A daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective and reports from national and international media.

TNA His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej has appeared in public for the second time in less than two weeks after being hospitalised for more than a month for a lung inflammation treatment, marking the occasion by celebrating a traditional observance of the Loy Krathong festival with members of the royal family. Wearing a long-sleeved pink shirt with a white jacket, the 81-year-old monarch, accompanied by Her Majesty Queen Sirikit and members of the royal family, was taken by a chief physician and his team in a wheelchair to the Siriraj Hospital riverside pier to float his krathong, a tiny lotus-shaped vessel, in the Chao Phraya River.

thenewstribune.com About half of Thailand's national lawmakers are taking advantage of a new government plan allowing them to purchase guns at a discount and receive a license to carry them anywhere, an official said Monday. Election campaigns in Thailand's rural areas are sometimes violent, and most campaigns are marked by several deaths, usually of vote canvassers who buy votes for their candidates.

The Nation The Phuket Thailand Open women's volleyball tournament, starting tomorrow at Karon Beach, promises to be the biggest beach volleyball competition ever held in Asia. Tournament director Geoffrey Rowe said the number of players in the tournament, the last stop of the Swatch FIVB World Tour 2009, has increased by 40 percent from last year. More than 80 teams from 30 countries have confirmed their participation.

bernama.com The strong Australian dollar and Malaysia's ranking as a top tourist destination has resulted in a 33 percent increase, to a record 427,076, in Aussie departures to Malaysia last year. The increase by more than 100,000 visitors from the previous year is also attributed to Australians' preference for short-haul destinations - especially Malaysia and other Asean holiday spots - compared with the more expensive ones in Europe and the US.

bloomberg.com PTT Exploration & Production Pcl shares fell the most in five months after the Thai driller said a burning oil rig at its well offshore Australia may collapse into the sea. ''The fire is out of control,''Jose Martins, a director of PTTEP's Australian unit, told reporters in Perth. The platform sits above a field that has leaked oil and gas in the nation's third-worst spill.

scoop.co.uk An advert for Malaysian palm oil has been banned in Britain, dealing a major blow to the credibility of Malaysia's palm oil industry. Members of the hunter-gatherer Penan tribe in Borneo have welcomed the ban, saying: ''Oil palm plantations have not benefited us at all; they have only robbed us of our resources and land.'' The UK's Advertising Standards Agency banned the magazine advert, which claimed that Malaysian palm oil was ''sustainable'' and contributed to ''the alleviation of poverty, especially amongst rural populations.''

Associated Press Police in Cyprus say a passenger bolted from a plane as it prepared for take-off by opening a rear exit and sliding down an emergency chute. The 28-year-old sailor, who holds a Greek passport, then jumped the Larnaca airport fence and disappeared. Investigators did not know what spurred the man to exit the Cyprus Airways jet on Saturday night moments after the captain ordered the crew to lock the aircraft doors.

afp Two Beefeaters at the Tower of London have been suspended and a third is under investigation over allegations they bullied the first woman ever to join their ranks. The Sun newspaper reported that Moira Cameron, 44, had faced a ''hate campaign'' from disgruntled male Beefeaters at the Tower, one of London's most popular tourist attractions and the home of the Crown Jewels.

Phuketwan Update The TAT has selected 25 teams from 256 entries for its Ultimate Thailand Explorers competition and will shortlist five finalisis by November 12. Chosen couples will visit Phuket, Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Samui and report online via networking sites, with more holidays among prizes. Candidates from US, India, Canada, Australia, Germany, and England are believed to be among the top 25.

telegraph.co.uk Somali pirates who kidnapped British sailors Paul and Rachel Chandler were involved in a gun-battle with rival militia over plans to transfer the couple to Islamic extremists. One faction of the gang holding the Chandlers wanted to hand them over to local Islamists believed to be linked to radical jihadists fighting Somalia's Western-backed government.

sunday telegraph Nowadays the sea is full of amateur sailors on hard-core odysseys. World Crusing Club estimates at least 1000 sailors are ''out there, doing it''. These men and women have grown up with Sir Robin Knox-Johnson and Sir Francis Chichester as idols. Some are ex-hippes; others grafters, who have plodded and worried their way through their working life, and finally have the time and money to sail joyously into the sunshine.