afp Several people have been killed and more are wounded after at least one gunman armed with an automatic weapon began firing in a pub in western Sweden. At least two people are believed to have died, however the death toll is expected to rise.


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 Best Western International launched two new global hotel brands and offered a competitive management fee structure in the face of fierce rivalry in Asia including Thailand. Vib will offer urban boutique hotels, while the BW Premier Collection is a brand for upscale and luxury independent hotels.

AP Thai authorities said they had arrested an Iranian they accused of leading one of the largest passport forgery networks in the country for more than a decade. Murel Gurat, 45, was apprehended at a house in seaside Chonburi province after two years of investigation.

bangkokpost.com Twelve National Reform Council members have appointed people with the same family name as paid advisers, adding more fuel to the firestorm over nepotism in junta-appointed bodies.



Phuket Update The new 12.7 billion baht Central West complex will be ''the masterpiece of Phuket with a cutting-edge design: A mega world-class design shopping center from Central Group seamlessly combining three projects with three different concepts together in the best location on Phuket''. Completion is scheduled for 2017.

nztv.nz One of the three boats caught by the New Zealand navy illegally fishing in the Southern Ocean earlier this year has been detained in Phuket. Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says NZ officials are working with Thai government authorities after the Kunlun was stopped this week. NZ is continuing to work with Spanish authorities to investigate links between the vessels and the Spanish-based syndicate, Vidal Armadores SA.

Phuket Update Police on Phuket are looking for a thief who opened the cooler at a Supercheap mini-mart and stole the caps off 36 bottles of Ichitan soft drinks. It's one of a wave of similar thefts sparked in a promotional giveaway of 50 Mercedes vehicles.

AP The UN Security Council has condemned the Bardo museum attack saying that no terrorist action can reverse the path of Tunisia toward democracy. An Italian cruise ship company says 14 passengers of the Costa Fascinosa, docked in Tunis, have not yet returned to the ship.

scmp.com A powerful mainland task force has revealed in detail for the first time how it tracked down allegedly corrupt fugitives abroad, bringing the suspects and their assets back to China even in the absence of extradition treaties.

afp A drone strike in Somalia last week killed a senior al-Shabab figure linked to the notorious 2013 attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, the US military said.

nytimes.com Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana: ''They've been unkind and difficult for many, many years, and people have been waiting to respond,'' she said. ''This is an all debts must be paid kind of thing.''
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/fashion/dolce-gabbana-comments-trigger-public-outrage-and-uncomfortable-silence.html?_r=0

reuters Next month the last batch of televisions will roll off the production line at LG Electronics' plant in Thailand's Rayong province, just east of Bangkok. The company said that it's moving production 1500 kilometers northeast to the Vietnamese coastal city of Hai Phong, where labor costs are cheaper and China-based suppliers that much closer.

scmp.com Up to 5000 workers were on strike at the world's largest sports shoe maker, which supplies global brands including Nike and Adidas.

bbc.com All women who have a pierced vagina will be classified as having suffered female genital mutilation, Britain's Department of Health says.



bangkokpost.com Women marrying later and having fewer children is one reason why Thailand will join the ranks of its northern peers, whose labor forces are shrinking, just as the number of working- age people in other Southeast Asian nations rises in coming decades. The decline will constrain Thailand's long-term growth potential, analysts at Credit Suisse Group AG said.

scmp.com The commander of the Japan-based US Navy Seventh Fleet has called on Southeast Asian nations to form a combined maritime force to patrol areas of the South China Sea where there are territorial tensions with China.

Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/azsean-today-burma-backtracking-dead-rebel-toll-mounts-merc-ablaze-feud-airasia-hunt-ends-22073/



afp A first-half goal by Ivan Rakitic was enough to see Barcelona end English interest in the Champions League as they beat Manchester City 1-0 in their last 16 second leg clash for a 3-1 aggregate win and a place in the quarter-finals.



April 11-19 Phuket Bike Week

April 13-15 Songkran Festival

May 4 Additional public holiday scheduled

June 20-21 Baba wedding at Old Phuket Town

July 15-19 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek