic seaweed in Thailand, Radio New Zealand reported. The NZ embassy in Bangkok is in contact with families.


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

stuff.co.nz A Wellington woman's holiday with girlfriends has ended in tragedy after she died from eating toxic seaweed in Thailand. Sarah Katherine Carter and her two female friends were taken ill after eating at a food market in Chiang Mai on Friday.

stuff.co.nz Sarah, 23, died at Chiang Mai Ram Hospital, in northern Thailand, on Sunday due to a food-related illness, her family confirmed today. She and two travelling companions were being treated in a hospital in Chiang Mai, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said.

news.com.au One week after Bali's police chief ordered his officers to shoot criminals on sight if they tried to escape, a man allegedly involved in a brutal attack on an Australian woman has been shot dead. The alleged thief was shot in the head on the weekend. Police say he had been arrested and was trying to escape.

thejakartaglobe.com Bali Police Chief Inspector General Hadiatmoko said crime targeting foreigners and locals had reached levels prompting concern. "The police have to act firmly and, if necessary, shoot on sight if perpetrators try to escape arrest," said Insp Gen Hadiatmoko.

New Straits Times Two Burmese beach boys who rammed a jet-ski into a tourist after she refused to hire the vehicle at Batu Ferringhi beach are being investigated for causing grievous hurt. State police chief Datuk Ayub Yaakob said the two, who have been detained for two weeks, did not have travel documents on them.

thailand-business-news.com A Thai proposal from the National Reform Committee to restrict property ownership to 50 rai a family has run into opposition from a deputy interior minister. The property reform is one of five recommendations the committee, chaired by former PM Anand Panyarachun, plans to put forward as part of the government's national reform plan to rid Thailand of social inequality. Mr Thaworn also said rich people who own lots of land that is left to sit idle should be taxed at a higher rate.

desmoinesregister.com An immigrant who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand claimed an Iowa Lottery prize of $1 million. Aenoi Phetxoumphone, 29, whose name is pronounced a-noy Pit-zoom-pawn, was born to parents who had escaped war in Laos.

afp Five Saudi Arabian nationals appeared in court in Colombo after their allegedly drunken misbehavior on an Ethiad flight from Dubai to Indonesia forced the plane to land in Sri Lanka. The men became unruly during the journey, shouting abuse at passengers and refusing to obey orders from cabin crew, police said.

nytimes.com Russia has expelled Luke Harding, the Moscow correspondent for The Guardian. WikiLeak cables, Mr. Harding wrote, depicted Russia as a ''corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centered on the leadership of Vladimir Putin,'' the prime minister and former president, ''in which officials, oligarchs and organized crime are bound together to create a 'virtual mafia state.'''

nytimes.com The Huffington Post, which began in 2005 with a meager $1 million investment and has grown into one of the most heavily visited news sites in the US, is being acquired by AOL in a deal that creates an unlikely pairing.

ft.com AOL has sharply divided opinion on the web with its purchase for $315 million, the latest and most significant step it has taken to remake itself as a serious player in advertising-supported internet content.

etravelblackboardasia.com Burma's new domestic airline Asian Wings took to the air for its first flight from Yangon late last week. According to the airline's general manager U Maung Maung Shwe Moe the airline was fully booked from its launch date on January 27 until the end of the month, Myanmar Times reported.

guardian.co.uk TripAdvisor's English-language reviews are most likely to have been written by an American (13.6 million of the site's users are from the US), so consumers have to try to figure out whether they would have the same expectations of service and style as, say, a father of four from Florida. You can end up spending as much time choosing a place to stay as you spend away on holiday.

todayonline.com Indonesia's economy grew 6.9 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2010, the strongest pace in six years, the government said.

reuters Indonesian authorities said they were investigating a brutal mob attack that killed three followers of the Ahmadi religious sect after footage of the frenzied beatings was repeatedly shown on local TV stations and social media sites.

telegraph.co.uk The unrelenting planning and the never-ending parties hosted by celebrity chefs can come across as contrived. Singapore even boasts about being on the international beach- party circuit. The city is desperate to be cool, not colonial.

usatoday.com Fox Sports' broadcast of Super Bowl XLV averaged 111 million viewers and is the most-watched television program in US history.



Pink Floyd tribute band the New Machine will be playing at Zantika in Khao Lak from 9pm on February 20 for free to raise funds for the Khao Lak Community Appeal, a post tsunami charity aimed at helping to improve health care and education facilities in the area (www.khaolakappeal.com).

February 8-10 Old Phuket Town Festival, food and walking street fest
February 9-13 The Bay Regatta - Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi
February 11 IBAP for Michael Doyle, US attorney and co-author of 'Doyle's Practical Guide to Business Law in Emerging Countries in Asia.'
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