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The man accused of slaying 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard in the U.S. capital on Monday had plans to move to Thailand. He also had a strong interest in Buddhism and even taught himself the Thai language, according to media reports. Aaron Alexis, 34, lived in Fort Worth, Texas, working at the Happy Bowl Thai restaurant for three years prior to Monday’s killing spree. Nutpisit Suthamtewakul, the restaurant owner, described the former Navy contractor as “friendly and polite.” He added that Alexis, who died apparently while exchanging fire with police, had previously visited the Southeast Asian nation and...

The madman who massacred a dozen people at the Washington Navy Yard fell hard for a woman he met on a trip to Thailand – but she dumped him when he invited her back the US to shack up. Aaron Alexis visited the Asian country for about 45 days in 2012, supposedly to improve his language skills and learn about Thai culture, according to Nutpisit Suthamtewakul, the owner of a Thai restaurant in Texas, where Alexis worked. But instead, “he went to massage parlors,” chased women, and developed a serious “crush” on one particular female, Suthamtewakul told Britain’s channel 4....

China doesn’t have the same record of killing foreign enemies overseas that Russia does. But it has a large enough overseas network and piles of cash that it could get the job done if it needed to. Just ask Naw Kham what happened after the Mekong River Massacre. The bodies of the Chinese, the crew of two cargo boats, were found badly mutilated on the Thai side of the river in early October 2011. The killings, the worst slaughter of Chinese citizens abroad in recent memory, angered the Chinese public. Chinese investigators insist that Mr. Naw Kham was the mastermind...

The Thai telecommunications conglomerate True is getting rave reviews worldwide for its latest spot, "Giving," which tells the story of a man unexpectedly rewarded for a lifetime of good deeds he performed without expecting anything in return.

We're not sure how much this really helps, but ... Thai Airways painted over the logo of one of its planes that skidded off the runway in Bangkok, injuring 14 passengers.

A leading human rights group has called on Dunkin' Donuts to withdraw a "bizarre and racist" advertisement for chocolate doughnuts in Thailand that shows a smiling woman with bright pink lips in blackface makeup. Human Rights Watch said it was shocked to see an American brand name running an advertising campaign that would draw "howls of outrage" if released in the United States. The CEO for Dunkin' Donuts in Thailand dismissed the criticism as "paranoid American thinking." "It's absolutely ridiculous," said CEO Nadim Salhani. "We're not allowed to use black to promote our doughnuts? I don't get it. What's the...

BANGKOK A leading human rights group has called on Dunkin' Donuts to withdraw a "bizarre and racist" advertisement for chocolate doughnuts in Thailand that shows a smiling woman with bright pink lips in blackface makeup. The Dunkin' Donuts franchise in Thailand launched a campaign earlier this month for its new "Charcoal Donut" featuring the image, which is reminiscent of 19th and early 20th century American stereotypes for black people that are now considered offensive symbols of a racist era. In posters and TV commercials, the campaign shows the woman with a shiny jet black, 1950s-style beehive hairdo holding a bitten...

One of Thailand's leading universities apologized in July after its students displayed a large billboard depicting Adolf Hitler among a host of comic book superheroes during graduation celebrations. Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University expressed its "deep regret" over the painting, which appeared in July and featured Superman, Batman and the Incredible Hulk as well as the genocidal Nazi leader. In a letter to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Jewish human rights and Holocaust memorial organization, the university said the students who created it were "unaware of its significance" and had received a verbal warning. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the center,...

If you believe the myth that all cats hate getting wet, then you've yet to meet the flat-headed cat. With webbed feet and a streamlined head perfectly adapted for speed in the water, these strange felines not only like the water, they practically live in it. They are also recognized as the world's least known feline. And unfortunately, they may remain mysterious. According to National Geographic, a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE has indicated that the flat-headed cat's habitat is rapidly being transformed into vast biofuel plantations. Native to the swampy peat forests of Thailand, Malaysia and...

If you believe the myth that all cats hate getting wet, then you've yet to meet the flat-headed cat. With webbed feet and a streamlined head perfectly adapted for speed in the water, these strange felines not only like the water, they practically live in it. They are also recognized as the world's least known feline. And unfortunately, they may remain mysterious. According to National Geographic, a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE has indicated that the flat-headed cat's habitat is rapidly being transformed into vast biofuel plantations. Native to the swampy peat forests of Thailand, Malaysia and...

A U.S. business owner was killed in Thailand after going onstage to sing with a band. What was supposed to be a fun vacation in Bangkok turned into a nightmare for one family. Bobby Ray Carter, 51, of Texas, his wife Kelly, and their 18-month-old daughter Sadie, traveled to Thailand to celebrate Mr. Carter’s birthday. The Carters were meeting up with several other couples including Carter's adult son. The group went out to the Longhorn Saloon bar at the Ao Nang beach in Krabi province in Thailand.

Egypt’s deeply troubled president, Mohamed Morsi, proved to be too uncreative compared to his Turkish brothers in arms when he blamed the mass protests against his Muslim Brotherhood regime on foreign countries only. He could have been better inspired by his Turkish comrades. Even Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay was able to add some (well, the usual) sauce on his "evil foreign powers recipe": The Turkish unrest had been sparked by the Jewish diaspora. So, where, President Morsi, in your assessment of "Tahrir Square – Revisited," are the Jewish conspirators, Western capitals, financial lobbyists, global capitalists, BBC, CNN International,...

A CROCODILE trainer was lucky not to be decapitated after one of the reptiles snapped its jaws shut on his head.

Students in a prestigious university in Thailand, recently painted a mural depicting their favorite Western superheros. These include Superman, Batman, the Hulk, Captain America....and....Hitler. Here is a link to the crazy story: http://www.3news.co.nz/Superman-Batman-Hitler/tabid/417/articleID/305117/Default.aspx A couple of year ago, the Telegraph, a British newspaper, had a story about how Hitler, Nazi clothing, and Nazi memorabilia were very fashionable among youth in Asia. The article was titled: "Nazi chic: from Mongolia to Tel Aviv, angry teenagers think Hitler is cool" http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100049486/nazi-chic-from-mongolia-to-tel-aviv-angry-teenagers-think-hitler-is-cool/ But given the Israel-bashing that goes on in American and European universities, are Western youth able to educate Asian youth on...

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...