aap New Zealand man Richard James Wackrow, 40, who bashed his German girlfriend with a motorbike helmet in a Bali street has been sentenced to five months in an Indonesian jail.


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



independent.co.uk Isis militants have burned at least 45 people to death in the Iraqi town of Al-Baghdadi, according to local police. Colonel Qasim al-Obeidi told BBC News that he believed some of those killed were members of the security forces, as details on the victims and why they were targeted remains unclear.

bangkokpost.com National park authorities have given the Rayong Resort hotel 30 days to demolish its 380-metre-long bridge pier, which was found to have illegally extended out over the sea.

nationmultimedia.com Editorial: The outrage expressed by tourists over a ban on beach chairs in Phuket recently showed that visitors are less willing to compromise. Local police have faced resistance from tourists since the rule came into effect on February 12. Some visitors even said they would never visit the resort again in protest against the removal of their favorite beach perches.



ejfopundation.org The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) strongly recommends that Thailand remains on Tier 3 in the 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report to send a clear signal to the Government that further progress and substantive efforts are required to ensure removal from the Tier 3 ranking which places it alongside countries such as North Korea and Iran.
http://ejfoundation.org/news/insufficient-action-thailand-slavery-may-result-second-year-lowest-tier-us-state-department%E2%80%99s

reuters Burma's decision to revoke temporary identification cards for minorities is raising tensions among its 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims, who have effectively been disenfranchised just days after parliament approved a law affirming their right to vote in a referendum.



bangkokpost.com Reclaiming Phuket's beaches from encroachment by chair, umbrella and food vendors means that those locals have to find new ways to make a living. The implicit cost to Phuket's local economy is estimated to be around five billion baht a year. It's no coincidence that societies with low levels of corruption, like the Nordic countries and Singapore, also have the world's best schooling, health care, roads, mass transit systems, public parks, and so on.

usatoday.com A raucous Mardi Gras parade that packed the streets with thousands of revelers in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince ended in tragedy when a high-voltage wire hit a float. At least 16 people died in the ensuing panic.

bangkokpost.com People along the Andaman coast have vowed to stop the environmental nightmare ahead.The anti-oil concession lobby has won its first battle to delay a new licensing round. Ripples of discontent are spreading.

smh.com.au The notoriously hands-on US Vice-President Joe Biden has renewed his claim as Washington's most grabby politician after cameras captured him in a close encounter with the wife of the new Defence Secretary.

xinhua French Prime Minister Manuel Valls decided to pass the controversial ''Law on Growth and Activity'' via a decree and without lawmakers' vote, a move that could trigger the government's collapse.

nationmultimedia.com Japan's Prince Hotels and Resorts has sealed a joint marketing and cross-selling deal with Dusit International and opened an office in Bangkok to boost Asean tourism.

scmp.com China and Russia will consolidate their united front with a series of high level exchanges in coming months, with a particular emphasis on joint commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war.

cnn.com China is building a ''significant presence'' in disputed waters in the South China Sea through land reclamation, new analysis shows.

independent.ie Irish women are much more likely to get dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, than men - with almost twice as many female sufferers than male.

traveldailynews.asia Thai Vietjet will operate domestic flights from Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok to Phuket, Udon Thani and Krabi, as well as international flights between Bangkok and Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

hauteliving.com Located in the middle of the striking emerald green Phang Nga Bay, equidistant to Phuket and the Krabi mainland, this seaside paradise of Koh Yao Noi remains relatively untouched by human hands.



runwaygirlnetwork.com Malaysia Airlines is testing a new SITA flight tracking solution that will do more than simply address the rate and means of sending position reports from aircraft; it will ensure systems are in place at the carrier to process the reports and make the data more useful.

Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-singapore-arrest-aussie-cambodia-ends-russian-party-jobs-move-manila-malaysia-repression-questioned-21897/



afp A first-half away goal by Branislav Ivanovic and some fine goalkeeping by Thibaut Courtois put Chelsea in command of their Champions League last-16 tie with Paris Saint-Germain as Tuesday's first leg ended 1-1.

afp Bayern Munich were held to a goalless draw by Shakhtar Donetsk in their Champions League last-16 tie after the German side were reduced to 10 men.

telegraph.co.uk Twenty years ago cricket did not exist to all intents in war-ravaged Afghanistan. On Wednesday, their national team will play Bangladesh in their first 50-over World Cup match, and have every chance of beating that fragile Test-playing country, as they did in their only previous ODI encounter.



February 19 Chinese New Year

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