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



reuters Heavily armed Australian police stormed a Sydney cafe early on Tuesday morning and freed a number of hostages being held there at gunpoint, in a dramatic end to a 16-hour siege in which three people including the attacker were killed.

news.com.au The mother of a hostage inside the Lindt Cafe said her heart stopped when her son texted her to say where he was.

cnn.com Hostage siege: Australians stand up to Islamophobia with #illridewithyou
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/15/world/asia/australia-hostage-illridewithyou/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

bloomberg.com Thailand's benchmark stock index fell the most in 11 months as energy companies slumped on a rout in crude and investors speculated this year's rally was excessive relative to earnings prospects.

ft.com Russia has lifted its key interest rate to 17 percent, hours after the rouble suffered its worst drop since 1998.



bangkokpost.com Thailand's National Reform Council (NRC) began discussing proposals compiled and submitted by 18 of its panels, with a focus on empowering independent anti-graft organisations to deal with corrupt politicians and state officials.

afp Malaysia Airlines suspended its shares from the country's stock exchange Monday under a government rescue plan for the flag carrier which is fighting for survival after losing two planes this year.

scmp.com The Jiangsu Provincial Tourism Bureau said that they had asked the provincial tourism association to blacklist the rowdy group that disrupted the Thai AirAsia flight from Bangkok to Nanjing last Thursday. The tour guide who led the group has also had their licence suspended for a year, the bureau said.

thephuketinsider.com For Phuket's tourism industry, a prime economic mover on a national scale, the jury remains out on the impact of the changes. International arrivals have risen since 2009 but remain markedly weak since the events of May this year.
http://www.thephuketinsider.com/real_estate/reinventing-phuket-necessary-but-daunting-task.php

Thailand Update Thailand's Matichon newspaper group says it lost 48 million baht in the past year and has called for voluntary redundancies across its stable of mastheads. Newspapers are in decline in print worldwide.

independent.co.uk Eating spicy food is often seen as a sign of male bravado - and now scientific research has found that men who enjoy hot food have higher levels of testosterone.

abcnews.go.com A manhunt is underway in and around Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, for a suspect in an overnight shooting spree that left six people dead and wounded another, authorities said. Officials identified the suspect as 35-year-old Bradley William Stone of Pennsburg. All of the victims at three separate locations are related to Stone, police said.

theguardian.com Its members have been dubbed the ''pinstriped nazis'' and they refer to their demonstrations as ''evening strolls'' through German cities. An estimated 15,000 people joined Pegida, or Patriotic Europeans Against Islamisation of the West, in a march through Dresden carrying banners bearing slogans such as ''Zero tolerance towards criminal asylum seekers,'' ''Protect our homeland'' and ''Stop the Islamisation''.

9news.com.au The expat was a rather good sport about being slapped three times across the face by a Buddhist monk in Thailand. The slap victim, identified as an English teacher named ''Jeff,'' remained seated in the train compartment and merely winced as the shaven-headed monk in flowing orange robes disrupted his own sanguine image with open-handed blows.

voanews.com Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said the territory's occupy protests are over, but activists say they will return after police cleared the last of the demonstration sites following more than 10 weeks of protests.

biotchinsights.com According to a new study, sugar can do worse thing to your health compared to what salt can. The result of the new study shows that too much consumption of sugar can increase risk of high blood pressure.

telegraph.co.uk Scientists have proven that people with a youthful spring in their step and an unswerving optimism about the future seem able to cheat death



afp Indonesian rescuers dug through mud with shovels and their bare hands for a third day Monday in the hunt for dozens of people still missing after a landslide engulfed a village, as the death toll rose to 56.

wsj.com Government prosecutors filed a murder charge against a US Marine for allegedly killing a Filipino woman in October in a case that has been seized by opponents of a US-Philippines military pact.

straitstimes.com Visitors to the Singapore Zoo will no longer be able to get as close to the elephants there or take rides on these animals, starting from January 5.



golfchannel.com Lee Westwood's win in Thailand bumped him up from No. 43 to No. 26 - just one spot behind where he finished 2013.



December 25 Christmas Day

December 26 10th Anniversary, 2004 Tsunami

December 31 New Year's Eve



February 12-15 Phuket Yacht Show