rappler.com Thai police said up to 16 people were believed to have died when a building caved in during construction, as they issued arrest warrants for several people behind the project.

afp The body of American tourist Sheila von Wiese Mack was found in a suitcase at an exclusive Nusa Dua hotel on Bali and her daughter and daughter's boyfriend have been arrested over the killing, police said. Rooms at the St Regis start at $470.

bangkokpost.com Hostel brand Lub D operates two Bangkok branches. Most customers come from Europe. It plans to open a big hostel, Lub D Patong Phuket, with 200-300 rooms and an an investment of 400 million baht in mid-2016.

nbcnews.com New York's new ban on the trade in elephant ivory was signed into law Tuesday - World Elephant Day - on the heels of a call by a major conservation group for a total global clampdown. But can such bans help save the world's elephants from extinction?

latimes.com Lauren Bacall, the smoky-voiced movie legend who taught Humphrey Bogart how to whistle in 'To Have and Have Not,' has died at the age of 89, according to her family.


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



dailymail.co.uk A Thai Airways plane heading from Sydney to Bangkok was forced to make an emergency landing in Bali after a broken window in the cockpit caused a decrease in cabin pressure. The Boeing 747 was en route to Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon when it made the emergency landing at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport at 4.50pm.

Phuket Update Holidaying Bangkok lawyer Teechalat Kapaeng, 46, drowned at Phuket's Nai Thon beach on Monday evening when he waded into the water to rinse off and found himself out of his depth. A friend, Natthachanok Inamnuaysri, 42, was rescued by lifeguards but Khun Teechalat failed to respond to cpr and died at Thalang Hospital. Nai Thon is a steep beach with strong waves.

nationmultimedia.com The Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) will propose stricter laws to allow any cash over the legal limit of US$20,000 (Bt642,000) that is brought into the country and not declared to be seized and forfeited.

bangkokpost.com With his mother hovering close by, rescue workers treated and finally pulled 24-year-old worker Klanarong Prapphai from the concrete wreckage of the six-storey collapsed building after he was trapped for 26 hours - and then found other survivors as well.

nationmultimedia.com Tourism operators serving visitors from Taiwan and mainland China have been advised to prepare for an influx of arrivals during an upcoming 90-day visa-fee exemption. The scheme had been meant to run from August 1 to October 31 but the Foreign Ministry, said that it had been delayed and was expected to be start this week.



bangkokpost.com A Myanmar (Murma) migrant worker who recently relocated to Phang Nga from Krabi did not die from the deadly Ebola virus, said the provincial public health authority. The man, whose name is unknown, died from a blood infection caused by a bacteria, Phang Nga public health doctor Phaisan Kueaarun said.

latimes.com A 75-year-old Spanish priest suffering from the Ebola virus died in an isolation ward in Madrid - the first European death from the outbreak that has killed more than 1000 people in West Africa and the first known death on European soil.

scmp.com Health and hygiene officials will meet today to discuss how to improve precautions against the spread of infectious diseases in the wake of Hong Kong's first suspected case of the Ebola virus.



bangkokpost.com DNA tests have shown that nine babies found at a condominium in Bangkok last week have the same father, although authorities still haven't proved if that father is Japanese national Mitsutoki Shigeta.

usatoday.com Investigators said Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams's death was a suicide by hanging: He was found dead in his bedroom, clothed, slightly suspended in a seated position with a leather belt around his neck, with one end wedged between a closet door and door frame.

wsj.com The world's biggest grower and exporter of rubber, Thailand, wants to get a little smaller. The government plans to encourage farmers to chop down 350,000 rubber trees a year to stem a 60 percent slide in natural rubber prices over the past three years, and to use the land to produce palm oil instead.

theaustralian.com.au The lengthy Thai military coup coupled with increased competition in the Australian and New Zealand hotel sector contributed to a 15.4 per cent drop in full-year profit for online travel agency Wotif.com. The fall in profit to $43.2 million, given the 9.4 per cent drop in accommodation bookings for the year to June 30, comes as Wotif prepares for a $703m takeover by US online travel behemoth Expedia, expected to be completed by late October.

xinhua Move over Phuket and Pattaya. Here comes Thailand's easternmost seaside resort of Koh Chang (Elephant Island) which has seen a record turnout of tourists over a long weekend that ended Tuesday, thanks to ferry boat services plying between Trat province and its tropical island lying in the upper part of the Gulf of Thailand.

afp Running more than 6.4 kilometres a day could be dangerous to your health, according to a study that examined how much exercise is too much.



wsj.com Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons Ltd. said in New Delhi that they have named their new airline Vistara and plan to start flights in October. Despite the current challenges, companies and analysts predict that Asia's third-largest economy will grow to become one of the biggest aviation markets in the world by 2020.

pjmedia.com Danish brewer Carlsberg was on the target list of the Islamist militant group Isis, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. The outlet reports that a Carlsberg facility in suburban Kuala Lumpur was among the attacks Isis planned to carry out in Malaysia.

irrawaddy.org The US said that Secretary of State John Kerry wasn't breaking any rules when he stayed in a hotel owned by a tycoon blacklisted by the US because of ties with Burma's former military regime.



forbes.com Maria Sharapova's massive endorsement haul pushes her to the top of our list of the world's highest-paid female athletes for the 10th straight year with earnings of $24.4 million between June 2013 and June 2014.

afpDane Piedt recorded the best figures by a South African spinner on his debut as the tourists wrapped up a nine-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the one-off Test at Harare Sports Club.



Until August 24 Hungry Ghost festival on Phuket

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