theguardian.com ''Malaysia is not serious about curbing human trafficking at all," said Aegile Fernandez, director of Tenaganita, a local charity that works directly with trafficking victims. ''The order of the day is profits and corruption.''

reuters Nigeria avoided a status downgrade, despite concerns about kidnappings amid a growing terrorist threat.

smh.com.au The number of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people worldwide has exceeded 50 million for the first time since World War II, a United Nations report shows.


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



thestate.com Failure to meet minimum standards in fighting human trafficking has landed Thailand and Malaysia on a State Department blacklist, a move that could strain relations with two important US partners in Asia. The department, however, improved its rating of strategic rival China, citing Beijing's steps to abolish re-education through labor camps.

theguardian.com ''There cannot be impunity for those who traffic in human beings,'' said John Kerry, the US secretary of state. ''It must end.'' Slavery, he said, ''rips and tears at the fabric of the rule of the law.''

nationmultimedia.com Tens of thousands of the world's trafficking victims end up in Thailand as migrants from neighboring countries ''who are forced, coerced, or defrauded into labor or exploited in the sex trade,'' the report said. The TIP survey was carried out before the military coup.

nytimes.com Thailand now ranks below its neighbor Myanmar, a former Tier 3 country whose rating has improved since it began moving toward democracy in recent years.

reuters The State Department said that not only had the government ''systematically'' failed to prosecute trafficking into the fishing industry, but the Thai navy had also filed defamation charges against two journalists who reprinted reports of complicity of civilian and naval personnel in exploitation of Rohingya asylum seekers from Myanmar. That was a reference to criminal defamation charges filed by Thailand's navy against two journalists at Phuketwan, a small English-language news website based in Phuket, which published selected excerpts from a July Reuters report.

irrawaddy.org The State Department also cited media reports of ''trafficking-related complicity by Thai civilian and navy personnel in crimes involving the exploitation'' of Rohingya Muslims who have fled Burma by the tens of thousands over the past year.



theguardian.com England needed Italy to win here in order to cling to the most slender of lifelines, yet the hope was snuffed out by Costa Rica, the tournament's most romantic surprise. Italy 0-1 Costa.

skysports.com Ottmar Hitzfeld admits Switzerland were undone by a French explosion after watching his side slump to a 5-2 reverse at the World Cup.

skysports.com Enner Valencia scored twice as Ecuador came from behind to beat Honduras 2-1 in Curitiba and keep World Cup Group E wide open.

Cup Games Tonight
Argentina v Iran; Germany v Ghana; Nigeria v Bosnia and Herzegovina



nationmultimedia.com More than 1000 travel journalists and bloggers will be arriving Thailand next month to help revive tourism after the lifting of the curfew. Thawatchai Arunyik, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said travel writers and bloggers from 37 countries would arrive on July 25. Tourists from key markets in Asia such as China as well as from Europe were returning to Thailand, especially to Phuket, where many charter flights are available.

Phuket Update The long-delayed 70-million-baht one-stop yacht shop, officially christened the Phuket Yacht Control Center (PYCC), is set to open on July 1 after two years of delays and trials of its computerised system.

Phuket Update Immigration Police arrested South Korean Lee Mikyong, 48, wanted after skipping bail while awaiting trial three years ago on a charge of cheating a fellow Korean out of 10 million on Phuket.

pattayamail.com American Christopher Lee Hoff, 56, was arrested by Region 2 Children and Women Protection officers at his home in Pattaya for allegedly molesting two Cambodian boys aged 14 and 15. Officials from the American embassy also participated in the arrest.

stuff.co.nz New Zealand's poor record in failing to prosecute human trafficking offences has been again criticised by the United States State Department. Foreign men and women were subject to forced labor and sex trafficking in New Zealand, the department's latest report said.

watoday.com.au Aussie blokes are the sexiest in the world, ahead of Italian and British men, according to a poll released by travel dating website Miss Travel. Australian women, on the other hand, were lagging in the sexy stakes. They were ranked seventh behind Russia and Colombia.

news.com.au A 71-year-old French woman has been dubbed ''the female Hannibal Lecter'' after killing her husband with a kitchen mortar and cooking his heart, nose and genitals. A judicial source said the woman was arrested on May 22 in the northern French town of Longwy.



theguardian.com Malaysia's relegation to tier 3 in the US state department's Trafficking in Persons (TiP) report indicates that the country has categorically failed to comply with the most basic international requirements to prevent trafficking and protect victims within its borders.

dailysabah.com Myanmar has become an obscenity within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) because of a campaign of genocide by Buddhist fanatics against Rohingya Muslims.

amnesty.org ''It is high time Thailand's military rolls back the repressive and vaguely worded orders it has put in place, many of which violate Thailand's obligations under international human rights law,'' said Richard Bennett, Asia-Pacific Director at Amnesty International.

scmp.com The next phase of the underwater search for missing Malaysian flight MH370 will focus on an area of the Indian Ocean hundreds of kilometres south of the first suspected crash site.

inquirer.net Google has taken down the blog that listed ways to harass Singapore's Filipino population, drawing praise from Internet users appalled by growing racial tensions in the city-state.



July 11 Arsanha Bucha Day

July 16-20 Phuket Race Week yachting, Cape Panwa

August 12 Queen's Birthday

September 24-October 2 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket

October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day

November 6 Loy Kratong

November 14-21 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