AirAsia Eyes Phuket; Harry's Wildest Party; Typhoon Coming; Tennis Strike Threat; Phuket Events

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

wsj.com Hundreds of Syrians were killed during a sweeping offensive by government forces in a suburb of Damascus over the weekend, the bloodiest assault in the vicinity of the Syrian capital since the start of the conflict more than a year and a half ago.

cnn.com A massive typhoon crossed over Okinawa, bringing winds more ferocious than even the typhoon-weary Japanese island has seen in decades. Typhoon Bolaven, with wind gusts that reached as high as 259 kilometers per hour, is the strongest to strike the region in nearly 50 years.

dailymail.com Prince Harry is said to be ''terrified'' further damaging images will emerge and his concerns intensified after photos of an ''even wilder'' week in the British Virgin Islands on Sir Richard Branson's private island of Necker shortly before the Vegas weekend were leaked to a newspaper. The prince has removed himself from Facebook amid privacy concerns highlighted by his naked antics in Las Vegas. He is a huge fan of the social networking site and appears under the pseudonym Spike Wells.

AP By letting his top-selling British tabloid run photos of a naked Prince Harry cavorting in a Las Vegas hotel room, some say media mogul Rupert Murdoch was warning Britain's establishment that he could still shake things up.

Reader comment I don't understand why people are dismissing this as the high jinks of a ''young man''. For goodness sake, the guy's almost 30! His behavior is embarrassing to his country and I suspect to the Royal Family.

thejakartapost.com AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes: Today, I received Twitter messages saying ''Can you start a service from Sulawesi to Singapore?'' or ''Can you start a flight from Surabaya to Phuket?'' By understanding what the people want, I can plan and move forward. The grand vision is that we will be as well known as Coca-Cola.

thephuketinsider.com The recently opened 190 room Kalima Resort & Spa in Kalim is the latest push outwards by the Greater Patong growth spurt.

theage.com.au In 1991, 60 percent of men in Thailand were smokers. Since then, the country has introduced some of south-east Asia's toughest smoking laws, with significant success. They include tax increases on cigarettes, advertising bans, anti-smoking campaigns, clean air laws and health warnings. Police have stepped up random checks in public places, especially markets and schools where smoking is banned.

tengrinews.kz A US court shot down orders to slap graphic anti-tobacco messages on cigarette packs, saying the government overstepped its authority by trying to ''browbeat'' smokers into quitting. Judge Janice Rogers Brown said that the US Food and Drug Administration ''has not provided a shred of evidence'' that graphic warnings directly reduced rates of smoking.

telegraph.co.uk British Airways-owner IAG is sitting on half-year losses of 390m euros amid ''deep and structural'' problems at its Spanish airline Iberia. Air France is shedding 1500 jobs. UK regional airline Flybe has been forced to issue yet another profit warning, its fifth since its flotation in 2010. Even Ryanair, the seemingly indomitable low cost carrier, saw a 28pc drop in pre-tax profits in the first quarter.

bangkokpost.com Suvarnabhumi Airport will need to carry out the next phase of expansion as soon as the current upgrade works are completed or faces yet again the perennial problem of capacity lagging behind traffic demand.

khaleejtimes.com New services to Washington DC, Phuket, Adelaide, Lyon and a resumption of flights to Tripoli, with Warsaw just one of the new destinations for 2013, show Emirates is not exactly short of ideas. The cultured, experienced and in some ways, unmatchable management team has continued to be the catalyst for the airline's growth.

bangkokpost.com Democrat Party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut lashed out at Surapong Tovichakchaikul's first-year performance in the Foreign Ministry, saying Mr Surapong's work only served Thaksin Shinawatra.

abc.net.au A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Moluccas islands about 11.05pm, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

bangkokpost.com Krit Srichawla, CEO of Fico and newly appointed chairman of Evolution Capital, said the prospect of the food and budget-hotel business is promising in both Thailand and Asean, particularly after the regional integration in 2015. Its main asset is shares in Red Planet Hotels Limited, the rapidly growing franchisee that owns Tune Hotels in Pattaya, Hat Yai in Songkhla province, Bangkok and Phuket.

nst.com.my Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand will establish a mechanism to ensure that rubber price remains stable and competitive following a downtrend projection due to the current economic crisis faced by the euro zone countries.

nationmultimedia.com It's best to be warned, for example, to avoid certain Phuket pubs after 2am. I would only quibble with the 'Culture Shock!' claim that Thai women are available in just two ''flavors'' - prio (sour) and wan (sweet). (He says farang prefer the former and other Thais the latter.) The sap, phed and rawn female varieties won't be too happy about being excluded.

balidiscovery.com It has been suggested that an accurate inventory of accommodation in Bali could be achieved by using GPS technology. Electronic mapping of Bali's tourism business would help the government identify unlicensed tourism businesses.

nationmultimedia.com The Council of University Presidents of Thailand resolved to postpone the start of the academic year to August or September from 2014 onward. The move is aimed at bringing the schedule in line with those of other Southeast Asian nations and Europe.

vancouversun.com Perhaps it was seeing a family of five, infant included, all riding helmetless on a small moped. Travelling in Thailand was an exotic, unique experience and having our children share this adventure with us has given them a much greater appreciation for the interesting and dynamic world in which we all live.

Phuket World Sports Wrap


aap The world's leading men's tennis players are considering boycotting January's Australian Open tennis tournament over prize money. The major issue is not the huge prize money on offer for the winners of grand slams but rather those players who exit in the early rounds.

dailymail.co.uk ''I think the Liverpool supporters will enjoy watching this kid play football,'' Brendan Rodgers said after Joe Allen's impressive performance in a 2-2 draw with Manchester City that could - and perhaps should - have been so much more.

afp Arsenal were still searching for their first goal following the exit of Robin van Persie after they were held to a second consecutive goalless Premier League draw by Stoke City.

smh.com.au Lance Armstrong says he is more at peace now than he has been in a decade. In his first interview since the US Anti-Doping Agency hit him with a lifetime ban from professional cycling and stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles, Armstrong said: '''Nobody needs to cry for me. I'm going to be great.''

reuters Paul Lawrie confirmed that he had returned to his best form ahead of next month's Ryder Cup by winning the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles by an impressive four shots.

Sourced: phuketwan