It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Invite the wealthiest and most loyal guests from around the world, feed them a 10-course dinner cooked by three French Michelin-starred chefs and give them a luxurious place to lay their heads for the night, all on the house.

Then whisk them off to the slums of Kolkata or Bangkok's backstreets, so the 50 high-rollers could witness life on the other side of the tracks and perhaps put their hand in their pocket.

But the luxury Bangkok hotel, lebua at State Tower, hit a snag with the event it coined "emotional tourism". It got more emotion than it bargained for when the French media saw it as a poverty tour for the rich, triggering a mighty furore.

Within days the trio of elite French chefs withdrew. Alain Soliveres of the Michelin two-star Taillevent in Paris, Jean-Michel Lorain of the three-star La Côte Saint Jacques in Burgundy, and Michel Trama from the three-star Les Loges de L'Aubergade in south-west France, all made their excuses.

You can't see people living in misery and then go back to Bangkok to eat foie gras and truffles, said Soliveres: It started an enormous, enormous scandal in France. I had no choice but to boycott the meal.

Lorain called the event unhealthy and morally unjustifiable in an email to lebua executives.

Menus will now be rewritten for the event in April and the poverty tour has been scaled back to just a trip to the "elephant village" of Surin in Thailand's north-east, where rice farmers struggle to survive. The free dinner and tour for the most loyal lebua customers that will cost the hotel £150,000 is a far cry from its effort of last year when it charged for a "million baht meal" (£15,800) cooked by Michelin-starred chefs to raise money for charity.

None of the European, American and Asian guests - bankers, executives and casino owners - have backed out. A Dutch publisher of luxury travel guides, Nick Zirkzee, has already pledged 5% of the profits of a new book to people of Surin.

The projects are part of a five-year tourism development plan starting this year. Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said he would soon propose the plan to the Cabinet for approval.

Weerasak gave an outline of the projects to ministry officials:

• The first project aims to create a "civilisation tourism route" between Thailand and Burma. It is expected to require funding of Bt40 million this year and another Bt225 million over the next two years.
• The second is building eco-tourism, which is expected to consume Bt900 million to Bt1 billion.
• The third is the "Thailand Riviera" project, which was initially proposed some years ago. It aims to build new tourism magnets along the Gulf of Thailand. This project will require Bt260 million this year and Bt500 million in the next two years.
• The fourth is promoting the Mekong River as a new destination. It will require Bt130 million this year and another Bt420 million through 2009 and 2010.
• The last project calls for the building of the Thai-Khmer cultural route. It is budgeted at Bt500 million.

The projects are intended to attract more global tourists as well as encourage domestic tourism, Weerasak said.

The Public Health Ministry issued a warning yesterday, saying the country is experiencing the worst outbreak of dengue fever in a decade, with more than 4,000 people infected by the virus in only two months.

A total of 4,393 people fell ill between Dec 30 last year and Feb 23, with six deaths reported. Children and teenagers aged from seven to 14 were a high risk, officials said.

More than half of the dengue infections and fatalities were in central provinces, followed by the South and the North, said permanent secretary for public health Prat Boonyawongwirote.

The surge in dengue fever infections was mainly because of climate change which accelerated the life cycle of the mosquito, enabling them to produce a minimum infective dose of the dengue virus faster than before, he added.

The last outbreak in Thailand was reported in 1998 when 129,954 people were found to be infected with dengue fever, leaving 424 dead.

Dr Prat said epidemiologists and provincial health offices have been put on full alert to monitor the disease. Each province is required to persuade people to work with health officers to regularly destroy mosquito larvae in water sources.

Before gaining entry to a pub, one has to display an identification card. However, the next time just your finger will do.

A new technology using a fingerprint scan has been developed to help verify the age of pub patrons. The technology has been launched by Diageo Moet Hennessy, a leading importer and distributor of premium alcoholic beverages.

The company's vice president of marketing, Zanita Kajiji, said the project involved establishing fingerprint scan kiosks at the gates of popular pubs. The kiosk will be used by pubs to verify that their patrons' age is above 20 - the legal requirement to enter a pub.

The kiosk machine is designed to record the customer's basic personal information such as first name, last name, address, and most importantly, date of birth. The kiosk is equipped with magnetic card reader, camera and fingerprint scanner.

The system requires a first-time registration for which the customer's identification card is scanned and the information on it is read. Next, the camera clicks an image of the ID card. Lastly, the machine scans the index finger of the right hand. In all, three types of information - personal details, picture and fingerprint - are collected, encrypted and transmitted to the company's server. The process takes only a few seconds.

Zanita said that the next time the customer visits the pub, instead of displaying his ID card, he just needs to get a fingerprint scan which works as verification. The machine matches his fingerprint scan with the one in the database and verifies the age of the patron.

The kiosks will be connected via a virtual private network to the company's server, which is hosted at True Internet. All the customer information in different pubs will be kept in the same database server. If that person goes to another pub, they will not need to register again, Zanita said.

She said registration had to be on a voluntary basis because it involves giving out personal information and invokes privacy rights: We have got a good response. The customers are willing to use this process, as it is so convenient and trendy. Thailand is the first country in which we have launched the fingerprint-scan project.

From the 12 pubs participating in the trial, the company received registrations from 20,000 people or 60% of total customers. The company wants to encourage 100% participation from the pubs' customers.

The firm plans to roll out the Bt50-million project across 100 pubs in the country by year-end. It will bear the cost of installing the kiosk, the virtual private network and maintaining the server.

The launch of Daily Xpress, Thailand's first ever free newspaper, to be published in English with a compact form, will take place along with the transformation of The Nation into a paper with a firm focus on in-depth business and political coverage.

Daily Xpress will have an audited print run of 100,000 copies daily, making it the largest-circulated English daily newspaper in Thailand.

Tulsathit Taptim will be editor of Daily Xpress. The Nation's managing editor, Thanong Khanthong, will replace Tulsathit as editor of The Nation, a founding member of Asia News Network.

The younger generation of sophisticated readers is a largely unfulfilled or untapped market as far as English language media is concerned. And we hope Daily Xpress, with a focus on lifestyle, human interest news, talk of the town events, entertainment and fun, will help serve their needs for a new kind of media, said Tulsathit.

He said Daily Xpress also aims to promote the concept of citizen journalism and readers' interaction by publishing reader-generated content.

The Nation readers, starting on March 5, will get a double package of news - in broadsheet and compact forms. With Daily Xpress also delivered to present and future Nation subscribers, it means Nation readers are treated to 72 pages of in-depth news, analyses and trendy lifestyle and entertainment reports on most days.

The Nation broadsheet will have more focus on business and political information and we are moving to easier-to-use design and navigation of news items and features. It will be published from Monday through Saturday. Daily Xpress with expanded content and features will continue to be delivered to Nation subscribers on Sunday.

The Bank of Thailand announced on Friday it was reversing course and will lift the 30% capital controls effective on Monday. The baht exchange rate immediately leapt nearly 2% to 31.45 per dollar, the highest in nearly 11 years.

The central bank decided to lift the capital controls because of the improving economic situation, said central bank governor Tarisa Watanagase.

The controls were imposed during the Surayud Chulanont administration in an attempt to control the appreciation of the baht against the dollar. They require that 30% of all incoming investments to be held by financial institutions for up to one year.

Tarisa had fought the government on lifting the capital controls. The BoT has predicted the baht will rise in value against the US dollar when the controls are gone. The baht has already gained 7.4% this year, the most of any of the top-10 currencies in Asia outside of Japan.

Mrs Tarisa said one effect of lifting the controls would be a merging of the local, largely artificial exchange rate with the so-called offshore rate found outside the country - which was 29.7 baht per dollar on Friday.

Deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned from 17 months in exile to face corruption charges, receiving a hero's welcome from supporters and vowing to restore his reputation following his ouster in a coup.

But Thai authorities rapidly detained the 58-year-old billionaire politician and took him to a court appearance. There he was ordered to post $267,000 in bail pending a hearing on March 12, said court secretary Rakkiat Pattanapong.

Thousands of supporters — many dancing, beating drums and singing — gathered at Suvarnabhumi International Airport for his arrival aboard a Thai Airways flight from Hong Kong.

He had expected to face arrest after arriving on charges of graft and abuse of power during his 2001-2006 time in office.

His return was seen as a test of the country's political stability, with critics warning that the populist billionaire's homecoming could plunge the country into renewed crisis.

Thaksin had tears in his eyes as he emerged to faced supporters. He knelt and touched the ground with his forehead, hands clasped together in the Thai greeting.

After posting bail, Thaksin proceeded to the Attorney General's Office where he paid $33,530 in bail on another set of charges. In that case, he and his wife are accused of concealing assets, said the office's spokesman Thanatip Moonpruk.

