|
Expat news
|
|
Wednesday, 15 August 2007 |
A recent study by Khon Kaen University has found that about 15 percent of all marriages in the northeast of Thailand are between Thai women and foreign men. The common sterotype of relationships of this sort are Thai women marrying European men, often 20 or 30 or even 40 years older than they are, because of the economic advantage, while the men do so to receive companionship, an easy life in a country very cheap by Western standards, and somebody to look after them as they age. Oftentimes, the men leave behind unhappy marriages in the West, while the women come from poverty-stricken backgrounds or failed marriages themselves. While many of the marriages are peaceful and happy, some locals say they have witnessed terrible endings. For example, houses and land, by law, have to be owned by Thais, and there have been cases where Thai wives simply expropriated the properties built for them by their foreign husbands whom they expelled, and then invited their Thai boyfriends to move in with them. Also, some women who are married to Thai men tell their foreign boyfriends that they are their brothers. So they sit together and eat together, and the foreigner even buys a motorbike for the Thai 'brother,' according to retired Austrian international lawyer Christoph Killy.
IHT
|
|
|
Expat news
|
|
Sunday, 12 August 2007 |
Newsweek magazine reports that unlike the rest of Southeast Asia, fundamentalist violence in Thailand is becoming worse. Experts say that Thailand now faces the worst unrest since it annexed the Muslim region bordering Malaysia in 1902, and that the violence could spread north. The military junta has begun hinting that it might make an aggressive push to regain control over the south, which could raise the level of bloodshed. Ultrasecretive and horizontally integrated into autonomous cells, the insurgents are now thought to number 3,000, according to the article.
Newsweek
|
|
|
Expat news
|
|
Sunday, 12 August 2007 |
A team of four Thai students won first prize in the software writing competition at Microsoft's 2007 Imagine Cup competition in Seoul, South Korea. The four students from two universities in Bangkok wrote a program that enables computers to 'voice' typed and handwritten text for people who are illiterate. The team was comprised of Chatuporn Sukkasem, Pratchaya Paisanwipatpong and Patompol Sang-u-raiporn from Kasetsart University and Wasant Cheanmaneetaweesin from Chulalongkorn University. The team received a US$25,000 cash prize. The competition attracted 344 students from 112 teams representing 59 countries.
TNA
|
|
|
Expat news
|
|
Saturday, 11 August 2007 |
 Journalist Aaron Goodman takes a look at the conflict in Southern Thailand in this video report from PBS. Goodman explains why the insurgency is taking place, and what is being done to stop the violence. He meets with Soraya Jamjuree, a lecturer at Prince Songkhla University in the southern province of Pattani, who offers support to the women and children in remote villages who have been caught up in the violence. Goodman was in Pattani on the day of the Chinese New Year attacks, in which 30 bombs exploded in the area, killing six people and wounding more than 60. Goodman said that many analysts believe the insurgency remains an internal conflict, although some claim that Muslim teachers trained in Pakistan and the Middle East have imported a radical form of Islam into Thailand.
PBS
|
|
|
Expat news
|
|
Tuesday, 07 August 2007 |
Children of Norwegian fathers and Thai mothers in Thailand often end up as social outcasts, according to the Norwegian Seamans Church in Pattaya. Oftentimes, the Norwegian father is 30 or 40 years older than the mother, and the risk of him dying before the children have grown up is therefore high. As such, the mothers are often left without enough money to take care of the children and turn to prostitution to make ends meet, while the children are often stigmatized as unwanted, according to the church. Because the children are technically Norwegian citizens, they have the right to receive social support from Norway, although the church said that many of the Thai mothers are not aware of this.
ScandAsia
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
