UPDATING All Day, Every Day
independent.co.uk A woman witnessed her father's death in a shark attack while the two of them were diving off the east coast of the Australian island state of Tasmania, according to police.
mcClatchy President Barack Obama arrived in Kenya, the ancestral homeland that has waited impatiently for a visit from the US president since he was first elected to office.
smh.com.au Australia has accepted just 25 Rohingya refugees despite thousands fleeing persecution, official figures show, raising fresh criticism of the Abbott government's hardline asylum-seeker stance.
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 Stories
bloomberg The Thai baht fell the most this week in more than eight years as slowing economic growth and the probability of a US interest-rate increase spurred outflows. The currency dropped beyond 35 per dollar for the first time since 2009.
bangkokpost.com Phra Suthep Prapa Saro has set Tuesday the date for him to leave the monkhood, a close aide of the monk said. The former leader of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) was ordained on July 15 last year.
nationmultimedia.com Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-o-cha lashed out at a proposal from a European parliamentary committee to ''red card'' Thailand for illegal fishing practices, saying his government had taken better action than many other countries.
Human Trafficking in Thailand
straitstimes.com Thailand has said it would indict 72 people, including a senior army officer, over human trafficking after the plight of desperate Myanmar and Bangladeshi migrants stranded at sea triggered an international outcry over the grim trade. The move comes days before the release of an annual US report ranking nations on their anti-trafficking efforts which last year relegated Thailand to the bottom rung.
digitaljournal.com ''The smuggling of Rohingya has become a significant industry along Thailand's Andaman coast. It's now said to be more profitable and less dangerous than selling drugs,'' asserted Alan Morison and Premkamon Ketsara in their reportage published in Phuketwan, Thailand, on the issue.
csmonitor.com Human trafficking in Southeast Asia has gained increased attention since May, when thousands of Rohingya (a Muslim minority population located primarily in Myanmar) and Bangladeshis were discovered stranded at sea enduring harsh conditions. Mass graves in Malaysia and Thailand were discovered in May.
nytimes.com The indicted suspects, who were already in custody, include a Thai Army general, Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen, as well as other military officials, senior police officers, local officials and local politicians.
Phuket World of People
nationmultimedia.com The government will go ahead with an environmental and health impact assessment (EHIA) on the controversial 49-billion baht coal-fired power plant for Krabi, while holding talks with project opponents and energy reformists. The directive was issued one day after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha suggested that the 800-megawatt project in the southern tourist resort province would be put on hold following days of protests by Krabi villagers at Government House.
reuters A Thai court has given defence lawyers access to evidence for DNA testing in the trial of two Myanmar workers accused of murdering two British tourists in Thailand, a defence lawyer said. The investigation into the murders of David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, has been dogged by allegations of police incompetence and mishandling of evidence.
hrw.org Thailand's national assembly should reject the nominees for the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), whose selection process did not meet international standards, Human Rights Watch said. Revisions to the Thai constitution should ensure that the NHRC is credible, independent, and accountable, and that its commissioners are chosen in a transparent manner.
bangkokpost.com Mitsubishi Motors Corp's factory in Thailand would see an increase in production following the Japanese automaker's decision to close down operations in the US.
straitstimes.com The Thai government has issued tough nationwide restrictions on illegal street racing and the sale of alcohol near educational institutions as part of a crackdown on youth drinking.
mirror.co.uk Yet another video of ISIS killers throwing men from the roof of a tall building after accusing them of being gay has emerged online. The footage, reportedly shot in Palmyra, Syria, shows the savage execution of two Syrian men accused of being homosexuals. They were thrown off a roof then stoned to death.
Phuket Update Unrequited affection for a woman could have led a man to break the windshield of her parked car on Phuket, police believe. Matira Nantimaruj, 32, told Thalang Police that she discovered the damage to her Toyota Yaris when she went downstairs from her third floor apartment to investigate a loud noise. Security camera vision captured a man fleeing.
PTI With the recovery of 15 more bodies from a sunken ferry that collided with a cargo boat in Egypt's Nile river, the overall death toll in the tragedy has risen to 33 even as the search operation continued on the third day, officials said.
afp King Salman of Saudi Arabia is expected to arrive for a Riviera beach holiday, bringing with him no fewer than 1000 people. While the king's three-week visit is a boon for the local economy, it has also sparked anger due to the closure of a public beach for the privacy and security of the royal party.
xinhua Seven people were killed and around 10 injured, four of which seriously, in a blast which occurred at a fireworks factory in southern Italy, local media reported.
Around the Region
freemalaysiatoday.com Thai National Police Chief Somyot Poompunmuang has rejected a request by Malaysia to be given access to former PetroSaudi International Director Xavier Andre Justo, 49, now in custody in Bangkok waiting to be brought to court on charges which have still not been specified.
Phuket World of Sport
theage.com.au In front of 99,382 at the MCG in Melbourne Real Madrid showed just how attractive the beautiful game can be as they took a raw, inexperienced Manchester City rearguard apart, eventually running out 4-1 winners.
Coming Events on Phuket 2015
July Kathu Street Culture festival
August 23-30 Por Tor (Hungry Ghost) Festival
September Quicksilver surf carnival at Patong beach
October 15-23 Phuket Vegetarian Festival
November Patong Festival
November 20 Laguna Phuket Triathlon
November 25 Loy Kratong festival
November 29 Challenge Laguna Phuket 2015
November 29 Phuket King's Cup Regatta
December 26 Tsunami memorial ceremonies
As concerns the tier 3 upgrading I would think it would be clever by the US government to upgrade Thailand to 2. However, if so it is possible that it could be an encouragement of the efforts the thai governments has made as those would certainly be maintained during the coming year and implicit would be that a downgrading next year to 3 with effects on trade unfortunately could be considered unless all the issues raised earlier are not solved. Is that a possible scenario, that would be welcome by the government.
Posted by Bo Jonsson on July 25, 2015 16:40
Editor Comment:
It would be unusual for a downgraded country to bounce back up so speedily without real evidence of change. Three years on Tier 3 is a reasonable expectation. Serious reforms take at least that long to implement. Thailand will do well to move back up to the Tier 2 watch list in 2016 or 2017.