ft.com Rubber farmers are a vital part of the economy in southern Thailand. Surveys by FT Confidential Research show that respondents in southern Thailand hold negative views of economic conditions compared with their counterparts in the rest of the country.

reuters,afp French President Francois Hollande has called for the creation of a euro zone government and for citizens to renew their faith in the European project, which has been weakened by the Greek crisis.


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 Airports of Thailand has dropped newly imposed security measures for all flights at Don Muang airport after carry-on luggage screenings caused hours-long delays. A limited number of machines and the stricter security immediately led to huge lines and frazzled nerves.

Phuket Update The Kata Group of hotels and resorts, based in Phuket, has filed for launch on the Stock Exchange of Thailand to ready for a major expansion that will begin with the building of a 1.5 billion baht hotel in Patong: ''We plan to establish four more hotels in Phuket and Phang Nga. The first project is a 1.5-billion-baht Patong Landmark Hotel and Plaza, which will become a new landmark in Patong.''

bangkokpost.com An American fugitive wanted by New York state police for internet fraud has been captured in Phuket. Theodore Andrew Werner, 48, was taken to a press conference at the Central Investigation Bureau inin Bangkok on Monday following his arrest at a condominium on Phuket.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crime/628504/us-fraud-fugitive-nabbed-in-phuket



theguardian.com For now, boat departures have slowed. The region has started to exhale, but it shouldn't. If Burma fails to end its systematic persecution of the Rohingya the ''sailing season'' will begin again like clockwork, one way or another. And Rohingya will continue to perish.

occrp.org The British newspaper The Guardian has published an investigation revealing that persecuted Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar (Burma) are being used as slaves by crime gangs controlling part of Thailand's export-focused sea-food industry.

theguardian.com.au The Burmese Rohingya woman paid to be smuggled to Thailand so she could build a family, a goal that has become harder for her ethnic minority in Burma's western Rakhine state as many men have already fled state-backed persecution. Anxiously waiting for her in the Thai capital was Hussein, whom she met as a child in her village.

AP Thailand's national security chief says 109 ethnic Uighur refugees who were involuntarily sent back to China from Thailand this month have been treated well since their return. National Security Council Secretary General Anusit Kunakorn was among five Thai officials who traveled to China last Wednesday.



thephuketnews.com Following three days of hearing testimony last week, the Phuket Provincial Court has set September 1 as the scheduled date for handing down its verdict for the criminal charges brought against Phuketwan journalists Alan Morison, 67, and Chutima Sidasathian, 34.

nationmultimedia.com Environmental groups are calling on the government to scrap a controversial coal-fired power plant planned for Krabi province, while Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has warned that the price of electricity may rise if new plants are not built. Bidding to build the coal-fired power plant in Krabi has been postponed from this week to August 5.

theguardian.com A same-sex couple is embroiled in a legal battle in Thailand after the surrogate mother who gave birth to their child has refused to allow them to leave the country claiming she was unaware they were gay. The surrogate - biologically unrelated to the baby - handed over baby Carmen to Gordon Lake, an American, and his Spanish husband, Manuel, in January but later refused to sign documents to allow the infant to get a passport.

bbc.com Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu has promised to boost security along the country's border with Syria, after 30 people were killed by a bomb in the town of Suruc. Investigators think the blast was caused by a female suicide bomber from the Islamic State group.

bangkokpost.com A double-deck passenger boat was driven up onto a Pattaya beach, Chon Buri, by a very drunk man on Sunday night, sending tourists fleeing, but luckily no one was hurt. Police had no record of anyone being charged and suggested he may have been given ''verbal advice.''

wsj.com For a short time in 2008, U-Tapao air base near the seaside resort of Pattaya was Thailand's main international gateway. Antigovernment protesters had commandeered the main airports in Bangkok, forcing international flights to fly to U-Tapao instead for just over a week. Today, the airport is again coming to the rescue, this time by declaring itself a fully functional commercial airport and receiving scheduled flights that might otherwise have pulled in at Bangkok's congested terminals.

Phuket Update Police are hunting for a criminal or criminals who swiped 10 computer tablets worth 240,000 baht from Satree Phuket School's science math center over the weekend.

Phuket Update Two men required hospital treatment after their pickup collided with a Phuket cement truck. Rescue workers to use steel cutters to recover the pair from the wreck outside a SuperCheap branch in Bang Tao. Police plan to question both drivers.

bangkokpost.com State-owned Transport Co said negotiations were underway with authorities of Vietnam and Laos countries to operate passenger bus services from Thailand's Nakhon Phanom province via Thakhek of Laos to Ha Tinh province of Vietnam.

ynetnews.com The remains of Jewish gas chamber victims subjected to Nazi anatomy experiments have been traced to a medical research facility in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, local authorities revealed.

cnn.com Unlike the isles just over the horizon, including Lanta, Phi Phi and Phuket, the islands of Trang, a sleepy province in southeast Thailand, remain remarkably under the radar. Yet they're just as magical as their more famous contemporaries, with crystal-clear waters and inspiring scenery.



reuters A top judge at a UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia criticised Thailand and Vietnam for refusing to provide evidence in the trials of Khmer Rouge leaders accused of atrocities during the 1970s ''killing fields'' era.



bbc.com African footballers as young as 14 are being trafficked to Asia and forced to sign contracts, the BBC has learnt. Six minors are still with top Laos side Champasak United, after it imported 23 under-age players from West Africa to an unregistered football academy in February, a BBC investigation found.

abc.net.au Two Spanish riders have died in a horror crash at a Superbike satellite event in northern California. Bernat Martinez, 35, and Daniel Fernandez, 27, died after being involved in what officials described as a ''chain-reaction, multi-bike'' crash during the MotoAmerica Superbike/Superstock 1000 race at Laguna Seca.



July Kathu Street Culture festival

August 23-30 Por Tor (Hungry Ghost) Festival

September Quicksilver surf carnival at Patong beach

October 15-23 Phuket Vegetarian Festival

November Patong Festival

November 20 Laguna Phuket Triathlon

November 25 Loy Kratong festival

November 29 Challenge Laguna Phuket 2015

November 29 Phuket King's Cup Regatta

December 26 Tsunami memorial ceremonies