Bangkok  - Thailand's exports are likely to hit 173.2 billion dollars in 2009, a 1.6 per cent decline on last year's performance, media reports said Wednesday.

With economic growth and import demand on the decline in the US, Europe, Japan and in other South-east Asian nations, Thailand is expected to experience a fall in exports for the first time since 2001, according to a study compiled by The Centre for International Trade Studies, part of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

Bangkok - Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday exposed at least 34 documented cases of authorities torturing Muslim insurgents in Thailand's conflictive south, four of whom died, and called on the government to clarify its legal stance on the practice.

"All the victims were Muslim, all but one were male, and 20 of them were under the age of 30; the youngest was a boy of six, the oldest 46," said the AI report titled Thailand: Torture in the Southern Counter-Insurgency, based on testimony compiled between mid-2007 and mid-2008.

The big news doing the rounds is that British supermodel Kate Moss had
scolded her rocker dude Jamie Hince during their Thailand break for
chatting with a smart tourist.

As per the reports, both Kate
and Hince have been together for nearly 18 months now. In order to
spend their New Year together, the duo flew to Thailand.

It is believed that 34 year old Kate caught Jamie talking to an attractive American girl for a little too long!

Confirming
this development, a buddy close to Kate said, “He responded by pointing

Bangkok - A cold front sweeping in from China that has dropped temperatures to as low as 7 degrees celsius in parts of sunny Thailand has been blamed for three deaths, although alcohol may have contributed, media reports said Tuesday.

The high pressure system that moved into Thailand over the weekend was blamed for the death of a 71-year-old Buddhist monk in Ayutthaya province on Sunday and two men in northern Thailand on Monday, the Bangkok Post reported.

Police said Thanya Saeng-aroon, 37, who was found dead in his bed wearing only his underwear in Chiang Rai, 660 kilometres north of Bangkok, may have fallen asleep under the influence of alcohol, exposing his body to the harsh elements too long.

Bangkok  - Thailand's current government received a boost from a by-election held over the weekend that has added 20 seats to a Democrat-led coalition compared with nine for the opposition, unofficial results showed Monday.

Coalition partners have won 20 of the 29 contested seats, leaving the two opposition parties - Puea Thai and Pracharaj with nine, according to the Election Commission's unofficial tally Monday.

Thais on Sunday voted in a by-election in 22 provinces and for a new governor in Bangkok.

Bangkok  - Thai police are investigating the possible murder of a German woman whose body was found on Phangan in the aftermath of one of the island's notorious full-moon parties, police said Monday.

The body of Astrid Al-Assaad Schachmer, 45, was discovered Sunday morning floating in shallow water off a beach on Phangan, 430 kilometres south of Bangkok.