UPDATING All Day, Every Day
reuters Thailand's Commerce Ministry said that prices of many consumer goods would be frozen for six months to November to hold down living costs and boost the economy and confidence.
bangkokpost.com More illegal firearms and ammunition discarded by their owners were found in three provinces on Friday amid a nationwide military crackdown on illegal war weapons.
bbc.com Canadian police say they have arrested a man suspected of killing three police officers and wounding two others in Moncton, New Brunswick.
dpa International tourist arrivals to Thailand fell almost 11 percent last month in the wake of regular political protests and a military coup on May 22, media reports said.
bangkokpost.com With no foreign country yet backing the May 22 coup, the military has ordered a global ''PR blitz'' to tackle critics head-on, while also trying to smooth the image of the junta regime around the world.
PhuketWATCH Daily Media Wrap
PHUKET: The daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media. Beware of inconsistent imitations.
Today's Top News Items
straitstimes.com Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) set up a committee to investigate the assets of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and four other former ministers who were involved in the controversial rice-pledging scheme, the Bangkok Post reported.
globalpost.com Undersecretary Suvat Sithilor said the Tourism and Sports Ministry will ask the National Council for Peace and Order to lift a curfew currently imposed from midnight until 4am in the southern holiday spots of Krabi, Phang Nga and Hat Yai.
nationmultimedia.com The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) mulled whether to make curfew hours more flexible for the World Cup tournament, which kicks off next week. The curfew has been lifted in Phuket, Pattaya and Samui.
telegraph.co.uk Koh Phangan, a Gulf Coast island adjacent to Samui, is currently still under a curfew. But a full-moon party set for June 12 on Haad Rin beach has been allowed to take place following a request from tourist officials.
nationmultimedia.com Phuket's Coup d'Taxi continues; cartels smashed
The Hunt for Missing Flight MH370
theaustralian.com Malaysia Airlines, which regularly topped rankings for cabin service, is now locked in a battle for survival, reporting a $150m loss for the first quarter of this year.
Phuket World of People
Krabi Update British adventurer Lee Thompson, who took perhaps the world's most remarkable ''selfie'' while standing on the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio, lists a two-day kayaking trip off the coast of Krabi, Thailand, among the highlights of his travels around the world, says The Telegraph.
Phuket Update Phuket expat Philippe Wagner, 46, from Switzerland, was killed when a cement truck swerve to miss a motorcycle and crashed onto his car while crossing Karon Hill on Wednesday. Initially police feared there was a second person in the car.
newyorker.com ''Right now I'm in Phuket, and it's very good for Internet,'' Dimitri Simerazhko told me via Skype.'' Also very good for people and food and, especially, fruit.'' He has decided that Phuket is the place for Ukraine's besieged and splintering tech industry to regroup.
andrew-drummond.com I like the fact that the taxi mafia in Phuket now have a new police chief and are now being attacked by him. Little things come in nice packages and that tiny little story is symptomatic of how Thailand has become - and how it can be repaired undemocratically!
bangkokpost.com An army commander has apologised to staff at Modernine TV station in Bangkok after an armed soldier unzipped his pants and briefly masturbated in front of a female news anchor.
Phuket Update Burmese couple Sein Maung, 54, and Tien Tien, 36, admitted carrying out up to a dozen or so abortions at the 999 Phuket hotel in Phuket City. Sein said he was registered as a doctor in Burma and often visited Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan to terminate the unwanted pregnancies of Burmese women. Abortions are illegal in Thailand.
eturbonews.com Speaking at the Thailand Travel Mart, TAT Governor Thawatchai Arunyik said: ''The word 'coup' in Thailand is not considered as sensitive as it means in other parts of the world. 'Coup' in Thailand is still peaceful and safe for both the local people and visitors to the country.''
telegraph.co.uk Travellers in the popular beach resort of Phuket may now stay out as long as they wish, but streets and beaches there remain quiet.
afp Egyptian prosecutors demanded the ''maximum'' penalty, ranging from 15 to 25 years in jail, for all 20 defendants in the trial of Al-Jazeera journalists accused of aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood, including Australian Peter Greste.
bangkokpost.com Two Phuket-based journalists will be forced to wait until March 18-20 next year to appear in court on charges of criminal libel and computer crimes offences, the public prosecutor has confirmed. The report in question quoted parts of a story published by Reuters which documented the trafficking of Rohingya migrants. The Reuters report recently won a Pulitzer Prize. No warrants have been issued for the authors of the original article, Vichit police station superintendent Chavalit Petsripia said.
cnn.com Nearly a day after a gunman killed three police officers and wounded two others in the Canadian city of Moncton, New Brunswick, investigators haven't found the suspect.
bbc.com 1970s pop star Gary Glitter, 70, has been charged with eight counts of sexual offences against girls in Britain. The charges relate to two women who were aged between 12 and 14 at the time of the alleged offences between 1977 and 1980.
washingtonpost.com The US Secret Service is looking to buy software that can spot sarcasm on social media. Yeah, good luck with that.
What's Happening Around Asean Nations
nytimes.com Aung San Suu Kyi should be one of the heroes of modern times. Instead, as her country imposes on the Rohingya Muslim minority an apartheid that would have made white supremacists in South Africa blush, she bites her tongue. One evening I visited a camp of Buddhists displaced by the conflict and asked a group of children what they would do if they saw a Muslim boy. ''Kill him,'' said Maung Thein Soe, 13.
capitalgazette.com Kate Middleton has come under fire due to claims that she attended a wedding at the Dorchester in Mayfair, London - a hotel that celebrities have boycotted due to its owner, the Sultan of Brunei, imposing sharia law in his country.
pinknews.co.uk Entertainer Christopher Biggins has mocked the Sultan of Brunei's support for anti-gay legislation, saying he ''looks like an old queen anyway.''
afp Singapore urged its globetrotting citizens to avoid misusing consular services abroad, revealing ''odd requests'' including one man who demanded help to get a refund for bad sex.
phnompenhpost.com Cambodia Angkor Air plans direct links between Cambodia and Beijing, Tokyo and Singapore. Phuket is one of its future destinations.
cbc.ca Among new wildlife species discovered in Vietnam is a tiny, almost transparent fish that mates head-to head, its sex organs just behind its mouth. Scientists also found the Helen's flying frog, just 100 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City, which glides between treetops using its large, webbed hands and feet.
afp Dressed in tight tops and miniskirts but covering their faces to hide their identities, more than 1000 Indonesian sex workers have protested over a plan to close one of southeast Asia's biggest red light districts, the Dolly district of Surabaya.
World Cup 2014 and Phuket World of Sport
bangkokpost.com The World Cup kick-off match starts next Thursday at 5pm in Sao Paolo between the hosts Brazil and Croatia. It will be at 2am on Friday in Thailand. The earliest matches during the one-month tournament start at 1pm in Brazil, or 11pm in Thailand, just one hour before the curfew kicks in from midnight to 4am.
afp Cristiano Ronaldo's chances of being fit for Portugal's opening World Cup clash with Germany were thrown into further doubt when coach Paulo Bento refused to put a timeframe on his return.
Coming Events on Phuket
June 6-14 Phuket prisons fair, Saphan Hin, Phuket City
June 8 Laguna Phuket marathon
July 11 Arsanha Bucha Day
July 16-20 Phuket Race Week yachting, Cape Panwa
August 12 Queen's Birthday
September 24-October 2 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket
October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day
November 6 Loy Kratong
November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket
December 5 King's Birthday
December 10 Constitution Day
December 25 Christmas Day
December 26 10th Anniversary, 2004 Tsunami
December 31 New Year's Eve
