telegraph.co.uk Ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano is expected to reach Britain by tomorrow, airlines have been warned.

dailymail.co.uk A footballer's court battle to keep his alleged affair secret has provoked one of the biggest acts of civil disobedience in modern times. Football fans mockingly chanted his name at a match with a worldwide audience. And he was mentioned more than 30,000 times on Twitter.


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

bangkokpost.com The editorial pages of both the Japan Times and the South China Morning Post named caretaker Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij as a possible candidate to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the International Monetary Fund. Mr Korn said he was flattered but committed to help the Democrat Party win the July 3 election.

bangkokpost.com The Democrat Party needs to revise its election campaign strategy to catch up with the rising popularity of Yingluck Shinawatra, according to Abac Poll director Noppadol Kanikar. Ms Yingluck's leadership image has improved significantly since the Pheu Thai Party named her as its prime ministerial candidate last week. [PM Abhisit Vejjajiva visits Phuket on Thursday.]

afp Two other employees of the Sofitel Hotel in New York told investigators that former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn made advances during his stay last week. Soon after he checked into his suite, he allegedly called the front desk and asked the receptionist to join him for a drink, according to a US news website.

scotsman.com The Scottish Government has held an emergency meeting to discuss the impact of a new ash cloud spewing out of an Icelandic volcano amid warnings it will hit the north of the country by midday Monday. Just over a year since volcanic eruptions in Iceland closed airspace across 34 countries, causing thousands of flights across Europe to be cancelled and bringing travel chaos to millions of passengers, the prospect of a renewed disruption has arisen.

pattayamail.com Pattaya has launched a free natural-gas powered school bus service for its public schools. Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome announced the five-year lease of the air-conditioned buses that went into service May 18, starting rounds to pick up students at 7am.

Thai Media British Ambassador Asif Ahmad has delighted locals by paying a visit to the home of his embassy driver in Ubonrachatani to learn more about life in the average Thai village.

independent.co.uk Police have arrested a man suspected of being a key player in one of Thailand's largest tiger trafficking rings. Authorities had been searching for the 49-year-old Thai man since last year, when they issued a warrant for his arrest after seizing a Bengal tiger cub, police said.

express.co.uk Britons were ill on holiday for more than 14 million days last year with tummy troubles caused by foreign food and drink. India and Egypt were worst the destinations for upsets like diarrhoea, with Thailand, Tunisia and Morocco coming third, fourth and fifth on the list of countries where we suffered, according to research.

thestar.com.my Malaysia has been named by the World Health Organisation as the world's 10th largest consumer of alcohol despite its small population and size.

independent.co.uk Several hundred gunmen loyal to Yemen's President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, held the British and American ambassadors captive in a siege lasting more than two hours.

bangkokpost.com Before 2008, foreigners and expatriates working in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok drove demand in the Phuket luxury residential market. These groups have shifted to buy property in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, France and other locations in Europe.

bangkokpost.com Just a few kilometres from Krabi town, Koh Klang, with fewer than 5000 people, was recently selected by the Thailand Business Council for Sustainable Development to be turned into a ''carbon capture and storage island,'' part of moves to turn Thailand into a low-carbon economy. Through partnerships between business organisations, local communities and the Thailand Environment Institute, the ''Blue Carbon Storage'' project involves planting and rehabilitating 3000 rai of mangrove area or "walking forests" for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide.

dailymail.co.uk Maria Shriver confronted her husband's mistress over suspicions she was secretly raising his love child, it has been claimed today. The mother of four, 55, is said to have asked her family's housekeeper, Mildred Baena, 50, if her son was fathered by Arnold Schwarzenegger. During the dramatic showdown, Baena broke down and confessed, according to America's Radar Online.

todayonline.com In the light of looming risks in the global economy, economists say small and open economies such as Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong are most vulnerable.

telegraph.co.uk Rescue workers have called off a search for survivors of a mudslide after unearthing the bodies of 15 boys and an adult staff member buried in a double landslide that engulfed a Malaysian orphanage.

msnbc.msn.com Neuroscientists compared MRIs of Apple fans' brains to those of people who call themselves ''very religious'' and found that Apple and religion light up the same part of the brain. This means that Apple triggers the same feelings and reactions in people as religion.



May 24 Charity boxing at Saphan Hin in aid of southern flood victims
May 27-29 Phuket International Rugby Tens
June 1 New PPAO Hospital to open, Phuket City
June 1-25 Kalim Kinetic Art Fair, Brush, Kalim
June 6-11 Phuket Snooker Championships, Patong
June 10-11 Traditional Baba wedding festival, Phuket City
June 12 Laguna Phuket International Marathon
June 17 Phuket Property Dot Com Pro Am Invitational, Laguna
June 23-26 Phuket Fun Fly paragliding, Nai Harn
July 3 Phuket Navy League US Independence Day fair at Headstart International School
July 15 Asarnha Bucha Day public holiday
July 20-24 Six Senses Phuket Raceweek
August 12 HM The Queen's Birthday public holiday
October Vegetarian Festival, Phuket
November 1-6 Women's Beach Volleyball Series at Karon on 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

November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket