Phuket City Votes; N-Day for the Lady; New AirAsia Chief; Euro 2012 Latest; Phuket Events

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

BARS, restaurants, nightclubs and convenience stores are barred from selling alcohol in the Phuket City vicinity until midnight Saturday as voters choose a Phuket City mayor and council.

bangkokpost.com The red shirts will issue a warning to forces they believe are attempting to overthrow the government by staging "one of their largest rallies" on June 24. That day marks the 80th anniversary of the 1932 revolution which brought an end to Thailand's absolute monarchy, ushering in a constitutional monarchy.

guardian.co.uk Twenty years after she was awarded the Nobel peace prize, Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived in the Norwegian capital and will accept her award on Saturday. The veteran Burmese dissident, who spent years under house arrest, has travelled to Europe for the first time in two decades.

guardian.co.uk Aung San Suu Kyi's doctor says she is worried the 66-year-old's tour of Europe could take its toll of her health, after she fell ill at a Swiss news conference. Pyone Moe Ei said on Friday in Yangon that her "lack of rest and her extremely tight schedule are very worrisome".

telegraph.co.uk Thailand is one of the safest destinations in south-east Asia: petty theft does happen, but violent crime against foreigners is rare. Most Thais are extremely polite and a little shy of foreigners. Be cautious of those who are not, especially in beach destinations such as Phuket, Samui and Phi Phi.

themalaysiainsiderc.om No frills airline AirAsia will name a new Chief Executive Officer for its Malaysian operations on Monday. Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said the new position is being created to assume the responsibility of the airline's Malaysian operations to replace Fernandes who is expected to move to Jakarta to oversee AirAsia's expansion plans in Southeast Asia.

heraldsun.com.au Thailand has announced plans to scrap squat toilets in public facilities and replace them with western-style, sit down loos. The announcement is sure to be welcomed by female travellers who struggle to work out how to use a squat toilet - which is basically little more than a bowl in the floor - without splattering urine onto their calves or feet.

thejakartapost.com The head of Bali Tourism Agency, Ida Bagus Kade Subhiksu, revealed that during the first quarter of 2012, there had been a 10.74 percent growth of visitors, amounting to 915,594 people. This figure is 30 percent of the overall year's target of three million visitors.

themalaysianinsider.com Longstanding persecution has forced Rohingya men to migrate in droves as boat people, risking their lives on the sea to seek work opportunities outside Burma (Myanmar). Thailand serves as a halfway stop to Malaysia, the Rohingya Muslims' preferred destination. For those who cannot pay for the rest of the journey, they will be sent to work on rubber plantations by the human trafficking rackets led by Rohingya mafia with police connections.

cnn.com Japanese authorities are holding an American man on suspicion of killing a female Irish exchange student in Tokyo, a police spokesman said. Police charged a second American man with groping the dead woman's friend.

channelnewsasia.com Bedouins kidnapped a Singaporean tourist in Egypt's Sinai peninsula demanding the release of one of their tribesmen arrested for being in the possession of drugs, security officials said.

bangkokpost.com Countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion should promote their tourist attractions as a single destination to comply with the planned Asean Economic Community in 2015. GMS members should develop tourism infrastructures together and promote cross-border tourism, executives told the Mekong Tourism Forum 2012.

citizen.co.za Just a few hours out of bustling Phuket City, Khao Sok National Park offers a temporary reprieve from the town's never-ending party. If you go over monsoon season (for extra-cheap tickets, wait for another riot to break out in Bangkok), you might find you're among the few tourists hoisting their backpacks along the one and only road.

PEuro 2012 and World Sports Wrap


reuters.com England survived a 10-minute meltdown to move closer to the Euro 2012 quarter-finals when substitute Theo Walcott scored one goal and set up another to earn a thrilling 3-2 win over Sweden who were eliminated from the tournament.

goal.com After a torrential downpour suspended play for nearly an hour, Laurent Blanc's French side notched two in four minutes to kill off the Ukraine's hopes of two wins on the trot in Group D.

Phuket Coming Events 2012

June 16 Phuket Academy of Dance annual concert on at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa from 4pm. Tickets 600 baht for adults and 300 baht for children. Drinks available but no food, instead 10 percent discount for food bought in the cafe. E: Linda Cumming [email protected]

Sourced: phuketwan