theage.com.au Lewis Hamilton fought off teammate Nico Rosberg to give Mercedes a dominant victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday.

Phang Nga Update Two German tourists in their 50s are in hospital north of Phuket after a three-car crash near Tai Muang, Phang Nga, about 6.30pm that killed one Thai man. Rescuers needed an hour to cut all the passengers free.

theage.com.au The deaths of three people who developed an illness linked to some Blue Bell ice cream products have prompted the US company's first product recall in its 108-year history.


PHUKET: The daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media. Beware of inconsistent imitations.



bangkokpost.com A crowded double-decker passenger ferry capsized in northwestern Myanmar (Burma) after being slammed by huge waves, killing 33 people and leaving at least a dozen missing, officials said.

cbc.ca The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs says there are unconfirmed reports of at least 44 deaths in Vanuatu's northeastern islands after Cyclone Pam left eight people officially dead.



nationmultimedia.com Police Region 8 announced the arrest of two suspected human traffickers in Surat Thani. Their gang reportedly had 121 bank accounts with transactions worth 31 million baht. The pair allegedly bought Rohingya into Thailand in a boat modified to carry over 200 people per trip.

thephuketnews.com Asked what issue triggers most complaints, Vice Admiral Sayan Prasongsamrej, Commander of Royal Thai Navy 3, answered: ''The Rohingya issue . . . It is a very sensitive issue, and we have to be careful how we proceed. The ocean is wide open, it's not like a road where you can just set up check points, and it's easier for culprits [human traffickers] to evade us.''



theguardian.com In the lexicon of human migration there are still hierarchical words, created with the purpose of putting white people above everyone else. One of those remnants is the word ''expat''. Expat is a term reserved exclusively for western white people going to work abroad.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/13/white-people-expats-immigrants-migration?CMP=fb_gu

chiangraitimes.com If you are already here, try to hang out with positive people; those who are happy and enjoy living in Thailand. Good supportive, non-negative, non-Thai bashing friends can make a big difference. Find people you can talk with about assorted problems without whining. Joking about problems is not the same thing as bitterly accusing an entire country of something bad.



Krabi Update Millions of small crabs swarming across the beach at Ao Tang Len in Krabi have left villagers having to decide whether the province has a future in environmental awareness or the tasty morsels should be added to the locals' favorite som tam salads.

Phuket Update A man found dead and battered in a bloodied apartment room in Phuket City appears to have been involved in trying to collect debts from construction workers, police believe. Officers are pursuing the line in inquiry that fatal wounds on Nopphon Inchai, 39, were inflicted in a dispute with laborers at a construction camp in Chalong, southern Phuket.

nydailynews.com When it was time for the cold-hearted killer to finally face justice, all she cared about was how her face looked. Alabama native Kelly Lynn Miller, 36, who fled to Thailand five years ago to cheat justice on a DUI sentence, audaciously applied lip gloss at a Phuket media conference announcing her arrest.

news.com.au A British Airways flight has been forced to turn around following the discovery of ''smelly liquid poo'' in one of its toilets. The flight was en route from London to Dubai, and had been in the air for 30 minutes when the odor became ''unbearable.'' Passengers faced a 15-hour delay.

ynetnews.com Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government said it has evidence Islamic State used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against Kurdish peshmerga forces.

news.com.au TIME magazine has been forced to defend itself after Hillary Clinton appeared to have devil horns on the cover in the US.

belfastttelegraph.co.uk Laws stating the Queen is the ruler of Ireland and that anyone selling horses outside greater Dublin shall be put to death are to be repealed, the Irish government has announced.

gizmodo.com.au Every morning when you put your cell phone in your pocket, you're making an implicit bargain with the carrier: ''I want to make and receive mobile calls; in exchange, I allow this company to know where I am at all times.'' The NSA can allegedly track cell phones even when they are turned off.
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/03/read-an-excerpt-from-bruce-schneiers-new-book-data-and-goliath/

nytimes.com A nun in her 70s was raped during the robbery of a convent school in West Bengal before dawn, police and church officials said.

tnn A statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled in London's prestigious Parliament Square, a space packed mostly with monuments to men who served the British Empire that Gandhi helped destroy.

abc.net.au A campaign to free wild animals including a female gorilla from the rooftop of an old Bangkok mall is gaining momentum in Thailand. The 26-year-old female gorilla, named Bua Noi, has called a concrete enclosure on the mall's seventh floor home for more than 20 years.

usatoday.com Jeff Corwin, nature conservationist and host of ABC's Ocean Mysteries, caught, tagged and released a huge pregnant stingray weighing between 600lbs and 800lbs in Thailand recently.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/03/13/stingray-jeff-corwin-freshwater-fish/70262418/

Phuket Update The Chilean Ambassador to Thailand, Javier Andres Becker-Marshall, visited Phuket to announce the opening of his country's consulate at the Phuket Merlin Hotel in Phuket City. Owner Nantana Wongsatyanont is the new honorary consul.

washingtonpost.com Before I Go: A Stanford neurosurgeon's parting wisdom about life and time.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/03/12/before-i-go-a-stanford-neurosurgeons-parting-wisdom-about-life-and-time/

Phuket Update Chinese tourists Bai Yanfeng, 31, and Hu Jinna, 28, retrieved a lost wallet with several credit cards, ID cards and cash after Anurak Butsarn, a deputy school director from Chiang Rai, found it in a toilet room in Phuket, handed it back to Tourist Police. Khun Anurak rejected a 10,000 baht reward.

Pattaya Update A 25-year-old Dutchman went berserk in Pattaya, allegedly damaging properties of a restaurant and a hotel and hurting a policeman. The injured officer called in 20 colleagues who overpowered Dennis Tagga.

bangkokpost.com A water buffalo gored two butchers at a slaughterhouse before going on a two-hour rampage through Manila, terrorising hundreds of people and tossing furniture in the lobby of a small hotel.



bangkokpost.com The Myanmar government denied the involvement of the country's military in a bombing incident that killed four civilians across the Chinese border.

Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-burma-bomb-triggers-china-fighter-planes-scores-lost-ferry-sinking-finger-plane-22046/



skysports.com Jamie Redknapp says Manchester City should be embarrassed for a ''shambolic'' display that led to their shock 1-0 defeat to Burnley.

theguardian.com Arsenal made it five Premier League wins in a row here with a straightforward 3-0 victory against a well-drilled but pallid West Ham.

philstar.com The Philippine Swim League's Kyla Soguilon of Aklan and Aubrey Tom of Marikina will be donning the national colors when they compete against the best in the Asia-Pacific in the 2015 Phuket International Swimming Championship set March 27-29 in Phuket, Thailand.

reuters Serena Williams returned to Indian Wells after a 14-year boycott due to racist abuse she suffered in the 2001 final and got her bid for a third BNP Paribas Open title off to a winning, though somewhat error-prone, start.



Until March 15 Heroines Festival

April 11-19 Phuket Bike Week

April 13-15 Songkran Festival

May 4 Additional public holiday scheduled

June 20-21 Baba wedding at Old Phuket Town

July 15-19 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek