BKKBike09

Saw this comment on a Reddit thread. Seems a reasonable summation: "Dena was a warship in the active naval service of Iranian Islamic Republic. Given the outbreak of hostilities, Indian authorities offered safe harbor to Dena. Dena was not in any nation's territorial waters when she was sunk. Dena was not showing a white flag. Dena was on a heading towards a conflict zone. Dena's fate rests solely with the decisions of her commander." This comment also said "Dena had all of her weapons in place. The disposition of ordnance aboard is unknown." I don't know whether Dena had all her weapons in place but debate about "vessel was unarmed" seems beside the point. It was a WARSHIP, not a civilian or fleet aux vessel. I find it hard to believe that any nation would ever send a fighting ship like a frigate anywhere without at least some defensive capability.

'The overwhelming majority of officers and staff work hard to protect the public' ... from the comfort of their kitchen / man (person) cave etc. But not like, ya' know, by doing anything as outdated as pounding the beat rather than a keyboard. "reports of an old lady being assaulted in your street - respond immediately" "Unable. Currently State 4. Just put some pop tarts in the toaster"

Indeed. Cambodia was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons on this topic back at end of 2022. The eight-count indictment charges two officials of the Cambodian Forestry Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; the owner/founder of a major primate supply organization and its general manager; and four of its employees with smuggling and conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act. The defendants facing these felony charges are: Omaliss Keo, 58, of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Director General of the Cambodian Forestry Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Masphal Kry, 46, of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Deputy Director of the Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity for the Cambodian Forestry Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/cambodian-officials-and-six-co-conspirators-indicted-taking-part-primate-smuggling-0 However, as far as I am aware, neither of the Cambodian officials actually suffered any penalties in the US.

Cambodia has about a dozen farms breeding 'NHP' (Non-Human Primates) for export, for medical research. Crab eating macaques. Might be a bit out of your league though. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/charles-river-buy-cambodia-based-monkey-supplier-510-million-2026-01-12/

And in the parallel universe of Thai defamation laws, no-one dares report the name or even the exact address of this fine establishment.

There haven't been any civilian carry permits issued for more than two years and, as this article says, carrying a firearm in public without cause is already punishable under existing laws. Yet there have been (as since the dawn of time here) almost daily incidents of people using guns to shoot / threaten others, often after a drinking session, or in a road rage incident. Many (most) of those guns are illegal. Legally-held guns invariably cost their owners a great deal of money, so I can't see any government funding a buy back programme. And if they tell owners to hand them in for token payments of a couple of thousand baht, I imagine there'll be a flood of 'lost' guns making their way into the unlicensed marked.

I don't have any more info - even this is news to me. Took our Atto for its 3 year service last month and the dealership said nothing other than suggesting we change the SIM to a Thailand registered one - they said the SIM supplied with the vehicle was Singapore registered. My view is do nothing unless/until SIM related services I need stop working. I'd assume (maybe naively) that any safety-related OTA updates would be installed regardless.

I flew TG to London last week and the flight time was 12:50, which seemed slightly longer than usual.

"All are welcome"! ... "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

All irrelevant - the key questions are a) are you legally married to your spouse and b) will you simply put purpose of transfer as 'gift to spouse'? If yes to both, just send the money. Another key point: it is up to your wife what she does with the money because it is a gift. If you state purpose of transfer as 'repay auto loan' then she should declare it and pay tax on it.

Usually because a) they are not very smart or b) because their ticket was purchased for them, and it was the cheapest flight. Smuggling syndicates don't splash out on airfares.

Qatar is a bad place to be detained, full stop. Off topic, but a couple of years ago, while transiting in Doha en route from Thailand to UK, my hand carry was swabbed in a random check and set off the alarms ... apparently testing positive for RDX. Several successive swabs all set off the detector ... as did a further swab run through a different detector. By which time some not very friendly Qatari police were on scene. Thankfully a final swab didn't set off the detector and they let me go, much to my surprise. The flight was held 20 mins past departure for me, possibly because I was flying Business. I suspect if in back of the bus my baggage would already have been offloaded.

I think the 'awful ugly image' of a new McD at the top of Soi 11 works perfectly with the existing "welcome to Thailand" street scene of butt ugly street hookers (although as an inclusive city there's a good sprinkling of trans ones), aggressive African drug dealers, stalls burgeoned with fake Viagra and lurid Chinese sex toys ...

Tesla used to have a strong USP: it was the only really serious full EV brand / option, a dominant slot it held for a decade or so. That's been fast eroded by the massive onslaught of cheaper Chinese EV brands / options. Tesla will never get back that dominance. Instead, I think Tesla will continue to shed market share, especially if it doesn't introduce some cheaper entry level models to attract new purchasers to the Tesla brand.

You may be right but I think PP have mis-calculated, big time. PT certainly won't win the election, but they'll win enough seats to remain relevant in terms of a potential coalition partner. I can also see BJT winning the most seats (they've had a fair few defections over the last few months from PT / Democrats etc - likely more will come over as the electioneering heats up). I doubt BJT would get enough seats for a single party administration but hey, this is Thailand, and anything is possible. Playing hardball with Cambodia hasn't hurt their image at all. If they get enough to only need one coalition partner, then the question is whether PP would play ball, if asked. As ever, never a dull moment in Thai politics.