afp A powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocked remote eastern Indonesia on Tuesday, seismologists said, damaging several buildings and leaving one person missing. No tsunami warning was issued after the quake, which struck inland in a mountainous, jungle-clad area of Papua province that is sparsely populated.

AP The State Department on Monday took Malaysia and Cuba off its blacklist of countries failing to combat modern-day slavery, leaving the US open to criticism that politics is swaying the often-contentious rankings in its annual human trafficking report. Thailand, downgraded with Malaysia last year because of pervasive labor abuses in its lucrative fishing industry, remained on the blacklist.

enca.com The United States on Monday accused Russia, Thailand, Iran and Libya of insufficient action against human trafficking, in a damning report on a global scourge which the State Department decried as ''modern slavery.''

ft.com The Thai economy is looking a little worse for wear, after the biggest fall in exports in three-and-a-half years. Exports fell 7.87 percent year-on-year in June, exceeding expectations of a 4.6 per cent dip.

cnn.com Listed as a source country for trafficking, new rules and pressure from activists put Myanmar (Burma) in line for a potential downgrade to Tier 3 in today's US State Department Trafficking in Persons report.

afp A woman was killed when she plunged through flooring as she stepped off a moving escalator in a Chinese department store, thrusting her toddler to safety as she fell to her death, reports said.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/635776/escalator-swallows-toddler-mother-in-china


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



nationmultimedia.com Four Phuket companies will soon face an in-depth probe by the Department of Special Investigation for possibly circumventing the Foreign Business Act by letting Thai nominees hold a majority stake. Pongpun Gearaviriyapun, director-general of the ministry's Business Development Department, said last week that three companies were found operating in tourism and one in real estate.

bangkokpost.com Foreign paedophiles have been coming to Thailand and working as teachers for years, but things are changing, especially in schools.

news.com.au A British deputy speaker in charge of upholding standards in the House of Lords has resigned after allegedly being filmed snorting cocaine with two sex workers. Video allegedly shows Baron John Sewel, 69, naked and snorting white powder from a woman's breasts at his rent-protected London apartment.



bangkokpost.com The 2015 US report on human trafficking will be out Monday evening, with no one willing to predict it will raise Thailand out of the Tier 3 ranking.

wsj.com Human-rights advocates say the $30 billion global palm-oil industry, which has boomed with demand from the US and China, is part of the human trafficking problem. Many of the undocumented Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants end up in Malaysia, which exports nearly $12 billion of palm oil a year, around 40 percent of the world's supply, and has a growing need for unskilled workers.



bangkokpost.com Editorial: It is disappointing to see Gen Prayut and Egat still insisting that either Thailand build a massive coal-burning plant or go dark. But there are numerous choices, and building a power plant on the lovely Krabi shoreline is the worst.

nationmultimedia.com Editorial: 'Navy needs to get ship-shape.' It was the Rohingya boatpeople crisis that drew the Thai Navy most forcefully to the public's attention. First of all, it was their lawsuit against the [crusading web site] Phuket Wan's allegation that some of their officials benefited from human trafficking. [Phuketwan is being sued over a paragraph reproduced word-for-word from Reuters that only mentions 'Thai naval forces'.]

nwasianweekly.com/AP If found guilty, Australian editor Alan Morison and his Thai colleague Chutima Sidasathian could each face up to seven years in prison and fines totaling 300,000 baht ($8815). The case has drawn widespread criticism from human rights and press freedom groups around the world.

Phuket Update A 26-year-old Burmese laborer was killed when a Fortuner slammed into a pickup truck in Thepkasattri Road, throwing the man from the tray. He struck his head and died on the way to a Phuket City hospital.

dpa Several people were injured after a tour bus crashed on Phuket, an official said. The tour bus, carrying mainly Chinese tourists, skidded off the road after heavy rains around noon, according to a Phuket police officer who requested anonymity. He said four tourists were seriously injured while dozens more required treatment.

Phuket Update Prepaid SIM card users have to register their cards or else be blocked from accessing data services and placing calls after July 31. All SIM cards in Thailand must be registered, including SIM cards sold to expats and tourists.

bangkokpost.com Authorities detained 45 illegal street racers, known as Vanz Boys and Sagoi Girls, and seized 31 motorcycles in Hat Yai on Saturday night. More than 100 soldiers and police joined forces.

scmp.com A man tried to start a fire on board a Shenzhen Airlines flight but was restrained by cabin crew and passengers, mainland civil aviation authorities said.

afp Three people were killed when a small plane crashed into a Tokyo suburb shortly after take-off, leaving nearby homes and cars ablaze and the charred remains of the fuselage lying in a burnt-out residence.

nycnews.net Sea Shepherd, a non-profit marine conservation society, has recorded the brutal killings of 250 whales, which were carried out as a part of an annual event known as the grindadrap in the Faoe Islands. In the event, local people first lure the animals to the shore then attack them with lances and knives.

bangkokpost.com Pheu Thai Party members would love to have been standing in front of their idol, Thaksin Shinawatra, to sing 'Happy Birthday' as he celebrated in his 66th birthday party in the United Arab Emirates Sunday.

usatoday.com President Obama became the first sitting US president to visit Ethiopia on Sunday, highlighting the East African country's increasing value to combat Islamic extremism despite a poor human rights record.



afp Cambodian authorities arrested six demonstrators as they protested against the recent passing of a controversial law regulating non-governmental organisations, officials and a rights group said. The six demonstrators - five men and a woman - were among dozens who rallied outside of the parliament building in the capital Phnom Penh.



wsj.com Chris Froome won the Tour de France, the second time in three years the Kenya-born, South Africa-schooled British cyclist has triumphed in the yellow jersey. Froome took a decisive lead on the Tour's first day in the Pyrenees, and that was pretty much that.

bbc.com The Hungarian Grand Prix will be remembered for years. What unfolded was arguably the most chaotic, dramatic and thrilling race this year. Sebastian Vettel won.



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