Thai boy shot, beheaded, dismembered

August 20th, 2009 CHILPANCINGO - The speaker of the legislature in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero was gunned down Thursday by some unidentified gunmen outside his house, officials said. Armando Chavarria Barrera, a member of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, served as the state's interior minister until May 6, 2008, when he resigned in the wake of the murders of 17 ranchers.

August 20th, 2009 Thai elephant damages newly fitted artificial limbBANGKOK — An elephant fitted with an artificial limb 10 years after stepping on a land mine has had a minor setback, damaging the device attached to her left front leg. Soraida Salwala of the private group Friends of the Asian Elephant said Thursday that 48-year-old Motola bent the prothesis when she lay down on it.

July 9th, 2009 WELLINGTON - Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted prime minister of Thailand, is touring the Pacific seeking political asylum, according to a report Thursday on the Fiji-based Pacnews website. Thaksin and an entourage were given the full VIP treatment when they flew Monday into Fiji on a private jet and reportedly met the Pacific island state's military strongman, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, in the capital Suva.

June 23rd, 2009 Feds: Seattle restaurateur paid 4 workers to marrySEATTLE — The owner of a Seattle area chain of Thai restaurants has been charged with paying four workers to enter into sham marriages allowing three of her relatives and another Thai national to stay in the U.S. Varee Bradford, who operates five Thai Ginger restaurants was arrested Tuesday on one count of immigration fraud conspiracy and three counts of immigration document fraud.

June 8th, 2009 2 Mass. men accused of killing man, cooking bodyWRENTHAM, Mass. — Prosecutors say two Massachusetts men killed a drug dealer to clear a debt, then dismembered his body and cooked the remains.

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 29th, 2009 Police: Good Samaritan beheaded in south Fla.FORT MYERS, Fla. — Authorities in south Florida say a homeless man beheaded a good Samaritan who had given him a place to stay.

May 14th, 2009 Brazil police find dismembered 11-year-old girlSAO PAULO — Police in northeastern Brazil suspect a convicted child abuser of killing an 11-year-old girl and disposing of her body parts in plastic bags. A spokesman for the Rio Grande do Norte state public safety department says the body parts were found Thursday, two days after the girl disappeared.

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 27th, 2009 BANGKOK - Disturbed by reports that Thai monks have taken to wearing make-up, carrying pinks purses and other forms of public 'homosexual expression', a leading preacher plans to launch a 'good manners' course for novices, a news report said Monday. Senior monk Maha Wudhijaya Vajiramedhi is to introduce Thailand's first etiquette course at the Novice Demonstration School in Chiang Rai province, 600 km north of Bangkok, next month, The Nation newspaper reported.

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 14th, 2009 BANGKOK - The leader of a Muslim community in central Bangkok plans to ask the emir of Dubai to eject fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra after his supporters attacked people and property during anti-government protests, a newspaper reported Tuesday. Manit Saengthong, leader of the Darrulaman Mosque community, told the Nation that it would ask Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum through the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to bar Thaksin because he uses Dubai 'as a springboard to attack Thailand'.

February 23rd, 2009 BANGKOK - Thai police were searching Monday for the body and identity of a foreigner whose head was found hanging by a rope off a Bangkok bridge over the weekend. The severed head of a Western man, aged between 30 and 40, was found Sunday afternoon dangling about five metres below the Rama VIII bridge, which crosses the Chao Phraya River in northwestern Bangkok.

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 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.