bangkokpost.com A Thai national who allegedly owned a boat that was recently discovered by the Myanmar navy crammed with more than 200 migrants has been arrested, state media said.

reuters A boat packed with more than 700 migrants seized of the coast of Myanmar coast was still being towed at sea on Saturday, as officials gave mixed signals about its final destination.

bangkokpost.com A US judge has granted an order to extradite to Thailand a Florida man accused of kidnapping and extortion in Phuket. However, the final decision to extradite Shawn Abraham Shaw, 43, will rest with Secretary of State John Kerry.
Full story here http://goo.gl/PU7Tqi

theguardian.com.au Me and my wife Mika were married in Cherngtalay temple on Phuket island eight years ago. We used to come back every year and eventually thought, why don't we live here? So now we do!
Full story here http://goo.gl/MSnsmt


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



washingtonpost.com The first time I drove a car in Thailand, I had lived there - as an English teacher on a tiny island off Phuket - for years. On the island, I walked everywhere, but when I got a new job at an expat newspaper on Phuket, I needed to commute. I had no choice; I had to drive. And I was terrified.

Full story here http://goo.gl/S6iyq3

bangkokpost.com Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh, the departure points for thousands of boat people, agreed in Bangkok to address the ''root causes'' of the crisis, said Thai Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Norachit Sinhaseni.

nationmultimedia.com Thailand has granted permission to the US to fly its planes over Thai territorial waters to search and rescue boat people in the Indian Ocean, Foreign Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn said . '''This morning, the US aircraft flew together with our Air Force for the mission,'' Tanasak said.



irrawaddy.org/reuters Burma's navy seized a boat packed with 727 people off the country's coast on Friday, the government said, about a week after it found a similar boat it said carried around 200 Bangladeshi migrants. The nationality of the people on the boat was unclear.

nationmultimedia.com Diplomats from 50 countries have been invited to a 10.30am briefing on Tuesday by the Royal Thai Police on the investigation into trafficking of Rohingya and other migrants.

nationmultimedia.com Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mohamad Shahidul Haque said his government would take full responsibility for the repatriation of Bangladeshi migrants, who were victims of human trafficking. Bangladesh has stepped up measures and cooperation with Myanmar to strictly control their border to cope with the trafficking, he said.



Phuket Update It's not yet clear whether US planes will conduct searches for refugee boats from Phuket. The airport is extremely busy and space is at a premium. Krabi might well become the base of preference.

nationmultimedia.com The Royal Thai Police is inching closer to stripping former premier Thaksin Shinawatra of his rank of police lieutenant colonel after a high-powered committee confirmed it had already forwarded that recommendation to the national police chief.

bangkokpost.com Impeached prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her ex-foreign minister could face serious new charges for giving her brother Thaksin back his passports four years ago.

indiagazette.com ''Nope, nope, nope,'' was Australia's Prime Minister, Tony Abbott's answer to the question whether his country will take in any of the nearly 8000 Rohingya refugees stranded at sea. Abbott's logic is as pitiless as his decision to abandon the world's most persecuted minority in their darkest hour.

nationmultimedia.com Pol Lt-Colonel Pravit Engchuan of Phuket Police Station, said a Malaysian national, Khoo Ping Sze, 20, was arrested on Thursday on charges of possessing and using fake credit cards. Police seized 17 fake credit cards, both Visa and Mastercard issued under her name, along with an AirAsia Airline boarding pass, and her passport.

usatoday.com A federal judge sentenced Silk Road darknet mastermind Ross Ulbricht to life in prison Friday for founding and operating a criminal version of eBay that made buying illegal drugs almost as easy as clicking a computer mouse.

reuters A draft ruling by UNESCO has stopped short of placing Australia's Great Barrier Reef on its ''in danger'' list. Since it was listed on the World Heritage Site 40 years ago, the reef has also lost more than half of its coral cover amidst growing climate change concerns.



bangkokpost.com After accusing its critics of ''finger-pointing'' at a regional conference on Southeast Asia's migration crisis, Myanmar has agreed to respect human rights in Rakhine State.

Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-fingers-wag-point-burma-mh370-search-blasted-vietnam-signs-russia-stands-against-china-22566/



afp Sepp Blatter won the FIFA presidency for a fifth time after his challenger Prince Ali bin al Hussein withdrew just before a scheduled second round.

bangkokpost.com Thailand began their defence of the SEA Games football title with a comfortable 6-0 win against Laos in Singapore.



June 20-21 Baba wedding at Old Phuket Town

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

July 15-19 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek