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

A PROPOSAL to set up a special police station inside Suvarnabhumi international airport in Bangkok has been approved in principle by a special committee, the Bangkok Post reports. Announcement of the move is the first sign of a serious attempt being made to curtail long-standing tourist rip-offs in Bangkok and on Phuket that have damaged Thailand's image for hospitable tourism.
It was initially agreed that the station would be manned by 280 police from the Central Investigation Bureau and Tourist Police Division. Thailand's tourism industry shows few signs of recovery this year, with visitors to Thailand estimated to fall below 10 million in 2009. Action is also being considered to curtail scams on Phuket.


time.com Thailand's political deadlock is often posited as a battle between urban and rural, rich and poor. But the strife is also the result of a clash between two sets of political elites that have failed to find common ground. The US is so worried that it recently committed funds through its Agency for International Development for democracy-building in Thailand, something it has not done for nearly 15 years.

afp Cambodia's civil aviation authority says it will not renew an agreement for Thai-owned Bangkok Airways to operate domestic services when it expires next month. Bangkok Airways has been flying daily between Phnom Penh and the tourist hub Siem Reap, home of the Angkor Wat temples, since last year after its subsidiary, Siem Reap Airways, was grounded for safety concerns.

livedaily.com Beyonce's October 25 concert in Malaysia is going forward as planned after the singer and religious protesters reached an "amicable understanding" over what she would wear on stage. The Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) successfully prevented Beyonce from performing in the country in 2007, citing moral issues.

smh.com.au It's 22 years since Robert Plath, a pilot with the US airline Northwest, stood his bag on its end, added wheels and a retractable handle and forever changed the way we travel. Rolling luggage is now the one thing you wouldn't leave home without. It wasn't long before Plath ditched his wings and started a luggage company, Travelpro, still going strong in the US.

afp A 26-year-old American tourist travelling in India hitched a ride in a rickshaw last week and married the driver a few days later, a report says. ''Whitney'' from Chicago met her prince charming in Jaipur. After meeting last Saturday they were married on Wednesday in a simple ceremony. She is to fly home on September 30 to face her parents.

theage.com.au An airline's chief executive abused his staff for not checking in passengers quickly enough. Airline Jet2.com's head Philip Meeson delivered a string of four-letter words to his staff during a ''spot check'' visit to Manchester Airport last week, London's Telegraph reports. Some of the passengers in the 60-metre-long queue applauded during the CEO's outburst.