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BANGKOK, Thailand - A Russian dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly supplying weapons to Africa's bloody conflicts over power and diamonds was arrested Thursday in Thailand on suspicion of conspiring to smuggle guns to Colombia's leftist rebels. Viktor Bout, 41, whose dealings reportedly inspired a 2005 movie about the illicit arms trade, was arrested at U.S. request in his hotel room in Bangkok, said police Lt. Gen. Pongpat Chayapan. Bout had eluded arrest for years and was finally seized after a four-month sting organized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In New York, federal authorities unsealed a criminal complaint...

“Kill Bill” star David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room Wednesday, his manager told FOX News Thursday. While the cause of death has yet to be determined, a Thai newspaper claims the actor died in an apparent suicide.

Kung Fu and Kill Bill star David Carradine was found hung in a hotel room in Bangkok on Wednesday, Thai police said. "Kung Fu" and "Kill Bill" star David Carradine was found hung himself in a closet in a hotel room in Bangkok on Wednesday, Thai police said.

Thailand’s political crisis descended into chaos on Monday as anti-government protesters and the military fought dramatic battles on the streets of Bangkok that left at least two dead and almost 100 injured. The government on Monday night claimed to have regained control of the Thai capital’s streets. But some 4,000 protesters remained around the prime minister’s office in central Bangkok, surrounded by security forces. Abhisit Vejjajiva, the prime minister, who declared a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas on Sunday, said in a nationally televised address that the military had been using as little force as possible. “All...

BANGKOK – Thailand's prime minister narrowly escaped a savage attack and rioting erupted in Bangkok as protesters commandeered public buses and swarmed triumphantly over military vehicles in unchecked defiance after the government declared a state of emergency. Bands of red-shirted anti-government protesters roamed areas of the Thai capital, with some smashing a car carrying Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and others beating up motorists who hurled insults at them. At least 10 intersections were occupied by the protesters, who used buses to barricade several major roads, spawning massive traffic jams.

Indonesia Update In a South Jakarta courtroom this week, a Singaporean terror suspect admitted that he was part of a plot to hijack an Aeroflot aircraft from Bangkok and crash it into Singapore’s Changi International Airport. Mohammad Hasan bin Sayanudin, alias Fajar Taslim, was testifying against two other terrorist suspects. All three are charged with killing a Christian high school teacher in South Sumatra province during 2007. They are also charged with plotting to kill two Catholic priests in 2005 and to carry out a bombing of a café in West Sumatra. According to Sayanudin, those who were part of...

A high-ranking human rights worker with ties to the United Nations was nabbed at Kennedy Airport Tuesday with kiddie porn in his suitcase, officials said. Clarence Dias, 65, president of the International Center for Law in Development, whose offices are located at the UN, had the smut in his carry-on bag as he passed through security on his way to a flight bound for Bangkok, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. Transportation Security Administration officials doing a random bag check around 8:20a.m. allegedly found a DVD whose cover featured an apparently underage nude boy and an adult male in

At least 54 people were tonight killed in a fire in a nightclub in Bangkok. More than 100 others were injured in the blaze, which broke out during an event for New Year's Eve at the Santika club - a venue popular with both locals and foreigners. “We were all dancing and suddenly there was a big flame that came out of the front of the stage and everybody was running away,” said one woman who had been in the club. A witness, Andrew Jones, said survivors leaving the club told him the fire broke out on the stage after...

BANGKOK, Thailand — Riot police fled a checkpoint near Bangkok's international airport Saturday after coming under attack by several hundred anti-government protesters who have been occupying the main terminal. About 150 police at the checkpoint jumped into their vehicles and sped off when they saw a convoy of protesters — many armed with metal rods and some carrying guns — speeding toward them. Video footage of the attack appeared to show a protester firing a handgun toward a police van filled with officers. It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries. The attack effectively broke a massive police...

BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand's army commander urged protesters Wednesday to leave Bangkok airport and called for elections to end the country's political crisis after a day of chaos in which thousands of travelers were stranded. All flights were canceled and frustrated passengers bused to hotels, as protesters shut down Suvarnabhumi Airport in a major escalation of their four-month campaign to oust the prime minister.

BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's prime minister declared a state of emergency in the capital Bangkok on Tuesday after a week of political tension exploded into violent street clashes between supporters and opponents of the government that left one person dead. Under sweeping powers that give the military the right to restore order, authorities can suspend certain civil liberties, ban all public gatherings of more than five people and bar the media from reporting news that "causes panic." The military, which has staged 18 coups since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, said the army did not want to...

Excerpt - Fire broke out early Monday and seriously damaged the top floor of the Burmese embassy on Sathorn Road, but there were no injuries, police officials said. They said the fire, which occurred after sunrise, was brought under control within 30 minutes but that there was a significant amount of smoke. The roof of the building collpased during the blaze, prompting officials at the embassy to move their cars out of the area. "The blaze broke out on the top floor, in a room full of documents and filing cabinets," firefighter Niwat Jootawong told a reporter of the AFP...

The Canadian schoolteacher, who became the world's most wanted suspected pedophile was arrested by police Friday in Nakhon Ratchasima Friday. The suspect, Christopher Paul Neil, will be brought to Bangkok later today. The arrest came a few days after the suspect's image was splashed across media reports around the world. Interpol released images of the alleged child molester, which were taken from Internet pictures that had masked the suspect behind a digitally created swirl. Interpol investigators were able to use new technology to alter the image to allegedly resemble the original images, which they then released to the international media....

A Thai bank is pitching into the battle against HIV/AIDS and handing out condoms to customers too shy to get them at the shop...

An infection from a root canal treatment nearly destroyed the life of Ann Bonarelli, a New York native. From a healthy, active life she got to the point where she could not breathe as the infection settled in her heart. Her valve stopped working and her heart began to fail.  Her doctors initially thought she had pneumonia but discovered the real problem and rushed her to have an urgent valve repair. She spent the following months in a state of constant tiredness and grew sick of being tired all the time.  She read about Theravitae and the success they were...

Mon 11 Jun 2007 Sniffer dogs sacked for lewd behaviour ETHAN MCNERN TWO Thai strays who became ace sniffer dogs at an airport near the notorious "Golden Triangle" opium-producing region have been fired for urinating on luggage and sexually harassing female passengers. The pair, Mok and Lai, had been plucked from obscurity under a programme initiated by King Bhumibol Adulyadej to turn strays into police dogs, the Bangkok Post said on Sunday. They won plaudits from police for their work in sniffing out drugs at northern Thailand's Chiang Rai airport, near the border with Laos and Myanmar. But so many...

BANGKOK, Thailand -- There's no shortage of ideas for high-tech measures to combat global warming: develop clean biofuels made of corn or palm oil, build more nuclear power stations or bury harmful carbon emissions in underground vaults. But those are the last solutions many environmentalists want to hear about. For the green lobby pushing this week for forceful action at a U.N. conference on limiting the rise in global temperatures, such answers either cost too much, delay an inevitable weaning from fossil fuels or get in the way of the real solutions, such as renewable energy and greater efficiency. "There...

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Across the globe, chickens and pigs are doing their bit to curb global warming. But cows and sheep still have some catching up to do. The farm animals produce lots of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide yet is at the heart of efforts to fight climate change. Government policies and a U.N.-backed system of emission credits is proving a money-spinner for investors, farmers and big polluters such as power stations wanting to offset their own emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2). The reason is simple: methane...

Suspected Muslim insurgents opened fire on nine Buddhists who were riding in a commuter van in Thailand's restive south Wednesday, killing all of them execution-style... The attack prompted officials to step up security in the south, where a Muslim insurgency has claimed more than 2,000 lives since 2004. Suspected insurgents bombed the van as it slowed into a curve in the road, which they also had blocked with a large tree trunk, said police Lt. Kitti Mankhong, a duty officer in the Yaha district of Yala province, where the attack occurred. Armed with assault rifles, the attackers first shot at...

Islamic separatists could stage more "terrorist" attacks, Thailand has warned, after nine people were killed in overnight strikes as many Thais began celebrating the Lunar New Year. Thailand's army chief of staff said the insurgents, who have battled the government for three years in Muslim-majority provinces of southern Thailand, could try to stage new attacks during upcoming Buddhist holidays. "The violence may increase, and it will be the same kind of terrorist tactics," General Montri Sangkasap told reporters Monday after an emergency security meeting in Bangkok. Thailand's junta chief, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, and Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont had summoned military...

BANGKOK, Thailand -- High-rolling food lovers from around the world are raving about their truly unique dining experience Saturday evening at a rooftop restaurant on the 65th floor of a luxury hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Grandly titled "Epicurean Masters of the World," the 40-seat dinner was prepared by six three-star Michelin chefs, four from France and one each from Italy and Germany. Many diners had trouble finishing the 10-course gourmet dinner, even at $25,000 a head. But, as one Shanghai-based businessman put it, "The whole thing is an experience. It's priceless." The menu featured such delicacies as Perigord truffles --...

