asiaone.com Thailand's red shirt protesters remained defiant in the face of mounting pressure from the battered tourism industry to end mass demonstrations seeking to topple the government. The red shirts have vowed to stage their biggest rally on Saturday since protests began with more than 100,000 supporters on March 14, but the army has predicted a low turnout as rural demonstrators go home.

Associate Press A Muslim woman sentenced to be caned for drinking beer has had her punishment commuted. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a mother of two, received a letter informing her that the state's sultan has decided to spare her the caning. The order is likely to cool debate over whether Islamic laws should intrude into people's private lives in Malaysia.


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

nationmultimedia.com Twenty-five tourism associations will gather on Friday on Phuket and nationwide in a show of unity against violence, urging every political party to cease conflicts and revive the tourism industry, which has been hit by tensions for three years. Tourism associations in Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Udon Thani, Samui and Krabi are expected to be involved.

bangkokpost.com Representatives of the tourism sector plan to converge at the King Rama VI Monument about 4pm on Friday to demand the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship end its rally, now in its third week. Federation of Thai Tourism Associations spokesman Charoen Wangananon predicted a turnout of at least 1000 in Bangkok.

washingtonpost.com From Dubai to Sweden and now Russia: It's been a busy travel week for Thailand's fugitive former leader Thaksin Shinawatra. The 60-year-old tycoon is trotting the globe in search of business ventures - and rallying red shirt protesters from afar by video link.

scandasia.com The Swedish Foreign Ministry confirms that the Thai Government did request the Swedish government to ask Thaksin Shinawatra to leave Sweden. But Sweden did not ask him to leave, says Anders Joerle, head of the press department of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

reuters.com Thailand's government is making an overture to thousands of street demonstrators by offering a debt-relief plan for farmers worth $1.3 billion, a scheme apparently intended to help win over the mostly rural protesters. An official released details of the plan which halves debts for many farmers and echoes a signature policy of fugitive former PM Thaksin.

bangkokpost.com Air Berlin, Germany's second largest airline, is to cut back the capacity for flights between Thailand and Germany by nearly 40 percent from May 2, mainly in response to low-season demand. The low-fare carrier will slash weekly services to eight flightsfrom 13 flights, suspending Bangkok-Munich and Phuket-Berlin. Bangkok-Dusseldorf, Bangkok-Berlin and Phuket-Munich routes will remain.

businessweek.com Thailand, the world's largest rubber exporter, is ''very satisfied'' with prices that have surged to a record in local-currency terms on strong overseas demand and limited supply, a deputy minister said. Rubber on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange has risen 12 percent this year, touching 314 yen a kilogram, highest since September 2008.

afp Google-owned YouTube has rolled out a major redesign aimed at clearing out visual noise and capturing the attention of viewers at the superstar video-sharing website. "We really felt like we needed to step back and remove the clutter," Google product manager Shiva Rajaraman said as he provided an in-depth look at the revamped YouTube home page.

smh.com.au In April Australia will begin a promotion to invite people to upload photos of their favorite holiday spots accompanied by a short explanation of why they think 'There's nothing like Australia' - the tagline that underscores a new $4 million campaign.

afp US air traffic safety officials have revealed that a China-bound passenger jet carrying 268 people nearly collided with a small plane shortly after taking off from San Francisco on the weekend. A National Transportation Safety Board investigator was on his way to the California city to figure out how the two aircraft came within 60 to 90 metres of a mid-air disaster.

associated press A Qantas A380 superjumbo jet damaged two tyres on landing in Sydney after a flight from Singapore, a spokeswoman said on Thursday. The 244 people aboard were taken by bus to the terminal because the plane could not taxi from the runway, the Qantas spokeswoman said.

irrawaddy.org The Rohingya, the Muslim minority living primarily in Burma's western Arakan State, will form a political party and contest the upcoming elections although most Rohingya are not currently Burmese citizens, according to sources close to prominent members of the Rohingya community. ''They [the Rohingyas] will form a party. They contacted us so we could help each other,'' said Ohn Lwin, the leader of a separate party called the National Political Alliance.

atimes.com Thailand and Malaysia have been singled out again in recent human rights reports for their systematic and unchecked exploitation of their large migrant worker populations. While both countries depend on foreign workers for economic growth and cost competitiveness, neither has taken sufficient steps to curb widespread abuses.

voanews.com Amnesty International has released its annual death penalty report, which shows the number of countries that use capital punishment is declining. But the report estimates that China executed several thousand people in 2009

scmp.com> China could have its first aircraft carrier operational in two years, according to the most senior US military official in the Asia-Pacific region.



April 3 Attempt on the mass dive record, Thai Muang, Phang Nga, 11am. Details: 076-411388.
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