attento

What exactly is "drug behaviour"? Acting "abnormally"?

Surely just about anyone leaving a pub or bar or nightclub would be seen to be behaving abnormally after a few or more drinks that contain ethanol. That would 100% qualify as "drug behaviour" (as ethanol ("alcohol") is a recreational drug, and those who consume it are drug users).

So the person who was exhibiting "drug behaviour" may have simply been a little drunk coming back from a bar. The call from the "good citizen" was completely unwarranted, as was the police to act upon the call (as they didn't have a search warrant). Those of you who support both of these acts should think again, as it may happen to you even if you do nothing illegal, and instead of admitting a mistake they may plant something to incriminate you and extort you.

Is being drunk or under the influence of any prohibited drug in public not an offence in Thailand ?

In some countries it is, but I am not familiar with Thai law on this.

If the Police suspicions were sufficient to merit a home vist, why didn't they conduct a urine test on the suspect ?

They went to his home because of suspicious behaviour, not because they knew he had a bag of "tea", so why not test out that theory ?

The fact that tea proved to be tea, doesn't mean the reported suspicious behaviour was not the result of something .

Why would anyone acting legally and normally, raise any objection to a non-invasive test ?

In many countries, people driving in a suspicious manner are liable to a non-invasive breath test for alcohol. Most innocent people are only too willing to be proven clean.

This guy was probably clean, but it must have raised doubts in his mind if he was in Thailand or back home in Turkey, where it is not unknown for the Police to take even more drastic action.

havent you heard that guns increase the size of your pecker, also makes you a man and saves face really well. With a combination of these things no wonder there are so many gun deaths here.

so, How about this idea, don't ban guns. Ban ammunition (strictly enforced).

The gun slingers could wield massive firearms, to reflect the dimensions (wishful) of their body parts.

They could continue living with their dilusion, and everyone else would be safe.

Frensh PM , , , , , "" we must stop them. Porquoi ?. Their lies are terrible, but our lies are so nice . . ""

APRÈS MOI, LE DÉLUGE

Thank God for honest politicians

There will be a quid pro quo.

Will this largesse be linked to giving support to the benefactor at the UN and other world forums?

Maybe the current African leaders have their fingers crossed, that the debt will not be called in during their life time.

Oxfam - founded 70 years ago to send food to Greece, where the Allies naval blockade was targeting the Nazi occupation. The German Nazis having requisitioned (stolen) much food from the local population, caused a degree of starvation amongst many Greeks.

This "charitable organisation" has grown and extended it's own remit. There are no limits to the amount of "charity" the world requires !

Being a "Charity" means it considers itself above constructive criticism, and labels anyone who questions it's motives and it's internal administration, as anti-humanitarian.

An organisation which sees it's senior staff enjoying high salaries and benefits, on the backs of a large army of local charity workers giving their time and effort for no reward.

Hiring cynical call-centre workers to pester vulnerable people to donate.

Oxfam - such a wonderful organisation. Beyond reproach.

Excuse me for being ever critical of the "journalism" that typically shows up here, and the depth and accuracy of the reporting. Neither the post nor the story I read following the link disclose WHERE this sentencing took place. One might assume such and such....maybe. But anyone who's learned how to write a news story will remember: "who, what, where, when, why and how."

Anyway, mai pen rai.... We've come to not expect too much from the news here.

The couple were found guilty in the Penang High Court in May 2013, for starving the maid to death along with physical assault, which occured in 2012, and each was sentenced to a term of 24 years.

On appeal, the Court of Appeal found them guilty of murder rather than the lesser charge of manslaughter, for which they were initally sentenced.

A new sentence was subtituted, namely death by hanging for both.

Their lawyer has now lodged a further appeal to the Federal Court.

The likes of Saudi and the UAE should follow this as well. Some of the poor maids there are treated like dirt ! And worse. I don't have to write here some of the stuff that goes on as I'm pretty sure you can guess.

They possibly would if their names ended in ling, ching, wing, chew etc, not actually local kind of names, or you would not hear a lot about it.

Malaysia is a racially divided country, with the majority Malays treating the ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian populations very badly. Racially motivated attacks on Chinese or Indan shops is not uncommon, and is often met with half-hearted response by the police. This attitiude may have no bearing on the sentencing in this case, where the crime was despicable, but it would be interesting to compare the results from similar trials involving Malay defendants

This was bound to happen to a Country that relies on Oil sales alone, The world is awash with oil, Countries and public are more savvy now. They dont use the Car so much , Also cars are more Efficient now, OIl companies technology is advancing, They can drill deeper on land or sea, new chemicals are purging old wells and bringing out more oil. The world will never us as much oil as it has in the past.Plus with things changing in the Middle East more Countries are now putting oil into the oil market, becasue before they had embargoes on them. America is not taking as much oil out of this market,

"They don't use the car so much......." Maybe, but what about the 20+- million ( !) new car registrations in China this year. And more next year, and so on.

It would take an amazing amount of efficiency improvements and driver restraint to balance that.

Oil is a global commodity. Usage figures in any one country might be misleading.

. . . and still silence (or whispers at most) from Aung San Suu Kyi . ?

When a 15 year old can hack a major telecom's IT systems, you know the security wasn't up to standard.

well at least the kid will have a well-paying job when he drops out of school.

as a cyber blackmailer ?

The next World War will be a cyber one.

With the current amount of cybercrime and state sponsored cyber activity, you might consider using the present tense.

A couple of weeks ago MEPs, in the main, loudly applauded Junker's every word when he made his speech on the need for humanitarianism

Now that Europe is flooded and local people are increasingly up in arms these self same MEPs will go into self-preservation mode and if necessary bend like bamboo in the wind as it suits.

Nothing motivates a politician like the fear of losing his / her job.

They'd prefer not to be elected, just as Juncker isn't. Just let them have elections among themselves, with jobs for life, high pensions and no accountability whilst they rule by decree.

How on earth did modern, democratic EU countries allow this situation? And allow clowns like Junker and Merkel the Stassi Spy to run things?

Democracy is a word with an extremely loose definition.

There are many shining examples:: German Democratic Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, The Fourth Reich (a.k.a. the EU ) ......

Many of the member states of the EU have little experience of true democracy, so how would they know?

so many beautiful countries of potential...but leadership keeps them in ruins.

Could be such a great country but corruption prevails.

Leadership, or the lack thereof.

Leaders without leadership

The main difficulty with the EU as it now is, arises from the differing aspirations of it's member states, despite protestations to the contrary from Brussels. There is so much "wishful thinking" behind the outpourings of the Brussels bureaucratic machine which stumbles at the first challenge of reality. This is a case in point - being prepared to admit the significant difference between genuine refugees and economic migrants.The EU machine is not even prepared to debate this to a point of resolution, while for a large number of citizens in most member states, it is an important issue.

Also, comparisons of the EU with the early days of the USA should be made with caution. The differences far outnumber the similarities.

Presumably, that school did not employ any Physics or Technology teachers. Maybe they will do soon.

English school owner, not teacher.

A teacher can walk away from his/her problems. A school owner with debts and obligations doesn't normally have that option.

RIP

An owner has it a lot better than a teacher, in general, since they are their own boss and usually make more money... even if they 'may' have a higher work load.

I have far more sympathy for teachers than owners as their are a majority of exploitative owners out there.

Anybody can walk away from their problems if they have legs that work. It's a choice.

Anybody can walk away - including teachers - if the Terms of the Contract, to which they willingly agreed, were broken.

It could be argued that "moving on" is easier for a skilled employee, than for an employer who has capital investment.

As with parties to any Contract, there is risk both for employer and employee. Each must make their own assessment of that risk, and live by their decision.

I have only circumstational evidence, but a guess would be that there are at least as many incompetant and ineffective teachers of English as there are exploitative school owners. Maybe the regulation of both should be tightened.

How does anyone imagine they will have enough money to buy a return ticket at the end of a month stay, if they dont have enough before they set out ? ( unless they are planning all along to augment the holiday funds by a spot of "moonlighting", or they had planned to win the Lottery )

Pure lies to attempt to implicate the PKK as the demonstration was pro-Kurdish and anti-sectarian.

Certainly one can't rule out ISIS but neither can a right-wing group like the Grey Wolves or others linked to the government party be ruled out.

Your conclusion is probably correct, but the reasoning is unsound.

It is quite possible for cynical extremists to take this sort of reprehensible action against their own supporters if they believe it will attract sympathy for their own cause and rally more support. The PKK has such extremists within it's deepest recesses, but so do the other parties mentioned. There are no bounds to the extremists evil determination.

"Liebling Mutti" invited and encouraged the migrants to Germany, (she was speaking on behalf of Germany, not the EU) and is now demanding that the rest of the EU pay for her act of 'generosity and humanity'. Emotional blackmail. Of course, supporting genuine refugees in a considered and planned manner is essential, but Germany decided they would go it alone The EU could reach no consensus, so she went ahead anyway with her unilateral announcement.

.

There is no such thing as union in the EU (except for collecting Taxes to fuel the burgeoning bureaucracy, and to keep the Belgian economy afloat). In reality, it is every country for themselves, more or less as it always has been. Mutti has demonstrated that vividly.

A truly unpleasant experience, but was his medical treatment not covered by his Insurance ?

I would hazard to guess that the majority of us ex-pats who live here full time have not taken out insurance coverage, in Thailand for health and or death,

But this guy is reported to be a tourist, not a resident.

He spent his last 5000 ฿ and couldn't afford the fare home.

How was he hoping to return to UK with the 5000 he otherwise spent on hospital fees ?

No return ticket, No insurance. No money.

Either poor reporting, or something strange here !

A truly unpleasant experience, but was his medical treatment not covered by his Insurance ?

Do you need a Thai Company ? Could the UK importer pay you on commission, and pay all other charges directly ?

The overheads and risks of running a Company are often underestimated.

One wonders if the amazing long distance runners from places such as Ethiopia, rely on Expensive running shoes during their early years, before they become sponsored by the big Brands.

Ssshhh - maybe it is not the shoes, it could be their natural ability and no-nonsense training regimes !

Is there a Thai Lawyer in the house?

Maybe they could remind us if there is a specific offence of Terrorism under Thai law.

If so, how is Terrorism defined under this statute.