telegraph.co.uk Thousands of Britons flying abroad are facing travel chaos due to a strike by French air traffic controllers. UK and Irish airlines have had to axe scores of flights while others are being disrupted.

astroawani.com AirAsia today unveiled its self bag-drop which will be made available at Don Muang Airport, Phuket, Langkawi International Airport and a few airports in Indonesia in the coming months.

bbc.com Passport checks on all travellers leaving the UK are being phased in at ports and border crossings. Immigration officials will record details of all passengers leaving by commercial air, sea and rail transport.

telegraph.co.uk Gibbons have a secret ''language'' which contains 'words' for animals such as leopards and eagles, scientists have found, in a discovery that sheds light on the evolution of human speech. Apes in Thailand make 450 distinctive 'hoo' calls.


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



bangkokpost.com The number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand sharply rose in the first three months on course for the Tourism and Sports Ministry to meet its projection this year. Ministry spokesman Charnwit Phalajivin said 7.8 million tourists from other countries visited the kingdom from January to March, a 23 percent jump.

AP Chinese authorities are to keep records of citizens doing anything illegal or inappropriate while in other countries, in an attempt to encourage people to behave while travelling.



Phuket Update Phuket's Central Festival Underpass appeared to be open to traffic last night.

9news.com.au Video has emerged of the mayhem caused in Pattaya when an American tourist drove the wrong way down a busy road. ''It was a crazy bit of driving,'' a police officer told Phuketwan.
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/04/08/07/11/us-tourist-crashes-into-13-cars-thai-police-shoot-tyres

afp Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has been skewered in the middle of a tense election campaign - for eating a hot dog with a knife and fork. The Conservative leader's visit to a voter barbeque backfired as an attempt to appear as an everyman, relaxing in a blue shirt as the beer flowed.

newsweek.com Scientists in the US say they have developed an aluminium battery that can charge a smartphone in as little as a minute. The battery, which is so flexible it can be folded, could replace alkaline and lithium-ion batteries that are used by millions of people every day according to Stanford University researchers.

telegraph.co.uk Don McLean has finally revealed the meaning behind his 1971 hit American Pie, one of the most enigmatic songs in pop history, and made public a previously unpublished lost verse: ''There is no poetry and very little romance in anything any more.''

smh.com.au As supporters cheered and waved banners reading ''Defeat the Washington Machine,'' Rand Paul, a senator and son of a congressman and presidential candidate, announced his own candidacy for the Republican nomination for the White House at a rally in Kentucky.

news.com.au British ferry service, Condor Ferries, has released a safety clip showing three of their staff members rapping instructions to the tune of ''Rappers delight'' by Sugarhill Gang. Good or bad? You decide.
http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-ideas/condor-ferries-releases-worst-safety-video-ever/story-fnjpja3r-1227294405489

afp Fifteen police officers were killed in a gang ambush in western Mexico, an official said, marking the deadliest day in recent years for security forces battling the drug war.

scmp.com A notorious poaching vessel pursued by the Sea Shepherd environmental group has mysteriously sunk off the West African coast in an incident the green group suspects was a deliberate bid to conceal evidence.

mirror.co.uk Seal cubs are being left to starve to death as their mums are slaughtered by Britain's fish farming industry. Hundreds of the protected animals are being secretly shot along the nation's coast every year, yet the culling is legal.

rustourismnews.com Centara Pelican Bay Residence & Suites Krabi takes full advantage of its stunning location, having been designed as a cluster of low-rise buildings surrounding a swimming pool, with the area's characteristically lush green tropical forest rising up around it.

nationmultimedia.com A 90-minute drive north from Phuket, the resort is located on Bang Sak beach, a slice of unspoiled tropical beauty dipping down to the Andaman Sea. Manathai Khao Lak is the latest addition to the independent Thai hospitality group Manathai Hotels & Resorts. It boasts 158 spacious rooms.



Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-malaysias-giant-step-backwards-nurse-accused-sedition-joins-sea-games-22207/



afp Christian Benteke scored a potentially priceless hat-trick as Aston Villa avoided slipping into the Premier League relegation zone by drawing 3-3 at home to Queens Park Rangers.

afp Veteran midfielder Sebastian Kehl rolled back the years to score Borussia Dortmund's extra-time winner to seal a dramatic 3-2 victory over Hoffenheim in the German Cup quarter-final.



April 11-19 Phuket Bike Week

April 13-15 Songkran Festival

May 4 Additional public holiday scheduled

June 20-21 Baba wedding at Old Phuket Town

July 15-19 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek