Updating All Day, Every Day
thephuketinsider.com Destination Resorts, which owns resorts on Phuket, has taken on a Southeast Asia franchise deal for Hooters to expand to 30 locations, plus Hong Kong and Macau.
financeasia.com A Chinese consortium Fosun International is tapping lenders for funds to buy France's Club Mediterranee (Club Med) which operates luxury resorts on Phuket and in the Maldives.
reuters Several hundred Jewish tombs have been damaged in a cemetery near the north-eastern French city of Strasbourg, according to the French interior minister.
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
latimes.com The gunman believed to have carried out two deadly attacks in Copenhagen was on the intelligence service's radar and may have been inspired by the Islamic State, Danish officials said. The suspected killer was fatally shot by police hours after attacks on a free-speech debate and at a synagogue in the capital left two men dead and five police officers injured.
AP Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the ''massive immigration'' of European Jews to Israel following a deadly shooting near Copenhagen's main synagogue, renewing a blunt message that has upset some of Israel's friends in Europe.
reuters Islamic State released a video that appeared to show the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned that his country would respond to the deaths as it saw fit.
nationmultimedia.com A security guard and the manager of a bar in Koh Samui confessed to conspiring to shoot dead a Turkish tourist and placing a gun in the dead man's hand, police said.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Two-confess-to-killing-Turkish-tourist-in-Samui-30254154.html
Today's Essential Reading
nytimes.com For the past two years, I've been interviewing individuals like Justine Sacco: everyday people pilloried brutally, most often for posting some poorly considered joke on social media. The people I met were mostly unemployed, fired for their transgressions, and they seemed broken somehow - deeply confused and traumatised.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?fb_ref=Default&_r=0
Phuket World of People
bangkokpost.com Police in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok are ordered to stop searches of foreign nationals without due legal process because of rising concerns of police harassment.
Krabi Update Bicycles have been banned on Phi Phi Island's public walkways following complaints from tourists about crowded streets and reckless cyclists.
nationmultimedia.com Thailand is set to be a strategic investment destination for Chinese companies, not only to cash in on a huge domestic market, but also using the Kingdom as springboard to export products to Asean and other markets around the world.
bangkokpost.com The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) has decided to seize a ''bargain priced'' Lamborghini earlier impounded from popular TV actor Pakorn "Boy" Chatborirak, ruling it was acquired by the vendor with criminal gains.
thetimes.co.uk A scientist has claimed that the CIA US foreign intelligence agency sought his advice about techniques for disrupting the climate. Professor Alan Robock, a climatologist from Rutgers University who specialises in the effect of releasing aerosols into the atmosphere, has said he was approached by representatives of the organisation.
afp The Italian coastguard launched a massive operation to rescue more than 2000 migrants in difficulty between the Italian island of Lampedusa and the Libyan coast, local media said.
ft.com Michele Ferrero, creator of chocolate-like spread Nutella and Italy's richest man with a fortune estimated at about $23.4bn, has died after a long illness just two months short of his 90th birthday.
scmp.com The US embassy in Beijing says it is aware of unspecified media reports that terrorists are planning an attack in Kunming, Yunnan, over the Lunar New Year period.
afp At least 20 people were killed and 31 injured when a freight train slammed into a packed passenger bus in northeastern Mexico, authorities said Saturday after rescue crews worked through the night to reach victims.
latimes.com French actor Louis Jourdan, best known for his role as the dashing playboy in the 1958 movie musical 'Gigi,' has died. He was 93.
Around the Asean Region
Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-singapore-prostrate-cancer-malaysia-under-fire-wealth-execution-wait-21887/
Phuket World of Sport
afp Third-division Bradford City continued their remarkable progress in the FA Cup by beating Premier League Sunderland 2-0 to reach the quarter-finals on Sunday, while holders Arsenal overcame Middlesbrough.
bbc.com England were outclassed by an impressive Australia in a 111-run defeat on the opening day of the World Cup in Melbourne. Aaron Finch, dropped on nought by Chris Woakes in the first over, hammered 135 and Glenn Maxwell a 40-ball 66 to propel the co-hosts to 342-9.
golf-monthly.co.uk Andrew Dodt completed a surprise one-stroke victory over fellow Australian Scott Hend and home player Thongchai Jaidee in the True Thailand Classic presented by Black Mountain.
Coming Events on Phuket 2015
February 19 Chinese New Year
February 26-28 Phuket Old Town Festival
March 1-15 Heroines festival
March 4-8 Bay Regatta
April 11-13 Phuket Bike Week
April 17-19 Songkran Festival
May 4 Additional public holiday scheduled
