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

nationmultimedia.com Thai AirAsia has a five-year business plan to own 20 aircraft and spread into all key destinations in the region in response to the fully open sky policy, which is set to come into effect in 2013. The carrier plans to develop its domestic hubs of Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai to strengthen its coverage for both domestic and international travel.

Phuket Update Phuket media is awaiting with interest an announcement scheduled for today in Patong by Burma's Air Bagan. The airline already flies routes inside Burma and twice-weekly from Yangon to Chiang Mai and to Kuala Lumpur. Is Phuket the airline's next international destination?
Last month, afp reported that Burma's Tay Za, who owns Air Bagan and a string of luxury hotels, was a top target of US financial sanctions and described as "a notorious regime henchman and arms dealer" by the US Treasury.
German news agency dpa says that Tay Za is on a list of ''crony businessmen'' who are denied visas to Europe and the US and whose foreign assets have been frozen as part of economic sanctions against the military regime in Burma.
At airbagan.com the corporate mission is: ''To contribute towards development of Tourism and Air Transport Industry in Myanmar, offering high quality Customer Service on every flight we operate, as well as produce a fair return on investments.''

bangkokpost.com Thailand ranks first in providing opportunities for women to climb the corporate ladder, according to the latest survey by a consulting firm. In the 2011 Grant Thornton International Business Report, Thailand boasts the greatest percentage of women in senior roles at 45 percent, followed by Georgia (40 percent), Russia (36 percent), Hong Kong and the Philippines (both 35 percent).

smh.com.au Annie Lennox writes: Women do two-thirds of the world's work for a paltry 10 percent of the world's income, and own just one per cent of the means of production. On the centenary of International Women's Day, I urge you to stop and think.

nationalpost.com On the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, I find myself profoundly ambivalent about feminism. On the one hand, I owe it a huge debt of gratitude. Over the same period, however, feminism diminished women's role as nurturers of the next generation.

metro.co.uk Britain's foreign secretary admitted there had been a ''serious misunderstanding'' that saw a special forces and MI6 team seized by rebels in Libya. He told MPs that he personally authorised the operation, although the ''timing and details'' were ''decided by the professionals''.

nytimes.com The spread of revolution in the Middle East has prompted Chinese authorities to adopt a strategy of tracking and detaining foreign reporters. On Sunday about a dozen European and Japanese journalists in Shanghai were herded into a bunker-like room and kept for two hours.

scmp.com Foreign tourists will be banned from Tibet this month, the region's top Communist Party leader has confirmed, saying it is for their safety.

cnn.com Days ahead of another anniversary of the bloody Tibetan uprising - and six decades after Communists took over the region - Chinese government officials stressed the need for "stability" in the disputed territory while promising "reform" and infrastructure upgrades.

nationmultimedia.com Communities squatting on state land that are entitled to title deeds are calling on the government to ensure that relevant agencies comply with this policy before the Democrat-led administration ends its term. ''We want the government to solve our problems as soon as possible, so we can go home," Phuket resident Thutiporn Thipwong said at a rally outside Government House in Bangkok.

bangkokpost.com The impact of the situation in the Middle East on global travel and tourism is set to be a heavy-duty discussion topic at the ITB Berlin, the world's largest trade show, to be held in the German capital between March 9-13. As the first decade of the 21st century was dominated by the impact of pandemics, natural disasters, financial crises, climate change, the geopolitics of regime change are now set to be factored into the mainstream agenda for discussions in the second decade.

pressherald.com Less than two months before a fairytale wedding anticipated by much of the world, Britain's royal family finds itself fighting an inconvenient distraction: revelations that Prince Andrew, the queen's second son, is friends with a convicted sex offender, was photographed with a teenage prostitute, and has been accused of ties to Moammar Gaddafi's Libyan regime. [The sex offender, the teenage prostitute and Prince Andrew once holidayed on Phuket.]

mirror.co.uk Britain's Prince Andrew has spent nearly four million pounds of taxpayers' money on flights and luxury hotels as a special trade envoy. Between 2001, when he took up his position, and March 2010, he made 76 foreign trips as a trade envoy at an average cost of 50,814 pounds each.

channelnewsasia.com Playboy's Rabbit logo, stamped on anything from necklaces to notebooks, is ensuring the firm's image in Asia is more about trend than titillation. In Thailand, despite the country's famed sex industry, strict pornography regulations have kept many men's magazines, including Playboy, off the news stands. The firm is counting on the Chinese horoscope's current Year of the Rabbit as a period of opportunity.

smh.com.au You walk smugly out of the airport duty-free shop with a couple of bottles of cheap alcohol - only to have them taken away at the next security checkpoint. Travellers are being repeatedly stung by confiscations of duty-free as the regulations are inconsistently applied at airports around the world.

channel6newsonline.com A Pakistani plane was forced to land in Indonesia for flying without proper permission, the Jakarta Globe reported. The charter plane was heading from East Timor to Malaysia when it was intercepted by an Indonesian fighter jet and forced to land. The plane is owned by Pakistan International Airlines.

bangkokpost.com Chula Ratchamontri Aziz Pitakumpol insists the right of girls and women to wear the hijab, or Islamic headscarf, is protected under the constitution. The Muslim spiritual leader was speaking in the wake of a ban on Muslim pupils at a school in Bangkok's Nong Chok district from wearing headscarves.

todayonline.com Some two months after his statements - contained in a new book - evoked strong reactions from Singapores' Muslim community, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew acknowledged that his view that it was harder to integrate Muslims was "out of date".

thisislondin.co.uk Thailand-based Anantara Hotels, Resorts and Spas is preparing to launch its newest spa resort on the south-western tip of Bali. Opening in June, the Anantara Uluwatu Resort & Spa appears to cling to the limestone cliff 200ft high above a reef break. If you get carried away by the romantic setting, there is also a wedding chapel on site.

chattanoogan.com We didn't go there but I'm told that the Patong area on Phuket is the place to go for those more inclined to some serious "night life" excitement. Descriptions of Patong range from "sleazy" to "brilliant" and apparently some of the adult shows are not for the faint-of-heart.

guardian.co.uk The BBC will contact the Premier League to register its disappointment that Manchester United refused to speak to any broadcasters or the press after their defeat at Anfield on Sunday. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has not spoken to the BBC since 2004.



LIVERPOOL Legends, a team made up of ex Liverpool Football Club players, are set to play two friendly games against the Legends of Thailand. The first match is scheduled for June 15 at Bangkok's Yamaha stadium followed by a second game at Surakul Stadium on Phuket on June 18.

MALAYSIA Truly Fun Truly Asia 2011 will take place on March 11-13 at Central Festival Phuket second floor, near Power Buy Shop. Special packages for travel to Malaysia, including airlines Firefly, Quatar Air and MAS, will be on offer from 11am-8 pm.

March 11 John Gray speaks at IBAP
March 5-19 Heroine's Monument Festival
March 14-19 ADFEST 2011 at Movenpick Resort, Phuket
March 26 St Patrick's Day Ball, Movenpick Resort and Spa, Karon. Details 081 3979809 or 086 9469232
March 27 Earth Hour commemoration on Phuket
April 13-15 Songkran Festival
May New PPAO Hospital to open, Phuket City
June 12 Laguna Phuket International Marathon
June 23-26 Phuket Fun Fly paragliding, Nai Harn


March 18-28 National Youth Games, Phuket

Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket