nytimes.com Pro-democracy clashes escalated in Hong Kong on Sunday as the police unleashed tear gas in an effort to clear thousands of protesters who have besieged the city government for three days.

nbcnews.com Hong Kong police fired volleys of tear gas to disperse pro-democracy protests and baton-charged the crowd blocking a key road in the government district after official warnings against illegal demonstrations. The city's Admiralty district had descended into chaos as chanting protesters converged on police barricades surrounding colleagues who had earlier launched a ''new era'' of civil disobedience.

bangkokpost.com Police say results from over 200 DNA tests conducted in the Koh Tao double murder investigation should be done by tomorrow, but admit that there's nothing they can confirm since the killers are still at large.

nationmultimedia.com A Thai helicopter has lost contact with ground control during a search and rescue effort for two missing mountaineers on Southeast Asia's highest peak in Burma (Myanmar).

reuters Thirty-one people were presumed dead near the peak of a Japanese volcano that erupted unexpectedly a day earlier while it was packed with hikers out to admire autumn foliage, sending a huge cloud of ash and rock tumbling down its slopes.

thetimes.co.uk Conservative cabinet office minister Brooks Newmark has resigned from Britain's government after reports that he sent an explicit picture of himself to an undercover reporter.


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



un.org Sustainable development must go ''hand in hand'' with democracy, human rights, and peace and security, Deputy Prime Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn of Thailand told the UN General Assembly while adding that ensuring human security should be at the heart of each nation's sustainable development program.

AP Thailand is defending the political takeover by its military and says it won't ''go against the tide of democracy.'' Tanasak said Thailand needs ''time and space'' to bring about reconciliation and undertake political reforms.

bangkokpost.com As police continue to hunt for the murderers of two Britons on Koh Tao, tourism operators on neighboring Samui and Phangan islands are fretting about possible fallout in the coming high season.

nationmultimedia.com Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul is scheduled to travel to Koh Tao today in the wake of the brutal murders of two British tourists. David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, were found dead on the island of Koh Tao on September 15.

scmp.com Hong Kong awoke Sunday to the news that the long-awaited disobedience movement, Occupy Central, was officially underway.

AP Riot police in Hong Kong arrested scores of students who stormed the government headquarters compound during a night of scuffles to protest China's refusal to allow genuine democratic reforms in the semiautonomous city.



theguardian.com With fans massed on the banks of the Grand Canal, a drone flying overhead, and waterborne paparazzi swarming behind his taxi all the way from the island of Giudecca, George Clooney arrived at sunset for his wedding reception in the kind of grand spectacle that only the very rich and very glamorous can ever hope to pull off.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/27/george-clooney-amal-alamuddin-wedding-venice

reuters Burma's national government has drafted a plan that will give around a million members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority a bleak choice: accept ethnic reclassification and the prospect of citizenship, or be detained. Most of Burma's 1.1 million Rohingya already live in apartheid-like conditions in western Rakhine State.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/rohingya-face-detention-burma-govt-draft-plan.html

huffingtonpost.com The democratisation process in Burma remains very much a work-in-progress, with parliamentary elections slated for next year and the country continuing to adjust to the growing pains associated with opening its economy to the rest of the world.

nationmultimedia.com Three Bulgarian men were arrested in Phuket for skimming ATM cards and making withdrawals from hacked accounts totalling more than Bt170,000. Thirty-seven magnetic cards were found in their possession.

scmp.com Dozens of hikers were stranded on the slopes of an erupting Japanese volcano that reportedly killed one person and seriously injured more than 30.

news.com.au Class divides, cultural prejudice, racism: businessman and charity executive Chris Fox reels off what is holding Australia back in 2014. Flaws, he says, the men at Anzac Cove - who were of many different colors and creeds - would have abhorred.

news.com.au He lives in a rundown one-bedroom house he has shared with his wife of more than 30 years and his lifestyle is a far cry from other world leaders. So it's little wonder Uruguay President Jose Mujica, who reportedly earns around $12,000 a year and donates 90 percent of it to charity, has been nicknamed the worlds poorest president.
http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/jose-mujica-meet-the-worlds-poorest-president/story-fn5tas5k-1227072886228

cbc.ca US-led coalition warplanes struck Islamic State fighters in Syria attacking a town near the Turkish border for the first time, as well as positions in the country's east, activists and a Kurdish official said.

bangkokpost.com Airbus says global air passenger traffic over the next two decades will grow by 4.7 percent annually, spurring a need for 31,400 new passenger and cargo aircraft worth US$4.6 trillion.



foreignpolicy.com On Friday, one of the world's wealthiest nations convinced one of the world's poorest to take in its unwanted refugees. Human rights groups say the plan will essentially make Cambodia a ''human dumping ground'' for asylum seekers that Australia is unwilling to accommodate.

abc.net.au Australia's refugee resettlement deal with Cambodia is a long-term arrangement that will start small but build over time, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said. The deal has been condemned by the UN refugee agency and human rights advocates.

straitstimes.com Three would-be Malaysian militants, arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Thursday, were enlisted into the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group by a senior Malaysian militant who used Facebook to lure members.

AP Indonesian authorities arrested a German man for allegedly trying to smuggle 239 grams (8.4 ounces) of cocaine to Bali. Hans Peter Naumann, 48, was arrested after he arrived on a flight from Bangkok.

news24.com Indonesia's conservative Aceh province passed a law making gay sex punishable by 100 lashes of the cane, in a decision described by rights activists as ''an enormous step backwards''.



news.com.au Everton captain Phil Jagielka scored a sensational 92nd-minute equaliser to earn his side a 1-1 draw against derby rivals Liverpool at Anfield.

bbc.com Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal had no complaints at the red card captain Wayne Rooney received from referee Lee Mason during Saturday's 2-1 win over West Ham.

reuters Mauricio Pochettino said this week he would like to stay at Tottenham Hotspur for as long as Arsene Wenger has been at Arsenal and performances like the one Spurs produced in the 1-1 draw can only help his cause.

bangkokpost.com The Thai women's volleyball team kept alive their hopes for a first-ever medal in the sport at the Asian Games with an easy win over Kazakhstan.

smh.com.au FIFA president Sepp Blatter confirmed that he would stand for a fifth term in charge of world soccer in an election in May next year.



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