Hoping for a soft sentence, Joe Gordon-a Thai-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty Monday to charges of defaming Thailand’s royal family, a grave crime in this Southeast Asian kingdom punishable by up to 15 years in jail. Reports show that Joe Gordon lived in the U.S. for about 30 years before returning to Thailand last March for medical treatment. He has been detained since late May in…
Thai police have used tear gas against thousands of protesters calling for the overthrow of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in Bangkok. At least 10,000 protesters gathered, demonstrating against the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of the deposed former prime minister. The rally was organized by a group who accuse Yingluck Shinawatra of being a puppet of her brother, Thaksin Shina…
…ud Barak is on an official visit in Singapore. A statement issued by the Israeli defense ministry noted that Barak was in Bangkok on Sunday, AP reports. Police said the first explosion happened around 14:20, local time, 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 t…
Barack Obama is practicing a new brand of foreign relations, appearing to flirt with Thailand’s attractive Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on his first stop of his three-day tour of Southeast Asia. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra could be seen laughing together and exchanging playful glances throughout a state dinner at the Government House in Bangkok on Sunday ni…
…timent. Koji Endo, automotive analyst with Advanced Research Japan, said that close to 30% of Nissan’s vehicle sales come from China. By way of comparison, rival Toyota relies on China for about 10% of its global sales. The company trimmed its 2012 China sales forecast to 1.175 million vehicles from a previous 1.35 million. Nissan has slashed its full-year profit forecast by 20 percent afte…
A strong earthquake has rocked central Burma, and there are unconfirmed reports of casualties. The 6.8-magnitude quake hit some 120 km (70 miles) north of the second-largest city of Mandalay, at a depth of just 10 km, the US Geological Survey said. Burma’s local media say a bridge under construction collapsed in the town of Shwebo, closest to the epicentre. In Mandalay, terrified residents…
…ng slapping, kneading and massaging of the area. Tata Sombuntham, who was trained in Thailand, says she is the first face-slapping beauty therapist in the western hemisphere, and charges $350 for each 15 minute session at her San Francisco salon. While there is no medical evidence to prove the slapping works as an anti-aging treatment, according to ABC News, doctors concede it could “improve circu…
Wildlife campaigners are at odds over a new attempt to ban the global trade in polar bear parts. Some activists say the market for rugs and ornaments made from the bears is driving them to extinction, but others argue that the most pressing problem for the species is climate change and the disappearance of polar ice. The issue will be decided at a UN wildlife conservation meeting in Thailand in M…
…n shaking hands with members of the public “A spokesperson for Thatcher has publicly confirmed this news. What we know is that Thatcher has been suffering ill health in recent years. “Since more than 10 years ago, she’s suffered numerous minor strokes. Just last December, she had surgery in London to remove a bladder tumor.” It is not known why Cti Cable gave her age as 88, but it could ei…
The elephant dung coffee is made from beans eaten and digested by elephants living on a reserve in Thailand. When animals pass the beans in their excrement, they are harvested, cleaned up and processed into coffee grinds. The resulting brew is said to be floral and chocolaty, the taste containing notes of “milk chocolate, nutty, earthy with hints of spice and red berries”. Regular coffee drinkers…
International wildlife trade group Traffic says that more elephant tusks were seized in 2011 than in any year since 1989, when the ivory trade was banned. Traffic said elephants have had a “horrible year”, with 23 tones of ivory seized – representing at least 2,500 dead animals. Trade in ivory was banned in 1989 to save elephants from extinction. But it has continued illegally b…
…been no immediate reports of damage or casualties. India and Sri Lanka have also lifted their own tsunami warnings. The region is regularly hit by earthquakes. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 killed 170,000 people in Aceh alone and some 250,000 around the region. The US Geological Survey (USGS), which documents quakes worldwide, said the first Aceh quake was centred at a depth of 33 km (20 miles…
Vaginal whitening wash Lactacyd White Intimate, a product that promises to make your private area “safely fairer within four weeks”, has hit the beauty market in Thailand. Lactacyd White Intimate comes after huge controversy was sparked when 18 Again – an Indian pharmaceutical “vaginal tightening and rejuvenating cream” came onto the market earlier this year. The latest product’s adve…
Cathay Pacific says a flight attendant who felt tempted to throw coffee on Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has lost her job. The Thai cabin crew member had reportedly posted on Facebook that Paetongtarn Shinawatra was “the daughter of my enemy”. Paetongtarn Shinawatra is said to have been on a flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong. A state…
A caring cat named Sonya plays surrogate mother to an adorable litter of orphaned hedgehogs. Sonya, the ginger cat from central Russia, only had one kitten of her own meaning there was plenty of milk to spare, so she readily adopted the four baby hedgehogs into the family. She treats them, exactly as if they were her own, allowing them to suckle to their hearts content and then snuggle up to slee…
A poll of more than 570,000 people across the globe has revealed non-Americans want Barack Obama to remain President of the United States. The research, conducted across 36 countries outside the US, revealed 81% were in favor of Barack Obama spending another four years in office. And only 19% preferred his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, according to the findings from MSN. Interestingly, the o…
Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, who starred in the 1974 erotic French film Emmanuelle, has died aged 60. “She died during the night during her sleep,” her agent, Marieke Verharen, told the AFP news agency. Sylvia Kristel, who had cancer, was admitted to hospital in July after suffering a stroke. Emmanuelle, which told the story of a sexually promiscuous housewife, spawned numerous seque…
…ng. While articles about Iran, its capital city Tehran and the country’s New Year celebrations topped the Persian list, entries about sex, female circumcision and homosexuality also made its top 10. An overview of Egypt topped the Arabic language version and was followed by a history of Muhammad Ali Pasha – the Ottoman army commander who became the country’s ruler in 1805. He is…
President Barack Obama defended Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could increase the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians. “Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,” Barack Obama said at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia. “…
Harmful levels of lead, far higher than regulations suggest are safe, have been revealed following an analysis of the commercially available rice imported into the US. Some samples exceeded the “provisional total tolerable intake” (PTTI) set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by a factor of 120. The report at the American Chemical Society Meeting adds to the already well-known…
…be trying to rebalance its economy. “In 2011, China’s consumption contributed more to gross domestic product [GDP] growth than investments, for the first time since records of GDP began in 1952,” it said. “Some observers see this as the start of a trend in domestic rebalancing, and associate this with a more permanent growth slowdown in China.” However, it said that t…
…f various forms of fraud emerged. At polling station in the capital Kuala Lumpur queues had formed well before voting began. Analysts say that for the first time since Malaysia’s independence in 1957, there is a real possibility that the opposition may be able to unseat the ruling party. Opinion polls suggest support for the two sides is evenly matched. The possibility of an end to more than…
…h his “throat slit” alongside two other men in a Massachusetts apartment in 2011 But since Tamerlan Tsarnaev was identified as the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three and injured 180, Ray believes his sudden disappearance after Brendan Mess’s death may be a clue. “Tam wasn’t there at the memorial service, he wasn’t at the funeral, he wasn’t around at a…
Rice imported into the US from some countries in Asia, Europe, and South America contains enough lead to cause health problems, according to a research presented this week at the American Chemical Society’s national meeting in New Orleans. American adults eating just one 200-gram serving (about a cup) of this rice could consume 10 times the amount of lead deemed safe by the Food and Drug Ad…
…cocaine. The housewife was arrested after a flight from Thailand in May 2012 and accused of being at the centre of a drugs ring. Following her conviction earlier this year, the prosecution recommended 15 years imprisonment but a panel of judges later sentenced Lindsay Sandiford to death by firing squad. Lindsay Sandiford has lost her appeal against her death sentence in Bali for drug trafficking…
Zahra Shahid Hussain funeral: Murdered PTI's vice-president buried in KarachiThe funeral of the murdered vice-president of Pakistan's PTI party, Zahra Shahid Hussain, has been held at a mosque in the country’s capital, Karachi. Zahra Shahid Hussain…
Imran Khan blames MQM's Altaf Hussain for Zahra Shahid Hussain's killing in KarachiFormer cricketer Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan's PTI party, has blamed one of his political rivals for the killing of PTI vice-president Zahra Shahid Hussain. Zahra…
Zahra Shahid Hussain shot dead in KarachiSenior Pakistani politician Zahra Shahid Hussain has been shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi. Zahra Shahid Hussain was the senior vice-president of Pakistan's…
North Korea fires short-range missiles from its east coastNorth Korea has launched three short-range missiles from its east coast, South Korea's defence ministry said. Two missiles were fired on Saturday morning and one in the…
Cyclone Mahasen hits Bangladesh's southern coast killing at least two peopleCyclone Mahasen has stricken Bangladesh's southern coast, as people packed into evacuation shelters. The storm hit Patuakhali district on Thursday with winds of up to 100…
Cyclone Mahasen prompts massive evacuation from Bangladesh coastal areasBangladesh has ordered the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from its coastal areas threatened by Cyclone Mahasen. The Bangladeshi authorities have raised the…
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