The police have apprehended a gang of loan sharks believed to be behind loans totaling close to 10 million baht.

The Consumer Protection Police Division arrested Witsanuwat Sitthiyuth and 12 accomplices, all believed to be a part of an illegal loan-shark gang.

Authorities confiscated evidence, including loan contracts worth about 10 million baht, accounting books, a motor bike, and a number of business cards introducing informal loan services.

Earlier, residents from Nonthaburi province notified the police that the lenders were offering informal high-interest loans. Moreover, borrowers have been threatened if they fail to pay the interest.

The gang offered informal loans at a rate of 60 percent per month, or 2 percent a day. The gang possessed a 10-million baht circulating fund. Most clients are flood victims.

In the meantime, the suspects explained that they are debt-collectors for loan sharks in the province, and they get 5,000 baht per month. They insisted that they do not know the people behind the scenes.

The police charged them with offering loans at higher interest rates than the law stipulates. They could face a one year imprisonment, a 1,000 baht fine, or both.

(tannetwork)

Photo: tannetwork

Scoring the Global War on Terror
From Liberation to Assassination in Three Quick Rounds
By Andrew Bacevich (via TomDispatch)

With the United States now well into the second decade of what the Pentagon has styled an “era of persistent conflict,” the war formerly known as the global war on terrorism (unofficial acronym WFKATGWOT) appears increasingly fragmented and diffuse.  Without achieving victory, yet unwilling to acknowledge failure, the United States military has withdrawn from Iraq.  It is trying to leave Afghanistan, where events seem equally unlikely to yield a happy outcome.

Elsewhere — in Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia, for example — U.S. forces are busily opening up new fronts.  Published reports that the United States is establishing “a constellation of secret drone bases” in or near the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula suggest that the scope of operations will only widen further.  In a front-page story, the New York Times described plans for “thickening” the global presence of U.S. special operations forces.  Rushed Navy plans to convert an aging amphibious landing ship into an “afloat forward staging base” — a mobile launch platform for either commando raids or minesweeping operations in the Persian Gulf — only reinforces the point. Yet as some fronts close down and others open up, the war’s narrative has become increasingly difficult to discern.  How much farther until we reach the WFKATGWOT’s equivalent of Berlin?  What exactly is the WFKATGWOT’s equivalent of Berlin?  In fact, is there a storyline here at all?

Viewed close-up, the “war” appears to have lost form and shape.  Yet by taking a couple of steps back, important patterns begin to appear.  What follows is a preliminary attempt to score the WFKATGWOT, dividing the conflict into a bout of three rounds.  Although there may be several additional rounds still to come, here’s what we’ve suffered through thus far.

    The Rumsfeld Era
Round 1: Liberation.  More than any other figure — more than any general, even more than the president himself — Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld dominated the war’s early stages.  Appearing for a time to be a larger-than-life figure — the “Secretary at War” in the eyes of an adoring (if fickle) neocon fan club — Rumsfeld dedicated himself to the proposition that, in battle, speed holds the key to victory.  He threw his considerable weight behind a high-tech American version of blitzkrieg.  U.S. forces, he regularly insisted, were smarter and more agile than any adversary.  To employ them in ways that took advantage of those qualities was to guarantee victory.  The journalistic term adopted to describe this concept was “shock and awe.”

No one believed more passionately in “shock and awe” than Rumsfeld himself.  The design of Operation Enduring Freedom, launched in October 2001, and of Operation Iraqi Freedom, begun in March 2003, reflected this belief.  In each instance, the campaign got off to a promising start, with U.S. troops landing some swift and impressive blows.  In neither case, however, were they able to finish off their opponent or even, in reality, sort out just who their opponent might be.  Unfortunately for Rumsfeld, the “terrorists” refused to play by his rulebook and U.S. forces proved to be less smart and agile than their technological edge — and their public relations machine — suggested would be the case.  Indeed, when harassed by minor insurgencies and scattered bands of jihadis, they proved surprisingly slow to figure out what hit them.

In Afghanistan, Rumsfeld let victory slip through his grasp.  In Iraq, his mismanagement of the campaign brought the United States face-to-face with outright defeat.  Rumsfeld’s boss had hoped to liberate (and, of course, dominate) the Islamic world through a series of short, quick thrusts.  What Bush got instead were two different versions of a long, hard slog.  By the end of 2006, “shock and awe” was kaput.  Trailing well behind the rest of the country and its armed forces, the president eventually lost confidence in his defense secretary’s approach.  As a result, Rumsfeld lost his job.  Round one came to an end, the Americans, rather embarrassingly, having lost it on points.

    The Petraeus Era
Round 2: Pacification.  Enter General David Petraeus.  More than any other figure, in or out of uniform, Petraeus dominated the WFKATGWOT’s second phase.  Round two opened with lowered expectations.  Gone was the heady talk of liberation.  Gone, too, were predictions of lightning victories.  The United States was now willing to settle for much less while still claiming success.

Petraeus offered a formula for restoring a semblance of order to countries reduced to chaos as a result of round one.  Order might permit the United States to extricate itself while maintaining some semblance of having met its policy objectives.  This became the operative definition of victory.

The formal name for the formula that Petraeus devised was counterinsurgency, or COIN.  Rather than trying to defeat the enemy, COIN sought to facilitate the emergence of a viable and stable nation-state.  This was the stated aim of the “surge” in Iraq ordered by President George W. Bush at the end of 2006.

With Petraeus presiding, violence in that country did decline precipitously. Whether the relationship was causal or coincidental remains the subject of controversy.  Still, Petraeus’s apparent success persuaded some observers that counterinsurgency on a global scale — GCOIN, they called it — should now form the basis for U.S. national security strategy.  Here, they argued, was an approach that could definitively extract the United States from the WFKATGWOT, while offering victory of a sort.  Rather than employing “shock and awe” to liberate the Islamic world, U.S. forces would apply counterinsurgency doctrine to pacify it.

The task of demonstrating the validity of COIN beyond Iraq fell to General Stanley McChrystal, appointed with much fanfare in 2009 to command U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.  Press reports celebrated McChrystal as another Petraeus, the ideal candidate to replicate the achievements already credited to “King David.”

McChrystal’s ascendency came at a moment when a cult of generalship gripped Washington.  Rather than technology being the determinant of success as Rumsfeld had believed, the key was to put the right guy in charge and then let him run with things.  Political figures on both sides of the aisle fell all over themselves declaring McChrystal the right guy for Afghanistan.  Pundits of all stripes joined the chorus.

Once installed in Kabul, the general surveyed the situation and, to no one’s surprise, announced that “success demands a comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign.”  Implementing that campaign would necessitate an Afghan “surge” mirroring the one that had seemingly turned Iraq around.  In December 2009, albeit with little evident enthusiasm, President Barack Obama acceded to his commander’s request (or ultimatum).  The U.S. troop commitment to Afghanistan rapidly increased.

Here things began to come undone.  Progress toward reducing the insurgency or improving the capacity of Afghan security forces was — by even the most generous evaluation — negligible.  McChrystal made promises — like meeting basic Afghan needs with “government in a box, ready to roll in” — that he proved utterly incapable of keeping.  Relations with the government of President Hamid Karzai remained strained.  Those with neighboring Pakistan, not good to begin with, only worsened.  Both governments expressed deep resentment at what they viewed as high-handed American behavior that killed or maimed noncombatants with disturbing frequency.

To make matters worse, despite all the hype, McChrystal turned out to be miscast — manifestly the wrong guy for the job.  Notably, he proved unable to grasp the need for projecting even some pretence of respect for the principle of civilian control back in Washington.  By the summer of 2010, he was out — and Petraeus was back in.

In Washington (if not in Kabul), Petraeus’s oversized reputation quelled the sense that with McChrystal’s flame-out Afghanistan might be a lost cause.  Surely, the most celebrated soldier of his generation would repeat his Iraq magic, affirming his own greatness and the continued viability of COIN.

Alas, this was not to be.  Conditions in Afghanistan during Petraeus’s tenure in command improved — if that’s even the word — only modestly.  The ongoing war met just about anyone’s definition of a quagmire.  With considerable understatement, a 2011 National Intelligence Estimate called it a “stalemate.” Soon, talk of a “comprehensive counterinsurgency” faded.  With the bar defining success slipping ever lower, passing off the fight to Afghan security forces and hightailing it for home became the publicly announced war aim.

That job remained unfinished when Petraeus himself headed for home, leaving the army to become CIA director.  Although Petraeus was still held in high esteem, his departure from active duty left the cult of generalship looking more than a little the worse for wear.  By the time General John Allen succeeded Petraeus — thereby became the eighth U.S. officer appointed to preside over the ongoing Afghan War — no one believed that simply putting the right guy in charge was going to produce magic.  On that inclusive note, round two of the WFKATGWOT ended.

    The Vickers Era
Round 3: Assassination.  Unlike Donald Rumsfeld or David Petraeus, Michael Vickers has not achieved celebrity status.  Yet more than anyone else in or out of uniform, Vickers, who carries the title Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, deserves recognition as the emblematic figure of the WFKATGWOT’s round three.  His low-key, low-profile persona meshes perfectly with this latest evolution in the war’s character.  Few people outside of Washington know who he is, which is fitting indeed since he presides over a war that few people outside of Washington are paying much attention to any longer.

With the retirement of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Vickers is the senior remaining holdover from George W. Bush’s Pentagon.  His background is nothing if not eclectic.  He previously served in U.S. Army Special Forces and as a CIA operative.  In that guise, he played a leading role in supporting the Afghan mujahedeen in their war against Soviet occupiers in the 1980s.  Subsequently, he worked in a Washington think tank and earned a PhD in strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University (dissertation title: “The Structure of Military Revolutions”).

Even during the Bush era, Vickers never subscribed to expectations that the United States could liberate or pacify the Islamic world.  His preferred approach to the WFKATGWOT has been simplicity itself. “I just want to kill those guys,” he says — “those guys” referring to members of al-Qaeda. Kill the people who want to kill Americans and don’t stop until they are all dead: this defines the Vickers strategy, which over the course of the Obama presidency has supplanted COIN as the latest variant of U.S. strategy.

The Vickers approach means acting aggressively to eliminate would-be killers wherever they might be found, employing whatever means are necessary.  Vickers “tends to think like a gangster,” one admirer comments. “He can understand trends then change the rules of the game so they are advantageous for your side.”

Round three of the WFKATGWOT is all about bending, breaking, and reinventing rules in ways thought to be advantageous to the United States.  Much as COIN supplanted “shock and awe,” a broad-gauged program of targeted assassination has now displaced COIN as the prevailing expression of the American way of war.

The United States is finished with the business of sending large land armies to invade and occupy countries on the Eurasian mainland.  Robert Gates, when still Secretary of Defense, made the definitive statement on that subject.  The United States is now in the business of using missile-armed drones and special operations forces to eliminate anyone (not excluding U.S. citizens) the president of the United States decides has become an intolerable annoyance.  Under President Obama, such attacks have proliferated.

This is America’s new MO.  Paraphrasing a warning issued by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a Washington Post dispatch succinctly summarized what it implied: “The United States reserved the right to attack anyone who it determined posed a direct threat to U.S. national security, anywhere in the world.”

Furthermore, acting on behalf of the United States, the president exercises this supposed right without warning, without regard to claims of national sovereignty, without Congressional authorization, and without consulting anyone other than Michael Vickers and a few other members of the national security apparatus.  The role allotted to the American people is to applaud, if and when notified that a successful assassination has occurred.  And applaud we do, for example, when a daring raid by members in SEAL Team Six secretly enter Pakistan to dispatch Osama bin Laden with two neatly placed kill shots.  Vengeance long deferred making it unnecessary to consider what second-order political complications might ensue.

How round three will end is difficult to forecast.  The best we can say is that it’s unlikely to end anytime soon or particularly well.  As Israel has discovered, once targeted assassination becomes your policy, the list of targets has a way of growing ever longer.

So what tentative judgments can we offer regarding the ongoing WFKATGWOT?  Operationally, a war launched by the conventionally minded has progressively fallen under the purview of those who inhabit what Dick Cheney once called “the dark side,” with implications that few seem willing to explore.  Strategically, a war informed at the outset by utopian expectations continues today with no concretely stated expectations whatsoever, the forward momentum of events displacing serious consideration of purpose.  Politically, a war that once occupied center stage in national politics has now slipped to the periphery, the American people moving on to other concerns and entertainments, with legal and moral questions raised by the war left dangling in midair.

    Is this progress?
Andrew J. Bacevich is professor of history and international relations at Boston University.  A TomDispatch regular, he is the author most recently of Washington Rules: The American Path to Permanent War and the editor of the new book The Short American Century: A Postmortem, just out from Harvard University Press. To catch Timothy MacBain’s latest Tomcast audio interview in which Bacevich discusses the changing face of the Gobal War on Terror, click here, or download it to your iPod here.

Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch and join us on Facebook.

Copyright 2012 Andrew Bacevich

How to register a marriage

Guidance for British nationals wishing to marry in Thailand

This information on marriage in Thailand is provided as a general guide and is based on the information provided to the British Embassy by the Thai authorities. The British Embassy cannot guarantee that the information is accurate and will not be liable for any inaccurate or incomplete information.  British nationals wishing to marry in Thailand must contact the Thai authorities to be sure of the requirements that they need in order for their marriage to take place.

The British Embassy in Bangkok is not authorised to perform marriages. Any marriage in Thailand should be performed according to Thai law and detailed questions on the procedure should be addressed to the appropriate Thai authorities. Some guidance is provided on the website of the Royal Thai Embassy in London.

The Thai authorities require that any foreign national wishing to marry in Thailand must obtain an “affirmation of freedom to marry” document. The affirmation must be made in person at the Consular Section of the British Embassy in Bangkok or Honorary Consuls. It is not possible to obtain the affirmation from the United Kingdom in advance.

The marriage will only be recognised under UK law if it is valid under Thai law.  For it to be valid in Thai law, the marriage must be registered with the Registrar at an Amphur office (District Office). A religious ceremony on its own is not recognised as being valid under Thai law.  In Thailand, wedding ceremonies/parties can be held separately from the marriage registration.

The Thai marriage certificate will be in Thai language only. You may wish to commission a “sworn translation” of the marriage certificate from license translators, so that you can use the document for legal purposes in the U.K. Please note the certificate is a legal document and should not be modified e.g. by laminating.

Consular Section can arrange for your marriage certificate to be deposited with the General Register Office (GRO England / Scotland / Northern Ireland) in the United Kingdom.  This not a legal obligation and has no bearing on the validity or otherwise of the marriage.  It simply means that you are able to obtain a certified copy of your marriage certificate directly from the GRO, should you need to do so in the future.  Please ask us for further details if you wish do this.

A foreign national does not automatically acquire British nationality through marriage to a British national.

If you marry a Thai national, he or she will require a visa to visit or settle in the UK.  Further information on how to apply for a visa can be obtained from the UK Visa Application Centre.  They can be contacted directly on +66 (0)2800 8050 or by e-mail: moc.enilplehsfvnull@htku.ofni

A step-by-step guide to the procedure on getting married in Thailand is as follows. We are not able to answer any individual enquiries about the procedure to marry in Thailand.

1. Affirmation of Freedom to Marry in Thailand

Please retype the affirmation including your details on one page in the same format as the attached sample and bring it in person to the Embassy to sign before a British Consular official.
We accept affirmations during normal consular public hours on Monday to Thursday at 08:00 – 11:00 hours and collections only at 13:00 – 14:00 hours, and on Friday at 08:00 – 11:00 hours and collections only at 11:00 – 12:00 noon. An appointment for this service is not necessary. The affirmation which is submitted before 11:00 hrs will be ready for collection in the afternoon.

We provide this service to British nationals only. The fee of Baht 2,725 per affirmation is payable.

Please bring with you to the Embassy your passport, as proof of identity, and evidence that any previous marriages have been dissolved/terminated (death certificate or divorce certificate(s) as appropriate. Certificates issued in a Third country outside UK and Thailand must be certified by the relevant British Embassy/Consulate or its respective Embassy in Thailand).  Only the original evidence or a certified copy will be accepted – photocopies will not be accepted under any circumstances.

2. Have the affirmation translated into Thai

Once the affirmation has been signed, you will need to have it translated into Thai.  The British Embassy does not undertake the preparation or translation of documents. Many reputable translation companies advertise on the internet as well as in the Thai local press, and there are a number of companies within a short walk of the Embassy. Our staff are not allowed to recommend any particular firms in the private sector to the public.

3. Have the affirmation authenticated and translation certified

All Thai Registrars will require authentication of the British Consular Official’s signature and certification of the Thai translation.  This must be obtained from:

The  Legalisation Division
Department of Consular Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
123 Chaeng Wattana Road,
Laksi District, Bangkok 10210

Tel : +66 (0) 2 575 1056–59,  0 2981 7171
Fax : +66 (0) 2 575 1054
Email : ht.og.afmnull@40ralusnoc
(08:30 – 15:30 hrs)

4. Submit the document to the Registrar

The affirmation and translation are then ready for submission to the registrar, who, if satisfied, will register the marriage and issue a Thai marriage certificate.

NB:  The fees may have alter without prior notice.

(UKfco)

The UK’s Minister of State for Trade and Investment visited Thailand on 17 February, as part of a four-day visit to South East Asia.

He has also visited Singapore and Malaysia during his visit. All three countries have been identified by the UK Trade & Investment as high-growth markets and all are enjoying strong growth rates.

This was Lord Green’s first visit to Thailand in his role as Minister of State.  He called on the Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom to discuss opportunities for Thailand and the UK to work together, combining both country’s respective skills through partnership work and the interchange of expertise.

Lord Green also met British businesses already working in the market as well as those interested in bidding for work developing the country’s infrastructure. The need is greater after last year’s floods damaged large parts of the country.

Lord Green said: “Thailand has long been a key partner to the UK and we want to build on these ties and respective strengths. Our relationship with Thailand goes back some 400 years and it is one that I expect to flourish and prosper for decades to come.

“British visitors have long admired the resilience and energy of Thailand’s businesses and their reaction to the floods last summer is something that we can all learn from. They have shown that, at times of adversity, adaptability is key to recovery”.

Thailand is a growing market and it is the UK’s 37th biggest export market and the 28th biggest importer to the UK.  Trade between the UK and Thailand is vibrant and the UK goods exports to Thailand in the first 11 months of 2011 was £1.25bn, an increase of 32 per cent increase on same period last year.  UK imports from Thailand over the same period were £2.3bn, up 0.1 per cent.

She may be known as ‘monkey face’ or ‘wolf girl’, but remarkably being the world’s hairiest girl hasn’t got 12-year-old Supatra Sasuphan down.

The schoolgirl, whose face is covered in hair through a rare genetic condition which afflicts just 50 people worldwide, initially faced merciless teasing at school in Bangkok.

But rather than let the condition ruin her life, Supatra says she enjoys being a world record holder and is even one of the most popular girls at her school.
One of the class: Supatra joins in with her schoolfriends in Bangkok

She works hard and is one of the better students in her school, and even has ambitions to become a doctor – so she can ‘look after the sick and her own family’.

Likewise her parents, who found out about her condition when she was born, say she is just ‘a normal little girl’.

Supatra herself insists her condition is just ‘who I am’, adding that she ‘does not even think about’.

Supatra is one of just 50 known sufferers of Ambras Syndrome – caused by a faulty chromosome – to be documented since the Middle Ages. Before the disease was understood, sufferers were branded ‘werewolves.’

She has thick hair growing over her face, ears, arms, legs and back. Even laser treatment has failed to stop the hair growth.

Supatra Sasuphan, pictured last year, is one of only 50 people ever to have Ambras syndrome which makes hair grow all over her face. She has now been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records.

But while most sufferers have been shunned, Supatra has gradually been embraced by her community, and became a popular and outgoing child.

She said: ‘There were a few people who used to tease me and call me monkey face but they don’t do it any more.

‘I’m very used to this condition. I can’t feel the hair as it has always been like this. I don’t feel anything.

‘It does sometimes make it difficult to see when it gets long.I hope I will be cured one day.’

‘She gets along with others really well and is very generous. She has a lot of friends.’

In other ways Supatra is the same as other children her age – she loves swimming, dancing to her favourite music and playing with friends.

But more than anything, Supatra loves perching in front of the TV at her tiny one-bedroom family home in Pranakom, on the outskirts of Bangkok, to watch cartoons.

She said: ‘I like to watch anything on TV, whatever is, I like having it on. I like to watch Bugs Bunny.’

The bubbly little girl is also determined not to let her condition prevent her from leading a normal life.

She said: ‘I like to study maths so I can be good at it and teach it to younger children so they can do it too.

‘I want to become a doctor so I can help patients when they get injured.

To read more on this story by The Daily Mail, click HERE.

(Daily Mail)

Photo: skynews

Thailand’s Opposition and Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva on Saturday flew to Myanmar to meet with pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mr Abhisit said before leaving for the neighbouring country that the meeting was arranged since his term as prime minister of Thailand.

The meeting is aimed at boosting national reconciliation and democracy development in Myanmar, said the Democrat leader, adding that he will exchange ideas with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate over the directions of change within Myanmar.

Mr Abhisit noted that Thailand’s neighbour has changed rapidly and the phenomenon had an impact on the entire Southeast Asian region.

The ex-premier added that he planned to follow up the development of democratic process in Myanmar, as well as help forge cooperation between the two countries and further strengthen the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in which Thailand and Myanmar are fellow member countries.

The visit of the opposition leader came after Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra met with the National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi last December, saying she supported the neighbouring country’s democratic process.

Ms Yingluck praised Ms Suu Kyi’s spirit and strong determination to boost democratic development in Myanmar constructively. She said Thailand was an ally and a close friend of Myanmar and wanted to see its neighbour continue development in every field.

(MCOT)

The narcotics police have arrested five suspects believed to be members of a drug ring. They were found to be in possession of 200,000 speed pills worth over 60 million baht.

The Narcotics Suppression Bureau’s Division 3 held a press conference to announce the arrests of four suspects between the age of 25 and 34, who are believed to be members of a drug network.

The police also seized 200,000 methamphetamine pills worth over 60 million baht in the operation.

The arrests came after narcotics police were tipped off that one of the suspects was dealing drugs in Bangkok and the vicinity and he was using an apartment room in Bangkok’s Phasi Charoen area as a place to store the drugs.

On Wednesday, the suspect was nabbed in the Petchakasem area with 100,000 speed pills. Narcotics police then extended their probe, which led to the arrests of four more people at the apartment where the pills were being stored.

Police also found 100,000 speed pills at the apartment and seized, along with the pills, seven bankbooks, a backpack and a suitcase that were being used to transport the drugs, along with eight mobile phones.

The five have been charged with possession an illicit drug, methamphetamine, with intent to sell.

They will be prosecuted and the police are now extending their investigation and are looking for additional members of the drug ring.

(tannetwork)

Photo: mcot

The Thai prosecutor is speeding up coordinating with the Malaysian counterpart in seeking the Iranian blast suspect’s extradition to be prosecuted in Thailand.

Meanwhile, police are also set to issue arrest warrants for the fifth and sixth blast suspects, who are believed to be Middle Eastern men, after security cameras captured them leaving the rented house where the bomb went off early Tuesday morning, .

Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Police Lieutenant General Winai Thongsong gave an update on the investigation into the triple bomb blasts on Sukhumvit Soi 71 on Tuesday.

Winai said police are preparing to issue an arrest warrant for the fifth suspect, who is believed to be a Middle Eastern man.

Security camera footage taken in the area showed that the man left the rented house, where the first explosion took place.

He was caught on tape leaving at around 7 A.M Tuesday morning, before the bomb went off.

The city police also revealed that a search was carried out at a room in Nasa Vegas Building in the Ramkhamhaeng area, where another female suspect, Rohani Leila, had been renting an apartment since December, before fleeing back to Tehran on Tuesday after the blasts.

He said they collected evidence from Liela’s room and that it has been sent for further examination at the National Police Office’s Forensic Science Division where they will scrutinize it to determine whether the evidence is linked with the three explosions.

All police stations under the Metropolitan Police Bureau have also been ordered to keep a close watch on apartments and rented houses where foreign nationals are residing, particularly in the Nana, Khao San and Klong Tan areas.

Later in the day, Deputy National Police chief, Police General Parnsiri Prapawat as the chief of the investigation team, revealed that the investigators are collecting further witnesses and evidence to seek more suspects involved in the case.

He also confirmed the city police chief’s early statement that the police have now found the fifth suspect.

However, the deputy national police stated that the Immigration Police Bureau checked the footage from the security cameras and were able to identify the fifth suspect as Nikkhahfard Javad, a 52-year-old man who was seen leaving the house where the first blast took place.

Moreover, the authorities also found another Middle Eastern man, approximately 160 centimeters tall, who was with the fugitive female suspect when the two were renting the house.

The Klong Tan police are gathering more evidence to seek the Southern Criminal Court’s approval for arrest warrants against the fifth and sixth suspects for illegal possession of bomb devices which caused explosions that posted physical danger and damaged properties, among other charges.

In the meantime, Wanchai Rujanawong, director-general of the Office of the Attorney General’s Foreign Affairs Bureau, said the office has received a letter requesting the extradition of Seda Ghatzadeh Masoud, who was arrested in Malaysia, from the National Police Office.

He said the Attorney General Office will coordinate with the Malaysian government to send the suspect back to Thailand through the Extradition Treaty between Siam and Britain.

The Attorney General Office is now examining evidence and witnesses submitted by the police office. Once the evidence scrutiny is complete, the office will translate them into English and send to the Malaysian prosecutor.

(tannetwork)

Amanda Bean was getting ready for work when, from her bedroom window, she saw a police car pull up on the street below. Intrigued, but not initially alarmed, she assumed the officers must be there to see one of her neighbours.

A couple of minutes later she looked again and noticed they were still sitting in their car. ‘It was only afterwards I realised why,’ she says. ‘They would have been coordinating with the others to ensure that we were all told at the same time.’

At that moment – 7.30am one Tuesday last June – two other patrol cars were drawing up outside the homes of Polly Cook and Gillian Melling.

Less than a week earlier, the three women had, with effusive hugs and tears, said goodbye to their teenage sons who were heading to the Far East for a ‘rite of passage’ gap-year holiday.

Max Boomgaarden-Cook, Bruno Melling-Firth and Conrad Quashie were four days into their nine-week trip when they boarded an overnight bus that was never to reach its destination.

‘As soon as the bell rang, I realised something terrible must have happened,’ Amanda says. Gillian’s recollection is chillingly similar. She recognised the police officers’ uniforms through the glass of her front door. ‘I didn’t want to open it because I knew they could only be there for one reason,’ she says.

Polly’s reaction when finding herself face to face with the officers on her doorstep was instant. ‘I said, “It’s my son, isn’t it?”’ she recalls. ‘And they said, “Yes.”’ All three were told the same sketchy details.

Conrad, Bruno and Max, all aged 19, had been travelling from Bangkok to Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai when, six hours into the 12-hour journey, their bus crashed.

The collision with another bus happened after midnight – around 6.15pm the previous evening UK time. As far as the police were aware, the boys were killed instantly. ‘They said they didn’t know anything else,’ says Amanda. ‘They handed me a piece of paper with a number for the Foreign Office, and told me it would be open at 9am. They asked if I would be all right till then. And then they left.’

Eight months on, the profound shock into which Amanda, Gillian and Polly were plunged that day is still palpable. But as the impact of the boys’ deaths sinks in and some startling facts emerge, their mothers also find themselves gripped by a steely resolve.

‘Thailand is a country with an appalling road safety record,’ says Polly. ‘And our boys’ legacy must be to change that.’

According to the World Health Organisation, the death toll from road accidents in Thailand is among the worst worldwide.

Officially, between 2000 and 2010, an average of 12,000 people were killed on the country’s roads each year, but as police record a death only if it occurs at the scene of the crash – rather than within 30 days as is accepted practice in most other countries – these figures are widely accepted to be distorted.

The real figure is estimated to be closer to 20,000 annually (this compares with 3,000 deaths a year in the UK – a country with a similar-sized population).

The British Embassy in Bangkok confirms that last year 17 British nationals died in road traffic accidents in Thailand and a further 36 were seriously injured.

Most backpackers are aware of the risks of riding motorcycles or scooters; few are aware of the hazards of travelling by buses.

According to the Thai travel industry’s trade publication TTR, coach operators plying their trade on Highway 1, where Conrad, Max and Bruno died, ‘are notorious for speeding and bus drivers are often under the influence of alcohol, pep pills and drugs.

There are frequent accidents and highway police take little or no legal action against the companies that are usually owned by elite or powerful members of Thai society who consider themselves above the law.

Road safety standards are a disgrace and the travel industry has failed to lobby the government for change and stricter controls on bus transport.’

‘We just had no idea,’ says Polly. ‘And nor did the boys.’ Amanda nods. ‘Like all parents, we gave them lists of dos and don’ts,’ she explains. ‘I told Conrad to keep his money safe, to be wary of what he ate and not to take any drugs. But the one thing I would never have thought to say to him is, “Don’t get on a bus.”’

After months of campaigning, the three women have secured an undertaking from foreign office minister Jeremy Browne that travel advice to British nationals heading for Thailand will be reviewed.

They are also lobbying the Thai Embassy about efforts to improve road safety. ‘It breaks our hearts that we can’t change what has happened,’ says Gillian. ‘But we won’t rest until the laws are tightened and bus companies are held accountable for their safety records.

Meanwhile, every parent and every young person needs to know that travelling across Thailand by bus, especially at night, is perilous.’

To read more on this article by The Daily Mail, click HERE

Photo: Daily Mail

The ancient capital of Ayutthaya is home to the annual World Thai Martial Arts Festival and Wai Khru Muay Thai Ceremony. For individuals trained in the ancient Thai art of boxing or “Muay Thai”, the annual Wai Khru Muay Thai Ceremony held during the annual Thai Martial Arts Festival is the most important date on their calendar.

Muay Thai boxers from around the world return to Ayutthaya to pay respect to their teachers, and to pay homage to the legendary Muay Thai folk hero, Nai Khanom Tom.

Each year, more than 300 boxers from 30 countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Korea, France, Ukraine, and South Africa, participate in the festival and show their appreciation for the beautiful art of Muay Thai.

This year the event will take place from 17 to 23 March 2012

There will be a Muay Thai tournament with boxers contending for the Nai Khanom Tom belt with a cash prize for the weight divisions of 60, 65, 70, and 80 kilograms. There will also be a Wai Khru competition for students.

Highlights and activities include Muay Thai exhibition, Muay Thai performance, and Muay Thai tournament. Visitors with a special interest in the art of Muay Thai will have an opportunity to learn about this combat sport and enjoy live demonstration of the making of Thai handicraft, and Thai cuisine.

Please click to view programme details and official web site

(tannetwork)

Photo: tigermuaythai.com

From 2 February to 29 March 2012, the Embassy of France in Thailand is organizing LA FÊTE for the eighth time in nine years. Over a period of nine weeks, more than 20 cultural and artistic events will be presented, mostly French, but Thai as well, covering most fields of creativity.

Bangkok remains central in LA FÊTE, but six other Thai cities will also host parts of its very rich program: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hua Hin, Koh Samui, Khon Kaen, and Phuket.

LA FÊTE is well-known for its inventive programming and its many free events. It has become an eagerly anticipated cultural appointment every year, and is now very popular in Thailand. In 2011, over 300,000 people attended at least one event or more; the 2012 edition promises to be just as full of discoveries and emotions!

This year, LA FÊTE will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Alliance française de Bangkok, founded in 1912, co-organizer of the Festival.

The 2012 edition will alternatively present classical, contemporary, and avant-garde events that commemorate the past, as well as celebrate the future of the Franco-Thai institution. The program features new circus, classical music, rock concerts, DJ, modern dance, hip-hop, visual theater, photography, cinema, fashion. There will be something for everyone.

Lounge music lovers can experience LA FÊTE’s first electro-music aperitif in the gardens of Issaya Siamese Club with the DJ from the trendy Parisian boutique Colette (February 18).

Three very visual shows should fully satisfy lovers of creativity and innovation: “Ieto” at Chulalongkorn Sodsai Center (February 9-10); “Stéréoptik” at the brand new Sofitel SO Bangkok (February 22-23); and “Cinematique” at Sodsai Chula (March 2-3).

For dance lovers, the last representations by the most famous Franco-Thai duet, Pichet Klunchun and Jérome Bel, are a must (February 20-21 at Sodsai Chula and February 25 at Vic Hua Hin), as is “La danse, une histoire à ma façon” by Dominique Boivin, one of French contemporary dance’s biggest success, at Patravadi Theater (March 9-10).

Film buffs should also be happy with the French Film Festival at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld (March 9-18).

LA FÊTE presents many free events. Don’t miss anything, see the complete programe and details at: www.lafete-bangkok.com.

Known as an important rice bowl of Thailand, Chai Nat province in the central region will organize a Straw Bird Festival to promote local tourism and preserve local culture.

The 10-day event will take place from 3-12 February 2012 at the stadium in front of the Chai Nat Town Hall. One of the highlights will be spectacular processions of gigantic birds fashioned out of rice straw.

Other activities include a Thai Red Cross fair, a bazaar of local products under the “One Tambon, One Product” (OTOP) program, a contest of straw birds, a food fair, and cultural shows.

During the festival, visitors will be invited to visit Chai Nat Bird Park, a major tourist attraction in this province, and other places of interest, such as the Chao Phraya Dam, which is Thailand’s first irrigation dam. In February each year, thousands of birds are seen flying over the Chao Phraya Dam, a view that attracts many birdwatchers.

Located on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, Chai Nat is an ancient city founded in the 12th century. The majority of the population is engaged in rice-farming, so there is plenty of straw to make artificial birds from. The province is rich in water resources and is also famous for a special variety of pomelo, khao taeng kwa.

In 1985 when the Bird Park was under construction as a tourist attraction, farmers in Chai Nat built a huge dummy out of straw in the form of a field rat, as part of activities to join the government’s anti-field rat campaign. The Chai Nat governor at that time came up with the idea of building huge straw birds to publicize Chai Nat Bird Park.

The first straw bird was created jointly by Chai Nat Technical College and the Office of Chai Nat Primary Education. It attracted a large number of people and the innovation was widely recognized. For this reason, the provincial authorities decided to organize the Straw Bird Festival on an annual basis.

The first Straw Bird Festival was held in February 1986, with 130 straw birds on display, and it drew a big gathering of both Thais and foreign visitors. The Tourism Authority of Thailand later invited a straw bird procession to participate in a ceremony to open the Visit Thailand Year 1987 at Sanam Luang in Bangkok. Since then, the Straw Bird Festival has become a major festival in Chai Nat. It has not only brought glory to the province, but has also brought in many visitors.

As for Chai Nat Bird Park, it was established in 1983 and has become the largest aviary in Thailand and Asia. Covering an area of 26 rai, or about 10 acres, the bird park is the home for 200 species of birds amidst natural beauty. Inside the Bird Park, there are snake and rabbit farms, gardens, a swimming pool, a man-made waterfall and many figures mainly in the form of animals, especially birds.

This year’s Chai Nat Straw Bird Festival is the 27th of its kind. There will be 12 processions of straw birds, and “hi-tech” straw birds will be displayed throughout the festival.

(tannetwork)

Each province in Thailand will be granted 100 million baht to set up a women’s development fund to promote women’s roles and improve their quality of life.

Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. Nalinee Taveesin, said that she was assigned by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to supervise the National Development Fund for Women in line with the Government’s urgent policy.

In the urgent policy of improving people’s access to sources of funding, the Government will establish a fund to develop women’s roles, with 100 million baht provided to each province for the purpose.

Toward this aim, the Government has formed the National Development Fund for Women Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister. Five subcommittees were set up to operate the fund, establish the provincial and subdistrict committee on the development fund for women, hold public forums to listen to the opinion of women’s networks, launch the fund, and carry out public relations for the fund.

On February 18 at Santi Maitri Building, Government House, Prime Minister Yingluck is scheduled to give a briefing on the policy and guidelines for operations to provincial governors and representatives from relevant agencies, such as the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and the Prime Minister’s Office.

About 7.7 billion baht will be spent on the fund, which serves as a revolving funding source for women to borrow with low interest, or without interest. The money will be used to develop their potential and occupations, promote their leadership, and ease their problems. Campaigns will also be launched to create better understanding about women in all dimensions. Between 60 percent and 80 percent of the fund will be set aside as loans for women, while the rest will be used to protect the rights of women and assist women facing hardships.

The Office of the Non-Formal and Informal Education, which was assigned to handle the registration of members of the fund, has set February 18-29 as the period for registration in all communities nationwide. Members of the fund must be female Thais, aged 15 and over, and their names must appear in the house registrations in the areas where they register. Local public forums will take place from March 2 to 7 to select village representatives as members of the provincial and subdistrict committees on the development fund for women.

Officials involved will visit all regions of the country from February 19 and March 2 to listen to the opinions of women and their recommendations on the fund.

The Government will officially launch the National Development Fund for Women on March 8, which marks International Women’s Day. Out of Thailand’s population of 65 million, more than 33 million people are females.

(tanetwork)

Photo: Peter fey

The Public Health Ministry has put together a campaign aimed at providing official medical help and rehabilitation of mental health patients who have been kept in chains and restraints across Thailand.

Families of mental health patients say that they keep patients chained-up ‘to prevent them from hurting others and themselves’.

According to the Department of Mental Health’s survey, conducted 4 years ago, less than one percent (400,000) Thais aged between 15-59 years are suffering from various type of psychotic disorders. The most common type of mental illness – suffered by 70 percent of Thais with a mental illness – is Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia patients often require long-term treatment, while nearly 40 percent of the patients will never recover fully from the disorder. These patients will normally be required to take medication for at least 2 – 5 years.

If the condition returns for the third time, the patient will require to be medicated for life.

In the majority of cases, patients would often stop taking their medication, believing that it is not required, and/or that they are not ill.

The Public Health Ministry admitted there are a large number of mental patients who do not have access to proper medical help, and that they are often kept in chains or other type of restraints by their relatives.

No official number of these patients exists, but the ministry estimates that there could be as many as 1,000 patients who are being chained up.

The ministry say that the families who have not been able to seek proper medical attention for family members with severe mental health problems tend to restrain them to prevent them from hurting themselves, destroying private and public property, or hurting others.

Under the ministry’s new campaign, to be launched on March 1, 2012, proper medical help will be provided to these patients.

It hopes to be able to treat and rehabilitate all of the patients by the end of 2012.

At the cost of Bt20,000/patient, the ministry forecast it’ll need a budget of approximately 15 million baht.

Psychiatric illness is already currently being covered by the state sponsored free universal health care program.

The Department of Mental Health hopes to carry out the campaign in three phases:

First Phase (March, 2012): Locate patients who are being kept in chains/restraints
Second Phrase (April-June): Provide treatment
Third Phrase: Rehabilitate patients, educate community about mental disorders to prevent patients from being kept in restraints in the future.

(tannetwork)

Authorities nationwide are moving ahead on drug crackdowns.

Prachuap Khiri Khan Provincial Governor Weera Sriwattanatrakul and Police Major General Wichien Tantawiriya led 300 officers, accompanied by two ‘sniffer dogs’, to search the inmate’s quarters at the provincial prison.

Two cellphones and four SIM cards were found hidden under a mattress in a cell in which a man convicted of buying stolen property was held.

The inmate denied being involved with the drug trade, claiming he used the mobile phones only to call his wife. He admitted that his relative tossed the phones to him over the prison wall several days ago.

Investigators are examining the seized SIM cards to extract call logs and other data. The police also discovered another mobile phone with a SIM card in the locker and other prohibited items including lighter and drug paraphernalia. But there were no drugs.

In another prison shakedown, the Region 3 Provincial Police, officials from the Anti-Money Laundering Office, and correctional officers searched the Nakhon Ratchasima central prison as part of the government’s anti-drug campaign and seized a number of banned items, such as cigarettes, knives, and matches.

Two male inmates were taken for questioning after their urinal drug tests showed positive results.

Meanwhile, Pattani Provincial Governor Theera Mintarasak presided over the ceremony to hand over 70,000 sets of drug testing kits to the Pattani Provincial Police and the Public Health provincial office.

He also urged all concerned agencies to step up efforts in cracking down on illegal drugs.

(tannetwork)

Photo: Ken Mayer

Two Iranian men were detained at Thailand’s main international airport for smuggling crystal methamphetamine, known as ‘ice,’ valued at Bt3.2 million (nearly US$107,000), according to the Thai Customs Department

Mohammad Khojasteh Khatonabad, 19, and Haghighatmirashrafi Hamed, 22, were arrested with 905 grammes of crystal meth late Wednesday evening on arrival at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Customs Director-General Somchai Pulsawas told a news briefing on Thursday.

Flying to Thailand from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, the two Iranians ‘behaved suspiciously’ while disembarking.

Customs officers asked them to submit to an X-ray inspection, which indicated suspicious objects in their stomachs.

Thai customs officers retrieved 65 packages of crystal meth weighing 475 grammes from Mr Khatonabad and 58 packages of ice weighing 430 grammes from Mr Hamed’s stomach.

Initially, the suspects were charged with possessing and smuggling illicit drugs without permits (Can you get a permit for this then? Ed) and were transferred to the Narcotics Suppression Bureau for further investigation.

Since Oct 1, 2011, Thailand’s Customs Department has made arrests in 12 drug smuggling cases at Suvarnabhumi Airport, valued at over Bt65.7 million (some $2.2 million).

Six cases involved ‘ice’ smuggling totalling 8,740 grammes, valued at more than Bt31 million (approximately $1 million). (MCOT)

The Iranian bombing incident obviously hit the news headlines, however, the impact has had far-reaching consequences within Thailand, and the government is hurriedly trying to repair not only the literal damage caused by the bungling Iranian would-be bombers, but also the potential damage to the country’s tourism, as well as the political furor and indignation it has caused around the world.

It was ‘confirmed’ today by a senior Thai policeman that the actual intended victims of the bombs were supposed to be the Israeli diplomats residing in Bangkok, and that they were a continuation of and Iranian campaign that recently saw bombings – using very similar explosive devices – in both India and the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.

National police chief General Prewpan Dhamapong was reported as saying that Thai authorities now ‘know for certain that the targets were Israeli diplomats’, going on to say that “This issue was about individuals and the targets were specific. This was something personal.”

Thailand is speeding up the process to request Malaysia to extradite an Iranian national who is a suspect (in the Sukhumvit bomb incidents) for prosecution in Thailand, while one female Iranian suspect – identified as Rohani Leila – has apparently managed to leave Thailand, returning to Iran.

Immigration Bureau Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Wiboon Bangthamai cited intelligence reports that Ms Rohani has returned to the Iranian capital of Tehran, however,  Thailand and Iran have no extradition treaty so Thailand can not request Iran to extradite her to face prosecution here. She is suspected of having arranged the rental of the house used by the bombers.

National Police Bureau Chief Pol Gen Prewpan Dhamapong said that he has assigned Pol Gen Pansiri Prapawat, deputy national police chief overseeing the case, to coordinate efforts with the Office of the Attorney General to formally request the extradition of Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, arrested on Wednesday by Malaysian authorities in Kuala Lumpur.

Gen Prewpan explained that the Thai request could proceed without using the extradition treaty, and that Malaysia has the authority to detain the suspect for 14 days.

On Thursday the Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for a total of four Iranians, on various charges relating to Tuesday’s Bangkok bomb incidents.

The Thai police continue to detain two Iranian suspects already arrested — Saeid Moradi, 28, who lost his legs from his own explosive device — and another suspect, identified as Mohammad Hazaei, 42, who was taken into custody at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Tuesday while attempting to board a plane to Malaysia.

Gen Prewpan told reporters that Mohammad Hazaei, one of the four suspects, has admitted knowing the other three suspects, but denied all charges, asserting that he was not involved with the explosions.

The police chief added that the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit was examining the bomb components to compare them with the devices used in the bomb attacks in India and Georgia.

The Court approval of the arrest warrants followed police submissions of photos of the suspects captured on closed circuit television, as well as the explosive devices seized from their rented house and the testimony of eyewitnesses.

On Thursday, Pol Gen Pansiri Prapawat, deputy national police chief overseeing the case, called a full-team meeting, consisting of the investigators from the Metropolitan Police, the Crime Suppression Department, the Immigration Bureau, and the Special Branch Police, as well as experts from the Scientific Crime Detection Division and the military’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit.

The senior police officer promised that an in-depth investigation will undoubtedly shed light on how the incident took place, the frequency of the suspects’ visit to Thailand, the origin of the explosives and who imported the explosive devices as well as how and where they assembled the explosives.

Gen Pansiri said that Klong Tan Police Station was assigned as the investigation centre and that meetings will be held daily to follow up the operations.

Thai police have stepped up general security measures at major tourist destinations popular among foreign visitors, and held a press conference this morning after Malaysian police arrested the third Iranian suspect linked to the explosions.

Pol Maj Gen Wichai Sangprapai, acting commander of Bangkok’s Metropolitan Police Bureau, urged the Thai public not to panic as there was no intelligence report indicating any terrorist attack in Thailand.

Police stations in the Thai capital were ordered to boost security, particularly in areas popular among foreign tourists, he said, asking the public to inform police immediately of any irregularities.

At Khao San Road, a major tourist centre, police have set up checkpoints from 8pm-6am. Tourists crowded the street as usual despite the three blasts that alarmed the capital on Tuesday.

Interviewed by international media, some foreign visitors expressed confidence in the  security measures provided by the police.

The police investigation team’s news briefing at Khlong Ton police station was giving more details after Malaysia reported arresting a third suspect in the bombings, an Iranian national. The Thai National Police Bureau asked the Malaysian police to bring him to face charges in Thailand.

The French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Malaysian police chief Ismail Omar as saying in a statement on Wednesday that “The Iranian was arrested under the Immigration Act of Malaysia (using) intelligence provided by Thai counterparts. He is being investigated for terrorism activities in relation to bombings in Thailand.”

The statement gave no further details, such as the suspect’s name but the Thai authorities identified him as Masoud Sedaghatzadeh.

China’s Xinhua news agency quoted the Malaysian newspaper The Star as reporting that the 31-year-old suspect was arrested at a budget airline terminal near Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday – just as he was about to board a flight to Iran.

Photo: AFP Photo/Thai Police

Spokesman of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports Watchara Kannikar will meet with all relevant agencies to devise a strategy with the objective of protecting both Thai and foreign tourists from phony tour agents and guides.

According to Mr. Watchara, the matter is now being discussed at the ‘policy level’, where cooperation will be sought from the relevant agencies, such as the Department of Business Development, the Revenue Department and the Department of Employment, to hammer out a solution to eliminate unlicensed tour agents and guides as well as other types of tourist scams.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports, said Mr. Watchara, is also set to organize a seminar with private operators in the tourism industry to discuss and analyze the problems.

A plan will be formulated to solve these issues within 1-2 months.

Meanwhile, the Spokesman added that a few laws regarding tourism operators will be revised and enforced to the full extent to prepare Thailand to become part of the ASEAN Economic Community in the next 3 years.

(nnt)

photo: kinnemaniac

Many Thais across the country joined events to celebrate the special occasion of love on Valentine’s Day this year.

In the capital of Bangkok, hundreds of couples flocked to a building owned by Bangkok Commercial Asset Management Co., as the Bangrak marriage registration office ran out of space this Valentine’s Day.

Nine randomly selected couples also attended a religious ceremony, including offering food to Buddhist monks during their morning alms.

With its name meaning ‘district of love’ in Thai, Bangrak has always been popular among lovers wishing to officially sign their marriage certificates there, as they believed that the district name implies harmonious relationships and gives good luck to such marriages.

It is famed as the Village of Love.

Some 900 couples are expected to register their marriages here on Valentine’s Day, according to Bangrak District Chief Suechana Sukchareon.

Apart from the marriage registration service, Bangrak district offered gold marriage certificates for 11 lucky marriage couples.

Up north, the Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC) in Lampang province held a wedding ceremony on elephant back, joined by nine marrying couples in Lanna Thai-style traditional costumes.

The event began with religious rites when all nine couples together with nine elephants gave food to Buddhist monks during their morning alms rounds, followed by the traditional blessing ceremony.

Then all the couples mounted on elephants proceded in a marriage procession to the elephant performance ground to exchange wedding vows.

In Phichit province, goods related to love and romance, in particular roses, sold like hotcakes among teenagers to give to their sweethearts.

On this special occasion, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra also expressed her love and sincerity to all Thai people, calling for everyone to pay homage and loyalty to His Majesty King Bhumibol and the members of the royal family. (MCOT online news)

Chiang Rai police seized billions of baht’s worth of narcotics smuggled into the country by Hmong hilltribe villagers. Chiang Rai police seized 1.83 million methamphetamine pills and 40 kilograms of the drug ‘Ice,’ worth no less than one billion baht during a raid of an lychee orchard in Phaya Mengrai District.

They arrested 45-year-old Woranart Changtaeng, a Hmong hilltribe villager, who was guarding the orchard.

Police said this group of Hmong hilltribe people are part of a major drug ring in the Mae Pao Mountain.

The drugs were believed to have been smuggled into the country via the Thai-Laotian border and hidden at the orchard while pending distribution.

(tannetwork)

A man thought to be Iranian has had both legs blown off after attempting to throw a bomb at police in the Thai capital, Bangkok, officials say.

Two other explosions were reported in the same busy commercial district of the city, injuring four other people.

Police said one blast took place at the house the injured man rented with other Iranians. One of those men also threw a bomb at a taxi in the capital.

The warning over possible attacks last month was of attacks perhaps against Israeli and American interests, and a man has been arrested in connection with those and some materials were found.

The Bangkok blasts come just a day after two bomb attacks targeted Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia.

There is no sign of who the attackers in Bangkok might have been targeting, but the timing and the link to Iran will raise suspicions that this might be part of a co-ordinated campaign, says BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera.
‘Further attacks feared’

Israel’s press says the attacks on embassy staff in India and Georgia raised fears they were the start of a wave of attacks on Israeli targets.

On Tuesday, Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak accused Iran of being behind the Bangkok blast, the AP news agency reports.

The explosion “proves once again that Iran and its proxies continue to perpetrate terror”, he is quoted as saying.

He said Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah were “unrelenting terror elements endangering the stability of the region and endangering the stability of the world”.

Mr Barak is on an official visit in Singapore. A statement issued by the Israeli defence ministry noted that Barak was in Bangkok on Sunday, AP reports.
Identity card

Police told the BBC the first explosion happened around 14:20 (07:20 GMT) at a house in the Ekamai area in central Bangkok, which the three Iranians were believed to have rented for a month.

Two men managed to escape the explosion that severely damaged the house, according to police, but a third man who suffered minor injuries tried to hail a taxi. When the taxi refused to stop for him, he threw at least one bomb at it.

There was a third explosion when the same man then attempted to throw another bomb at police, but missed. The man lost his legs when the device blew up.

He is said to be receiving emergency treatment in hospital. Thai media said that an identity card found nearby indicated the man could be of Iranian origin.

A police forensics team was examining the house and reports said that police used a high pressure water cannon to defuse another explosive found there.

The Thai authorities say they have detained an Iranian man at Bangkok’s Airport for questioning, but it was not immediately clear if he was one of the two other suspects.

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged the public to remain calm.

(BBC)

Photo: msn

A Foreign Office spokesperson recently spoke about the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, saying that: “The people of the Falkland Islands are British out of choice. They are free to determine their own future, and there will be no negotiations with Argentina on sovereignty unless the Islanders wish it.

“We are not militarising the South Atlantic. Our defensive posture in the Falklands remains unchanged, though we remain firmly committed to the defence and security of the Falklands.

“UN action is a matter for Argentina. The Falklands is already discussed annually in the C24 Committee.

The UK has no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falklands, and the principle of self-determination, as set out in the UN Charter, underlies our position.”

(UKFO)

The following is an edited version of the information on Wikipedia.

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located over 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi) East of the coast of mainland South America.

The archipelago comprises East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 lesser islands. Stanley, the capital and only major city, is on East Falkland.

The islands are a self-governing British Overseas Territory, with the United Kingdom responsible for its defence and foreign affairs.

Controversy exists over the Falkland’s original discovery and subsequent colonisation by Europeans.

At various times there have been French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements. Britain re-established its rule in 1833, yet the islands remain claimed by Argentina.

In 1982, following Argentina’s invasion of the islands, the two-month-long undeclared Falklands War between both countries resulted in the withdrawal of Argentine forces. Despite its defeat, Argentina still pursues its claim; however, UK policy supports the islanders’ self-determination to remain British citizens.

The population, estimated at 3,140, primarily consists of Falkland Islanders, the majority of British descent.

Other ethnicities include French, Gibraltarian, Portuguese, and Scandinavian. Immigration from the United Kingdom, St. Helena, and Chile have reversed a former population decline.

The predominant and official language is English. Under the British Nationality Act of 1983, Falkland Islanders are British citizens.

Both major islands have mountain ranges, both reaching to around 700 metres (2,300 ft).

The islands are home to large bird populations, although many no longer breed on the main islands due to introduced species.

Major economic activities include fishing, tourism, and sheep farming (used for high-quality wool exports). Oil exploration, licensed by the Falkland Islands Government, remains controversial as a result of maritime disputes with Argentina.

Among the many countries which lent a hand to Thailand during the flood crisis last year, contribution from the USA has created a long-lasting impression in the memories of many Thai flood victims.

According to Mr. Veerasak Boonserm, one of the flood victims who expressed their appreciation for the US support, Marine Corps specializing in natural disasters was sent to work with the Thai army in carrying out flood relief and revival operations.

He went on to say that all those afflicted by the flood feel very grateful to have received assistance from the US.

Thailand faced a severe flood crisis late last year, and from the very beginning of the crisis, the US contributed constant support to Thailand by donating to the Thai Red Cross Foundation, as well as sending in teams of military personnel and equipment to deal with the flood situation.

Satellite images were also forwarded to Thailand as a guideline in establishing further assistance measures.

Additionally, two helicopters from the USS MUSTIN participated in over 69 survey trips of the flooded areas with the Thai Army, while the USS LASSEN dropped anchor in Thailand to provide further assistance.

Moreover, the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton took the opportunity of her official visit to make a promise to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that the USA would give Thailand all the support it needed in order to pull through the flood crisis.

She went on to reiterated to the press that the US and Thailand were close allies; therefore, the USA would not fail to provide assistance.

Ms. Clinton’s statement still generates a deep feeling of gratitude among flood victims today.

Police have interrogated a gold shop owner and his son after the son confessed to cutting up millions of baht in 1,000-baht banknotes in protest of his father as he thought his father loved his older brother more.

Chonburi Police yesterday interrogated 30-year-old Worapan Rojsatarat and his father Worapong Rojsatarat, who owns the Rungcharoen gold shop, in Ban Bueng, Chonburi.

Police displayed evidence which consisted of about 1 million baht (US$33,000) in 1,000-baht banknotes which had been cut up and then burnt, before being dumped in a trash can in front of the Sapmongkol store.

The police also had on display a pair of scissors, a match box, and money bands from Kasikorn Bank.

The gold shop owner told the police that the cutting up, tearing and torching of the banknotes was carried out by his son. His son then dumped the notes in a trash can about 30 meters away from their residence.

The father went on to tell police that his son was ‘stressed out’ because he felt his father didn’t love his 3 children equally.

The father had opened another gold shop for Worapan’s older brother and his wife in Pattaya City 2 years ago, and would often give 100,000-200,000 baht a month to the older brother because he complained that the gold shop wasn’t doing well.

Worapan wasn’t happy with his father’s actions and so he regularly embezzled money – normally around 10,000-20,000 baht a time – from the takings of his father’s gold shop.

He did this over the last couple of years until he accumulated 1 million baht in cash and then proceeded to destroy the banknotes and dumped them.

When he then heard that the police were going to investigate the crime, he got scared and confessed to his father.

His father then contacted the police, leading to the press conference.

The police say they won’t prosecute Worapan because the banknotes he destroyed belonged to his family, and added there is no cause to prosecute Worapan for lese majeste in destroying banknotes – which have an image of the King on them – as there was no intention of lese majeste behind his actions.

Worapan said that he now felt guilty for what he had done, and admitted that his actions had stemmed from the anger he felt for his father, as he believed that his father loved his children unequally.

He was also worried that his ‘protest’ would drain the family’s wealth, as the gold shop he is taking care of isn’t currently doing to well, leading the family having to take out a bank loan to help with the situation.

Pattaya will be holding the World’s Longest Continuous Kiss competition again this year as part of the events taking place to welcome the upcoming Valentine’s Day.

This year’s competition is opened for all genders.

After the success of the competition last year, the World’s Longest Continuous Kiss competition is back for it’s second year.

This Valentine’s Day, couples from all over Thailand are invited to come down to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum in Pattaya and register themselves to take part in the competition.

It is hoped that this year’s longest kiss will break the world record for “Longest Kiss”.

The event will be an ‘official’ attempt on the world record, and will therefore take place under the Guinness Book of Records’ rules… which are fairly strict, and so will not be an easy task to accomplish.

The press conference for the event was held on February 3 at the Renaissance Hotel.

Doctor Seri Wongmontha, an outspoken figure in the gay community, will be invited to talk about ‘love and kisses’.

The winning couple of last year’s competition, Ekkachai Tiranarat and wife Laksana Taranarat, made world headlines for breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous kiss, with their time of 46 hours, 24 minutes and 9 seconds.

They also attended the press conference, and expressed their confidence in breaking their own record at this year’s competition.

They went on to say that they won last year’s contest because their love for each other ‘is meaningful and powerful’.

This year’s competition is opened for all genders, including transvestites.

The winner pair of champion snoggers will receive 100,000 baht in cash.

The event will be held during February 12 – 14 at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! on the 2nd floor of the Royal Garden Plaza Pattaya.

The closing date for applications is on February 10th… so all you world champion snoggers should get a move on!

(original source: tannetwork)

Photo: babypictures.org

An insurance company employee has been duped in a cheap iPhone-iPad scam, along with a total of 27 other victims.

The fraud netted a total of 7 million baht.

Insurance company employee, 41-year-old Suthida Tantikul – along with 4 of her friends, met with the Crime Suppression Police yesterday to file a complaint against 28-year-old Ladapa (aka Oy Suksumek).

The victim told police that a colleague informed her that she had a friend who sells iPhones and iPads at a price that is lower than the market value, and then later introduced her to a woman named Ladapa.

Ladapa claimed that she had a relative who makes procurements for government agencies, and can get a 30-40% discount on iPhones and iPads.

The victim then ordered 2 iPhones from Ladapa and got them at the discounted price.

Convinced that she was on to a good deal, she then placed orders for numerous other iPhones and iPads, and transferred a total of 1,060,000 baht (US$33,000) to Ladapa.

However, the ‘deal’ didn’t go smoothly, with Ladapa telling her that there was ‘a delay’, and that she would need to wait a while.

A few days later, the victim called again but Ladapa had turned off service for the mobile phone number.

The victim said her colleague at work had also been duped by Ladapa, and further investigations revealed a total of 27 victims – with the damage reaching almost 7 million baht (US$230,000).

All of the victims were tricked in the same way.

Ladapa would claim to some that she’s got a relative in the Apple Company who can get iPhones and iPads with an employee discount. Initially she delivers a few phones at the discounted price, getting her victims to trust her and place additional orders.

Once she had received the larger amounts of money for the subsequent order, she would simply disappear.

Police are currently continuing their investigations.

(Original source: tannetwork)

Located in the center of Southeast Asia, Thailand is truly at the heart of the region.  Looking over a map of Thailand will reveal a country whose borders form the rough shape of an elephant’s head: the head and ears forming the mostly landlocked northern and eastern provinces and the trunk extending down the Malaysian peninsula between the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.

The geography of Thailand features many natural borders with neighboring countries: a mountainous border with Myanmar (Burma) to the north and west; a long stretch of the Mekong River separating Thailand from Laos to the north and east; and the Mekong River and the Dongrak Mountains delineating the border of Cambodia to the east.

Covering an area of approximately 514,000 square kilometers (200,000 sq miles), Thailand is the 50th largest country in the world, most nearly equal in size to Spain.   Located just 15 degrees north of the equator, Thailand has a tropical climate and temperatures typically range from 19 to 38 degrees C (66-100 F); monsoon rains fall predominately from May to July and cooler, drier weather occurs around November and December.  Despite the geographical boundaries of Thailand all falling within the tropics, Thailand’s four primary regions are each geographically distinct from each other.

Along Thailand’s western border with Myanmar, the forested mountains of Thailand rise higher as they stretch north, peaking at the 2,565 meter (8,415 ft) Doi Inthanon.  Thailand’s northern peaks are replete with wildlife and feature Thailand’s coolest winters.

Northeastern Thailand’s geography, where the kingdom borders Laos at the Mekong River, features the Khorat Plateau, which extends south towards the Thai border with Cambodia. The Isan region of Northeastern Thailand is the most populous region of Thailand (with the exception of Bangkok) and features a number of bustling provincial capital cities.

The geography of Thailand’s interior is dominated by the Central Plains, the “Rice Bowl of Asia,” through which the Chao Phraya River feeds expansive rice fields and then enters the bustling capital of Bangkok before spilling into the Gulf of Thailand.

Stretching down the Malaysian peninsula, the slender trunk of the figurative elephant separates the Andaman Sea from the Gulf of Thailand, providing Thailand with beaches and islands along opposing shores.  Once, the sheltered coves of the narrow Isthmus of Kra were important ports along an ancient, strategic trading route; today the islands of Phuket and Koh Samui are equally important as tourist destinations, though both coasts also contain numerous historical attractions as well as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and spectacular forests, waterfalls, and beaches.

In addition to these natural, geographical regions, Thailand is divided into 76 political provinces, with Bangkok serving as the political, commercial, industrial, educational, and entertainment capital of the country.

(TourismThailand)

Photo: ThailandNorthern.com

BANGKOK, 5 February 2012 (NNT) – The Gross Domestic Happiness (GDH) index has been reduced continuously since July last year implying that Thais are becoming less happy, according to the ABAC poll.

The results of the survey on the GDH for Thai people this month showed that GDH index has been on a decline since July last year. The score has been continuously reducing – from 7.55 in the beginning of July 2011 to 6.66 in January 2012 (from the total score of 10).

The gross domestic happiness scores on politics and economy stand at 4.27 and 4.39 respectively. The poll said reasons behind Thais becoming less politically and financially happy were a conflict over an attempt to amend Article 112 and a higher cost of living.

According to the poll, positive factors for the GDH figures were loyalty to the Monarchy (9.29), followed by healthy family relationship (8.14), mental health (7.93) and physical health (7.9).

The poll was conducted among Thai people aged over 18 in 17 provinces during January 23 – February 4, 2012.

The coastal city of Pattaya has been awarded the number 1 Asia Golf Destination of the Year 2012 at the International Golf Travel Market in Belek, Turkey, held at the end of last year.

Mayor of Pattaya, Ithiphol Kunplome, explained that the award was voted for by the members of the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO), which include over 400 tour operators from 50 countries worldwide.

Previous winners include Malaysia and Thailand; however, Pattaya is the first regional city to have won the award.

The members of the IAGTO found that Pattaya offered quality golf courses with good management and excellent services, which is great value for money.

Mr. Ithiphol added that this award is also a prestigious prize for the members of Thailand’s East Coast Golf Courses Management Association (EGA), who have worked hard to push their golf courses to the front row of Asia and Australia.

At the same time, this award will stimulate further development among EGA members in order to maintain the championship status in future competitions as well as improve the quality of golf courses in the eastern part Thailand.

(nnt)

Photo: Siam country club_Pattaya

The National Police Chief has made a security inspection in tourist-populated spots in Bangkok to ascertain the safety and well-being of foreign tourists.

National police chief Pol-Gen Priewpan Damapong traveled to Khao San road and nearby Soi Rambutri to evaluate overall security measures that have been in place and to boost confidence among foreigners staying in the areas.

Pol Gen Priewpan had a chance to talk with the tourists, many of whom were confident in the safety measures provided by Thai security agencies.

The National Police Commissioner General further made an inspection of police checkpoints in Thonglor area on Sukhumvit Road. He instructed police officers to be more stringent on weapons and drugs scrutiny and closely monitor suspicious individuals and vehicles.

The police were also ordered to make sure that entertainment venues strictly open and close on time and refrain from narcotics involvement.

During the inspection in those areas, no irregular activities or conduct was found.