telegraph.co.uk Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, with a beautifully controlled and dominant performance here on Dorney Lake, became the toast of an entire country as they became the first female Olympic champions in the history of British rowing.

guardian.co.uk Gore Vidal, the author, playwright, politician and commentator whose novels, essays, plays and opinions were stamped by his immodest wit and unconventional wisdom, has died in Los Angeles aged 86.

smh.com.au A report for the US military contains a recommendation to expand America's defence presence in Australia by massively expanding a base in Perth for a US aircraft carrier and supporting fleet.

bbc.co.uk The Badminton World Federation has charged eight female Olympic doubles players with ''not using one's best efforts to win a match''. Four pairs of players - two from South Korea, one from China and one from Indonesia - could be disciplined.


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

ttrweekly.com CCTV surveillance will play a vital role in Thailand's efforts to improve safety for tourists, according to Thailand's foreign ministry. Most of 15 complaints lodged at Thai embassies focused on the threatening behavior of jet-ski owners on Phuket. Authorities on Phuket have failed to apply the law, or arrest offenders. They are dealing with a business mafia that has considerable political clout at local district level.

independent.co.uk Rescue efforts to reach 60 miners stuck underground continued after a second massive power cut in as many days - thought to be the largest outage in history - brought chaos to India. In developments that triggered a mixture of despair and incredulity, a day after the country's northern grid collapsed it did so again yesterday, followed shortly afterwards by the collapse of the eastern and north-eastern grids.

guardian.co.uk With about 700 million people deprived of light, fans (in 30C heat) and trains, it was good to see that Indians had not lost their readiness to crack a joke. Q. What do you call a power failure in Delhi? A. Manmohan Singh.

bloomberg India has missed every annual target to add electricity production capacity since 1951.

smh.com.au Microsoft has unveiled a revamped, Facebook-friendly version of hotmail - still the world's largest online mail service as of June - to reverse market share losses to Google's fast-growing Gmail.

wsj.com Microsoft has updated its Hotmail service, rebranding it Outlook and bringing in a range of features that WSJ's Katherine Boehret says are highly user-friendly.

pattayadailynews.com David Farrell, a 72-year-old British real estate millionaire, was found lying naked in a pool of blood in his luxury Sattahip home. His ex-wife believes he was murdered. Police are seeking an American boxer who reportedly had an argument with the Brit a few days before his body was found, according to his ex-wife.



POPULAR Phuket TAT director Bangornrat Shinaprayoon leaves Phuket today for a new position in Bangkok as Director of Attractions Promotion Division: ''My new department is responsible for deciding what places and venues in Thailand should be promoted as tourist attractions''. Her replacement is Chanchai Dungjid, currently executive director of the American region, who arrives on August 15.

WOULD-BE candidates for mayor of Patong or the 18-person council are invited to register from 8.30am-4.30pm from Monday to Friday next week at the Patong council offices. The election is scheduled for September 2. A 60 percent turnout is expected from the 12,500 Patong citizens entitled to vote.

bangkokpost.com The US said that it has found ''no direct evidence'' that militants in the deep South have links to international terrorists.

bloomberg Thailand just dodged a big fat bullet. With Parliament set to reopen Wednesday, the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra wisely decided to shelve consideration of two pieces of legislation that threatened to upset the country's tenuous political stability. Now it needs to take steps to promote comity and ensure continued economic progress. [comity: mutual courtesy, civility.]

bangkokpost.com Thailand faces a growing danger of slipping economic and social development slip without the pursuit of long-term goals similar to what has been followed for several decades, says a new research institute founded by academics and businesses, the Thailand Future Foundation.

nationmultimedia.com Bangkok Airways has launched a "Wow Promotion" for Samui, Chiang Mai and Phuket.Travellers can book from now until September 14 for travel between September 17 and November 30 with Bangkok-Phuket at 3390 baht, including airport taxes.

nationmultimedia.com Marc de Schutter, Belgium's most wanted man and one of Europe's top five wanted criminals, has been captured on Phuket. De Schutter was allegedly involved in criminal cases in Belgium including theft; fraud; drug smuggling; illegal trafficking of oil, cigarettes, and war weapons; money laundering; and casino activities. High ranking police allegedly helped him escape after he was accused of his wife's murder. De Schutter, however, is maintaining his innocence.

andrew-drummond.com A Scot suspected of human trafficking has been deported from Thailand after being branded a "danger to society". John Joseph Alty, originally from Glasgow, was escorted to Bangkok International Airport by immigration police at the weekend after the UK Border Agency told Thai police he was suspected of the crime.

Australian police have seized half a billion dollars' worth of crystal methamphetamine and heroin after smashing a Hong Kong-linked international drugs syndicate. Four of those detained were from Hong Kong and the other three were Australian residents.

abc.net.au Indonesia is poised to allow Australian authorities free rein to rescue asylum seekers in Indonesian waters. Hundreds of asylum seekers have drowned off the Java coast and hundreds more have issued distress calls.

bangkokpost.com Central Retail Corporation is making inroads into the regional retail battlefield with plans to open its first Central Department Store in Jakarta in 2014.

afp Singapore will create a new culture ministry in a bid to ''focus on building a cohesive and vibrant society'' amid simmering discontent over immigration and income gaps. Lee Hsien Loong restructured his cabinet and vowed to boost ''social safety nets.''

care2.com Syabas, the sole water company of one of Malaysia's richest state, Selangor, announced this month that water was running low and they might need to start rationing.

voanews.com A UN human rights expert has traveled to several Burmese towns in the country's west where deadly riots erupted between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims last month. Some Rakhine Buddhists perceive the UNHCR as having a pro-Muslim bias because the UN agency recruited most of its Rakhine personnel from Muslim communities.

afp From halal spas to prayer rooms at airport terminals, the global tourism industry is gearing up for a projected boom in Muslim travel over the next decade, experts say.

nationmultimedia.com I SPA life, a mid-market brand, will be introduced at the Absolute Twin Sands Resort and Spa in Phuket next month.

Phuket World Sports Wrap

telegraph.co.uk Michael Phelps secured the two medals he needed to become the most decorated Olympian of all time as he took his career tally to 19 Games medals, beating the 48-year-old record of 18 held by former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina.

afp Great Britain Olympic chiefs insisted there was no panic despite the lack of winners so far and said they were confident of beating rivals Australia in the medals table.

guardian.co.uk Team GB's women outclassed a Brazilian team containing the world's top player in front of the largest crowd for a women's international in Britain.

scmp.com The head of China's anti-doping taskforce vigorously defended teenage swimming sensation Ye Shiwen, saying her critics were biased. Ye won double gold in the 200 individual medley - and the 400 in a time five seconds faster than her PB.

Phuket Coming Events 2012

HUMAN Rights Watch in Bangkok will today launch a new report, 'The Government Could Have Stopped This': Sectarian Violence and Abuses in Burma's Arakan State. Based on interviews with Arakan and Rohingya communities in Arakan state and others in Burma and Bangladesh, the report describes how the Burmese authorities failed to protect ethnic communities, instead standing by as violence unfolded.

THE Greater Phuket Amcham Chapter will hold a Green Tourism Seminar on August 24 at the Holiday Inn Patong. With tourism being the leading industry on the island, the forum will address how the sector can work towards a better environment.

August 2 Asarnha Bucha public holiday

August 3 Buddhist Lent Day

August 12 HM The Queen's Birthday

September 12-15 Quiksilver Thailand Surf Competition, Patong

September 24 Mahidol Day

October 14-23 Vegetarian Festival

November 24 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

Phuket Coming Events 2014

November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games,

Phuket