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

todayonline.com Rising oil prices have caused airfares to go up for the fourth time since the end of last year, with Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary Silk Air increasing their fuel surcharges. In the latest hike, surcharges will increase by between US$4 and US$32, depending on distance and class of travel.

foxnews.com A report revealed that more than 100 of Japan's designated evacuation centers were destroyed by the March 11 tsunami triggered by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake. Following the tremor, countless residents sought refuge in evacuation sites designated safe by local government authorities, but were swept to their deaths, Kyodo News reported.

afp Just 352,800 foreigners arrived in Japan in March, 50.3 percent fewer than in March 2010 and the largest decline ever recorded, the Japan National Tourism Board said.

abcnews.go.com The owners and founders of the three largest online gambling sites in the US have been indicted and charged with bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses. Eleven individuals were charged over their involvement running PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker for violating the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

focustaiwan.tw Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs lowered its travel alert for Thailand Friday, from orange to yellow, as the southern regions of the Southeast Asian country were gradually recovering from flood disasters that started in March.

smh.com.au No matter how hard it tries, Fiji can't overtake Bali as a destination for Australian holidaymakers. Fiji is cheaper than Bali and hours closer to Australia's big east-coast cities than its Indonesian rival but attracts only half the number of Australians to its shores.

asiaone.com Indonesia and Thailand are expected to witness normal rains in 2011, while Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan could see below-normal rainfall, sources attending a meeting of global weather officials in India said.

usatoday.com More than 20 percent of US air-traffic controllers work at least one midnight shift in 14 days, which puts them at risk of falling asleep or making critical safety errors, government records show. The most recent incident was Wednesday in Reno, where a medical plane landed shortly after 2am after failing to rouse anyone in the airport's tower. On Thursday, the FAA announced the resignation of its air-traffic chief, Hank Krakowski.

washingtonpost.com Krakowski was forced out as head of the federal air traffic control system after a series of recent embarrassments when controllers were caught sleeping and a year in which errors - some of them potentially disastrous - have soared. Krakowski and his predecessor, Russ Chew, both former pilots, were viewed as ''airline'' people who never understood the deeply embedded culture of air traffic control.

channelnewsasia.com Universal Studios Singapore will have its grand opening on May 28, and some Hollywood and Asian celebrities are expected to be in town. The park has 21 rides and shows including the world's tallest duelling roller coaster, Battlestar Galactica, which resumed operations in February after almost a year of being grounded. The ride was stopped after a failure in one of its seats during routine checks a few weeks after its soft opening in March last year.

contactmusic.com The shooting of upcoming movie The Hangover II was halted on a routine basis as the cast and crew battled sickness and made regular trips to hospital. Director Todd Phillips said: ''My movies are about mayhem and I always think I like it, but Bangkok is mayhem to another degree.''

monstersandcritics.com Two Bangladeshi men who had snuck into a shipping container to smoke marihuana were too high to notice that the container was locked and loaded onto a ship, the Straits Times reported. Only one of the two men survived.

traveldaily.co.uk Movenpick Hotels & Resorts has announced it will by promoting 13 new developments at this year's Arabian Travel Market. The hotel chain has four properties due to open in Dubai; two in Abu Dhabi, one property in Saudi Arabia and another in Oman.

etbmice.com At the IMEX 2011 in Frankfurt (May 24-26), the Royal Cliff Hotels Group home to Pattaya Exhibition And Convention Hall, the largest and best state-of-the-art convention centre outside of Bangkok, Thailand.will further introduce its repositioning statement, as a ''one hotel group'' with a distinct and unique identity, Royal Cliff Hotels Group along with a notable statement which impressively declares the attributes of ''A State of Exclusivity & Fascination''.



Shrinking Songkran! The Phuket Gazette and the Phuket News are suddenly just a shadow of the fine products they were last week, yet the cover prices remain unchanged. The Gazette (32 pages, 25 baht) finds Phuket's annual Bike Week worthy of the front page, and so does the News (28 pages, 20 baht). The News at least tells its readers (inside, on Page three) that a 40-pager will return next week. Newspapers elsewhere usually do the courtesy of telling readers in advance that they will be paying more for less in the next issue. Imagine the outcry - especially in the press - if a kilo of rice suddenly became close to half a kilo, yet the price remained the same. Still, the Gazette does take the trouble to add a four-page self-promotional insert. We're awaiting the explanation of how a light aircraft selling products above Phuket for all to see, whether they wish to or not, is so very different to email spam.



Until April 17 Phuket International Cricket Sixes, Karon
April 24 Ao Chalong Yacht Club Open Day
April 28 Pierre-Yves Cousteau dinner at IndoChine
May New PPAO Hospital to open, Phuket City
May 1 National Labor Day public holiday
May 5 Coronation Day public holiday
May 13 Royal Ploughing Day public holiday
May 17 Visakha Bucha Day public holiday
June 12 Laguna Phuket International Marathon
June 23-26 Phuket Fun Fly paragliding, Nai Harn
July 3 Phuket Navy League US Independence Day fair at Headstart International School
July 20-24 Six Senses Phuket Raceweek
October Vegetarian Festival, Phuket
November 26-27 9th Phuket International Soccer 7s
November 27 Laguna Phuket Triathlon
December 3-4 6th Andaman International Soccer 7s
December 4 Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship, Laguna


March 18-28 National Youth Games, Phuket

Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket