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

PHUKET'S new tin mine museum in Kathu - Phuketwan's Phuket Innovation of the Year 2010 - has its official opening at 9am on Thursday. It's expected to quickly become a popular tourist attraction.

mcot.net The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has invited European diplomats in Thailand to meet to seek their cooperation in facilitating the evacuation of Thais from protest-stricken Libya to their countries before returning to Thailand.

bangkokpost.com Cabinet is expected to approve a tourism development plan worth 6.65 billion baht. Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart will propose that Cabinet consider tourism development in the form of eight clusters with 385 projects from 2012 to 2014.

huffingtonpost.com Facebook will be moving forward with a controversial plan to give third-party developers and external websites the ability to access users' home addresses and cellphone numbers in the face of criticism from privacy experts, users, and even congressmen.

thestar.com.my Having just returned from Bangkok, where I spent some time with Abhisit, I can vouch for his supremely cool and open-minded style. The 46-year-old politician is calm, rational and charming even under enormous pressure.
His low-key and self-deprecating manner stands in stark contrast to Thaksin's abrasive and pugnacious win-at-all costs approach, which prompts the question: have the Thais grown weary of the Berlusconi-esque antics of the former telecoms-to-media tycoon?

afp Indonesian truck drivers stuck in a massive traffic jam for more than a week said they had been forced to sell their belongings such as mobile phones to buy food. In a graphic example of infrastructure bottlenecks in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, the jam stretches for 11 kilometres and has ensnared some 2000 lorries.

ibtimes.com International hotel chain InterContinental has chosen Phuket, Thailand to launch as the first resort destination for its Hotel Indigo chain, becoming the latest brand to announce it's eyeing the island.

ft.com Christian Dior moved to protect its reputation by firing John Galliano, its star designer, for professional misconduct over the scandal surrounding allegedly anti-Semitic comments.

voanews.com One of the fastest growing businesses around the world, particularly in Asia, is Medical Tourism. Glen Cohen, Co-Director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at the Harvard University law school says there is evidence that profitable medical tourism is taking away medical services from the poor in some host countries.

brisbanetimes.com.au Phuket is also one of the best value-for-money destinations around but I'm not confident that the shopping scene would totally satisfy. However, Bangkok's certainly would and, since you'll probably be passing through, here's what I'd do. On the way to Phuket, plan a Bangkok stopover - two or three nights sounds perfect.

cnn.com New Zealanders paused at 12:51 p.m. Tuesday for two minutes of silence, marking the time a week ago when a shallow, 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch, toppling historic buildings and killing more than 150 people.

nationmultimedia.com One of six Thais missing after the deadly earthquake in New Zealand has been confirmed dead, while one of two newly retrieved Asian bodies might be another Thai casualty, said Pol Lt General Jaramporn Suramanee, chief of the Justice Ministry's Forensic Science Office.

afp China has ordered a nationwide overhaul of fire control measures after a blaze at a Shanghai high-rise killed 53 people in November and highlighted the country's chronic problem with lax safety enforcement.

telegraph.co.uk GPs could offer men at risk of prostate cancer a simple urine test for the disease in as little as 18 months, say British scientists behind the breakthrough.

mct The US Department of Transportation fined American Airlines $US90,000 for failing to disclose a fee for using flight vouchers. American didn't tell passengers that they must pay a $US30 ticketing fee to redeem the vouchers by telephone or at airport ticket counters.

wsj.com The International Air Transport Association said that it will to shift the venue of its annual meeting in June to Singapore from Cairo.

thephuketinsider.com The Club Med resort on Kata beach is set to be renovated this year according to the company. While the group continues to prosper in Southeast Asia one of its primary growth targets is into China.

cnn.com A 1940s and '50s movie bombshell, whose name was synonymous with voluptuousness, died at her home in Santa Maria, California, her family said. Jane Russell was 89.



March 4-6 Pool Asia Expo and Conference, Hilton, Phuket
March 6 Phuket Grumpy Old Men's Society car rally around Phuket
March 11 John Gray speaks at IBAP
March 13 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 23-26 Phuket Fun Fly paragliding, Nai Harn


Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket