straitstimes.com For four consecutive days, Tiger Airways cancelled several flights to Perth, Penang, Phuket and Bangkok without explanation. Hundreds of disgruntled passengers were left stranded at the Budget Terminal while waiting for the airline to provide them with more information.

guardian.co.uk Actor Michael Douglas, 66, and his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, are fighting his throat cancer and planning a holiday with children Dylan, 10, and Carys, seven. ''Catherine and I are talking about taking the kids out of school for a year and travelling around the world - Phuket and Vietnam; we'd love to take the family down to New Zealand and spend some time in South Africa.''


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

bangkokpost.com About 200 men in black blocked the entrances and exits to the Suvarnabhumi airport's parking lot buildings at 4am yesterday. The men seized ticket booths and collected fees from visiting motorists. Airports of Thailand has given Parking Management Co until October 11 to settle its internal dispute or risk having a contract scrapped. The group dispersed after an hour.

bangkokpost.com Suvarnabhumi airport is planning to add a new concourse building and expand its passenger terminal as part of a campaign to make the airport one of the best in the world, the AoT president says. Serirat Prasutanond said on the airport's fourth anniversary on Tuesday the expansion would boost the airport's capacity to 60 million passengers a year from 45 million.

todayonline.com Thousands of passengers were left angry and frustrated when budget airline Tiger Airways cancelled nearly half its flights out of Singapore. As many as 2700 passengers are believed to have been affected. The Singapore-based low-cost carrier said two of its Airbus A320 aircraft were grounded for extended checks and maintenance.

rttnews.com A state of emergency has been lifted in three more provinces. PM Abhisit Vejjajiva endorsed a decision to repeal emergency law in the north-eastern provinces of Khon Kaen, Udon Thani and Nakhon Ratchasima.

bernama All security agencies have been ordered to step up security measures this month for possible violence, Xinhua news agency reported Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd as saying. The Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation issued the order at a meeting on Friday, the spokesman said.

foxnews.com The US government apologised for a secret program conducted more than 60 years ago in which prisoners and mental hospital patients in Guatemala were intentionally infected with gonorrhea, syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases. The tests, which also involved mental hospital patients, involved about 1500 subjects, according to the study.

msnbc.msn.com The astounding revelation that US medical researchers intentionally gave Guatemalans gonorrhea and syphilis is so horrifying that we want to believe that what happened then could never happen today. We want to believe that doctors are treating the poor, vulnerable and those outside the US with more care and respect. But are they?

un.org Consumers will now benefit from standardised seafood labels, thanks to the first-ever global guidelines for aquaculture certification having been adopted at a UN-backed meeting. More than 50 countries attended the Phuket meeting of the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries, part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

nationmultimedia.com Home Products Centre, operator of HomePro, revised its growth target for the full year to 20 percent, up from 10 percent. ''The tourism sector has shown good signs of rebounding, which reflects better sales at our HomePro stores located in tourist destinations such as Phuket, Hua Hin and Pattaya,'' President Khunawut Thumpomkul said.

smh.com.au Burma says Aung San Suu Kyi will be released from house arrest next month, but there is widespread scepticism she will be freed, or allowed her liberty for long.

irrawaddy.org Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva is planning to make his first visit to Burma to increase bilateral cooperation and to discuss Burma's coming election. The one-day visit is scheduled for October 11.

asiatraveltips.com Pan Pacific Hotels Group confirmed that its agreement to operate the popular Pan Pacific Bangkok hotel until the end of 2010 will not be renewed. The group has managed the hotel, owned by Ramaland Development, since 1995. Announcement of an ''international brand'' to manage the property is expected next week.

travelbizmonitor.com Singapore Airlines will introduce thrice-weekly flights between Singapore and the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, via Barcelona in Spain in March 2011. Sao Paulo will be the airline's first South American destination.

mcot.net China's Hainan Airlines has opened a new route, from Beijing to Bangkok, offering services four days a week. The airline's Bangkok manager, Tang Wei, said the flight operates Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday so that travellers from Beijing and surrounding areas have more options to fly when travelling to Thailand.

Associated Press Indonesian officials say they have arrested an Australian man after finding 1.7 kilograms (3.75 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine in his luggage when he arrived on the resort island of Bali. Michael Sacatides arrived Friday on a flight from Bangkok.

prweb.com Tourism Authority of Thailand launched a new mobile application called Speak Thai. This application is available in WAP version for all mobile phone users, for iPhone users the application is available as a free download from the Apple Store.

dailymail.co.uk Sven Goran Eriksson is back in English football after agreeing to replace Paulo Sousa at Leicester City. Sousa was sacked after just nine league games. Leicester's owners are a consortium led by Thai businessman Aiyawatt Raksriaksorn, whose father Vichai owns Thailand-based duty-free shopping business King Power Group.

gayapolis Indonesia's top Islamic body said homosexuality is an abuse of human rights and demanded the government ban an ongoing gay and lesbian film festival. It also condemned foreign cultural centres for showing the films at private screenings, three days after angry Muslims held protests outside the venues.

smh.com.au From October 19, Stray Asia will have three buses linking destinations across Laos. Passes are valid for 12 months. Stray Asia has also set up a base in Bangkok and has tours through northern Thailand into Laos using a combination of bus, trains and vans.

smh.com.au It is 360 metres long, weighs 225,000 gross tonnes and can carry 8565 passengers and crew on 16 decks totalling 25 hectares. It includes 21 swimming pools, 24 restaurants, a floating park with 12,000 plants and a 1300-seat theatre. But it is the smallest statistic that is the most significant: Allure of the Seas is officially the world's largest cruise ship by a margin of five millimetres.



October 1-3 Asian Hospitality and Travel Show, Hafale, Phuket City
October 8 IBAP panel on Phuket's economy, Thai Naan restaurant, Central Festival corner, 7pm.
October 8-16 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket
October 12 Qatar begins daily flights to Phuket
November 2-7 Phuket womens' beach volleyball, Karon beach
November 5 Phuket Charity Pro Am Golf, Blue Canyon
November 19 AustCham at the new Westin Hotel at Koh Sireh from 3pm. E: harry@ladypie.com Tel: 081 2731740
November 28 Laguna Phuket triathlon
December 4-11 Phuket King's Cup Regatta
December 5 Laguna Ironman title
2011
January 6-9 PIMEX boat show, Royal Phuket Marina
February 9-13 The Bay Regatta - Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi