bangkokpost.com Thai authorities have secretly held peace talks with six insurgent groups operating in the southern border provinces. Some progress has been made, said the secretary of the government delegation Maj Gen Nakrob Boonbuathong.

afp Hundreds of French cab drivers angry at competition from ride-booking app Uber blocked access to Paris airports and train stations as they protested losing customers to the popular service.

thephuketinsider.com Phuket is maturing into a key Asian resort destination for international level education and the upward trend shows no sign of stopping. C9 Hotelworks research found that there are 15 international schools on the island and eight bilingual schools.

dawn.com The heatwave death toll across Karachi rose to 1011, with at least 229 fatalities reported on Wednesday.

nzherald.co.nz A condom that changes colour when it comes in to contact with sexually transmitted infections (STI) like chlamydia and herpes has been invented by British teenagers.


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 More than 12 million international travellers visited Thailand in the first five months of 2015, up 24.7 percent from same period last year when pre-coup protests at were at their height.

ttrweekly.com The Tourism Council of Thailand estimates international tourist arrivals to Thailand, July to September, will increase 24.62 percent to reach 7.29 million visits. TCT president Ittirit Kinglek said Thailand Tourism Confidence Index in Q3 shows a level of 100, which is the index's par value based on input from 600 tour agencies.

traveldailymedia.com Thai budget carrier Nok Air will launch a daily service to Chengdu, the capital of southwestern China's Sichuan province, from the resort island of Phuket and Krabi in southern Thailand on July 1. Nok Air will deploy its Boeing 737-800 jet on the two new routes.

bangkokpost.com Technology Crime Suppression Division police have arrested Chayapa Chokpornbutsri, 49, on charges of fabricating and disseminating news of a ''second coup'' on the social media, police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said. According to division chief Pol Maj Gen Siripong Timula, many other people were also involved.



bdnews24.com ''I am Rohingya. I am a Burmese,'' Mohammed Ibrahim told bdnews24.com on the sidelines of the just-concluded DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. He said the European Rohingya Council was raising a voice in Europe, as ''we can't speak in our own country''.



Phuket Update Phuket police used security camera footage to trace Kiattisak Nualklang, 19, and Nattapong Sada, 18, who admitted stealing five motorcycles and then switching parts to confuse identification before selling the bikes to friends around Cherng Talay.

Phuket Update A series of sting operations led Phuket police to arrest Thammanoon Kaewsrinua, 31, and girlfriend Klongsiri Rongsakul, 24, in Thalang with a quantity of drugs, three guns and a substantial amount of ammunition. They were reportedly top agents for a Phuket ''Mr Big'' of drugs.

bangkokpost.com The US has never taken sides in Thailand's polarised politics and reaffirms it will fully engage when the country returns to democracy, the US-nominated ambassador to Thailand, Glyn Davies, has told the US Senate foreign relations committee.

afp China and the US launched a new joint initiative to protect the oceans, a key issue along with climate change on which the two nations say they can cooperate. It could be ''a centerpiece in the newly defining relationship with China.''
Full story here
http://bangkokpost.com/news/asia/602972/china-us-to-protect-world-oceans

bangkokpost.com The former Bangkok police chief caught with a gun in Japan passed through all security at Suvarnabhumi, but scanners and staff failed to find the weapon.

nationmultimedia.com A group of students wanted by the authorities for protesting against the junta showed up at Pathumwan Police Station to deny the charges against them. Of the 14 present, seven were Dao Din activists, who were there to offer moral support. Some Bangkok-based university students filed complaints against police for alleged abuse of power after their heavy-handed arrest for protesting against the first-year anniversary of the May 22 coup in Bangkok.

bangkokpost.com Satit Rungkasiri, former director-general of the Revenue Department had 600 million baht in personal assets frozen by graft busters probing the VAT scandal.

theguardian.com Maybe it was the fact that her childhood pony had been depicted in blue, but it was clear from the outset that Queen Elizabeth was less than enamored with a portrait presented to her by the German president.
Full story here
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/24/queen-blue-horse-painting-german-state-visit

theguardian.com Record numbers of people are being convicted of violent crimes against women in England and Wales, but the rate of conviction has still fallen, figures show.

variety.com Sweet, Baby James! Singer-songwriter hero James Taylor has scored his first No. 1 on the US album chart with ''Before This World'' after nearly half of a century in the music business.



ft.com Police in Jakarta have launched an investigation into Uber after local taxi companies filed a complaint against the ride-hailing app in the latest regulatory battles to blight the company's expansion plans in Asia. Five of Uber's drivers in the country were detained last week, as local competitors questioned the legality of its operations.

bloomberg Indonesia will focus on Bali and islands near Singapore rather than developing more remote spots in the world's largest archipelago, as it seeks to double tourist numbers by 2020.



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

July 15-19 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek