PhuketWatch Daily Media Wrap
PHUKET: A daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media.
Phuket News Update Severe storms continue to lash the Phuket-Phi Phi region. Small boats are warned not to put to sea. Phuket City was being deluged and Phuket has an 80 percent chance of rain today, forecasters said. Krabi, Phang Nga and Phi Phi are also extremely wet.
ainonline.com Boeing set an ominous tone for the start of the August 28-29 Asia Pacific Airline Travel Symposium in Singapore with a warning that the region risks perhaps the most serious shortage of pilots and aviation technicians in the world over the next 20 years. Already Asia-Pacific airlines cannot exercise their growth ambitions to the extent they would like, and some have even found themselves forced to cancel service and ground airplanes.
AAP Australian tourist William Ihaka, 43, who was among those rescued when a day trip speedboat sank off Phuket, told AP the experience was terrifying. Another Australian, 39-year-old Elizabeth Hickey, said she was ''scared and petrified.''
nzherald.co.nz New Zealanders Elizabeth Hickey and William Ihaka were among the tourists rescued. ''We were both sitting at the front and the water hit us before it hit anyone else,'' Ms Hickey told 3News.
heraldsun.com.au Colin Dallimors, a 48-year-old British tourist, said the first giant wave swamped the boat and stopped the engine, then another wave struck soon after, dealing a fatal blow. ''Everyone was trying to get out. The boat sank, the boat went down,'' Dallimors said. ''I've never seen anything like that.''
bangkokpost.com Four projects in the tourism sector worth 2.23 billion baht that received Board of Investment privileges are poised to open in Bangkok and the Pattaya region this year and next. So far no global-scale theme park producers such as Disney or Universal have shown interest in investing in Thailand.
acmp.com South Korea was bracing for the arrival of major typhoon Bolaven with a main port and ferry routes closed, classes cancelled and officials put on high alert.
cnn.com Tiny corpses wrapped in a red blanket are shown in a photo released by a Syrian opposition news network. The children are grisly evidence of the carnage that took place in Daraya, where 245 people were found dead at the weekend.
bangkokpost.com Due to be presented to the board of Airports of Thailand this week, a blueprint calls for Don Muang to be renovated in three stages over the next 10 years so it can ultimately handle 66.5 million low-cost carrier passengers in 2027.
voanews.com Burma's president has reshuffled his cabinet, promoting allies who back his reformist agenda. In the long-awaited shake-up, President Thein Sein awarded several of his key ministers additional posts in the Office of the President. The reshuffle of nine ministers has been anticipated for months.
Phuket People
irishtimes.com Willie Kerr lives in Thailand, where he runs a kite-surfing business in both Phuket and Pranburi. He runs the annual Asia Kiteboarding Championships and has been invited to the Irish Kite Surfing Festival as the international judge. ''Kite surfing will be an Olympic sport for the first time in Rio, so the interest is huge,'' he says.
cnn.com The share price of Samsung Electronics dropped nearly 7.5pc in trading as investors had their first opportunity to react to the more than $1 billion decision against the Korean electronics giant by a California jury for infringing on Apple patents.
afp Apple shares soared to a new all-time high Monday after the US tech giant's big win in a patent lawsuit against South Korea's Samsung. Google shares slipped amid concerns that its Android operating system used on mobile devices made by Samsung and others would come under greater scrutiny.
smh.com.au Circumcision of newborn boys, the procedure that has polarised Western medical opinion, has been given the tick by the influential American Academy of Paediatrics. The surgical removal of the foreskin offers more health benefits than risks, an evaluation of 10 years of evidence by the academy has found.
telegraph.co.uk Prince Harry's nude escapades have created a gaping hole in the image courtiers have carefully constructed for him over the past 10 years. At least he did not come home with a face tattoo, a missing tooth and married to a stripper, as in 'The Hangover' movie.
indianexpress.com Women from Ghana and Thailand landed the top spots as the world's most unfaithful lovers in a new survey. According to the survey carried out by condom producer Durex on 29,000 women in 36 countries, Malaysian women came third - 39 percent admitting they often cheat on their mates, behind Ghana (62 percent) and Thailand (59 percent).
pattayadailynews.com A 35-year-old Russian woman jumped off the balcony of a fifth-floor condo on Pratumnak Hill in Pattaya to spite her husband after a drunken argument. Trina Sogakage survived the fall, but suffered two broken legs.
nationmultimedia.com Top media professionals, academics and representatives of advertising agencies attended the launch of what Nation Multimedia Group described as one of its most revolutionary steps to date - a convergent newsroom.
Phuket World Sports Wrap
aap New Zealand teenage prodigy Lydia Ko left the world's best women's golfers in her wake and re-wrote the history books by winning the Canadian Open in Vancouver. World leading amateur Ko, 15, put the golfing world on notice with a stunning three-shot win at the $US2 million tournament.
cnn.com Tennis bosses have told the sport's stars that a boycott of the 2013 Australian Open over prize money would not be backed.
sportinglife.com Andy Murray made it safely through to the second round of the US Open with a scrappy 6-2 6-4 6-1 win over Alex Bogomolov.
afp Third-seeded Maria Sharapova reached the US Open second round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Hungary's Melinda Czink.
Phuket Coming Events 2012
Starwood hotels and resorts is set to host its first charity mini marathon on Koh Siray (Siray Island) on Sunday September 16 to raise funds for Unicef and local Phuket charities including the Good Shepherd and Koh Siray School.
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
Phuket Coming Events 2014
November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket
Publish the tour company's name, along with a photo and comment from the owner... this is how journalism can change things. This type of incident will continue to happen while there is no proper training for the skippers and crews as well as appropriate safety equipment. This goes for the buses as well. Airlines and hotels should warn tourists on arrival of the inherent dangers.
Posted by El Capitan on August 28, 2012 09:54
Editor Comment:
El Capitan, you are not in touch with reality. It's the enforcement of laws and regulations that is the key to tourism safety, now and in the future. Training is certainly a part of that. Everything else is fiddling at the edges.