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All he did was ask to go home. The last time the Burmese slave made the same request, he was beaten almost to death. But after being gone eight years and forced to work on a boat in faraway Indonesia, Myint Naing was willing to risk everything to see his mother again. His nights were filled with dreams of her, and time was slowly stealing her face from his memory. So he threw himself on the ground and roped his arms around the captain’s legs to beg for freedom. The Thai skipper barked loud enough for all to hear that...

BANGKOK — The Thai navy has picked Chinese submarines costing 12 billion baht (S$447.5 million) each to be commissioned in the force, a source on the procurement committee says. The majority of the 17-strong committee voted to buy three Chinese submarines, saying it was the “best value for money”. The rest were split between submarines from Germany and South Korea. The navy also received offers from Russia, Sweden and France. The source said China beat other competitors as it offered subs equipped with superior weaponry and technology. Its subs are also able to stay underwater longer. Deputy Prime Minister and...

There is no moral world in which any of this is okay.

Melonie Dodaro needed to 'cure that curiosity I have that has just plagued me my whole life"After spending the first 46 years of her life without knowing her father, a Kelowna, B.C., woman decided to try to find him by sending out a personal plea in a video she posted on Facebook. "I have never met my biological father. My mom was a teenage mom and my father was a visitor to Canada from the Netherlands," she says in the video. "All I know is that he was born in the Netherlands. He visited Canada in 1968 when my mother...

All of a sudden, aircraft carriers are back in fashion. Over in Russia, they're drawing up plans to build the world's biggest aircraft carrier, a 100,000-ton beast that can carry 100 combat aircraft. China's building one, two, or maybe even four aircraft carriers. And here in the United States, we're busy building our second ­Ford-class supercarrier. Around the world and across the seas, aircraft carriers are popping up in the unlikeliest of places -- in Korea, in Thailand, in India, Japan, and maybe soon in Singapore, as well. But you'll never guess the latest country to announce plans to acquire...

My nephew, Nick, had a BBC newscast on about human smugglers in Thailand.  It appears that the BBC is a bit less shy about showing weapons than many U.S. outlets, but that could simply be perception on this one show.  I watch very little TV.    From BBC.com: Manit told us his district had long been used by human traffickers to transfer migrants from boats to trucks. He wanted to stamp it out. But he was getting little help from the central government, or from local law enforcement.  The BBC correspondent was allowed to join a patrol off the coast. ...

I watch very little TV.  I do not like to corrupt the data flow.  But I happened to be in Las Vegas when my nephew was watching a BBC program on human smugglers in Thailand.  From BBC.com: Manit told us his district had long been used by human traffickers to transfer migrants from boats to trucks. He wanted to stamp it out. But he was getting little help from the central government, or from local law enforcement. The BBC correspondent was allowed to join a patrol off the coast.  In the video, the BBC is not shy about showing...

He's been described as the "Buddhist Bin Laden," but Ashin Wirathu thinks he has more in common with the world's most famous fictional spy. "James Bond is a nationalist," the cherub-faced monk said in a recent interview. Flashing a smile, he offered a vague recollection of a movie in which 007, in order to extract information from a woman, took her to bed. "While he did not take much pleasure in the act," Wirathu said, "he did it for his country." His questionable reading of Bond aside, the firebrand Wirathu firmly says he is defending Myanmar against the people he...

You are real ! You are alive IN HIM ! And it is His pleasure to flow ~ through you unobstructed as a pure and virtuous stream ~ ~ ~ To replenish those parched traveling through dry lands but you to must drink deep from His eternal forgiveness And as you raise your head from these waters never look back as Lot's wife but "focus on His heart for His children" For you "ARE" an Oasis of Him as you mirror His water alone for Truly all flesh must be left behind. As His words speak "I only say what...

PHUKET: If you wish to help an elephant in Phuket, jump onto its back. Ride it. Buy it some bananas or sugar cane. If this seems a little demeaning to the elephant, remember its meagre alternatives; begging or going hungry. In Phuket elephants are sometimes seen in the streets, performing tricks to entertain people, begging and even going to sleep hungry. The elephants that carry tourists on short treks through the forest - and get sufficient to eat each day - are the lucky ones. These are not just animals in humiliation, they are beasts in real danger. Some experts...

Perplexity in spirit comes when you question My ability to proceed in your life and it is then total surrender is not only Warranted but served for truly as your Judge and Advocate I "Declare" The Truth for your future for the past is just that. So be as Lot not his wife and take My hand into Zion for only as you believe You "Are" and I "AM" ! Habakkuk 2:2-3 Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at...

I had a vision of a tiny Asian country being used by two large countries to attack Taiwan unless they repent Jonah 3 3 And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach and cry out to it the preaching that I tell you. 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city of three days’ journey [sixty miles in circumference]. 4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey,...

In its first report on trafficking around the world, the U.S. criticized Thailand as a hub for labor abuse. Yet 14 years later, seafood caught by slaves on Thai boats is still slipping into the supply chains of major American stores and supermarkets. The U.S. has not enforced a law banning the import of goods made with forced labor since 2000 because of significant loopholes, The Associated Press has found. It has also spared Thailand from sanctions slapped on other countries with weak records in human trafficking because of a complex political relationship that includes cooperation against terrorism. The question...

Thai Spaceship

Benjina, Indonesia ___ The Burmese slaves sat on the floor and stared through the rusty bars of their locked cage, hidden on a tiny tropical island thousands of miles from home. Just a few yards away, other workers loaded cargo ships with slave-caught seafood that clouds the supply networks of major supermarkets, restaurants and even pet stores in the United States. Here, in the Indonesian island village of Benjina and the surrounding waters, hundreds of trapped men represent one of the most desperate links criss-crossing between companies and countries in the seafood industry. This intricate web of connections separates the...

A senior Thai aviation official has warned of an "unimaginable impact" on revenues and passenger numbers of Thailand-based airlines after three major Asian destination countries refused them permission for charter flights. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha vowed speedy action to get the bans lifted after Japan, China and South Korea stopped Thailand-based airlines from flying new charters and routes due to safety concerns highlighted by an international audit. The head of Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation, Somchai Piputwat, said nearly 120,000 passengers wanting to travel to Japan alone would be affected in the next two months - a busy time for...

Longtime fugitive Kelly Lynn Miller is back on U.S. soil after she was arrested last week in Thailand. Miller, convicted in a 2004 fatal DUI crash, arrived in California via commercial airline about 8:30 p.m. CDT after being deported from Thailand, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. U.S. Marshals and other government investigators escorted her to California. She will be held at either the Los Angeles County Jail or the San Bernardino County Jail until she is brought back to Alabama. It will be up to officials in Alabama to coordinate her return here, and it wasn't immediately clear how...

A stingray weighing nearly 800lb has become the largest freshwater fish ever caught by rod and line. The gigantic flat fish, which was 8ft wide and 14ft long, took nearly two hours to reel in. It was caught by American TV nature conservationist Jeff Corwin on the Mae Klong river in Thailand earlier this week.

As noted here, "Happy newlyweds Joke, 29, Bell, 21 and Art, 26, took the plunge on Valentine's Day after exchanging their vows in a fairy-tale ceremony at their home in Uthai Thani Province, Thailand. The three blushing grooms are thought to be the world's only wedded male threesome and have since become internet sensations after photos from their big day went viral. The trio consummated their love under Buddhist law in the ceremony as same-sex marriages are not recognised as legitimate under Thai law. In what they described as the happiest day of their lives, the three men were suited...

New Delhi, Jun 24: With no word from Tehran yet, India is all set to send legal request letters to four nations including Iran seeking help in its probe into the bombing of an Israeli embassy’s vehicle here in February. Official sources said today that Letters Rogatory for Iran, Malaysia, Thailand and Georgia has been sent to Union Home Ministry for vetting after which it would sent to Legals and Treaty Division of Ministry of External Affairs to be sent to these respective countries. The sources said Iran had been earlier requested through diplomatic channels for help in tracing Houshang...