Free Republic

Author- I don't own the video. I just added subs. See video origins below: 片源看下面： Chinese only . . . 12/3/58 CREDIT: www.facebook.com/jhaky.pijitumphon ขอบคุณคลิปแนะนำจาก @Nan Paweena Morasu [Language Warning]

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......

Thai protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban says he has met PM Yingluck Shinawatra and given her two days to "return power to the people". Mr Suthep said the meeting had been held under the auspices of the military and there was no compromise. [snip]They say Ms Yingluck's administration is controlled by her brother, exiled ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra, and they want to replace it with a "People's Council".

Thais zero in on having Asean's best air force The deployment of 12 newly delivered Gripen fighters at Surat Thani air base enables Thailand to get closer to its goal of becoming one of Asean's best air forces. The 12 jets _ four single-seat Gripen 39Ds and eight twin-seat Gripen 39Cs _ that were procured from Sweden along with two Saab 340 airborne early warning and control aircraft and a Saab 340B transport...

Obama (pretending to like girls) with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra... h/t Speedunque

A senator for Mae Hong Son has told police he accidentally shot and killed his personal secretary with a submachine gun in a restaurant in Phrae province, a duty officer at Wang Chin police station said on Monday. Senator Boonsong Kowawisarat The shooting occurred at a restaurant in Wang Chin district of the northern province on Sunday night, Pol Lt Choosak Poonsawat said. Boonsong Kowawisarat, 55, and his personal assistant Chanakarn Detkard, 46, were travelling to Bangkok in the senator's car and stopped for dinner at a restaurant on a local road in moo 2 in tambon Mae Keng, Phrae....

Thai floods hit motor and hi-tech supply chains Published: 25 October 2011 Flooding in Thailand, reckoned to be the worst for fifty years, is disrupting supply chains for a number of major manufacturers. Heavy monsoon rains since July have affected large areas of the country and is now starting to affect Bangkok. More than 360 people have died in the flooding. Toyota has production plants at Samrong, Gateway, and Ban Pho plants. It halted production at the three plants on 10th October as a result of parts-supply delays, although the plants themselves had not been affected. That decision is to...

You may not have even known the restaurant by its proper name, Kanomwan. And it's even more likely that you did not know its proprietor's real name, either-- Darawan Charoenrat. For eaters "in the know" for the last decade or more, both have simply been called Thai Nazi, or the restaurant was called Telephone Thai. Last week, Houston's infamous Thai Nazi died, and Kanomwan is, at least for now, closed. If it seems curious to mourn a man with such a nickname (a play on Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi"), you probably weren't a Kanomwan regular. Though Charoenrat was often brusque, barking,...

A Thai police force has begun taking a monkey, dressed in police uniform, on patrol each day to help improve relations with Muslim separatists. The five-year-old pig-tailed macaque was adopted after policemen in Yaha province in southern Thailand found him injured with a broken arm. Trainers taught Santisuk, which means peace in Thai, to pick up coconuts and he now helps residents collect the fruit.

A planeload of North Korean arms seized in Bangkok was reportedly bound for Iran, which has been buying up large amounts of weaponry in recent months as it braces for a possible onslaught by Israel, and possibly the United States. Mystery has shrouded the destination of the Georgian-registered Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane that was found be to carrying 35 tons of arms, including surface-to-air missiles and rocket launchers, in 12 crates when it was detained during a refueling stop on Dec. 11 following a tip-off from U.S. intelligence. The five-man crew, all former Soviet air force members from Belarus and...

An illicit North Korean arms shipment seized in Thailand last week was destined for the Middle East, the head of US intelligence said Friday. About 30 tonnes of sanctions-busting weapons were confiscated in Bangkok on Saturday but it had remained unclear where the North Korean shipment was headed. "Teamwork among different agencies in the United States and partners abroad just last week led to the interdiction of a Middle East-bound cargo of North Korean weapons," Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, wrote in a commentary in the Washington Post. Blair's reference marked the first public comment by the administration...

An owner of the local Thai Ginger restaurant chain was arrested Tuesday morning and is due to appear in federal court in Seattle on various immigration-related charges for allegedly arranging “sham marriages.” In an indictment unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Varee Bradford, who operates the Thai Ginger restaurants, and Porramin Tangchaiwanna, known as “Golf,” were charged with conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. Bradford was charged with several additional counts of fraud relating to immigration documents. According to the indictment, the two offered to pay employees of Thai Ginger $15,000 to $25,000 to enter into sham marriages with...

Thai chillies trigger London chemical scare By Sally Peck Last Updated: 12:38pm BST 03/10/2007 Police cordoned off three streets and firefighters smashed down a door after reports of a chemical attack on a busy shopping street in London's Soho. Chalemchai Tangjariyapoon was cooking 9lbs of chillies But instead of a terrorist attack or a toxic leak, all police found was a Thai cook preparing chilli sauce. Emergency workers wearing protective breathing masks were called to D'Arblay Street on Monday evening after members of the public detected an acrid cloud of smoke. A Hazardous Area Response Team was dispatched and specialist...

European faces jail for insulting Thai king By A Special Correspondent in Chiang Mai Last Updated: 2:15pm GMT 12/03/2007 A Swiss man today admitted five charges of insulting Thailand's revered king by spray-painting posters of the monarch on the evening of his birthday. Oliver Jufer is facing up to 15 years in prison Oliver Jufer, 57, who has been held in prison for more than three months, appeared at Chiang Mai provincial court in shackles and a brown inmate's uniform, for a secret session. Members of the public and journalists were barred from the hearing, and earlier court officials told...

The government yesterday decided to lift martial law in Bangkok and 40 other provinces including the capital's immediate neighbours. However, 35 provinces remain fully or partly under martial law due to security concerns including drugs, illegal trade and the government's suspicions about potential threats from supporters of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The government's decision came one day after the Council for National Security (CNS) forwarded its recommendation that martial law be lifted in 48 provinces and retained in 28 other provinces, including Bangkok. Yesterday's cabinet resolution to partially lift martial law will not take effect until there is royal...

Thailand's interim government has set up an ambitious timetable to achieve both full restoration of democracy and public approval of a redrafted constitution within one year of the military coup that toppled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The coup, which ousted the prime minister while he was at the United Nations in September, elicited a warranted condemnation from Washington. The onus will remain on Thailand's appointed government to faithfully follow the timeline, which outlines the path back from military rule to liberal democracy. The coup arose out of a "political stalemate," claimed Ambassador Virasakdi Futrakul during a meeting with editors and...

Thailand was named as a potential nuclear power in a report this morning by the head of the United Nations nuclear agency. Speaking at a conference on tightening controls against nuclear proliferation, Mohamed ElBaradei said as many as 30 countries could soon have technology allowing them to produce atomic weapons "in a very short time" - and listed Thailand among them. Mr ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency and winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize , called the countries "virtual new weapons states." It was unclear and not explained how Thailand got onto the list, since it...

AP) BANGKOK, Thailand The military has agreed to hold talks with Muslim rebels involved in a bloody insurgency in southern Thailand, the powerful army chief said Thursday, reversing a policy of the elected government deposed in a coup last month. Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who led the bloodless Sept. 19 coup against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said that officials from certain rebel factions had contacted a top army officer and requested talks. He did not indicate if any date had been set. "I have agreed to the talks," Sondhi said. "I stress that these will be talks, not negotiations." Wan...

Thai soldiers presented the smiling face of the military coup, posing for photographs with hands held high in mock surrender in an apparent charm offensive by their leaders. Thai media reported that troops had been told to "keep smiling," and newspapers were filled with pictures of soldiers demonstrating weaponry to curious crowds. Troops handed over their berets and guns to locals as schoolchildren gathered to peer into their tanks on their way to school, according to news reports. The Bangkok Post said coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin and an army radio programme had both urged the troops to smile to...

Military coup leaders in Thailand — often called the "Land of Smiles" — apparently don't want to ruin that image. They've ordered soldiers to smile. Army radio broadcasts are reminding soldiers to be friendly and courteous, especially to children and anyone who wants to take pictures with them...