Thai Buddhist monks have been warned not to use social networking sites to flirt with girls. Last week, the Prime Minister's Office requested that the Information, Communications and Technology ministry monitor monk's use of the Hi5 social networking site. A Thai minister reportedly asked site operators to monitor the Web site for monks' participation and kick them off the site. He also urged other users not to interact with monks behaving inappropriately on the site. The news of the warning came earlier this week as police in Thailand were investigating a rape claim against a monk. In that case, a monk is accused of using the Internet to lure a teenage girl to his temple and raping her.Information Week
A gunman in Thailand killed eight neighbors, including his brother-in-law, after growing tired of their karaoke versions of popular songs, including John Denver’s Country Roads. Weenus Chumkamnerd, 52, put his gun to the head of a respected female doctor and seven of her guests as they partied at her home in Songkhla Province, in southern Thailand. "When I began shooting nobody pleaded for his life because they were all drunk," he said after his arrest. A neighbor said that the karaoke group normally sang Thai pop and southern Thai ballads, but one particular western tune could be heard often - John Denver’s ‘Country Roads’.
The Telegraph
The Telegraph
For his first night back in Thailand, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra booked a penthouse suite at the Peninsula Hotel for US$3,300 (103,000 THB). Thaksin's two-bedroom suite featured a private fitness room, butler's quarters and is decorated with Persian rugs, traditional Asian furniture and wood-paneled walls. Thaksin flew first class on Thai Airways from Hong Kong. The one-way trip costs about $850 (26,350 THB).AP