foxnews.com President Obama is expected to announce the assigning of up to 3000 military personnel to combat the Ebola virus in West Africa Tuesday, while the Pentagon has requested Congress to divert $500 million in support.

bangkokpost.com Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha agrees to declare corruption as the greatest security threat, and put it on the national agenda as the most important item in each of the 11 reform categories.


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



standard.co.uk A manhunt is under way for the killer of two British backpackers who were found brutally murdered on the beach of a Thai holiday island. The bodies of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were found semi-naked and savagely beaten with a garden hoe on the paradise island of Koh Tao.

skynews.com Police Colonel Prachum Ruangthong said: ''The man was chopped in the back and on the side of his head, while the woman was chopped in her face. It's very gruesome.'' The Foreign Office is investigating reports that police are hunting a British backpacker over the murders.

cnn.com A search of the victims' rooms showed no sign of theft, and interviews with friends indicated the victims may have only recently met while on the larger island of Koh Phangan before traveling to Koh Tao for a party excursion.

AP Koh Tao, an island in Surat Thani province, is a quieter destination than the neighboring islands of Samui and Phangan, where ''full moon'' parties attract travelers from Thailand and abroad. It is 410 kilometers south of Bangkok.

wsj.com About 500 migrants, mainly from Egypt, the Palestinian territories, Syria and Sudan, are feared dead after their vessel was allegedly sunk by human traffickers off Malta's coast last week. Another 200 may have drowned off the coast of Libya over the weekend, an IOM spokesman said.



bangkokpost.com The Royal Forest Department has filed complaints against 16 state officials and businessmen over an alleged conspiracy to issue illegal land title deeds inside national forest reserves in Phuket province over the past two decades.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/432428/officials-accused-in-land-conspiracy

nationmultimedia.com Sixteen government officials are set to face negligence charges for their alleged involvement in two land scandals - covering 370 rai in Phuket province, the Royal Forestry Department revealed at a press conference. The land encroachment probes are part of the NCPO's top priorities - to recover land seized by influential groups.

traveldailymedia.com AirAsia will provide a new Chinese connection for the Thai resort province of Krabi, with the launch of direct flights from Guangzhou. Commencing on 6 November 2014, the new Krabi-Guangzhou route will be operated daily using a 180-seat Airbus A320 aircraft.

nationmultimedia.com Drug smugglers often use provincial airports, such as Samui and Phuket. Asean countries are part of the route used to smuggle drugs into China, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

telegraph.co.uk David Cameron begged the people of Scotland not to leave the United Kingdom as he promised them that he ''won't be here forever''. In a final plea before Thursday's referendum, the Prime Minister warned Scottish voters in a speech in Aberdeen that separation would be a ''painful divorce''.

wsj.com Police said they were questioning four men arrested on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi believed to be ethnic Uighurs who were allegedly attempting to link up with one of the country's most wanted Islamic militant leaders. The four were arrested Saturday carrying false Turkish passports.

news.com.au Bali police say they know of no plan to attack the holiday island but they are increasing vigilance as Islamic State (IS) ideology creeps into Indonesia.

wsj.com Security forces said that they discovered suicide vests and improvised explosive devices after foiling, with US help, a coordinated terror attack that was meant to hit bars, hotels and Uganda's largest university.

watoday.com.au Assistant Commissioner Alf Fordham believe Western Australia's motorcycle road toll has reached a ''tipping point'' after the deaths of three motorcycle riders and one passenger in less than 24 hours. The four deaths put WA's motorcycle road toll at 22 so far in 2014.

afp French flag carrier Air France scrapped half of its flights as pilots began a strike against the company's plan to develop its low-cost subsidiary.

dpa Air passenger traffic in the Asia-Pacific region is to grow by 5.7 percent a year between 2013 and 2017, compared with 3.9 percent annually in Europe and 3.6 percent in North America, IATA told The Straits Times.

theguardian.com In the wake of Apple's live event last week, there's been some understandable finger pointing at Apple Watch. Unspecified battery life, a watch whose thickness means it doesn't slip under the sleeve, the price. But that's what you get with first-generation technology.

techtimes.com A new project plans to track the effect of greenhouse gases on the Amazonian rain forest. This project, the Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO), has the backing of researchers from Brazil and Germany.

bangkokpost.com Wanpen Inyai, 65, committed suicide by jumping into a crocodile pit containing 1000 animals at the Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo.

independent.co.uk Depression could be diagnosed by a blood test, according to newly published American research, which has found chemicals in the blood of people with the condition.

news.com.au A billionaire, 81, has married a Playboy cover girl, bunny and model, who, at 24, is 57 years his junior. Cathy ''Spatzi'' Schmitz, known as the naked model Crazy Cathy, married property and construction mogul Richard Lugner at Vienna's Schonbrunn palace.



aljazeera.com Air pollution in Singapore has risen to unhealthy levels, officials said, after clouds of smog from fires raging across rainforests in the neighboring Indonesian island of Sumatra covered the city-state's skyline.

theblaze.com While there's been no recent news about the March disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 and the 239 people on board, a top Indonesian police official says he knows what happened. But Malaysian officials and the Indonesian government have since denied his claims.

channelnews.asia To celebrate Singapore's 50th birthday next year, MediaCorp launched a nationwide search for a song that will resonate with the nation.



watoday.com.au A Colombian women's cycling team has caused a stir when the kit they revealed for a race in northern Italy gave the appearance that the riders were semi-naked. The uniform was a traditional cycling outfit from the chest up and the thighs down, but the midriff and groin were covered in flesh-colored fabric with an unfortunate shadow.

goal.com Four summer signings found the net, with Valencia's strike the undoubted pick of the bunch. Both sides look as if they will be exciting to watch moving forward and have plenty to build on from this showing. Hull 2-2 West Ham.

goal.com Mathieu Debuchy is set to be sidelined for up to three months with ankle ligament damage, Goal can reveal. Arsenal received the Frenchman's scan results after the swelling had subsided on the ankle injury he sustained against Manchester City.



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