FORECASTERS say there's a 70 percent chance of rain today on Phuket, in Phang Nga and in Krabi with winds of up to 35kph and waves of three metres tipped. Friday and the weekend are predicted to be better.


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

bangkokpost.com Police are on alert for the possibility of sudden flooding in 21 spots in Bangkok following the latest weather forecast of heavy downpours in the capital until the end of this weekend.

nationmultimedia.com Similar to the situation in Bangkok, roads were inundated in Phuket, with flood waters ranging from 50-100 centimetres high at the Patong Hospital intersection. ''The southern provinces along the Andaman Sea will see more rain and downpours until early October,'' said Wanchai Sak-udomchai, head of the weather bureau in Songkhla.

ttrweekly.com Heavy rains have flooded streets in Patong Bay a popular tourist haven on Phuket island, according to the local online news service Phuketwan. Small boats are advised to stay close to shore.

gmanetwork.com Thailand has approved an affordable generic version of the anti-impotence drug Viagra to go on sale next week as the country looks to combat rampant counterfeit production, officials said. Priced at 25 baht per pill, Thailand's Food and Drug Administration said Sidegra will be 10 times cheaper than full-price Viagra.

cnn.com US drone strikes in Pakistan have killed far more people than the US has acknowledged and have traumatised innocent residents, according to a new study. Two percent of targets are hit.



Russian truck crash - amazing escape for driver
VIDEO: A Russian truck driver has an amazing escape after crashing head-on into another lorry. He is thrown clear out of the front windscreen and walks away unhurt.
http://www.channel4.com/news/russian-truck-crash-amazing-escape-for-driver?google_editors_picks=true/

indiatimes.com Air India is planning to reconnect Dhaka and Bangkok apart from evaluating new flights to Phuket in Thailand and Guangzhou in China.

bangkokpost.com Thai AirAsia is zeroing in on China as part of an aggressive growth plan over the next few years, planning to add four or five Chinese cities a year to its Thailand-China network.

thephuketinsider.com Bangkok Airways has made public comments by its President Puttipong Prasarttong-osoth about the carrier studying the possibility of creating a low-cost airline.

telegraph.co.uk Five people have been isolated in a hospital in Denmark with symptoms of a new viral respiratory illness from the same family as the deadly SARS virus. Those admitted were a family of four where the father had been to Saudi Arabia, and an unrelated person who had been to Qatar.

dailymail.co.uk A man fighting a Sars-like virus in a British hospital has been connected to an artificial lung to keep him alive. Scientists have likened the infection to Sars, which claimed 900 lives worldwide between 2002 and 2003.

xinhua Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung instructed the nation's police chief to step up security during political gatherings following Tuesday's clash between opponent Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts.

bangkokpost.com Internal pressure is growing on Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit to step down from his post. The Interior Ministry's Civil Service Committee has decided to expel Mr Yongyuth with the expulsion order retroactively taking effect on September 30, 2002.



India is part of an upside-down world
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8684fb7a-0630-11e2-bd29-00144feabdc0.html#axzz27ZoiW5sd/

andrew-drummond.com Edwin Wiek, the popular founder of the Wildlife Friends of Thailand, said that he would go to jail rather than profer bail money in what he says is a vendetta being carried out against him by the Department of National Parks. [Comment: The good news is Edwin Wiek is out on bail paid for by the Dutch Embassy. Never heard of this type of support before]

afp Samsung has launched the newest version of its oversized smartphone the Galaxy Note just a week after Apple's iPhone 5 hit shelves, in an apparent bid to outpace its rival with a wider range of gadgets.

dailylife.com.au Scroll through the creepshots.com archive and it's pretty obvious the everyday women pictured are completely unaware they are being preyed upon by a freak with a smartphone. He is the guy standing behind them in the supermarket queue when they pick up milk in their gym gear.

smh.com.au Australia's Great Barrier Reef has been opened to an audience of more than one billion people worldwide as Google launches a virtual tour of one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

escapistmagazine.com There's something magical about a reef; it's like seeing the planet through the eyes of an alien, as you navigate clumsily through a colorful new world filled with life and movement.



