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

independent.co.uk Robert Fisk writes: In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning - along with China, Russia, Japan and France - to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar. Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

AFP The price of gold struck an all-time high of $1,043.78 early on Wednesday as the dollar fell to 33.4 baht on reports of a plan by Gulf states to stop using the greenback for oil trading. Barclays Capital precious metals analyst Suki Cooper said dollar weakness appeared to be related to reported secret talks about oil being priced in a basket of currencies including gold rather than the dollar.

enews.mcot.net Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva says his government has resolved to invoke the Internal Security Act to maintain law and order in the Thai seaside resorts of Cha-am and Hua Hin during the Asean Summit later this month. The Thai premier said the ISA will be imposed from October 12 to 27. His government imposed the ISA during the Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting on Phuket in July to prevent any recurrence of undesired incidents by protesters.

AFP Planes will crash if flying hours for pilots are not cut, organisers of a Europe-wide protest action has warned, saying crew fatigue is as dangerous for passenger safety as pilots drinking. Campaigners representing pilots, engineers and crew in 36 European countries distributed some 100,000 fake boarding passes with the slogan 'Dead tired' in airports across the continent.

Bangkok Post Sondhi Limthongkul has placed all rival polticial parties on notice following his election as the new leader of the New Politics Party. Mr Sondhi, elected party leader uncontested after other nominees withdrew, said the development of the new party was a phenomenon that would have an impact on all other political parties.

myfoxtwincities.com A 21-year-old British student who survived a bungee-jump-gone-wrong told the 'Today' show that the Phuket company at the time told him to just ''put your arms out and jump,'' but now the company said he was supposed to go head first, not feet first. ''I've got friends that bungee jump all the time,'' Rishi Baveja said. ''They say you should be able to go off that platform any way you want and the thing shouldn't come off you.''

Reuters TripAdvisor's list of the top 10 places worldwide to be especially aware of pickpockets begins with. Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain, Rome, Italy, and Prague, Czech Republic. The only Asian city on the list is Hanoi at No.10 which is described as ''a beautiful and unique place to visit, but also a place to stay alert.''

dailymail.co.uk A British man survived the tsunami which ''devastated'' the South Pacific by paddling towards the towering wave, he has claimed. Tom Gogola, 22, was in Samoa for a three-week holiday when the island was hit by a wall of water. He was in the water surfing when he saw the wave racing towards the shore.

travolution.co.uk Tourism Thailand UK is working on a new web strategy as it seeks to promote Thailand as a ''value destination''. For its latest marketing campaign, TAT will move away from promoting Thailand as a ''chic'' destination and instead focus on value. The shift to value is driven by ''recent changes in consumer purchasing patterns and spending behavior,'' according to director of TAT UK Tanes Petsuwan.

btnonline.com Marriott International's upscale Renaissance brand is overhauling its image, anchored by new property openings in New York and Paris along with a new marketing strategy. Besides the New York and Paris properties, Renaissance plans to open 24 new hotels over the next three years, including one on Phuket. Renaissance also launched renaissancehotels.com and announced a new food and beverage strategy designed to offer locally inspired food at each location.

afp Google and Yahoo have joined a growing roster of web-based email service providers with users duped by hackers into betraying passwords to accounts. A day after Microsoft blocked access to thousands of Hotmail accounts in response to hackers plundering password information and posting it online, the list of victims was growing to include users of an array of email services.

washingtonpost.com Howard Kurtz writes: Part of America thinks David Letterman is a dirty dog, and the other part thinks we should keep our noses out of his private business. Those who see Dave as a showbiz guy who need not answer to anyone other than his family are, in my view, missing the point that the boss was having sex with subordinates.

afp The White House says that President Barack Obama will meet the Dalai Lama later this year, denying he kowtowed to China by avoiding the exiled Tibetan leader on his current visit. The Dalai Lama conferred on Tuesday with top congressional leaders who offered him strong support. But for the first time since 1991, the Tibetan leader was visiting Washington without a meeting scheduled with the president.

usatoday.com The trend towards airline deregulation and privatisation has generated more competition and liberalization - in the form of "open skies" agreements - allowing unlimited traffic between many countries. But, in most places, foreign ownership restrictions remain intact with fears of job loss or access issues in a national emergency if a country's commercial airlines are under foreign control.