bbc.co.uk Heading: ''Thailand rocked by rival protests.' Thousands of troops were deployed in Thailand as rival political groups held separate protests, one of which turned violent. Crowds of demonstrators turned out in Bangkok to mark the third anniversary of the coup which ousted controversial Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Far away on the border, an anti-Thaksin group clashed with police as it tried to enter a disputed border temple.

abc.com.au Security forces in Thailand are facing off against two separate protest groups - one at the Cambodian border, the other in Bangkok. There have been reports of clashes between local villagers and protesters from the Peoples' Alliance for Democracy (PAD) near the site of a decades-old land dispute near the Preah Vihear temple at Thailand's north-eastern border. Television channels showed the yellow-clad protesters - the yellow shirts - armed with sticks trying to beat local villagers and Thai riot police, who pushed back with shields.

phuketwan.com Phuket's red shirt leader, Suntorn Tomas, said today that three mini-bus vans of supporters from the island had gone to Bangkok for the protests there. ''If the protest concludes tonight, there will be no reason for more of us to go,'' he said. No live television coverage of the event is being permitted by the government, he said. Phuket's yellow shirt Peoples' Alliance for Democracy leader Aparat Chartchutikumjorn, one of the 21-member board charting the directions of the New Politics Party (Karn Muang Mai), said two min-bus loads of Phuket supporters had headed for the Cambodia border. Southern provinces had each sent about 20 protesters, she said.


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

PEOPLE on Phuket will be cheering on their Aussie ''boxing kangaroo'' as he seeks a world title in Las Vegas on Sunday. Michael Katsidis will be confronted by 16,000 booing, screaming, booze-filled Mexican and American fans in the ring at the MGM Grand Casino.
Katsidis, reports theage.com.au, will ''use the brutality and hardship he faced in the jungle to deflect the angry crowd.'' To prepare, Katsidis checked into a Muay Thai fight camp in jungle outside Phuket. ''It was very rugged,'' Katsidis told AAP. ''There was a lot of sparring with some very tough men, I slept at a very simple place with very hard bunk beds, we ate simple foods and used very basic methods of training.
''Americans and Europeans over the centuries went to war with weapons, but in Thailand it has always been very much hand-to-hand combat so they are very advanced with their fighting methods. It works for me.''
The Australian fights Vicente Escobedo, one of the lightweight division's most promising boxers. The winner will be named the World Boxing Organisation's lightweight interim champion and become the mandatory challenger for Mexican great, Juan Manuel Marquez.

The Nation The Government is now watching the spread of H1N1 in 10 provinces across Thailand with the highest number of patients, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday. The 10 provinces were named as Phuket, Chiang Mai, Lamphoon, Nakhon Sawan, Nonthaburi, Sukhothai, Nongbualamphu, Roi Et, Yasothon, and Nakhonnayok. [Phuket may make the list simply because its official population is 320,000 compared to an actual population of 600,000 plus, magnifying the ratio of cases.]


hollywoodreporter.com 'Big Trouble,' a UK docu-entertainment series filmed in Thailand, has stirred up a rumpus. Weerasak Kowsurat, the ministry level official who heads the Tourism Authority of Thailand, has launched two separate probes into the making of the series, as well as an operation to clean-up tourist industry practices. Even before 'Big Trouble' Phuket authorities had organised a summit meeting about jet-ski and similar scams at beach resorts. In July the country's PM Abhisit Vejjajiva ordered a crackdown on unlicensed taxi and tour guides operating from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport.

thestar.com.my It is a sight not many in Thailand will want to see. Thai Deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban has promised to strip naked if there is a coup today, the third anniversary of the military overthrow of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. ''I am in charge of security affairs and I have heard of nobody planning a coup. If there is a coup, I will walk naked (as I) step down. I believe no groups (in the military) want to stage a coup now,'' Suthep told journalists recently. No coup, says the confident deputy PM.

chinadaily.com Three years after a bloodless coup that was supposed to end bitter political turmoil and restore stability, Thailand is as volatile as ever.The country appears to be locked in an endless cycle of protest and counter-protest by former PM Thaksin's supporters and opponents, even as Thaksin himself remains in exile, but still able to rally his fans if only by phone. They will hold a rally this Saturday marking the coup's anniversary. So insecure is the government of PM Abhisit Vejjajiva that it has invoked a special public security law to allow the military to restore order should the unrest again turn violent.

