bbc.co.uk US President Barack Obama has declared a ''major disaster'' in New York state after storm Sandy smashed into the US East Coast causing flooding and cutting power to millions. A record 4m tidal surge sent seawater cascading into large parts of New York City's subway system.

You can WATCH superstorm Sandy LIVE at www.weather.com

smh.com.au A Jetstar pilot and crew were held hostage for more than six hours by a mob of angry passengers after their flight was diverted from Beijing to Shanghai because of bad weather.


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

nationmultimedia.com Airports of Thailand will go ahead with Phases 3 and 4 of Suvarnabhumi Airport's development to boost its annual capacity from 45 million to 90 million passengers.

theage.com.au Australians could pay a travel levy for foreign trips and higher fees for passports under a plan to offset the soaring costs of helping those who get into strife overseas. The tourist hot spot Phuket in southern Thailand is among three locations identified for new posts.

smh.com.au A damning parliamentary report has also found diplomats are suffering from three decades of ''chronic underfunding'', just as the Australian government launches a new blueprint for ties to Asia.

ft.com This weekend the Obama campaign added an exclamation mark to its slogan, which is now ''Forward!'' It is probably too late to come up with anything more persuasive. ''I guess it's better than backward,'' said Bruce Springsteen after the president asked him to write a song around the theme. ''It is not much to go on.''

bangkokpost.com Several industries remain unprepared and lack the supporting industries for the upcoming Asean Economic Community slated for 2015, says the government's planning agency. Language skills, meanwhile, are needed for workers in the tourism and services sectors.

PTI India has the emerged as the world's largest rice exporter in 2012 beating its Asian counterpart Thailand with shipment of 9.75 million tonnes, according to USDA's latest report. Thailand was the top rice exporter with exports of 10.65 million tonnes in 2011. However, its volume slipped to 6.5 million tonnes in 2012.

bangkokpost.com Dtac founder and billionaire Boonchai Bencharongkul, 58, plans to wed voluptuous movie star Bongkot ''Tak'' Khongmalai and will hold a formal engagement party next month, at least according to a message posted on his intended sweetheart's Instagram page.

smh.com.au So far this year, 27 of the 129 children reported missing to Indonesia's National Commission for Child Protection are believed to have been abducted after meeting their captors on Facebook, said the group's chairman, Arist Merdeka Sirait. One of the 27 has been found dead.

bangkokpost.com TripAdvisor features more than 75 million travel reviews and opinions, up from 50 million a year ago. Its community has grown to 32 million worldwide, up from 20 million last year, and 50 contributions are posted on the website every minute. only 12 percent of negative reviews about Thai properties have received management response via TripAdvisor.

chroniclelive.co.uk A holidaymaker has been spared jail after trying to sneak stun guns and knuckle dusters through Newcastle Airport. Daniel Marshall, 22, bought the banned weapons in Thailand but was stopped when he walked through the ''nothing to declare'' channel at the airport.

nationmultimedia.com The death toll from last week's sectarian violence between Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim communities in western Myanmar has reached 84 with 129 injured, state media reported Monday. The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said 2950 houses, 14 religious buildings and eight rice mills were burned down.

scmp.com ''Forced shopping'' has made an unwelcome return to Hong Kong, mainland tourists complain, as travel agencies sell group-tour vouchers on websites at rock-bottom prices.

daily49er.com It's obvious to anyone who picks up a paper (insert joke here) that print journalism is dying a very slow, public and painful death. Newsweek's decision to end its print publication may very well put another stake into the heart of print journalism. Online news sites offer information instantaneously, whereas Newsweek can offer stories only once a week.

telegraph.co.uk Air Koryo, the North Korean carrier described as "the world's worst airline", has finally moved into the digital age with its first online booking service. The state-owned airline, which is the only one in the world with just one star according to the ranking service Skytrax, now sells flights from Pyongyang to Beijing and Shenyang in China, and Vladivostok in Russia, on its website.

fishupdate.com A statement after a three-day aquaculture conference in Turkey adopted drew from a number of preceding declarations - including the Phuket Consensus of 2010 - that have emphasised the critical role for aquaculture in feeding the world, stimulating economic development, providing employment and reducing existing negative impacts on the marine environment.

independent.co.uk ''It is business as usual,'' Dame Gail Rebuck assured her stable of best-selling authors after Random House, which she chairs, sealed a 2.4bn pound merger with Penguin to create the world's largest books publisher. The merger should give the new company greater muscle in negotiations with Amazon, Apple and Google.

telegraph.co.uk Victor Kislyi, a Belarusian who made a fortune from the online game World of Tanks, is funding the search for Second World War Spitfires believed to have been buried in Burma.

nationmultimedia.com John B Trew, Youth Employment Specialist at Plan International, a UK charity, says putting greater emphasis on equipping the youth with necessary knowledge and skills is a must for the developing world. the charity and Accenture are targeting 2,700 of the most disadvantaged youth in the Northern (Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai), Eastern (Chon Buri and Rayong) and Southern (Phang-Nga and Phuket) regions.



November 1 Futsal World Cup, Bangkok

November 9 IBAP network meeting

November 25 Laguna Phuket Triathlon

November 28 Loy Kratong Day

November 30 AustCham Phuket sundowners social and business networking

December 1 World AIDs Day

December 1-8 King's Cup Regatta

December 5 HM The King's Birthday

December 10 Constitution Day

December 15-20 Patong Carnival

December 16-18 Asia Superyacht Rendezvous, Bang Tao beach

December 25 Christmas Day



October 5-13 Phuket Vegetarian Festival



November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket