31.6 C
Bangkok
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Home Blog Page 2583

Case Closed: Police Say Hmong Not in the Wrong

A photo posted on Reddit Sunday claimed to show the process while a tourist’s watch was stolen by the kids in Chiang Mai. (Photo: Reddit / MedardBoss)

CHIANG MAI — Two young Hmong girls described as “tiny thieves” in headlines the world over were allowed back to the Chiang Mai temple where an unidentified tourist recently said they stole a watch.

Read: Hmong Parents Protest Children’s Conviction by Reddit

Investigating the case after an image went viral last week, police said they found no evidence the two girls, 7 and 10, stole the wristwatch at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. They were freed and will return to the temple this weekend to pose for photos with tourists, police Lt. Col. Anek Chaiwong said Thursday.

“There’s no evidence the girls stole the watch,” the deputy of Phuping police said.

He said officers had reviewed security camera footage, which was complicated by the no one knows when the alleged incident took place.

A photo of a farang woman with two girls dressed in traditional Hmong clothes was posted on Reddit on Sunday with the caption “Girlfriend in the progress of having her watch stolen.”

In the comments, the user, who has since deleted his account, suggested the watch had gone missing and they decided the girls must have stolen it when they later saw the image. He also mentioned being “a bit drunk” at the time.

Nonetheless, tabloid media around the world ran with it without scrutiny as proving their guilt.

Police said they have been unable to identify the tourists.

 

 

Advertisement

Air Rage Incidents On the Rise, Airlines Say

WASHINGTON — Incidents of unruly passengers on planes are increasing, and more effective deterrents are needed to tackle the problem, a global airline trade group said Wednesday.

There were 10,854 air rage incidents reported by airlines worldwide last year, up from 9,316 incidents in 2014, according to the International Air Transport Association. That equates to one incident for every 1,205 flights, an increase from one incident per 1,282 flights the previous year.

Incidents have been rising almost consistently since 2007, when the association began tracking the issue. That year airlines reported 339 incidents to the association.

A majority of incidents involved verbal abuse, failure to follow crew instructions and other anti-social behavior. Eleven percent included physical aggression toward passengers or crew or damage to the plane. Alcohol or drugs were a factor in 23 percent of the cases. In the vast majority of incidents involving drugs or alcohol, the substances were consumed before boarding or imbibed secretly on board, the association said.

Training staff in airport bars and duty-free shops to sell alcohol responsibly, including avoiding offers that encourage binge drinking, can cut incidents by half, the association said, citing an initiative by Monarch Airlines at London’s Gatwick Airport.

Airlines already have strong guidelines and crew training on “the responsible provision of alcohol,” the association said.

A woman in England pleaded guilty in June to assaulting an easyJet pilot. Prosecutors said she punched the pilot in the face after he deemed her too intoxicated to fly. In another case, a male passenger allegedly urinated on fellow EasyJet passengers as they were waiting to deplane after landing at Edinburgh.

Six men involved in a drunken brawl during a Jetstar flight from Sydney to Thailand in July were ordered off the plane after it diverted to Indonesia.

An American Airlines pilot tackled one passenger to the floor after he tried to force his way off the plane as it taxied to the gate in Charlotte, North Carolina. “You don’t put your hands on my flight attendant!” the pilot can be heard yelling on a video taken by another passenger. The unruly passenger was arrested and charged with being intoxicated and disruptive.

Charlie Leocha, president of Travelers United, an advocacy group for airline passengers in Washington, said he knows of no changes in the way alcohol is sold in airports or on planes that would account for the increase in the rate of incidents. But he noted that the increases correspond with efforts by airlines to squeeze more passenger seats onto planes by shrinking legroom and seat width.

“We’ve always had alcohol sold at airports, we have always had alcohol served on aircraft,” he said. “The only difference today is that people now have less space and they are required to interact more intimately with other passengers.”

Other recent incidents include a Los Angeles-bound Delta Air Lines flight diverted to Tucson, Arizona, escorted by two Air Force fighter jets, after a passenger refused to return his seat. The following month, the FBI and Hawaii state sheriffs arrested a 35-year-old man who allegedly bit a flight attendant on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Pago Pago in American Samoa to Honolulu.

Airlines also want more countries to ratify a 2014 treaty that closes gaps in laws for dealing with unruly passengers. So far, only six countries — Bahrain, Congo, Dominican Republic, Gabon, Guyana and Jordan — have ratified the pact.

“More are needed in order to have a consistent global approach to this issue,” said Alexandre de Juniac, the association’s director general.

Story: Joan Lowy
Related stories:
Advertisement

Taxi Driver Jailed For Cheating Chinese Tourists

Photo: js100radio / Twitter

BANGKOK — Four tourists taken for a ride by an unlicensed taxi driver who charged them 2,450 baht to travel six kilometers saw swift justice Wednesday.

Surachai Sritabthai was sent to jailed for one month and fined 1,000 baht for cheating four male Chinese tourists who wanted to go from Airport Rail Link Phayathai to their Samsen Road hotel on Tuesday night.

He was arrested Wednesday night at his apartment in Soi Ratchada 10.

Surachai told officers that he altered his license plate numbers from 665 to 666.

He used his brother’s car and admitted to not having a taxi driver license, according to Sukree Jaruphum of the Land Transport Department.

Advertisement

Everything Expats Love (or Not) at 2-Day … Expat Fair!

BANGKOK — We’ve got expats. We’ve got fairs. Expat-Fairs?

Processed meats, cheese and bags with environmentally friendly slogans - something for all of our expat friends.
Processed meats, cheese and bags with
environmentally friendly slogans –
something for all of our expat friends.

That’s right, Bangkok will celebrate its cherished resident aliens with two days of everything they know and love – at least as imagined by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

As everyone knows, all expats love Christy & Jonas. They are like expat royalty. What, never heard of them? Thais adore this Dutch-Swedish luk thung duo. What about funny man Andrew Biggs and 2005 Miss Universe Natalie Glebova? They will be present for Expat Cooking Demo and Expat Interview activities.

Khun puut pasaa Thai dai, mai? Well then pull up a chair for the “Expat Challenge” and wow folks with your toddler-level speaking ability. Because prizes!*

Remember, expat doesn’t only mean farang (and by farang we mean white people), as there will also be Japanese drumming and Indian dancing.

According to the event’s website, there will be authentic “Maxican Music” and a funky/fresh “Hispop Show.” What fun!

The event is free, but nonetheless officials encourage our foreign guests to register their names, emails and phone numbers on the official Expat Fair website “to receive special gifts.*”

Expat Fair runs 11am to 9pm on Saturday and noon to 9pm on Sunday at “Fragrant Park,” just down from BTS Thong Lo exit No. 2. *Prizes and special gifts not guaranteed.

Advertisement

Indonesia Extradites Alleged People Smuggler to Australia

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, along with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi speak in March at the 2016 Ministerial Conference of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime in Bali, Indonesia. Photo: DFTA / Timothy Tobing

CANBERRA, Australia  — An Iranian national extradited from Indonesia was to appear in a Sydney court on Thursday charged with people smuggling offenses, the government said.

Mohammad Naghi Karimi Azar on Wednesday became the eighth alleged people smuggler to be extradited from Indonesia to Australia since 2008, a government statement said.

Azar faces 43 charges of people smuggling in the Sydney Central Local Court, an offence that carries a minimum five-year sentence and a maximum of 20 years.

There has not been a successful people-smuggling venture from Indonesia to Australia in more than two years.

Australian border protection ships turn back boats carrying asylum seekers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa who pay people smugglers to bring them to Australia.

But the government estimates there are 14,000 asylum seekers in Indonesia who want to come to Australia by boat.

Australia refuses to resettle any refugees who come by boat. Australia pays the Pacific island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea to keep such attempted arrivals in camps.

Advertisement

Bangkok Man Livestreams Sleeping Woman Then Rapes Her: Police

SAMUT PRAKAN — A standoff lasting seven hours at a hotel in southeast metro Bangkok ended Wednesday night with a man arrested on suspicion of livestreaming a woman as she slept and then raping her.

Thanapol Nilpat opened fire on police as they tried to capture him at a hotel in Samut Prakan’s Bang Phli district, leading to the long confrontation. No officers were injured.

He eventually surrendered to police, who said he later confessed to the assault two weeks ago in Bangkok’s Suan Luang neighborhood. Thanapol, they said, saw a sleeping woman through an open door of an apartment. He entered the room and began streaming video of her over Bigo Live, a Singapore-based social media service that has many users in Thailand.

Thanapol said the woman woke up and at that point he sexually assaulted her before escaping. A security camera near the apartment caught him leaving the scene.

The 29-year-old man was charged with rape, attempted murder of police officers and gun possession, according to Col. Thongchai Wilaiprom of Prawet police.

Advertisement

University of Phayao Opens Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic

For two years, the University of Phayao has partnered with Guangzhou University and Guangxi University on a program in Traditional Chinese Medicine, according to Dr. Udom Chantraraksri, the college’s associate dean for Academic Traditional Chinese Medicine.

release.tcm.3Now the course has become so popular that the university is launching a Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic at its University Hospital, that covers three branches of health treatment: Western Medicine, Traditional Thai Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine together. This way our students will have the opportunity to learn and share experiences in three branches of science and integrate the knowledge easily.

“In the future, if Traditional Chinese Medicine develops plans with Western and Traditional Thai Medicine in the subjects of Thai herb and health care, we will gradually develop into a model for other areas to provide public access to more alternative ways of medicine. Especially in University of Phayao Hospital, we have many people who come for Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments. However, Traditional Chinese Medicine, people recognize, is for taking care of yourself while those with acute diseases need to get Western Medicine treatment, which is faster than Traditional Chinese Medicine.”

release.tcm.4Dr. Udom summarized that the course of Traditional Chinese Medicine in University of Phayao has followed with national development strategies plan issue No. 11 (2011-2016). Aimed to reducing risk factor in health treatment such as promoting complete physical and mental health in Thais, developing knowledge and skill in health caring for themselves, family and community, participating in public policies for good health and developing health services system for good quality, promoting an alternative medicine, developing health data system of country and managing Public Health Personnel in appropriate production and distribution. So it is very important  to produce doctors of Traditional  Chinese Medicine to meet the needs of society.

The University of Phayao opened in 1999 and also offers extension courses across the country at nine education centers, including Bangkok.

This is a paid advertorial. Khaosod English is not responsible for its content or claims.

Advertisement

Cut North Korea Military Ties, US Urges Myanmar

U.S. President Barack Obama, right, walks out with Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi at her home before the start of their joint news conference in 2016 in Yangon, Myanmar. Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Pockets within the Myanmar military may still be cooperating with North Korea although the new civilian government and the military leadership oppose such ties, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

During Myanmar’s years of international isolation, its then-ruling junta bought defense equipment from North Korea. The U.S. has been pressing the country also known as Burma to cease those ties as a condition of normalized relations with Washington.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel said President Barack Obama underscored to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, during a visit to Washington this month, the importance of rooting out any vestiges of cooperation that may have remained.

“We think there are potentially a few residual pockets within the Burmese military, people who might still have some ongoing interactions (with North Korea) that are in effect leftovers from five-plus years ago in the era of the military dictatorship,” Russel told a Senate hearing.

“But we think as far as the government is concerned and the military leadership is concerned that they are fully on board and this is something they are working to prevent and eradicate,” he said.

U.N. Security Council resolutions forbid arms trading with North Korea  part of the international effort to restrict sources of revenue for the isolated nation’s nuclear and missile programs. During junta rule, Myanmar’s military was a key North Korean customer.

Obama, alongside Suu Kyi during the Sept. 14 White House visit, announced that he plans to lift the remaining U.S. economic sanctions and restore trade benefits to the former pariah state, following its transition to democratically elected civilian government after decades of military rule.

Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado complained at Wednesday’s hearing that Congress had not been consulted adequately before the decision was announced to lift the so-called “national emergency” with regard to Myanmar  the executive order used to authorize the current sanctions.

He said Suu Kyi, who met with lawmakers during her visit, said she still supports sanctions on the military-controlled companies Myanmar Corporation and Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd., two of the largest businesses in the country.

Russel responded that Suu Kyi had said that it was time to lift all the sanctions  a position she articulated in public.

Some human rights activists and congressional aides argue there are alternative legislative authorities the U.S. could use to restrict dealings with those corporations, even after Obama lifts the emergency.

Story: Matthew Pennington

Advertisement

BTS Break Down Griefs Morning Commute, Again

Commuters wait for a train Thursday morning at BTS Siam. Photo: Js100Radio / Twitter

BANGKOK — Another bad morning for Bangkok skytrain commuters Thursday when the Silom Line stopped for 30 minutes during rush hour.

The Skytrain operator announced just before 8am that the trains between BTS Krung Thonburi and Saphan Taksin would be delayed 10 minutes. Twenty minutes later it said the same trains would be halted for repairs.

The entire Silom Line from BTS National Stadium to Bang Wa was impacted.

It took nearly 30 minutes to get the passengers in the trains out safely. Normal service resumed at about 9:10am.

Advertisement

Next Joint US-Philippines Drill Will Be Last, Duterte Says

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures while addressing the Philippine Army Scout Rangers at their headquarters at Camp Tecson in San Miguel township, north of Manila. Photo: Bullit Marquez / Associated Press

Manila — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he is giving notice to the United States, his country’s long-standing ally, that joint exercises of Filipino and American troops next week will be the last such drills.

He told the Filipino community in Hanoi late Wednesday night that he will maintain the military alliance with the U.S. because of the countries’ 1951 defense treaty. He says next week’s exercises will proceed only because he did not want to embarrass his defense secretary.

Duterte says he wants establish new trade and commercial alliances with China and Russia, and the war games are something Beijing does not want.

Describing himself as a socialist, Duterte has had an uneasy relationship with the U.S. He says he is charting a foreign policy not dependent on the U.S.

Advertisement

Hot News

LATEST NEWS

Bangkok
overcast clouds
31.6 ° C
31.6 °
29.4 °
68 %
3.1kmh
100 %
Tue
35 °
Wed
34 °
Thu
34 °
Fri
28 °
Sat
31 °