monstersandcritics.com Air Bagan will launch twice-a-week flights between Yangon and Phuket beach in December. The Phuket route will use a Fokker aircraft with a capacity for 100 passengers. The privately run airline also plans to open new routes to Bangkok; Siem Reap, Cambodia; Kunming, China; Kuala Lumpur and Singapore ''in the near future,'' the Myanmar Times reported.


A daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media.

AN AIRCRAFT transporter and a bus carrying airline staff collided in darkness at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok last night, killing one person and injuring 30 others. The injured were mostly thought to be Thai Airways staff. The bus tipped over in the crash, about 8.15pm, a police spokesman later told the media.
One person, a man, died on the bus at the scene from crushed ribs. He was named as Ruangrit Jaruthepkul, 33, an airport worker.
Thirty people were taken to hospital. Three were reported to be in a serious condition today, with a total of 10 admitted for care.
The workers were maintenance crew who check aircraft.
The bus was reported to be leaving main gate 1 when the transporter reversed towards the bus in darkness.
Suvarnabhumi, 25 kilometres from downtown Bangkok, is Thailand's main international airport. It opened in September 2006. A rail link to the airport from the city was recently completed.
Airports of Thailand, which runs Suvarnabhumi, reported this week that passenger traffic returned to its traditional growth pattern with August figures showing a 3.13 percent year-on-year increase. International passengers at all six airports in Thailand rose 12.82 percent to 23.68 million.

nationmultimedia.com Some former activists who opposed the 2006 military coup - four years ago today - said Thai society under the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration enjoys less democratic freedom than after the military junta ousted Thaksin Shinawatra. Three activists were asked if the military had become even more powerful four years after the coup. All said yes.

bangkokpost.com Voranai Vanijaka writes: Does Thailand have democracy and political stability? The numbers don't lie. People do. Thailand is never politically stable - at best, governments rise and fall amid scandals of corruption; at worst the tanks come rolling in. Change won't come tomorrow, but the process of change can start today.

bloomberg.com The Bank of Thailand proposed measures include increasing limits on investment and lending abroad by companies and individuals, raising the ceiling for overseas property purchases and allowing companies to keep more foreign currency in Thai banks, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said, without elaborating on which proposals may be introduced or when.

koreaherald.com Seoul's Foreign Ministry said it was inquiring into the case of a South Korean who claims he is imprisoned in Thailand. The man, only known by his family name Jeong, claimed via Twitter that he has been falsely accused of robbing three cars by another Korean he met in Phuket in 2004 and has been banned from seeing lawyers or people who could help him.

smh.com.au Letter: I returned to Australia recently from Thailand two weeks ahead of schedule because Thai immigration rules do not allow me to extend my initial 28-day visa by more than 15 days, down from the extra 28 days allowed previously. It seems odd that Thailand actively discourages tourists when the hotels are empty, the markets are deserted and its tourism industry faces a long recovery after the damage to the country's reputation from the red and yellow shirts. Those looking for a longer holiday in Asia might be better off in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia. - Michael Woods

bangkokpost.com Krung Thai Bank will conclude Nok Air's share price within the next two weeks before deciding whether to sell its 10 percent stake in the low-cost carrier. Apisak Tantiworawong, the president of KTB, said that once the bank's board settles on a price, it may offer its stake to Thai Airways International, Nok's major shareholder with 39 percent.

chinapost.com.tw A group of Christian worshippers said they would defy police and the threat of attack to hold Sunday prayers outside their now-boarded-up church near Jakarta. Religious tensions that had been growing for months in the industrial city of Bekasi came to a head last week when unidentified assailants stabbed a member of the Batak Christian Church in the stomach and hit its preacher on the head.

channelnewsasia.com More than 300 people have been killed on Indonesian roads during a mass exodus to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. ''Our latest data showed 311 people died in 1397 road accidents," said a national police spokesman. ''About 70 percent of those killed were riding motorcycles,'' he said.

bernama.com Malaysia does not need any advice from Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said. He said the cultural diversification and racial composition in Malaysia was far different from that of Singapore. Lee, in an interview published in the New York Times, said that Malaysia had been sidelining its minority ethnic groups. Lee also envisioned that Malaysia could have done better if it was not separated from Singapore's outstanding racial harmony.

smh.com.au A woman gave birth on a crowded bus on Australia's Pacific Highway to the shock and cheers of passengers. Christine Pinter and partner Shane Sandner had planned a hotel stay in Sydney. ''They clapped as I got into the ambulance with a towel wrapped around me and I apologised to everyone on the bus,'' Christine said. The newborn girl is doing well.

reuters Billions of dollars Indonesia stands to earn every year in climate change deals could be at risk if it fails to stamp out corruption in its forestry sector, long notorious for graft and focus of an ongoing investigation. Norway is preparing to pay the first $30 million of $1 billion it agreed to give Indonesia in return for a commitment to preserve valuable forests, part of a UN scheme in which rich nations will pay developing countries not to chop down trees.

sify.com After a lot of media hype, Malaysia's first school for pregnant teens - Sekolah Harapan - or "school of hope" has finally been opened, but no one has enrolled in the controversial facility so far. Inquiries have come from Malacca, Johor and Penang.

straitstimes.com Italian newspapers greeted Julia Roberts' latest film 'Eat Pray Love' with scorn after its local opening this week, scoffing at its romantic vision of an American woman's voyage of self-discovery. 'Eat Pray Love', a globe-trotting quest for meaning after divorce, follows Roberts' character Liz to Italy, India and Indonesia as she searches for life's lessons.

bigpondnews.com A Cambodian Buddhist monk has been jailed after secretly filming hundreds of women as they bathed naked with holy water at a temple. Net Khai, 37, was sentenced to one year in prison for producing and distributing pornography. He taped more than 600 women pouring sacred water over themselves in a pagoda bathroom.


PHUKET monk Luang Pu Supha celebrated his 114th birthday at the Phuket temple named in his honor by awarding scholarships to 200 students and urging them in a speech that belied his age to study English and other languages. ''Don't be like me, I can only speak Thai,'' he said. ''Concentrate on your life, concentrate on your studies.'' A crowd estimated at 7000 joined Luang Pu Supha at the temple in southern Phuket on Friday. He recently returned from a trip to Indonesia.



September 22-26 Quiksilver 2010 Surf Competition, Kata beach
September 22-29 USNS Walter S. Diehl to visit Phuket
September 25 International Reef Cleanup Day, Phuket. More: Roger Chubb 087 628 2805 E: scubawoj@gmail.com
September 25-26 Phuket Dinghy series, for young sailors, begins
October 1-3 Asian Hospitality and Travel Show, Central Festival Phuket Convention and Exhibition Center, Phuket City
October 8-16 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket
October 12 Qatar begins daily flights to Phuket
November 2-7 Phuket womens' beach volleyball, Karon beach
November 5 Phuket Charity Pro Am Golf, Blue Canyon
November 19 AustCham at the new Westin Hotel at Koh Sireh from 3pm. E: harry@ladypie.com Tel: 081 2731740