smh.com.au Australia has confirmed asylum seekers have died in a "tragic accident" on Christmas Island after a boat carrying about 70 people smashed into rocks in huge seas. "Sadly some bodies have been retrieved," a short statement said.

watoday.com.au Christmas Island residents have told of looking on helplessly as babies and children desperately clung to pieces of debris in the raging ocean. A doctor said: ''We were throwing life jackets out to them but many of them couldn't swim a few metres to reach them.''

heraldsun.com.au The drama began about 6am today when people living in homes close to the cliffs where the boat crashed were woken by the sound of screams.


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

mcot.net The Cabinet approved salary rises for civil servants and government officials, and a minimum wage rise, deputy government spokesman Watchara Kannika said. The Cabinet approved five per cent increases for civil servant salaries, to take effect on April 1, for civil servants, government officials and senators while salary rises for members of parliament will take effect with the next Parliament.

nationmultimedia.com The Cabinet decision to increase salaries for lawmakers by about 14 percent has attracted widespread criticism. Social-media enthusiasts and online critics aired their views and left messages against the unpopular move. Many said the performance of most MPs did not warrant a salary hike.

nationmultimedia.com After the increases, workers in Phayao will see the lowest wage of 159 baht while workers in Phuket will enjoy the highest rate of 221 baht.

smh.com.au Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been returned to London's notorious Wandworth Prison despite winning bail from a British Court. He will now be held there for another 48 hours while Swedish prosecutors, who want to extradite him back to Sweden to face allegations of sex crimes, mount a High Court appeal to the decision.

focustaiwan.tw Asia's largest human trafficking ring smashed: The National Immigration Agency announced that it has smashed a cross-border human trafficking ring, the largest in Asia, after over a year of cooperation with their counterparts in Hong Kong, Thailand, Britain and the US.

afp Indonesian prosecutors sought a seven-month jail term for a US retiree accused of blasphemy after he allegedly pulled the plug on a mosque loudspeaker during a prayer reading. The August 22 incident in the middle of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan resulted in retired Californian engineer Gregory Luke, 64, needing a police escort from his home on Lombok island as a mob tore it to pieces around him.

afp Malaysia summoned Singapore's ambassador to hand over a protest over "unjustified" remarks made by officials of the city-state and revealed by WikiLeaks. Confidential diplomatic notes given by the whistle-blower website to an Australian media group contained unflattering Singaporean assessments of its Asian allies, among them its neighbor Malaysia.

xinhuanet.com A Malaysian man has prevented his British wife from returning to her home in the UK by making her addicted to drugs. Police said the woman's 46-year-old husband, the owner of a 40- room resort, told them that his relationship with his wife was not good, and this had prompted him to drug his wife so that she would become a drug-addict, and could not go back to her country.

Bloomberg.com Rubber extended a rally to an all-time high as persistent rain in Thailand, the top producer and exporter, lowered output, adding to worries over tightening supply ahead of low-production season early next year. The cash price in Thailand also reached a record.

bbc.co.uk As the tear gas clears and the casualties are counted after the worst rioting Rome has seen for years, Silvio Berlusconi is savoring victory in confidence votes in both houses of parliament. The country continues to flounder.

reuters.com More than 140 courts are set to close in England and Wales, the Ministry of Justice said, in the latest move to cut government spending. The coalition also said it was also planning to dispose of the government's forensics agency, which checks crime scene evidence for police forces in England and Wales and employs around 1650 staff.

straitstimes.com Some do it to draw attention to themselves. Others get a thrill out of seeing the look of shock on people's faces. Either way, it is the kind of behavior that leaves many disgusted. But a growing number of people in Singapore are risking a fine or even jail by parading around naked in public.

bbc.co.uk Zimbabwe's Minister of Sport has called on police to investigate claims of match-fixing made against the national team. Zimbabwe players and officials have admitted being paid to throw matches on a trip to Thailand and Malaysia, losing 3-0 to Thailand and 6-0 to Syria.

worldpoliticsreview.com Thailand's reverse democratisation and the violence that has characterised it has tarnished participatory democracy as an approach to governance in the view of some Asean members. Paired with China's well-documented soft-power onslaught in the region, the result is that countries such as Laos and Vietnam have backed away from opening up their political systems and are increasingly attracted to the Beijing model of capitalism.

bangkokpost.com Centara Hotels & Resorts hopes its latest launch of three-star Centra and Centara Boutique Collection brands will become its key revenue driver in hotel management over the next few years. The five-star hotel segment has many players right now. This year, the revenue contribution of both Centra and Centara Boutique Collection will be only 10 percent, but will increase to 20 percent in 2011. Centel secured four management contracts for Centra including the Centra Ashalee on Patong beach, Phuket, to open this month.

elitetraveller.com Hilton Hotels & Resorts continues the global growth of its leisure portfolio with the opening of Hilton Pattaya. The 302-room new-build, upscale and full-service hotel enjoys a prime location on Pattaya Beach, one of Thailand's most popular family resort destinations. The fourth Hilton-branded property in the country, Hilton Pattaya offers amazing 180-degree views and the vacation destination's only rooftop sky venue.

pr-usa.net As Phuket experiences an increase in the number of tourists visiting the Island, its economy appears not to have been affected by the recent rise in the value of the Thai Baht against major currencies. The Baht has gained more than ten percent against the US dollar and Euro this year to date, rising to its highest level in 13 years.



Press Release Superyachts have begun arriving in Phuket for the Asia Superyacht Rendezvous celebration, which is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. The three day exclusive event, between December 16-18, has drawn a plethora of yachts that include 50-metre Perseus, 74-metre Silver Zwei, 36.7-metre Maverick II, 36.1-metre Vie Sans Soucis, 53-metre Noble House, 38-metre Ananta, and 40.3-metre My Lady Arraya. My Lady Arraya will be hosting the opening cocktail party on the first day of the event on 16 December, following the media welcome and the captain's briefing at the Royal Phuket Yacht Club.

December 15-20 Patong Carnival
December 16-18 2010 Asia Superyacht Rendezvous
December 17-19 Phuket Street Show Festival, Old Phuket Town
December 17 US Consular outreach service on Phuket
December 22-24 Disaster warning drills
December 26 Tsunami sixth anniversary
December 30-January 9 Phuket Red Cross Fair, Saphan Hin park, Phuket City


January 6-9 PIMEX boat show, Royal Phuket Marina
January 22 QSI International fun run day at Bang Wad Dam, Kathu
January 23 The Great Phuket Rubber Duck Race Day, Laguna Phuket
February 9-13 The Bay Regatta - Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi


Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket