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

smh.com.au A study by researchers at the University of NSW has found British travellers could be driving the spread of sexually transmitted infections in Australia, with a survey showing most of them have triple the number of partners than they have at home - and many are not using condoms. The authors said high alcohol consumption, illicit drug use and unsafe sex meant the backpackers were at high risk of getting sexually transmitted infections and other health problems.

bloomberg.com Celestine Bohlen on French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand: This isn't about sexual preferences or even prostitution, which is legal in France. It is about sex tourism, a disturbing practice whereby rich Westerners go to poor countries to pay for sex with young people, often children. If your brother-in-law were caught doing it, you would be appalled. The same should go for a top government official.

thestar.com.my A letter from Jess, of Seremban: If you think Beyonce's concert will erode our morals, then why not ban TV and the Internet? There are hundreds of images of people dressed in all sorts of attire! So what is this group of people doing watching bodies bared in all its glory on TV and YouTube but asking for a ban on Beyonce's concert? And if you think her dressing is against certain religions and eroding the people's religious beliefs, what about snatch theft, rape, drug abuse and the like? Those, too, clearly go against any religious belief. But I don't see any group protesting against these.

Bangkok Post The Phulay Bay in Krabi will be the first property in the world to bear the Ritz-Carlton Reserve brand when it opens on December 22. ''We are unveiling our Ritz-Carlton Reserve brand here because we saw the growth potential of Thai tourism,'' says Mark DeCocinis, the US group's regional vice-president for Asia Pacific. The company aims to manage at least 20 properties under the brand in the region by 2014.

channelnewsasia.com Asean is looking at enhancing connectivity among its member countries, as well as with China and India by road and rail. This is one key issue to be discussed when Asean leaders meet at the Thai resort town of Hua Hin for their summit later this week.

indiatimes.com With a combined economy bigger than India or South Korea and a total population of over half a billion people, Asean has the potential to become an economic force that could rival China, India, Brazil and Russia. The absence of Asean from investors' radar screens as a unified economic unit is due to the lack of integration of the bloc's economies and financial markets

Associated Press Southeast Asian nations unveil a landmark human rights watchdog this week, but critics charge that it will be both toothless and include in its membership one of the world's worst human rights offenders - military-ruled Burma. Burma is sure to prove a burden again as Asean holds its annual summit, undermining the bloc's international standing and efforts to forge free trade areas with the US and Europe.

dailytimes.com.pk Burma has scuttled a plan by fellow Asean members to issue a public appeal seeking amnesty for detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. ''They rejected it two months ago. They rejected the idea,'' a Southeast Asian diplomat told AFP just days before Asean leaders hold their annual summit in Thailand this weekend.

monstersandcritics.com One of the contentious sideline issues is likely to be Thailand's request that the Philippines cut its tariffs on rice imports next year, evidence that a real Asean Free Trade Area isn't quite there yet. The Philippines has asked to keep tariffs on rice imports at 35-40 percent until 2015, instead of dropping them to 0-5 percent next year as prescribed.

vianews.com A group of researchers says an experimental AIDS vaccine trial in Thailand shows the shot has a modest but significant effect - and that it offers hope for the future. Findings were presented at an international AIDS vaccine conference in Paris.

webmd.com H1N1 swine flu has turned flu death statistics upside down, US health authorities confirm. In a normal flu season, 90 percent of deaths are in elderly people. Since September, 90 percent of deaths have been in people under age 65 - with almost a quarter of the deaths in young people under age 25.

dnaindia.com The international drug mafia, in order to hoodwink the Indian intelligence services, has started smuggling drugs to and from India through Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, which impose capital punishment on those in possession of drugs. They route drugs through these countries, risking their lives, as agencies in India do not keep a close watch on travellers on these routes, said a senior intelligence officer.

theglobeandmail.com With the arrival of 76 illegal immigrants aboard the Ocean Lady, Canada joins a global smuggling pipeline where thousands of Tamils, Afghans or Iraqis risk their lives in the waters between Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. But 254 Tamil migrants who, according to one passenger couldn't afford the $45,000 to board the Ocean Lady to Canada paid $15,000 each for a boat to Australia - and are now being held by the Indonesian navy.

houstonpress.com Last week, America was captivated by the saga of Falcon Heene, the six-year-old boy we were told was floating across Colorado in his father's experimental weather balloon. We were so riveted, in fact, that media outlets struggled to find airtime for other equally important stories, like Madonna getting sued and Beyonce canceling a show.