Word: thai
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...tourist who was in Bangkok for the party-loving city's raucous New Year's Eve festivities, must be glad she listened to her gut. Around 9 p.m. on Dec. 31, the kindergarten teacher from Hamburg was grappling with the unnerving news that six bombs had detonated across the Thai capital just a couple of hours earlier, targeting everything from a shopping mall and a supermarket to a bus stop at Victory Monument, one of the city's busiest gathering places. Watching the police comb for evidence at Victory Monument, Martin changed her mind about attending the famous New Year...
...unlikely this was the work of southern insurgents," says Francesca Lawe-Davies, Southeast Asia Analyst for the International Crisis Group. "It's always been more about their territory; if they were to stage an attack in Bangkok, I think they would choose a target more directly linked to the Thai state instead of public places." At a press conference a day after the bombings, interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont discounted speculation that the carnage was coordinated by Muslim extremists, instead linking the bombs to "people who lost benefits from losing political power...
...card-carrying class. Featuring classic[an error occurred while processing this directive] Lanna architecture without, and authentic hill-tribe craftsmanship within, this two-year-old hidden gem comprises just seven suites and four rooms, making it feel less like a hotel and more like the sumptuous home of its Thai owner Wanphen Sakdatorn and her husband, German Honorary Consul Hagen Dirksen...
...Thai authorities must have agreed. They quickly canceled the Central World festivities and urged the thousands of people already gathered for the countdown to go home. Many dispersed, but plenty of celebrants were still milling around when a second wave of bombs detonated around midnight. Two explosions erupted near Central World, one at a flyover and another at a seafood restaurant frequented by tourists. Several foreigners were injured in the midnight attacks. Firework blasts added to the general chaos, with initial reports of further bombs proving instead to be New Year's Eve festivities...
...Complicating matters are efforts by the military-installed government to reform the finance sector in ways that may penalize the very foreign companies needed to keep investment flowing into Thailand. Proposed amendments to the Foreign Business Act, for example, could force thousands of foreign firms to sell shares to Thai locals if they wish to continue operating in Thailand. "There is a lot of confusion about what exactly is happening in Thailand," says Sukit Udomsirikul, assistant managing director of Siam City Securities in Bangkok. "Such uncertainty negatively impacts business sentiment." A mysterious bombing campaign is sure to rattle confidence further...