UPDATING All Day, Every Day
independent.co.uk A fire has ripped through the Torch in Dubai - one of the tallest residential buildings in the world. The fire is believed to have started on the 50th floor and is spreading quickly, in part due to high winds.
independent.co.uk Floyd Mayweather has announced he has agreed a deal to fight Manny Pacquiao in May. The two have long been considered the best fighters of their generation.
PhuketWATCH Daily Media Wrap
PHUKET: The daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media. Beware of inconsistent imitations.
Today's Top News Items
bangkokpost.com Thailand's tourism resources may not be sufficient to serve growth in foreign visitor numbers in the near future, says the Bank of Thailand. Foreign tourist arrivals are rising but tourism infrastructure and human resources will face a shortage.
nationmultimedia.com Big retailers continued to expand in prime city and tourism areas. For example, Central Group, The Mall Group and King Power, the country's largest operator of duty-free shops, plan to open shopping malls in Phuket to cash in on the tourism boom.
Kyodo Thai customs officials arrested two Japanese men at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport as they allegedly tried to smuggle exotic and endangered animals to Japan. The officials said the men from Shizuoka Prefecture had pig-nosed turtles, woodchucks, lizards and snakes packed in small boxes, cages and plastic bags inside large suitcases.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/20/national/crime-legal/two-japanese-held-at-bangkok-airport-with-horde-of-exotic-animals/#.VOdN7OaUfdk
Phuket World of People
nationmultimedia.com A 4.0-magnitude earthquake hit the southern province of Phang Nga, with tremors felt in the neighbouring provinces of Phuket and Krabi. News website Phuketwan quoted a reader as saying the tremor was felt at the Phuket Heroines monument for about six seconds.
bangkokpost.com A 54-year-old Swedish man was found dead inside a hotel room in downtown Rayong, police said. Investigators initially believed alcohol consumption might be a possible cause of his death.
bangkokpost.com French nationals Narayan Keita, 28 and 14-year-old Tatyana Fadeyeya sufferedbroken bones and serious cuts when wind shot the paragliders 200 metres into the air before dragging them onto the roof of the Marina Building of the Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel in tambon Na Jomtien of Sattahip district, according to Thai media reports.
nationmultimedia.com Safari World heir tastes success: In the long term, I just want Kacha Brothers [their company] to be an equally strong branch in our family's business tree. That means we still have long way to go to catch up on the tourism empires that my dad has built in Bangkok and Phuket. Phuket FantaSea is also readying Phase 2 of the park.
bangkokpost.com Why a power plant is bad news for Krabi : The Krabi and Andaman coastal area, once part of an industrial mining zone, is now a major tourist attraction bringing in billions of baht to state coffers.
scmp.com Boorish Chinese tourists bringing them piles of cash but also mountains of problems. The visitors seem to have the means, but not the manners. Locals get upset, facilities get damaged, tempers are frayed, and in many cases other tourists turn tail when they know the Chinese are coming, causing a dent in earnings.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1671504/rude-awakening-chinese-tourists-have-means-not-manners
nytimes.com The crowds of Thailand's big-name beach destinations - Phuket, Koh Samui, Koh Chang - are worlds away from these palm-tree fringed, sleepy gems, where you're more likely to encounter dogs and pigs sauntering along the road than traffic jams, and to have a stretch of sand and sea all to yourself, rather than elbow-to-elbow sun beds.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/travel/old-thailand-found-on-sleepy-islands.html
telegraph.co.uk 25 years of Photoshop: 'Jennifer in Paradise' was the first ever image to be Photoshopped. The woman in the picture is Jennifer Walters, now Jennifer Knoll, wife of the man who created Photoshop, Thomas Knoll. The picture was taken in Bora Bora in August 1988.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/picture-galleries/11420999/The-most-famous-photoshopped-images-of-all-time.html
voanews.com Varithorn Sirisattayawong is with the Kasikorn Research Center. She says Thailand will try to attract, in her words, ''more quality tourists'' in 2015. She says cities like Phuket and Chiang Mai have modern hotels and other services for those willing to spend more money.
cnn.com UK police have appealed for help to find three teenage girls who are missing from their homes in London and are believed to be making their way to Syria.
AP Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand's Narathiwat detonated a car bomb that wounded 13 people and damaged buildings, police said. Two other bombs were defused.
nzherald.co.nz Thailand makes wine! Who knew? And not just wine, but good wine, as we discovered on a tour of the PB Valley vineyard nearby.
Around the Asean Region
bangkokpost.com An artemisinin-resistant strain of malaria has spread through Southeast Asia to near India's border, threatening to repeat history and hit globally.
Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-peacekeeper-plan-asia-malaria-fights-back-festival-indecent-killings-maccas-21915/
Phuket World of Sport
theguardian.com Chelsea have written to the French man who was the victim of racist abuse on the Paris Metro this week. The club have offered 33-year-old Souleymane S a place in the directors' box for a match at Stamford Bridge, with Roman Abramovic said to be ''disgusted'' at the incident involving Blues supporters in midweek.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/20/jose-mourinho-chelsea-fans-racist-metro
Coming Events on Phuket 2015
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
June 20-21 Baba wedding at Old Phuket Town
July 15-19 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek
Arrived at Phuket Airport departure hall last week to find it totally full. Full of chinese of course. Each chinese was occupying 3-4 seats while waiting for their flight. There were plenty of others had no place to sit. Although chinese never react to this.
Not sure if i call this behavior arrogancy or stupidity? What is your call?
Posted by Sam on February 21, 2015 10:51