UPDATING All Day, Every Day
reuters Thailand's acting prime minister on Monday ruled out resigning as a way out of a protracted political crisis that is stunting economic growth, as anti-government protesters stepped up pressure to remove him and install a new administration.
nytimes.com President Park Geun-hye of South Korea vowed on Monday to disband her country's Coast Guard, saying that South Korea owed ''reform and a great transformation'' to hundreds of high school students who died in a ferry disaster last month.
PhuketWATCH Daily Media Wrap
PHUKET: The daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media.
Today's Top News Items
Phuket Update Trat FC downed Phuket FC 2-0 in Trat, leaving the island team growing unsure of prospects for promotion from Division One this season. Phuket face Khonkaen FC at home in Phuket City on May 25.
bangkokpost.com Acting on a tip, Customs officers arrested a woman with more than two kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, or ya ice, worth 8.3 million baht at Krabi International Airport. Natena Gibsob, 32, arrived on a 2am flight from Chengdu in western China. She needed money to feed her two children after breaking up with a foreign husband.
bangkokpost.com State enterprise labor unions, after meeting anti-government protest leader Suthep, agree not to work from May 22 to show disapproval of the Thaksin regime, as the government's Capo warns state officials against meeting with the PDRC.
nationmultimedia.com The People's Democratic Reform Committee and the Senate are obviously adopting the strategy of ''take separate paths but join forces in the attack'' in a bid to reach a common goal - install an interim government which is fully functional and led by a prime minister with full authority.
afp Two films inspired by the missing Malaysian Airlines' flight MH370 are being touted to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival, barely two months after the plane vanished with 239 people on board. A 90-second teaser trailer for 'The Vanishing Act' showing terrified passengers and a gun being brandished was shot over six days in Bombay, Variety said.
The Vanishing Act: SEE the lost flight MH370 movie trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4rKJaGQbcY/
Phuket World of People
nationmultimedia.com Thailand's measures against human trafficking have improved, especially in the sugarcane farming and sugar-production industries, which might lead to the country being removed from the US watchlist, the Foreign Ministry said.
AP A strong and shallow undersea earthquake hit parts of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Sunday, causing panic but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The 6.2-magnitude quake hit at a depth of 5.5 miles and was centered southwest of Banda Aceh but did not produce a tsunami.
mct A United Airlines pilot made an emergency dive to avoid a US Airways flight over Hawaii last month after a traffic controller did not notice the two Boeing 757s were on a potential head-on collision course.
nytimes.com A 23-story apartment building that may have housed more than 90 families collapsed last week in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, a South Korean government official said after the North reported a ''serious'' accident at a construction site.
washingtonpost.com North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un ''sat up all night'' feeling pain after learning about the collapse of an apartment building in Pyongyang, the country's state-run media reported.
propertyforum.com Thailand's condominium developers are feeling the pinch although there are serious concerns this could also drive down the residential market in the longer term. The current situation does nothing for the reputation of the country in the eyes of international real estate investors who now have a choice of recovering property markets to choose from.
afp Thousands of people crammed into boats and army trucks have fled their homes in Serbia and Bosnia after record rainfall turned the Sava River into a deadly torrent and caused the worst floods in more than a century. The disaster has killed at least 44 people.
bbc.com A search has been called off for four Britons missing in the Atlantic after their yacht began taking in water. The men were taking the Cheeki Rafiki 40ft performance racer-cruiser to the UK after a Caribbean regatta.
thetimes.co.uk An RAF Sentinel R1 spy plane flew to Nigeria to help in the search for more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram.
What's Happening Around Asean
bangkokpost.com At least four Burma (Myanmar) border police officers were killed and two others were missing after their camp at the Bangladesh border was attacked by dozens of armed men believed to be from the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation, local media reports said.
scmp.com Another 4000 mainlanders are expected to be evacuated from Vietnam as soon as today in the aftermath of deadly anti-China protests last week. China's foreign ministry said that more than 3000 people had already been evacuated as of Saturday afternoon.
asiancorrespondent.com Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is challenging the powerful army to help amend the constitution that is barring her from running for president in next year's general elections.
Phuket World of Sport
afp Flamboyant veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez extended his own record as the oldest player to win an European Tour event when he won the Spanish Open in a playoff. The 50-year-old, cigar-smoking Spaniard won his home tournament at the 27th attempt as he outlasted Australian Richard Green and Belgian Thomas Pieters at the first playoff hole after the three finished on four under.
theage.com.au Three-time formula one world champion Sir Jack Brabham has died, aged 88. Brabham began his motorsport career on Australian speedway dirt tracks in the late 1940s. He is the only person to have won a formula one world championship in his own car.
telegraph.co.uk The extent of cricket's global war against fixers can be revealed for the first time with details of attempts to corrupt Test matches, one-day internationals and even club matches in England proving the problem permeates all levels of the game.
Phuket Coming Events 2014
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
