asiatraveltips.com The Soneva Group has sold the Evason Phuket resort to an international and Thai hospitality and leisure group. [Phuketwan believes it's Singapore-based.] Evason Phuket will cease operations with immediate effect and shall no longer be operated by Six Senses Resorts & Spas. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

PHUKET has today joined provinces where there's a flood alert. Today's forecast is for 80 percent heavy rain throughout Phuket, Phang Nga and Ranong, with winds up to 40 knots, seas up to two metres, and a low maximum temperature of 30 degrees.


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

independent.co.uk An emergency meeting of the UIN Security Council was to convene to co-ordinate a response to the escalating bloodshed in Syria, amid widespread condemnation of the massacre at Houla, in which more than 116 people, including at least 34 children, were killed.

dpa Burma (Myanmar) President Thein Sein has cancelled a trip to Thailand for an international economic forum that also invited opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, officials said. Thein Sein had been scheduled to make a speech about Burma's future at the World Economic Forum on East Asia which will be held in Bangkok on Thursday and Friday.

scmp.com For any outsiders still doubting the reality of reform in Burma Aung San Suu Kyi's flight this week to Bangkok in neighboring Thailand should be seen as a historic sign that significant change is indeed underway.

reuters Lady Gaga's cancelled a planned Indonesia concert on Sunday because of security concerns over objections by Islamic groups to her "vulgar" style.

bbc.co.uk Manmohan Singh is beginning a three-day official visit to Burma, the first by an Indian prime minister since 1987. He will meet President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose mother once served as Burma's ambassador to India.

zeenews.india.com Japan has opened negotiations with Burma on an investment agreement, the trade ministry said. "Since many Japanese private companies are trying to do business with Burma (Myanmar), we want to reach the agreement as soon as possible," Mizzima News quoted an official as saying.

afp Starved of funds and medicine during decades of military rule, doctors offer their usual advice to one of Burma's newest HIV patients - come back when you're sicker. In a country with one of Southeast Asia's biggest armies but a healthcare system in tatters, scarce antiretroviral drugs are given only to those with the advanced form of the illness.

livebtradingnews.com Singaporean businessmen are expected to make more investment in Burma's hotel and tourism sector, local media reported. A 15-member delegation of International Enterprise Singapore Business Department Trip to Burma, led by Group Director Southeast Asia Group Tan Soon Kin, held discussions with officials of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism in the second week of this month, said the Biweekly Eleven News.

bangkokpost.com Nearly seven years after it was formed as an anti-Thaksin Shinawatra group, the PAD is still a force which is unable to articulate views that could move the country forward.

dailymail.com KFC's trademark buckets of chicken and other paper products are the product of deforestation in Indonesia's rain forests, Greenpeace International claims in a newly published report. Independent testing on the fast-food restaurants' pulp-based products in three regions of the world found fibres of tropical hardwood trees, specific to Indonesia's forests, the group claims.

stickmanweekly.com Shock, horror, the Ekamai [Bangkok] to Pattaya bus trip jumped 10 percent in price this week from 113 to 124 baht!

watoday.com.au Australians in Thailand told of how they were buying and consuming their steroids overseas rather than end up with a criminal record at home.

brisbanetimes.com.au In 2006, bodybuilder John Hurlock was arrested and charged at his Townsville home for smuggling steroids into Australia. But Hurlock fled the country before he could be prosecuted. Today he lives in exile in central Bangkok, where he buys the same drugs over the counter at the chemist.

agencies In Stockholm, celebrations went on long into the night as 'Euphoria' sung by Swedish entry Loreen won the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.

breakingtravelnews.com Up to 30 of Spain's 47 state-run airports could face partial closure in a bid to cut costs after it emerged that they are no-where near to full capacity.



daiulymail.com This Formula One season has yet another winner after Mark Webber became the sixth different driver to claim a grand prix this season in Monaco.

telegraph.co.uk Luke Donald played like a world No 1, won like a world No 1 and sounded like a world No 1 here at the BMW PGA Championship in reclaiming the title and the mantle in emphatic style.



July 1 American Independence Day picnic sponsored by navyleaguephuket.org Location: Headstart International School of Phuket, across street from Makro market Time: 11am till sunset 6:30pm Hamburgers, hot dogs and American beer for sale. Free entry. Games and events for kids and fireworks at sunset.

May 25-27 Phuket Rugby Tens

May 26-June 5 National Youth Games, Phuket

June 8-10 Laguna Phuket International Marathon

July 18-22 Phuket Raceweek

July 21-22 Toyota motor racing at Saphan Hin, Phuket City



November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket