UPDATING All Day, Every Day
reuters Afghan officials gave up hope on Saturday of finding any survivors from a landslide in the remote northeast, putting the death toll at more than 2100, as the aid effort focused on the more than 4000 people displaced.
smh.com.au Even from the darkness of an Egyptian jail, the three journalists have refused to be silenced. ''It's a measure of the power of the media and the government's fear of it that our words should be regarded as potent as any bombs,'' wrote Australian Peter Greste, who has been held for 126 days with two al-Jazeera colleagues.
theaustralian.com.au Mr Greste issued an impassioned statement saying ''the best defence against insecurity is a vibrant, open, noisy, and yes at times even rabid press.''
theconversation.com The indictment of two journalists, Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian, for alleged criminal libel under a similar Computer Crime Act in Thailand ''may spell doom'' for the online news website Phuket Wan.
bbc.com Nigel Stepney, the former Ferrari mechanic at the heart of the 2007 ''spy-gate'' scandal, has been killed by a truck in a road accident in Britain, aged 56. Stepney was sentenced in Italy to 20 months in prison after being found guilty of sabotage, industrial espionage and sporting fraud.
bbc.co.uk In the Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, two pilots died when their military helicopters were shot out of the sky, while on the ground protesters staged a blockade as army tanks approached the city.
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
latimes.com A clash between supporters of Ukrainian unity and Russian-backed separatists in the Black Sea port of Odessa left 42 people dead and scores injured, police said. Most deaths were from smoke when a building used by pro-Russian snipers was set alight. Eight others jumped to their deaths.
euronews.com The latest domino to fall was in the separatist-held city of Donetsk, where a pro-Russian group of around 200 stormed the regional prosecutor's office.
nationmultimedia.com The Democrat Party will not contest the next election if a reconciliation proposal to be unveiled by its leader Abhisit Vejjajiva today is rejected by the parties involved in the ongoing political conflict, according to the party spokesman.
bangkokpost.com Thailand is confident that the progress it has made in the prosecution of human trafficking cases over the past year will be enough for the US to give the country a good ranking in its in Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report due out next month, a senior ministry source says.
reuters Hundreds of people have been killed and more than 2000 are missing after a landslide carrying half a mountain smashed into a village in Argo, north Afghanistan, and rescue teams were struggling to reach the remote area.
Phuket World of People
abc.net.au An elderly Australian man who allegedly raped four young sisters in Thailand has died in jail in Chiang Mai. Ninety-four-year-old Karl Joseph Kraus was arrested in 2010 in one of the worst cases of child sexual abuse ever uncovered in Thailand.
nationmultimedia.com A large mass of live and rare coral was seized recently from an empty boat anchored off Phuket. The live coral - Catalapsyllia Jerdiney, Cynarina Lacrymaris and a species not yet verified - was taken to a marine conservation centre on the island province, while police try to find out who extracted them illegally.
nnt According to TMB Analytics, Thailand's SME confidence index in the first quarter of this year has dropped to a new low due to the ongoing political crisis. TMB Analytics said that the index plummeted to 37.6 points, down from 40.9 points in the previous quarter, which is the lowest figure since 2012.
themalaysianinsider.com US lawmakers called on the Obama administration to punish countries that do too little to fight human trafficking, including Thailand and Malaysia, and said Burma (Myanmar) should not receive a waiver to avoid possible sanctions over its record.
More News from the Region and the World
nationmultimedia.com The Thai Embassy in Belgium issued a statement saying that 14 passengers on a Thai Airways flight bound for Bangkok late last month were denied entry into Frankfurt because of concern about a "visa scam". After a flight was delayed, the 14 were forced to camp inside the airport lounge until they caught a flight back home the following day.
Southeast Asian Press Alliance Issues affecting press freedom and freedom of expression - such as the lese majeste law, criminal defamation, CCA and the potential regulation of broadcast media content - will continue to make a serious dent on Thailand's reputation of having a free media environment.
fidh.org The Burmese government must end the persecution of journalists and release all five reporters currently jailed in the country, FIDH and its member organisation Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma) said.
AP The top UN envoy on Myanmar said the most pressing priority for Muslims in violence-torn Rakhine state, who are considered illegal immigrants, is to get on the path to citizenship.
bangkokpost.com Thailand remains on the Priority Watch List (PWL) for intellectual-property violations for the eighth year running as the country still stands accused of turning a blind eye to widespread piracy of software, entertainment and branded goods.
mirror.co.uk Sentenced to eight years' jail, pervert Max Clifford, 71, believed he could get away with a string of vile sex attacks on young girls because of his position and power in the celebrity world, a judge said. But the PR guru to the stars was undone by the courage of his victims.
thetimes.co.uk At least 329 schoolgirls - more than three times as many as first thought - were kidnapped from their dormitories by Boko Haram a fortnight ago, their head teacher said.
Phuket World of Sport
dailymail.co.uk Sprinter Tyson Gay has accepted a one-year ban and a loss of results dating back to July 2012 after testing positive for a prohibited substance, the United States Anti-Doping Agency has announced.
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