KEVIN FURRER has been appointed as General Manager of the Swissotel Phuket in Kamala, formerly a Courtyard by Marriott.

smh.com.au The US military has designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as enemies of the US - the same legal category as the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban insurgency.

scmp.com Gigi Chao, lesbian daughter of property tycoon Cecil Chao Sze-tsung, said she thought the HK$500 million marriage bounty offered by her father to find her a husband was ''quite entertaining''.

mizzima.com Canada and Britain have agreed to share embassy space in Rangoon, officials announced in Ottawa. Currently, Canada has no embassy in Burma.

AP A passenger ferry collided with a ship believed to be carrying liquefied natural gas and sank west of Indonesia's main island early Wednesday morning, killing at least eight people, officials said. More than 210 passengers and crew were rescued.

telegraph.co.uk Andy Williams, who has died aged 84, was one of the last great American crooners and had hits with smooth renditions of such songbook standards as Moon River, Can't Help Falling In Love and Days Of Wine And Roses.

crikey.com.au It won't be possible to buy London's Time Out any more. The publication has not folded, but turned itself into a free-sheet, to be given out at Tube stations and the like, with its listings consigned to the web. And the bookshop where I used to buy it from will soon be gone too.

traveldailymedia.com Thai Airways International will launch Airbus A380 flights to Sydney next year. The new superjumbo will be flown daily to the Australian city from September 16, becoming the airline's fourth new A380 route launch of the year. Daily flights to Tokyo Narita, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Osaka Kansai will commence in January, February and August respectively.

thestar.com.my MAS is adding a fifth daily Bangkok-KL flight from October 28. The airline will continue the existing twice-daily B737-800 services between Phuket and KL and its code share operations with Bangkok Air for Bangkok-Koh Samui (31 weekly flights), Bangkok-Phuket (14 weekly flights), Bangkok-Chiang Mai (14 weekly flights), Koh Samui-Phuket (14 weekly flights) and Koh Samui-Kuala Lumpur (daily flights).



reuters Manchester United fielded a defence boasting only two first-team appearances but still proved too good for Premier League rivals Newcastle United with a 2-1 win in the League Cup third round.

mirror.co.uk Holders Liverpool progressed into the fourth round with a 2-1 win at Premier League rivals West Brom. Brendan Rodgers gave striker Jerome Sinclair a run-out off the bench, making him Liverpool's youngest-ever player at just 16 years and six days.

thesportreview.com Arsene Wenger backed Olivier Giroud to improve his Premier League form after the France striker netted his first Arsenal goal in a 6-1 Capital One Cup thrashing of Coventry.



AUSTCHAM (Australian Thailand Chamber of Commerce) Phuket Sundowners social and business networking soiree at the new Hogs Breath Cafe on the third floor of the Promenade Plaza off Soi Bangla in Patong, on November 30, at 5.30pm. (Opposite the old burnt Tiger Disco). Contact harry@ladypie for details.

DUSIT THANI Laguna Phuket will celebrates it silver jubilee on November 25. To celebrate 25 years in the industry, the resort is offering 25 percent discounts on bookings for its Exclusive Pool Private Villas from now until November. Call 076 362 999 or email dtiprsvn@dusit.com


September 30 Go-Eco divers' undersea cleanup

October 14 Vegetarian Festival

October 21-24 Phuket International Sports Fishing titles

November 25 Laguna Phuket Triathlon

November 28 Loy Kratong Day

November 30 AustCham Phuket sundowners social and business networking

December 1 World AIDs Day

December 1-8 King's Cup Regatta

December 5 HM The King's Birthday

December 10 Constitution Day

December 15-20 Patong Carnival

December 25 Christmas Day



November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket