telegraph.co.uk A state of emergency was declared on Sunday in Burma's western Rakhine state, official media said, amid fears of further unrest following an eruption of deadly sectarian violence.

brecorder.com Burma's state media on Sunday warned of ''anarchy'' and a spiral of retaliation after a spate of deadly sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims that threatens to overshadow reforms in the nation.

mw.nl "Hatred, misunderstanding or any other kind of conflict among the rural people or urbanites serve no one's interest, but invites retaliation, anarchy, stagnation and lawlessness creating an environment where peace is totally absent and where democracy cannot flourish at all," said an editorial in the New Light of Myanmar.


PHUKET: A daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media.

nationmultimedia.com Thailand will plunge into a political crisis in the next seven days if Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra refuses to take responsibility and refuses to issue a royal decree to close the House session, opposition politicians warned.

guardian.co.uk Tony Parsons, 58, is the best-selling author of 'Man and Boy' (1999) and an outspoken columnist for the 'Daily Mirror' and 'GQ.' His new novel, 'Catching the Sun,' tells the story of a family who leave ''broken Britain'' for a seemingly idyllic life on the island of Phuket, Thailand: Two million people go to Phuket each year, but no one goes to the north and I'd never seen anywhere as beautiful as Hat Nai Yang beach, where 'Catching the Sun' is set. And I just fell in love with the gibbons. You see these gibbons in bars and on beaches. Everything's fine when they're young but then they go buck wild when they reach sexual maturity and they either want to fight you or f*** you. They're like someone from Essex.

wsj.com Spain has finally grasped a nettle that should have been grabbed a long time ago by asking the euro zone for a loan of up to $125 billion to recapitalise its banks.

irrawaddy.org Burma's ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party General Secretary Htay Oo said individuals should have the right to follow whatever faith they wish. He also commented on the Rohingya issue by saying that there should not be any stateless citizens in any country. A careful verification process should be used with those found to have lived in Burma for a long time recognised as citizens, he said.

reuters Burma (Myanmar) sent troops and naval vessels to the western state of Rakhine after seven people died in the worst fighting in years between minority Muslim Rohingya and Buddhists. A senior government official said hundreds of Rohingya had rioted in Buddhist communities and an overnight curfew had been imposed in Maungdaw Township.

voanews.com Police and military units restored calm and established a curfew in Rakhine state, after overnight rioting between ethnic Rohingya, who are Muslims, and local Buddhists. Burma does not consider the Rohingya to be Burmese citizens, despite the presence of as many as 800,000 of them in its western region, according to the UN.

bangkokpost.com An educated populace is required to engineer a healthy democracy.

independent.co.uk At least 1.5 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance in Syria, aid agencies said - evidence that the impact of what is now a civil war goes far beyond the probable 10,000 dead.

TAT The Tourism Authority of Thailand unveiled Thailand's largest travel and tourism trade exhibition, Thailand Travel Mart Plus 2012 (TTM+ 2012) at IMPACT Exhibition Center Halls 5 & 6 in Bangkok. The event, which runs all weekend, will play an important role in building momentum for the number of international visitor arrivals to Thailand, which is showing solid growth compared to last year.

dailytelegraph.com.au Hundreds of child sex offenders are flying abroad to prey on children without fear of prosecution because Australian laws designed to stop them are failing. And Bali, the country's favourite holiday spot, is now overwhelmingly the No.1 destination for pedophiles, according to new figures. Chief executive of Australian child protection charity Child Wise, Bernadette McMenamin, said sex offenders should not be allowed to travel if the Australian government cannot guarantee they will be monitored.

perthnow.com.au In a remote Balinese village an hour's drive from Denpasar, an entire generation of the town's males has been destroyed by an evil pedophile. For the first time, villagers have spoken about the deep emotional scars inflicted by a German tourist who molested at least 10 of the village's 50 young boys six years ago. He bought the silence of the victims' families.

perthnow.com.au "Australians pay well," Dinda said. "They have lots of money, but they drink too much and can be violent." On Bali, Sanur is a place where prostitutes who are no longer attractive enough to show their faces at tourist bars can still find customers. They are either too old, too fat or too physically scarred to be seen in Kuta. Locals, and desperate foreigners, can hitch a cab to the district and have sex for as little as $5.

smh.com.au At least 10 Qantas employees have been suspended indefinitely for allegedly looking at, sending or receiving pornographic pictures and other inappropriate images on computers at Sydney Airport.

lfpress.com As the Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking was unveiled this week, the sad reality is it comes at a time when the numbers of people enslaved on Earth has likely never been higher. Labels don't spell out the percentage of human trafficking or child labor that went into the product. June 12 is World Day Against Child Labor.

pattayadailynews.com Police in Pattaya seized luxury house belonging to Finnish contactor Hannu Tapani Torpstroem, 64, accused of a 1000 million baht fraud in Finland. Contracted to build roads, he fled to Pattaya. He had been sending his Thai wife 10,000 baht a month.

smh.com.au Jack Flader, the criminal mastermind behind the biggest superannuation fraud Australia has seen, held a global corporate conference at the Marriott in Pattaya but officials say ''there is insufficient evidence to prove a breach by him of Australian law.'' It is no exaggeration to say that the greatest threat to freedom of speech in this country are lawyers.

pattayadailynews.com Pattaya police arrested two Americans, Hans Hendric Ryman, 65, in possession of 1 gm of methamphetamine ya ice, drug paraphernalia and one stick of cigarette mixed with ganja, and David Jerome, 62, whose urine drugs test was also positive.

guardian.co.uk Samantha Lo, 27, founder of an online arts magazine, has been arrested for sticking messages on Singapore traffic signal buttons, including "Press to Time Travel" or "Press to Stop Time." Lo's work has been compared with that of the British street artist Banksy but in Singapore, critics are howling for severe punishment: "This is definitely vandalism. Stop hiding behind the excuse of art. The stickers are creative and cheeky, in the style of schoolgirl pranks. If we allow such acts to go unpunished, more people would be encouraged to try their own versions."

cnn.com Singapore's latest development will finally blossom later this month, with an imposing canopy of artificial trees up to 50 meters high towering over a vast urban oasis. The colossal solar-powered supertrees are found in the Bay South garden, which opens to the public on June 29. It is part of a 250-acre landscaping project - Gardens by the Bay - that is an initiative from Singapore's National Parks Board that will see the cultivation of flora and fauna from foreign lands.

independent.co.uk Soon, newspapers in films may seem as outdated as watching someone play a cassette tape, or (worse) seeing Sandra Bullock get her identity stolen via a floppy disk in 'The Net'.

smh.com.au One of the more frustrating parts of being male - well, this male at least - is being attracted to crappy women; vacuous, venal or just plain nasty chicks. With many guys, even when we find out a woman is completely soulless, if she's hot enough, we'll still go there. Hell, if she's hot enough, we'll marry her.



cnn.com Denmark produced the first major surprise of Euro 2012 as Morten Olsen's side secured a 1-0 win over the Netherlands in Kharkiv. Famed for their Total Football approach, the World Cup finalists were left totally frustrated by a Danish side that was never fazed by a star-studded reputation.

AP Moments before he was supposed to be taken off, Mario Gomez headed in the winning goal for Germany. The Bayern Munich striker made a surprise start against Portugal and knocked in a deflected cross from Sami Khedira in the 72nd minute to give the Germans a 1-0 victory in Group B.

bangkokpost.com About two million TrueVisions subscribers saw Euro 2012 broadcasts from channels 3, 5 and 9 cancelled on Friday. The matches could be seen on terrestrial television but TrueVisions blocked those stations' broadcasts through its cable and satellite platforms. Some clever viewers got around the problem by using 40 baht bunny rabbit antennas.

agencies Maria Sharapova of Russia coasted to a career Grand Slam by defeating Sara Errani of Italy 6-3, 6-3 to win the French Open. For Sharapova, it was her 31st pro tournament win, but she became just the 10th woman to win all four major titles.

watoday.com.au Australian swimmers Nick D'Arcy and Kenrick Monk will be sent home from the London Olympics immediately after the final day of the swimming events as punishment for posting photographs of them posing with guns in a California gun shop.



June 10 Laguna Phuket International Marathon

July 18-22 Phuket Raceweek

July 21-22 Toyota motor racing at Saphan Hin, Phuket City

July 1 US Independence Day picnic, Headstart International School of Phuket, from 11am



November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket