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Photos Suggest Third Mekong Corpse Was Found, Then Lost

A rescue worker examines a body found Dec. 29 in the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom city.
A rescue worker examines a body found Dec. 29 in the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom city.

NAKHON PHANOM — Photos emerged Tuesday to support accounts that a third body was found in the Mekong River that has since gone missing.

Coming after two mutilated bodies recovered from the river were identified as aides of a missing prominent anti-monarchist, the photos show what appear to be a third body that can no longer be accounted for.

Surachai Danwattanusorn, a strident critic of the monarchy, went missing early last month along with two compatriots known by the names Kasalong and Phoo Chana. All three had been living together as fugitives in exile in Laos since the 2014 coup.

Update: Police Deny 3rd Corpse Was Found in Mekong

The photos show the bodies as they were reportedly found last month, wrapped head to toe in rice sacks and fishnets and tied with rope.

The other two were retrieved and identified by DNA testing by the Forensic Science Institute as that of Phoo Chana and Kasalong. They were recovered Dec. 26 and 29, respectively. Both bodies were found handcuffed, disemboweled and stuffed with concrete.

The third body was found Dec. 27, according to Chana Wasurukka, a local reporter for Khaosod newspaper. He said the village headman reported to police that afternoon that he had retrieved a floating body and secured it to the bank of the river with a sturdy, two-inch rope. He said the photos of the body were taken by local residents.

“The police said they were busy, but then a navy patrol showed up and took photos. Villagers took photos too,” Chana said by phone from Nakhon Phanom on Tuesday afternoon. By the time police arrive later that afternoon, the body was gone. Chana said the headman was instructed by security forces not to talk about what happened.

Repeated calls to the local police in Nakhon Phanom and its commander were not answered Tuesday afternoon.

That’s led to speculation the found-and-lost body was that of Surachai, whose wife says she last heard from him on Dec. 10. It’s possible it could have become untied from the shore to re-emerge as the body recovered 50 kilometers downriver two days later in Nakhon Phanom city.

That body’s legs were bent at the knee at a 90-degree angle, which a forensic examiner said, barring significant decay, is unlikely to have occurred naturally due to postmortem rigor mortis.

 

Warning: Below are images of the bodies as found.

 

The three bodies recovered at different spots last month along the Thai side of the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom province. At top, the first body recovered Dec. 26. At middle, photos purportedly showing a body recovered Dec. 27. At bottom, a third body discovered Dec. 29.
The three bodies recovered at different spots last month along the Thai side of the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom province. At top, the first body recovered Dec. 26. At middle, photos purportedly showing a body recovered Dec. 27. At bottom, a third body discovered Dec. 29.

Related stories:

2nd Mutilated Body Linked to Anti-Monarchist Aide

DNA Links Mekong Corpse to Monarchy Foe: Family

Police Won’t Say if Mutilated Body is Missing Republican

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Cristiano Ronaldo Gets Suspended Sentence for Tax Fraud

Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal poses with the trophy after winning for The Best FIFA Men's Player award during the The Best FIFA Football Awards 2016 ceremony held in January 2017 at the Swiss TV studio in Zurich, Switzerland. Photo: Ennio Leanza / Associated Press
Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal poses with the trophy after winning for The Best FIFA Men's Player award during the The Best FIFA Football Awards 2016 ceremony held in January 2017 at the Swiss TV studio in Zurich, Switzerland. Photo: Ennio Leanza / Associated Press

MADRID — Cristiano Ronaldo has pleaded guilty to tax fraud and received a two-year suspended sentence.

The Juventus forward, who was facing charges stemming from his days at Real Madrid, was in court for about 45 minutes and signed an agreement which will cost him nearly 19 million euros (USD$21.6 million) in fines.

Ronaldo arrived at court in a black van and was wearing a black sports coat and black pants. He walked up some stairs leading to the court house and even stopped to sign an autograph.

Ronaldo made the deal to plead guilty with Spain’s state prosecutor and tax authorities last year.

In Spain, a judge can suspend sentences for two years or less for first-time offenders.

In 2017, a state prosecutor accused Ronaldo of four counts of tax fraud from 2011-14 worth 14.7 million euros ($16.7 million). Ronaldo was accused of having used shell companies outside Spain to hide income made from image rights.

Story: Tales Azzoni

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Worshippers Flock to Funeral For Famed Monk ‘Luang Phor Koon’

The crematorium for Luang Phor Koon Paritsuttho’s funeral Tuesday in Khon Kaen province.
The crematorium for Luang Phor Koon Paritsuttho’s funeral Tuesday in Khon Kaen province.

KHON KAEN — A lavish funeral began for followers to bid farewell to one of the kingdom’s most-beloved monks Tuesday, nearly four years after he died.

