UPDATING All Day, Every Day
cnn.com Arrest warrants have been issued for the captain and two crew members of the Korean ship that capsized, leaving hundreds missing.
independent.co.uk Twelve people have been confirmed dead and three more are missing after an avalanche swept through a route used by climbers to scale Mount Everest. Those killed are all Nepalese guides.
Local Rag Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian of local blog PhuketWan were released on bail yesterday on charges of criminal defamation and other offenses in connection with a story they published on trafficking in Rohingya.
haaretz.com Two members of Hezbollah arrested several days ago in Thailand have admitted that they were planning to launch a terror attack against Israeli tourists in Bangkok, the Bangkok Post reported on Friday morning.
PhuketWATCH Daily Media Wrap
PHUKET: The daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media. Beware of inconsistent imitations.
Today's Top News Items
independent.co.uk Teams of divers worked through the night to search for the 290 people who remained unaccounted for after the MV Sewol sank off the south-western coast of South Korea. Some 325 school children were among the 475 people on board the vessel.
thestar.com About 30 minutes after passengers were told to stay in place, the captain finally gave the order to evacuate, a crewman said, adding he wasn't sure if the order was relayed to the passengers. Several survivors also told the AP that they never heard any evacuation order.
scmp.com Heart-wrenching messages of fear, love and despair, sent by high school students from a sinking South Korean ferry, have added extra emotional weight to a tragedy that has stunned the nation.
news.com.au The shocking dark side of a destination frequented by Australian travellers has been revealed. There have been 248 deaths and 2643 injuries on Thailand's roads. And no, that's not the yearly total so far. That's over a period of just FIVE DAYS.
Latest on Lost Flight MH370
reuters Footage taken by a deep-sea drone should determine sooner than previously thought whether a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean is the final resting place of a missing Malaysian jetliner, Australian search authorities said.
Phuket World of People
wsj.com Two journalists were charged Thursday with defaming the Royal Thai Navy in an article about the trafficking of Myanmar refugees. The journalists - Australian Alan Morison, 66, and Chutima Sidasathian, 33 - work for the online publication Phuketwan, which is based in Phuket, about 536 miles south of Bangkok.
khou.com ''To us, it's still very much a case that shouldn't be going to court, and sadly it's going to damage Thailand's reputation as a democracy because these kinds of cases shouldn't occur in any democracy,'' Morison told The Associated Press.
bangkokpost.com The Phuketwan news team face years in jail, but win praise from foreign correspondents for doing ''more than most'' to report the plight of Rohingya.
andrew-drummond.com How can we criticise from the west, when one our own institutions, Reuters news service, who gained a journalist Oscar - a Pulitzer Prize - at least partially off the back of these two remarkable people, still remain so silent. Their crime is one of the most unlikely in the annals of libel history.
voanews.com An excerpt from a Pulitzer Prize report posted online by a website in Thailand has led to a criminal court case against two journalists. ''The law is used in all kinds of bad ways against investigative journalists and academics and even migrant activists in Thailand already. And we're just the most noticeable case, I guess, because it's the military,'' said Morison.
reuters A criminal court on Phuket ruled the case against the two journalists should proceed and set the first hearing for May 26. They were detained for some hours while bail was processed.
news.com.au Morison says the charges, filed by the navy, are a ''set up'' and part of efforts to shut down his website which has long reported on the trafficking of Rohingya. Human rights organisations and the media have called for the charges to be dropped.
washingtonpost.com The trial of Phuketwan's journalists is ''unjustified and constitutes a dark stain on Thailand's record for respecting media freedom,'' Brad Adams, the Asia director of New York-based Human Right Watch, said in an email.
Human Rights Watch HRW is calling on Thailand's leaders to intervene and stop the case. It terms the prosecution an application of draconian laws and a ''blatant violation of media freedoms.''
Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand The Bangkok-based FCCT said it shared the view of the UN Human Rights Commissioner ''that such a prosecution serves only to stifle media freedom on an issue of profound importance to the rights of a persecuted people''.
nationmultimedia.com Many Phuket-based journalists went to give Chutima and Morison moral support, as well as to cover the story. On Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders reiterated its call for the withdrawal of proceedings against Chutima and Morison.
More News from the Region and the World
bangkokpost.com Police and foreign intelligence have stopped an apparent attempt by Hezbollah agents to bomb Israelis and other foreigners on Khao San Road.
nationmultimedia.com Three Chinese suspects have left the country after allegedly stealing a Mont Blanc wristwatch worth over Bt10 million from a luxury shopping mall in the heart of Bangkok, said the Immigration Police Bureau.
cnn.com Nobel winning writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez - the author of 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and 'Love in the Time of Cholera' - has died aged 87, his family confirms.
bangkokpost.com High-end tourists from four Asean countries are expected to generate at least 1.3 billion baht in income for Thai tourism next year, reports the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
Phuket Coming Events 2014
Krabi Update The sixth Krabi Rock and Fire International Contest will be held at Railay Beach and Tonsai Bay from 21 to 23 April 2014. More than 30 teams of adventurous tourists from the world over will join the climbing. Krabi has more than 18,000 hotel rooms.
Until April 20 Phuket International Cricket, Republic Ground, Chalong
Until April 19 Phuket Bike Week
April 20-27 Phuket Pride Week
April 26 Vote for mayor in Patong, alcohol sales banned in election area from 6pm April 25 to midnight April 26
April 30 US Embassy Outreach, Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort, 8am-noon.
May 24 Visakha Bucha Day
July 11 Arsanha Bucha Day
August 12 Queen's Birthday
September 24-October 2 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket
October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day
November 6 Loy Kratong
November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket
December 5 King's Birthday
December 10 Constitution Day
December 25 Christmas Day
December 26 10th Anniversary, 2004 Tsunami
December 31 New Year's Eve