The Nation Orient Thai Airlines has revised its business plan by cutting domestic flights operated by its low-cost subsidiary One-Two-Go and focusing more on chartered flight operations due to lower passenger numbers. Airline founder and chief executive officer Udom Tantiprasongchai said One-Two-Go had reduced the number of daily flights by more than half to 14. Reduced were the flight frequencies from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, Hat Yai and Trang.

Associated Press An Islamic court has ordered an unmarried couple to be caned for trying to have sex in a car in the latest of a series of harsh punishments for Muslims in Malaysia. The Shariah High Court in Selangor sentenced the couple to six strokes of the cane after they pleaded guilty to trying to have sex out of wedlock in a car, said prosecutor Shafezan Rusli.Islamic religious police caught Mohamad Shahrin Abdul Majid, 29, and Nadiah Najat Hussin, 24, in their undergarments in a car at an office parking lot in May.They are appealing the caning and plan to get married soon.

nuwireinvestor.com Residential property prices in Thailand dropped further in 2009, because of continuing political tensions and the recession. House prices fell 3.7 percent during the year to Q2 2009 (1 percent in real terms), according to the Bank of Thailand (BOT). Price falls accelerated in 2007 to 4.3 percent (6.4 percent in real terms), and to 13.9 percent in 2008 (18.4 percent in real terms) due to the political unrest, which worsened after Thaksin was ousted in September 2006.

guardian.co.uk The genteel world of lawn bowls has taken a leaf out of Formula One's somewhat more glamorous and high-profile book and has been rocked by match fixing allegations. Canada claim that a New Zealand men's four deliberately lost to Thailand at last month's Asia-Pacific Championships in Malaysia. The team has been stood down pending a hearing.

travelmole.com An expanded range of 2009-10 cruises across Australasia, Asia and the South Pacific has been introduced by Qantas Holidays. The operator is offering fly-cruise packages featuring departures from Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Singapore for the first time visiting Indonesia, Malaysia, Phuket and Kuala Lumpur with other cruise options offering departures from Sydney, Beijing and Bangkok.

nytimes.com While the US, Britain and other Western countries continue to draw the most Asian students, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong all want to attract thousands more international students. Malaysia wants 100,000 foreign school and university students by next year, compared with 71,000 enrolled in the current academic year. Singapore plans to attract 150,000 by 2015, up from 97,000 in 2008. Hong Kong has not set specific targets, but it recently doubled its quota for non-local students in its public universities.


JJ Tells of Apology and His 28 Patong Jet-Skis
Latest A second crisis meeting of jet ski operators and Phuket authorities is taking place with Wanai 'JJ' Naiman among those who attended briefly. He spoke of his pending court case.
JJ Tells of Apology and His 28 Patong Jet-Skis

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's Day of Celebration for Respected Monk
Photo Special Birthdays come every year but No. 113 is always going to be a rare treat for anyone who reaches that milestone. Phuket enjoyed that treat, too.
Phuket's Day of Celebration for Respected Monk

Phuket Store Wars as Carrefour Goes Shopping
Exclusive Having done well in Patong, Carrefour is looking to expand on the Phuket City side of the island with a large stand alone supermarket that would also cater for events.
Phuket Store Wars as Carrefour Goes Shopping

Phuket Crash Landings: Disasters Require Answers
News Analysis To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, the theory goes. Yet Phuket, wonderful island that it is, often proves to be the exception. Especially with disasters.
Phuket Crash Landings: Disasters Require Answers

Keith Floyd Celebrated Before Heart Attack
Update The sadness and shock of celebrity chef Keith Floyd's last moments has been revealed. The man who was the first celebrity TV chef had a long love affair with Phuket.
Keith Floyd Celebrated Before Heart Attack

Phuket Scams: Governor Calls for Corruption Probe
Latest Phuket has been ''driven in neutral gear'' for a decade and now needs a thorough investigation of allegations of corruption among police and officials, Phuket's Governor says.
Phuket Scams: Governor Calls for Corruption Probe


MediaWATCH: Terrorist Top Dies in Shootout
Latest Terrorist mastermind Noordin Muhammed Top dies in siege shootout; Nuclear plan for Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Nation going in wrong direction, survey of Thais finds.
MediaWATCH: Terrorist Top Dies in Shootout