August events in Thailand include:

Amazing Thailand Grand Sale – all over Thailand (01-16/08);
Save the Turtles Event – Chiang Mai Zoo Aquarium (01-04/08, all day);
River City Auction – River City Mall, Trok Rongnamkhaeng, Bangkok, (01/08, starts 11:00);
Thai Silk Festival – Impact Exhibition Center, Pakred (06-10/08, 10:00-20:00);
Make Noise, Not War! – Musical jam session at Nospace Gallery (07/08, starts 21:00);
Planet Football Trials – Siam Country Road (07-08/08, 10:00 – 16:00);
Queen of Thailand’s Birthday – Sanam Luang and all over Bangkok (12/08, all day);
Miss Thailand World 2010 – Grand Centara – 91 Rama 1 Road, (14/08, from 20:00);
Por Tor Festival – Chinese temples all over Phuket, (16/08, all day);
Full Moon Party – Haad Rin Beach (21/08, starts after dark)
Thailand Health & Wellness – Impact Exhibition Center (26-29/08, 10:00-21:00); Continue reading →

A lift dropped 10 storeys at a hotel in the eastern Thai resort of Pattaya, with no fatalities.

On Saturday evening, 16 people had a miraculous escape, when the lift they were travelling in fell from the tenth to the ground floor.

The incident happened at Pattaya’s Welcome Jomtien Hotel. The elevator passengers were going down from the eighteenth floor. The lift lost power and started to drop at the tenth level.

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Bangkok customs officers found a large stash of illegally poached elephant tusks at Bangkok’s international airport last Tuesday.

Officials acting on a tipoff, checked pallets marked as plywood furniture that had just arrived on a flight from Kenya.

The search produced more than 100 elephant tusks, some of which were one metre long, with a combined weight of 760kgs. There was also one extremely rare rhino horn. Customs officials estimated the market value of the haul at 38 million Baht.

Tuesday’s seizure was the third this year of African tusks. In April, more than one ton of elephant tusks was found packed in crates that had been labelled as containing computer printers.

In 1989, the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species prohibited cross border trade in ivory. Because the ban only applies to international trading, ivory dealers in Thailand are able to bypass it by saying the tusks are from domestic pachyderms. The only way to refute the claim is with a DNA test.

In the last few years demand for ivory has grown and poaching has got worse, especially in the central and eastern regions of Africa. Most of the tusks end up in Asia.

Thai ivory dealers pass on the tusks to carvers, who then create Buddha amulets or jewellery. These articles are then sold on to tourists or exported farther afield. Some of the tusks are shipped on to countries in the region, with China being one of the biggest markets.

Last Tuesday, Thailand’s government renewed State of Emergency laws in effect in Bangkok and 18 of the country’s 76 provinces.

The government cited fears of more demonstrations and violence, similar to the Red Shirt anti-government protests that caused martial law to be instigated in the first place.

The act forbids congregations of over five people, and allows suspects held under it to be detained for up to 30 days, without bringing charges. The laws have been renewed for a further three months.

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Today, Suthep Thaugsuban, Thailand’s deputy prime minister, said that some areas of the country may be taken off the State of Emergency list.

He added that the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) was convening tonight to decide what action should be taken. The government cabinet meeting tomorrow will act on CRES’s recommendations.

The State of Emergency was declared in Bangkok on April 7. The laws were later enacted in 23 Thai provinces. The State of Emergency was brought in by the government to try and curb the anti-government Red Shirts, or United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, protests and movements.

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July events in Thailand include:

Asian Food Festival – Impact Exhibition Center, Pakred (01-04/07, 10:00-18:00);
The Beat Lounge – Old Skool hip hop at Circle Bangkok (03/07, from 21:00);
World Cup Final – all over Thailand, (12/07, 01:30)
Phuket Amateur Open Golf – Loch Palm Golf Club (18/07, 07:00-12:30);
Pattaya Marathon – All over Pattaya (18/07, all day)
Phuket Yatch Race Week – Evason Phuket Resort (21-25/07);
Full Moon Party – Haad Rin Beach (24/07, starts after dark)
Khao Phansa – Buddhist candles festival (26/07, all day) Continue reading →

Acting on anonymous information, Thai customs officials held two male Pakistani nationals at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, last Monday.

Iqeal Muhammad Abid, 44, and 46-year-old Ahmed Sted Asad were detained while they were waiting for a domestic flight to Phuket.  An initial search of the men and their belongings revealed no drugs.

Subsequent x-rays of the men’s stomachs revealed suspicious packages. After laxatives had been given, these turned out to contain 1.4kgs of heroin. The value of the Class A narcotic has been estimated at nearly five million Baht.

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Two foreigners have been charged for their part in Thailand’s red shirt riots.

Last Thursday at Pathumwan Municipal Court, Briton, Jeff Savage, 48, and a 30-year-old Australian citizen, Conor David Purcell, were indicted on rabble-rousing charges.

The accusations stem from the recent anti-government protests in Bangkok. Both men are accused of violating the government issued emergency decree during the protests. If convicted they could serve two years in prison.

During the two month long protests, the men are alleged to have provoked violence or arson in support of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). The UDD, usually referred to as the red-shirts, have staged several anti-government demonstrations.

Mr Savage will appear in court again on July 28, while Purcell’s next hearing is in late August. Witnesses, including core Red-Shirt leader Dr Weng Tohjirakarn, are expected to attend. The men have been held at Bangkok Remand Centre since their arrests last month.

The two denied all charges. Purcell, who made inflammatory speeches on the Red-Shirts’ main stage, told reporters that he was sure he would beat the charges.

A video clip posted on YouTube supposedly shows Mr Savage saying that he and unnamed others were going to loot and burn CentralWorld, Bangkok’s biggest shopping centre, before it happened.

Mr Savage says that he did not go to CentralWorld, but was at Channel 3’s TV station when that was set alight. Mr Savage denies participating in the actual arson.

The two men appeared in court wearing prison garb. Savage, who comes from Kent, is said to have told reporters that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was a murderer.

Thailand’s Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, stated that demonstrators suspected of terrorism in the country’s recent troubles will be prosecuted.

In his regular Sunday address to the nation, aired yesterday, the Prime Minister said that there would be no government reconciliation with terrorists or the main leaders of the recent anti-government protests in Bangkok.

Two Pheu Thai Party MPs and core protest leaders, Karun Hosakul and Jatuporn Promphan have already been bailed. The two were charged with instigating terrorism. They were bailed on Tuesday after depositing one million Baht each.

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EXPATS may have been responsible for the daring 12 million baht Bangkok heist carried out on Friday, according to police.

A Toyota sedan owned by a Phuket resident is believed to have been the getaway vehicle used by the robbers.

The heist occurred outside Krung Thai Bank headquarters in the Thai capital, with the car said to have been rented from a Phuket car hire company. Continue reading →