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AP Thai police arrested three local officials and a Myanmar national that they allege were involved in trafficking and holding Rohingya Muslims for ransom at a jungle camp where 26 bodies were dug up from shallow graves last week in southern Thailand.
crikey.com.au The terrible discoveries of dozens of bodies in Thailand appear to have bolstered the chances of Australian journalist Alan Morison and his Thai colleague Chutima Sidasathian, who fell victim to a complaint by the Royal Thai Navy after they reprinted a damning story from wire service Reuters.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2015/05/04/thailand-mass-graves-reveal-migrant-slave-deaths-and-media-shackles/
cnn.com Two men who opened fire outside a contest for Prophet Mohammad cartoons in a Dallas suburb were shot dead by police, authorities said.
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 Stories
bangkokpost.com The Rohingya bodies found at the Songkhla death camp represent thousands of victims, beaten and sometimes killed while held in some 60 such camps in the South.
wsj.com Thailand's efforts to combat human trafficking have come under fresh scrutiny after the discovery of more than two dozen bodies from a jungle camp that authorities suspect smugglers used to hide migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
nationmultimedia.com A migrant who escaped has told police he saw a trafficker named Arnua and his henchmen beat a man to death. Speaking via an interpreter on condition of anonymity, this survivor said he had heard that more than 500 victims were killed at various camps along the Thai-Malaysian border.
bangkokpost.com The governments of Thailand and Malaysia need to work together to solve the problem and take legal action against all those involved, regardless of whether they are state officials or civilians, says a former president of the Rohingya Association of Thailand.
Phuket World of People
news.com.au IF you've ever ventured into the comments section of a news story online you'll likely find aggression, rudeness and foul language. This is why.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/why-the-comments-section-of-your-average-website-is-full-of-rage-aggression-rudeness-and-foul-language/story-fnjwnhzf-1227332039091
nationmultimedia.com Thailand's fourth estate has turned from being fairly free to one of the most restricted in the region, standing beside Myanmar and Malaysia, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance said on World Press Freedom Day
afp Rescuers have pulled a 101-year-old man alive from his ruined home a week after Nepal's earthquake claimed at least 7200 lives, as the government warned the death toll would climb ''much higher''.
bangkokpost.com A weaving car narrowly missed one group of Sunday bicycle riders in Chiang Mai, then smashed into a second, and police say the 23-year-old driver was legally drunk. Three cyclists died.
inquisitr.com Experts are expressing concern that the internet could be hovering on the brink of collapse, close to a ''capacity crunch,'' due to inability of existing communications infrastructure to keep up with the ever-increasing demanded for faster data delivery.
bangkokpost.com European Union representatives will arrive in Thailand next Sunday to inspect the government's fight against illegal fishing. The government and big players in the fishing industry are rattled by the possible ban facing seafood exports.
thephuketinsider.com Last week's announcement that Malaysia Airlines will dispose of six Airbus A-380s and four Boeing 777-200ERs does not bode well for the travel sector. The question is will the diminished airlift capacity have a knock on effect?
bangkokpost.com NokScoot is resorting to short-haul service to help control the damage from being one of the Thai-registered carriers penalised for the government's inattention to global aviation regulations. Bangkok-Singapore, set for inauguration on May 20, appears to be the only route currently confirmed on the flight schedule of NokScoot.
PA Most liver transplants are expected to be linked to over-eating rather than alcohol abuse by 2020, according to a renowned expert. Dr Quentin Anstee of Newcastle University and the Freeman Hospital said the UK faced a ''major and growing challenge'' as increasing numbers of Britons are diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Around the Region
afp British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, on death row in Indonesia, is writing goodbye letters to her family and believes she could be executed at any time, she wrote in an article on Sunday.
Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-genocide-looms-burma-says-report-singapore-warns-news-site-vietnams-tippi-point-22391/
Phuket World of Sport
scotsman.com Jose Mourinho's side needed three points to claim the Premier League trophy with three games to spare and Eden Hazard headed in the rebound after missing a first-half penalty. It's Chelsea's fourth title in 11 years.
Coming Events on Phuket 2015
May 6 With the addition of Monday as an extra public holiday, government offices shut down from Friday and reopen on Wednesday, May 6.
June 20-21 Baba wedding at Old Phuket Town
July 14-16 Trial of Phuketwan journalists at Phuket Provincial Court
July 15-19 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek
The scale of "500 killed", regardless how accurate estimate is, warrants that Thailand immediately assigns adequate and the very best investigation teams to commence investigation, AND Tyaioand should provides and shoukd actively demonstrate that the investigation meet acceptable standard expected by an international community and victims' families.
Actually, a massacre of such scale warrants UN direct investigation, since happenings of such scale, 300m or so from the state border, apparently can't happen without the very involvement of wide range of officials.
Moreover , it has been happenning for years.
In addition, leads were ignored for years by authorities and not investigated, but critics shamed and silenced.
This all well indicates that Thailand itself hardly be trusted by the world to perform such investigation as The System is so rotten.
Unfortunately, it seems in history books the villagers will be painted in the way as often abettors of mass crimes like genocide are described - like PW has put it: either profiteering from that situation, directly or through family members, or simply for a sake of convenience putting a blind eye on.
Of course, a range of various state agencies officials, incl. of enforcement ones, should be immediately rotated out of the area to provide that they, understandably hamper investigation either for their own benefits or of their very close colleagues. Which agencies are concerned , a competent persons , of course, are able to determine, as of course it is more than a single one.
Posted by Sue on May 4, 2015 09:13