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Phuket's Provincial Public Health Office sent agents to the condo to collect samples to test for the Ebola virus after discovering the victim, Martin John Roberts Clark, 68, had recently returned from Nigeria. Phuket Governor, Nisit Jansomwong, explained that the result of the autopsy would be announced today (October 25). Dr Kajornsak Kaewjarat, chief of Phuket Provincial Public Health Office said that the agents at the scene were collecting blood and mucus samples as well as other belongings from the room. Dr Kajornsak said, “The samples and belongings will be sent to the Regional Medical Sciences Centre in Phuket. “He...

BANGKOK - The Tourism Authority of Thailand says its preparing to add one more tourist attraction to the Kingdom's long list of temples, beaches, and mountains: life under martial law. "The TAT is preparing a campaign called '24 Hours Enjoy Thailand 'to attract foreign tourists to visit Thailand under martial law," TAT Governor Thawatchai Arunyik told Thai Rath newspaper on Friday. Thawatchai said that martial law is beneficial to tourism, because it ensures that foreign tourists can be safe 24 hours a day. "We want the tourists to be confident that they can travel in Thailand both day and...

A manhunt is under way on a Thai holiday island after two British backpackers were hacked to death. Hannah Witheridge, 23, a university graduate from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and David Miller, 24, from Jersey, were attacked with a garden hoe after a late night party on Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. Miss Witheridge, who was travelling with three female friends, had been on the island for only three days. She met Mr Miller, who was travelling with two male companions, hours before they were murdered. Their semi-naked bodies were found on the blood soaked sand at Sairee beach,...

An in-flight magazine for travelers to Thailand offers some friendly advice on how to win friends and influence people in a country led by military junta. "Despite being under miliary control, Thailand is very safe for tourists," chirps the magazine copy, shared by Twitter user @joe_black317 this week. But for "good measure" you might want to take a few minor precautions, such as avoiding the color red, refraining from taking selfies with soldiers sans their consent, and for godssakes ditching your dystopian novels on the plane. "Don't carry George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984," the Philippine Airlines magazine warns in tip...

Musli outreach and interfaith homicide. Our SIOA journalist in Thailand writes: “A deputy commander and two other police officers of Krong Penang police station in Yala Province were ambushed and murdered tonight (Thursday July 10, 2014) by Muslim terrorists as they returned from visiting a local mosque during a Ramadan peace initiative by police. The radio reports that the deputy police commander was a Muslim. The other two were probably Muslim judging by their names in Thai. This mosque was not Deputy Police Lt Colonel Adinant Ismaael’s normal mosque. He was there for community outreach. Ramadan is a very dangerous...

From a devilish-looking bat to a frog that sings like a bird, scientists have identified 126 new species in the Greater Mekong area, the WWF said in a new report detailing discoveries in 2011. But threats to the region's biodiversity mean many of the new species are already struggling to survive, the conservation group warned. "The good news is new discoveries. The bad news is that it is getting harder and harder in the world of conservation and environmental sustainability," Nick Cox, manager of WWF-Greater Mekong's Species Programme, said.

While his government’s focus remains squarely on domestic issues, Mr Modi is also charting a rather ambitious foreign policy course. He has already visited Bhutan and his future destinations over the next few months are likely to include Japan, Brazil, Southeast Asia, Australia and Nepal. Meanwhile, the Chinese foreign minister has saluted the new Modi government for injecting “new vitality into an ancient civilisation”.

He was too sick to eat, and Min Min Chan’s chest ached with each breath he sucked. It didn’t matter: The Thai captain warned him to get back on deck and start hauling fish onto the trawler or be tossed overboard. As a 17-year-old slave stuck in the middle of the sea, he knew no one would come looking if he simply vanished. Less than a month earlier, Chan had left Myanmar for neighboring Thailand, looking for work. Instead, he said a broker tricked and sold him onto the fishing boat for $616. He ended up far away in Indonesian...

In 1961, Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act, Section 508 of which states that the U.S. must cut aid to countries in which a “duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup” until the resumption of civilian rule. On Thursday, in Thailand, a duly elected head of government was deposed by military coup. Two days after instituting martial law, General Prayuth Chan-ocha declared that the military was taking over the government and suspending the Constitution. That means the U.S. must cut aid to Thailand, right? Not necessarily. In a statement later Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry said:...

The US has suspended $3.5m (£2.1m) in military aid to Thailand and urged the country's army to restore civilian rule "immediately". Washington also urged tourists to cancel trips and halted non-essential visits by US government officials. The move came as former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra spent her first night in military custody.

Thailand's army chief has announced that the military is taking control of the government. The coup came after two days of inconclusive talks between the main political factions. Thailand has been in political turmoil for months. On Tuesday the army imposed martial law. A curfew has been declared, effective across the country from 22:00 to 05:00 local time. Political party leaders, including opposition leader Suthep Thaugsuban, were taken away from the talks venue after troops sealed off the area......

Washington (AFP) - The White House has promised the United States will not use vaccination programs as cover for spy operations -- after the move was attempted during the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

A large number of People’s Liberation Army troops have reportedly been spotted heading towards the China-Vietnam border as tensions between the two countries continue to escalate, reports Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily. Sing Tao Daily is generally considered to be aligned to Chinese state media. Thousands of Chinese nationals living or on business in Vietnam have already fled the country amid anti-China riots, which were sparked by a tense standoff between Chinese and Vietnamese naval ships near a Chinese oil rig in disputed waters off the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on May 4. The Chinese foreign ministry...

The army in Thailand has announced the imposition of martial law amid political crisis "to keep law and order". The army has also granted itself wide-ranging powers to enforce its decision. The military said it had taken the action to preserve peace and order. The move comes after a long-running political crisis, and escalating tensions between the government and the opposition.

They included Defense Minister Douangchay Phichit and his wife. Douangchay was also one of the country's deputy prime ministers and a high-ranking member of its Politburo, the main decision-making body for the country's all-powerful Communist Party, which has ruled the single-party state since 1975. The economically poor, landlocked country has a population of seven million. Others killed included Minister of Public Security Thongbane Sengaphone, Vientiane Governor Sukhan Mahalad and at least one other senior ruling party official. Information about the crash, and those on board, came from Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee in neighboring Thailand. Lao National Television showed images...

AT YAI, Thailand -- Bombs exploded at a police station and a convenience store in a tourist city in Thailand's violence-plagued south Tuesday, injuring nine people, police said. The first bomb exploded in front of a 7-Eleven store near a school in Hat Yai city, wounding two men and three women, police Col. Passakorn Klanwan said. The second explosion went off about 15 minutes later in the parking lot at the main Hat Yai police station, injuring four others, he said. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/06/4100476/9-injured-in-bombings-in-thailands.html#storylink=cpy

A video showing an elderly man “cooking himself" in a pot filled with boiling water has been reported by a Russian TV channel. The man in the YouTube video looks like he is making a big dish of soup with vegetables and people gather around him waiting for a taste. The TV channel discloses that is a ritual held every year in the town of Yamaga, Thailand. The 71-year-old man, identified as Kenzo Koya, has been doing this ritual for several years. He says in the beginning he was affected by the heat which left burns on his body, but...

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 flew around Indonesian airspace apparently to avoid detection after vanishing from radar screens on March 8, a media report said today, suggesting the possibility of a more sinister reason behind the jet's disappearance..... After reviewing radar data provided by neighbouring countries, investigators have now found that the jetliner curved north of Indonesia before turning south toward the southern Indian Ocean, CNN quoted a Malaysian official as saying. The official also suggested the possibility of a more sinister reason behind MH370's disappearance a month ago. The plane's flight path clearly showed that someone on the plane was...

A suspected World War Two bomb has exploded in a Bangkok scrap yard, killing at least seven people and injuring 19. Workers were using a blow-torch to take the bomb apart and detonated it in the process, officials say.

Tectonic Summary Re-analysis of Proposed Submarine Aircraft Crash Site for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 Map of Seismic Analysis of Proposed Submarine Aircraft Crash Site The University of Science and Technology of China has announced a possible location for the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 based on two seismic recordings (stations KUM and IPM of the Malaysia National Seismic Network; see map). The proposed site is in the Gulf of Thailand (orange hexagon on map). The time of the event reported by the Chinese was 2:55 AM (on 3/8/2014, which equates to 18:55 UTC time on 3/7/2014).