nme.com Stranded at Mumbai: ''Staff left us to sleep on the airport floor. There were kids, people in wheelchairs and we were offered no food or hotels,'' he said.


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



arabianbusiness.com Etihad Airways expects to operate a normal flight schedule by Tuesday, as operations are restored following the major disruptions caused by severe weather over the weekend. The Abu Dhabi-based airline said in a statement on Monday that it is also operating four additional relief flights, Jakarta and Jeddah and Bangkok and Phuket which will assist passengers whose travel plans have been disrupted.

thenational.ae An announcement of a review of policy came as the airline and its passengers dealt with the aftermath of delays and cancellations caused by heavy fog in Abu Dhabi. Passengers complained of being forced to wait on one plane for 12 hours or longer before take-off, without either information or food.

afp US oil prices slipped below $50 a barrel for the first time in more than five years as the surging dollar and news of additional supplies extended a six-month rout.




voanews.com Indonesian officials said a naval patrol vessel may have found what could be the section of a crashed AirAsia passenger jet where the crucial black box voice and flight data recorders are located.

cbc.ca Highlighting the depth of Indonesia's air safety problems, the transportation ministry announced harsh measures against everyone who allowed AirAsia Flight 8501 to take off without proper permits - including the suspension of the airport's operator and officials in the control tower.



bangkokpost.com Fifty Rohingya Muslims were detained by Thai traffickers who allegedly smuggled them through Thailand. The traffickers escaped after one of their vehicles slammed into a power pole in Phang Nga province early Monday.

afp Of the 53 people held, 37 are believed to be from the Rohingya minority, with the remainder from Bangladesh - a source of increasing numbers of migrants arriving on Thai shores.



independent.co.uk Anti-Islam demonstrators were outnumbered by 10 to one in Cologne as the city's famous cathedral turned out its lights in a symbolic protest against the Pegida movement.

independent.co.uk Documents that could reveal the extent of any lobbying by Prince Andrew on behalf of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are being kept out of the public eye after the millionaire financier obtained a court order declaring any such material confidential.

bbc.com Prince Andrew will ''move on and push ahead'' with his work amid claims an American woman was forced to have sex with him when under age, royal officials say. The Duke of York was named in US court papers relating to the handling of a case against financier Jeffrey Epstein.

nationmultimedia.com The so-called ''seven dangerous days'' of the New Year holiday period saw a rise in deaths and injuries for five straight days. But now the Road Safety Centre has surprised the public - with a report that road casualties on the first six days were actually lower across-the-board than the same period last year.

thephuketinsider.com Business Air Thailand recently introduced weekly service between Cologne and Bonn in Germany to Phuket.

thebalitimes.com The Bali provincial administration said it hopes to see an increase of 500,000 in the number of foreign tourists visiting the island in 2015. ''At least we hope to chalk up an increase of 500,000 to around 4 million in 2015,'' head of the regional tourism office Anak Agung Gede Yuniarta Putra said. This year, the number of foreign visitors to Bali is forecast to reach 3.5 million, Yuniarta said.

afp A strong 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit New Zealand's South Island early Tuesday morning, US seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

dpa Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was diagnosed with an E. coli infection after his visit to flood-hit areas in the country, his office said.

thejakartapost.com The Bali Police say the crime rate on the island has decreased significantly. The number of victims who are foreigners has also declined.

thephuketinsider.com The finishing touches are being put in an exclusive single private island hideaway off Phuket which is being likened to Richard Branson's famed Necker Island.



See Phuketwan's new Asean Today column
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-indon-air-officials-suspended-makes-singapore-tick-litany-fatwas-pope-urged-act-poor-21663/



independent.ie Winning a third FA Cup on what will be his 35th birthday would certainly be a fitting end to Steven Gerrard's time with Liverpool, who he helped secure a 2-1 win against Wimbledon in the third round with goals either side of an Adebayo Akinfenwa strike.

independent.co.uk What would possess a football club chairman to consider bringing Ched Evans into his squad? That was the question doing the rounds but the answer is not so complicated and it is written across the threadbare exterior of Oldham Athletic. Desperation.



January 6-11 Phuket International Boat Show

January 7-17 16th World Pencak Silat Championship 2015

January 21 Australian embassy outreach to Phuket Call 02-3446300, e: consular.bangkok@dfat.gov.au

February 12-15 Phuket Yacht Show