Funerary rites began one day after the body of Phra Thep Wittayakom, aka Luang Phor Koon Paritsuttho, was released by Khon Kaen University’s medical school, to which he had donated his body. He died in May 2015.

Officials estimate up to 100,000 people will attend his funeral daily. A royal cremation ceremony, organized by the university at Wat Nong Wang, will end Jan. 30.

During his 70 years as a monk, the former abbot of a Nakhon Ratchasima temple was highly admired as a role model for living as he preached and an ability to simplify his messages for the masses. His authenticity saw his fame spread from a small provincial ascetic to a large national following.

Despite his wishes for a “simple” funeral at the university, his followers sponsored a grand affair featuring a massive crematorium and several days of events.

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Australia Urges Indonesia to Respect Bali Bombing Victims

The scene of the bombings seen in 2007 in Bali, Indonesia. Photo: Jeffsboxing / Wikimedia Commons
The scene of the bombings seen in 2007 in Bali, Indonesia. Photo: Jeffsboxing / Wikimedia Commons

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s prime minister said on Tuesday he would be disappointed if radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir were released from prison early and urged Indonesia to show respect for the victims of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that the firebrand preacher inspired.

Indonesia’s top security minister, Wiranto, said on Monday that Indonesian President Joko Widodo had asked him to coordinate a review of all aspects of the planned release of the 80-year-old cleric following domestic and international criticism.

Australia has been in top-level discussions with the Indonesia since last week when the decision was announced to release Bashir, the spiritual leader of bombers who attacked nightclubs on Bali island and that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia would protest if Bashir were released early as planned, after serving nine years of a 15-year sentence.

“I would obviously be very disappointed about that – like other Australians would – and will register that disappointment and quite strong feelings about that,” Morrison told 4CA Radio in the Australian city of Cairns.

“We don’t want this character able to go out there and incite the killing of Australians and Indonesians, preaching a doctrine of hate,” Morrison added.

Morrison told Indonesia “respect must be shown for the lives of those who are lost.”

Widodo on Friday said he had agreed to release Bashir on humanitarian grounds. The announcement came during campaigning for a presidential election due in April in which opponents of Widodo have tried to discredit him as insufficiently Islamic.

Australian survivors of the Bali attacks and victims’ relatives and friends urged against Bashir’s release.

Phil Britten was captain of a Perth-based Australian Rules football club and was with 19 teammates in a Bali nightclub when a bomb exploded, killing seven club members.

“Seven of my friends died, they don’t get the chance to live out the rest of their lives in peace. Why should he (Bashir)? I think it’s just appalling,” Britten told The West Australian newspaper.

Australian Peter Hughes suffered burns to 50 percent of his body when a bomb detonated in another Bali nightclub.

“He probably deserves the death penalty more so than the guys that actually did it themselves,” Hughes said of Bashir. “I believe he was totally responsible.”

Bashir had previously been considered ineligible for parole because of his refusal to renounce radical beliefs. His family had requested his release since 2017 because of his age and deteriorating health.

The firebrand cleric was arrested almost immediately after the 2002 Bali bombings.

But prosecutors were unable to prove a string of terrorism-related allegations, and Bashir was instead sentenced to 18 months in prison for immigration violations.

In 2011, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for supporting a military-style training camp for Islamic militants.

Story: Rod McGuirk

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2nd Mutilated Body Linked to Anti-Monarchist Aide

Police stand over one of the mutilated bodies retrieved from the Mekong river in December in Nakhon Phanom province.
Police stand over one of the mutilated bodies retrieved from the Mekong river in December in Nakhon Phanom province.

BANGKOK — The second of two mutilated bodies that recently turned up in the Mekong River belongs to a second missing anti-monarchist in exile, according to a source at the Forensic Science Institute.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Tuesday that DNA testing has linked the second body found late last month to a man known as “Comrade Kasalong,” one day after the first was identified as another close aide to Surachai Danwattanusorn, a prominent figure in the Thai republican movement.

On Monday, the son of another figure who had been living in exile in Laos since the 2014 coup said he was told that the other body was that of his father, who went by the nomme du guerre “Comrade Phoo Chana.”

Update: Photos Suggest Third Mekong Corpse Was Found, Then Lost

Neither of their real identities are publicly known, but they went missing along with Surachai since earlier in December. Phoo Chana was a hardcore Redshirt supporter who was wanted on weapons charges and fled Thailand following his wife’s arrest in 2014, according to Saowalak Po-ngam, a lawyer familiar with their cases.

The testing has been conducted by the Institute of Forensic Science in Bangkok since the two mutilated bodies were recovered from the Thai side of the river. They were handcuffed, disemboweled and a concrete block had been stuffed into their guts.

Read: DNA Links Mekong Corpse to Monarchy Foe 

Nobody has been able to locate Surachai since his disappearance. His wife Pranee Danwattanasusorn said she last heard from him Dec. 10 and fears he is dead.

