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

WITH the USS Ronald Reagan anchored off Phuket come fresh revelations in the nytimes.com about the actor turned Commander in Chief.
In the early 1980s, according to newly released documents, Cuba's Fidel Castro was suggesting a Soviet nuclear strike against the US, until Moscow dissuaded him by patiently explaining how the radioactive cloud resulting from such a strike would also devastate Cuba.
Moscow's effort to enlighten Mr Castro to the innate messiness of nuclear warfare is among a number of disclosures in the Pentagon study.
Menawhile washingtonpost.com reveals that documents from inside the Kremlin during the late 1980s show that Reagan's dream of a global shield against the ''evil empire'' was not the driving force that reversed the arms race. The agent of change was Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Gorbachev had concluded that the sprawling Soviet defense establishment - the army, navy, air force, strategic rocket forces, air defense forces, and all the institutes, design bureaus and factories that supported them - was a monumental burden on the country.
President Obama's decision last week to scale back plans for a European long-range missile defense system rekindled arguments about missile defense systems and their feasibility that date to the Reagan-Gorbachev era.

Bangkok Post Violent protests in Thailand are evidence of a vibrant democracy at work, Abhisit Vejjajiva has told an American audience. Thailand has achieved greater stability under his rule, despite protests and occasional violence, the prime minister said at Columbia University, New York. Khun Abhisit was discussing the country's tumultuous politics since the military coup ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.

property-report.com Hoteliers are in an increasingly optimistic mood as advanced bookings are on the up and some hoteliers reporting full occupancy during the peak season period (over Christmas and New Year). The question being whispered on the Island, however, is how long will the high season last? Many feel this much needed boost may taper off towards the end of February.

aap Its "100% Pure" brand banks heavily on the success of the adventure industry but New Zealand's reputation is at risk of being tarnished by a string of nasty accidents that has left several tourists and locals dead and operators reeling. The NZ prime minister and tourism minister, John Key, is so concerned he has launched an urgent and wide-ranging investigation designed to weed out ''cowboy'' companies putting adventurers' lives at risk.

scmp.com ''This is unprecedented. We are seeing earth, wind and fire together,'' said a weather man.The Sydney harbor bridge was hidden by a thick red haze as severe thunderstorms and gale-force windswhipped dust from the inland and spread it across Australia's most populous state. The storm caused ''significant disruption'' at Sydney Airport, with 18 international flights diverted to Brisbane or Melbourne and six international flights cancelled.

bbc.co.uk Sixteen people have gone on trial in Vietnam accused of committing fraud over the foreign adoption of more than 250 babies, a court official says. Those charged are alleged to have solicited the babies from poor families or single mothers. They then faked documents to say the infants were abandoned, making them eligible for adoption by foreign parents, prosecutors allege.

csmonitor.com The one-day UN summit on global warming is getting mixed reviews, from the UN chief praising the progress made to commentators criticising the biggest polluters, the US and China, for each waiting on the other to act first. About 100 heads of state attended the gathering, where they presented proposals and concerns about how to reduce carbon emissions.

wsj.com Travel and tourism spending dropped at a 1.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter of 2009 in the US from the first quarter, following an 8.9 percent decline in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said. Travel prices also continued to fall, declining 3.5 percent in the second quarter, after a 10.6 percent drop in the first, as hotels continued to slash prices and airlines offered discounts to spur demand.

Reuters Singapore's Formula One race may be beset by last year's match-fixing and lower ticket sales, but many female escorts have flown into the city-state especially for the event, eyeing wealthy customers. As bars and clubs prepare for this weekend's race, sex workers from neighbours such as Thailand and Vietnam, as well as from further afield including Russia and Colombia, say they are looking forward to well-heeled race fans.

gulf-daily-news.com An Indonesian woman has given birth to an 8.7kg baby boy, the heaviest newborn ever recorded in the country. The baby, who is still unnamed and is 62cm long, was born by Caesarean section at a public hospital in North Sumatra province.

property-report.com A team of independent judges have been appointed to carry out judging on the 2009 Thailand Property Awards, and for the first time, the panel are to be announced publicly. ''This year, following feedback we received, we have decided to announce who the judges are,'' commented Duncan Worthington, Managing Director of Ensign Media and organisers of the Thailand Property Awards.

Agencies The economies of China and India are set to grow by more than previously thought in 2009, the Asian Development Bank has said. Government spending in developing Asian economies had enhanced the region's growth prospects, it said. It now expects China to grow by 8.2 percent in 2009, up from an earlier forecast of 7 percent. India's forecast has been raised to 6 percent from 5 percent.