bbc.com Two journalists have been shot dead during a live TV report in the US state of Virginia, their employer confirms.

Agencies An elephant killed its handler and ran away with three Chinese tourists on its back. The male elephant was 20 minutes into a jungle tour in Chiang Mai, when it went berserk and attacked its ''mahout'' (handler), goring him and killing him instantly.

bangkokpost.com A day after the junta claimed the tourism industry has been unaffected by last week's bombing of Bangkok???s Erawan shrine, the Tourism and Sports Ministry released figures showing international arrivals fell seven percent since the attack.

bangkokpost.com Two Chinese tourists were hurt when thieves snatched a shoulder bag containing cash and valuables worth almost 100,000 baht and sped off at Jomtien beach, near Pattaya, in the early hours of Wednesday.


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



nationmultimedia.com Big players involved in tourism agree there must be a separation of the Tourism and Sports Ministry's two portfolios to strengthen the travel business and increase Thailand's competitiveness amid the current political and economic instability.

bangkokpost.com A taxi driver says he picked up the tattooed bombing suspect near Lumpini Park, that he looks like his wanted poster, and speaks with a foreign accent. The driver also told police he suspected the passenger wanted to hide his tattoos with armbands, said a source.

nationmultimedia.comThis witness also told police he could not remember exactly what the suspect's bag looked like during the cab ride, but clearly it was different from the bag he saw the suspect carrying at the Erawan Shrine: ''It's clear the suspect must have exchanged his bag with another person in the Hua Lamphong area.''



bernama Narathiwat Immigration officials detained a member of a human trafficking network and five Myanmar nationals who wanted to sneak into Malaysia.



Phuket Update An insightful documentary made for the Australian SBS documentary show Dateline is now available online for all readers. 'Thailand's Moment of Truth' reveals what happened behind the scenes at the trial of Phuket journalists Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathan for criminal defamation, raising the issues of Rohingya trafficking, Reuters' perfidy and Thailand's media in shackles.

WATCH the Dateline documentary
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/story/thailands-moment-truth

Phuket Update Kristsada Tansakul, president of the Thai Hotels Association (Southern Chapter), said Chinese travellers were still visiting Phuket and the occupancy rate in August remained at 85-90 per cent. The association expected the overall occupancy rate in the third quarter would stay around 70pc.

Phuket Update The plan by Cabinet to put an end to cheap tour group packages arriving in Thailand will not have a significant affect on the industry in Phuket, says Santi Pawai, Director of the Phuket office of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport.

Phuket Update Phuket's Provincial Electricity Authority has officially opened two underwater cables from Phuket to Nakha Yai and Koh Maphrao islands under a 112-million-baht project to supply electricity to all parts of the country.

bangkokpost.com The Association of Southeast Asian Nations ''strongly'' condemned the bombing at the Erawan Shrine last week that killed 20 people and injured 131. Six Thais, and five Malaysian and five Chinese tourists were among those killed with 41 still in hospital.

nationmultimedia.com Koh Kho Khao in Phang Nga north of Phuket is a great place to spend a rainy day. ''In 2004 the tsunami swept through the island and left a layer of soil on the airfield. A meadow sprung up and now the Japanese-made airstrip is a buffalo heaven,' adds the local guide. ''Koh Kho Khao is probably the best place in the country to see free-range buffaloes.''

smh.com.au India and Australia will focus on anti-submarine warfare in their first joint naval exercises, signalling a growing strategic relationship to counter China's increased activity in the Indian Ocean. The war games starting on September 11 off India's Visakhapatnam??? port in the Bay of Bengal will include exercises to protect a tanker from a hostile attack submarine.

scmp.com Beijing cut interest rates and eased bank lending limits in a bid to stop panic selling in mainland stock markets that smashed them to eight-month lows, even as equities elsewhere in the world began to recover from the previous day's rout which investors termed ''China's Black Monday''.

afp Seven New Yorkers were arrested and charged with promoting male prostitution through an ''Internet brothel'' at rentboy.com offering sex to paid-subscribers across the world, prosecutors said.

irishexaminer.com A drunken gunman shot dead three members of the same family in a travellers' camp in north-east France before killing a police officer who arrived on the scene.

metro.co.uk A group of mourners desperately smashed into a concrete tomb after hearing a dead teenager who ''woke up in a coffin'' in Honduras. But when medics arrived at the scene, they found no signs of life and the teenager was later reburied.

timesofisrael.com A young girl visiting the Israel Museum managed to break a 2000-year-old glass vase Sunday, but the museum isn???t falling to pieces over the loss.That???s because the repair job actually has the vessel looking better than before, according to a report in the Haaretz daily.



metro.co.uk Briton Nick Laycock, 25, who was accused of rape has been cleared thanks to ''overwhelming'' evidence found in security camera footage. The CCTV recording showed that his alleged victim - a 22-year-old backpacker - had in fact fallen on the way back to the bar, resulting in injuries to her wrist and back.He is also said to be ''furious'' with the British Embassy, who apparently offered no consular assistance.



August 26-September 3 Por Tor (Hungry Ghost) Festival

September Quicksilver surf carnival at Patong beach

October 15-23 Phuket Vegetarian Festival

November Patong Festival

November 20 Laguna Phuket Triathlon

November 25 Loy Kratong festival

November 29 Challenge Laguna Phuket 2015

November 29 Phuket King's Cup Regatta

December 5 HM The King's Birthday

December 26 Tsunami memorial ceremonies