businessweek.comRed shirt protesters gathered in a main Bangkok business district, prompting the closure of a downtown shopping mall and disrupting traffic. Police were negotiating with demonstration leaders to have them stay only a few hours in Ratchaprasong intersection.


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

ft.com Cambodia is hoping to court international investment by relaxing laws on property ownership by foreigners in a bid to counter property prices that have fallen as much as 40 percent in the wake of the global recession. Cambodia's draft law would allow non-nationals to fully own residential apartments on the first floor and above for the first time.

bbc.co.uk German carmaker Daimler has pleaded guilty to corruption in the US and will pay $185m to settle the case. The charges relate to US Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission investigations into the company's global sales practices. Daimler, the owner of Mercedes-Benz, admitted to paying tens of millions of dollars of bribes to officials in at least 22 countries.

independent.co.uk Daimler officials were said to have given money and lavish gifts to help win contracts in countries including China, Russia, Thailand, Greece and Iraq. The company said it had now changed: ''Today, we are a better and stronger company, and we will continue to do everything we can to maintain the highest compliance standards.''

bangkokpost.com A Buddhist monk and a 51-year-old man in Chiang Mai have been arrested and charged with sexually exploiting six children, according to a Department of Special Investigation source. Police also arrested a 67-year-old British man, who was one of their customers, on the same charges as the two men.

nationmultimedia.com More than 1000 hoteliers and tourism-business representatives gathered in Bangkok to urge the government and protesters on both sides to seek a political solution and reject violence for the sake of the tourism industry. Representatives from the Thai Hotels Association, the Association of Thai Travel Agents, the Thai Travel Agents Association and the Association of Domestic Travel staged a demonstration in Lumpini Park, surrounded by ''pink shirts'' from Chulalongkorn University.

scmp.com Cathay Pacific Airways flights could be delayed or cancelled as early as Tuesday if its flight attendants decide to take industrial action over pay and work conditions.

bloomberg Pilots taking antidepressants will be permitted to fly after US regulators dropped a decades-old ban on four drugs. Risks from side effects such as drowsiness that are associated with the medications used to treat depression don't pose a safety threat, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

scmp.com Grounded budget airline Viva Macau is planning legal action against the Macau government for killing it off just a day before it closed a US$30 million deal with a foreign investor that it says could have rescued it.

thestar.com AirAsia X has not received government approval to fly to Sydney and Seoul although the long haul budget carrier had expected to fly to the Australian city by June this year. Presently, Malaysia Airlines flies 12 direct flights on the KL-Sydney route. The other airline with the rights, Jetstar, stopped plying the route in 2008 and has yet to resume flights.

wsj.com Investigators have identified one of the suicide bombers in Monday's deadly attacks in the Moscow subway as the teenage widow of an Islamist leader from the North Caucasus. The use of so-called black widows - women who lost husbands or other family members in years of fighting with Russian forces - has become a hallmark of separatist terrorism in the restive region in the last decade.

thestar.com By no measure is East Timor ripe for serious tourism, but that is part of its charm. Hotels and restaurants have sprung up to cater to United Nations personnel, with prices to match. Outside Dili there are no banks or petrol pumps and a minimal choice of food and accommodation.



April 6-8 First Phuket Tattoo Convention, Jungceylon, Patong. Admission 150 baht.
April 9-13 Phuket Bike Week, including tattoo competitions, island rides and the Miss Phuket Bike Week contest.
April 12-13 Water festival on the Beach
April 13-15 Songkran in Old Phuket Town
April 14-18 Phuket Cricket Sixes, Karon Sports Stadium.
May 31-June 5 Eight-nation football tournament for players over 55 at Surakul Stadium in Phuket City. Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Taiwan, Iran, Armenia competing.
May Annual Phuket seafood festival.
May Date to be finalised for Muay Thai kickboxing competition at Laguna Phuket.
May 21-23 Paragliding on Phuket.
June 4-13 Phuket International Film Festival, Coliseum Cineplex, Phuket City.
June 13 Laguna Phuket International Marathon. Fun runs, too.
December 4-11 Phuket King's Cup Regatta