It was just a normal shopping trip when Jaeyana Beuraheng bade farewell to her eight children as she left to cross the border into Malaysia, but it would be 25 years before she would find her way home. Now, at the age of 76, she has been reunited with her family and has finally told how her misfortune began when she boarded the wrong bus. Jaeyana would almost certainly have made it home without mishap had it not been that she speaks only Yawi, a dialect spoken by Muslims in southern Thailand. But unable to write, read, or speak Thai...

BANGKOK, Thailand — A Bangkok municipal office has launched a new program to increase productivity: Lights go out just past noon and civil servants are invited to take an afternoon nap. Seeking to infuse city workers with a bit more pep, the Pathumwan district office in central Bangkok has set up a lunchtime "nap room" with soft music, sweet-smelling flowers and strict rules barring mobile phones and talking, said Surakiet Limcharoen, the district's top official who started the program. "I've been taking naps at lunchtime for a long time, and decided to introduce the project to my staff in November,"...

COORDINATED BANGKOK BOMBS KILL 2; New Year's Eve Countdown cancelled(BangkokPost.com) At least six bombs or grenades have exploded in Bangkok early on New Year's Eve. Two people are reported to have been killed, about 25 have been wounded. Bangkok authorities ordered all public New Year's Eve parties cancelled. Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin appeared at the huge Bangkok Countdown 2006 venue and told the crowd to "go home and stay in peace." There had been confusion for an hour over whether New Year's parties would be permitted after the bombing. New Year's is the biggest public party in Thailand. The national...

Four explosives went off almost simultaneously in Bangkok, injuring at least 20 people as the city people have just started to celebrate the New Year's eve. One person was dead at the Big C supermarket, Sapan Kwai branch, where witness saw a man dropped a grenade from a pedestrian bridge, police said. At least 20 were injured at the Victory Monument when a powerful bomb went off near a bus station. At the Klong Toei area near the Na Ranong intersection, a bomb hidden in a trash can near a Chinese spirit shrine exploded and injured two bypassers. The explosion...

The government yesterday decided to lift martial law in Bangkok and 40 other provinces including the capital's immediate neighbours. However, 35 provinces remain fully or partly under martial law due to security concerns including drugs, illegal trade and the government's suspicions about potential threats from supporters of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The government's decision came one day after the Council for National Security (CNS) forwarded its recommendation that martial law be lifted in 48 provinces and retained in 28 other provinces, including Bangkok. Yesterday's cabinet resolution to partially lift martial law will not take effect until there is royal...

(dpa) Bangkok and its surrounding provinces will be underwater within the next 15 to 20 years unless barriers are constructed along the capital's Chao Phrya River, the National Disaster Warning Centre warned in a report on Monday. Smith Thammasaroj, chairman of the centre, said that Thailand's capital faces a watery future thanks to global warming that will lead to higher sea tides and heavier rainfall. Bangkok, Thailand's capital since 1782, is connected to the Gulf of Thailand by the Chao Phrya River, which flows down from the country's northern region. "The way to prevent the situation is to start building...

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Fate hurled an array of obstacles to block the completion of Bangkok's new international airport -- corruption scandals, a deadly fire, and even a coup -- but the sleek new hub is finally opening. Built on an area known as "Cobra Swamp," the luckless Suvarnabhumi Airport will officially open its doors Thursday, more than four decades after the project originated. Over the weekend, 99 monks and Brahmin priests performed a ceremony to apologize to the spirits of the land for any offenses committed during the construction of the airport, along with the spirits of animals who died...

Military coup leaders in Thailand — often called the "Land of Smiles" — apparently don't want to ruin that image. They've ordered soldiers to smile. Army radio broadcasts are reminding soldiers to be friendly and courteous, especially to children and anyone who wants to take pictures with them...

BANGKOK, Thailand - The Thai military launched a coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday night, circling his offices with tanks, seizing control of TV stations and declaring a provisional authority pledging loyalty to the king. The army commander took over the government and declared martial law. An announcement on Thai television declared that a "Council of Administrative Reform" with King Bhumibol Adulyadej as head of state had seized power in Bangkok and nearby provinces without any resistance. "The armed forces commander and the national police commander have successfully taken over Bangkok and the surrounding area in order to...

This is a reference thread with links to previous FR threads discussing the arrest of a suspect, John Mark Karr, in the decade-old cold case concerning the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, plus case resources for continued commentary on investigation of the crime.

Cardiac MRI tests confirm a dramatic 60% increase in patient’s heart function after procedure that combines coronary artery bypass grafting surgery with adult stem cell therapy. Bangkok, Thailand (PRWEB) April 27, 2006 -- Cardiac MRI tests confirm a dramatic 60% increase in patient’s heart function after procedure that combines coronary artery bypass grafting surgery with adult stem cell therapy. When 56 year old Thai businessman, Mr Sujin Lewwattanachotinan, underwent VesCell™ adult stem cell therapy in early July 2005 at Bangkok Heart Hospital he wasn’t expecting a miracle. Mr Lewwattanachotinan was a heart patient whose doctors had told him that there...

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police said on Tuesday they had detained 169 North Koreans in a raid on a house in a Bangkok suburb after neighbors became suspicious of the number of people in it. "This is the biggest single arrest of North Koreans" in Thailand, Police Major General Pramoj Pathumwong told Reuters. The North Koreans, mostly women and children, had entered Thailand illegally and were staying in the house with 16 compatriots who had travel documents from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, police said. The 16 had been due to leave on Tuesday night for South Korea,...

BANGKOK, Thailand - The American suspect in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey told investigators that he drugged and had sex with the 6-year-old beauty queen before accidentally killing her, a senior Thai police officer said Thursday. An autopsy on Ramsey said a blood screening showed no drugs or alcohol in her body but said she had vaginal abrasions. Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul, head of Thailand's immigration police, said by telephone that he was not present for the questioning, which was conducted by U.S. law enforcement officials. But, according to what the general said he was told of the questioning, the...

Four injured in explosion on Bangkok bus BANGKOK: -- Four passengers were injured when a homemade bomb exploded on a Bangkok bus Saturday night. The time bomb detonated by a clock exploded on Bus No 95 at 10:40 am. The bus was having about 20 passengers and had left Happy Land Market heading to Bang Khen when the explosion occurred when it was in front of Bang Toey Temple near Soi Navamin 101.. Three passengers were slightly injured were discharged from the Lard Prao Hospital after treatments. The other passenger suffered cuts on the left leg and suffered back injury...

Attention American Citizens: The Royal Thai Police (RTP) authorities have confirmed that a large demonstration is expected to occur in the area of the King Rama 5 statue, Rajdamneon Avenue, near Sanam Luang and Government House in Bangkok on Saturday, February 4. Police estimate up to 100,000 people will gather in an anti-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin demonstration headed by Sonthi Limthongkul, a prominent Thai government critic. The crowd will include several diverse groups of demonstrators and is expected to start assembling in the morning with no announced starting or ending times. Organizers have not indicated a marching route, should they...

KATHONG, Thailand - Islamic militants in Thailand are spreading a murderous message to would-be informants that government collaborators face death, further hardening the battle lines in a bloody insurgency.

THE killers of the British backpacker Katherine Horton allegedly boasted about their actions within minutes of her being beaten and raped. "Delicious, very delicious," shouted Bualoi Posit, 23, and Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, as they climbed back aboard their fishing boat, until told to be quiet by the vessel's mate.

BANGKOK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Militants raided a village in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south overnight, shooting dead up to nine people and wounding eight others, the army said on Wednesday. Residents of Baan Gra Thong, a Muslim village in the southern province of Narathiwat, were blaming the killings on security forces and were barring police and army officials from entry, southern Army spokesman Acra Tiprote said. But he said the army was not responsible. "This is the work of troublemakers who created the incident and blamed it on security officials," the spokesman said. "We have learned that eight or nine...

ANGKOK: Thailand on Wednesday condemned a statement by a group of Thai Muslim calling for self-government in the restive south where more than 1,000 people have been killed in the past 22 months. The Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) said on Tuesday the conflict could degenerate into a war between religions in mainly Buddhist Thailand unless Bangkok grants the region the right to self-government. The government said the group only wanted to incite religious conflict among people in the three mainly Muslim provinces along the Malaysia border. "The statement by PULO runs counter to the efforts to promote peace and...

Bangkok, 9 Nov. (AKI) - As the violence in Thailand's hree southernmost provinces shows no sign of abating, prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has announced an impending “D-Day” against the rebels. In the last 24 hours, Muslim insurgents have attacked Yala Provincial Hall and a series of other minor targets, while Bangkok has announced the killing of Hasueming Jarong, a leading member of the Pattani Mujahideen, one of the groups fighting for an independent Islamic state comprising Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that the government has prepared a large scale offensive against the rebels to be launched...

Thousands of health volunteers to monitor bird flu BANGKOK, Mar 21 (TNA) – The Thai government has organised more than 850,000 health-care volunteers across the country to closely monitor for local outbreaks of bird flu in order to contain the disease. Organised by the Ministry of Public Health, the scheme is intended to prevent human’s catching the infection, the newly appointed Public Health Minister, Dr.Suchai Charoenrattanakul, told TNA. “Infection from birds to humans should be down to zero, as we are implementing tough monitoring measures,” he said. Volunteers will monitor the death rate of chickens in every village and report...

A French passenger was burned last night when lacquer wax he was carrying in his suitcase caught fire at Don Muang airport before he boarded a THAI flight to Paris. Stethane Rolland, 40, who was accompanied by his wife Sylvie, was checking in for flight TG930 leaving at midnight, officials said. Security officers asked him to open his bag when the can of lacquer wax was detected in the X-ray machine. As Mr Rolland opened the bag it burst into flames, burning his left hand and right leg. Officials believe a spark might have been generated when the bag was...

Thaksin, Chainant say airport problem-free team of US aviation experts is insisting that both runways at Suvarnabhumi airport need reconstruction as there are severe cracks that are large enough to sink the nose wheel of an aircraft, according to an aviation source. They are also not tiny cracks on runway shoulders that the deputy transport minister showed to reporters, the source said. But Deputy Transport Minister Chainant Charoensiri and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra deny there is a problem. The source said yesterday that the serious cracks were at the ``touchdown'' points of both the western and eastern runways of the...

Security officials have detained three male Muslim teenagers for questioning following their arrest at a Bangkok amusement park with a map of the capital with 43 large public gathering spots and the Defence Ministry marked out. However, the three Muslims, whose names were withheld, denied any involvement in subversive activities, military security sources said. The teenagers, who were students at a Muslim ponoh school in the deep South, insisted the marked spots on their map, mostly tourist venues and shopping malls, were places they wanted to visit and they had nothing do with any sabotage plot. The Defence Ministry was...

AHMED HIKMAT SHAKIR IS A shadowy figure who provided logistical assistance to one, maybe two, of the 9/11 hijackers. Years before, he had received a phone call from the Jersey City, New Jersey, safehouse of the plotters who would soon, in February 1993, park a truck bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center. The safehouse was the apartment of Musab Yasin, brother of Abdul Rahman Yasin, who scorched his own leg while mixing the chemicals for the 1993 bomb.When Shakir was arrested shortly after the 9/11 attacks, his "pocket litter," in the parlance of the investigators, included contact...

BANGKOK, Aug 28 (Reuters) - A bloody insurgency in Muslim southern Thailand is a struggle for the independence of its ethnic Malay majority involving tens of thousands of people ready to die for their cause, a senior separatist figure said. In his first interview with a major news organisation since violence flared 20 months ago, a spokesman for the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO) said his movement had no ties to international groups such as Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda or its southeast Asian affiliate, Jemaah Islamiah. "We have no connection with those terrorists," the senior member of PULO,...

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Miss Universe organizers scrambled on Thursday to calm a furor over photos of bikini-clad contestants posing near an ancient Buddhist temple in pageant host Thailand after the images infuriated religious leaders. The photos, which showed beauty queens on a Bangkok river cruise with the famed Wat Arun, or "Temple of Dawn," in the background, were swiftly removed from the pageant Web site. But religious leaders and culture watchdogs are still upset, saying the episode violated traditional values and morality just days before a key Buddhist holiday. "This is the time of Visakha Bucha when we are reminded...

TERROR WARNING: Govt ‘blind to JI link’ Published on March 07, 2005 Militant group helping unit formed by Afghanistan war vets in South; Bangkok attacks planned, says US expert A world expert on terrorism in Southeast Asia has warned that the government’s poor understanding of terrorists could help spur violence in the country’s deep South. He also warned of moves among the terrorists to bring their bombing campaign directly to Bangkok. Dr Zachary Abuza, associate professor of political science and international relations at Simmons College in Boston, said international terrorist groups, notably Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), based in Indonesia, had...

BANGKOK, Thailand - A bomb believed planted by Muslim insurgents exploded Sunday at a noodle shop in southern Thailand, killing one person and injuring 59 others, officials said. Thailand's three southernmost provinces have been plagued for the past year by violence the authorities blame on a revived Muslim separatist movement. The bomb, estimated to weigh 10 pounds, was left in the shop and triggered remotely by a mobile phone at noon while the shop was crowded, police said. Witnesses said the bomb may have been planted by a woman who left her purse on a chair and walked out shortly...