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

cnn.com The Mount Merapi volcano in Indonesia erupted at least three times Tuesday, forcing thousands of nearby residents to flee. Indonesian media reported that 15 people were killed, including some journalists who were staying in a guesthouse to get close to the volcano.

thereporter.com.au Nine Australians missing for almost 24 hours after a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami in Indonesia's west are safe and well. The 7.7-magnitude quake struck near the remote Mentawai Island chain, generating massive waves that swept ashore, killing at least 113 people and washing away hundreds of homes.

Associated Press Zimbabwe's football association fired its chief executive amid an investigation into alleged match-fixing that implicates the country's top players, coaches and administrators. In the statements to a board of inquiry, Zimbabwe players and officials said they were paid between $500 and $1500 to throw matches on the tour to Thailand and Malaysia in December 2009.

cnn.com Norway leads the 2010 list ranking the prosperity of 110 of the world's nations by the London analytical center Legatum Institute. Eight of the bottom 10 nations are from Africa, with Zimbabwe coming last.

cnet.com Travelocity, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Sabre Holdings, and several other online travel companies have created the FairSearch.org coalition to try to block Google's acquisition of ITA Software. In a blog post announcing its launch, FairSearch said that Google "presents a threat to competition and transparency in online travel search, and could lead to higher travel prices and less choice for consumers."

pcmag.com Andrew Silverman, a Google senior product manager, said that Google believes "giving users better ways to search for flights online will encourage more users to make their flight purchases online, which will create more overall online sales for airlines and travel agencies. Google does not plan to sell airline tickets directly."

nytimes.com ''The world of the Internet and particularly social media has pretty much outstripped ethical guidelines, and some legal ones as well,'' said Chris Emmins, a founder of KwikChex, a British reputation management company that is seeking to organise a lawsuit against TripAdvisor on behalf of its clients.

thedrum.co.uk TripAdvisor is protected in the US by the Communications Decency Act which prevents sites from being liability for third party posts. But the New York Times reports that some hoteliers content TripAdvisor goes beyond the neutral role of host by dispatching email bulletins trumpeting ''hotel horror stories''.

ocregister.com I've traveled around the world using Tripadvisor.com to help me select the best hotel values and bargains. I always throw out the highest and the lowest reviews, and just decide based on the bulk of reviews in the middle.

bangkokpost.com To increase air traffic volume to five of its six airports, Airports of Thailand has adopted an incentive program including heavy discounts and bonus payouts to airlines. Carriers that manage to increase passengers on their existing international routes are entitled to "bonus" payments ranging from 40 to 120 baht for each incremental passenger over last year's level.

scmp.com UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar's military government to release political prisoners before upcoming elections, saying ''it is not too late'' to make the polls more fair and inclusive.

bangkokpost.com Thailand ranks 9th in Asia and 78th in the world in this year's corruption index released by Transparency Thailand. The country scored 3.5 out of 10 in the honesty rankings, which range from zero for highly corrupt to 10 for very clean. Last year, Thailand was ranked 10th of 23 countries in Asia and 87th of 178 countries.

tvnz.co.nz New Zealand has tied with Denmark and Singapore to be named as the least corrupt country in the world. The three countries topped the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index with scores of 9.3 out of a possible ten, which indicates a country with the highest standards.

afp Malaysia must have a "clear and firm" commitment to fighting corruption or risk failing to achieve its goal of becoming a developed nation by 2020, anti-graft watchdog TI Malaysia warned. Malaysia's score dropped from 4.5 to 4.4.

etravelblackboardasia.com Accor announced a three-day ''super sale'' with discounts up to 50 percent across its Asia and Europe hotels. The soaring Aussie dollar and half-price Accor rooms make Asia and Europe a ''super'' holiday choice, the company said. Accor announced that over 750 hotels in the Asia Pacific region would go on sale for three days - October 29 to 31 - for stays during the period December 12, to February 12. The company noted that the purchasing power of the Aussie dollar is especially strong - translating to low room rates - in Phuket, Samui, Bangkok, Hanoi, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

AAP An Australian man faces criminal charges after allegedly tattooing a 40cm-long penis onto his mate's back. Police have charged a 21-year-old man from Bundamba, near Ipswich, with two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and one offence relating to the public safety act. A detective said: ''When he got home he showed it to the person he lives with and she said: 'I don't think it's the tattoo you were after.'''

bangkokpost.com With the Indian Ocean earthquake back in 2004 and the resulting tsunami, one would think Thailand would have learned a thing or two about handling disasters. The country is lucky that the floods have spared most of the communications infrastructure and allowed people to continue to use mobile phones and have access to the Internet.

PA Paul the octopus, which correctly predicted a host of World Cup matches, has died, his owners said. Common octopuses generally only live a couple of years.



November 1 Yellow Submarine Divers on Phuket will launch the Donate As You Dive campaign
November 2-7 Phuket womens' beach volleyball, Karon beach
November 5 Phuket Charity Pro Am Golf, Blue Canyon
November 6 Charity golf at Tab Lamu, near Khao Lak: Call Sam on 089 875 1995 E: sam@khaolakappeal.com
November 6 Thailand Property Awards, Bangkok
November 12 IBAP meets at Thai Naan restaurant to hear Woody Leonard on what's best for internet access on Phuket.
November 19 AustCham at the new Westin Hotel at Koh Sireh from 3pm. E: harry@ladypie.com Tel: 081 2731740
November 21 Loy Kratong Festival
November 28 Laguna Phuket triathlon
December 4-11 Phuket King's Cup Regatta
December 5 Laguna Ironman title
December 15-20 Patong Carnival
2011
January 6-9 PIMEX boat show, Royal Phuket Marina
January 23 The Great Phuket Rubber Duck Race Day, Laguna Phuket
February 9-13 The Bay Regatta - Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi