Updating All Day, Every Day
reuters Thousands of students braved sweltering heat in Hong Kong to demand greater democracy as they launched a week-long boycott of classes, underscoring a restive younger generation's determination to challenge the Chinese Communist Party.
theguardian.com Tesco has suspended four senior members of staff and called in independent accountants and lawyers to investigate its finances after discovering that its guidance to the City overstated expected first-half profits by about 250m pounds.
nationalpost.com Air strikes by American and French fighter jets killed scores of men in an ISIS training camp and an arms depot near the city on Thursday and Friday. Residents estimated the number of dead at anywhere between 60 and 200.
bangkokpost.com The encroachment problem at Phuket's Sirinath National Park will be a test of the NCPO's resolve and whether its declaration to reclaim encroached forest land is for real or just for show.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/433569/phuket-park-mess-a-crucial-test-of-ncpo-resolve
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 Police said they had narrowed down the list of suspects in the murder of two British tourists on the southern island of Koh Tao, as the reward for information on the culprits was increased to 700,000 baht.
theguardian.com The body of a British holidaymaker who was murdered together with a fellow tourist in Thailand has returned to the UK, her family has said. Hannah Witheridge, 23, was found with severe head wounds next to David Miller, 24, on a beach on the island of Koh Tao on Monday.
bbc.com The family of murdered British tourist Hannah Witheridge say they are ''broken'' by her death. Police in Thailand has also said they are investigating new evidence suggesting the murders may have taken place because of ''sexual jealousy''.
nationmultimedia.com An informed source said police were in the process of questioning two suspects. One of them is a Thai while the other is a migrant worker. Police are collecting DNA samples of all people on Koh Tao.
theaustralian.com.au The murders were more than a summer tragedy for Thailand. They focused attention, once again, on the high death toll among foreigners visiting the country.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/murder-of-british-tourists-highlights-peril-in-thailand-paradise/story-fnb64oi6-1227065515011
channelnews.asia.com The murders rocked the normally laid-back holiday island, which is popular with divers, and delivered a fresh blow to Thailand's image as a tourist haven after months of political protests that ended in May's army coup.
Latest on the Ebola Outbreak
bbc.com A three-day curfew aimed at containing the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone has been declared a success by authorities. The wide-ranging curfew, which saw the streets of the capital deserted, will not be extended, authorities said.
Phuket World of People
malaysia-chronicle.com Malaysia, which has been downgraded to Tier 3 for its lack of progress in fighting human trafficking, now has another damning piece of evidence against it in a video documentary on the underage sex trade in the capital. The video, now on YouTube and titled 'Trapped - The underage sex industry in Malaysia,' is the result of two years of research by journalists Mahi Ramakrishnan and Rian Maelzer.
http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=363792:exposed-underage-sex-trafficking-in-malaysia-the-real-story&Itemid=2#axzz3DuKhSQQx
nationmultimedia.com Authorities and villagers in southern Thailand teamed up to bury the carcasses of 20,000 drowned chickens, a report said. The animals died after heavy rains caused flash floods at a chicken farm in the province of Krabi.
theguardian.com More than 70,000 Kurds fled from northern Syria into Turkey at the weekend and tens of thousands more are trying to cross the border as the terror group Islamic State (Isis) intensified its assault on a crucial Kurdish safe haven near the border.
nytimes.com Climates marches were held across the globe on Sunday, from Paris to Papua New Guinea, and with world leaders gathering at the United Nations on Tuesday for a climate summit meeting, marchers said the timing was right for the populist message in support of limits on carbon emissions.
smh.com.au Thousands of Russians have marched through Moscow to protest the Kremlin's involvement in the Ukraine crisis, in the country's first major anti-war rally since fighting erupted in April.
thephuketinsider.com A familiar hotel executive, Dominique Ronge has returned to Phuket as General Manager of the Keemala Resort in Kamala. Over the years he had postings in Greater Phuket at the Chedi (now Surin) and Holiday Inn Phi Phi Island.
scmp.com Tropical storm Fung-Wong pounded Taiwan with torrential rain and gales, claiming one life and forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights and ferry services.
thedrum.com Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has been named the most admired business leader over the past five decades, according to a Sunday Times FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 poll.
lincolnshireecho.co.uk Volunteers will be out in force when two more Lincolnshire sites get the Great British Beach Clean treatment: ''Our throw-away society means that today it's a dumping ground for all sorts of disgusting rubbish. Clean beaches could save the lives of some of our best-loved marine wildlife.''
Around the Asean Region
straitstimes.com Singapore is experiencing ''deteriorating hazy conditions'' due to ''an incoming haze cloud from Sumatra'' Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in a Facebook post.
worldbulletin.net Two months after being re-invited to Myanmar's violence-torn western Rakhine state, the previously expelled aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres has been warned to avoid political involvement amid many residents' distrust toward the organisation.
Phuket World of Sport
whoateallthepies.tv It had to be him, didn't it? Yes, Chelsea legend Frank Lampard was the man to rob the Blues of all three points at the Etihad with the midfielder's late goal securing a point for the Citizens.
bbc.com Manchester United conceded four goals in the space of 21 second-half minutes in their disastrous defeat by Leicester but it was not their collapse that concerned me the most - it was the fact they looked so vulnerable throughout the whole game. Leicester City 5-3 Manchester United.
belfasttelegraph.co.uk Yannick Bolasie inspired another smash-and-grab raid on Goodison Park as Crystal Palace came from behind to cling on for their first win of the season 3-2 against Everton.
theguardian.com Lewis Hamilton's seventh win of the season in Singapore - that's two more than when he won his first, and so far only, title in 2008 - took him past a forlorn-looking Nico Rosberg by three points at the top of the table.
nationmultimedia.com Asian champions Thailand scored a magnificent come-from-behind victory over Japan in its first match of Pool A in the women's volleyball competition in Korea.
afp Paderborn midfielder Moritz Stoppelkamp scored a ''once in a lifetime'' 80-metre goal which helped his team stay top in Germany.
http://www.watoday.com.au/sport/soccer/mortiz-stoppelkamp-scores-80metre-goal-in-bundesliga-20140921-3g8hj.html
Coming Events on Phuket 2014
September 24-October 2 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket
October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day
November 1-3 Patong Carnival
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
"The murders were more than a summer tragedy for Thailand. They focused attention, once again, on the high death toll among foreigners visiting the country"
Although the vast majority of tourists are still safe in Thailand, and go home happy - the problem is at least three fold:
1.Tourists (often young, not always) that choose to take on more risk than at home - with a concomitant entitlement-bulletproof attitude
2.Thai safety infrastructure is not on par with the west - not by a country mile
3.The Buddhist philosophy of fatalism - and the Thai philosophy of my bpen rai
When the 3 entities are all in play, the tourist becomes highly at-risk for accident or fatality - by default
Posted by farang888 on September 22, 2014 10:35
Editor Comment:
The tourist only ''becomes highly at-risk'' if he or she chooses to do so. As you say, the vast majority of tourists remain safe by taking the same kinds of precautions they would at home. A far greater problem is the ''fatalism'' of the tourist who believes rules and regulations protect them in Thailand.