abc.net.au An Australian who fathered surrogate twins with a Thai woman has been charged with sexually abusing the children. The man, who denies the charges, has been charged with indecent dealings of a sexual nature with the children while they were under 10.

bbc.com A British activist who campaigns for better working conditions is set to go on trial in Thailand charged with criminal defamation. Andy Hall's website says he faces up to seven years in jail if found guilty.

?????@Atomicalandy Andy Hall just informed #naturalfruit launched fresh 100,000,000 baht civil prosecution against him at Prakanong court case 1150/2557


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



theindependent.co.uk Nato is to form a 4000-strong spearhead force designed to go into action in 48 hours in response to Russian intervention in Ukraine. Stockpiles of military equipment will be stored at bases in Eastern Europe for the troops to use when they go into operation.

bangkokpost.com Bangkok will begin registering motorcycle-taxi drivers on Thursday as it moves forward with efforts to bring order to the city's freewheeling transportation system.

theguardian.com British labor rights activist Andy Hall will face a Thai court on Tuesday on defamation charges that could carry an eight-year prison sentence, in a case that human rights groups say is a cover-up of ''systematic violations'' of labor laws in the Thai export industry. Hall also faces a $10m fine if found guilty. His case has sparked alarm among activists, NGOs, human rights groups and food companies worldwide.

bangkokpost.com Hall denounced the charges as ''judicial harassment,'' saying he wanted his case to raise awareness of the ''widespread and systematic'' exploitation of migrants in Thailand.



bangkokpost.com Exporters of Thai rice to West Africa are starting to feel the impact of the Ebola virus crisis. Operators of large vessels have baulked at sailing to the area.



bangkokpost.com Letter: Pattaya is so steeped in corruption, from top to bottom, involving almost everyone from police to tourism operators to the Russian mafia, that any attempt to change its current financially lucrative structure based on the sex trade, ripping off tourists and so on, will be met with revolution.

euronews.com German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended her government's controversial decision to send German weapons to Kurds fighting Islamic State (ISIL) militants in Iraq. She said the group posed a major security threat to Germany and Europe.

bangkokpost.com According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, there will be around 30,000 charter flight seats due from London to Krabi by Tui Travel between November and April 2015, more than 8200 from Warsaw to Bangkok by Enter Air during November-March, and more than 52,600 from Finland to Phuket by FINNMatkat during December to March. The TAT also confirmed that more than 3200 charter flights from 35 cities in Russia will fly to Thailand during that period.

afp A blaze at a vast rubbish dump made up of six million tonnes of putrefying trash and toxic effluent on the fringes of Bangkok earlier this year has kindled fears that poor planning and lax law enforcement are tipping Thailand towards a waste crisis. From Jakarta's Bantar Gebang dump to Manila's ''smoky mountain,'' open landfills blight Southeast Asia's booming megacities.

bangkokpost.com Heavy rain causes flooding in 17 provinces of Thailand, leaving six people dead with one person still missing, and hospitals in these areas put on alert to provide emergency services.

nationmultimedia.com Some 70 Bangladeshi and Rohingya detainees staged a protest at Pibulmangsahan Immigration Police Office in Ubon Ratchathani. The 70 men, sent there from the Padang Besar Immigration Police in Sadao in the far South, said they wanted to go home after being detained at the facility in crowded conditions since April 4.

newscientist.com Enjoy the pause in global warming while it lasts, because it's probably the last one we will get this century. Once temperatures start rising again, it looks like they will keep going up without a break for the rest of the century, unless we cut our greenhouse gas emissions.

afp Ukrainian forces ceded a strategic eastern airport to pro-Russian insurgents as the government in Kiev accused Moscow of launching a ''great war'' that could claim tens of thousands of lives.

theglobeandmail.com Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia of ''direct and open aggression'' which he said had radically changed the battlefield balance as Kiev's forces suffered a further reverse in the war with pro-Moscow separatists.

afp Lesotho's exiled prime minister is heading home, an aide told AFP, as regional mediators sought to reinstall him to power days after an apparent coup.

reuters Three American citizens detained in North Korea appealed to the US government for help returning home, speaking in rare interviews with US media that were set up by the North Korean government and may signal an attempt by Pyongyang to reopen a long-stalled dialogue.

theguardian.com Tesco's new boss Dave Lewis has said that it needs a ''fresh perspective,'' and his lack of shopkeeping experience did not mean he was the wrong person to turn the ailing supermarket around.

independent.co.uk Half of young women are unable to properly label a vagina on a medical diagram, while 65 percent have admitted they have a problem simply using the words vagina or vulva.



rappler.com Ratu Atut Chosiyah, Indonesia's first female provincial leader and the head of one of the country's most powerful political dynasties, was jailed for four years for bribing a top judge over an election dispute.

cnn.com Manila's international airport is on high alert after authorities foiled an alleged bomb plot, state-run media in the Philippines report.

bangkokpost.com Vietnam's no-frills carrier Jetstar Pacific will begin a daily flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok on December 10.

sbs.com.au Malaysia refused entry to Sydney woman Natalie Lowrey, who had previously been arrested for joining a protest against a rare-earths processing plant, rights groups say.



telegraph.co.uk Radamel Falcao's season-long loan to Manchester United will cost the Old Trafford club a staggering 24 million pounds, with the forward's 265,000 pounds-a-week before tax salary being paid in full by United.

reuters Serena Williams gave a premature victory leap in her fourth-round match and later allowed herself a self-deprecating celebration after beating Kaia Kanepi to reach the US Open quarter-finals.

afp Novak Djokovic didn't let Philipp Kohlschreiber stand in the way of another Grand Slam quarter-final berth, reaching the US Open last eight with a straight-sets win over the German.



September 3 Thailand vs Qatar football 6.30pm

September 7 Thailand vs Phuket FC 6.30pm

September 12 Amcham at Angsana: the New Phuket

September 24-October 2 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket

October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day

November 6 Loy Kratong

November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket

December 5 King's Birthday

December 10 Constitution Day

December 25 Christmas Day

December 26 10th Anniversary, 2004 Tsunami

December 31 New Year's Eve



February 13-15 Phuket Yacht Show