Thailand

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7 Ways to Get Jailed (or Killed) While Traveling

Forget your ID in Japan, and end up in the pokey

(Newser) - An African safari is likely to be a bit more exciting than a day at Disney Land, but there comes a point where enough is enough. Turner Wright, writing in Vagabondish , runs down seven travel ideas that'll get you killed—or at least some quality time in the local clink:...

Thais Find Super-Human Power in Tattoos

Men think ink give them super-human powers

(Newser) - Heavily tattooed men are pouring into Bangkok for the Wat Bang Phra, an annual festival celebrating the power of Yan tattoos. Devotees of this increasingly popular body adornment believe their ink gives them a wide array of super-human powers, which they demonstrate during the Wat Bang Phra by flailing about...

World Mourns Tsunami Victims
 World Mourns Tsunami Victims 
5 Years later
Dec 26, 2009 9:10 AM CST

World Mourns Tsunami Victims

Prayers offered for 250K victims at graves, in mosques, on beaches

(Newser) - From Indonesian mosques to Thai beaches, prayer services and commemorations were held all across the Indian Ocean region today to mark the fifth anniversary of the catastrophic tsunami that obliterated whole villages and took nearly 250,000 lives. In Sri Lanka, all cars and trucks came to a standstill as...

Panda Fever Spreads to Crocs, Elephants

Thai zookeepers paint other endagered animals to compete

(Newser) - Panda fever is so intense in Thailand, since the birth of its cub, Li Ping, last May, that zookeepers are painting crocs and elephants in panda colors just to get some of the attention. Li Pang, whose parents are on loan from China, has millions of fans and a 24-hour...

Web Addresses Will Gain International Flavor

Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew domains, among others, will have support by 2010: ICANN

(Newser) - In the biggest change ever to the system, Web domains will soon be available in the native scripts of Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, and other non-Latin-based languages. A proposal expected to be approved this week means “Internationalized Domain Names” could be up and running as soon as mid-2010. China and...

AIDS Vaccine Data Overstated
 AIDS Vaccine Data Overstated 
Oct 20, 2009 2:36 PM CDT

AIDS Vaccine Data Overstated

Much-hyped Thai results statistically insignificant, researchers say

(Newser) - The data from last month’s much-hyped Thai AIDS vaccine trial are actually statistically insignificant, according to a secondary analysis published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The original results from the trial, which included more than 16,000 people, concluded that the vaccine reduced infections by a...

Thai Man Kills Lover, Decapitates Her Child

5-year-old stuffed into four plastic bags

(Newser) - A man in Bangkok has confessed to murdering his lover and then shooting and dismembering her 5-year-old child, setting off a media frenzy in Thailand. The child's body parts were found in a deserted housing project, stuffed into four separate plastic bags. They were discovered by a garbage man on...

Vaccine Cuts HIV Infection Rate by 1/3

Watershed US-Thai study is first to show success

(Newser) - A new vaccine tested in Thailand has protected a significant minority of subjects against HIV infection—marking the first time a vaccine has shown even partial success against the virus that causes AIDS. The 16,000-volunteer study, undertaken by the US Army, the Thai health ministry, and two drug companies,...

Thai Activist Gets 18 Years for Insulting Monarchy

Thaksin supporter vows to appeal

(Newser) - A supporter of Thailand's exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was sentenced to 18 years in prison for insulting the monarchy in what free speech campaigners describe as a severe attack on political dissent, Reuters reports. The 46-year-old woman was arrested last year after a fiery speech denouncing the 2006...

Invasion of the Buddhist Body Snatchers Hits Bangkok

(Newser) - In the chaotic traffic of Bangkok, the first to arrive on the scene of an accident is often not an ambulance but a Toyota pickup packed with volunteers in blue jumpsuits. These are the controversial workers of the Por Tek Tung Foundation, who haul the injured to hospitals and the...

Writer Wrestles With Visit to Long-Necked Thai Tribe

Overcomes angry tour guides, conscience

(Newser) - Most travel companies refuse to take tourists to Thailand’s Burmese Padaung tribe—whose women wear neck coils that artificially elongate their necks—arguing that the practice is exploitative. But Amit R. Paley, writing for the Washington Post, ultimately found a guide and wrestled down his conscience. "My ability...

Elephant Getting Prosthetic Leg

(Newser) - A 48-year-old Thai elephant who stepped on a landmine 10 years ago got fitted for permanent artificial leg today, the AP reports. Motola, who's become a cause celebré for the plight of elephants worldwide, got measured for the new limb at an elephant hospital in Thailand. Until now she’s...

Pilot Killed as Plane Skids Into Thai Control Tower

(Newser) - A pilot was killed and at least ten passengers were injured when a plane skidded off the runway and crashed into an air traffic control tower on the Thai island of Koh Samui today,  AP reports. The Bangkok Airways plane, flying from the resort of Krabi, slid off the...

Clinton Won't Rule Out Second Presidential Run

But 'doubts very much' it will happen, says she's focused on State

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton had a hard time today saying she wouldn’t run for president again, the AP reports. Asked by Thai television whether again toss her hat in the ring, the secretary of State said it was “not at all on my radar screen.” Had she given up...

Clinton Voices Concern Over Burma-N. Korea Arms Links

Secretary of state will push ASEAN for tough enforcement of N.Korea sanctions

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton is concerned about possible military cooperation between Myanmar and North Korea, the New York Times reports. In Thailand on the eve of the ASEAN conference, the secretary of state told her hosts that their country would be particularly vulnerable to a pernicious relationship between the two dictatorships. Clinton...

Thai Elephants Pose as Pandas
 Thai Elephants Pose as Pandas 
Jun 29, 2009 1:29 AM CDT

Thai Elephants Pose as Pandas

Zoo staff reminds countrymen that elephants, too, need love

(Newser) - A $20 million house for a newborn female panda and family at a Thailand zoo has rankled the staff of Ayutthaya Elephant Kraal, who are sick of the nation's panda obsession, reports the Bangkok Post. Concerned that the panda craze has diverted resources from Thailand’s national symbol, they've painted...

Carradine Death Pics Reveal Fishnets, Wig

(Newser) - Actor David Carradine appears to be wearing a wig and fishnets in photos taken of his body  in his Bagkok hotel room, deepening the mystery of his death, reports ABC News. Red lingerie lies on the bed. Cross dressing is often an element of autoerotic asphyxiation, which Thai officials have...

Sex-Death Expert to Conduct Carradine Autopsy

(Newser) - Famed pathologist Michael Baden is traveling to California to conduct a private autopsy of actor David Carradine, reports Radar. One of Baden's skills is tracking autoerotic asphyxiation, which may have been the cause of Carradine's death, but the former chief medical examiner of New York City is also trained to...

11 Dead in Mosque Shooting in Thailand's Volatile South

(Newser) - Gunmen killed 11 people and injured 12 in a southern Thailand mosque today, AFP reports. Officials said between two and five armed men entered the mosque and fired “indiscriminately.” It’s the latest incident in a 5-year guerrilla war that has killed 3,700 in Narathiwat province. The...

Family Furious as Carradine Death Pics Leaked to Press

(Newser) - David Carradine's family expressed outrage yesterday after photos of the dead actor were published in a Thai newspaper. Family members were "profoundly disturbed" by the photos taken in the actor's Bangkok hotel room, where his body was discovered, said a statement. Half brother Keith Carradine threatened a lawsuit for...

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