afp Diego Maradona has accused Argentina football chief Julio Grondona of lying and team manager Carlos Bilardo of treason in a bitter tirade against the two men he believes plotted his sacking as national coach. ''Grondona lied to me. Bilardo betrayed me,'' said Maradona in his first news conference since his sacking.


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

bbc.co.uk An Islamabad crash that killed 152 people - the biggest disaster in Pakistan's aviation history - has sparked questions about the local air industry. Pakistan International Airlines flights were banned by the European Union in 2007 because of concerns over safety. These centred on an ageing fleet.

nationmultimedia.com The Tourism Authority of Thailand has instructed its 24 overseas offices to report the reactions to the blast in Bangkok on Sunday while the agency is setting up a meeting with the industry to deal with the latest setback. The political conflict in Thailand prompted 47 countries to issue travel advisories. Only Saudi Arabia had kept its travel alert at level five before the weekend terrorism attack. From July 1-22, arrivals at Suvarnabhumi Airport and Phuket International Airport grew by 12 percent and 39 percent respectively.

australianetworknews.com Thailand is threatening to resign its membership of the World Heritage Committee if it approves Cambodia's management plan for Preah Vihear temple. PM Abhisit Vejjajiva has sent this strong message to the current meeting of the committee in Brazil.

afp Hundreds of people protested in Jakarta against the local branch of the Buddha Bar chain, demanding its closure and saying it threatened interfaith relations. About 300 people from a group calling itself 'People's Alliance to Close Buddha Bar' gathered in white shirts outside the bar, shouting ''Close Buddha Bar right now''. The franchise of a French-based chain faced a series of demonstrations last year from enraged members of Indonesia's Buddhist minority who considered the name an insult to their religion. A five-metre statue of a golden sitting Buddha gazes over its main dining area.

afp Thailand's biggest canned seafood company said it agreed to buy John West tuna and other seafood brands in Europe from a private equity firm for 680 million euros. The acquisition by Thai Union Frozen Products PCL of a business formerly owned by HJ Heinz Co will make the company one of the world's largest canned seafood producers.

dvb.no Pressure from Thai industry to acquire the rights to develop a strategically valuable port on Burma's western coast is hotting up, despite a keen eye from India which is currently wooing Burma's junta chief. The Dawei (Tavoy) port would be a boon for both nations, and would give India much quicker access to Southeast Asian markets as talk of an Asean-India Free Trade Agreement gains pace. Thailand would also look to develop a quick route for its central and western plains through a major deep-sea port, able to accommodate 300,000-tonne ships without having to circumnavigate the Straits of Malacca beneath Singapore.

wsj.com India is hosting David Cameron, Britain's PM, at the same time as the reclusive senior despot of Myanmar, General Than Shwe. Rarely can the Janus face of India's foreign policy imperatives have been embodied in physical form by such drastically different national leaders from such drastically different countries.

independent.co.uk Abductions of children to countries outside the jurisdiction of the Hague Convention have risen by 39 percent in the past year. There has been a ''significant increase'' from 105 to 146 cases handled by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office child abduction section, mainly in Pakistan, India, Thailand, Ghana and Nigeria. ''Parental abduction is becoming an increasing problem as the world is getting smaller and there are more mixed relationships.''

afp A judge slapped a Canadian sex tourist with an 11-year jail sentence for having sex and making pornography with girls in Cambodia and Colombia as young as eight. Kenneth Klassen, a 59-year-old father of three and an art dealer in the western city of Vanouver, had argued in court that Canadian laws against sex tourism did not apply to him, because the acts had taken place in other countries.

reuters Indonesia's highest Islamic authority has forbidden Muslims from viewing gossipy content in the country's media after a celebrity sex clip scandal dominated television news in the past month. The Indonesian Ulema Council issued the edict this week because of concerns that some media programs were not meant to educate but went beyond the barriers of decency toward pornography, said the MUI's M'ruf Amin.

wsj.com DLF Ltd. isn't in talks with Singapore's Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd. to sell a controlling stake in hotel operator Aman Resorts, a spokesman at the Indian company said. Sanjay Roy told Dow Jones Newswires: ''We have said before that we want to sell a stake in Aman Resorts, but there is nothing yet.''

swindonadvertiser.co.uk The family of Matthew Grant, 54, killed in Thailand two weeks ago, found out about his death via Facebook. The father-of-four was killed instantly when he was struck by a bus. ''I called the hospital to try and confirm it was him but no one could speak English,'' said a brother. ''We don't understand why we had to find out through Facebook. Why did their authorities not tell ours? We were not informed by anybody and if it had not been for Facebook we would not know.''



July 30 AustCham Thailand Sundowners at 4.30pm at Skippers, RPM. AustCham Thailand will host this Sundowners business networking session with a marine industry theme. Contact Harry Usher harry@ladypie.com 0812731740
August 5-8 Kite Jam, Surin beach
August 6-12 Andaman Motor Expo
October 1-3 Asian Hospitality and Travel Show, Central Festival Phuket Convention and Exhibition Center, Phuket City
December 4-11 Phuket King's Cup Regatta
2011
January 6-9 PIMEX boat show, Royal Phuket Marina
February 9-13 The Bay Regatta - Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi