reuters A student shot dead a female classmate and wounded four others when he opened fire in the cafeteria of his Washington state high school, apparently after a fight with fellow students, authorities said.

wired.com Google's search czar just broke the record for highest sky dive ever. As reported by The New York Times, Alan Eustace jumped from a balloon that was 135,890 feet above the Earth.


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



nationmultimedia.com Kitsada Tunsakul, president of the Thai Hotels Association Southern Chapter, said the association had proposed to Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul that the number of visitors to Phuket be limited in order to avoid congestion during the peak period. The idea is being pushed as one of the THA's strategies to turn the island from a mass-tourism to a high-end destination.

AP A British woman has died under anesthesia during a cosmetic procedure by an uncertified surgeon at a clinic in Bangkok, authorities said. Thailand is known for affordable cosmetic procedures, but there have been several deaths from botched surgeries at unapproved clinics.



worldbulletin.net Unprecedented numbers of Muslim Rohingya have been leaving Burma (Myanmar) on boats for Thailand and Malaysia following a campaign of arrests. ''In one week we have seen 8000 Rohingya leaving northern Rakhine state,'' Chris Lewa, head of the Arakan Project, told Anadolu Agency.

ucanews.com Thailand's failure to gain a seat on the UN Human Rights Council should send a clear signal to its military government that it does not meet international standards on human rights, analysts said.



bbc.com Health officials fear many people may have been exposed to Mali's first Ebola victim - a two-year-old girl. The girl showed symptoms, including a bleeding nose, while travelling on a public bus through several towns, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. She has since died.



bangkokpost.com Two Myanmar suspects in Koh Tao tourist murders meet their parents for the first time since their arrest and reaffirm threats of violent death made by police to force confessions.



nationmultimedia.com Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the Phuket International Airport will be expanded, including the construction of 15 additional aircraft bays, which are expected to be completed within the next year. Construction of an additional terminal at the airport will commence next year, he added.

freshfruitportal.com Fairfood International will stage a protest outside the Thai Embassy in The Hague, the Dutch political capital, next week in support of human rights defender Andy Hall, with many other demonstrations due to be held throughout the world. There will also be protests organised by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) in Washington D.C., Finnwatch in Helsinki, along with SumOfUs, the UK's Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Walk Free in London.
http://www.freshfruitportal.com/2014/10/24/global-protests-to-support-andy-hall-and-vigorously-defend-free-speech/?country=others

bangkokpost.com The daughter of a Japanese businessman who died 11 years ago has petitioned police to re-investigate her father's death after the woman he was living with at the time was arrested for allegedly murdering a 79-year-old Japanese teacher.

irrawaddy.org The Malaysia-based low-cost carrier AirAsia will soon fly direct flights between Naypyidaw and Kuala Lumpur as the Burmese capital prepares to host a major regional summit next month. The maiden flight will take place on November 10, 2014, and will be AirAsia's second direct flight to Burma, after Rangoon-Kuala Lumpur.

cnn.com Sweden's chase for what was widely suspected to be a submerged Russian sub is a Cold War-era tactic that shows Moscow is willing to antagonise neighbors, says regional expert.

watoday.com.au Even in the depths of the 2008 Great Recession, there was a sense that the US economic crisis would be fleeting. Six years on, flatlining incomes seem part of the new normal, as do vast disparities of wealth. Compounding these problems is the poverty of American politics.

voanews.com Britain's Queen Elizabeth made her first foray into the world of social media when she sent out her inaugural message on Twitter. The 88-year-old monarch tweeted at the opening of a new gallery at London's Science Museum.



news.com.au Another Australian has died in Bali - this time a surfer at the famous Kuta Beach - making two Australian deaths in the past week. The latest death is a male surfing at Kuta. The 56-year-old from Melbourne was surfing at Kuta Reef surfbreak on Friday when he was found unconscious. He was rescued but died two hours later.

aap The two sons of an Australian man found murdered in Bali have joined a commemoration of his life as they grapple with the fact of their mother being accused of plotting his death. Jon and Peter Ellis, both Perth-based students, are in shock at the death of their businessman dad Robert Ellis.

dvb.no Par Gyi, a Burmese journalist who went missing in Mon State one month ago while covering the armed conflict between government forces and the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) has been killed by the Burmese army, according to a report obtained by DVB that was allegedly written by the Burmese military.

freemalaysiatoday.com An international human rights organisation has urged Malaysia to repeal its sodomy law, alleging that the government is keeping it ''chiefly to persecute Anwar Ibrahim''. ''The willingness of the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak to use the law repeatedly against one high-profile political opponent highlights the danger posed by this law as long as it remains on the books,'' said Human Rights Watch (HRW).



reuters Croatian wunderkind Borna Coric offered emphatic proof of his potential when he crushed Rafa Nadal in the Swiss Indoor tournament before local hero Roger Federer cruised into the last four.

theguardian.com Luis Suarez has claimed that he is on the ''right path'' to becoming a reformed character having sought help to cure his ''impulse'' to bite people - but the Barcelona striker remains steadfast in his refusal to accept being labelled a racist over the 2011 incident with Patrice Evra.

pattayamail.com The first edition of the FIVB Pattaya Thailand Challenger women's international beach volleyball tournament has attracted over 40 entries from 20 countries. It will be the first time in 10 years that Pattaya has hosted an FIVB international beach volleyball event.



November 1-3 Patong Carnival

November 6 Loy Kratong

November 14-23 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket

November 29-December 6 Phuket King's Cup Regatta

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