Pasist Arinchayalapis on early Thursday at the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok
BANGKOK — “When will you return the money to us?” “How do we get it? We cannot contact anyone in your company.” “You only say things groundlessly, asshole!” a crowd of holidaymakers who paid between 9,000 baht to 13,000 baht for a six-day trip in Japan yelled at the owner of a multi-level marketing who failed to make their trip come true.
At about 1am on Thursday, Pasist Arinchayalapis, the owner of multi-level marketing firm Wealth Ever, was brought to the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok to face fraud charges after more than 1,000 people were left stranded by his company at Suvarnabhumi Airport when they tried to check in Tuesday.
Pasist said he did not mean to fool anyone. In fact, he said he arranged the Japan-bound trip to promote his company and attract more customers. He blamed the widespread downline network of his MLM firm and said that the large number of registered holidaymakers spun the situation out of control.
Pasist denied that he had escaped to Ranong and said he was about to gather more money to pay back the holidaymakers. When asked about the reason for which he changed his name several times, he said it’s his personal belief and had not intention to get away with crime.
Police said they will pursue legal action. Pasist will be kept in custody for 48 hours before being taken to Ratchada Court.
“Don’t worry. We’ll do our best in our territory,” said national police Deputy Commissioner Srivara Ransibrahmanakul.
A child seen here behind the wheel in 2007 at an undisclosed location. Photo: Leonid Mamchenkov / Flickr
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — A craving for a McDonald’s cheeseburger apparently prompted an 8-year-old Ohio boy to take his 4-year-old sister for a ride in his dad’s van, which he learned to drive on the internet.
East Palestine police Officer Jacob Koehler tells WJW-TV in Cleveland the father went to bed Sunday and the mother fell asleep on the couch with the kids.
Koehler says witnesses saw the boy driving and called police in the city, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland. He says the boy drove about a mile to the restaurant, through intersections and over railroad tracks, without mishap.
Witnesses say the boy appeared to obey traffic laws.
Koehler says the boy told him he learned to drive by watching YouTube videos.
In this combination photo, former Vice President Dick Cheney, left, and actor Christian Bale. Photo: Alex Brandon and Jordan Strauss / AP.
NEW YORK — Christian Bale said Wednesday he will play Dick Cheney in Adam McKay’s upcoming biopic of the former vice president.
Bale was last week reported as being in talks to join the film that will reteam him with McKay following 2015’s Oscar-nominated “The Big Short.” The Oscar winner confirmed he has signed up to star in the untitled film in an interview with The Associated Press.
“In the same way as it was a journey of discovery with ‘The Big Short,’ Adam was able to take a story that most people would go comatose listening to,” said Bale of the script penned by McKay. “His ability to make it startling and entertaining and intelligent without compromising anything — he’s masterful at doing that.”
The film is also to star Steve Carell (who also co-starred in “The Big Short”) as the former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Amy Adams is set to play Lynne Cheney, the former vice president’s wife.
Like “The Big Short,” McKay’s film, which he’ll direct, is to be produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment. Shooting is planned to begin in September, with Paramount Pictures expected to distribute.
Bale was nominated for best supporting actor for his performance in “The Big Short.” He previously won an Oscar for his leading performance in “The Fighter.” He stars in the upcoming Armenian genocide drama “The Promise.”
McKay and screenwriter Charles Randolph won the best adapted screenplay Oscar for “The Big Short.”
The world can be a challenging place, which gives us all the more reason to lay down our cares and get out into society and share some positive energy. We’ll be out there in the coming days and want to see how everyone is enjoying Songkran.
Wherever you enjoy Songkran, please tag us with hashtag #KhaosodEnglish on Twitter, a public Facebook or Instagram post, or email us at [email protected], and we will include your images in a photo gallery!
BANGKOK — Three outspoken critics of the Royal Family became persona non grata on the internet Wednesday under an outright government ban on contacting or sharing content from them, either “directly or indirectly.”
In an unprecedented move, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society said citizens are liable for prosecution if they have any online interaction with the trio, all of whom are prolific and widely followed figures social media.
The three people are historian-in-exile Somsak Jeamteerasakul, academic-in-exile Pavin Chachavalpongpun and former reporter Andrew MacGregor Marshall.
