May
5
2010
Leaders of Thailand’s anti-government protest movement last night cautiously welcomed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s five point reconciliation plan, but criticised his planned election date of November 14. The leaders said Mr Abhisit had no right to set an election date, merely to dissolve parliament, but they conceded negotiations with the government had begun, potentially leading …read more
May
3
2010
THE blood-soaked Vietnam War made war correspondents famous, sent them mad, wounded them, and killed them. Reporters and photographers risked death and mutilation for a key photo, or an eyewitness account of a battle. They could see as much combat as they could endure, they could hitch helicopter rides to hot landing zones; they could …read more
Apr
27
2010
Helen and Nathan Groves’ honeymoon suite is simple, to say the least. Two airport benches pushed together. A thin foam mattress laid over the top. Two small yellow pillows emblazoned with promotional logos, and a couple of thin tartan blankets. The whole contraption shoved up against a wall in the cavernous and windowless basement of …read more
Apr
25
2010
Thousands of anti-government protesters were braced behind fortified barricades of car tires and sharpened bamboo staves in central Bangkok Sunday night in anticipation of an imminent assault by security forces. The leaders of the so-called Red Shirts protest movement had ordered their followers to abandon their signature red attire for ordinary clothes so that they …read more
Apr
17
2010
Thaksin Shinawatra’s face is on their red T-shirts. His voice, broadcast on loudspeakers at their encampment in Bangkok’s upmarket shopping district, has been in their ears. His words are on their banners. But is his money in their pockets?
Apr
11
2010
In the first open show of violence in a month-long battle for power in Thailand, thousands of anti-government protesters yesterday stormed a satellite station and forced detachments of soldiers and police officers in full riot uniform to ignominiously retreat.
Mar
30
2010
Pim Sukhahuta wrinkles her nose and laughs. A high-profile play-off between the celebrity Hilton sisters wasn’t exactly how she wanted to break into the world of international fashion, she explains. But when Nicky Hilton and her famous sister Paris bought the same chambray buttoned dress, designed by Pim for the Sretsis label, the tabloids jumped …read more
Mar
13
2010
A laugh rings out; one of the young women leans over, grinning, and whacks her neighbour on the arm. There are eight or 10 friends here in the Can Do bar in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai, sitting in easy camaraderie around a big table in an open-air back room. Eating noodles, teasing, gossiping …read more
Mar
6
2010
It’s a long arc from the grinding misery of military oppression to the razzle-dazzle of Hollywood, but “Burma VJ – Reporting from a Closed Country” is a favourite to win an Academy Award tomorrow. And, hidden, or imprisoned or clandestinely at work, Burma’s covert video journalists will be at the glittering Awards, in spirit at …read more
Nov
13
2009
An Australian prosecutor’s push to use so-called “torture confessions” in UN sponsored tribunal hearings has created a storm of controversy in international legal circles.