independent.ie Giulio Andreotti, seven-time prime minister of Italy, has died aged 94 after a short period of poor health.

news.com.au Three women believed to have been abducted up to a decade ago have been found alive in a US home. A cheering crowd gathered outside the white timber house where police arrested a Hispanic man, 52. Two of his brothers have reportedly also been detained.

abc.net.au Women believed to have been abducted as teenagers have been found alive and well in a house in Cleveland, Ohio. A neighbor who heard screams from the house reportedly rushed to the dwelling, where he found the women, one of whom then used his mobile phone to call police.

AP The women were named as Amanda Berry, who went missing in 2003, a day before her 17th birthday, Gina DeJesus, who was 14 when she disappeared in 2004, and Michelle Knight.

newsnet5.com ''I heard screaming . . . And I see this girl going nuts trying to get outside,'' said Charles, a neighbor who found the women. ''I go on the porch and she said 'Help me get out. I've been here a long time.' She comes out with a little girl.'' Other children were inside.


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

vietnamnet.vn Two Vietnamese and a Thai died after a bus transporting 15 Vietnamese workers collided with a large lorry in Rayong Province, about 140km from Bangkok. The group was reported to have hired the bus to take them to the Cambodia border so that they could extend their visas.

Phuket Update Chinese nationals Hung Jin Tai, 34,and Cao Jiandong, 40, have been arested by Tourist Police in Phuket City for operating as tour guides and agents without documentation. They face a court fine and probably deportation. Most recent arrests of undocumented guides have been Thais.

bbc.co.uk Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has urged supporters to stage a protest after Malaysia's ruling coalition won polls he said were marred by fraud. His call came as PM Najib Razak was sworn into office after his Barisan Nasional (BN, National Front) coalition won 133 of the 222 parliamentary seats.

bangkokpost.com The aircraft now at the Don Muang boneyard once served six operators: Thai Airways International, Orient Thai Airlines and its sister budget carrier One-Two-Go, Phuket Airlines, Thai Sky Airlines and Air Andaman. Thai Sky Airlines, Phuket Airlines and Air Andaman abandoned their end-of-life aircraft at DMK when they went out of business.

nationmultimedia.com Police in the northeastern province of Bueng Kan rescued 984 dogs just as they were about to be smuggled across the Mekong River to Laos. The dogs, in 82 cages, were about to be transported to Laos and sent to Vietnam.

bangkokpost.com ICT Minister Anudith's promise to guard the prime minister's back and shut down websites that allow criticism of her is slammed as undemocratic and an abuse of power by the opposition.

AP Hans Lipschis, 93, deported from the US for lying about his Nazi past was arrested by German authorities on allegations he served as an Auschwitz death camp guard, Stuttgart prosecutors said.

thelocal.de Hundreds of black balloons filled the sky over a Munich courthouse as Germany's biggest ever neo-Nazi murder trial got under way, with anti-racism protesters noisily demanding justice.

reuters Beate Zschaepe, 38, is charged with complicity in the shooting of eight Turks, a Greek and a German policewoman in towns across Germany between 2000 and 2007, as well as two bombings in immigrant areas of Cologne and 15 bank robberies. Her two presumed male accomplices both committed suicide in 2011.

jpost.com Syria has stationed missile batteries aimed at Israel in the aftermath of alleged Israeli air strikes in the country, the website of Lebanon's Al Mayadeen TV, considered close to the regime of President Bashar Assad, quoted a top Syrian official as saying.

globalpost.com Worried that ethnic cleansing may take place without international attention, Anonymous is preparing an operation in support of Burma's minority Muslim Rohingya ethnic group, possibly targeting government officials. Some Anons pointed out that the Rohingya are threatened on two fronts: by anti-Muslim mobs and by a government complicit in the violence.

arabnews.com The solution to end the violence that has led to thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma for Bangladesh rests with the Burmese government, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told Arab News.

smh.com.au The Australian dollar fell in overnight trade on the back of rumors that billionaire US investor George Soros is betting the local currency will fall. [Australians fly the strong Aussie $ to Phuket.]

nationmultimedia.com Thailand may not have to face high tariffs on its future shrimp exports to the US after it produced evidence that indicated Thailand was not involved in the dumping practices, as alleged by the US. The US is the biggest export market for Thai shrimp.

sail-world.com Recent armed attacks against yachties by thieves in popular Chalong Bay in Phuket, Thailand, is the first violence that the local cruising community can remember here towards yachts in a very long time. It is hoped that the men arrested were the same raiders who have terrorised the Baan Nit area off Cape Panwa in the previous week.

afp Thousands of protesters have filled a Moscow square to denounce President Vladimir Putin a year into his new term and rekindle the momentum that was brutally quashed when a protest last year led to mass arrests.

telegraph.co.uk The number of areas in Britain where black and Asian people make up the bulk of the population has grown significantly in the last decade, according to new research. It found 4.6 million ethnic minority Britons - about 45 percent of the country's black and Asian population - are now living in areas where whites are in a minority.

afp In front of 300 villagers, Halima's father shot her in the head, stomach and waist - a public execution overseen by local religious leaders in Afghanistan to punish her for an alleged affair that brought dishonor on the family.

afp The parents of an American scientist found hanged last year in Singapore arrived in the city-state Monday ahead of a coroner's inquiry into his death at which they will testify. Rick and Mary Todd have said they believe their son Shane was murdered because of his work for a Singapore institute with alleged links to a Chinese firm seen by the US as a security threat.

globalpost.com Indonesia summoned the British ambassador to make a protest after a group supporting independence for the restive Papua region set up its headquarters in Britain, the envoy said.

skift.com British academic Dr Stroma Cole says 260 of Bali's 400 rivers have run dry and Bali's biggest natural reserve of water, Lake Buyan, is in deep trouble from shrinkage, sediment and the inflow of agricultural chemicals. Tourism to Bali keeps growing at about 10 to 12 percent per year.

cnn.com Two North Korean Musudan missiles have been withdrawn from a launch site in the eastern part of the country and sent to a storage facility, a US official confirmed.



bbc.co.uk Motherwell striker Michael Higdon has been arrested over an alleged assault hours after being crowned Scotland's Player of the Year. The 29-year-old was held after a disturbance at the Corinthian nightclub in Glasgow in the early hours.

theage.com.au The father of Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic said he was acting in self-defence when he headbutted his son's training partner and broke his nose. John Tomic denied a charge of assault against Thomas Drouet in a Saturday afternoon brawl outside a hotel where players in the Madrid Masters were staying.

bbc.co.uk A racing driver was killed as he took part in a vintage touring car race in Leicestershire. The crash, involving a 1965 Mini Cooper S, happened at Donington Park.

theage.com.au Pharmaceuticals and sport is a match made in heaven. The advantages are many and significant- for medicine, for athletes, for police, for addicts, for sport's governing bodies, and for spectators.



May 10 International Business Association of Phuket at RPM Yacht Club Restaurant. Speaker Voronai Vanijaka on 'There's no path towards true democracy for Thailand.'

May 10 AustCham Thailand, AMCHAM (American Thailand Chamber of Commerce) and BBAP (British Business Association of Phuket) TRI NATIONS business and social networking function from 6pm-8pm, Pullman Hotel, Nai Thon beach.

Until May 14 World in Grey exhibition of black and white photos of Phuket, Standard Chartered Bank, corner of Phang Nga and Phuket Roads

May 13 Royal Ploughing Ceremony Day

May 24 Wisakha Bucha Day

June 9 Laguna Phuket International Marathon

July 6-7 Phuket Air Show and Family Picnic, Phuket Air Park

July 17-21 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek

July 22 Arsarnha Bucha Day

August 12 HM The Queen's Birthday

October 5-13 Phuket Vegetarian Festival

October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day

November 9 Asian Cup Triathlon Sprint, Patong

November 10 ITU Long Distance Series triathlon, Patong

November 17 Loy Kratong Day

November 24-December 1 Challenge Laguna Phuket Tri-Fest. Laguna Phuket

December 5 HM The King's birthday



November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket