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

andrew-drummond.com Producer cameraman Gavin Hill, who captured jet-ski scams on camera in Phuket, has made a ''strategic withdrawal,'' fleeing Bangkok as his Thai crew faced up to a year in jail. They stand accused of assisting in the filming of a sequence which could ''damage the country's image''. From London, Hill said: ''I did not wish to argue my case from prison.'' The third episode of 'Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand' was set to air in Britain on Monday night.

scmp.com China has stopped issuing travel permits for foreign tourists to Tibet and has ordered close scrutiny of tourists already there as security is stepped up in sensitive areas in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic on October 1. The arrangements were effective immediately and would be in force until, tentatively, October 8, industry insiders said. Travel agencies were now strictly required to provide every tour group of foreigners with a vehicle and a tour guide.

Bangkok Post Southeast Asian business leaders have cancelled their annual meeting set to take place in Thailand this year, citing the country's prolonged political strife and rising tension at the border between Thailand and Cambodia. The Asean Business Advisory Council, involving about 500 leading executives, was scheduled to meet in Bangkok next month.


dailymail.co.uk Renault escaped with a minimal penalty on Monday despite orchestrating one of sport's worst acts of cheating on record. The FIA's World Motor Sport Council determined that covering Renault's expenses of the governing body's investigation and all the legal costs - estimated at a combined maximum of 750,000 pounds - and making a ''significant'' donation to safety work was sanction enough for race-fixing.

timesonline.co.uk Edward Gorman writes: The FIA cannot have it both ways. On one hand, it issued a judgment in the Renault cheating case that described the deliberate crash by Nelson Piquet Jr at Singapore last year as a breach of the International Sporting Code of ''unparalleled severity.'' On the other, it handed out a punishment of unparalleled leniency.

smh.com.au A week ago, Jetstar created one of its most brand-damaging incidents when 250 passengers on a flight from Bangkok to Melbourne were stuck on a plane at Bangkok airport for more than three hours while a faulty hydraulic pump was replaced. Jetstar reportedly offered economy passengers caught in the Bangkok delay a penny-pinching $50 voucher - an act of contempt that probably cost the airline hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost business and goodwill. The only consolation? Jetstar is positively saintly compared with the up-yours culture of the airline industry in the US.

Associated Press Three American men charged with traveling to Cambodia to engage in sex acts with children have pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles and are being held without bail for trial on November 10. All were expelled from Cambodia and brought to the US last month under a new initiative targeting child sex tourism in Cambodia, which authorities described as ground zero for the problem.

scmp.com Thirty contestants have been selected and filming will begin next month at a secret location for 'The Biggest Loser Asia,' an adapted version of the US reality TV show featuring obese participants who compete to lose the most weight. Contestants come from around the region, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, India and Indonesia. English-speaking viewers are a key demographic for regional channels because they are likely to have more disposable income.

indiatimes.com Mumbai's dirty little secret is out: urinating in public is the most `popular' offence among citizens. Nearly two years after the municipality's solid waste management department came up with the idea of deploying independent agencies with clean-up marshals to monitor public cleanliness and create awareness, records show that around 65 percent of the fines levied on citizens were for urinating in public places.

dailymail.co.uk Off Malaysia is surely the biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history. Their numbers are equivalent to the entire British and American navies combined; their tonnage is far greater. The container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers are a powerful and tangible representation of the hurricanes that have been wrought by the global economic crisis; an iron curtain drawn along the coastline of the southern edge of Malaysia's rural Johor state, 50 miles east of Singapore harbor. About 12 percent of the world's shipping is now idle.

bbc.co.uk Police in Pakistan are restricting the movement of an Islamic charity leader accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai (Bombay) attacks. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed founded Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group India accuses of carrying out the attacks. Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Mr Saeed deny they are linked to the attacks.

nytimes.com When the government killed all the pigs in Egypt this spring -in what public health experts said was a misguided attempt to combat swine flu - it was warned the city would be overwhelmed with trash. The pigs used to eat tons of organic waste. Now the pigs are gone and the rotting food piles up on the streets of middle-class neighborhoods. What started out as an impulsive response to the swine flu threat has turned into a social, environmental and political problem for the Arab world's most populous nation.


Patong Jet-Ski Insurance Co-op 'the Answer'
Latest Twin invasions of US warships and ladyboys liven up Phuket with the jet ski scam heightening concern. Here's how one Patong businessman would fix jet skis for good.
Patong Jet-Ski Insurance Co-op 'the Answer'

US Warships Visit Brings Ladyboy Crime Invaders
Phuketwan Exclusive The visit by USS Ronald Reagan and other US warships to Phuket has triggered an invasion by ladyboys, bent on a crime wave. Here's what one of their first victims has to say.
US Warships Visit Brings Ladyboy Crime Invaders

More Cameras to Protect Phuket Against Crime
Latest Cameras are becoming an increasingly popular weapon or witness to deter crime on Phuket. And it's hoped some may help keep gridlock at bay, too.
More Cameras to Protect Phuket Against Crime

Don't Kill Yourselves: Vice Gov's Jet-Ski Warning
Updated Report: Photo Album A vice governor issues a warning at the second crisis meeting of jet ski operators on Phuket, with Wanai 'JJ' Naiman among those who attended.
Don't Kill Yourselves: Vice Gov's Jet-Ski Warning

Time for All Honest Thais to Act to Stop Corruption
Latest Thailand's tourism image has been tarnished because corruption is tolerated, and it will be tarnished over and over again unless honest Thais act to stop the thieves.
Time for All Honest Thais to Act to Stop Corruption

Patong, Rawai Fail Phuket's Clean Beach Tests
Pollution Chart Album Experts survey all 23 Phuket beaches and report on which ones are most severely polluted. Patong and Rawai are at one end of the scale, Kata and Karon at the other.
Patong, Rawai Fail Phuket's Clean Beach Tests

Phuket Set to Party on Karon: September 25-26
Beach Party A 22 million baht dance party is being held for free on Phuket's Karon beach this coming weekend, the biggest event of its kind seen on the island.
Phuket Set to Party on Karon: September 25-26