Thailand

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Author Insults Thai King, Editor Gets 10-Year Sentence

Author has since fled to Cambodia

(Newser) - A Thai magazine editor was today sentenced to 10 years in prison for insulting the king. If that sounds extreme, consider this: Somyot Pruksakasemsuk didn't actually write the insults, he just published them. (The author has since fled to Cambodia.) And they didn't appear in articles of...

Ex Thai PM Facing Murder Charges

For his role in deadly 2010 crackdown on anti-government protests

(Newser) - Former Thailand PM Abhisit Vejjajiva and his deputy will face murder charges for their roles in the 2010 crackdown against anti-government uprisings that left more than 90 dead and 1,800 injured, reports the AP . Investigators says Abhisit is possibly culpable in the death of a taxi driver because he...

Want to Lose Wrinkles? Try Thai Face-Slapping

Couple offers face-slapping therapy in Calif.

(Newser) - A slap from a beautiful woman usually means "how dare you"—except at a Thai face-slapping parlor in San Francisco, where it costs $350, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The therapist, Bangkok-born Tata, says it removes wrinkles and firms up skin without the cost of surgery or a single...

'Horse-Riding' Dance-Off Sparks Gang Shootout

Thai gang members start fight by dancing

(Newser) - While South Korean pop star Psy shows the world his new "horse-riding" dance, Thai teens used it in a West Side Story-style standoff that escalated into a gunfight, the Guardian reports. Members of two gangs were eating at the same restaurant in Bangkok when younger gang-bangers began dancing Gangnam-style...

700 Cops Guard US Embassy as Thais Protest

400 carry out peaceful demonstration

(Newser) - Protests over an anti-Islam film have spread to Thailand, where 700 police were ready at the US embassy in Bangkok. Some 400 people gathered peacefully; organizers had called for a peaceful demonstration on Facebook. Protesters held signs saying "Stop insulting our religion" as they chanted against the US and...

Guy Busted Raising 6 Tigers on Rooftop

He was only authorized to raise 2

(Newser) - A Thai man has been arrested and accused of illegally raising six tigers on top of an apartment building on Bangkok's outskirts after police busted a larger tiger-trafficking ring in the country. Environmental police acting on a tip found four adult and two juvenile tigers on a rusty caged...

Buddhist Abbot: Steve Jobs Is Reincarnated

And he's now living in a glass palace over Apple headquarters

(Newser) - Steve Jobs may have left this mortal coil, but for Buddhists (Jobs dabbled), that's not the final word. Now one group in Thailand claims it knows where and how Jobs has been reincarnated. “After Steve Jobs passed away, he was reincarnated as a divine being with a special...

AIDS-Like Disease Identified, But It&#39;s Not Contagious
 AIDS-Like Disease Identified 
Aug 22, 2012 7:00 PM CDT

AIDS-Like Disease Identified

Patients, mostly in Asia, suffer from weakened immune system

(Newser) - Researchers have identified a mysterious new disease that has left scores of people in Asia and some in the US with AIDS-like symptoms even though they are not infected with HIV. The patients' immune systems become damaged, leaving them unable to fend off germs as healthy people do. What triggers...

Thai Senator 'Accidentally' Shoots Secretary at Dinner

His Uzi goes off in restaurant

(Newser) - A Thai lawmaker who took his Uzi to dinner ended up killing his secretary with it. Police say Senator Boonsong Kowawisarat was dining with family members when he accidentally shot his ex-wife, who works as his personal secretary. The 9mm Uzi submachine gun "was accidentally fired off while he...

Thailand's Tubby Monks to Get Nutrition Lessons

Study finds nearly half of country's monks are obese

(Newser) - Thailand's monks have been piling on too many pounds on their way to enlightenment. Authorities plan to educate the country's hundreds of thousands of Buddhist monks about healthy eating following a study that found 45% of them are obese and 40% of them suffer from diseases such as...