Two other Thai fugitive exiles disappeared and were believe murdered between 2016 and 2017.

Police in Nakhon Phanom, where the bodies were recovered, vowed Tuesday morning to find those responsible.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story said one of the two bodies was recovered in Nakhon Phanom province. In fact, they were both found there.

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Thai Net Groans After Politicos Declare War on ‘Sex Education’

A promotional image for Netflix series 'Sex Education' that appeared on several billboards in Bangkok, drawing complaints from a conservative political party. Image: Netflix Thailand / Facebook
A promotional image for Netflix series 'Sex Education' that appeared on several billboards in Bangkok, drawing complaints from a conservative political party. Image: Netflix Thailand / Facebook

BANGKOK — A political party was treated to an internet flambe for its denunciation of the “immoral” marketing for a popular Netflix series about teen sex education.

Netizens brigaded the Ponlamuang Thai Party’s social media page after it announced Monday that members had complained to broadcasting regulators about giant billboards promoting “Sex Education.” The heretofore unknown party said the ads amounted to “illegal activity of a transnational corporation” that would “negatively affect the youth and create social problems.”

The post showed several members at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission demanding it immediately remove the billboards alongside highways in Bangkok.

“The billboards are a marketing tactic using inappropriate content to attract people to sign up,” the statement read. “It presents obscenity with plots and scenes showing teenagers having sex explicitly [and] poses the risk of youth being wrongly encouraged by watching it.”

One problem – the commission has nothing to do with regulating advertising.

Commissioner Prawit Leesatapornwongsa said Tuesday that although he hadn’t heard about the complaint, regulating such content is not under their authority.

“We regulate the operators, not their content,” he said by phone. “Netflix is also not considered television.”

The series, which premiered on the platform earlier this month, tells the story of a socially awkward British high school student who imitates his professional sex therapist mother to become an amateur consultant to his schoolmates. It’s rated 8.6 out of 10 on IMDb and has received a 91 percent fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

After the party’s complaint became news, its Facebook page was quickly voted down to 1.6 stars with comments mimicking restaurant reviewers justifying their one-star votes.

“Very bad taste. Dumb-as-a-rock service. Parking lot full with cockroaches,” user Amornrat Tongthong wrote.

“The parking lot seemed to be spacious, but once inside it was full with dinosaurs and cockroaches. Very dirty. Food tastes so bad. Yuck,” wrote another user, Somyos Vann Mekasingharak

Ponlamuang Thai is a conservative-leaning party founded early last year.

After the backlash, the post was deleted. The party later released another statement defending its actions.

“Our party members saw this [series] yesterday, and all think that it’s a [series] that negatively affects the youth and creates social problems,” the post read. “It shows high school students doing drugs, engaging in promiscuity, wanting to have an abortion… Although the content can be broadcast normally in the West… it’s a great challenge to Thai society.”

“Younger generations might be happy when they can do whatever they want while their parents feel miserable about their children’s problematic behavior, doing something inappropriate,” it continued. “Overall, the [series] is called sex education, but its content is immoral.”

That message wasn’t received much better.

“Thank you for helping eliminate some bad choices in the upcoming election,” user Chatree Rungsang commented on the post.

“Stupid party, everyone in the photos,” wrote another user Suraphong Ponanun. “With this much attempt to block it, our country still has a very high rate of teen pregnancy. It shows how much knowledge of sex education is among our teens. With this attitude from you people, I feel even more hopeless.”

Sex education in Thai schools remains poor as it’s still a social taboo. A UN study found teen pregnancy rates in Thailand increased 54 percent from 2000 to 2014, citing lack of comprehensive sexual education as one of the major problems.

เรียน สมาชิกพรรคพลเมืองไทย ที่เคารพทุกท่านตามที่ผู้สมัครสมาชิกสภาผู้แทนราษฎร ของพรรคพลเมืองไทย กรุงเทพมหานคร…

โพสต์โดย พรรคพลเมืองไทย เมื่อ วันอาทิตย์ที่ 20 มกราคม 2019

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Sacred Water Sources Sought for Coronation Rituals

A file photo of King Vajiralongkorn.

BANGKOK — More than 100 water sources throughout Thailand are being evaluated for use in the royal coronation, the government said Tuesday.

Officials are visiting 107 rivers, streams and rivulets to see which are most ideal for drawing holy water to be used in rituals set to take place in May.

In accordance with longstanding traditions, the sacred water will be used to anoint King Vajiralongkorn as the new monarch when the ceremony commences May 4.

When King Bhumibol, the late father of the current monarch, was crowned in 1950, his holy water was drawn from from 18 sources in 18 different provinces.

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A priest pours sacred water on King Bhumibol’s hand at his coronation in May 1950.

Although King Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne in December following his father’s death two months earlier, he is not considered a formal monarch under Thai tradition until he is crowned in elaborate rituals which date back to the 13th century.

