bangkokpost.com A Bangkok-Moscow flight by the Russian airline Aeroflot failed to take off from Suvarnabhumi after its captain alerted authorities of a possible threat.

latimes.com Saudi women went to the polls for the first time Saturday in a historic election hailed by many as an important step toward greater gender equality in the famously conservative and segregated kingdom.


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 From the capital to the insurgency-riddled southern provinces, people from all walks of life pedalled their bicycles to honor His Majesty the King and ''Bike for Dad.'' More than 600,000 people took part.

nationmultimedia.com After AccorHotels acquired three more hotel brands, nearly 60 properties in Thailand under its management are to discuss strategies. The French hotel group announced that it had acquired three iconic brands, Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel, in strategic deals. AccorHotels operates 55 hotels in Thailand with 13,103 rooms, under multiple brands such as Sofitel, Novotel, Pullman, Mercure and Ibis.

bangkokpost.com Thai Union Group, one of the world's largest seafood producers, says it will bring all shrimp pre-processing in-house to ensure worker protection.



morningnewsasia.com Rohingya Muslims were identified by the United Nations as the most persecuted refugees in the world. The rest of the world does not recognise them as ''people.'' Sadly, their only hero, Police Major General Paween Pongsirin, is now seeking political asylum in Australia for fear of his life.

nationmultimedia.com ''There are some bad police and bad military who do this kind of thing,'' Paween told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ''Unfortunately, those bad police and military are the ones that have power.'' Maj-General Tesa Siriwato, the Provincial Police Region 8 commander who was Paween's supervisor, said that his former subordinate ''lacked discipline and failed to follow orders by his supervisors''.

bangkokpost.com In a cruel coincidence with the Australian asylum case, police in the South declare a partly finished Rohingya human trafficking case is all done.



Phuket Update Police are reportedly hunting a jet-ski operator who allegedly pulled a gun on Patong beach during an argument with another operator. Officers located a handgun and rubber bullets in a vehicle but the jet-ski operator has yet to be found.

Phuket Update Terdsak Petchlim, 28, from Phang Nga, entered a home in southern Phuket intent on stealing but was confronted and subdued by a handful of Russian women, say officers from Chalong Police Station. Terdsak suffered a broken finger and serious bruises: ''Only later I noticed that in his pocket had a screwdriver, which he could have used as a weapon,''

bangkokpost.com Bangkok Airways cancelled a flight to Samui from Bangkok after one of the foreign passengers on board made a bomb threat. The offending passenger could face a fine of up to 200,000 baht and/or five years in jail.

smh.com.au Days after the activist hacker group Anonymous condemns Donald Trump's Muslim comments in a YouTube video, the website for Trump Towers in New York goes offline.

Travellers' Choice world's top 10 destinations on the rise 1. Tulum, Mexico 2. Cartagena, Colombia 3. Porto, Portugal 4. Gatlinburg, Tennessee 5. Moscow, Russia 6. Brighton, United Kingdom 7. New Delhi, India 8. Banff, Canada 9. Lima, Peru 10. Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

watoday.com.au Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has acquired the South China Morning Post, a move which simultaneously signals its intention to expand its media influence beyond mainland China while sparking fears around editorial independence at the venerable Hong Kong newspaper. Hong Kong's relatively free press is not subjected to the same strict government oversight and censorship the Communist Party requires in mainland China.

reuters The Taliban claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on the Spanish embassy in Kabul, further dimming hopes for peace talks with moderate elements of the Islamist insurgent movement touted just days ago by President Ashraf Ghani.


aircargonews.com The November monthly statistics from European air cargo carriers paint a bleak picture for the end of the year as demand declines, the Paris attacks and strike action affected European airlines cargo operations. IAG, Air France KLM, Lufthansa and Finnair all recorded year-on-year demand declines in November, with the German group recording the largest slippage.



cbsnews.com Cambodian health officials have been sent to a northeastern district where 10 people died and more than 100 were sickened in two separate incidents linked to the consumption of dog meat and rice wine, a medical officer said.



theage.com.au Switzerland's greatest tennis players will join forces at the Rio Olympics when Roger Federer and Martina Hingis play together in the mixed doubles.



December 11-13 2015 Wake Park World Series on Phuket

December 26 Tsunami memorial ceremonies

December 26-January 5 Red Cross Fair, Saphan Hin, Phuket City



January 7-10 Phuket International Boat Show