Surge in anonymous Asia Twitter accounts sparks bot fears | Bangkok Post: news
But a surge in new, anonymous Twitter accounts across swathes of Southeast and East Asia has deepened fears the region is in the throes of US-style mass social media manipulation. But they all seemed to be following prominent Twitter users in Cambodia including journalists, business figures, academics and celebrities. "Are there really this many new, genuine users joining Twitter, all with the same crude hallmarks of fake accounts?" Raymond Serrato, an expert at Democracy Reporting International who has been monitoring the suspicious accounts, told AFP. Serrato, from Democracy Reporting International, said the fake accounts could still pose a threat even if they are currently inactive.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 06:11 UTC
Finally home, Bundesbank's gold goes on show | Bangkok Post: news
"We're doing this to show citizens that the gold bars are here, to show transparency," Bundesbank board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele told reporters, standing next to the gleaming 12-kilo (26-pound) bars in glass display cases. "We want there to be trust in the Bundesbank central bank as an institution, and in the reserves of the Bundesbank. The grumbles mounted during the eurozone debt crisis, which sent investors fleeing for safe havens like gold. - 'Money, power, greed' -Today, 1,710 tonnes of gold are kept in Frankfurt, with just over 1,200 tonnes remaining in New York and around 430 in London. Under the Bretton Woods system, which allowed countries to convert surpluses into gold at a fixed rate of $35 per ounce, it built up huge stockpiles of gold.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 05:48 UTC
G7 ministers meet against backdrop of Russia stand-off | Bangkok Post: news
TORONTO: - The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations were gathered in Toronto on Sunday seeking a common front against what they see as provocation from Vladimir Putin's Russia. The envoys from the world's most powerful democracies are meeting to plan for June's G7 summit of rich-world leaders in Charlevoix, Quebec -- but Russia will never be far from their minds. Acting US Secretary of State John Sullivan's first bilateral meeting in Toronto late Saturday was with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin. On Sunday, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will host all of her G7 colleagues plus the European Union's representative at a working lunch to discuss the crisis in Russia and Ukraine. After their lunch, the ministers will also hold a meeting on North Korea and nuclear non-proliferation.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 05:26 UTC
Boult's jaw-dropping IPL catch leaves cricket world in awe | Bangkok Post: news
NEW DELHI - Trent Boult left the cricket world stunned with his fielding brilliance after taking a sensational catch hailed as the "greatest ever" during an Indian Premier League match. The wrong-handed diving effort by the left-arm paceman -- completed just millimetres inside the boundary rope -- left Kohli in disbelief and sent social media into a frenzy. "I was stunned when he took it, that's a brilliant catch. It happens in the IPL especially," Kohli said after his team went on to win the match on Saturday night. "I think we could quite easily have just seen the Greatest EVER catch," tweeted the former England captain Michael Vaughan.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 05:15 UTC
Drug suspect killed in shootout with police
Police identified the suspect as Suriya Thokong, 38, who had walked out of jail just two years ago after serving a jail term related to drug charges. An ongoing investigation suggested that Suriya may have returned to the drug trade hence police planned a sting operation. Pol Major Weerasak Kongpetch, the chief of a border patrol police company, said undercover agents offered to buy 200 methamphetamine tablets from Suriya. According to Weerasak, police then shot back causing the death of Suriya. A rifle, 325 methamphetamine tablets and some amount of crystal meth were allegedly found near Suriya’s body.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
April 22, 2018 04:52 UTC
Crackdown on sex-party in Pattaya
The party was held in a hotel in Chon Buri’s Bang Lamung district. When officials raided the hotel late on Saturday night, they found many foreigners openly engaging in swinging and group sex. “We received complaints that the hotel had allocated one of its areas for the sex party. Participants must be a couple and pay Bt1,500 per head per night,” Bang Lamung district chief Naris Niramaiwong said. The Chinese man has been charged with operating an unlicensed hotel and also for procuring people for indecent acts.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
April 22, 2018 04:30 UTC
Fire hits office of recyclables-sorting plant | Bangkok Post: news
Firefighters and police assess the damage of a warehouse gutted by a fire in Phra Samutchedi district, Samut Prakan, on Sunday. (Photo by Sutthiwit Chayutworkan)SAMUT PRAKAN: A fire broke out in the office of a warehouse for sorting items for recycling in Phra Samutchedi district early Sunday, destroying piles of already-sorted recyclables and killing two dogs. Pol Lt Col Sunthorn Pimpan, a Phra Samutchedi police investigator, said the fire broke out at about 6.30am inside the office of a warehouse for storing recyclables in tambon Nai Khlong Bang Prakot. They were able to extinguish the blaze in one hour, preventing it from spreading to the warehouse. The fire had burned up a quantity of recyclables, mostly cardboard and plastic boxes which had been sorted and piled in the office, where two dogs were also found burned to death.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 04:18 UTC
'World's oldest person' dies in Japan at 117 | Bangkok Post: news
TOKYO - A 117-year-old Japanese woman, thought to be the world's oldest person, has died, a local official told AFP Sunday. Tajima, who became the oldest woman in Japan in September 2015, could have been the oldest person in the world since Violet Brown of Jamaica died in September 2017 at age 117, Japanese media said. Since Brown's death, Guinness World Records has been investigating who is the oldest person in the world and was yet to recognise Tajima as such. The oldest man in the world is 112-year-old Masazo Nonaka of Japan, the organisation announced on April 10. In January, she became weaker, so she was taken to a local hospital," Yoshiyuki told AFP.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 04:07 UTC
Iran threatens to 'vigorously' resume enrichment if US quits nuclear deal | Bangkok Post: news
NEW YORK - Iran is ready to "vigorously" resume nuclear enrichment if the United States ditches the 2015 nuclear deal, and further "drastic measures" are being considered in response to a US exit, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned Saturday. "America never should have feared Iran producing a nuclear bomb, but we will pursue vigorously our nuclear enrichment," added the foreign minister, who is in the United States to attend a UN meeting on sustaining peace. The foreign minister warned against offering any concessions to Trump. If the United States buries the deal, Iran is unlikely to stick to the agreement alongside the other signatories -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia --- said the foreign minister. Zarif, who will attend a UN meeting on sustaining peace this week, warned of "drastic measures" under discussion in Iran.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 03:45 UTC
Malaysia carries out autopsy on Palestinian gunned down in 'Mossad' hit | Bangkok Post: news
(AFP photo)GOMBAK (MALAYSIA) - An autopsy was being carried out Sunday on the body of a Palestinian professor who was gunned down in what his family claim was an assassination by Israel's Mossad spy agency. Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, 35, was killed in a drive-by shooting on Saturday, according to Malaysian authorities. At the crime scene, police markers indicated 14 bullets had been sprayed at the victim, some of them hitting a wall. Mohammad Shedad, 17, a student and a relative of the victim, also blamed Mossad for the killing. Ahmad Abu Bakar, 33, a foreign student studying in Malaysia, said he had known the victim for two years.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 03:45 UTC
25 detained at Pattaya hotel's 'swingers' party' | Bangkok Post: news
Party goers are rounded up by security authorities on Saturday night at a hotel where they attended a swingers' party. Naris Niramaiwong, the Bang Lamung district chief, said the raid was prompted by complaints from local residents that the hotel had frequently organised a "swingers' party" for attendants to swap sex partners. The party was being held in a room on the hotel's ground floor where 25 people were found naked, performing sexual activities. Mr Naris said people wanting to go to the party had to sign up via a website. Hotel operator Xeng-chai Yang, 53, a Chinese national, was arrested for violating the Hotel Act and illegally facilitating sexual activities.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 03:22 UTC
Taxi drivers, Uber square up on Istanbul's roads | Bangkok Post: news
Tensions have also spilt over into violence, with Uber drivers complaining of being verbally harassed, beaten up or even shot at. Uber drivers say they are easily targeted as the vans they generally drive are unusual in the city. Taxi drivers feel they have political backing, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regularly pictured drinking tea with the taxi community. Vedat Kaya, of the Tourism and Development Platform, said Uber represented a "revolt against the taxi monopoly", adding that some 4,500 taxi drivers had already switched to work with Uber. I've owned my business," he said, complaining that taxi drivers were exploited by the plate owners, while the Uber licence was much less costly.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 03:11 UTC
Thailand's Moriya, South Korea's Ko share LPGA LA Open lead
Seven-time major champion Park In-bee was third on 206 with South Korean compatriot Ji Eun-hee and American Marina Alex sharing fourth on 207. Moriya opened with a double bogey and took another bogey at the par-4 sixth before turning her round around with a birdie at the par-4 eighth. Ko Jin YoungKo, 22, won 10 times on the Korean women's tour, the last of those titles coming last October at Incheon in an LPGA co-sanctioned event. She added her second LPGA victory in February at the Australian Women's Open. Joining the co-leaders in the final trio on Sunday will be Park, whose back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 spiced a 69.
Source:The Nation Bangkok
April 22, 2018 02:48 UTC
One killed, six injured in two Ayutthaya accidents | Bangkok Post: news
Rescue workers help drivers and passengers of a car and a motorcycle after their collision in Nakhon Luang district in Ayutthaya on Saturday night. (Photo by Ayutthaya rescue unit)AYUTTHAYA: A man was killed and six people injured in two separate accidents in this central province on Saturday night, police said. The drivers of the two vehicles -- Pitsanu Klinnasak, 29, and Wichai Phutthasatsaeng, 50 -- were seriously injured and admitted to Bang Pahan Hospital. In the other accident, a car collided head-on with a motorcycle on Ayutthaya-Nakhon Luang road in Nakhon Luang district. Supakorn Suksalee, the 16-year-old motorcycle driver, and his pillion rider, 19-year-old woman Thanitha Menrum, were admitted to Somdej Phra Sangkharat Hospital in Nakhon Luang district with serious injuries.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 02:37 UTC
Iniesta says 'emotional' final may be his last for Barca | Bangkok Post: news
MADRID - Andres Iniesta hinted he may have played his last final for Barcelona after they crushed Sevilla 5-0 to win the Copa del Rey on Saturday. He looked tearful as he departed to a standing ovation in the second half, from some Sevilla fans too, before hoisting the Copa del Rey trophy aloft. "This week I will make my decision public but we will always have days like today," Iniesta said. Asked if this was his last final with Barcelona, Iniesta added: "It's a possibility. Lionel Messi scored in between a first-half double for Luis Suarez as Barcelona ran riot to secure their fourth Copa del Rey triumph in as many years.
Source:Bangkok Post
April 22, 2018 02:37 UTC