The national Buddhist authority announced last week that a bud from a sacred Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka will be brought to Ayutthaya on Feb. 19 and grown there to celebrate the coronation.

The Bodhi tree in question is believed to be descended from one planted about 2,000 years ago by the famed Buddhist king Ashoka the Great.

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Bangkok’s Marvel Theme Park Goes Bust After 7 Months

SAMUT PRAKAN — Southeast Asia’s first Marvel Entertainment theme park is going out of business just seven months after opening.

Marvel Experience Thailand, a 20,000sqm theme park complex which cost 1 billion baht to build at Mega Bangna, will close Jan. 30, the company announced Monday.

Director Prachuap Ucchin of Demeter Corp. PCL, which owns 37.5 percent of the theme park, wrote in a Monday filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand Monday that a majority of shareholders had voted to shut the park.

“Hero Experience experienced financial problems and project management that did not go according to plan,” Prachuap wrote in the statement.

Read: Seize Your Heroic Destiny at Marvel Experience Bangna

Calls to Hero Experience and CEO Noppadon Chirasanti went unanswered.

The news was met with little surprised reactions online, where many cited the venue’s high costs of admission – 1,500 baht for adults and 1,350 baht for children – as a fatal flaw. Others noted that, whether due to licensing deal or choice, it was focused on Marvel’s comic books rather than the more popular film franchise.

The latent schadenfreude ran hot and cold.

“You had a good thing in your hand, and you drove it to bankruptcy, what a shame,” Wachira Mahothorn wrote in a Facebook comment that received more than 500 likes. “What were you thinking of with the high ticket fees for people to go in and buy stuff? The rides weren’t memorable enough to be viral. … You flopped due to the high prices and undetailed sculptures.”

The quality of the sculptures of comic book characters which were placed throughout the complex were ridiculed heavily.

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“Think of the 320 baht daily wage of Thais when you set the ticket prices. I’m a true Marvel fan, and I can’t make myself buy a ticket to set foot in that place,” Nantapop Tiemkum wrote, “I’m also afraid the sculptures look like they came from a temple fair.”

Marvel Experience will remain open daily for one week until Jan. 29, with last admission at 6pm. The Marvel Experience launched in 2014 in the United States and opened in Bangkok on June 29.

“To all Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Marvel Experience Thailand had assigned you a mission to protect the world alongside the Marvel heroes,” read the announcement posted last night to the Marvel Experience Thailand page. “Today, the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization would like to announce that the mission is about to be complete.”

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Related stories:

Seize Your Heroic Destiny at Marvel Experience Bangna

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New York R&B Artist Mac Ayres to Give Bangkok ‘Something to Feel’

BANGKOK — A music hall will transform into a soulful dance floor as a young New York talent comes to the capital.

After releasing his debut album late last year, 21-year-old American singer-songwriter Mac Ayres will bring his refreshing R&B and soul combination to Bangkok, indie gig promoter Have You Heard? announced Monday.

Ayres’ gig will take place March 6 at Live Arena Voice Space.

Early-bird tickets are 990 baht, while regular tickets are 1,290 baht. They can be purchased online from 10am on Wednesday.

Ayres, 22, is a multi-instrumentalist from Long Island, New York. He released of his debut studio album “Something to Feel” in September. His music is influenced by several artists such as neo-soul artist D’Angelo, rapper J Dilla and singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder.

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Tokyo Court Rejects Ex-Nissan Chair Ghosn’s Bail Request

Then Renault-Nissan's CEO Carlos Ghosn speaks in 2016 during a press conference held at Auto China 2016 in Beijing, China. Photo: Ng Han Guan / Associated Press
Then Renault-Nissan's CEO Carlos Ghosn speaks in 2016 during a press conference held at Auto China 2016 in Beijing, China. Photo: Ng Han Guan / Associated Press

TOKYO — A court in Tokyo on Tuesday rejected former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn’s latest request for bail, made more than two months after his arrest.

The decision by the Tokyo District Court came a day after Ghosn promised to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet, give up his passport and pay for security guards approved by prosecutors to gain release from a Tokyo detention center.

The court announced its decision in a written statement.

Ghosn, 64, has been in custody since Nov. 19. He was due for a bail hearing Monday. A Tokyo court rejected an earlier request for bail last week. His lawyers were expected to appeal the decision, as they have earlier rejections of Ghosn’s requests to get out of detention.

Ghosn, who led Nissan Motor Co. for two decades, has been charged with falsifying financial reports, in underreporting his compensation from Nissan over eight years, and with breach of trust, centering on allegations Ghosn had Nissan shoulder investment losses and pay a Saudi businessman.

Ghosn says he is innocent as the compensation was never decided, Nissan didn’t suffer losses and the payment was for legitimate services.

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