“Members of the public are asked to refrain from following, contacting, spreading or engaging in any activity that results in spreading content and information of the persons mentioned in this announcement on the internet system, social media; either directly or indirectly,” the statement read.
While it said the content written by the three violates the Computer Crime Act, and it will be be considered a violation of that law, the order did not cite any legal basis.
Somsak is a former lecturer who fled Thailand shortly after the military took power in May 2014, while Pavin teaches at a university in Japan. Marshall is a former reporter who has published a book about the Thai monarchy.
All of the three are known for frequent online commentary about the monarchy.
Pasist Arinchayalapis (in red shirt) on Wednesday afternoon in Ranong province
RANONG — The man suspected of orchestrating a massive scam which left thousands of people stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport for hours was found late Wednesday afternoon in the southern province of Ranong.
Pasist Arinchayalapis, the owner of multi-level marketing firm Wealth Ever, was escorted by police to the Ranong Police Station and will later be brought by helicopter to be questioned and booked in Bangkok tonight.
Pasist allegedly used his unregistered firm to con tourists into booking inexpensive tours to Japan for the Songkran holidays. The “travel agency” on Tuesday night left more than 1,000 holidaymakers waiting at the airport where they expected chartered flights to ferry them to Osaka. About 470 tourists so far have filed complaints with the police today.
According to online sleuths, Pasist has repeated the exact same scam time and again over the years, and reportedly changed his name nearly a dozen times to avoid prosecution.
A common complaint about Thai New Year festival is that “Songkran has lost its meaning.”
But it’s fair to say Songkran has always lost – and found – its meaning.
But wait, water party haters say, is shooting people in the face with water really “traditional?”
History says yes – and photos from the long-ago say it was as crazy then as now.
As Thailand gets excited – and frets – about the three-day traditional New Year festival beginning Thursday, it’s worth considering how the holiday was observed in the past and where we can go today for a modern taste of its past and present.
Send us your photos! Wherever you enjoy Songkran, please tag us with hashtag #KhaosodEnglish on Twitter, a public Facebook or Instagram post, or email us at [email protected], and we will include your images in a photo gallery!
The tradition of water splashing most likely originated from animist rituals that preceded Songkran. In many parts of the country, people poured water on their elders to ask for blessing on New Year’s Day. After the royal government in Bangkok decreed Songkran the formal New Year festival in 1800s, the water ritual turned into a joyous way to mark the holiday.
The original festival was a tribute to a legend about a Sun King’s lost bet – and head – to a mortal. His head proved so poisonous that his seven daughters, called the Songkran, had to take turns carrying it around Mount Meru for 365 days.
Korat, 1962. Photo: Gilbert Stewart La
The earliest Songkran-related rituals in the Hindu-Brahman royal court of Siam were meant to mark each orbit of the toxic head by asking for divine blessings. It later came to mark the new year as it shifted from Hindu to Buddhist traditions. Celebrated April 13-15, the festival signaled the official New Year’s Day, pinned at April 1 for calendrical convenience from 1888. At least until 1941, when modernist autocrat Plaek Phibunsongkhram changed it to Gregorian new year.
Sujit Wongthes, a historian and authoritative writer on Thai cultural history, said that Songkran was readily adopted by many people as a way to “rebel” against the rigid social norms that forbid contact between men and women, the rich and the poor, and the sacred and the masses.
Bangkok, 1968. Photo: Tom Delmore
Women – forbidden to touch men of the cloth on a regular day – would splash or even mob-carry and dunk monks into rivers, Sujit said, citing some Isaan chronicles. Even a local king had to flee splash-happy crowds who broke into his palace and chased him around with bowls of water, according to one Lanna tale.
While people’s idea of cutting loose has changed over the years, the same spirit of Songkran endures today. Find your own bliss in the street party scene, or try the following events for a more sane experience.
‘Songkran in April: Pha Khao Ma Yok Siam’ posted April 1. Photo: Amazing Thailand / Facebook.
Songkran: Soaking Random People With Water Since Yesteryear
‘Songkran in April: Pha Khao Ma Yok Siam’’ encourages partygoers to wear Thai costumes or Thai-patterned clothes to join the water fight from 11am to 7pm Thursday to Saturday at Siam Square. Chill and spill with traditional vibes from the four regions of Thailand through different cultural performances.