Thaksin has said he is innocent of the charges against him, alleging that they were politically motivated. A hearing on whether Thaksin would be indicted was set for April 3.

Just hours after arriving, Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee said that government would consult Thaksin, who is legally banned from all political activity for five years, for economic advice. We can't appoint him to any official position, but we'll ask him for advice on the economy, Surapong told reporters.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the Manchester City chairman, is expected to be arrested when he returns to Thailand tomorrow after a 17-month exile, but, if that news is likely to alarm the club and their supporters, he has moved to assure City that he expects the process to allow him to clear his name and to reclaim £800 million of frozen assets, some of which will go to Sven-Göran Eriksson’s transfer kitty.

Thaksin, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, is due on a flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok this evening for his first visit to his homeland since he was overthrown from government in a bloodless coup in September 2006. He has told confidants that he expects to be arrested on corruption charges relating to his time in power, but that he believes that he will be bailed immediately, allowing him to start the negotiation process with the ruling People’s Power Party, which is regarded in some quarters as a proxy for Thaksin while he is barred from political office.

With fears in Bangkok that his return might spark riots, such are the conflicting emotions he arouses in his countrymen, sources in Thailand have suggested that the process might not be quite so straightforward as Thaksin has been led to believe. But the 58-year-old has assured his colleagues in Manchester that his return to Bangkok will bring benefits to City, who were unable to invest as much money as Eriksson hoped in the January transfer window due to the fact that Thaksin’s assets were frozen. The chairman and owner has assured the club that some of those funds will be given to Eriksson to strengthen his squad in the summer.

The Thai government have announced plans to launch a 24-hour, free-to-air sports television channel within the next six months.

PM's Office Minister Jakrapob Penkair revealed the project after a meeting with Tourism and Sports Minister Veerasak Kowsurat yesterday.

'The government has broadcasting frequencies ready to facilitate this new channel, Jakrapob said.

The channel would eventually fund most of its running costs through advertising revenues so that it could be less dependent on the state.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is planning to revive a controversial anti-drugs campaign which reportedly killed 2,500 people.

Samak, elected in December polls, promised a decisive, and quite possibly bloody campaign against drug dealers.

He said he would use the same ruthless tactics as his political patron and predecessor, Thaksin Shinawatra.

I will not set a target for how many people should die, said Samak: We will pursue a suppression campaign rigorously. There will be consequences.

While Thaksin's 2003-2004 campaign enjoyed popular support and did, briefly, curb Thailand's rising drug problem, it resulted in some 2,500 deaths.

Human rights groups accused police of extra-judicial killings, saying many of the dead were later proved to have been innocent.

On Wednesday, Thai Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung said the new campaign would go ahead, even if thousands had to die: When we implement a policy that may bring 3,000 to 4,000 bodies, we will do it, said Chalerm, himself a former police captain.

The target of the new drugs crackdown is the illegal methamphetamines industry. Many of the drugs are made in neighbouring Burma, and smuggled into Thailand and beyond.

All sales of alcohol should be banned on religious holidays, according to Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Suebwonglee. Surapong, also finance minister, came up with the proposal during merit-making to mark Makha Bucha Day.

To mark the Buddhist religious holiday, the temple and Thai Health Promotion Foundation held a campaign to keep temples free from alcohol.

Backing the campaign, Surapong said he would seek an amendment to the Alcohol Control Act to prohibit sales of alcohol on Buddhist holidays. Surapong said the ban would complement existing measures to curb alcohol consumption.

The Alcohol Control Act currently bans alcohol from areas near religious sites, state offices, educational institutions, registered dormitories, petrol stations and public parks.

Dengue fever has sickened more than 2,800 people and killed four in Thailand this year, sparking worries about a possible wider outbreak despite efforts to control the disease, the health ministry have said.

A total of 2,824 cases of the mosquito-borne illness were detected in Thailand from Jan 1-Feb 9, compared to 1,702 cases with no fatalities reported during the same period in 2007, the ministry said in a statement.

Countries across Southeast Asia experienced the worst outbreaks of dengue fever in years in 2007, with Thailand reporting about 60,000 cases and 29 fatalities. Large outbreaks also occurred in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia.

The dengue virus causes severe joint pain, high fever, nausea and a rash. In the worst cases it can lead to internal bleeding, liver enlargement, circulatory shutdown and sometimes death. There is no known cure or vaccine.

