abc.net.au Gammy, the baby with Down syndrome at the centre of a surrogacy dispute in Thailand last month, was offered to another couple and the biological father, David Farnell, asked if it was possible for the baby to be left outside a Thai temple, it has been claimed.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-17/baby-gammy-was-offered-to-another-australian-couple/5751436

news.sky.com Goals from Ciro Immobile and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang helped Borussia Dortmund to a 2-0 Champions League win over a lacklustre Arsenal.

bangkokpost.com The news that two British tourists were killed on Koh Tao is yet another blow to Thai tourism sentiment, one that could affect arrivals in the coming high season.

minigaustralia.com.au David Miller's family released a statement saying the young man left the UK on July 16 to undertake a six-week work placement with an unnamed mining company in Australia.

reuters Scottish supporters of staying in the United Kingdom are 4 percentage points ahead of secessionists with just a day to go before Scots vote in an independence referendum, three different opinion polls showed.


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 The predicted recovery of tourism in Thailand in the post-coup era remains elusive, with statistics for August showing international arrivals down 11.85 percent from the same month a year ago. The slump in August followed declines of 10.9 percent year-on-year in July and 24.4 percent in June.

nationmultimedia.com Police ruled out three Burmese workers being involved in the murder of two British tourists, as the government appeared to call into question the ''behavior'' of the victims themselves. The bodies of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, arrived in Bangkok late yesterday for forensic examination.

reuters Thailand's prime minister said the country was not always as safe for foreign visitors as their homelands, after the murder of two British tourists dealt a blow to the southeast Asian nation's image.

nationmultimedia.com A special team of police, including senior Phuket-based investigator Pol-General Santichai Niramai, who is known for his experience in tourism-related criminal investigations, has been set up to help probe the murders.

telegraph.co.uk CCTV footage of a man described by Thai police as the ''prime suspect'' in the murder of two British backpackers in Koh Tao, Thailand has been released.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/11099861/CCTV-of-prime-suspect-in-Thailand-backpacker-murders-released.html

nytimes.com His legacy is inseparable from the past decade of political tumult in Thailand, but high school students will not find the name Thaksin Shinawatra in the history textbooks that the country's military junta recently ordered schools to use. Mr Thaksin's name was scrubbed from the book by the Ministry of Education, said the textbook's author, Thanom Anarmwat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/world/asia/loved-and-hated-thaksin-shinawatra-former-premier-of-thailand-is-erased-from-textbook.html?_r=0



wired.com The Mathematics of Ebola Trigger Stark Warnings: Act Now or Regret It. You can see how that could quickly get out of hand, and in fact, that is what the researchers predict. Here is their stop-you-in-your-tracks assessment: In a worst-case hypothetical scenario, should the outbreak continue with recent trends, the case burden could gain an additional 77,181 to 277,124 cases by the end of 2014. That is a jaw-dropping number.
http://www.wired.com/2014/09/r0-ebola/?mbid=social_fb



bangkokpost.com Police have arrested six students from Rajamangala University of Technology's Uthen Thawai campus for allegedly killing two Pathumwan Institute of Technology (PIT) students on Friday.

scmp.com British travellers ''left out of pocket'' as a result of passport processing delays should be refunded and the agency in charge put back under the control of ministers, a report by British lawmakers has recommended.

bangkokpost.com US and Japanese diplomats have talked with the four-star foreign minister, sparking optimism that opposition to the coup may cool.

afp The number of hungry people in the world has dropped by 100 million over the last 10 years but one in nine are still undernourished, with Asia home to the majority of the underfed, the UN said.

fsrn.org Thailand's media is facing tough times since the May 22 coup with Thai editors and executives already summoned to meetings and told by the military to tread carefully in reporting on national events. An initial hard line towards media criticism has eased slightly, but only after the military shut down news media it deemed as politically divisive.

scmp.com Typhoon Kalmaegi slammed into southern China yesterday, causing floods and power failures and bringing regional air traffic to a standstill.

theguardian.com The Utopia homelands was once one of Australia's healthiest Indigenous communities. Now it's plagued by scabies because of water shortages. And that's just the beginning

qz.com The Chinese city of Chongqing's ''no cellphones'' lane for pedestrians has struck a global chord - perhaps because just about every mobile phone user has been guilty of walking-while-texting at least a few times, even though it is an annoying hazard to fellow walkers.
http://qz.com/265642/a-chinese-citys-no-cellphones-sidewalk-lane-isnt-original-and-its-not-on-a-real-street/



The West Australian The family of John Elliott, 23, is now facing a $70,000 medical bill after he was airlifted to Perth to recover at home from a scooter crash. The costs, which had to be paid upfront, included $55,000 for a medivac flight to Perth, $7000 for an operation on his pelvis and hand and $5000 for his hospital stay in Bali.

wsj.com Indonesian lawmakers voted to ratify a regional agreement on air pollution as haze from land-clearing fires on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan moved into Malaysia and Singapore.

channelnewsasia.com Slightly hazy conditions could hit Singapore sporadically over the next two weeks due to prevailing wind conditions and periods of consecutive dry days that are usually seen during the current South-west Monsoon season.

smh.com.au Bereaved families still grieving from the loss of their loved ones on flight MH17 are being denied the compensation they are owed by Malaysia Airlines, their lawyers say. The airline strongly rejects their claim.

cnn.com Thousands of people are being evacuated from the area around an active volcano in the Philippines after the country's seismology agency issued an alert saying a hazardous eruption could happen ''within weeks.''

theguardian.com Nobel laureate VS Naipaul will no longer be appearing at a literary festival in Bali after the event declined to meet what it described as his ''11th-hour request'' for a $20,000 appearance fee.



PA Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admits his side have yet to reach the standard they set themselves last season but was relieved to open their Champions League campaign with a 2-1 victory over Ludogorets.

dpa Real Madrid began their title defence with a 5-1 thrashing of Basel, while city rivals Atletico slipped to a 3-2 defeat at Olympiakos in the first group matches of the UEFA Champions League.



nationmultimedia.com Phuket's famous Vegetarian Festival returns to the resort town next Wednesday and almost all the locals and many of the visitors will be refraining from consuming meat or alcohol and shunning sex for the entire nine days.

September 24-October 2 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket

October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day

November 6 Loy Kratong

November 14-21 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