Water will be provided to fill guns without charge. Merit-making will also be possible. A water splashing zone for children will located in front of Milk Plus in Soi Siam Square 7.
‘Amazing Songkran’ Parade along Sukhumvit Road posted April 8. Photo: Amazing Thailand / Facebook.
Everybody Wants to be Miss Songkran
Experience the glamorous side of Songkran at the Amazing Songkran fair and parade Saturday until Thursday, noon to 8pm at Benjasiri Park located next to the Emporium shopping mall. See a colorful parade, taste cuisine from different parts of Thailand and experience cultural performances from chili paste-making to blindfolded boxing.
On the last day, the Miss Amazing Songkran International Beauty Contest will be held. Beauties vying for a tiara is a tradition older than you might think.
While rural communities offered feasts to their dead elders, organized rain-summoning ceremonies and held boat racing, cart racing and firework (bung fai) competitions, major cities like Bangkok boasted their longtime Songkran highlight of holding a “Lady Songkran” beauty contest, according to Sujit.
The annual fashion-centric competition reportedly began in the 1930s. Although suspended for World War II from 1942 through 1945, it returned in 1946 and took place on Wisut Kasat Road in historic quarters of Phra Nakhon district, under the financial support by the wife of the King Rama VII. The event then became a tradition carried on until today, inspiring Lady Songkran contests in other cities.
Beauty hopefuls seen in a video archived by the Thai Film Archive attending Miss Songkran Contest on April 13, 1965, on Wisut Kasat Road.
A Spiritual Journey
Tourists splash water to novices posted April 14, 2015. Photo: Water Festival Thailand / Facebook.
Want a more wat-centric Songkran? Check out Water Festival Thailand where people can join traditional activities Thursday through Sunday at various religious venues in Bangkok.
Visitors can cruise along Chao Phraya River to explore the beauty of 5 temples: Wat Arun, Wat Pho, Wat Kalayanamitr and Wat Prayurawongsawas Waraviharn, and 3 open air malls: Asiatique The Riverfront, Tha Maharaj and Yodpiman River Walk.
Activities are varied in each venue from early morning, but the highlights are making Buddhist merit, building traditional sand castles before ending the day with concerts starting from 5pm at Asiatique The Riverfront.
Free shuttle boats will leave designated piers 9am to 10pm.
The festival also goes down elsewhere in the country. For the northern region, it’ll be held Thursday through Saturday at Ancient House Chiang Mai near the Ping River. Udon Thani’s Ban Chiang Cultural Hall will host the northeastern edition from Thursday to Sunday. As for the south, go Friday between 6:30am and 10am or 5pm and 10pm to Phang Nga Road in Old Phuket Town.
More information on the activities and a schedule is available online.
However you celebrate, observe or avoid Songkran, we at Khaosod English wish you a happy one.
Send us your photos! Wherever you enjoy Songkran, please tag us with hashtag #KhaosodEnglish on Twitter, a public Facebook or Instagram post, or email us at [email protected], and we will include your images in a photo gallery!
Vuthithorn ‘Woody’ Milintachinda and Patcharasri ‘Kalamare’ Benjamas take a selfie with Korean girl group ‘AOA’ at Show DC official launch April 11. Photo: Woodytalk / Instagram.
BANGKOK — The grand launch of a new shopping venue targeting the Korean-obsessed ended up angering some fans who felt the well-known hosts presiding over the event dissed their favorite things.
When television host Vuthithorn “Woody” Milintachinda and Patcharasri “Kalamare” Benjamas joined forces to MC the Tuesday opening gala of the Show DC mall near RCA, it seemed a guaranteed hit, as the two are known to be close friends and outspoken characters.
But for their trouble, they were coined the worst by some fans for their sarcasm and tart comments, which were poorly received by the K-pop faithful and led to #WorstMCs2017 trending atop Thai hashtags.
“The schoolgirl outfits are so tight!” Kalamare said while the all-girl band Apink walked onto stage. The event was livestreamed by Show DC and Woody.
“I’ll go to Korea soon for whole-body surgery, so I’ll can be a fresh, new-faced MC,” she said, relying on the truthy stereotype of Koreans as obsessed with beauty conformity through surgery.
Vuthithorn ‘Woody’ Milintachinda and Patcharasri ‘Kalamare’ Benjamas from a live broadcast of the Show DC official launch Tuesday night.
