UPDATE
Novak Djokovic takes the Australian Open tennis title 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 over Rafael Nadal
PhuketWatch Daily Media Wrap
PHUKET: A daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media.
bangkokpost.com Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung [visiting Phuket in an anti-drugs campaign in February] has warned drug dealers and traffickers that they will face the full force of the law. National police chief General Priewpan Damapong said he had ordered police officers to crack down on both small and big-time drug dealers nationwide and to patrol night entertainment venues to check for drugs.
nationmultimedia.com Authorities in Kanchanaburi and from the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department have seized 51 elephants from three elephant camps in Sai Yok district for inspection. Two more camps will be inspected this week in an effort to stop people taking the identity papers of dead elephants and passing the documents off as those of elephants taken from the wild.
digitaljournal.com A story carried by the international media that elephant meat has become a culinary delicacy in Thailand and that the new taste is posing a threat to the survival of the species has been denied by the Thai media. Phuketwan has denied the allegation that ''a new taste for elephant meat'' in Thailand is posing a threat to Thai elephants, saying there is no evidence to support the claim.
care2.com A ''new taste'' for elephant meat is posing a new threat to the animals in Thailand, according to a report from the Associated Press. Hopefully the reports that elephants are being killed in Thailand to be eaten are indeed unfounded.
smh.com.au Seventeen asylum-seeker children suspected of being trafficked from Vietnam have vanished from immigration centres across Australia, and authorities admit they have not been searching for them.
bangkokpost.com Resource rich with a population of about 60 million, the potential size of Burma's economy is comparable to that of Thailand and Vietnam but the immediate transitional period is expected to create problems for an inward looking government and profit-demanding foreigners.
Phuket People
ONE Phuket five-star reports a potential new scam - guests who bring along their own dead cockroaches to deposit in their rooms, then claim a discount. The difficulty is that although resort staff say the suite was scrupulously clean before the guests arrived and the cockroaches appeared to have been dead for days, posting the allegation on tripadvisor can be the guests' parting insult.
guardian.co.uk The role of former Sun editor Rebekah Brooks is expected to come under fresh scrutiny after four of the paper's current and former journalists were arrested in connection with an investigation into corrupt payments to??police.
cnn.com A woman's body was found in the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship, Italian officials said, taking the number of people confirmed dead to 17.
scmp.com Hong Kong Disneyland has bristled at suggestions that its ban on beards for staff - a policy scrapped by its sister parks in the United States last week - is discriminatory. Rights and religious groups claim policy discriminates against Muslims and Sikhs.
Phuket World Sports Wrap
theaustralian.com.au Rival captains Misbah-ul Haq and Andrew Strauss acknowledged Pakistan's excellent performance which saw them win the second Test against England by 72 runs in a thrilling finish in Abu Dhabi. Left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman rocked England - chasing a tricky 145-run target - with 6-62 which helped Pakistan bowl out their opponents for a paltry 72.
bangkokpost.com Liverpool advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup by defeating Manchester United 2-1 at Anfield. In an earlier match, Chelsea booked their place in the last 16 of the FA Cup after a controversial penalty defeated west London rivals Queens Park Rangers 1-0.
dailymail.co.uk Chelsea captain John Terry suffered the ultimate snub when the refusal of what was almost certainly the entire QPR team to shake his hand before the FA Cup fourth-round tie forced the abandonment of their much-vaunted pre-match ritual of respect. The snub was over a claim that Terry racially abused a QPR player.
guardian.co.uk Liverpool knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup but were put on the defensive when the question of racism again raised its head at Anfield. An image of a Liverpool fan appearing to make an offensive monkey gesture was circulated on Twitter, prompting police to investigate.
PA Will Buckley's shot looked to be going wide but it took a huge deflection off a Newcastle player to wrong-foot the goalkeeper and bounce into the net. Brighton and Hove Albion 1-0 Newcastle United
guardian.co.uk Victoria Azarenka crushed Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0 to win her maiden grand slam and become world No1.
Phuket Coming Events 2012
PLANS are underway to mark Krabi's celebration of the province's 140th anniversary on May 5.
Until January 30 Old Phuket Town Festival
February 24-25 Phuket Blues Festival, Laguna Phuket
March 29-April 1 Phuket International Boat Show, Royal Phuket Marina
April Opening of Gardens by the Bay, Singapore, three waterfront gardens that will dwarf Kew in London and provide ''green lungs'' for the city.
May 26-June 5 National Youth Games, Phuket
Phuket Coming Events 2014
November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket
