Phuket Update The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department on Friday issued a weather warning for Phuket and all southern provinces for the next three days. Locals, fishermen and tourists are advised to stay out of the sea for three days for safety due to big waves.

thaipbs.or.th Just three days after the headless body of a woman was found floating off the sea of Penang, another woman was found brutally murdered, The Star Online reported. The body, believed to be that of a foreigner, was found without a head and legs. The torso and the arms were found stuffed into a luggage bag.


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



nationmultimedia.com The chiefs of 50 metropolitan police stations and a large number of senior officers face disciplinary investigation following allegations that they unlawfully benefited from advertisers who put up many signboards at Bangkok intersections without permission.

nationmultimedia.com Arrivals of European tourists are expected to rebound by 10 per cent in the rest of this year and next year as operators roll out short-term tactics to boost late bookings and promote the single-visa agreement with Cambodia. Many can now fly directly into Phuket on Middle Eastern airlines.

asiaone.com Indonesia is to waive visa requirements for visitors from Australia, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea in a bid to attract 20 million tourists by 2020.

cnn.com Thailand's people are justifiably proud of their country, which, sandwiched as it is between historically powerful neighbors, has managed skillfully to play off its rivals and retain its independence.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/06/world/asia/thailand-country-profile/



nytimes.com A smuggler said that when the wooden boats were filled with Rohingya, they sailed north for about five hours to connect with larger vessels. There, in waters off the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, multidecked boats sometimes idle for days or weeks, manned by armed and often brutal crews, waiting for a full complement of passengers bound for Thailand, the UN refugee agency said in an internal report.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/world/asia/rohingya-myanmar-rakhine-state-thailand-malaysia.html?_r=0

time.com Aung San Suu Kyi repudiates evidence-based allegations of ethnic cleansing by Human Rights Watch and instead calls the crisis an ''immigration issue.'' Suu Kyi has always said she is a politician, rather than a human-rights defender. But the truth today is that she is pretty awful at both.

AP Myanmar's own security forces are profiting off the mass departure of one of the world's most persecuted minorities by extracting payments from those fleeing. A report to be released Friday by the Bangkok-based advocacy group Fortify Rights, and reporting by AP, indicate the practice is far more widespread and organised than previously thought, with Myanmar naval boats going so far as to escort asylum seekers out sea, where larger ships operated by transnational criminal networks wait to pick them up.



bangkokpost.com Public prosecutors will decide in a month whether to indict two Myanmar men on charges of murdering two British tourists on Koh Tao island. Thai police say they have clear evidence to back their charges, including the results of DNA tests.



indiatimes.com An Air India flight en route to Mumbai from Bangkok made an emergency landing at Kolkata, after the pilot reported an on-board medical emergency, airport sources said. A passenger was rushed to a local hospital where he later died.

bangkokpost.com Governors and mayors of Asean capital cities pledged to jointly promote intra-Asean tourism ahead of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) starting next year. In the draft of the declaration, the city leaders vow to intensify practical cooperation through various mechanisms, including workshops and study tours.

scmp.com Apec will reveal details in the next few days of an unprecedented cross-border network to pursue and extradite corrupt officials.

afp Francois Hollande, the most unpopular French president in history, admitted he was ''hanging on'' and had made errors but vowed to go ''to the end'' to reform the crisis-hit country.

afr.com If southern Thailand used to be limited to Photoshopped beaches, cheap beer, day spas and shopping, times have changed. Contemporary Phuket has plenty more excitement to throw at the average traveller.

scmp.com Cathay Pacific passengers could face a frustrating Christmas after pilots, unhappy with a pay offer, voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.

traveldailymedia.com Come 2015, Amari Phuket is gearing up to unveil its new wing to guests. The hotel group will also be celebrating its 30thyear of operations next year. The new wing will boast 148 additional rooms divided into one and two-bedroom suites.



bbc.com China has warned citizens travelling to Singapore to be careful of shopping scams, following a tourism controversy in the South East Asian city. Singapore has been gripped by the plight of a holidaying Vietnamese factory worker scammed of two months' wages when trying to buy an iPhone 6.

afp Singaporeans outraged by an electronics shop that left a Vietnamese tourist in tears after a phone-sale scam have raised thousands of dollars to compensate him, a crowdfunding site shows. The incident has touched a raw nerve in wealthy, tech-savvy Singapore.

reuters An independent investigation by the Harvard Law School has found that troops commanded by Myanmar's powerful interior minister and two other senior officials tortured and killed civilians over six years ago while fighting an ethnic rebellion.



reuters The Asian Beach Games, whose fourth edition starts next week in Phuket, may go global in 2017 under a proposal endorsed by the Association of National Olympic Committee's Executive Council.



bangkokpost.com Entrance fees to all 147 national parks will be waived on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day as part of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's ''happiness'' campaign.

November 14-23 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket

December 5 King's Birthday

December 10 Constitution Day

December 25 Christmas Day

December 26 10th Anniversary, 2004 Tsunami

December 31 New Year's Eve



February 13-15 Phuket Yacht Show