MILESTONES

DENIED: By the Khon Kaen Court, bail for Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, aka Pai Dao Din. It was about the 11th turndown, but who’s counting? Mr Jatupat was hoping to travel to South Korea by Thursday to receive the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2017 from the May 18 Memorial Foundation.

PROTESTED: By the ambassador to South Korea, the award of the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2017 to Jatupat Boonpattararaksa. Written on embassy letterhead and signed by ambassador Sarun Charoensuwan, the letter claims Pai Dao Din should not receive the award because he “has committed actions in violation of the laws”. This is a factual inexactitude because Mr Jatupat has been convicted of nothing.

DIED: At 83 in Florida from dementia-related complications, Anne Morrissy Merick, one of the most important war and combat journalists of history. While working for US ABC News in Vietnam, she had raucous confrontations with US officers over a ban on women covering combat operations. She persuaded US commander Gen William Westmoreland and the Pentagon to overturn the order, leading to changes worldwide and, ultimately, to Thailand’s best military reporter, Wassana Nanuam.

ELECTED: Moon Jae-in as South Korea’s new president, replacing the disgraced, indicted Park Geun-hye. The 64-year-old left-of-centre Moon is a long-time supporter of the Sunshine Policy of approaching, rather than confronting, North Korea. President Trump invited President Moon to Washington.

SENTENCED: To two years in prison for blasphemy by insulting the Koran, Christian Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, the recently defeated governor of Jakarta. The sentence was a surprise; prosecutors had asked for probation. Ahok angered hardline Muslims when he said there was no verse in the Koran barring a vote for a Christian. He apologised but that failed to soften critics or the judge.