Hundreds of protesters forced Thailand's army-installed parliament to suspend its meetings Wednesday after the activists stormed into the chamber's halls. About 1,500 union advocates, students and political activists surrounded the parliament building, claiming the military-appointed lawmakers had no mandate to pass legislation. About 100 of them slipped past security and stormed into the parliament's meeting rooms, prompting lawmakers to suspend deliberations.
"We want the National Legislative Assembly to close this session and stop violating the people's rights. Most of the laws adopted by this assembly violate the people's rights and give more power to government officials," said former senator Jon Ungphakorn, who led the protest. "The laws adopted have also favoured capitalists," he said.
The protesters in particular cited a new internal security bill, which has already passed through a first reading and could be approved before parliament dissolves ahead of the December 23 general elections. If enacted, the security law would give a military body, under the prime minister's control, sweeping powers to suspend basic rights and override normal government procedures anywhere in the country at any time.
Critics say the law would enable the military to dictate government policy from behind the scenes while shielding officials from prosecution for any abuses. The protesters also slammed proposed laws that would allow privatizations of state utilities and public universities.
"Adoption and deliberation on these important bills should be done by elected members of parliament, because then the people are able to participate," Jon said.
After the September 2006 coup that overthrew the elected government of prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the junta handpicked the 250 members of the assembly to function as a parliament.
But activists say that with general elections less than two weeks away, the body no longer has any mandate and should stop passing laws. [via Inquirer.net]
Sierra Tangos
- Two French tourists were robbed after they took two transvestites to their rented room for sex and massage late Tuesday night. The two men, Annisse Rannane, 23 and Delil Secen, 18, were found tied up and naked in their rented room in South Pattaya area at 12:30 am. They told police that they met the two transvestites while walking back to their room and the two offered sex and massage service. But when they the two transvestites back to their room, two other Thai men with face covered stormed into the room and robbed them. [via The Nation]
Ed. Not sure which is worse. Getting robbed or having your names plastered all over the newspapers for tranny shagging. At this rate, the 18 year old will have some really interesting stories to tell his grandchildren if he lives that long and obviously if advances in medical science enable trannys to have kids. (Cartoon by Mike Baird)
- Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn decided to double the amount of currency that can be brought in or taken out of the country undeclared to US$20,000 from US$10,000, Deputy Finance Minister Sommai Phasi said Wednesday. According to Mr Sommai, the new restriction is a result from the expansion of economics and higher inflation. He added that tourists from several countries including Russia like to use cash in addition to credit cards. Individuals wishing to carry cash in or out of Thailand in larger amounts than US$20,000 must report to authorities. [via Bangkok Post]
- The fast developing resort city of Pattaya is making all out efforts to attract tourists and potential investors from Russia and other CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries. As CIS and Thai tour operators increasingly target holidaymaker's from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, the number of visitors from these countries to Pattaya-Jomtien is dramatically increasing - from 482,000 in 2006 to an estimated 600,000 this year and a projected one million in 2008. [via Asia Property Report]
- Access your data anytime, anywhere with online backup and data storage - Gone are the days when you used to backup your important files on floppies and CDs. We've compiled a list of 10 online data storage services to suit your needs. Some of these provide huge space and some provide better security:
- Box.net is a virtual storage space for your computer files. You will have enough space to hold thousands of documents, photos, music files, and video clips. Try it out for as long as you'd like by signing up for a 1GB free account. Whether you want to move files among multiple computers, back up important data in the event of a computer crash, or share documents and photos with friends and colleagues, Box.net is for you.
- ADrive LLC leads the free online data storage community, offering the largest amount of free storage on the Internet. ADrive provides users with secure solutions for storing, backing up, and accessing files from virtually anywhere, at any time. ADrive serves as an online, centralized vault for all file types including: music, videos, photos, documents, and more.
- Strongspace is a safe place to gather, store, back up, and share any type of file. You can upload and download files via SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol), HTTPS (Web browser access over Secure Socket Layers) and even RSYNC over SSH (a rapid, low bandwidth way to "sync"). Strongspace is designed so that everything happens over a secure, encrypted connection. Your password and other sensitive information is encrypted with Blowfish, and files are moved to-and-from servers to your computer over encrypted channels at all times.
- OmniDrive is the world's first complete storage aggregator. Omnidrive allows you to bring all your files and content together from your desktop, devices, and the web onto a single space that's easily accessible from any platform. Omnidrive's API allows partners and developers to easily build aggregated spaces and content-enabled applications for the web or desktop.
- Celum Imagine is the business solution for managing, integrating and distributing, and image and media files.
- Twango is a media sharing service that finally makes it easy for you to upload, manage and share your media. Unlike traditional online photo album sites, Twango incorporates many elements of social networking sites, allowing you to create and maintain relationships through the process of sharing your media. People are connected to each other as a result of direct sharing, keywording and commenting on each others media, and creating lists of favourites.
- FilesAnywhere has automated backup, folder synchronization. Simple, reliable uploads using drag-and-drop. WebFolders, drive mapping, direct edit/save. Share files, folders, media using Web links. Receive files using dropbox links for guests. Add SubAccounts to create a workgroup. Use version control for checkin/checkout. View documents online, with no download. Photo albums, video, and audio streaming. Search file text, metatags, and comments
- BigVault Online is your digital safe deposit VAULT on the Web. bigVAULT Online is an innovative Web browser based application that is extremely simple to use. You can store, access, organize, and share files and folders anytime, anywhere. Just as you would use a traditional bank safe deposit box to store valuable assets and hard copies of important documents, use your online VAULT to store copies of all your important digital assets.
- Mozy to ensure your photos, music, financial documents, e-mail and other important files are safely backed up at a secure, remote location. Mozy gives away 2 GB of secure, automatic online backup for free and offers unlimited online backup for $4.95 a month. It is the award-winning online backup solution reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, BusinessWeek.com, Financial Times, Computer Shopper, PC Magazine and PC World.
- AllMyData provides secure, automated online backup for your files and documents, offering unlimited storage and backup from one machine. It acts as a virtual hard-drive on your system such that dragging and dropping files onto it sets up the backup process. No unencrypted data ever leaves your computer and only you have the passphrase to decrypt it. The system works by encoding files and splitting them into many pieces. The pieces are then redundantly distributed on our network of storage nodes in such a way that only a small percentage of the pieces must be recovered in order to fully restore a file.
- XDrive gives you 5GB of Free secure online storage to protect, manage, and access your photos, music, and videos from anywhere. This desktop software integrates seamlessly with your computer--just like an external hard drive--allowing convenient access to your important files on Xdrive. Quickly transfer large files and entire folders using drag and drop from your PC. Or schedule automated backups to ensure you always have the latest version of your files available. Enhancements include an improved backup interface, performance tuning for faster uploading, seamless authentication with AOL/AIM software and services. Get 5GB free! [via Techlicious.tv]
- The world’s first luxury underwater hotel, the Hydropolis Undersea Resort, is all set to open its doors in Dubai this December. The £300 million, 220-suite hotel is a one of its kind resort, which will encompass a whopping 1.1-million-square-foot of area offering shopping mall, ballroom, island villas, restaurant, high-tech cinema and surprisingly, a missile-defense system for your security 60-feet underwater. Located 20m beneath the surface of the Arabian Gulf near the scenic Jumeirah Beach coastline, the underwater hotel offers 220 theme suites to the tourists within the submarine leisure complex. The resort is designed with a petal-like retracting roof to organize open-sky events. [via Born Rich]
- Haven't been on a plane for a while so I don't know if new aircraft have power sockets. If not, this is a brilliant li
ttle device. The Inflight USB Power Unit connects directly to the headphone jack found in the armrests of most commercial airplane seats and passes power to your gadgets via a USB connection. Extend the in-flight use of Blackberrys, Ipods, music players and game units. The unit won't power anything as big as your laptop, but should be able to supply a charge to any device that natively supports USB charging (like your iPod, cell phone, or PSP). The basic Inflight USB Power Unit will set you back $35, and you can optionally purchase iPod and mini B connectors. [via Lifehacker]
- Microsoft is releasing Office 2007 Service Pack 1 today. You should theoretically be able to download it from Microsoft's site, although the download link wasn't working properly this morning. Sometime in the next 3-6 months Microsoft will push SP1 through Windows Update.
Office 2007 SP1 packs a bunch of bug fixes, including the infamous Excel calculation bug. Of course, that bug was already fixed in October, but like all Microsoft Service Packs, this one includes all the important hotfixes since Office 2007 was first released as well as a few new goodies.
- Teenager Rachel Aldana is to star in the Guinness Book of Records for having Britain’s biggest boobs - a titanic 32JJ. They make Jordan’s 34FF pair look like poached eggs - and unlike the model, Rachel’s ones are NATURAL. But hairdresser Rachel, 18, pays a heavy price for her monster mammaries. Each one weighs a staggering 2.4KG - more than a large bag of potatoes - which means she suffers permanent back pain. Rachel commented, "I’m 5ft 6ins yet I have these huge breasts. I look like a Barbie doll - and it’s caused grief all my life.” [via totallycrap.com]
-
For French tourists, Tempting trannys - whatever rocks your bateau.........
- Times Magazines Top 10 Political Posters Of 2007
- Q. Why is it so difficult to find men who are caring, sensitive, and good-looking?
A. They already have boyfriends.
del.icio.us Tags: pattaya, pattaya_rag, pattaya_nightlife, go-go_bars, bar_girls, pattayarag, bar_go-go_pattaya, beach_pattaya, news_pattaya, girl_pattaya, girl_thai, bar_girl_thai, lady_boys, katoeys
