theguardian.com Toilets are taken for granted in the industrialised west but still are a luxury for a third of the world's people who have no access to them, according to a report by the World Health Organisation and Unicef.


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



bangkokpost.com The government is drawing up a 20-year reform paper, while strongly insisting that the policy won't actually be binding on any governments of the future.

bloomberg The ruling military junta says it has cracked down on corruption, and that's the reason why the country has the slowest economic growth among developing nations in East Asia. Yet on the streets of Bangkok, there's little sign of any difference. Payments to bribe officials and mafia are higher now, so everyone is earning less, said Fern, who uses an alias because the bar she's been running for almost five years is illegal.

Full story here
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-30/bangkok-s-sex-shops-street-bars-survive-graft-crackdown

bangkokpost.com All numbers were down for May, and the Bank of Thailand has no suggestions how to make the economy grow, after two cuts in interest rates had no effect.



bangkokpost.com Some seafood markets will be closed by Saturday, with fisherman continuing a 22-province ''strike'' and the prime minister insistent he won't delay new rules. Operators of illegal fishing boats have had a long warning period and from today the government will begin taking legal action against them, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said.

nationmultimedia.com Somyot Wongbunyakul, president of the Phuket Fishery Association, said operators in Phuket were willing to comply with the regulations, but the Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing (CCCIF) strictly requires operators to present all 15 important documents.

bangkokpost.com Tourist operators have turned political in the South, turning out to oppose government-backed plans for a large coal-fired power plant in Krabi.
http://bangkokpost.com/news/general/609132/tourist-firms-rally-against-coal-plant

Phuket Gazette A speedboat driver who crashed into a fishing trawler, killing two Korean tourists last year, has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment. ''Surat Matosot was charged for reckless driving causing death and damage to property. He has been sentenced to two years in prison, with no option for the sentence to be suspended,'' said Maj Sopon Khongthong of the Krabi Police. Khun Surat was sentenced on March 26, 2015.

thenationmultimedia.com Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha stood firm in the face of growing condemnation from the European Union (EU) delegation in Bangkok and the regional United Nations (UN) rights body of the detention of 14 anti-coup students. ''The law is the law . . . '' Prayut said,

PA A man travelling on one of Japan's high-speed bullet trains set himself on fire today, killing himself and another passenger as the carriage filled with smoke.

reuters The Ku Klux Klan plans to hold a pro-Confederate flag rally at the South Carolina Capitol, where a man was arrested on Monday night in a confrontation with anti-flag protesters over a symbol associated with slavery.

skynews.com.au A number of inmates and officers are being treated for injuries including dog bites after a large riot at Melbourne's Metropolitan Remand Centre was quelled. The riot ended just before 3am on Wednesday, after a hold-out group of 50 prisoners was brought under control.

afp ISIS militants have beheaded two women in eastern Syria accused of ''witchcraft and sorcery,'' activists said in the Islamist group's first decapitations of female civilians.

nytimes.com The Paris prosecutor's office said that two senior Uber executives in France had been ordered to stand trial on behalf of the company on charges including ''deceptive commercial practices'' and illegally organising taxi services through its low-cost UberPop ride-hailing option.

bangkokpost.com Exports could contract by as much as 3.5 percent this year if their performance in the remaining six months fetches no more than US$8.7 billion a month on average, say exporters.

bangkokpost.com Pattaya discotheque 808 First Class Clubbing has been ordered to close for 10 days after a Thai woman fellated a South Korean man in full view of other customers. The incident was distributed on social media.

thetimes.co.uk The 23-year-old gunman who killed an estimated 30 British tourists at a Tunisian holiday resort was trained in Libya by Islamic State militants, a senior official disclosed.

coventrytelegraph.net A man who worked for more than 30 years as a steward at several Nuneaton clubs has died suddenly in Thailand. David Knight, 66, was hoping to start a new life in south-east Asia but was found unconscious in a hotel room near Bangkok and was pronounced dead at hospital.

smh.com.au The American socialite Paris Hilton intends to sue the producers of a TV program which subjected her to a prank in which she was made to think a plane she was on was crashing.

afp Drought-hit North Korea asked for humanitarian aid from its historic ally Iran, Iranian state media reported.



birminghammail.co.uk A former British soldier has been jailed for 50 years in Thailand for drug dealing. Lance Whitmore was sentenced at Ratchada Criminal Court after being caught with close to 200 ecstasy tablets. His heartbroken mother, Debbie Caswell, said: ''I am devastated. I don't know how he will cope.''

Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-brit-gets-years-drugs-22742/



smh.com.au The Poms have gone into meltdown with the mercury set to soar towards 35 degrees at Wimbledon on Wednesday, forcing tournament organisers to implement precautionary measures to ensure the safety of players and spectators.



nationmultimedia.com A planned coal-fired power plant could destroy the sustainable economic life cycle of Krabi and also affect the whole national economic system, the business sector in Krabi has warned. The Save Andaman from Coal network in collaboration with the Energy and Natural Resources Policy Research Centre of Rangsit University has organised a seminar next week entitled ''Coal-fired plants VS Andaman Tourism - Can They Co-exist?''

July 14-16 Trial of Phuketwan journalists at Phuket Provincial Court

July 15-19 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek