UPDATING All Day, Every Day
bbc.com At least 290 people remain unaccounted for after a ferry carrying 476 people capsized and sank off South Korea.The ferry, carrying mainly school students, was travelling from Incheon to the southern resort island of Jeju.
cnn.com It was supposed to be a class trip to a resort island that's considered the Hawaii of Korea. Instead, the ferry has capsized in the Yellow Sea, and hundreds of people are unaccounted for.
news.com.au One man has been detained and police have evacuated the area around the finish line of the Boston Marathon after two suspicious backpacks were found on the first anniversary of the terror attack that killed three people.
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
bangkokpost.com The pro-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) will hold a mass rally in Bangkok one day before the Constitutional Court rules on caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's status. The UDD says the rally may last for several months.
nationmultimedia.com As large numbers of people yesterday started to travel back to work from the new year holidays the Road Safety Centre said the first four days of Songkran had seen 2027 road crashes, which claimed 204 lives and injured 2142 people.
dailystar.com.lb A Hezbollah ring of three was arrested in Thailand, according to a report published by a specialised website in the country.They were a Thai, Y. Ayyad, who was described as a member of a foreign operations unit of Hezbollah working out of East Asia and two Lebanese.
bangkokpost.com Vicha Mahakhun of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) says he is no enemy of Thaksin or Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, but is just doing the job of tracking and prosecuting graft in government.
Latest on Lost Flight MH370
cnn.com The underwater probe being used to look for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was back in the water after its first attempt ended prematurely, said the company that owns the vehicle, Phoenix International.
Phuket World of People
theage.com.au Journalists Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian will face criminal defamation charges in a Thai court on Thursday for repeating information in a Reuters report on Phuketwan, their small Phuket-based news website.
dvb.co.no ''The comparison couldn't be more stark,'' said Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia Division. ''On one side of the world, Reuters journalists win media's top prize for revealing abuses against Rohingya boatpeople while in Thailand, the Thai Navy files serious criminal charges against a small website for simply re-printing the story.''
Guardian editor in chief Alan Rusbridger, whose newspaper shared a Pulitzer with the Washington Post for its Edward Snowden NSA disclosures, said: ''We are particularly grateful for our colleagues across the world who supported the Guardian in circumstances which threatened to stifle our reporting.''
thephuketinsider.com French chain Accor will open an ibis Styles in Krabi this year. Developed by the Erawan group the property is set to cash in on a current boom in midscale visitors to the destination.
AP Chinese have become the world's most common world traveler, with more than 100 million expected to go abroad this year. In 2012, they overtook the Americans and Germans as the top international spenders. But in Chiang Mai and elsewhere, Chinese tourists have acquired the same sort of reputation for loud, uncouth, culturally unaware behavior that inspired the term ''Ugly Americans'' decades ago.
abcnews.go.com ''Unfortunately, right now, the feeling is very anti-Chinese. In order to bring out such strong feelings in Chiang Mai people, it must be really bad. Generally, Chiang Mai people are quite tolerant of foreigners,'' says Annette Kunigagon, Irish owner of the long-established Eagle Guesthouse.
bbc.co.uk A record 73 percent of beaches in the UK have ''excellent'' water quality, according to the Marine Conservation Society. Researchers said the lack of rain last summer caused less pollution to filter down to the coasts. [Phuketwan welcomes results being revealed of tests in the shallows on Phuket's beaches.]
More News from the Region and the World
bangkokpost.com The days of tax-free used cars could soon be over with the Revenue Department floating the idea of imposing tax on both second-hand car dealers and sellers as part of its effort to boost the government's dwindling revenues.
dailymail.co.uk If we do choose to resist Putin, we will risk a terrifying military escalation, which I do not think it an exaggeration to say could bring us to the brink of nuclear war. Putin knows that. And he believes we will choose surrender.
guardian.com ''Roses are red, violets are blue. Today is a good day to tell you that - I love you.'' That was the text in a Valentine's Day card that Reeva Steenkamp wrote to her boyfriend, Oscar Pistorius, hours before he shot and killed her.
theage.com.au It is called the Uniqlo Way. Every morning at 9am - an hour before the first customers arrive - staff at Uniqlo's clothing stores around the world gather to recite what are called ''The Behaviors''. These are a series of well-honed phrases that define customer service.
bbc.com The UK has a ''boys' club sexist culture,'' a UN investigator looking at violence against women has said. Rashida Manjoo is on a visit to Britain, studying its approach to the issue.
Phuket World Sports Wrap
independent.co.uk Arsenal have moved back into fourth place with a hard-fought 3-1 home win over West Ham United.
independent.co.uk While Liverpool's 3-2 victory over Manchester City strengthened their Premier League title charge, the match will be remembered as a clash of the titans' affair for more than one reason. An emotionally charged, end-to-end affair that was packed full of controversy, five goals and a sending off summed up what can easily be classed as the game of the season.
afp Poland striker Robert Lewandowski hit his 100th goal for Borussia Dortmund to book their place in next month's German Cup final in Tuesday's 2-0 semi-final win over VfL Wolfsburg.
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