“You can choose who you want to be like, Apink or AOA,” Woody chimed in.
Fans afterward took to the internet to fault them for using Thai slang, not being intimately familiar with their Korean bands and teasingly asking if anyone in the audience actually had jobs.
“I felt uneasy for the interpreter,” Honeybutter wrote on the popular Pantip webboard. “Woody even joked that Korean fanboys and fangirls should buy his Korea King pan product, which made things worse.”
Melon_MonLe said feelings were hurt by the disrespect they showed, particularly toward the event’s Gangam-famed headliner.
“Psy was the most dissed. They didn’t respect him at all,” Melon_MonLe wrote.
Fans got into the show by spending over 1,000 baht at the new mall’s shops.
Both MCs took to Instagram to express contrition.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Woody posted Wednesday afternoon. “I’m worried about it because I never hated the artists or fans.”
Kalamare said it was a learning moment.
“Thank you for all comments and suggestions. It means a lot to me and helps me learn and become more experienced,” she wrote.
A window of Dortmund's team bus is damaged after an explosion before the Champions League quarterfinal soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and AS Monaco in Dortmund, western Germany, Tuesday. Photo: Martin Meissner / AP.
DORTMUND, Germany — The Latest on attack on Borussia Dortmund team bus (all times local):
10:40 a.m.
Several German news media organizations are reporting that the note found after the bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund soccer team uses radical Islamic rhetoric — but that police are not sure whether the note is genuine or an attempt to throw them off the track.
Die Welt newspaper and Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported online that the note made reference to Germany’s participation in the military coalition opposed to Islamic State. German Tornado reconnaissance planes are taking part in a non-combat role. The papers said that experts on Islam were reviewing the note to try to establish its authenticity.
Meanwhile the dpa news agency reported that investigators were probing statements found on the web that indicated a left-wing motive to punish the club for allegedly not opposing racism strongly enough.
Federal prosecutors have scheduled a statement for 1200 GMT.
___
10:00 a.m.
German federal prosecutors say they have taken up investigations following the attack on a bus carrying the team of Borussia Dortmund.
Spokeswoman Frauke Koehler said in a statement Wednesday that prosecutors would make a further statement about the probe at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) in Karlsruhe.
Federal prosecutors usually take on cases that are considered to be of a serious nature, including those in which a terrorist motivation is suspected.
Investigators are examining a note found at the scene of the bombing Tuesday night but have not revealed its contents.
8:55 a.m.
German police said Wednesday they are investigating “in all directions” after three explosions went off near Borussia Dortmund’s team bus ahead of a Champions League quarterfinal match, injuring one of the soccer team’s players.
The first-leg match against Monaco was called off shortly before kickoff Tuesday evening following the blasts near the team hotel in suburban Dortmund, which authorities assume were a targeted attack. Players and police were preparing to go ahead with the rescheduled match on Wednesday evening, with heavy security in place.
Investigators were checking the authenticity of a letter claiming responsibility that they found near the scene, and were refusing to give any details of its contents, citing the ongoing probe. Another suspicious object found at the scene turned out to be trash.
A dog rescued from South Korea Dog Meat Farm by HSI arrive in the U.S. Photo: AP Images for Humane Society International
TAIPEI — Taiwan’s legislature has explicitly banned the sale and consumption of dog and cat meat and increased the penalty for animal cruelty, underscoring growing awareness of animal welfare in one of Asia’s most prosperous societies.
The legislature amended Taiwan’s animal protection law to double the maximum penalty for deliberate harm to animals to two years in prison and a fine of 2 million Taiwan dollars ($65,000).
People who sell or eat dog or cat meat face a fine of up to 250,000 Taiwan dollars ($8,000) and their names and photos may be publicized. Drivers and motorcyclists who pull animals along on a leash also face a fine of up to 15,000 Taiwan dollars ($500), according to the amendments passed Tuesday.
While consumption of dogs and cats was never widespread in Taiwan, the amendments point to increasing concern for the treatment of animals on the island, where many residents lavish money and attention on their pets amid a plunging birthrate. Two decades after Taiwan began grappling with the abandonment of pets and other problems, the island has some of the most comprehensive protections on the books anywhere in Asia.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s team portrayed her as an animal lover during her election campaign, focusing on her two cats. She later adopted three dogs.
