Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's former president, has been detained along with his two powerful sons pending investigations into accusations of corruption and abuse of authority, the prosecutor general has said.


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

LARGE quantities of aid have been delivered to flood victims south of Phuket by a Phuket team organised by Bangkok Hospital Phuket and CSR project manager Pareeya ''Jum'' Jullaphong. ''Most of the aid is from Phuket people, not the hospital,'' she said. ''We gave out about 300 bags of supplies and goods. And every family got got one five-kilo bag of rice, a bunch of mama noodles and canned foods.'' Phuket's Kusoldharm Foundation and the People Unity Foundation, Nakorn Sri Thammarat, helped distribute the assistance direct to people in the floods. Meanwhile, the official Phuket campaign to raise money for Japan and the flooded south raised 12.6 million baht.

mcot.net The floods devastating Thailand's southern region since March 23 have inflicted approximately eight to 10 billion baht in damages to industrial entrepreneurs, according to Federation of Thai Industries.

bbc.co.uk Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan says produce from the region around the Fukushima plant, which was hit by last month's earthquake and tsunami, is safe to eat despite radiation leaks. He said radiation levels were now declining and consuming local products was "our way to support the area".

eurasiareview.com If Thailand is to minimise the risk of renewed demonstrations and violence, it needs to ensure that forthcoming elections are free and fair and that a legitimate government is formed without any interference from the elite establishment. 'Thailand: The Calm Before Another Storm?', the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, states that nearly a year after the crackdown on anti-establishment demonstrations, support for the so-called red shirt movement remains strong and political reconciliation has led almost nowhere.

asiaone.com A sealed container that was supposed to have been empty turned out a shocking surprise at Singapore's Pasir Panjang Container Terminal when a trailer driver heard banging sounds coming from inside a container that was bound for Vietnam. Workers were shocked to find a Bangladeshi man alive inside. He was overwhelmed by the stench from the decomposing corpse of another man in the container.

bloomberg US investigators will focus on pilot actions and air-traffic control instructions to determine why an Air France Airbus A380 superjumbo jet clipped a Delta Air Lines commuter plane at New York's Kennedy airport.

independent.co.uk Thai authorities have sparked an outcry by revealing that they are in talks with Burma over proposals to send more than 140,000 refugees back across the border. The head of the national security council, Tawin Pleansri, said the government planned to close camps established along the border with Burma over the past two decades and make residents return.

news.com.au According to travel.com.au, Australians' favorite world cities for 2011 are London, Los Angeles, Bali, Bangkok, Auckland, Singapore, Paris, Manila, Hawaii and Phuket. Short and medium-haul destinations such as New Zealand, Bali, Thailand and Singapore were becoming popular thanks to discount airfares and improved access.

nytimes.com The US continues to lag other nations in its use of computing and communications technology, according to an annual study by the World Economic Forum. For the second year in a row, the US finished fifth in the study's comparison of 138 countries that make up 98.8 percent of the world's total gross domestic product. Sweden was first, followed by Singapore, Finland and Switzerland.

etravelblackboardasia.com Modeled on designer Bill Bensley's boyhood vision of a ''Garden of Eden,'' the new Coqoon Spa at Phuket's Indigo Pearl Resort boasts six individual treatment rooms and a lavish spa suite complete with private pool, Vichy rain shower, steam room and sauna. Its design piece de resistance is The Nest - the spa's signature treatment suite suspended midair in the branches of what is thought to be Phuket's oldest banyan tree.

foxnews.com At Indonesia's Griya Balur clinic, doctors not only claim smoking cures cancer, they also claim it cures autism as well. Dr. Gretha Zahar, the founder of the clinic, told AFP that she had treated 60,000 people with tobacco smoke over the past decade.

news.com.au Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman perhaps provided a little too much information during a morning radio discussion, when listeners heard him flush his toilet mid-interview.



April 13-15 Songkran Festival, Phuket City, Patong celebrations
Until April 13 Sarasin Songkran on the bridge between Phuket and Phang Nga
Until April 17 Phuket International Cricket Sixes
May New PPAO Hospital to open, Phuket City
June 12 Laguna Phuket International Marathon
June 23-26 Phuket Fun Fly paragliding, Nai Harn
July 3 Phuket Navy League US Independence Day fair at Headstart International School
July 20-24 Six Senses Phuket Raceweek
October Vegetarian Festival, 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

Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket