Etiquette course launched for Thai monks

June 7th, 2009 Thai insurgents launch attacks in south, killing 2BANGKOK — Islamic insurgents shot dead a villager and then detonated a car bomb as a crowd gathered, killing one and wounding 19 in Thailand's restive south on Sunday, police said. Police Maj. Col. Manop Wiwatthanaviroj said insurgents shot a resident patrolling a village Sunday morning in the Yi-ngo district of Narathiwat, one of three mostly Muslim provinces near the Malaysian border.

May 4th, 2009 BANGKOK - Thailand-based electronics manufacturers have hired thousands of staff as orders from abroad have resumed, news reports said Monday. Western Digital - the world's second largest manufacturer of hard-disk drives (HDD) - hired 3,000 additional workers last month for its Thai-based factories, bringing its total staff up to 31,000, the Bangkok Post reported.

April 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Election Commission has provided special electronic voting machines (EVMs) at all polling stations in Sikkim to enable Buddhist monks and nuns to vote from anywhere, Deputy Election Commissioner J.P. Prakash said here Tuesday.

April 24th, 2009 Thai court frees 3 top protest leaders on bailBANGKOK — A Thai court has freed on bail three top leaders of an anti-government movement accused of instigating violence during recent political protests. Bangkok Criminal Court granted their release on condition that do not leave the country, instigate violence or interfere with ongoing investigations and court cases.

April 11th, 2009 PATTAYA - Thai officials decided to cancel a summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Saturday after anti-government protesters broke into the summit venue at Pattaya, a resort town 100 km south of Bangkok. The Thai government said the summit between ASEAN members and six dialogue partners, including China, Japan and India, was postponed and would be held in about two months.

March 9th, 2009 DHARAMSALA - Top monks of Tibetan sects Sunday sought a new law by the Tibetan parliament in exile to govern the procedure of selecting and appointing reincarnations in Tibetan Buddhism. In a resolution passed at a meeting of the high lamas at the end of three days of deliberations, it was decided that the issue of having a law on reincarnations should be sent to the Tibetan parliament in exile.

February 10th, 2009 LONDON - Manchester City has removed former Thai prime minister Thaksin Sinawatra as its honourary club president. The step was taken by City's new Arab owner Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of Khaldoon Al Mubarak, in Abu Dhabi.

February 10th, 2009 LONDON - Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has upset Thai officials after remarking on the plight of Myanmar migrants, who have accused the country's military of mistreating them. The actress and her partner Brad Pitt visited a refugee camp on the Thailand-Myanmar border Feb 4 as part of her role as UN goodwill ambassador, reports contactmusic.com.

February 6th, 2009 LONDON - The Catholic church in Britain is attempting to lure would-be monks and nuns into the monastic life with 'taster' weekends in the cloisters, the BBC reported Saturday. The move is a bid to reverse the sharp decline in those taking up religious orders.

February 3rd, 2009 BRUSSELS - The row over the use of foreign workers in Britain which erupted Friday could be the 'first in a flood' of cases across Europe if the European Union's (EU) labour laws are not improved, a top union leader warned Wednesday. 'If there's suspicion that people are working cheaply, then there will be more and more cases like this one ...

January 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Imbued with commitment to reversing the fate of the Tibetan community-in-exile, a group of nine young monks has set out cycling through India to raise awareness about Tibet. Their journey began Jan 18 from Varanasi.

January 25th, 2009 BANGKOK - A free trade agreement (FTA) between India and South-East Asia will be signed at the upcoming summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) if the Thai parliament approves the pact, officials said Monday. 'The ASEAN economic ministers have invited the Indian commerce minister to sign the FTA Feb 26,' said Tharit Charungvat, Thai foreign ministry spokesman.

January 21st, 2009 BANGKOK - A descendant of the Lao royal family Thursday kicked off a grand sale of her treasured collection of antique silks and jewellery to raise money for scholarships for Buddhist monks in Asia. Chao Soymala In-ieum na Jampasak, 67, said proceeds from the sale of her 1,000-item century-old silks and jewellery collection would be used to help cover costs for Buddhist monks from Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal and Vietnam to pursue religious studies at Thailand's Mahachulalongkornrajidyalaya University in Chiang Mai, 650 km north of Bangkok.

January 6th, 2009 BANGKOK - Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva Wednesday announced that the 14th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will be held in Hua Hin town and not in the Thai capital as planned earlier. He said the decision to shift the venue was taken in view of security reasons.

December 27th, 2008 NEW DELHI - Donning a humanitarian role, the Indian Navy and Coast Guard have rescued about 100 Bangaldeshis, who were illegally taken to Thailand for fishing, and were drifting in the Indian Ocean for 12 days, an official here said Sunday. The Bangladeshis, rescued off the Andaman and Nicobar islands, were being interrogated at the Little Andaman Island.