UPDATING All Day, Every Day
bangkokpost.com First Army chief Lt Gen Thirachai Nakwanich will forward a proposal to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Friday recommending the lifting of martial law in tourist and other economically important provinces, according to Matichon and Krungthepturakij websites.
miamiherald.com ''Here is what they need to understand - Steve Sotloff was a Floridian, but more importantly he was an American. If you attack one American, you are attacking all Americans.'' - Governor Rick Scott.
nationmultimedia.com Despite its prolonged political crisis, Thailand advances six places to 31st position among 144 economies included in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015.
straitstimes.com Rights groups decry Thai junta's defamation suits. Criminal proceedings against various civilian parties seen as intimidation.
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
nydailynews.com The barbarians have butchered another American journalist. The Islamic State released another horrific video that appears to show the beheading of 31-year-old Steven Sotloff.
nytimes.com The execution of Mr. Sotloff, 31, came despite pleas from his mother aimed directly at ISIS's top leader seeking mercy for her son, a freelance journalist who was captured in northern Syria a year ago. Word of Mr. Sotloff's beheading came two weeks after James Foley, 40, another American journalist, was beheaded by ISIS.
smh.com.au According to intelligence group SITE, the killer, named as British jihadist Adbel-Majed Abdel Bary, dubbed 'Jihadi John,' also threatened another captive, thought to be British aid worker David Cawthorne Haines.
voanews.com Thailand's military and police have suppressed the release of an independent report assessing human rights in the kingdom during the first 100 days of the latest coup. A panel discussion on the topic was canceled by the organisers, fearing arrest if they did not comply with a letter from military leaders telling them not to hold the meeting. The junta says its mission is to return happiness to the Thai people after an extended period of political turmoil.
bangkokpost.com Independent agencies cancel a forum at the foreign correspondents club, 'Access to Justice in Thailand: Currently Unavailable,' bowing to pressure from the National Council for Peace and Order.
AP A campaign coordinator for Amnesty International in Thailand, told AP that soldiers had phoned more than 30 times on Monday requesting the event be called off ''because the situation is still not normal.'' Several participants showed up at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand anyway, ''to read a statement to say that there were threats and harassment from the military.''
dw.de A British human rights activist who alleged serious labor abuses in Thailand's food industry has gone on trial for defamation. The charge is a criminal offense in Thailand.
huffingtonpost.com Andy Hall goes on trial despite over 100 organisations and over 300,000 people signing petitions calling for his charges to be dropped. Human Rights Watch and Britain's Trade Union Congress are among the groups demanding that the ''bogus'' charges be dropped.
bangkokpost.com Hall, 34, faces civil and criminal lawsuits submitted by Thai fruit processor Natural Fruit, after his report levelled accusations of forced and child labor, unlawfully low wages and long hours at one of its factories. Leading European food companies have urged the company to drop its legal action.
time.com Natural Fruit's owner, Virat Piyapornpaiboon, has vehemently denied the allegations. ''The report caused damage to me and my company. Any accusations were not true,'' he told AFP.
cambodiadaily.com Visiting Thai General Tanasak Patimapragorn assured Cambodia that his country was stable despite a military coup in May, according to Defense Minister Tea Banh.
Latest on the Ebola Outbreak
news.com.au An ebola-infected man has terrified a marketplace full of shoppers after he escaped from isolation. Dramatic video has emerged of a man ill with the disease escaping from hospital quarantine in Liberia in search of food.
Phuket World of People
nationmultimedia.com Police and troops joined forces to crack down on a big extortion ring in Chon Buri province. The ring has allegedly collected 2000 baht per month each from more than 100 Vietnamese people working in the tourist town of Pattaya. All payers were given a name card that showed they were ''protected'' by Wikanda sae Lim. The alleged ''godmother'' remains on the run.
bangkokpost.com Consumer prices in Thailand eased for the third consecutive month in August thanks mainly to lower prices for fresh food and energy.
telegraph.co.uk Spanish resorts saw an increase in prices, something Hotels.com suggested was due to increased demand from holidaymakers who were spurning breaks in sunshine destinations such as Egypt, Thailand and Turkey due to civil unrest. Bangkok and Krabi hotel prices both fell by 19 percent to an average of 51 pounds and 63 pounds respectively.
time.com Significant trauma is being experienced by thousands of refugee children being held in squalid detention centers in Thailand, claims a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).
cnn.com Thousands of migrant children, including newborn babies, are being locked up in squalid and cramped detention facilities each year in Thailand, enduring serious physical and emotional harm, according to a new report.
time.com On Monday, two people were arrested for distributing leaflets demanding murder charges are reinstated against former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. They too have since been charged with criminal defamation. Two editors of the Phuketwan newspaper are possibly facing seven years' imprisonment for printing an extract from a Pulitzer Prize-winning Reuters report that alleged complicity by the Thai Navy in the trafficking of Rohingya Muslims. Reuters faces no such charges.
bangkokpost.com Ko Samui's Cafe 69 was named the favorite restaurant among international visitors to Thailand by travel website TripAdvisor.com.
nytimes.com By failing to embody so many of its own ideals nowadays, the United States (like other liberal democracies) deprives the world of a compelling counterweight to the ideas (such as they are) of so-called Putinism, ISISism, Islamism, Chinese authoritarianism and other -isms on the march. America tells Myanmar to treat its Rohingya minority better, but it uses tear gas on minorities in Ferguson and, around the country, ensnares them in its criminal-justice dragnet.
scmp.com The National People's Congress has written to British lawmakers telling them ties between the two nations are at risk unless they stay out of Hong Kong's affairs.
cbsnews.com A North Carolina judge overturned the convictions of two men who have served 30 years in prison for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl after another man's DNA was recently discovered on evidence in the case.
humanosphere.org A UNHCR report found that 7000 asylum-seekers and refugees are presently held in detention centers. The majority (5000) are being held by Australia, in the country or at ''processing centers'' in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
news.com.au The world's cheapest country to fly is India thanks to a domestic market battling cutthroat competition.
afp Potential buyers of Cyprus Airways have until Wednesday to submit non-binding offers for the loss-making national carrier, with Ryanair and Aegean Airlines in the running.
news.com.au Arnold Schwarzenegger may have cheated on her with their maid but new reports suggest Maria Shriver may have strayed from the marriage before he did
Around the Asean Region
theguardian.com A dethroned beauty queen from Burma has refused to return her jewel-encrusted $100,000 crown until pageant organisers apologise for calling her a liar and a thief. May Myat Noe - the 2014 Miss Asia Pacific World winner - told a news conference she had done nothing wrong to cause her to be stripped of the title. Some of the contestants accused officials of asking the women for sex in return for higher placement in the contest, and claimed police who investigated the allegations were bribed.
abc.net.au Aussie surfer Jake Drage, 23, was speeding when his motorbike collided with another in Indonesia, killing a local mother, a court has heard. Prosecutor Eka Aryanta is pressing charges that could see the Australian spend up to six years in jail if he is found guilty.
cbsnews.com Ever since the body of American engineer was found hanging in his Singapore apartment in June 2012, his mother Mary Todd has maintained that the five typewritten suicide notes found at the scene were not written by her son. A Singapore coroner concluded after a lengthy inquest and investigation that Shane had written those notes and hanged himself because he was depressed.
freemalaysiatoday.com For Captain Azlan Aboo Bakar, it was the ''longest flight'' ever in his career as he had the unenviable task of bringing home the remains of his two colleagues, who were MH17's pilots.
Phuket World of Sport
afp Eccentric Frenchman Gael Monfils reached his second US Open quarter-final, stunning seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), 7-5.
smh.com.au Selection tension has bubbled to the surface after Sunday's embarrassing loss to Zimbabwe, with indications those picking the Australian cricket team and the man leading it haven't exactly been on the same page this tour.
Coming Events on Phuket 2014
nationmultimedia.com Take a trip to Phuket and make peace with your fellow creatures. The Southern province will again fly the yellow flags of the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival from September 24 to October 2.
September 3 Thailand vs Qatar football 6.30pm
September 7 Thailand vs Phuket FC 6.30pm
September 12 Amcham at Angsana: the New Phuket
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
Coming Events on Phuket 2015
February 13-15 Phuket Yacht Show
I think we all know the reason that 'Access to Justice in Thailand: Currently Unavailable,' was called off by the junta who gave the reason 'because the situation is still not normal'. (AP), but later we have a contradiction in terms where General Tanasak Patimapragorn assured Cambodia that his country was stable. (cambodiadaily.com). Are we at the stage where one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing?
Posted by Pete on September 3, 2014 07:05
Editor Comment:
The country is stable but the horse has bolted.