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

smh.com.au Imagine if you could configure two economy seats so it is possible to lie down and sleep. Air New Zealand has revealed plans to offer passengers unsold seats when they check in at the airport for conversion to a near-flat bed. The airline's aircraft interior design subsidiary, Altitude Aerospace Interiors, set up last year, plans to sell its economy seat-bed design to other airlines.

cnn.com A Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego, California, overshot the Minneapolis, Minnesota, airport by about 150 miles and federal investigators are looking into whether the pilots had become distracted, as they claimed, or perhaps fell asleep. Air traffic controllers lost radio communication with the Airbus A320, carrying 147 passengers and an unknown number of crew.

aap A Jetstar flight attendant accused of contacting a 15-year-old female passenger on Facebook without her consent is believed to have been sacked by the budget airline. The girl's mother claimed the attendant accessed contact details on the passenger manifest of a domestic flight then repeatedly asked for her mobile phone number and address via Facebook.

bbc.co.uk Rock bands including Pearl Jam and REM have joined a coalition of musicians to support the US president's efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. Many of the artists who have signed up are angry that their music was used as an interrogation tool in the jail.

washingtonpost.com Rosanne and crew filed Freedom of Information Act requests with 10 US agencies on Thursday, demanding all records pertaining to ''the use of loud music during detention and/or as a technique to interrogate detainees during 2002-the present.'' The FOIA requests information about the Barney (the purple dinosaur) theme song, the Meow Mix jingle, the Sesame Street theme and the work of artists Limp Bizkit, James Taylor and Tupac Shakur.

guardian.co.uk The Sri Lankan government has angrily rejected a US state department report containing allegations of human rights abuses in the final days of the country's civil war, saying the document would fan further conflict. According to accounts said by a senior US state department official to be ''credible and well substantiated,'' government forces abducted and killed ethnic Tamil civilians, shelled and bombed no-fire zones, and killed senior rebel leaders with whom they had brokered a surrender.

brudirect.com His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam arrived in Thailand yesterday to join fellow leaders from Asean and its dialogue partners for summits that will finalise a raft of measures to ensure regional economic and financial stability, food security and education.

bloomberg.com Las Vegas Sands Corp. CEO Michael Leven reiterated the company intends to open the first stage of its Singapore casino resort in the first quarter of next year, possibly by February 15. Marina Bay Sands' Singapore opening date will be decided at the end of November, and has begun hiring 9000 employees. Singapore is counting on the Sands resort and a second casino project on Sentosa island to help the city-state achieve its goal of luring 17 million visitors and tripling annual tourism revenue to S$30 billion by 2015.

nydailynews.com Famed New York chef Daniel Boulud, whose five-year contract at the Wynn in Las Vegas was not renewed by casino tycoon Steve Wynn, will be among six celebrity chefs to help launch the $5 billion Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino resort: ''It would have been cheaper for Steve to keep me then what he's paying for his divorce.'' The Marina Bay Sands will transform the Singapore skyline with three towers rising 55 stories directly across from the business district. Topping the three towers will be a cantilevered SkyPark the length of four football fields, which will include a 65-foot-long infinty pool, event space and 360-degree views of the city.

variety.com 'The Lion King' gets a Singapore outpost next year, when the Rialto longrunner begins perfs at the yet-to-open resort Marina Bay Sands. BASE Entertainment and Marina Bay will bring over the import, set to open in September.

The Nation SF Cinema City announced the launch of a new ticketing service for low-cost carrier Nok Air, marking the first time cinema box offices have sold airline tickets in Thailand. The company is negotiating with another three service vendors over providing ticketing and bill payment services, which are considered a value-added feature for cinemas in Bangkok and Phuket.

theage.com.au An Australian woman is seeking an exemption from anti-discrimination laws to set up a women-only travel service for women sick of tour groups centred on booze and bed-hopping. Erin Maitland, a former tour guide, says women friends told her they could not find a tour company that catered for their interests. This year, a party company specialising in dance events for lesbians and bisexual women won the legal right to ban men.

voanews.com A Burmese official says a US official will visit Burma next week, but has given no other details of the trip. The acknowledgement comes a day after a US official said Washington would soon send a mission to Burma as part of the Obama administration's new approach of pragmatic engagement with the country.

AFP A Malaysian couple have been arrested for allegedly severely beating their Indonesian maid and leaving her bound and locked up in a toilet for two nights. Indonesia has put a ban on sending domestic workers to Malaysia while the neighbors attempt to negotiate a deal on salaries and conditions, aimed at ending a string of appalling abuse cases.

Phuket Airport Bans Loy Kratong Sky Lanterns
Latest Tourists and Thais love the sight of a night sky alight with floating lanterns. But the danger to air traffic brings a ban and a jail warning from Phuket airport's chief.
Phuket Airport Bans Loy Kratong Sky Lanterns

Tsunami Coast Gains Second JW Marriott
Phuket Latest Marriott's march across Phuket is now extending north to Khao Lak with a large and quite remarkable resort becoming the latest in the global chain.
Tsunami Coast Gains Second JW Marriott

Update: Mystery Phuket Deaths Raise Questions
Update: Phuket News Two Australian men have died on Phuket in similar circumstances. But we may never know the whole truth, or learn what killed them. Is the diplomatic system failing expats?
Update: Mystery Phuket Deaths Raise Questions

Phuket Gets Set to Sing Island's Praises
Photo Album The other 75 provinces may have their chance to lift up their voices but expect Phuket to sing its own praises when the island choruses the national anthem soon.
Phuket Gets Set to Sing Island's Praises

Phuket Governor Aims to Speed Project Approvals
Latest A fresh raft of projects win approval from Phuket's special environmental committee as the Governor urges officials to make the process as speedy as possible.
Phuket Governor Aims to Speed Project Approvals