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traveldailynews.asia The clampdown on taxi mafia activities in Phuket is a first step in the right direction with the army promising to further clean the island of bad practices.
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 Tourism operators are urging the government not to offer free visas to Chinese tourists citing concern about the country's stability. Many argue that while it helps boost tourism it would also allow foreigners to bypass the immigration process.
nationmultimedia.com Thailand awaits with bated breath the release today for the 2014 'Trafficking in Persons' (TIP) Report by US Secretary of State John Kerry, with the threat of a downgrade over its poor practices and inadequate efforts to eliminate human trafficking, which would bring the risk of sanctions.
bangkokpost.com The head of the coup council has appointed himself in charge of tackling the insurgency and corruption in the deep South - and his three-year plan is getting good initial reviews from the region.
bbc.com President Barack Obama says the US will send 300 military advisers to Iraq to help fight Islamist-led insurgents.
World Cup 2014
theguardian.com After four years of planning, all that emotional commitment and anticipation, England's World Cup has unravelled in the space of five days and the defining image will be of Luis Suarez, on the floor, weeping with joy after the goals that had opened the door to show Roy Hodgson's team the way out. Uruguay 2-1 England.
cnn.com Colombia took a giant step towards qualifying for the knockout stages of the World Cup after beating Ivory Coast 2-1 at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia.
dailymail.co.uk Reduced to 10 men after captain Costas Katsouranis was sent off in the 38th minute with his second booking, Greece held on for a 0-0 draw with Japan that keeps both alive in Group C and sends rival Colombia to the next round of the World Cup.
Cup Games Tonight
Italy v Costa Rica; Switzerland v France; Honduras v Ecuador
Phuket World of People
dailymail.co.uk Interpol and Thai police are trying to locate two English schoolgirls who have gone missing while visiting their mother in Thailand. Interpol have now put out an alert and Thai police have issued an arrest warrant for their 33-year-old mother on suspicion of abducting, Alina and Annie Day, aged 10 and six.
bangkokpost.com About 500,000 Thai people are infected with HIV but only half of them know they have the virus and receive treatment, the Public Health Ministry said.
bbc.com The founder of the Wikileaks website Julian Assange says he fears for the safety of his family. Speaking at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, Mr Assange said unspecified individuals had made threats against his children and his mother.
wsj.com The installation of King Felipe VI was marked by low-key festivities adapted for austere times, a reflection as well of the debate in Spain over the relevance of the constitutional monarchy.
ap After spending nearly two weeks underground, an injured German caver was hauled out of the country's deepest cavern by a multinational rescue operation that involved more than 700 people.
theguardian.com A sense of sleaze has long surrounded Dov Charney, the American Apparel founder who was fired last night. On top of several official sexual harassment lawsuits (which have been dismissed or settled), x-rated rumors have swirled around the 45-year-old. He is famous for buying employees vibrators as presents; for asking them to masturbate in front of him; for walking the factory floor in his underpants, or wearing a sock where the underpants might have been.
ft.com In a generation, we have shifted from parents trying to stop teenagers slumping in front of the TV to young people losing all interest in the box. US teens are so occupied with social networks and mobile video that they watch only about 21 hours of live TV a week.
ap Harrison Ford is recovering after surgery on a broken leg suffered during the filming of the new Star Wars episode. Ford's publicist, Ina Treciokas, said that the 71-year-old actor will begin rehabilitation shortly. The accident involved a spacecraft door falling on the actor's leg.
What's Happening Around Asean Nations
reuters China said it is moving a second oil rig closer to Vietnam's coast, showing its determination to press its territorial claims and continue searching for resources in disputed waters despite a tense confrontation with Vietnam over another oil rig to the south.
reuters Dutch engineers this week started a months-long survey to map uncharted deep-sea terrain at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, the next step in the search for the wreck of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, a company official said.
ap The Philippines has asked Singapore authorities to take action against a blogger who suggested Singaporeans should shove Filipinos on the street and be rude to Filipino workers.
abc.net.au A blogger who called for transparency over how Singapore's retirement funds are invested says he is surprised to be sued for defamation by the country's prime minister.
Phuket World of Sport
theguardian.com Appco Group, a global company that raises funds on behalf of some of Australia's largest charities, is being investigated after it emerged that 96 percent of the $12.2m it raised for Special Olympics Australia was not retained by the charity.
theage.com.au Lucy Li, an 11-year-old who won a skills event at Augusta National in April, fired an eight-over-par 78 in a historic US Women's Open first round.
Coming Events on Phuket
July 11 Arsanha Bucha Day
July 16-20 Phuket Race Week yachting, Cape Panwa
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
A blogger who called for transparency over how Singapore's retirement funds are invested says he is surprised to be sued for defamation by the country's prime minister.
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In Germany anti-defamations laws are actually are tough too, and I wonder whether they are actually in line with European or Universal Chart of Human Rights - in part, these laws were successfully challenged already few times, but still not all provisions:
first of all, one who says smth. has a full burden of proof on him to prove that allegations are correct - which goes against right of free speech, effectively meaning that before one open a mouth, he should have in hand full set of evidence. It effectively means that a plaintiff just files a suit and that's all what he has to do.
Then, Germany interprets very vaguely what is "publication", e.g. private fax will be considered as publication on the hypothetical ground receptionist, secretary or whoever, could theoretically see it.
Third, system of draconian gag orders, which imposes ridiculous fines of tens and hundred thousands euro for breaking it.
It seems that Singapore has a good reference from Europe here.
Posted by Sue on June 20, 2014 08:35
Editor Comment:
The article is about a blogger being sued in Singapore. Any possibility of a connection with Germany's laws is irrelevant guesswork.