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

jakartapost.com President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says Burma's election next year would be considered ''democratic, inclusive and credible'' only if opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy took part. Yudhoyono was responding to Burma's decision to extend the house arrest of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi. He said he was asking Asean chair and Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to arrange a foreign ministerial meeting to discuss the issue.


nytimes.com Jared Genser writes: ''While the predictable condemnations echo around the world after the Burmese junta's sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to an additional 18 months under house arrest, it may be surprising to hear that, as her international counsel, I would urge caution against focusing too heavily on her plight to the exclusion of the broader situation in Myanmar. This is not because there is anything remotely just about the outcome of her trial. Even if Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi had been released, nothing would have changed. Burma's junta constitutes a threat to world peace and security meriting urgent international engagement.''

thejakartaglobe.com In a draconian move harking back to the New Order era under former dictator Suharto, Jakarta Police entered a five-star hotel in Central Jakarta on Wednesday and shut down a pro-democracy coalition meeting to discuss developments in Burma. Roshan Jason, a member of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, said police arrived at the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel and demanded the meeting, organised by an alliance of groups opposed to Burma's military regime, be canceled. ''They basically said that if we didn't cancel it, they would cancel it for us,'' Roshan told the Jakarta Globe.

Xinhua Indonesia needs a huge breakthrough if it wants to escape from corruption because just arresting the corrupt people is not the effective way, says a former minister. ''We need a giant breakthrough. The supervisory body has to be led directly by the president and it must have precautionary policies to prevent officials to do corruption,'' Ryass Rasyid, a govermental expert who is also former region autonomy minister, told reporters. Strong leadership and commitment is required. ''We need that badly because corruption is a sick administration's product. We arrest a corruptor, tomorrow there will be born others,'' he said.

scmp.com Greg Torode writes: ''With his poker hand of passports and his forays to increasingly exotic locales, from Liberia to Fiji, ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has long looked like the political version of a busted flush. More recent moves by his supporters to petition the Thai king for a pardon is something else entirely, however - a classically cunning Thaksin manoeuvre to create a knot of problems for the government and royalist establishment not easily undone.''

bloomberg.com Singapore's economy expanded more than initially estimated last quarter as manufacturing and services improved, reinforcing the nation's emergence from its worst recession since independence 44 years ago. Gross domestic product gained an annualized 20.7 percent last quarter from the previous three months, after shrinking a revised 12.2 percent between January and March, the trade ministry says.

honoluluadvertiser.com As the region rebounds from the global economic crisis, Asian nations are debating whether to rebalance their economies away from an emphasis on exports, according to analysts who spoke at a public program at the East-West Center. ''My own sense is that Asians 'get it,''' said Yuen Pau Woo, president and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. ''They understand that the world at the end of this dark tunnel is going to look very different than it did when we entered the tunnel. An assumption that exports can resume growth in the way that Asian countries were used to before the crisis simply is not viable.''

ftnnews.com In a clear sign of resurging confidence in the Thai travel and tourism industry, especially the MICE sector, a number of high-level Asean conferences and events have been successfully concluded in Thailand, and more are coming up, including the Asean Summit in October. Mrs Juthaporn Rerngronasa, Deputy Governor for Marketing Communications, Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the fact that all these meetings went off without a hitch was a clear indication to meeting planners that Thai infrastructure and security facilities are back to normal.

smh.com.au North Queensland dive tour operators say the recurring headline ''dive death'' is partly to blame for killing off the local industry. Although the tourism industry is flagging generally, operators are adamant no sector has the odds stacked against it like the diving trade, which has declined 30 percent in the past 12 months.The industry is also incensed at coverage of people who die of medical conditions while diving, which can leave businesses struggling to convince tourists scuba diving and snorkelling in Queensland is safe.

AFP Aviation group Scandinavian Airlines System says it had designed a new landing method for aircraft, which could slash fuel consumption and emissions of carbon dioxide. The new technique, which involves planes gliding into land following an optimum route mapped out by satellite, could save around 100kg of fuel in a twin-engined jet, the group said.Just before the craft lands, the pilot takes up the controls again. That is the equivalent of around 300kg of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when the fuel is burnt, the company said.

nytimes.com After surpassing the US as world's largest producer of household garbage, China has embarked on a vast program to build incinerators as landfills run out of space. But these incinerators have become a growing source of toxic emissions, from dioxin to mercury, that can damage the body's nervous system.The Chinese government is struggling to cope with the rapidly rising mountains of trash generated as the world's most populated country has raced from poverty to rampant consumerism. Beijing officials warn that all of the city's landfills would run out of space within five years.

indiatimes.com H1N1 pandemic flu is spreading in India, Thailand and Vietnam with the onset of Asia's monsoon season, the World Health Organisation says. But transmission of the new virus appears to have peaked in parts of the southern hemisphere including Argentina, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. Countries are now only obliged to report their first confirmed cases to WHO, which says there is no longer any point to counting each infection as the virus is unstoppable.

nytimes.com India is struggling to cope with the spread of swine flu. The outbreak has caused panic in much of the country, with schools, theaters and shopping malls closing in many places. The government is grappling with competing and sometimes conflicting goals: preventing widespread panic, but preparing for the worst. India's vast and densely packed population, coupled with a patchy and fragile health care system, has raised fears that the swine flu pandemic could take a particularly large toll here. While the disease is treatable, it requires medical attention quickly.

AFP Mosquitoes brought into the Galapagos on tourist planes and boats threaten to wreak ''ecological disaster'' in the islands, central to Darwin's theory of evolution, a study says. The insects can spread potentially lethal diseases in the archipelago off Ecuador's Pacific coast, used by Charles Darwin as the basis of his seminal work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. ''Few tourists realise the irony that their trip to Galapagos may actually increase the risk of an ecological disaster,'' said Simon Goodman of Leeds University, one of the study's co-authors.

ft.com Hollywood studios and film producers are set to face increasing scrutiny from anti-fraud officials, as a result of a trial involving incidents in Bangkok that could have repercussions across the entertainment sector. Gerald Green, an American film producer, and his wife, Patricia, are alleged to have violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to a Thai tourism official. It is claimed that the alleged bribes were offered to obtain contracts to run an international film festival in Bangkok. The Green's trial in Los Angeles is entering its second week.

independent.ie Three pals who survived a plane crash in Thailand have been reunited with their families in Dublin. Sisters Orlagh and Aoife Creamer and their friend Lesley Dowdall only received cuts and bruises after the Bangkok Airways plane slid across the runway and crashed into a control tower, killing the pilot. Orlagh said: ''We will have good memories of Thailand though, apart from the bad flight experience - it's a lovely country with lovely people and we'll definitely be back again someday.''

walesonline.co.uk Valleys rockers Funeral For A Friend are to play an emotional homecoming gig in memory of two friends who died in a plane crash. A week before they perform in front of 80,000 fans at the Reading Festival, the band will play a Maesteg Town Hall tribute on August 22 to Alex Collins and his girlfriend Bethan Jones, killed in the Phuket air disaster of September 2007, in which 90 passengers and crew died. Singer Matt Davies added that, having just flown from Thailand a few days before, the news about his friend hit him hard.

breakingtravelnews.com Shrewd international investments in award-winning properties have helped IFA Hotels & Resorts weather the global hospitality downturn. The Kuwait-based hotel group, which holds stakes in a string of luxury resorts has posted profits of $108m for the year ending June 30. In Asia, the IFA Yacht Ownership Club expanded its operations by adding a home port in Phuket.

smh.com.au South America is enjoying a surge of Australian travellers despite the economic downturn, with bookings up at least 15 per cent for most operators. Cheap flights, increased promotion and travellers' perennial search for somewhere ''new'' have made South America so popular some predict it could soon give Africa a run for its money. The rapid growth in travellers to South America is largely being driven by increased flights, which have led to fare bargains and greater promotion.


Mother's Day From Hell: Pregnant, and Under Arrest
Photo Album A mother of two expecting her third child within a month was arrested by Phuket police on Mother's Day and accused of 50 robberies. Her husband has yet to be told, she said.
Mother's Day From Hell: Pregnant, and Under Arrest

Phuket Set For 'Us or Them' Showdown on Burma
Latest Burma the basket case continues to cause outrage inside and outside of Asean. But for how much longer? Probably only until October on Phuket, when it will be 'Us or Them.'
Phuket Set For 'Us or Them' Showdown on Burma

Resorts Urged to Join Tsunami Warning System
Latest An undersea earthquake at night rekindles concerns about resorts' preparedness for a second tsunami. A large practice drill is scheduled for Phuket.
Resorts Urged to Join Tsunami Warning System

Phuket Governor's Road Trip: Wheels Set in Motion
Latest A Phuket road project begins not with a bulldozer but with a birthday as the island's governor sets the wheels turning on one of two controversial new routes.
Phuket Governor's Road Trip: Wheels Set in Motion

Italian Tourist Drowns at Patong: Beach Closure Call
Drowning Toll Rises Another tourist has drowned at Patong, latest victim an Italian who was having a final swim with friends before flying to Samui today. Should beaches be closed?
Italian Tourist Drowns at Patong: Beach Closure Call


MediaWATCH Extra: 18 Months More for Suu Kyi
Latest Burma pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is given 18 more months under house arrest while the American who swam to see her gets seven years' hard labor.
MediaWATCH Extra: 18 Months More for Suu Kyi

MediaWATCH: Tsunami Alert Scare as Drill Nears
Latest A tsunami alert over an Indian Ocean quake is cancelled; what if Phuket's next real wave comes at night?; Action on SMS spam; panda named; China on the move.
MediaWATCH: Tsunami Alert Scare as Drill Nears