afp California Chrome swept to victory in the 140th Kentucky Derby, powering away in the closing stretch to win the first leg of US flat racing's Triple Crown.

washingtonpost.com North Korea's official news agency released an article titled 'News Analysis on Poor Human Rights Records in US.' It brought up a number of points, including racial discrimination, unemployment, surveillance and poverty: ''The US is the world's worst human right abuser and tundra of a human being's rights to existence.''


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



bangkokpost.com Editorial: On April 25, the sea off Bang Tao on Phuket turned from emerald green to black, causing tourists to flee the beach. Needless to say, this has the potential to spell doom for the resort province that depends so heavily on tourism. For years, the greed of businessmen and the inefficiency, not to mention corruption, on the part of state agencies has been unbridled. if the situation is allowed to continue unchecked, Bang Tao and indeed Phuket will cease to exist on the world tourism map.

nationmultimedia.com Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, unveiling his plan to bring Thailand out of the political impasse, asked Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her Cabinet to resign before a Constitutional Court ruling. The first of the 10 steps proposed in his plan is that the election tentatively set for July 20 must be delayed.

bangkokpost.com Anti-government demonstrators have decided to end their occupation of the Interior Ministry amid concern about a possible confrontation. Representatives of 80,000 kamnan and village chiefs from across Thailand announced plans for a rally at the ministry in Bangkok on Sunday to demand an end to the seizure.

Phuket Update Taiwanese tourist Chung-Hsin Lu, 64, drowned at Koh Yao Yai. Bystanders rescued Mr Lu's swimming companion but could not reach Mr Lu in time. Phuket's lifeguards are not on the beaches at present because of a contractual dispute. Experts say they need jet-skis with sleds to enable faster rescues.



wsj.com A funeral for Rodney Burrows, 59, and Mary Burrows, 54, two passengers on flight 370, will be held in Australia nearly eight weeks after the plane went missing en route to Beijing. No trace of the plane has been found.

xinhua Acting premier Yingluck Shinawatra will reassure the Asean community next week that Thailand remains a democratic state despite internal political conflict. The premier will firmly declare during the Asean meeting in the Myanmar capital on May 11-12 that democratic rule will be upheld and maintained.

nationmultimedia.com Editorial: Thailand's record in dealing with the Rohingya and other victims of human trafficking has never been great; some might even say two-faced. Allegations about Thai officials being involved in human trafficking in award-winning reports by the Reuters news agency have been met with a lawsuit filed by the Thai Navy against the Phuketwan online newspaper. A navy official has accused Phuketwan of violating the computer crime law by citing the Reuters report.

nytimes.com Death Stalks Muslims as Myanmar Cuts Off Aid: The family buried Mr Husain in a sandy plot on the shore of the Bay of Bengal within sight of tall, slender coconut trees etched against the blue sky. His shallow grave site, fenced with fresh bamboo, was surrounded by rows and rows of other graves dug in recent months.

en.khaosod.co.th Freedom of the press in Thailand is the worst its been in the past decade, according to Freedom House's 2014 report. The Computer Crimes Act allows the government to arrest reporters for political reasons, as is currently the case with two journalists from Phuketwan news who are facing charges under the law for allegedly defaming the Royal Thai Navy by publishing an except from a Reuters report that alleged the navy's involvement in the trafficking of Rohingya.
http://en.khaosod.co.th/detail.php?newsid=1399090296§ion=11/

What Phuketwan's Chutima Sidasathian Told Press Club
http://www.melbournepressclub.com/event/seven-years-in-jail-for-using-reuters/

theguardian.com The judge trying three al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt wished them a happy World Press Freedom Day before refusing them bail and adjourning their case until May 15. During a recess, Peter Greste shouted to reporters: ''You can't have a free society without a free press. In Egypt today you know that you can't provide balance as long as you can end up in prison like us.''

nationmultimedia.com Legal and information technology expert Paiboon Amornpinyokiat said: ''A lot more people also misunderstand that if they use pseudonyms on the Internet, it will be impossible to trace them. That is wrong."

andrew-drummond.com A Thai Ministry of Justice pathology team have reached the preliminary conclusion that journalist and film-maker David Walker did not die a natural death in Cambodia, a family source said.

news.com.au Barry Rosenstein, hedge fund manager of Jana Partners, is paying $US147 million for a property in the East Hampton, New York, according to The New York Post.

Phuket Update Microsoft (Thailand) has awarded certificates to 200 students from six schools after they completed IT study under the Tech Training to Help Extend Youth Empowerment Space (YES) program in Phuket province. Partnering Microsoft at the Phuket provincial office was the National Council for Children and Youth Development (NCYD).

bangkokpost.com An abandoned airport in Loeng Nok Tha district of Yasothon will be reopened for commercial services within two years to respond to economic growth in northeastern Thailand and Indochina.



reuters Saudi Arabia has found 25 more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) as the rate of infections rises and two more people have died from the new disease. The US said it had discovered its first confirmed case of the disease in a man who had recently been in Saudi Arabia.

voanews.com At least three people have been killed after a pair of explosions rocked the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.

scmp.com The US condemned ''unacceptable'' violence on the bloodiest day since Kiev's Western-backed government took power, urging both Ukraine and Russia to restore order.

smh.com.au Australia's government is spending nearly $20 million to push its hardline message of deterrence to asylum seekers, telling people from some of the poorest and most desperate countries not to come to Australia, new documents show.

theage.com.au Denise Coghlan, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Cambodia, says Cambodian authorities will have to implement changes to allow refugees arriving under an agreement with Australia to have similar rights to Cambodians, such as being allowed to work and have access to suitable services for their children. ''On the positive side, I think the fact that Cambodia is willing to offer refugees hospitality is much better than the Australians who put them in rubber dinghies and send them back,'' she says.

watoday.com.au ''Phnom Penh has not even taken steps to deal with the very serious problem of discrimination and deprivation of rights of ethnic Vietnamese, some of whom have lived in Cambodia for generations yet are still stateless without access to formal education and other basic services,'' says Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division.

bbc.com Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson says the BBC has told him he will be sacked if he makes ''one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time.''

cnn.com Police in the Philippines have arrested 58 people suspected of using sexual information or images to cyberblackmail hundreds of people in at least six countries, Interpol announced.

latimes.com Efrem Zimbalist Jr., the elegant actor with the mellifluous baritone who costarred as the suave private eye Stuart Bailey on TV's '77 Sunset Strip' beginning in the late 1950s and later starred as the buttoned-down Inspector Lewis Erskine on 'The FBI,' died at home. He was 95.

Media Release Fred goes onto say: ''I have been to PhuketFit three times over the last 2 years for detoxing and rejuvenation. I always talk to the other guests and so often it's revealed that they decided to come based on the PhuketFit reviews they read on the Internet.''



reuters The Italian Cup final was delayed after three Napoli fans were shot in clashes near Rome's Olympic stadium before Saturday's match between the southern club and Fiorentina, police said.

news.com.au A football fan was killed when he was struck in the head by a toilet bowl hurled from the upper level of a stadium as supporters of rival clubs clashed in northeastern Brazil.

afp Manchester City claimed top spot in the Premier League coming from behind to edge Everton 3-2. City now lead previous ladder toppers Liverpool on goal difference - +59 to +50 - and will be practically assured of winning the title if they win their two remaining games. Fulham and Cardiff City were both relegated after defeats in their penultimate games.

dailymail.co.uk Sebastian Larsson's first-half winner made Sunderland almost safe from relegation but it well and truly popped the bubble of optimism surrounding Ryan Giggs' reign as Manchester United's stand-in manager.

afp Barcelona's slim hopes of retaining their La Liga title were all but ended after they were held 2-2 at home by struggling Getafe.

aroundtherings.com The Director General and Technical Director of the Olympic Council of Asia, Mr Husain Al-Musallam, believes the 4th Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand, this November will be the perfect combination of tourism and sport.



May 14 ''Final battle'' for Thailand's street protesters

May 24 Visakha Bucha Day

July 11 Arsanha Bucha Day

August 12 Queen's Birthday

September 24-October 2 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket

October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day

November 6 Loy Kratong

November 14-23 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