Bangkok - Unknown assailants launched a grenade at anti-government protestors Saturday, injuring eight people and fanning worries that Thailand was heading for more street violence this weekend, media reports said.
Witnesses said two young men fired the device from an M-79 grenade launcher at guards for the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) outside Government House, the seat of the Thai government, injuring eight people, one of whom was listed in critical condition with shrapnel wounds to his body and neck, The Nation newspaper's online news service said.
On Thursday, a similar early morning attack on the PAD left one man dead and 24 injured.
Bangkok - Nikon Corp's unit in Thailand laid off 1,500 of its subcontracting staff amid signs that Thailand's exports are slowing, media reports said Saturday.
The Japanese camera-manufacturing giant has decided to terminate the employment of 1,500 non-permanent staff at its factory in Ayuthaya province, the Bangkok Post said, quoting provincial labour official Pongthai Musikapong.
Bangkok - Flash floods have claimed five lives in Thailand's southern provinces of Nakorn Si Thammarat and Surat Thani and caused 11.5 million dollars in damages, disaster relief workers said.
Since Friday flash floods caused by heavy rains have drowned three people in Nakorn Si Thammarat and two in Surat Thani, about 500 kilometres south of Bangkok, said officials at the provincial disaster response service.
There were no deaths reported on Samui Island, a popular tourist resort off the coast of Surat Thani.
More than 216,000 people have been affected by the flood waters in 36 districts in the two provinces.
Bangkok - Pojaman Shinawatra, the former wife of Thailand's fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, has appealed a court verdict that found her guilty of tax evasion and carried a sentence of three years in jail, her attorney said Friday. The appeal was accepted by the Criminal Court Thursday and sent to the Appeals Court, lawyer Viraphat Srichaiya said.
The Bangkok Criminal Court found Pojaman guilty July 1 of deliberately avoiding payment of 546 million baht (15.9 million dollars) in taxes on the transfer of 4.5 million shares in the family-run Shin Corp to her stepbrother Bannapot Damapong.
Pojaman and Bannapot had claimed the shares were a "gift" and, therefore, not taxable.
Helsinki - An extra passenger was Thursday added to the passenger list after the surprise birth of a baby girl onboard a flight operated by Finnish carrier Finnair, reports said Friday.
The in-flight birth, a first for Finnair, occurred at an altitude of 11,000 metres over Kazakhstan. The plane had left Bangkok for Helsinki.
"The pilot had considered an emergency landing in Moscow, but there was no immediate need," Finnair spokeswoman Hanna-Kaisa Nurmi told local media.
A physician and two nurses onboard assisted cabin crew with the birth. Via satellite telephone they were also able to consult with experts on the ground.
The mother, a Swedish national, and baby were reported to be in good health.
Bangkok - A Thai court on Thursday sentenced a woman with a history of mental disorders to eight years in jail, commuted to four, for stabbing four schoolgirls at a prestigious Bangkok private school in 2005.
The Bangkok Criminal Court found Jitrada Tantiwanichayasuk, 36, guilty of planning in advance a knife attack on four girls at Bangkok's St Joseph's School on September 9, 2005, that left at least one of the victims in critical condition although she later recovered.
Bangkok - Nikon Corp's unit in Thailand laid off 1,500 of its subcontracting staff amid signs that Thailand's exports are slowing, media reports said Saturday.
Bangkok - A Thai court on Thursday sentenced a woman with a history of mental disorders to eight years in jail, commuted to four, for stabbing four schoolgirls at a prestigious Bangkok private school in 2005.
