Royal Shaft in Bangkok

Editor gets 10 years in jail for Thai royal insult

Jan 23 2013 

THANYARAT DOKSONE, Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — A prominent Thai activist and magazine editor was sentenced to a decade in prison Wednesday for defaming Thailand's monarchy, a verdict rights groups condemned as the latest affront to freedom of expression in the Southeast Asian country.

Somyot Pruksakasemsuk was convicted of publishing two articles in an anti-establishment magazine that made negative references to the crown.
The verdict came despite repeated calls by rights groups to free Somyot, who has been jailed since 2011. It also underscored the harsh nature of Thailand's lese majeste laws, which critics say have frequently been used by politicians to silence rivals.
The articles were published under a pseudonym in Somyot's now-defunct Voice of Taksin magazine, which he launched in 2009 to compile political news and anti-establishment articles from writers and contributors.
Judges found both articles included content that defamed the royal family and argued that Somyot, as a veteran editor, was aware of that. The court handed down two five-year jail terms — one for each story.
Somyot "should have better judgment than ordinary journalists. He must have understood that the articles contained lese majeste content, but chose to publish them anyway," one of judges said in the ruling.
Somyot said he would appeal the verdict but would not seek a royal pardon.

The man of Siam

Ferocious French Fart?

Was that you? Foul odor wafts from France to UK

 Jan 22 2013 

PARIS (AP) — A foul-smelling cloud of gas wafted over the landscape in northern France Tuesday, making life unpleasant from the outskirts of Paris to Britain's shores and prompting scores of emergency calls.

France's Interior Ministry released a statement saying the gas emanating from the town of Rouen is harmless though disgusting.

While authorities reassured residents not to worry, winds carried the smell across hundreds of square miles.  Authorities asked all French citizens in the immediate area to refrain from passing gas as much as possible so as not to contribute to the problem.

The French Ministry of Noxious Odours had 20 inspectors in the field trying to locate the source of the smell. There was no national or regional holiday with rich banquets the day before which could have caused such an enormous backup of gas.

Police in the coastal English town of Hastings reassured residents in a tweet with the hashtag "noneedtopanic" that the likely cause of the odour was "just the French letting off steam."

The London Fire Brigade tweeted that they had received five times more calls about potential gas leaks before 10:30 Tuesday morning than they took all of the day before. Their response? Hashtag "mondieu."

Pierre-Jean Payrouse, the director of regional sports, said he hoped the odour would dissipate by Tuesday evening.

Possible source?

But not in time for a French Cup soccer game scheduled for the evening; authorities postponed the Marseille-Rouen match to prevent the sickening of the athletes.

Shoot First, Ask Questions Later?

Brazil police officer shot dead in fake holdup

Published - Jan 18 2013 12:03PM CST

STAN LEHMAN, Associated Press

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police say an officer playing a prank on a colleague by simulating a holdup has been shot and killed.

A police spokeswoman in the city of Rondonopolis said by telephone on Friday that an officer was pulling out of his garage to go to work when his friend rode up on a motorcycle and announced a holdup.

The officer in the car drew his gun and fired several shots into the stomach of the friend, whose face was helmet. When he realized who the man was, he rushed him to a hospital, where he died.

The police spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the case. The incident took place late Thursday.

Soda Pop Blizzard Closes Highway

Soda spills, freezes on Pa. road when rigs crash

Jan 22 2013

READING, Pa. (AP) — Everyone knows soda can be bad for your teeth. Sometimes, it can apparently threaten the morning commute, too.
Police say two tractor-trailers collided on U.S. Route 422 outside Reading, Pa., around 12:40 a.m. Tuesday. The Reading Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/10mYCVv ) one of the trucks was carrying 2-liter bottles of soda.
Hundreds of gallons of sugary drink spilled onto the highway and froze in the frigid early morning temperatures. Those slick conditions from the crash ended up shutting down the roadway in Exeter Township for more than five hours.

The photo of the giant soda bottle shows the approximate amount of soda spilled from the delivery truck.
Traffic was detoured until the road reopened shortly after 6 a.m.

Taking the Plunge

Bucket plunges from copter into San Diego business

 Jan 18 2013 08:46AM CST

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Marine Corps spokesman says a bucket of cleaning solution fell from a military helicopter and smashed through the roof of a San Diego business, but nobody was hurt.

The bucket plunged through the roof of a closed auto shop and clipped a motorhome.  No one was sleeping in the motorhome, a common shelter for the homeless.

A half-dozen vehicles were splashed with the watery solution.  The bucket was smashed to smithereens so the buckets shown here are just bucket samples.

Balzer, the spokesman, says the shop owners can file a claim with the Marine Corps for restitution but good luck with all the paperwork.  Response time is usually from 6 months to a year.

Suicide Watch

World's best big wave surfers compete at Mavericks

Jan 20 2013 

JASON DEAREN, Associated Press

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — As swells lumbered across the Pacific toward Northern California, nearly two dozen of the world's best big wave surfers went to meet them on Sunday, a half-mile offshore at the famed surfing break known as Mavericks.

For the first time since 2010, the Mavericks Invitational surf contest — which requires wave faces of at least 20 feet — got under way at the bone-crushing break that has claimed the lives of two expert big wave surfers.

Wave forecasters this week saw an excellent mixture of swell, wind, tide and sunny skies, though the waves Sunday morning were not quite as big as expected.

Contestant Tyler Smith said there were long waits between sets of waves, but there were some good rides for the patient.

"You just have to be in the right place at the right time," said Smith.

Once the decision was made to run the contest, the call went out to the surfers, giving them a couple of days to pack their boards and wetsuits, and hop a plane.

Surfing the wave at Mavericks is a feat that takes athletic skill, experience and nerve.

The swells travel through deep water for five days before hitting a small, finger-like section of shallow reef that juts out into the sea.

When the swell meets the reef, the wave jumps upward and crashes back down with a fury, eventually washing through a section of craggy rocks.

The takeoff is often so steep that the surfers' big-wave "gun" surfboards leave the wave face, forcing the surfers to land near the bottom and make a quick turn before being pummeled by the wave's lip.

The spot — named after the dog of Jeff Clark, who is credited with being the first to surf Mavericks — has earned a nasty reputation. Mark Foo, a legendary big-wave surfer from Hawaii, died while surfing Mavericks in 1994. In 2011, another seasoned waterman, Sion Milosky, died there just weeks after another surfer nearly drowned.

This year's contest will be different: spectators are forbidden access to the beach or bluffs. After a large set of waves crashed into the crowd in 2010, injuring dozens, local officials barred crowds from congregating there.

Also, people congregating on the bluffs and along tide pools during previous contests caused environmental damage.

This year organizers have set up a festival at a nearby hotel, featuring a large screen that will broadcast the surfing live. The surfers will hold the awards ceremony there at the end of the contest.

The Coast Guard has issued a high surf advisory for the weekend, and is warning people throughout the region to watch for "sneaker waves" and other hazards.

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Home Style Population Control - Not Recommended

Officials: 15-year-old kills 5 inside NM home

Jan 20 2013 

SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A 15-year-old boy fatally shot two adults and three children at a home near Albuquerque, authorities said Sunday.

The teenager was arrested on murder and other charges in connection with the shootings Saturday night at the home in a rural area 10 miles southwest of downtown Albuquerque, Bernalillo County sheriff's spokesman Aaron Williamson said.

The victims' identities haven't been released, and the boy's motive and connection to the five victims weren't immediately known. Williamson said investigators were trying to determine if the victims were related.

"We are trying to identify the victims," Williamson said.

Each victim suffered more than one gunshot wound, he said.

Investigators also were trying to determine who owned several guns that were found at the home, one of which was a semi-automatic military-style rifle.

Authorities declined to release details of any conversation that the 15-year-old had with investigators.

The teenager was booked on two counts of murder and three counts of child abuse resulting in death.

On Sunday, a police roadblock cut off public access to the narrow dirt road that leads to the home.

Detectives were still processing the crime scene Sunday afternoon.

Peter Gomez, a 54-year-old carpenter who lives about 200 yards from the home, said he saw police vehicles and ambulances arrive Saturday night.

Gomez said he doesn't know the family that lives at the house, but he has seen a married couple and their two boys and two girls from time to time.

"It's a horrible thing," Gomez said. "You see all this stuff that happens all over the country, the shootings in the schools and theaters, and then it happens right here. It's sad."

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Associated Press writer Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this report.