UPDATING All Day, Every Day
bangkokpost.com As the US government prepares to release its Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report next month, a key congressional panel has heard damaging testimony about the alleged complicity of Thai officials in Rohingya trafficking.
reuters Fresh questions have been raised over air traffic co-ordination after a preliminary report on the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared almost two months ago revealed 90 minutes of wasted effort while controllers looked in the wrong country.
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 As the Obama government is finalising its decision on whether Thailand should be downgraded in the Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report to be released next month, a congressional panel has been reminded how bad the country's image is in respect of the Rohingya. Shadowy gangs that have turned southern Thailand into a ''human-trafficking superhighway,'' the hearing was told.
nationmultimedia.com Mark Lagon, a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University, said in his testimony that Thailand was on the cusp of an automatic downgrade to Tier 3. ''Public unrest and shaky rule of law in the last year are no pretext for not telling it like it is in the TIP 2014 report,'' he said.
wsj.com The leader of Thailand's primary opposition party, former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, said that he would present a political reform plan within two days - and wouldn't contest a new election as a candidate for prime minister if the plan is accepted.
bangkokpost.com As Thailand's ongoing political crisis drags into its seventh month, its impact on the Thai economy has become alarming.
nytimes.com One of Ye-seul's classmates could be heard pleading: ''Save us, save us.'' But one of the first things the Coast Guard rescuers did was help the ship's captain, Lee Jun-seok, and other crew members off the sinking ferry. When he was deserting the ship, the 69-year-old captain was still in his underpants.
Latest on Lost Flight MH370
cbsnews.com The Malaysian government released a preliminary report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 but the five-page report shed little new light on the mystery of the vanished jet.
time.com Malaysia Airlines is telling relatives of passengers they should move out of hotels and return home to wait for news on the search for the plane.
Phuket World of People
3news.co.nz I was sitting in a go-go bar in Phuket with one hand on a cold San Miguel beer, the other around the shoulders of a 19-year-old prostitute. But we weren't there for sex. We were there to rescue.
Going undercover to rescue Thailand's sex slaves
http://www.3news.co.nz/Going-undercover-to-rescue-Thailands-sex-slaves/tabid/417/articleID/341980/Default.aspx/
Phuket Update Former Tourist Police volunteer Garry Halpin, who worked at Chalong Police Station, has begun serving four years and 10 months for selling drugs in southern Phuket. His sentence was halved because he confessed and pleaded guilty.
andrew-drummond.com Canadian journalist David Walker, 58, who went missing in Cambodia 10 weeks ago, has been found dead near the Gate of Death at the Angkor temple complex. A statement made on behalf of his family clearly implied he was murdered and called on whoever was responsible for his death be brought to justice.
Phuket Update Sixteen monks traveled to Phuket from Isarn because they could make better money from local people and tourists wanting to make merit. But after drugs tests when the monks' suspicious behavior aroused attention, the abbot of Wat Thalang expelled five and ordered the other 11 to return to Isarn for corrective treatment.
pattayapeople.com Pattaya police were notified by the Sawang Boriboon Rescue Volunteers that a speedboat had sunk mid way from Larn Island to Bali Hai pier, but the driver and passenger were safe. Thankfully, nearby was another speedboat.
bbc.com Sixty-five Welsh beaches have been rewarded in the blue flag and green coast awards for water cleanliness and environmental standards. Thirty-four received a blue flag, which recognises water quality, and 31 landed green coast awards for the promotion and protection of quiet rural beaches.
More News from the Region and the World
chroniclelive.co.uk Tributes have been paid to a former council worker who died after plunging seven floors from an apartment block in Pattaya. Kenneth Fulcher, 70, who has been living in Thailand for the past 10 years, was battling throat cancer at the time of his death.
AP Toronto mayor Rob Ford will take a leave of absence to seek help for substance abuse, his lawyer says, as a report surfaced about a second video of the mayor allegedly smoking crack cocaine.
news.com.au Hundreds of school girls kidnapped in Nigeria are reportedly being forced to marry their Islamic extremist abductors as their fate remains in limbo. About 50 of the kidnapped girls managed to escape but some 220 remain missing.
afp A Japanese travel agent who forgot to book a fleet of buses for a school trip tried to cover his tracks by forging a student's suicide note in a failed bid to get the excursion cancelled. The school has rearranged its trip for a future date, with a different agency.
smh.com.au The 549th episode of The Simpsons, What to Expect When Bart's Expecting, aired to a record-low 3.4 million viewers in America on April 27. That is a staggering 30 million less than the 14th episode of the series, Bart Get an F, which premiered way back in 1990 to an estimated 33.6 million Americans.
Phuket World of Sport
afp Benfica and Sevilla reached the Europa League final, further cementing an Iberian grip on the continent's game.
smh.com.au Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke, has bought a salubrious five bedroom home in Sydney's harborside suburb of Vaucluse for $8.5 million.
Phuket Coming Events 2014
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
