Phuket Update A Phuket driver who heard a siren and hurriedly turned his pick-up to avoid what he thought was a police checkpoint crashed into a shop and brought down a power pole about 6.30pm. It was actually a noisy celebration at Kathu temple. The driver needed treatment for a head wound.


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

mcot.net Travellers flocked to this resort province [Phuket] despite rumors it is sinking. Phuket governor Tri Aukaradecha welcomed a group of 385 Thai and foreign passengers at Phuket International Airport flying with Thai Airways to visit the province.

nationmultimedia.com Despite rumors that Phuket would submerge as a result of a recent earthquake, all the flights to the island province were fully booked. Authorities on Phuket hosted a 'Believe in Phuket' event.

Phuket Update The opportunistic Friendship Beach Resort in the Rawai district of southern Phuket is holding a 'No Sinking More Drinking' party from 6.30pm-10.30pm on Sunday.

bangkokpost.com Geology Professor Thanawat Jarupongsakul urged people not to be afraid and accept that Thailand is located in an earthquake and tsunami risk zone, so they should be prepared for the risks.

bangkokpost.com British ambassador Asif Ahmad suggested that Thailand establish a single body to manage and coordinate relief during natural disasters. Contingency plans also needed to be set up and tested regularly. Refusal to accept flood aid last year was ''self-defeating.''

nationmultimedia.com Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived in the United Kingdom on Friday night and would stay in that country for about a week, his spokesman said. Thaksin was also considering travelling to the US.

bbc.co.uk Malaysian riot police have fired tear gas and used water cannon on a crowd of protesters who had converged on the centre of the capital, Kuala Lumpur. A police spokesman estimated there were about 25,000 demonstrators at the protest, but some Malaysian news organisations put the numbers as high as 80,000.

aap Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, on an international fact-finding mission on election processes in Malaysia, was among the crowds when police fired teargas and chemical-laced water at demonstrators.

AP Demonstrators swamped Malaysia's capital, hoping to pressure Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition - which has held power for nearly 55 years - to overhaul electoral policies before polls that could be held as early as June.

nationmultimedia.com Thai officials were involved in human trafficking and took advantage of stateless Rohingya boatpeople, a recent seminar revealed, amid calls for reforms of the immigration act and justice procedures. Thailand saw itself as a passageway for the minority to go to Malaysia, so officials only pushed the Rohingya back (to sea) and did not proceed with any legal processing.


FILIPINOS on Phuket are invited to turn out on Sunday from 10am to 6pm for a sports day at Cherng Talay gymnasium that will involve basketball for men and volleyball for women as well as plenty of fun. The sporting activities are planned for every Sunday through until June 10. Sunday is the only day off on Phuket for many.

nationmultimedia.com Police say messages in cellphones seized from inmates in a raid on a Nakhon Si Thammarat jail contained evidence of criminal activity conducted outside the prison, including crystal meth deals worth 100 million baht, as well as trading in war weapons.

afp Massive queues at passport control were reported at Heathrow. The Home Office's border control agency was under fire as MPs and passengers voiced frustration about long immigration queues just three months out from the Olympics.

telegraph.co.uk Spanish leaders have warned that their country is mired in a '''crisis of huge proportions''' as the jobless rate in the eurozone's fourth-largest economy hit 24.4 percent, the highest in the industrialised world, in the first quarter of this year.

pattayadailynews.com Two Pattaya ladyboys hit Iranian Reza Sumiepor, 47, on the head with a high-heel shoe. The injured and bleeding Iranian said that the two ladyboys were angry for not receiving the outstanding 400 baht for the sexual services they had provided.

afp An elementary school principal who pleaded guilty to engaging the under-aged girl's services became the first to be punished in a Singapore scandal involving 48 men when a court sentenced him to nine weeks in jail. Among the accused are five foreigners.

balidiscovery.com A number of hotels and restaurants in Bali's South are thought to be pumping untreated sewerage into the local seas, with pipes spewing effluent into the water visible at low tide. Enforcement against business polluting Bali's rivers and seas has been largely non-existent.

scmp.com A US-based activist group and a prominent dissident confirmed that blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who fled from house arrest, is under US protection in Beijing. The move is likely to cast a shadow over Sino-US talks this week.

indcatholicsnews.com Up to 5000 Burmese children living on the Thai border face severe malnourishment, as the international donor community withdraws funds and shifts its attention back to Burma. As many as 2000 children are experiencing stunted growth and nearly 1000 are acutely malnourished, said Andrew Scadding, director of the Thai Children's Trust.

thejakartaglobe.com Authorities in Bali closed down the Satria Poultry Market in Denpasar after several chickens there tested positive for bird flu, days after the resort island recorded the country's seventh human death this year from the infectious disease.



goal.com Steven Gerrard has hailed Luis Suarez as ''one of the best in the world'' after the Uruguayan's superb hat-trick helped Liverpool beat Norwich City.

dailymail.co.uk Southampton swept back to the Premier League after an absence of seven years on a wave of joyous emotion, leaving no doubt about their right to join champions Reading in the top flight. Southampton 4 Coventry 0.



May 1 Labor Day public holiday

May 5 Krabi celebrates the province's 140th anniversary

May 5-7 Corontation Day long weekend

May 9 Royal Ploughing ceremony day

May 25-27 Phuket Rugby Tens

May 26-June 5 National Youth Games, Phuket

June 8-10 Laguna Phuket International Marathon

July 18-22 Phuket Raceweek



November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket