Tight US Fight; Phuket's Central East; You Beauty, Kevin; Aussie Accused; Two in Death Dive; Phuket Events

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

nationalpost.com Opinion polls showed a race for the US Presidency so close that only a statistically insignificant point or two separated the two rivals. Soundings in the nine battleground states tightened after Obama's poor performance in the first presidential debate, on October 3, and stayed that way.

cbc.ca More New Yorkers were able to switch on their lights for the first time since superstorm Sandy brought widespread devastation along the US Eastern Seaboard but many are still without power and upset over what they say is a fractured response.

Phuket Update Phuket's new Central Festival Phuket East still houses the original HomeWorks but the ground floor now features a Tops Market and Power Buy Center, and will soon house a selection of new restaurants. A dedicated coffee shop zone is coming along with a grand opening on December 15.

gmanetwork.com A 21-year-old transgender beauty from the Philippines - Kevin Balot - was crowned Miss International Queen 2012 in Pattaya. Balot will receive US$10,000, a crown from a well-known gems store and other gifts.

smh.com.au Australian Andrew Robert Mansell, 52, set up the World Humanitarian Aid Foundation, a ''spurious'' aid organisation through which he is accused of defrauding millions of dollars from investors. It is believed he is living in the south of Thailand.

xinhua The iPad mini in most stores was sold out in less than three hours after it launched on Friday in Singapore, the first city in Southeast Asia to see the launch of the product. Some customers had queued overnight.

bbc.co.uk Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has urged tolerance in response to a wave of ethnic violence in the west of the country, but has refused to take sides: ''Both sides are displeased because I will not take a stand with them, but my stand is that first let us establish rule of law.''

channel4.com In 1991 Jimmy Savile gave a chilling interview that left BBC psychiatrist Anthony Clare with concerns about the then beloved broadcaster. Savile explains how he never sleeps in the same place two nights in a row and carries a shoulder bag that has not been completely unpacked for ''nearly 30 years''.

thejakartapost.com While thousands of local licensed tour guides in Bali speak a second language, an industry group says that there is still a shortage of guides who can speak Mandarin and Russian, among several other languages.

bangkokpost.com Thailand's property market is expected to remain stable, with the housing sector in Greater Bangkok starting to show signs of saturation, says the SCB Economic Intelligence Center.

metro.co.uk British man Steve Cracknell, 46, is believed to have been killed after he went missing during a scuba dive lesson in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. His instructor is also missing.

cnn.com A ferocious leopard may have killed 15 people in Nepal in a 15-month span, its latest victim a 4-year-old boy that the creature dragged away into the jungle to eat.

pattayapeople,com Police arrested a woman accused of providing her 15-year-old daughter for sexual services to tourists along Beach Road to pay off a loan shark debt. The girl was sent to a children's shelter.

smh.com.au Fear is gripping Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri with many men fleeing after the alleged execution style killings of around 40 young men, mostly teenagers, who residents say were rounded up and shot. The city is the stronghold of an insurgency by Boko Haram Islamists.

Phuket World Sports Wrap


telegraph.co.uk Sebastian Vettel, who leads Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by just 13 points heading into Sunday Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, was sensationally excluded from qualifying and sent to last starting place after his car was found to have ''insufficient fuel for sampling''.

independent.co.uk What was once the nearest the Premier League came to Spain's gran clasico is now almost unrecognisable. Last season Manchester United scored eight against Arsenal and, although it was only two now, the margin of dominance was just as great. Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal

telegraph.co.uk In a match of high stakes against a stylish West Ham, Manchester City had the opportunity, albeit remote, to move top of the table and yet turned in the kind of curiously toothless performance that should be becoming a worry for manager Roberto Mancini. West Ham United 0-0 Manchester City

fifa.com Tournament dark horses Russia got their Group F campaign at the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Bangkok off to the perfect start with a 16-0 hammering of Solomon Islands. Guatemala 5-2 Colombia; Russia 16-0 Solomon Islands; Czech Republic 3-2 Kuwait; Egypt 1-3 Serbia.

Phuket Coming Events 2012

THE Indian ambassador to Thailand, Anil Wadhwa, is inviting Thais and other Asean nationals to join the Asean-India car rally 2012, which takes place from November 25 to December 20. The rally reaches Phuket on November 30.

Sourced: phuketwan