nytimes.com A 15-year-old student armed with a handgun held 23 other students and a teacher hostage for several hours at a high school in Wisconsin. The student shot himself when police entered the room. The boy's condition is not known.


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

bbc.co.uk Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya has said he believes Thai people want to "move on" from protesting after the Constitutional Court dismissed a case against the governing Democrat Party. The Election Commission had accused the Democrats of misusing election funds in 2005. If found guilty, the party could have faced dissolution and the prime minister could have lost his job.

afp Indonesia closed Malang city's domestic airport as a volcano shot ash into the sky over eastern Java, posing a risk to planes. The airport, about 25 kilometres west of Mount Bromo, will be closed until December 4, a transport ministry spokesman said.

guardian.co.uk British Airways shareholders backed a five billion pound merger with Spain's Iberia to create International Airlines Group, a carrier serving more than 250 destinations and employing about 57,000 staff that hopes to compete with multinational rivals Air France-KLM and Lufthansa.

afp An Air India Express co-pilot sent an international passenger jet into a terrifying nosedive when he adjusted his seat and accidentally pushed the control column forward, an official report revealed. The clumsy officer then panicked and the captain, on a toilet break, only saved the Boeing 737 aircraft after using an emergency code to get through the cockpit door and take the controls, said India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

scmp.com A Cathay Pacific flight with 326 passengers and crew on board was forced to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan after losing cabin pressure.

Phuket Update Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha is expected to greet the Ambassador for the Netherlands today in advance of the opening of a new Netherlands Consulate at the Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket, at Karon beach. Several Phuket consulates are already positioned in resorts. The Centara Grand yesterday announced its sponsorship of this year's Phuket King's Cup Regatta.

nationmultimedia.com Hospitality firm CCT Group has joined with Chinese investors to build a 2.5 billion baht hotel in Phuket. Currently, annual group revenue is 100 million baht. This is expected to increase to 500 million baht next year, with 400 million baht generated by the new hotel.

smh.com.au Qantas is experiencing a baggage nightmare around Australia after a stray rock-climbing rope jammed key equipment in Melbourne. The airline is believed to have up to 400 pieces of luggage awaiting delivery around Australia and has told travellers they can come back to their final airport destination and "search through the piles" to find their bags.

mcot.net Coral reefs around Thailand's famous Phi Phi Islands off Krabi have been found heavily damaged, following a diving exploration survey on coral reefs in the area, according to the Phuket Marine Biological Center. Some visitors used their feet and walked or even stamped on the reefs, and in some areas traces were found of ships' anchors being dropped on reefs.

bernama Biological Centre academic Nalinee Tongtaem said the diving exploration found bleaching or dead coral reefs in double and triple quantities compared to the living ones around the islands, especially near such important tourist attractions as Maya Bay, Tonsai Bay, Long Beach (Hat Yao), Rantee Bay, and Laem Tong Beach.

Associated Press Air France has submitted a report to French investigators accusing planemaker Airbus of not heeding warnings about speed sensors on its planes before last year's crash of a Brazil-France flight, officials say. All 228 people aboard the Airbus A330 jet were killed.

etravelblackboard.com Vietnam is fast becoming a popular Australian tourist destination with a reported 128 percent increase in Australian visitor numbers for 2010. According to a report released by Vietnam's top hotels and the country's tourism authority, safety and affordability has Aussies choosing to travel to Vietnam over traditional Asia-Pacific destinations like Bali, Fiji and Thailand.

asiaone.com Singapore expects visitor arrivals to hit a record of around 12 million this year, helped by the success of the city-state's two multi-billion-dollar casinos, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said. His comment indicates Singapore expects visitor arrivals this year will rise about 24 percent from last year's 9.68 million.

Associated Press Hollywood actor Leslie Nielsen, who traded in his dramatic persona for inspired bumbling as the accident-prone detective Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun comedies, has died, aged 84.

peopledaily.com.cn Somali pirates have hijacked a Malaysia-flagged and owned ship with 23 crew members on board about 900 nautical miles east of Somali capital Mogadishu, EU anti- piracy mission said. Naval Force spokesman Per Klingvall said the MV Albedo was seized on Friday.

bbc.co.uk Cambodia's prime minister says no one will be punished over a festival stampede in which 351 people died. "The incident that happened was the responsibility of the government," said Hun Sen, describing it as "a historical lesson that we must remember".



December 1 World Aids Day
December 4-11 Phuket King's Cup Regatta
December 5 Laguna Ironman 70.3 title
December 3-5 North Phuket Culinary Arts Festival, Mai Khao resorts
December 15-20 Patong Carnival
December 16-18 2010 Asia Superyacht Rendezvous
December 17 US Consular outreach service on Phuket
December 30-January 9 Phuket Red Cross fair, Saphan Hin park, Phuket City
2011
January 6-9 PIMEX boat show, Royal Phuket Marina
January 22 QSI International fun run day at Bang Wad Dam, Kathu
January 23 The Great Phuket Rubber Duck Race Day, Laguna Phuket
February 9-13 The Bay Regatta - Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi