DPA As many as 50 people are feared dead after another landslide at gold and jade mines in northern Myanmar, a local official said.

bangkokpost.com Authorities in the southern province of Phuket held ceremonies in memory of the victims and heroes of the Indian Ocean tsunami 11 years ago.

dpa Provinces in southern Thailand held memorial services in various locations along the western coast that was hit by giant waves that killed more than 5300 people in the country 11 years before.


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 Customs officers have seized counterfeit and untaxed products and banned items worth about 20 million baht in Hat Yai district of Songkhla and Phuket.

nationmultimedia.com The governments of Thailand and Myanmar tried their best to calm the anger and dismay that led to protests outside the Thai Embassy in Yangon after a court sentenced two Myanmar migrant workers to death for the murder of two young British backpackers in 2014.



nationmultimedia.com A police investigation has found no evidence of intimidation against investigators working on the probe into the trafficking of Rohingya boat people. The probe results counter Pol Maj-General Paween Pongsirin's claim that he received death threats and had to seek asylum in Australia for that reason.



nationmultimedia.com Despite being traditionally recognised in the West, Christmas is increasingly celebrated in Thailand, according to Dunnhumby Thailand, a customer-science company. Shoppers in Southern region, which includes areas such as Krabi, Phuket, Songkhla and Phatthalung, were more likely than any other Thais to buy Christmas trees and related accessories.

channelnewsasia.com It may have made its name as the ultimate backpacker destination but Thailand hopes to attract a more well-heeled kind of traveller in the future, its tourism minister said on Friday (Dec 25), as the kingdom announced record arrivals for 2015. The vital tourism industry remains one of the few economic bright spots following a year in which the junta-led government has struggled to kickstart the kingdom's stumbling economy.

afp By the end of the year, Thailand will have received more than 29.6 million foreign visitors, Minister for Tourism and Sports Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul told reporters.

nationmultimedia.com A quick look around Phuket showed that tsunami signs pointing people to safety in some places, such as in front of Mt Khuan Nayak in Kathu district, had faded, while another at Dolphin Park in Patong was covered by advertising bills.

reuters Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra told Thais to have ''the strength to pass obstacles'' and warned about the economy, which has been struggling since a 2014 coup.

nytimes.com It started with a private phone call by the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan on Friday morning to wish him a happy birthday. Around four hours later, Mr. Modi landed in Lahore for an impromptu visit with Mr Sharif, giving such little notice that Mr Sharif's national security adviser could not make the journey from Islamabad in time.

afp Tim Peake, the first British astronaut on the International Space Station, dialled a wrong number after trying to phone home, asking a woman ''is this planet Earth?''.

westfieldtimes.com.uk A British couple have flown to South Korea for Christmas to await for the arrival of two puppies cloned from cells taken from their dead pet. Laura Jacques and Richard Remde, from West Yorkshire, were in ''total shock'' when their boxer Dylan died in June and paid 60,000 pounds for the puppies from a laboratory.



themalaysianinsider.com Thirty Malaysian civil societies of different faiths have called on Putrajaya to voice its opposition and concern to the Brunei government for criminalising public Christmas celebrations. The societies, which include Christian as well as Muslim groups, said Brunei's ban on public celebrations of Christmas violated Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.



Phuket Update People across Phuket and along the Andaman coast will commemorate the 2004 tsunami that killed 5400 tourists and Thais and about 220,000 around the Indian Ocean with services at memorial sites on Saturday. Eleven years on, authorities have yet to clarify that nearly all the original 3000 ''missing'' were eventually identified among the 5400 bodies.

December 26 2004 Tsunami memorial ceremonies

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



January 7-10 Phuket International Boat Show