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

timesonline.co.uk President Sarkozy's new Culture Minister, Frederic Mitterrand, was struggling to save his name and possibly his job last night amid a storm over his past accounts of paying ''boys'' for sex. The nephew of the late President Mitterrand, who is openly gay, was thrown on the defensive after opposition politicians homed in on a memoir in which he described visiting brothels in Bangkok.

telegraph.co.uk France's culture minister, was under pressure to resign after it emerged that he had admitted to paying ''young boys'' for sexual acts while on holiday in Thailand. The revelations in his 2005 autobiography 'The Bad Life' have come back to haunt Mr Mitterrand after he emerged as one of the most vociferous defenders of Roman Polanski, the film director currently detained in Switzerland over an outstanding conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in the US in 1977.

independent.co.uk The furore is deeply embarrassing for President Sarkozy, who claimed to have struck a blow for ''political openness'' when he brought Mr Mitterrand, who is openly gay, into his centre-right government in June. The choice was reportedly influenced by the President's wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who has been trying to broaden the her husband's cultural horizons.

abc.net.au A tsunami watch for the Australian coast has been cancelled but islanders across the South Pacific are heading to higher ground after two big undersea earthquakes sparked a tsunami warning across the region this morning. A major 7.3 earthquake struck off Vanuatu just minutes after a 7.8 quake nearby triggered a tsunami warning for large parts of the South Pacific, the US Geological Survey said.

afp A tsunami warning issued after two powerful earthquakes struck the South Pacific has been cancelled, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The center issued an alert a week after a tsunami spawned by a major quake killed at least 184 people in the Samoan islands and Tonga.

Phuketwan.com Update The court case involving Phuket jet-ski operator Winai ''JJ'' Naiman has been rescheduled to October 28. Mr Naiman's dealings in demanding compensation for ''damage'' to jet-skis from American and British marines had been documented for a reality television series, 'Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand.' He faces a count of extortion with menace.

smh.com.au An elderly Australian man endured conditions described as ''unbearable'' by another passenger before dying on an Air France/Qantas flight from Paris to Singapore. About 360 passengers were last night stranded at Bucharest, Romania, after the plane made an emergency landing in a vain bid to help the seriously ill passenger.

Phuketwan.com Update II Phuket Governor Wichai Praisa-nob and Patong mayor Pian Keesin have both ordered checks to be made on the safety of bungy jumps on Phuket following revelations that a British tourist was seriously injured during a jump in July. The man broke free from the bungy cord but the mangement at Jungle Bungy in central Phuket says it has taken steps to ensure wrappings remain secure.

express.co.uk Calls were growing last night for a breakfast television reporter to be sacked after he screamed out a string of expletives live on air while doing a bungee jump. Millions of children were watching GMTV at 8.15am when reporter Jonathan Swain twice yelled out the F-word as he took part in the stunt.

Bangkok Post An overseas company will operate Bangkok's express rail link to Suvarnabhumi Airport for the first few years of its operation, the State Railway of Thailand says. DB International GmbH, which is installing the operating system for the railway link and training staff, would be hired to run the service as well. The link is scheduled to open in April.

bbc.co.uk Labour Behind the Label, a group that campaigns for garment workers, has calculated a wage it says should be used as a minimum for workers in Asia. It says that a single Asian ''floor wage'' would prevent countries competing at the expense of workers. The floor wage is enough to pay for food, water, clothing, housing, taxes, utilities, healthcare and education.

yachte.com.au Long recognised as one of the top events in the yachting world, both regionally and internationally, the Phuket King's Cup Regatta is this year also being saluted as a major tourism attraction for Phuket. The regatta not only underscores the benefits of the greater Andaman Sea as a world sailing destination, but brings in around 2000 additional high spending tourists who provide a 40 million baht direct boost to the island's economy.

Associated Press Chinese dissidents are leading the odds of winning the Nobel Peace Prize this year, the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and the 60th since the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Speculation on the chances of Chinese dissidents for the peace prize, announced this year on Friday, has been a yearly ritual. But this time there's a stronger current of expectation surrounding critics of China's long-standing communist regime.

smh.com.au BMW has unveiled a two-wheeler concept that is designed to be safer and even more environmentally friendly than a motorcycle, thanks to an electric motor. The zero-emissions C1-E has been developed for a European motorcycle safety project that is researching ways to reduce the number of motorbike and scooter accidents that happen predominantly in city traffic. It features a roll-over bar that spans most of the length of the two-wheeler..

justtheflight.co.uk The Singapore Tourism Board has announced details of some unique attractions that will be opening in the city-state next year. Families will have the opportunity to visit the Universal Studios amusement park at Resorts World Sentosa to experience the world's first attraction based on the hit animated movie Madagascar. Also set to open at Universal Studios in Singapore is the first Far Far Away Castle, which features in Shrek, another hit movie released by DreamWorks Animation.