FC Phuket draws 0-0 before large crowd at Phuket City home ground.


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

Latest: State of emergency declared at a second nuclear plant. Japan's PM says it's the worst crisis for the nation since WWII. Death toll rising, now estimated at 1300, with 10,000 unaccounted for from tsunami in one town alone. Rescuers searching a muddy, devastated coastal wasteland. Latest vision shows houses being swept through towns by the wave. More tsunami alerts come Sunday. And now, the nuclear radiation threat.

Officials revise up the magnitude of Friday's earthquake to 9.0.

latimes.com One police official says the toll could hit 10,000 in his prefecture alone. The reeling nation also contends with a possible meltdown in at least one reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Dozens are believed to have been exposed to radiation.

cnn.com A meltdown may be occurring at one of the reactors at a damaged nuclear power plant in northeast Japan, a government official said Sunday, sparking fears of a widespread release of radioactive material at a time when rescuers are frantically scrambling to find survivors from Japan's strongest-ever earthquake.

abc.net.au The death toll is nearing 900, but the figures do not include 400 to 500 bodies so far found in Miyagi Prefecture.

afp The port town of Minamisanriku was practically erased, over half its 17,500 population unaccounted for.

Associated Press Officials say the cooling system has malfunctioned at Unit 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the same complex where an explosion occurred Saturday at a different reactor.

reuters Tokyo Electric Power Co has begun preparation to release radioactive steam from a second reactor at its quake-struck Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, a spokesman said. The spokesman said the amount of radiation to be released would be small and not of a level that would affect human health.

latimes.com Another nuclear reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 facility in Japan has lost its emergency cooling capacity, according to the Associated Press, bringing to three the number of reactors at that facility to fall prey to Friday's magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami. Added to failure of three reactors at Fukushima No. 2, the count is now six overall.

sky.com Around 200,000 people have been evacuated from near two Japanese nuclear power stations as fear spreads of radiation exposure.

csmonitor.com Japan's nuclear power crisis remains unstable and volatile, warn US nuclear experts. They note that accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl grew far worse before being controlled.

bangkokpost.com Japan's nuclear safety agency rated the Fukushima accident at four on the International Nuclear Event Scale from 0 to 7, meaning an accident "with local consequences.'' Three Mile Island rated five while Chernobyl was a seven.

afp The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it has sent two experts to Japan, where authorities were seeking to calm fears of a reactor meltdown in the aftermath of a massive earthquake.

wsj.com People in Thailand are gathering funds to help provide aid to Japan, with some saying they want to reciprocate the support Japan offered to Thailand in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami that devastated large areas of the Andaman coast and Phuket.

mirror.co.uk A British rescue team was scrambled to Japan to join the colossal mission to save survivors of the tsunami. Doctors, nurses, firefighters and forensic experts - jetted off from the UK as tens of thousands of people remained missing.

bernama.com Singapore and Malaysia will send disaster assistance personnel, sniffer dogs and doctors to facilitate search and rescue operations in the aftermath of the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake which hit northeast Japan, killing hundreds and causing widespread devastation.

euronews.com Tens of thousands demonstrated on Saturday against plans to extend the life of Germany's nuclear power stations. According to the police, some 50,000 people took part in the protest which saw a human chain spread from a nuclear power plant in Neckarwestheim to the city of Stuttgart.

usatoday.com Travel to and within the country remains crippled. Though operations at Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports returned to normal Saturday, the country's transport minister reported 400 canceled flights into and out of the country. The US State Department is advising Americans to avoid non-essential travel until April 1.

channelnewsasia.com Some economists said the earthquake in Japan is not expected to have a huge impact on trade with Singapore. However, as Japan is still the third largest economy globally, the closure of ports will cause a supply chain disruption.

afp.com Thousands of anti-government Red Shirt demonstrators took to Bangkok's streets amid a heavy police presence, marking a year since the start of protests in the capital that turned deadly. Police estimated that 10,000 people joined the gathering.

breakingtravelnews.com The United Nations World Tourism Organisation is forecasting an increase in international tourist arrivals of between four and five per cent in 2011 - a rate slightly above the long-term average. However, the impact of the events of the past couple of months, which continue to cause huge concerns for the global travel and tourism industry, remains uncertain.

iol.co.za Significant job losses and potential threats to the livelihoods of thousands of people in long-haul destinations will become ''a stark reality'' unless the practice of imposing excessive, discriminatory and unilateral taxes on travel to long-haul destination is abandoned by certain euro-zone countries, according to South Africa's Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk at ITB Berlin.

carrentals.co.uk Air travellers flying with Singapore Airlines will be paying a lot more for the privilege from March 17. The airline is adding whopping fuel surcharges of up to $US584 per passenger for return flights between Europe and Australia.

ttglive.com Qatar Airways has warned that a ''very minimal'' fuel surcharge on ticket prices lies ahead because of the global hike in oil costs. Speaking at ITB Berlin, chief executive Akbar Al Baker said a fuel surcharge was on the cards despite the airline's ''aggressive'' hedging strategy for its fuel.

jakartaglobe Kuta Beach has been declared safe for swimming again following bacterial contamination last weekend that turned the water to a turgid brown. Officials at the government-run Ngurah Rai Fish Quarantine Laboratory said the bacterial bloom was likely caused by large amounts of waste discharged into the sea reacting to unusually high temperatures, with the resulting drastic drop in the pH level killing off large amounts of plankton.

aap Up to 80 asylum seekers have broken out from the Christmas Island Detention Centre, Australia's Immigration department has confirmed. A department spokesman said there had been an "incident" that involved several hundred detainees and 50 to 80 had broken out.

telegraph.co.uk Prince Andrew is braced for fresh questions about his links to Jeffrey Epstein next week after lawyers in America signalled a ''major'' development in their attempt to resurrect the criminal prosecution of the billionaire pedophile. [The pair once holidayed on Phuket.]

guardian.co.uk Prince Andrew has pulled out of a proposed trip to Saudi Arabia amid ''safety concerns'' after almost three weeks of damaging revelations about his personal integrity and links with corrupt and repressive regimes.

walesonline.co.uk A pedophile in charge of an orphanage has been jailed in Cambodia for abusing the children he was looking after. Nicholas Patrick Griffin was arrested last October after leaving Britain in 2006 and setting up the Cambodia Orphan Fund in Siem Reap a year later. Griffin, 53, has now been sentenced to two years, one suspended, for offences against children.



This week's Phuket Gazette front page leads with the bus rollover, but drops its earlier claim online that the driver was quickly in police custody. The Phuket News leads on the second big Tesco, coming to Thalang, first reported by Phuketwan back on September 20. The News says two people died in the bus crash: only one did. The News also errs in saying that 3,597,488 people arrived at Phuket airport in January and February.

thaivisa.com Woody Leonhard: The Phuket Gazette reported [online] on the overturned bus on Patong Hill. It describes the circumstances surrounding the turnover, and says that the driver is in the police station. A, let's say another publication says that the driver fled and the police are currently looking for him. The new newspaper says that driver's whereabouts are "unknown." It'll be interesting to see which paper got the right story. [Thai Visa always censors the word Phuketwan and links.]



FC PHUKET plays early Division One leaders Big Bang Chulalongkorn University FC at Surakul Stadium in Phuket City from 6pm tonight. The last clash on Phuket produced a remarkable result in which a 1-1 draw against Rajpracha FC was awarded as a victory to Phuket after their opponents deployed too many expat players. Tickets are 50 baht and 20 baht for children. Man to watch: 17-year-old Sarach Yooyen.

The HEROINES FESTIVAL offers stage presentations from Sunday to Tuesday with Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha in a starring role. The spectacular show recreating Thalang's history, including the legend of the Phuket sisters who fought off the Burmese, is held from 7pm at the Thalang Victory Memorial Field, on Dom Tom Chao Road, in Thepkasattri subdistrict. The cast numbers about 1000 people. Sunday at the festival: 6am Mini Marathon Racing 8am Fancy Parade and Big Bike parade from monument to war memorial 9am Country Cross Bike racing 5pm para-motor show 7-9pm Show 8.30pm Thai Boxing.

Until March 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