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A new restaurant in Bangkok has made KFC snap to Achtung! In May, Andrew Spooner, author of the “Footprint Thailand Handbook,” snapped a photo of a new restaurant that had just opened in Thailand and tweeted it out : Very bizarre Hitler Fried Chicken shop in Thailand. I kid you not. Complete with pic of Hitler in bow tie http://t.co/9OS1FgfUCx — Andrew Spooner (@andrewspoooner) May 28, 2013 (MORE: A Führer in a Teapot) Now Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) may sue the fried chicken restaurant, which is called “Hitler,” for replacing its iconic image of Colonel Sanders with Adolf Hitler, complete...

BANGKOK, Thailand — Their condition recalls dark tales from the 18th century: underfed men lorded over by seafaring captains who pay them nothing and maim the disobedient. Yet these forced labor abuses play out on Thai-owned fishing trawlers each day. And the victims — typically destitute men from Myanmar or Cambodia lured by coyotes full of false promises — continue to wash ashore with accounts of torture and casual homicide. For years, US officials have urged Thailand, one of America’s closest Asian allies, to rid its $7.3 billion fisheries export industry of these abuses. Though carried out on lawless seas,...

Mystery still surrounds the death of a Berkeley man who fell from a balcony on the Thai island of Phuket on Monday afternoon. Joshua Smits, 24, died in a Phuket hospital on Monday night after reportedly leaping from a third-floor balcony at a new hotel in Patong. Phuket Wan, a tourism news site, reported yesterday that Mr Smits (pictured) startled onlookers when he ran through the street, up the stairs, into the room and jumped off the balcony. A maid, who was making up a room at the guesthouse about 2pm, witnessed the incident. The site reported Mr Smits had...

Asian equities got hammered on Thursday after the Federal Reserve signaled an end to its bond-buying program later this year while shrinking factory activity in China further added to market gloom. Japan's Nikkei index closed down 1.7 percent after dipping below the 13,000 mark. Amid the worst hit, Australia's benchmark tumbled over 2 percent, while South Korea's Kospi and the Shanghai Composite traded at 2013 lows. Emerging Asia also suffered, with Thailand's SET Composite, and Indonesia's Jakarta Composite sinking over 3 percent each. "I think everyone is looking at everyone else in the market and trying to figure out if...

The video above is visual proof to the importance of the Second Amendment and the right to protect yourself with a firearm. On March 11, a nursing school in Thailand was attacked in the early morning hours by 12 masked men wielding machetes. The nursing school is an all female institution for local 15- and 16-year-old girls in the Buriram Province. It is believed the motivation behind the attack was to lower moral and intimidate the all female institution. As you can see in the video above, the group of 12 men approach the school in the bed of a...

A family dog in Thailand is credited with bringing home an abandoned newborn baby on Monday. The two-year-old canine named Pui found a plastic bag with a newborn baby girl inside and carried the infant back home. Officials believe the baby was abandoned at a roadside dump in Tha Rua district of Ayutthaya province. According to a report in the Bangkok Post, when Pui returned home, it barked loudly to get it’s owners’ attention. A 12-year-old girl named Sudarat Thongmak came out of the home and was shocked to find the baby with her umbilical cord still attached. After getting...

Thailand’s capital, the first point of entry for thousands who head to the country’s beaches, has been named the number one destination for international visitors in the Global Destination Cities Index forecast. The index rates visitor numbers and estimated spend for 132 different destinations around the world. Bangkok is expected to welcome 15.98 million international arrivals this year, just beating London, which is expecting 15.96 million visitors. London topped the list last year. The index has been compiled annually by MasterCard since 2010 and this is the first year that an Asian city was named as the number one destination....

You are my Rod (of Obedience) for I AM your Staff ( of Authority) What worked for you yesterday, Will not work for you today , Come to me in the early morning that My WORD may light your path , For in it lies my will in peace where you will find NO wrath , So cover yourself in My Zeal for it is the fire that will lead the way , As I did for the Israelites I will do for you each day ! For my Fire guides your morning and shall be your eyes at night...

MUMBAI: Relying excessively on central banks to bring real growth back is "illusory" as low interest rates would not help overcome the structural imbalances plaguing global economies, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tarman Shanmugaratnam today said. "It is the fiscal imbalances arising out of negative real interest rates and lack of investments in infrastructure that are holding back the global economy. "Relying too much and too long on central banks, as has been the case since the 2008 crisis, to bring growth back is an illusory measure," Shanmugaratnam, who is also the finance minister of Singapore, said in...

China is attempting to open a new front in its territorial dispute with Japan by questioning Tokyo's sovereignty over the island of Okinawa, home to 25,000 US troops. The two countries are already pushing rival claims to the Senkakus, a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are controlled by Tokyo. The dispute over the islands, known as the Diaoyu in China, has hit bilateral trade and sent diplomatic relations to their lowest point for decades. Beijing began its attempt to broaden the territorial dispute earlier this month when the communist party newspaper, the People's Daily, ran...

KATHMANDU SNIPPET: The Annapurna Post vernacular daily reported on Sunday that the arrest was made on April 13. Identified as Mohsin Khosravian, the suspect is currently in police custody.

 The security officials at the Embassy speculated that the suspect was scouting the facility with a harmful intention "for he carried a tourist map of the Lazimpat area" where the Israeli mission is located. 

He had stayed in a Thamel-based hotel. After his arrest, the suspect told police that he had ventured out to find out a shop to repair his laptop.

 According to the report, the Nepal Police's Central Bureau...

Pattani, Thailand: Thai soldiers fending off a major assault on a military base in the country's violence-plagued south killed 19 insurgents, authorities said Wednesday. The death toll was believed to be the biggest inflicted on the Muslim guerrillas since more than 100 died in a single day nearly a decade ago. About 50 militants wearing military-like uniforms raided a marine corps base in Bacho district in Narathiwat province late Tuesday night, Col Pramote Promin said. [...] An Islamic insurgency erupted in 2004 in Thailand's three southernmost provinces, a Muslim-majority region in the Buddhist-dominated country. In April of that year, guerrillas...

BANGKOK — The Thai military is urging people in its troubled south to stay indoors after soldiers repelled a large-scale attack on a base by scores of armed militants. At least 16 of the attackers were killed in one of the biggest death tolls in the nearly 10-year insurgency by Malay Muslims seeking autonomy from Buddhist Thailand. The Thai army says at least 60 heavily-armed insurgents, dressed in military-style fatigues, attacked a base early Wednesday in southern Narathiwat province. The military says it was tipped off to the planned attack, was ready and suffered no casualties in the exchange of...

China offers Type 054 to meet Thai frigate requirement By Jon Grevatt 1/30/2013 China has offered Thailand its Type 054-class Jiangkai frigate to meet a requirement to procure multipurpose frigates for the Royal Thai Navy (RTN), thus potentially putting Beijing and Washington head to head in a large-scale international procurement programme. Sources have confirmed to IHS Jane's that preliminary discussions between Thailand and China have commenced over the potential deal, in which China has said it is prepared to sell to the RTN three Type 054-class vessels at a cost that will meet the programme's budget of USD1 billion. While...

BANGKOK -- Most of us can read about sex trafficking with a sense of detachment. It is only when we see its results up close that we are forced to confront the full extent of its horror. Nana Plaza is one of several "red light" districts in Bangkok. It is less than two blocks from my upscale hotel, but worlds away from it, a distance, you could say, separating Heaven from Hell. Girls -- and that's what many of them are -- wear almost nothing. They are there to please. My guide points out a three-story structure. "The higher you...

BANGKOK — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has ordered the Pentagon to find out why so many generals and admirals have become embroiled in legal and ethical problems, a trend exacerbated by recent investigations of two of the military’s best-known commanders. The Pentagon disclosed Panetta’s directive on Thursday after he arrived in Thailand as part of a visit to Asia. But aides insisted that he had been considering the review for some time and that it was not prompted by revelations that the FBI has been investigating former CIA director David H. Petraeus, a retired Army general, and Marine Gen....

In the lush hills of northern Thailand, a herd of 20 elephants is excreting some of the world's most expensive coffee. Trumpeted as earthy in flavor and smooth on the palate, the exotic new brew is made from beans eaten by Thai elephants and plucked a day later from their dung. A gut reaction inside the elephant creates what its founder calls the coffee's unique taste.

The First Lady of Cambodia greeted Barack Obama like he was a towel boy. And, of course, our clueless president thought it was ‘cool.’ Investor’s Business Daily reported: So amid all the colorful and flirty photos from President Obama’s first tour of Southeast Asia, what did he actually accomplish? As usual, he served himself politically in what was largely a Potemkin mission abroad. It was obvious enough from the rubelike gaffes that the president hasn’t been particularly interested or attentive to the affairs of Thailand, Burma or Cambodia as he made his first trip since his re-election. It was pretty...

Big Guy took his FORWARD! campaign to Southeast Asia this weekend. At his presser in Thailand yesterday, BO explained how he’s planning to deport the American System to the Near East: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra: main reason Lady M did attend. Plus she hates Thai food. (snip)because Thailand I think is more successful economically than some of its neighbors, it's now in a position to be a donor country. Got that Thailand? You didn’t build that on your own! Somebody else made that happen! Now it’s time to spread your wealth around. Although the presser was in Bangkok,...

President Obama is practicing a new brand of foreign relations, appearing to flirt with Thailand’s attractive prime minister on his first stop of his three-day tour of Southeast Asia. The president and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra could be seen laughing together and exchanging playful glances throughout a state dinner at the Government House in Bangkok on Sunday night.