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

wsj.com AirAsia's chief executive is ''keen'' to operate in Singapore, and the Malaysian airline will soon base some aircraft there in a move that may presage an AirAsia Singapore unit launch. Recent advertisements for cabin crew positions at AirAsia Singapore are hoped to be the first step, Tony Fernandes told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

Phuket Update Nok Air is offering ''Smile Packages'' from Bangkok to Phuket that include three-star accommmodation for two nights at 6150 baht per person. The deal is to run all year, from Don Mueang airport. Nok has three flights a day to Phuket.

Phuket Insight Lapdogs are the new babies on prospering Phuket. A Phuketwan photographer visited the ''one village one product'' fair at Saphan Hin in Phuket City and was surprised to see as many pet dogs being carried around as babies. The photo album is above. The fair highlights food and fun, with a ''Ladyboys Have Talent'' contest nightly. It runs until May 22.



ft.com Thaksin's Avatar: Thai politics has long been heading for a train wreck. The opposition's decision to nominate the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra as its prime ministerial candidate merely cranks up the speed of the train.

theglobeandmail.com While the little in the way of reconciliation has taken place over the past 12 months (a situation that likely won't be helped by an election campaign now underway that all sides expect to be a bitter one), Thailand's economy has somehow kept sizzling on, seemingly unaffected by the country's perpetual instability.


smh.com.au A "heartbroken" Maria Shriver has broken her silence after revelations husband Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a love child to a household staff member 10 years ago.

washingtonpost.com For at least 10 years, throughout a spectacular and closely-scrutinised political career, Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to hide the existance of a love child with a member of his own household staff.

bangkokpost.com Central Plaza Hotel reported record first quarter profits and revenues. An 18.8 percent increase was attributed to the strong recovery of the tourism sector and the 15 percent year-on-year increase in international tourist arrivals. Average first-quarter occupancy in the brand's hotels was 70.6 percent.

smh.com.au Jetstar has been bombarded with hundreds of signed emails from its pilots, warning that the airline is placing the lives of passengers and flight crews at risk in its bid to force new pilots on to ''deficient'' group contracts.

Associated Press While American authorities have condoned, or at least tolerated, ''perp walks'' for more than a century, in France it's been illegal to show images of suspects in handcuffs since 2000. French politicians and citizens alike are upset by the images, which they say make former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, accused of sexual abuse, appear guilty.

heraldsun.com.au People living in a Singapore apartment block unknowingly consumed water tainted by the decomposing body of an Indonesian maid before police discovered her remains. A 27-year-old Bangladeshi man was arrested over the death of the maid, whose body was in one of eight water tanks on top of the 15-storey block, a police spokesman said.

bangkokpost.com The US Travel Association is calling for citizens of Brazil, China and India to be given special priority for visa processing as part of a sweeping package of measures to help the country regain its share of the global travel and tourism industry.

wsj.com More than 550 health professionals and organisations have signed a letter to McDonald's asking the maker of Happy Meals to stop marketing junk food to kids and retire Ronald McDonald.

bbc.co.uk Rolls-Royce has launched an investigation after a plane carrying 136 people had to make an emergency landing in Singapore. The Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 experienced problems in one of its two Rolls-Royce engines shortly after taking off for Jakarta.

abcnews.go.com A new study found that men who drank six or more cups of coffee a day over nearly two decades were 60 percent less likely to develop more aggressive forms of prostate cancer. Men who drank one to three cups a day lowered their risk of prostate cancer by 13 percent, according to the study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

independent.co.uk Burma's new government began freeing about 14,000 prisoners and commuting thousands more sentences in an amnesty critics dismissed as a token gesture aimed at improving its international image.

speroforum.com The use of USB sticks, CDs, floppy disks and other external data storage devices in Burmese internet cafes has been banned. A new regulation issued by the Communications Ministry has tightened existing controls.

csmonitor.com For the first time since the civil war in the 1970s, the government of Phnom Penh announced that it would distribute standardised street-number plates to homeowners, starting this month.

nationmultimedia.com There are a lot of interesting things to do in Phuket for kids. You may just prefer to spend time with them on the beach with a bucket and a spade and let the kids play at whatever they want. Have a happy vacation!

channelregister.co.uk HP scientists have made a breakthrough in the development of memristors, a fundamental circuit type that looks increasingly likely to replace NAND flash and possibly DRAM. The core advantage of memristors is that they can theoretically achieve speeds 10 times that of flash at one-tenth the power budget per cell. They can also be stacked, enabling exceptionally dense memory structures.



Until May 22 Phuket's nightly village fair of local products, food and entertainment, Saphan Hin, Phuket City
May 31 New PPAO Hospital to open, Phuket City
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 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