afp Hong Kong's chief executive Leung Chun-ying called on protest leaders to ''immediately'' withdraw their followers from the streets in his first public comments since demonstrators were tear gassed by police.

reuters Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters extended a blockade of Hong Kong streets on Tuesday, stockpiling supplies and erecting makeshift barricades ahead of what some fear may be a push by police to clear the roads before Chinese National Day.

reuters A record 4077 migrants have died already this year crossing deserts and seas worldwide, three-quarters of them in perilous journeys across the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe, the International Organisation for Migration said. The IOM also called for more concerted investigation and prosecution of human smugglers.


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



cnn.com Defying the government, thousands of pro-democracy protesters remain camped out on major highways in the heart of Hong Kong.

theguardian.com For the first time in Hong Kong's history, hundreds of thousands of people are coordinating themselves with little direction from government or institutions. For Hong Kong, there's no going back.

time.com What happens if Beijing changes Hong Kong in ways that make its governance and business environment more like China's? Hong Kong would be finished. Beijing should realise that ultimately a vibrant Hong Kong is in its own interests.

ft.com Some 100,000 people in Hong Kong have downloaded the FireChat app in the past 24 hours and the messaging service has risen to number one in the territory's Apple app store.

theguardian.com If the network is down, FireChat can use Bluetooth - really just a sexed-up radio signal - to talk to nearby users. The protesters may find something satisfying in the way the system works, gaining strength like a movement, or a radical idea, not through a top-down imposition, but from thousands of little connections.



bangkokpost.com In a brief announcement of a Thursday press conference, the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital at Mahidol University said doctors would detail what it described as ''the successful production of an antibody treatment against Ebola for the first time in Thailand.''



bangkokpost.com Police now believe the unidentified ''running man'' caught on security video around the time of the Koh Tao killings could be the key to solving the case.

nationmultimedia.com Airports of Thailand will Tuesday propose a Bt50-billion investment plan that includes a new terminal at Suvarnabhumi Airport to Transport Minister ACM Prajin Juntong before submitting it to the Cabinet before the year's end, said AoT board chairman Prasong Phunthanet.

nationmultimedia.com The 200-million baht expansion of Sawaddi Patong, doubling the number of rooms to 300, will be implemented next year, management said.

huffingtonpost.com The Phuket Vegetarian Festival in Thailand has reached new heights of extraordinary self mutilation as men pierce their faces with razor blades, knives and guns. [Actually it's been much the same as usual.]

mumbaimirror.com Acting on a tip-off from the Thailand police, a 30-year-old man was arrested in India for allegedly stabbing to death 50-year-old American interior designer Wendy S Albano in a Bangkok hotel in 2012. He will be handed over to the Thai authorities through Interpol.

extremetech.com Before she was ousted from office by a military coup in May, Thailand's prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra pushed an interesting initiative through government: To use robots to banish the world of bad Thai food.

gizmodo.com The new government-funded Thai Delicious Committee says it will be using its new machine as ''an intelligent robot that measures smell and taste in food ingredients through sensor technology in order to measure taste like a food critic.'' It plans to sell the machines to Thai Embassies around the world for $18,000 a piece so that they can grade local Thai cuisine with it.

The New York Times recently tested a green curry from the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand, and the machine gave it a 78 out of 100. Since that's below the Thai government's minimum score of 80, it's deemed unworthy. The committee's app features official recipes.

dpa A woman plummeted seven stories to her death in Bangkok while hiding on a balcony from her married lover's wife, news reports said. According to Thairath newspaper, the wife had been away at her provincial home to give birth to the couple's baby.

smh.com.au Asylum seekers have made allegations of sexual abuse of women and children and threats of rape by guards working in Australia's detention centre on Nauru.

news.com.au Rescue workers began airlifting more than two dozen bodies from the ash-blanketed peak of Japanese volcano Mount Ontake as family members of the missing waited at a nearby elementary school.

nationmultimedia.com Thailand remains attractive for hotel investment thanks for a wide range of reasons, while Phuket is likely foreigners' best choice for a second home, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. Andrew Langdon, executive vice president for JLL's hotels and hospitality group, said the Thai hotel business remained positive and healthy.

thedailybeast.com According to a report by the Washington Post, White House fence jumper Omar Gonzalez made it further into the White House than the Secret Service let on. Gonzalez reportedly not only made it through the front doors, he then knocked down a Secret Service officer, and while carrying a knife, sprinted right by stairs leading up to the family's living quarters, and down the hall to the East Room.

AP A man who has bumps resembling horns implanted in his forehead maintained his innocence before a judge sentenced him to three consecutive life terms in the killings of three men who were kidnapped, shot and dismembered in 2011. ''I'll see you in hell,'' Caius Veiovis, 34, told the jury.

channelnewsasia.com Come visit us - that is the plea from local authorities in Thailand's restive south to international tourists. The region, comprising the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, has been plagued by violence for the past 10 years - and is understandably not on the top of visitors' lists in Thailand.

nydailynews.com Want to get married like George Clooney? It'll cost you $13 million. That's the estimated price of the Hollywood star's weekend-long wedding in Venice to human-rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin.
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/price-tag-geoge-clooney-wedding-set-13-million-article-1.1957247

lep.co.uk The Ladyboys of Bangkok are heading to Lancashire with their latest sizzling and seductive production.

independent.co.uk The world's wildlife population is less than half the size it was just four decades ago, with unsustainable human consumption and damage from climate change destroying valuable habitats at a faster rate than previously thought, a new report has warned.

bangkokpost.com Billboards are the bane of my existence in Bangkok. I think the city would be far better off without these eyesores and I could keep complaining about them until the cows come home. Don't you think Bangkok would look much better without them?



news.asiaone.com Malaysia Airlines is closely monitoring the situation in central Japan following the eruption at Mount Ontake, the country's second highest volcano.

scmp.com A controversial Buddhist cleric from Myanmar has announced he is linking up with hardline monks in Sri Lanka, alleging that their religion is under threat from Muslim extremists.

itv.com A new report by the Women???s League of Burma (WLB) 'Same Impunity, Same Pattern,' highlights the continuing use of sexual violence against minority women by the Burmese military. Ethnic women and girls suffer horrific sexual abuse while military perpetrators have guaranteed impunity.



philly.com Phil Mickelson delivered his most memorable shot after the Ryder Cup was over. "We had a great formula in '08 and I don't know why we strayed from it. I don't know why we don't ever try going back to it.'' He was talking about the only Ryder Cup the Americans have won in the last 15 years.



September 24-October 2 Vegetarian Festival, Phuket

October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day

November 1-3 Patong Carnival

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



February 13-15 Phuket Yacht Show