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



news.sky.com RAF jets threatened to shoot down a Latvian cargo plane that lost communication with air traffic controllers as it headed towards London. Residents reported hearing a loud sonic boom as two Typhoon jets were scrambled from RAF Coningsby to intercept the Antonov An-26 airliner.

nationmultimedia.com The Thai government should immediately investigate and prosecute security personnel responsible for the killing of a 14-year-old ethnic Malay Muslim boy in southern Thailand, Human Rights Watch said. On August 21, Unit 4916 of the Taharn Pran, an Army-trained and equipped paramilitary unit, shot dead the boy Muhammad-Azuwan Sohoh while he was riding his motorcycle past their camp in Narathiwat's Sri Sakorn district.

news.sky.com More than 100 people are thought to have been buried alive after a landslide triggered by monsoon rains hit a tea plantation in south-central Sri Lanka.



nytime.com Editorial: Myanmar is expected to received $5 billion this fiscal year in foreign investments, thanks to the easing of economic sanctions by the US and Europe on the promise of continued democratic and human rights reforms. The US and other governments must make it clear that Myanmar will face consequences if it continues to abuse the Rohingya.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/opinion/the-persecution-of-the-rohingya.html?_r=0

theguardian.com And so, another wealthy, developed nation - this time, the United Kingdom - has decided to turn its back on people dying at sea.



bangkokpost.com Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha offered two Myanmar suspects in the Koh Tao murders case new DNA tests, but claimed British police observers were satisfied with an investigation done ''just the way they would have done it.''



smh.com.au The spread of Ebola may be declining in Liberia, although the battle to contain the outbreak is far from won, the World Health Organisation says.



spaldingtoday.co.uk Spalding human rights defender Andy Hall is celebrating a landmark victory after a court in Thailand dismissed a criminal defamation charge against him.

wsj.com ''We're really relieved today,'' Mr Hall told reporters. ''I feel that today the Thai justice system really proved itself as being able to provide justice to people like myself who are human rights defenders who exercise our freedom of expression without any malice.''

freshfruitportal.com During the trial, the court heard many testimonies including from a former Natural Fruit worker who claimed the factory hired underaged children and paid unlawfully low salaries to its workers. ''Instead of allowing companies to bring human rights activists to court, Thailand needs to prosecute companies like Natural Fruit, who are violating labor rights,'' a Finnwatch spokesperson said.

khaosodenglish.com The trial for Hall's second defamation case is scheduled to begin on Thursday.

ibtimes.com The hunt for Amelia Earhart's long-lost plane took a new turn after searchers reportedly identified a piece of the missing aircraft near a toll in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. History buffs have long speculated that the tiny island, called Nikumaroro, was the final resting place of the famed aviator.

xinhua Singapore's budget airlines Tigerair launched a trial to allow guide dogs for visually impaired passengers on its flights, Channel NewsAsia reported. The trial, conducted with the Guide Dogs Association of the Blind, carried guide dog Esme and her owner Cassandra Chiu to Phuket.

asiatraveltips.com In March 2015, Graham Haslam and Mark Cameron will try and set a Guinness World Record and raise money for the Thai children's education charity, Phuket Has Been Good To Us, by attempting to drive an electric golf cart from Pattaya, on Thailand's Eastern Seaboard, to Phuket on Thailand's West Coast.

bloomberg Economic equality between men and women globally will not be achieved for another eight decades, the World Economic Forum (WEF) concluded in a report. The study of 142 countries, published annually by the Geneva-based organisation, found that women???s attainments and opportunities in the workplace are 60 percent; those of men, up from 56 percent in the first such report in 2006.



bbc.com Muslims in Malaysia should not celebrate Halloween, the country's National Fatwa Council has announced. The council, one of Malaysia's highest Islamic bodies, says Halloween is a Christian celebration of the dead and ''against Islamic teachings.''

cnn.com After the UN's Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Kyung-wha Kang, visited Rakhine's camps for Rohingya in June, she described witnessing ''a level of human suffering in IDP camps that I have personally never seen before. People have been here two years and they have nothing. Nothing,''



mirror.co.uk As car crashes go, they don't come much more spectacular than this for Manchester City. Even by City's time-honoured tradition of cock-ups, the Capital One Cup holders were humiliated by Newcastle 0-2 and lost David Silva to a knee injury.

insidethegames.biz Hong Kong earned a record haul of 42 medals in the Incheon Asian Games month - comprised of six gold, 12 silver and 24 bronze medals - with track cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze the leading star with two individual titles. Similar success is now being targeted in Phuket from November 14 to 23, with Hong Kong sending an 82-strong team to participate in 13 of the 26 medal events at the Asian Beach Games.

afp Poland's three-time world weightlifting champion Marcin Dolega has been suspended by his federation over suspicions of doping and banned from taking part in next month's World Championships in Kazakhstan.



bangkokpost.com Welcome to Thalang Road in the popular tourist resort island of Phuket, where you'll find a long street of Sino-Portuguese heritage shops and a rustic local way of life with a twist of chic-modern eateries, cafes and boutique stores.

November 1-3 Patong Carnival

November 6 Loy Kratong

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