bangkokpost.com Two speedboat drivers have been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting two Chinese women tourists on Koh Larn, off Pattaya. The rapes allegedly took place on a beach.


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



bangkokpost.com Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda lashed out populist policies, saying they weakened the country and the people, and again called on Thais to fight graft and not kowtow to corrupt individuals.

smh.com.au Applying for a job as a policeman in Bali means you may need to pay $50,000 or more. The exact amount varies by how much you'll be able to extract during your career in bribes and kickbacks. Bali's tourist trade makes it the most lucrative Indonesian province for police by far.

theage.com.au Few would have thought a year ago the Australian dollar, which was barely five cents from parity with the greenback, would be trading at US70 cents but on Wednesday it plunged to a six-year low. [A lower Aussie dollar means fewer Aussie tourists on Phuket and in Thailand.]



nytimes.com The Thai police said that their main suspect in a deadly attack on a Bangkok shrine has a Chinese passport indicating that he is from the far western region of Xinjiang but that they had not yet verified whether the passport was authentic.

bangkokpost.com Fingerprints from the bomb suspect arrested in Sa Kaeo match prints lifted from a container used for explosives found in Nong Chok apartment, police say.

bernama Thai police have added Turkish man, Emrah Davutoglu as a new suspect in the two bomb attacks in Bangkok on Aug 17 and 18, the eighth so far.

bangkokpost.com Thai police have alleged extensive international links, with terrorist support groups including the wanted husband-and-wife team believed to be in Turkey.



huffingtonpost.com VIDEO Journalists Giulia Valentina Paolini and Bruno Pitzalis traveled to Thailand in July to discuss how two Phuket journalists were coping with criminal defamation charges. In 'The Wan Trial,' Morison and Sidasathian speak about their fears, and about freedom in Thailand.
VIDEO The Wan Trial
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-wan-trial-how-thailand-attacked-the-free-press-and-lost_55e74068e4b0b7a9633b53fd

nationmultimedia.com Letter: In hindsight, both Phuketwan journalists should have been granted medals for revealing the presence of trafficking on Thai soil in 2013. If we had taken their reports seriously back then, we would never have found ourselves on the lowest rung of the US State Department Report on Human Trafficking this year.

theaustralian.com.au A 37-year-old Australian woman is recovering in a hospital on Phuket after being bitten by what she believes is a shark in shallow waters. Jane Neame, who is six months pregnant, had to be rescued by her partner, Robert Passmore, as she screamed for help after the attack at Karon beach.

independent.co.uk One of the men accused of murdering British tourists Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, in Thailand last year has claimed that his ''confession'' was obtained through torture. Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun are on trial on Samui for murder.

news.sky.com Burmese migrant worker Zaw Lin, 22, claims he was stripped naked, beaten and threatened with having his teeth pulled out or being killed at sea. He also claims police tried to extract a confession by blindfolding him and suffocating him with plastic bags.

bangkokpost.com The National Reform Council seems split almost right down the middle on the draft constitution, with Sunday's vote impossible to predict.

Phuket Update Residents and tourists have been urged not to panic if they hear the tsunami-warning evacuation sirens at Saphan Hin sound on Saturday morning as disaster officials stage a mass evacuation drill in the area.

wsj.com At least 12 Syrians, including eight children, drowned off the Turkish coast as they attempted to cross the Aegean to reach Greece, the latest deaths at sea in this year's migrant crisis in Europe.

ndtv.com French police arrested a man after eight people, including two children, were killed in a fire in a Paris apartment building that investigators believe may have been started deliberately.

telegraph.co.uk Drinkers are ''subsidising'' non-drinkers to the tune of 6.5 billion pounds a year, according to a provocative new study rejecting the argument that alcohol is a massive drain on Britain's productivity.



asiancorrespondent.com After holding out for more than quarter of a century, the UK's Guardian newspaper announced that it would no longer be using 'Burma' to refer to the Southeast Asian nation, switching instead to its official name, 'Myanmar'.



aap John McEnroe lashed Nick Kyrgios' ''bonehead'' behavior as tennis's most polarising personality made a tough first-round exit from the US Open in New York. McEnroe was left flabbergasted by Kyrgios' audacious shot selection during his 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-1 loss to Scottish third seed Andy Murray at Flushing Meadows.



superyachttimes.com From the organisers of the Singapore Yacht Show, SYE Pte Ltd, now comes the inaugural Thailand Yacht Show. To be held from February 11-16 2016 at the modern Ao Po Grand Marina, the Thailand Yacht Show will aim to promote the region as a world class cruising destination, able to offer yachts of any size unique experiences in Phuket and surrounding areas, with top class services.


September 6-11 Asian Weightlifting Championships

Until September 12 Por Tor (Hungry Ghost) Festival

September Quicksilver surf carnival at Patong beach

October 15-23 Phuket Vegetarian Festival

November Patong Festival

November 20 Laguna Phuket Triathlon

November 25 Loy Kratong festival

November 29 Challenge Laguna Phuket 2015

November 29 Phuket King's Cup Regatta

December 5 HM The King's Birthday

December 26 Tsunami memorial ceremonies