RESCUE teams converged on beaches and remote islands in search of the missing yesterday as authorities reported that more than 430 people, including a number of foreign tourists, were killed and 4,100 injured when earthquake-spawned tidal waves devastated idyllic resort areas of southern Thailand.

Rescue teams converged on beaches and remote islands in search of the missing today as the Thai prime minister said up to 700 people perished when earthquake-spawned tidal waves devastated idyllic resort areas of southern Thailand.

The Thai prime minister fired his agriculture and defence ministers today as part of a high-level shake-up aimed at tackling a deadly outbreak of bird flu and a bloody separatist insurgency in the Muslim-dominated south.

THAILAND yesterday confirmed its 10th death from bird flu and said the woman may have contracted the virus from her daughter, raising the alarming possibility of human-to-human transmission of the disease.

Punching their arms into the air in a synchronised one-two motion, nearly 47,000 Thais - including the prime minister - performed aerobics in a world record-breaking workout today.

Local authority workers fanned out in the Thai capital Bangkok today to round up stray dogs after one rabid animal went on the rampage and bit at least 52 people in three hours, officials said.

Thailand had its worst lunar New Year holiday on record, with the death toll from traffic and other accidents during the festival rising to 628, the Public Health Ministry said Monday.