Divers and operators can still dive at certain areas around dive sites located in the Pulau Tioman and Pulau Redang marine parks. Only some areas have been closed to protect the coral, said Reef Check Malaysia general manager Julian Hyde. Hyde said he had received many calls from divers and operators asking whether they would still be able to dive at their favorite dive sites around the islands.

Yesterday, the Malaysian newspaper "The Star" reported that several dive sites in Tioman and Redang were temporarily marked off-limits to divers until the end of October.

Marine Park Department director-general Abd Jamal Mydin said this was done to protect the coral reefs which had turned white, adding that the department would continue to monitor popular dive sites affected by coral bleaching. Hyde also said the reefs were being closely monitored by the department and the restricted areas could change subject to the health of the coral.

He said Reef Check was working with dive operators on the islands to identify sites that were more likely to withstand bleaching.

Reigning U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro might defend his title, after all. Despite being sidelined since January because of a right wrist injury that required surgery, del Potro was on the provisional entry list released Thursday by the U.S. Tennis Association for the men's field at the year's last major tournament. The U.S. Open starts Aug. 30.

In a statement, the USTA said Juan Martin Del Potro ''is expected to return to Grand Slam competition after missing the French Open and Wimbledon earlier this year.'' Juan Martin Del Potro won his first Grand Slam title by coming back to beat five-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer in five sets in the 2009 final at Flushing Meadows. The 21-year-old Argentine has played in only one tournament in 2010, losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Juan Martin Del Potro's right wrist has been a problem since last year; he retired in the second round of the Shanghai Masters in October because of tendinitis in the wrist. Then, in January, he pulled out of an exhibition tournament just days before the start of the Australian Open, citing the wrist.

Supply-side limitations in Asia have hit the top and bottom lines at LaCrosse Footwear. For the period ended June 26, the firm today reported a second-quarter net profit of $0.1 million, or 2 cents a share, which is down 94 percent from $1.7 million, or 26 cents, in the same period a year ago. Net sales were down 11 percent to $26.6 million, compared with $30 million in the second quarter of 2009. Both the work and outdoor categories suffered declines in the quarter.

Sales in the work market were $18.6 million, down 15 percent from $21.9 million in the previous corresponding quarter, due primarily to the timing of U.S. government orders.

Sales in the outdoor market were impacted by constraints on the supply of finished goods caused by capacity limitations at the firm’s manufacturing partners in China, said a company statement, and were down 2 percent to $8 million. However, the company continued to strengthen its balance sheet, generating $9.9 million of cash from operations in the first half of 2010. As of June 26, LaCrosse had cash and cash equivalents of $17.3 million, up from $5.1 million as of June 27, 2009.

Thailand’s Gold Traders’ Association has issued a warning to the public to be aware of shady companies persuading people to invest in buying gold on the spot or futures markets overseas.

Jitti Tangsitpakdi, president of the association, said many scam gold trading firms have been established and deceived people to invest in the gold spot market or in the futures market. Many deceived investors have filed complaints with the association and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the two agencies along with police economic investigators have apprehended a number of people working for such firms in the past, Mr Jitti said.

Such people periodically close their fraudulent businesses and then open new firms elsewhere to escape arrest, he said.

The Volunteer Work Thailand website has been launched and is now ready to view online. Initially, this didn’t seem an appropriate time to announce the arrival of a new website but considering Thailand’s need to woo back tourists after recent rioting our timing could be perfect.

Thailand’s tourism industry is suffering from the recent 2 month-long anti-government protests, which ended on 19th May with 88 people dead and some of the capital’s most popular shopping areas in flames. Hotels across the country are reporting less than 50% occupancy after many tourists changed their holiday plans to avoid the trouble.

International tourist arrivals and revenues could fall between 10% and 20% this year. Such a decline would present serious problems for the country’s economy, which relies on tourism for roughly 6% of gross domestic product and for more than 15% of its jobs.

