reuters Brazilian police are hunting for a Sao Paulo Santa Claus who kicked off the Christmas shopping season by stealing a helicopter.

firstpost.com A one-month-old baby girl who was Guinea's last reported Ebola case left hospital, delighting medical staff and putting the country on course to be declared free of the deadly virus.

afp Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy set a new Premier League record by scoring for the 11th consecutive game in his side's home match with Manchester United.


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



abc.net.au Thailand's military has launched a second investigation into allegations of corruption surrounding seven giant statues, just days after clearing itself of wrongdoing. The 14-metre-tall statues of former Thai kings were built on military-owned land in the seaside town of Hua Hin, 200 kilometres south of Bangkok.

afp Thousands turned out for climate change marches across the Asia-Pacific region yesterday, part of a weekend of action across the globe to demand results from next week's historic Paris summit.

bangkokpost.com Police are on the lookout for a taxi driver who robbed a Myanmar couple and sped away with the pregnant wife after dropping her husband by the roadside in Pathum Thani.



thediplomat.com The European Commission is to be applauded, having recently announced a commendable new values-driven global trade and investment strategy. This fresh approach will fuse jobs and growth with human rights and sustainability. The message must be clear: no freedom, no profits.



reuters President Vladimir Putin signed a decree imposing a raft of punitive economic sanctions against Turkey, underlining the depth of the Kremlin's anger towards Ankara four days after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane.

huffingtonpost.com There are probably around 50,000 to 100,000 active jihadists in the world today of which around 10,000 to 20,000 represent a core leadership group. There are an additional 200,000 to possibly 300,000 militants that have had some training and some battlefield experience, that are committed jihadists, but are not necessarily active. This is what world war looks like in the 21st century.

independent.co.uk In a darkened ''war room,'' dozens of South Korea's university students are practising hacking one another as part of a government program to train them to battle some of the world's best - the shadowy techno-soldiers of Kim Jong-un's regime in the North.

thediplomat.com The World Bank recently branded Thailand ''the worst performing economy in Asean,'' while the country's central bank slashed 2015 growth forecasts for the third time this year. The stars have aligned perfectly for the European Union to construct the very first case study showcasing its new ethical trade and investment strategy.



bangkokpost.com Aung San Suu Kyi vows a zero-tolerance approach to misbehaviour by MPs - and tells them to accept a 25 percent pay cut - as she prepares to govern Myanmar.



smh.com.au Channel Nine has hailed the debut of the pink ball in international cricket, especially once the sun went down, and is adamant it wants more day-night Test cricket in future. The first day-night Test using a pink ball is proceeding in Adelaide between Australia and New Zealand.



November 29 Challenge Laguna Phuket 2015

November 29 Phuket King's Cup Regatta

December 5 HM The King's Birthday

December 26 Tsunami memorial ceremonies



January 7-10 Phuket International Boat Show