World's Tiniest Fly Beheads Tiny Ants

Found in Thailand, E. nanaknihali smaller than a grain of salt

(Newser) - It's the tiniest fly species known in the world, smaller than a grain of salt, and apparently it likes to eat ant heads, reports LiveScience . Euryplatea nanaknihali, a newly discovered species from Thailand, is from a fly genus known for decapitating ants and is believed to attack some of...

Canadian Sisters Found Dead in Thai Hotel Room

Police suspect pair were accidentally poisoned

(Newser) - Two Canadian sisters have been found dead in their hotel room on Phi Phi Island, Thailand, and investigators suspect poisoning, reports the New York Daily News . Audrey and Noemi Belanger, a 20-year-old and a 26-year-old from Quebec, checked into the Phi Phi Palms Residence hotel on Tuesday and were not...

Signs of Strain Between Burma's Leader, Suu Kyi

With Burma opening hinging on Suu Kyi, Thein Sein, observers worry

(Newser) - Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi apparently did not woo many members of the ruling party with her comments in Bangkok last week, in which she cautioned that investors should avoid "reckless optimism" in regards to the country. An adviser to Burma's President U Thein Sein criticized...

Suu Kyi: Avoid 'Reckless Optimism'

Reflects on leaving Burma for first time in 24 years

(Newser) - There's hope for Burma, but it should be tempered with caution, said Aung San Suu Kyi during her first trip outside the country in 24 years. Speaking to the World Economic Forum in Bangkok, she called the optimism surrounding the recent changes seen in Burma "good," but...

Suu Kyi Leaving Burma on Historic Trip

President Thein Sein's reforms have obviously convinced her

(Newser) - Burma's most popular political activist is leaving her country for the first time in decades, a sure sign of confidence in the nation's fledgling steps toward democracy, Reuters reports. Aung San Suu Kyi plans to arrive in the Thai capital of Bangkok tomorrow to give a speech at...

KFC Thailand: Sorry 'Bout the Quake, Have Some KFC!

Chain is really, very sorry about ill-thought-out Facebook post

(Newser) - In hindsight, maybe it wasn't so smart to suggest that yesterday's massive earthquake was finger-lickin' good: KFC Thailand has issued an apology after being criticized for a Facebook message that urged people to rush home during yesterday's tsunami scare and order a bucket of KFC chicken. As...

Thailand Bans 'Subversive' Film Adaptation of Macbeth

Thai censors sensitive to depictions of monarchy

(Newser) - Thailand's film censors have banned an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, saying it could inflame political passions in the country where it is taboo to criticize the monarchy. The Thai-language film Shakespeare Must Die is about a theater group in a fictional country resembling Thailand that is staging a...

Thailand Car Bombs Kill 14, Injure 340

Authorities call series of bombings worst in years

(Newser) - The biggest series of bombings in years killed 14 people and injured 340 in southern Thailand yesterday, reports the AP . Authorities suspect militant Islamic insurgents in the attack, which targeted shoppers and a hotel popular with Singapore and Malaysian tourists. The first explosion was a large truck bomb, going off...

Thai Billionaire Behind Red Bull Dead at 89

Chaleo Yoovidhya's parents sold ducks, fruit to survive

(Newser) - The Thai billionaire who sparked the worldwide "energy drink" craze and co-founded Red Bull has died of natural causes in Bangkok, the AP reports. Chaleo Yoovidhya was 89. Born to a Thai mother and Chinese father who sold ducks and fruit to survive, Chaelo died as Thailand's third-richest...

Iranian Hit Squad Hid Bombs in Radios

Bangkok devices match those used in India, Georgia attacks

(Newser) - The suspected Iranian hit squad busted in Bangkok last week made cheap portable radios into bombs that they intended to use against Israeli targets, authorities say. Experts say the bombs are nearly identical to those attached to vehicles in attacks in India and the republic of Georgia , ABC reports. After...

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