PHUKET: The daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media. Phuketwan closes on December 31.



bangkokpost.com Immigration police rounded up more then 100 foreigners who overstayed their visas, including an American Muay Thai fighter who once went toe-to-toe with Thai boxing legend Buakaw Banchamek.

ttrweekly.com Jin Air, a Korean low-cost airline and a fully owned subsidiary of Korean Air, is promoting a new route linking Seoul Incheon to Phuket. According to the airline's website, the service was inaugurated, December 2, with six weekly flights and increased to daily flights on December 19.



bangkokpost.com A high-powered team of regime spokesmen says last week's detailed report on slave-like conditions in the shrimp export industry is flat ''wrong''.



Phuket Update A Myanmar migrant worker was killed and a female companion seriously injured returning from a Big C shopping trip when their motorcycle crashed into a canal near Sanam Luang park in Phuket City. The man's body was pinned under the motorbike at a depth of four metres.

Phuket Update Foreshore demolition of beach clubs and restaurants at Phuket's Surin beach has been delayed until the new year awaiting documents from the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation, according to Phuket Vice Governor Chokdee Amornwat.

nationmultimedia.com A team of lawyers representing two Myanmar migrant workers accused of the rape and murder of a female British tourist and the murder of a male British tourist on Koh Tao is anxiously awaiting Thursday's verdict. In a statement, the lawyers insisted that Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were innocent. The accused confessed after being tortured, they said.

abc.net.au Australian Wayne Rodney Schneider, beaten to death by his own bodyguard in the seedy Thai holiday town of Pattaya, is believed by senior police in Australia to be the outlaw motorcycle club brains behind an international drug business until a $1.5 billion drug bust in 2012 netted two tonnes of MDMA (ecstasy) and nearly one tonne of ice.

nationmultimedia.com Strong winds and waves knocked Bodin Ratsamithet off his jet-ski in a race off Hua Hin on Sunday but he was rescued 19 hours later. He said he was kept afloat by a life jacket.

chicagotribune.com A suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden motorcycle into a joint NATO-Afghan patrol, killing six American troops in the deadliest attack on international forces since August. Two U.S. troops and an Afghan were wounded.

telegraph.co.uk Air strikes believed to have been launched by Russian planes hit the rebel-held Syrian city of Idlib killing at least 70, as Moscow and Damascus were accused of slaughtering civilians with banned weapons. Human Rights Watch accused Russia and Syria of using cluster munitions, weapons considered so dangerous they have been banned by 118 countries

reuters At least 85 people were missing in China a day after a giant flow of mud and construction waste spewed out of an overfull dump in a boomtown and buried 33 buildings in Shenzen its latest industrial disaster.

telegraph.co.uk Airports are powerless to stop passengers from smuggling on board the kind of fake bombs that sparked this weekend's major security alert on an Air France flight, flight safety experts have warned.

bbc.com Prince Christian, the second in line to Denmark's throne, has been rescued after getting into trouble in the waves at an Australian beach, reports say. The 10-year-old son of Crown Prince Frederik was saved last Thursday by a lifeguard on the popular Gold Coast strip, 7News reports.

intoday.in A recent study has revealed that Chennai and Ko Samui are the most preferred year-end holiday destinations among Indians.



ft.com Indonesian authorities said they have foiled a terrorist bombing planned for the Christmas and New Year's Eve period, as the world's largest Muslim-majority country ramps up efforts to counter terrorism in the wake of the Paris attacks.



AP Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were each banned for eight years by the Fifa ethics committee in a stunning takedown of world football's most powerful leaders.



December 25 Christmas Day

December 26 2004 Tsunami memorial ceremonies

December 26-January 5 Red Cross Fair, Saphan Hin, Phuket City



January 7-10 Phuket International Boat Show