thairath Thailand's ruling Democrat Party narrowly won a vital vote by 4-3 in the Constitution Court today after being accused of accepting an undisclosed donation.


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

english.cri.cn China has signed agreements with Thailand and Laos to build high-speed railways connecting the two Southeast Asian countries. The Beijing Times reports that officials from Thailand and Laos made the disclosure on Tuesday in Beijing.

bloomberg.com Thailand will lift an emergency decree in Bangkok and surrounding areas by year-end, removing special powers for the military granted during anti-government protests in April, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said.

channelnewsasia.com Brazilian superstar footballer Ronaldo said DNA tests have confirmed he is the biological father of a five-year-old boy living in Singapore. He had earlier said he would take full responsibility if the test proved positive, and appears to have welcomed the knowledge of his fourth child, named Alexander.

dnaindia.com A Malaysian court has sentenced a 41-year-old Indian national to death for drug trafficking. Bahurudeen Mohammad Yusuof Ghaney was sent to the gallows for trafficking in 10 kgs of ketamine at the Penang International Airport January last year.

cnn.com The websites of MasterCard and the Swedish Prosecution Authority were attacked, apparently in connection with the WikiLeaks scandal. Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, meanwhile, said the people who originally leaked the documents - not Julian Assange - are legally liable, and he told Reuters news agency the leaks raised questions about the "adequacy" of US security.

guardian.co.uk In what may prove a particularly incendiary cable, US diplomats describe a world of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll behind the official pieties of Saudi Arabian royalty. Jeddah consulate officials described an underground Halloween party, thrown last year by a member of the royal family, which broke all the country's Islamic taboos.

bangkokpost.com Semi-private suites in first class, flat-bed seats in business and television screens for each economy class seats - in-flight features that passengers of the world's leading airlines have taken for granted for quite some time now - will become THAI's new hallmark. The flag carrier is spending billions of US dollars on a radical makeover of its seats, in-flight entertainment and other passenger amenities as it tries to play catch-up with the competition.

peopledaily.com.cn Indonesia National Police will step up security during the Christmas and New Year's Eve, focusing on preventing the possibility of terrorist threat, police spokesman Iskandar Hasan said. The statement comes as the police have found at least five assembled bombs and the shooting on church recently. The spokesman said that security officers had been prepared to secure churches and tourism destinations during the celebration.

theaustralian.com.au A global check of 45 Airbus A380 engines built by Rolls-Royce has given Qantas's existing A380s a clean bill of health. But the check has found a problem with one of the flying kangaroo's undelivered superjumbos. The finding appears to confirm that there was a batch of faulty oil pipes that were unevenly bored during manufacturing.

smh.com.au Qantas is involved in another air safety investigation after a near miss involving one of its aircraft, a Boeing 767, with a Virgin Blue Boeing 737 over Melbourne's northern outskirts on Sunday. The required minimum distance between the aircraft was breached as the two planes, carrying 350 passengers, ascended on similar flight paths. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau rates the breach as a ''serious incident''.

afp Malaysia's law minister shot down calls to ban underage marriage, despite an uproar over the recent wedding of a 14-year-old Muslim school girl. Malaysian Muslims below the age of 16 are allowed to marry as long as they obtain the permission of the religious courts.

afp Indonesia has detained 77 illegal migrants after their attempt to travel to Australia ended with their boat suffering engine failure, police said. Sumenep police operational head Edy Purwanto said the migrants, from from Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan, departed from a harbor in Surabaya but got into mechanical difficulties while still in Indonesian waters.

smh.com.au Preserving Sydney's beaches against rising sea levels could cost more than $700 million over the next 50 years and would require the government to reverse its long-standing position regarding offshore sandmining, according to a study on climate change-induced beach erosion. The report was commissioned by the Sydney Coastal Councils Group to investigate whether beach nourishment could stop Sydney's beaches from being washed away by the projected sea level rise of 10 centimetres a decade.

independent.co.uk Tesco's international sales jumped by 15.7 percent, driven by Asia where Thailand was the top performer. The world's third-biggest retailer said that sales in Asia soared by 23.4 percent, boosted by new store openings, such as in China and South Korea.

scmp.com Despite environmentalists' efforts to stamp out the trade, it's no secret that Hong Kong remains the global hub of the shark fin trade.

scmp.com Mak Tai-kwong deftly takes a snake from one of the many drawers of a large brown cupboard labelled with the warning, "poisonous snake" in Chinese characters. He cuts into the reptile's abdomen then squeezes out a little black organ - its gall bladder.



Until December 11 Phuket King's Cup Regatta
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 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