Asia needs to increase its ability to share the benefits of growth among the larger population if it is to develop sustainable in the future, WTO director general Pascal Lamy said at the closing session of the 19th World Economic Forum on East Asia yesterday.

He said countries in the continent should also promote multi-lateral co-operation and strengthen their trading capacities. The WTO official noted that within Asia, many bilateral relationships had been doing well but they had also many limitations.

"Many issues in international trade can be solved through multilateral co-operation," he added. He stressed the importance of ensuring every citizen benefited from the economic success of a country.

Frans Muller, member of the Management Board of German retailer Metro and Co-Chair of the forum, said that Asia had managed its economic growth well and "effectively dealt with the global financial crisis."

On Sunday evening the 63rd Cannes Film Festival came to a shocking, exhilarating close with the Palme d’Or going to “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” from the Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Surely the only Palme winner to feature sex between a princess and a thrashing catfish, “Boonmee” is a fantastical tale about a dying man whose past lives — and ghostly relatives — enraptured some critics while turning others off. The speculation that it might appeal to the jury president, Tim Burton, along with some of his more discerning fellow jury members, proved true.

On accepting the award Mr. Weerasethakul (Khun Joe) said in English that “this is like another world for me,” and noted that “Uncle Boonmee” is the first Thai film to win the Palme. “I would really like to kiss all of you,” he said to the jury, telling Mr. Burton that he liked his hairstyle. Mr. Weerasethakul thanked “all the spirits and ghosts in Thailand,” who made it “possible for me to be here.”

The Grand Prix, effectively second place, went to Xavier Beauvois’s “Of Gods and Men,” a quiet, touching French drama, loosely based on actual events, about Cistercian monks imperiled by Muslim fundamentalists as civil war begins sweeping across Algeria in the 1990s. The Jury Prize went to “A Screaming Man,” another film set against civil war, this one directed by the Chadian-born director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun.

Curfews have been imposed for three more nights in Bangkok and 23 other Thai provinces after nine people died in violent clashes on Wednesday.

A meeting chaired by Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva agreed to impose the new curfew, said Dithaporn Sasasmit, spokesman for the army-run Internal Security Operation Command. A curfew was ordered in Bangkok and 23 provinces on Wednesday night between 8pm and 6am to control looting and arson.

However, the new curfew would be shortened to between 9pm and 5am, Dithaporn said, to lessen the effect on the public.

Four provincial halls meanwhile in Thailand's northeast, the heartland of anti-government protesters, have been torched as authorities struggle to halt violence in Bangkok from spreading.

Large numbers of troops and armored vehicles were gathering early on Wednesday in Bangkok's business district near the entrance to a fortified encampment of anti-government protesters.

Yesterday, the Thai government said there would be no negotiations with protesters, until they had ended their rally.

A leader of the Red Shirted protesters called on supporters to fight the army, saying he feared an imminent offensive on their protest site occupied by thousands in the heart of Bangkok's commercial district for more than six weeks. Protest guards were seen pouring kerosene over a 10ft high wall that forms one of their main barricades as troops and armored personnel carriers were seen nearby on Silom Road in Bangkok's business district.

Labor ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will gather in the capital city of Hanoi on May 24 in an effort to develop regional human resources for economic recovery and development.

Participants in the 21st ASEAN Labor Ministers Meeting (ALMM) will deal with polices on human resource development, employment, social insurance, industrial relation, migrant workers and other issues relating to labor in the region, said Vietnam’s Permanent Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) Dam Huu Duc at a press briefing in Hanoi yesterday.

Regarding the human resource development, Mr Duc said the ministers will focus their discussions on how to improve skills for workers toward a common labor market in ASEAN, where a worker from a country can secure jobs in another country.

To set up the common labor market, Vietnam, as the chair of the meeting, will lead the delegates to discuss and build a set of skill standards for common professions in ASEAN, he added, elaborating that those workers who meet the standards can be accepted in all ASEAN member countries.