Scientists fear rising temperatures and longer rainy seasons — like Thailand experienced last year — will allow more mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria to flourish.

The mosquitoes that carry the dengue virus have also been able to adapt to climate change, becoming more resistant to dry weather and breeding faster, ministry official Praj Boonyarowong said in the statement.

The ministry advised people to protect themselves from mosquitoes by ridding their homes and surroundings of flower pots, old tires and discarded bottles or cans where stagnant water can collect and allow the insects to breed.

The Ayutthaya council yesterday called for strict monitoring of love nests for underage couples on Valentine's Day. They range from love motels to internet cafes. Council chair Jiraphan Pimpan voiced concerns that several love motels have cropped up around the city and that all outbound highways in every direction lead to such motels.

She urged police and related agencies to step up checks at motels which the council has found to have allowed minors, who usually arrived on motorcycles. Motel operators should make sure that their customers are not minors by requesting their identity cards at check-in, she said.

The council's survey also identified six locations that young couples chose for promiscuous behaviour or even premature sex. They include three public parks. Teens were found to have got carried away in the provincial sports stadium, particularly the area on the back of a basketball field. Other locations include karaoke rooms, internet cafes and isolated corners in department stores.

Authorities should strictly monitor and prevent premature sex in these locations throughout the year, she said. The sale of condoms at grocery stores also encourages sex among youngsters. Media hype surrounding Valentine's Day had encouraged teens to skip classes to engage in sexual activity, she said

Thailand's king has sworn in a new cabinet packed with allies of Thaksin Shinawatra.

The powerful defence, interior, foreign affairs and finance portfolios were all given to lawmakers loyal to the former prime minister.

New PM Samak Sundaravej took on defence while Noppadon Pattama, Thaksin's legal adviser, became foreign minister.

Samak becomes only the third civilian to hold the position of defence minister. The prime minister said earlier he wanted the role in order to facilitate communication with military leaders who had led the coup.

Party Secretary-General Surapong Suebwonglee, a medical doctor, was given the finance ministry, while deputy party leader Chalerm Yoobamrung took on the interior portfolio.

Thaksin's brother-in-law, Somchai Wongawat, was named education minister.

The BBC's Jonathan Head, in Bangkok, says that no-one in Thailand is under any illusions that this is a cabinet of the best and the brightest, with even Samak admitting that the image of the government is a little ugly.

Posts appear to have been distributed either on the basis of rewarding smaller parties for joining the coalition, or loyalty to Thaksin, who is assumed to be the PPP's main financier.

No-one is sure how far the cabinet will be directed by Thaksin, our correspondent adds. Although chosen by Thaksin to lead the PPP, Samak is a forceful personality who may fight to get his own way as prime minister.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has begun a new online campaign that includes a plan to improve the "accuracy" of information in the hundreds of articles about Thailand on Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopaedia.

The project, with more targeted e-marketing, is expected to help travel suppliers increase their revenue and also create a better reputation for Thai tourism among travellers worldwide, according to Thapanee Kiatphaibool, assistant director of marketing information technology for the state agency.

The Royal Thai Consulate in Penang is expected to impose stricter rules regarding the issuing of Tourist Visas.

Thaivisa.com have been advised that the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Penang as from February 1 2008, will only issue Tourist Visas to those in possession of an air ticket departing from Thailand to an international destination not local in the same region. (i.e. not Vietnam, Malaysia or similar.)

It is believed that the reason for the tightening of the rules is to reduce the number of foreigners using tourist visas to stay long term in Thailand, and not for tourism purposes for which this visa is intended, therefore abusing the system.

Our source is from a reliable person, who normally provides us with accurate information, and we have no reason to doubt the accuracy of this information.

The new ticket rule is not officially confirmed as yet but faxes have been sent to visa agents, stating that from tomorrow Feb. 1, everyone applying for a tourist visa should have an air ticket out of Thailand and the region, to their home country.

For years the prospect of visiting one of three "long-necked" Kayan villages in this remote corner of north-western Thailand, close to the Burmese border, has been a major lure for foreign tourists.

In return, the visitors have helped to provide a very modest income for the Kayan women and their families, who are all refugees from Burma.

But in a dramatic intervention, the United Nations is now talking of the need for a tourism boycott, amid allegations that the Kayan are being trapped in a "human zoo".

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) says that for the past two years, the Thai authorities have refused to allow a group of 20 Kayan to leave the country, despite firm offers to resettle them in Finland and New Zealand.

The suspicion is that the women are being kept in Thailand because of the central role they play in the local tourism industry.

We don't understand why these 20 are not allowed to start new lives, said the UNHCR's regional spokeswoman, Kitty McKinsey. The Thai authorities are treating them in a special way, she argued, pointing out that some 20,000 other Burmese refugees had recently been allowed to move to third countries: It's absolutely a human zoo. One solution is for tourists to stop going.

Representatives from the Isan Buddhism and Culture Promotion Network and several other groups in Northeast Thailand called on the company to change the name of the beer to avoid tarnishing the reputation of northeastern people.

They said the name Isan Beer could lead to a misunderstanding that northeastern people of Thailand, fondly called Isan people, are obsessed with drinking alcohol.

Such a misunderstanding, they claimed, could be deep-rooted to become a negative value for the younger generation and detrimental to the society and culture of the region.

They submitted an open letter to Khon Kaen governor and Boon Rawd Brewery executives to demand a change of the name. They also asked the company to stop advertising its product in the media as well as supporting cultural events in the province.

Should the company ignore their protest, they said, they would gather signatures of one million protestors to further submit their demand to the government.

Thailand's new parliament yesterday chose an irascible, septuagenarian television chef as prime minister.

Samak Sundaravej, 72, is a veteran political operator and self-confessed frontman for Thaksin, the former prime minister who still lives in self-imposed exile despite the turnaround in his political fortunes.

The prime minister-elect - who openly campaigned as a proxy for Thaksin - will set about forming a cabinet after Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej formally endorses his election.

But within minutes of his selection Samak, a charismatic yet deeply divisive figure, vowed his life would not change and went off to a popular market to buy groceries.

He also said he planned to revive his weekly cooking show - Tasting, Grumbling - about spicy Thai food. It went off air a week ago after the army-appointed government took over its host station.

We still have three months of our new cooking show on tape, Samak said, as he wandered the market. The constitution does not prohibit a prime minister from doing TV shows.

The famously pugnacious politician now heads a six-party coalition led by his People Power party (PPP) that easily knocked Thailand's oldest party, the Democrats, into second place despite its ill-concealed opposition to the royalist-military elite that staged the 2006 coup. Samak correctly gambled that his close alliance to Thaksin, who has an enduring appeal to Thailand's impoverished masses despite the corruption allegations against him, would propel him into the top job.

Soon after Samak and the PPP won the election he said he would help Thaksin clear his name. Thaksin said he is considering returning home in May, although there are outstanding warrants for his arrest over a land deal he made while in office in 2003. His wife Potjaman Shinawatra has already appeared in court and is on bail.

Thaksin's comeback and Samak's abrasive style could stir up divisions in Thailand once again, with political commentators predicting a bumpy ride ahead for a government that many say will survive only months.

Samak, a rightwinger in several army-backed governments that arrested and killed opponents, is himself fighting a two-year sentence for defamation and is the subject of corruption allegations over the purchase of fire trucks while he was Bangkok governor.

About this time last year a self styled John Galt was laying into the noted Bangkok internet commentator, Stickman.

The fracas died down a few months later but Keith Summers/NotStickman/John Galt's website has sprung back to life with the news that he is being sued for slander by a businessman named Clayton Wade.

Samak Sundaravej, leader of the People Power party which won the election on Dec 23, on Saturday unveiled a six-party coalition to govern the country - probably with himself as prime minister.

We can move ahead. This will be a strong, capable government,  Samak told a packed press conference.

The five parties joining the pro-Thaksin PPP in the first post-coup civilian administration are Chart Thai, Puea Pandin, Matchimathipataya, Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana and Pracharaj. That leaves only the Democrat party in the Opposition.

Puea Paendin leader Suwit Khunkitti, asked about joining the coaliation, said Somebody has to govern and the electoral system has chosen the PPP. We are happy to join with them in doing our duty.

Parliament is to meet on Monday to begin work. A government is expected to be announced next week.

The new government represents about 315 of the total of 480 elected MPs. Samak said this is strong enough to make a stable government, which is true so long as the coalition holds.

A popular Thai maxim is that there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies in politics.

It is not certain that Samak will be premier. The fiery former minister and Bangkok governor has made political enemies over the years, and speculation continued on Saturday that he may be sidelined in his quest to be prime minister.