bbc.co.uk The company which invented thalidomide has ''insulted'' those affected by the drug by issuing an ''insincere'' apology, campaigners have said. The drug, sold in the 1950s as a cure for morning sickness, was linked to birth defects and withdrawn in 1961.


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

cbc.ca The death earlier this year in Thailand of two sisters from Quebec was caused by drinking a cocktail that contained the insect repellent DEET, an autopsy concluded. Results of the autopsy at a Bangkok hospital have not been publicly released, but they were shown to reporters for CBC's French-language news network.
According to the report, 20-year-old Audrey and Noemi Belanger, 25, had DEET in their bodies that they had ingested. Though the chemical is a potentially neurotoxic mosquito repellent, it is used as an ingredient in a euphoria-inducing cocktail that is popular among youth in Thailand.
The drink contains cough syrup, Coke, DEET and ground up kratom leaves, which are a mild narcotic indigenous to Thailand. It is thought that an overdose of DEET was accidentally mixed into the young women's drinks. Another autopsy is supposed to take place in Montreal, but final results from that are expected to take months.

660news.com The father of two young Quebec women who died in mysterious circumstances in Thailand is calling for an in-depth inquiry into their deaths. Carl Belanger tells The Canadian Press he is convinced his daughters did not know what they were consuming. He says two other young Quebecers who spent time with his daughters told him they all drank alcohol together.

torontosun.com Genevieve Guilbault, spokeswoman for the Quebec coroner's office, could not confirm a report by Phuketwan that police said insecticide was found in the sisters. ''The investigation is not completed, so we can't confirm or deny,'' she said. Guilbault said the coroner should be able to publicise his findings in the ''next few weeks or months.'' The women's father Carl said in June that he deplored the way Thai authorities handled the case.

Phuket Update Phuketwan's revelation yesterday that a policeman reported insecticide in the sisters' bodies brought more detailed reports and the father's call for action.

nationmultimedia.com Insurgents staged 102 violent incidents, including five bomb attacks that wounded six security officials, in the deep South, timing them to coincide with Malaysia's independence day for symbolic effect, the commander of the Fourth Army Area based in Pattani said.

nationmultimedia.com A question mark hangs over Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's planned visit to Dawei in Burma scheduled for September 19-21, as Nay Pyi Taw has yet to endorse the proposed itinerary. In the meantime, the PM is scheduled to inspect water-management systems in Krabi and Phuket, two of the Thailand's main tourism destinations.

cnn.com A major earthquake offshore of the Philippines sent people scrambling toward higher ground, generated a small tsunami and killed at least one person Friday, authorities said. The 7.6-magnitude quake struck Friday evening, with its epicenter about 65 miles southeast of the coastal town of Guiuan, in the Philippine province of Eastern Samar, the US Geological Survey said.

smh.com.au Passengers arriving from overseas will be fuming about new duty-free tobacco restrictions that come into effect tomorrow. Airports have warned inbound passengers can expect long delays in customs halls around the country as officials attempt to enforce a new cigarette limit of two packs per adult, down from the current limit of 250 cigarettes or 250 grams of tobacco products.

ft.com David Cameron and Nick Clegg are set to intervene in the increasingly fractious row over whether Heathrow should have a third runway by asking an independent commission to review the future of Britain's airports.

bbc.co.uk The manufacturer of thalidomide has apologised to the thousands of people born with disabilities as a result of their mothers taking the drug. Harald Stock, chief executive of German pharmaceutical company Gruenenthal, said: ''We ask for forgiveness that for nearly 50 years we didn't find a way of reaching out to you from human being to human being.''

ft.comA week after Samsung lost its US smartphone patent case, a judge in Tokyo rejected a separate attempt by Apple to assert its intellectual property against the South Korean group in Japan. The judge ruled that Samsung had not violated Apple patents by copying a feature of the US group's iPhone and iPad mobile devices that allows them to synchronise music and video files with computers.

jaunted.co Don't knock Nok Air.We hopped onboard, flying from Bangkok-Don Muang to Phuket International, a 1.5-hour flight that cost us only around $51 USD total (and it was a last-minute booking).



guardian.co.uk Radamel Falcao claimed the European Super Cup for Atletico Madrid at the Londoners' expense with a first-half hat-trick that, even in a contest Chelsea might instinctively have dismissed as meaningless, will have shaken the Champions League winners to the core. Chelsea 1-4 Madrid.



September 12-15 Quiksilver Thailand Surf Competition, Patong

September 16 Starwood resorts Koh Siray mini-marathon

September 24 Mahidol Day

October 14 Vegetarian Festival

November 25 Laguna Phuket Triathlon

November 28 Loy Kratong Day

December 1 World AIDs Day

December 1-8 King's Cup Regatta

December 5 HM The King's Birthday

December 10 Constitution Day

December 15-20 Patong carnival

December 25 Christmas Day



November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket