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

smh.com.au When Sun McKay was manhandled by a stranger in the arrivals hall at Dubai International Airport, he did what many young Australians would do. He swore. ''This guy in a blue shirt grabbed my wrist quite hard, pulled me towards him and started yelling at me in Arabic, and I just said: 'What the f---?''' Mr McKay said. Almost a month later, with his passport confiscated, Mr McKay remains stranded in the Emirate awaiting trial on charges of insulting and using inappropriate language to a police officer.
[Earlier this year, Briton Simon Burrowes spent an extra three months on Phuket after swearing at an Immigration officer. Aussie mother Annice Smoel was also trapped on the island over a Patong bar beer mat]

Phuketwan Update Details have been posted of the Phuket funeral arrangements for Ao Po Grand Marina manager Simon Grant, who died last week when he came off his Honda 750 motorcycle. He will be farewelled over several days from Monday, October 26, and his ashes scattered at sea in Phang Nga Bay on Thursday. For more information, go to www.aopograndmarina.com or call Adam Frost 0n +66 (0) 81 9796636

chinadaily.com A budget airline has given a baby and his mother free travel for life after the child was born during one of its flights. Liew Siaw Hsia went into labor on the AirAsia plane on Wednesday during a flight from Penang to Kuching on Borneo island, AFP reports. The craft made a diversion to Kuala Lumpur but the baby was delivered by an on-board doctor and flight attendants before landing.

nytimes.com Michael Bloomberg, the Wall Street billionaire tycoon whose fortune catapulted him into New York's City Hall, has now spent more of his own money than any individual in US history in pursuit of public office. Newly released campaign records show the mayor, as of Friday, had spent US$85 million on his latest re-election campaign, and is on pace to spend between $110 million and $140 million before the election on November 3.

nytimes.com ''Whether Bloomberg wins or loses, the toxic combination of mega-spending and crass use of his office to bypass the voters on term limits will always be a stain on his mayoralty,'' said Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

bloomberg.com Japan and Australia were set to elaborate on competing visions for building an East Asian bloc that may involve trade ties and a common currency during a summit of 16 Asian nations in Thailand. Australian PM Kevin Rudd was scheduled to sell his plan with leaders of Asean, China, Japan, South Korea, India and New Zealand. His idea for an ''Asia-Pacific Community'' would include the US and India.

reuters.com It has become a pet project for Rudd, who first presented the idea in June last year and has appointed former diplomat Richard Woolcott, who negotiated the creation of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in 1989, as special envoy of the plan. The six countries most vital for the proposal are seen as the US, China, Japan, India, Indonesia and Russia. Japan's alternate plan leaves Washington's membership in the air.

monstersandcritics.com Asean on Sunday welcomed a new US policy of engagement with Burma, saying it was the right approach to dealing with a member of its club considered a pariah by many Western nations. ''The one thing we are completely agreed upon is that we welcome signs of further engagement on the part of various regions in response to some of the developments in Myanmar (Burma),'' Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva said after the three-day Asean summit and related events in Cha-am.

dynamicexport.com.au Leaders from Asean have agreed to bring the Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement into force on January 1, 2010. The FTA is Australia's largest, and will account for one-fifth of Australia's two-way trade, or more than $110 billion. The agreement spans the 10 nations of Asean, Australia and New Zealand, a growing economic area of about 600 million people with a combined gdp of $3.1 trillion.

thestar.com.my East Asian countries are looking at a new growth model as demand for goods from traditional markets in developed countries are shrinking, says Malaysian PM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. He added that leaders who attended the East Asia Summit felt that the present economic model, in which countries in the region manufactured products for export to developed nations, no longer worked.

Phuketwan Update The nine-day Vegetarian Festival concludes tonight with the gods and spirits from Phuket's Chinese temples being driven back into the sea in an explosion of firecrackers. The parades bring thousands of people dressed in traditional white onto the streets of Phuket City from 10pm as hundreds of ''spirit warriors'' pass. The lantern poles, whose raising opens the festival, are lowered tomorrow.

asiaone.com An eye specialist with seven years of diving experience under his belt died on Saturday after a routine dive at a popular Malaysian dive site. Dr Marcus Ng, 37, a registrar with the Singapore National Eye Centre, drowned while diving with 13 others in the waters off Pulau Aur - an offshore island in eastern Malaysia known for its rich coral reefs and numerous shipwrecks.

scmp.com Divers at Shek O beach have recovered the body of a former lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, a day after he disappeared while swimming in the notoriously dangerous waters. He went into the water despite the red flag being hoisted and repeated warnings being broadcast. Chan was the second swimmer in three weeks to drown at Shek O and the sixth this year.

travelbizmonitor.com Peter Henley, President and CEO, of Thai-based resort chain Amari Hotels, which is expanding in 2010, said: ''We have a strategic plan in place for India. While we plan to establish the brand in metros, we are also assessing opportunities in Tier II and III cities.''

bbc.co.uk Rising high through the polluted air of Guangzhou City in southern China is a 71-storey tower block which, according to its designers, will be the most energy-efficient in the world. Among a host of features, it is built in a curve, facing the prevailing winds and deliberately sculpted to force the flow through slots in the building where wind turbines will be located.