Word: thais
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...Thai army platoon fanning out around the village of Wiang Haeng in northern Chiang Mai province was expecting a routine patrol. That overcast afternoon in late March, the soldiers were securing the area for a special visit by Thailand's Queen Sirikit. But along the Thai-Burmese border?where insurgents, smugglers and drug dealers hold sway?little can be taken for granted. Suddenly, the Thai troops were under fire. The enemy: a unit of the United Wa State Army, a tribal force from Burma. Allied with the government in Rangoon and notorious for its dominance of the narcotics trade...
...confrontation with the Wa was more than just another border skirmish. To the Thais, Queen Sirikit's inability to travel freely in her own kingdom was an affront to their national dignity. Already seething over the Wa's drug trafficking, the Thai army deployed troops and heavy artillery near the border. Burmese soldiers, meanwhile, massed in support of the Wa and for an offensive against other ethnic rebels?fighting that threatened to spill into Thailand. As Bangkok and Rangoon traded accusations, soldiers traded mortar fire. Villagers were evacuated as stray rounds rained down on Thai soil. No civilians were harmed...
...Attack Clashes between Burmese troops and rebels spilled over into Thailand and forced the closure of the border between the two countries. Tensions increased after an armed gang attacked a school bus in Ratchaburi province, 20 km from the border, killing three children and wounding another 12. Some 300 Thai troops and police were sent to the border area to search for the gunmen, believed to belong to a Karen insurgent group. PHILIPPINES Rescue Tragedy An attempt by Philippine troops in Zamboanga del Norte to rescue two American hostages held for more than a year by Abu Sayyaf rebels went...
...irony behind these Third World films is that their makers often were schooled in the U.S. or Europe. Mehrjui is a graduate of UCLA, a few miles from Hollywood. Suleiman went to New York University, a mile up from Wall Street. The Thai film Blissfully Yours was made by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Blissfully was named best film in the Un Certain Regard sidebar, in part because it plays by the minimalist rules of international cinema: a static camera, forlorn characters, lots of driving and a little sex for spice. See what...
...After enduring an intercontinental custody struggle matching that of Elian Gonzalez, four-year-old Phanupong ("Got") Khaisri finally has parents he can call his own. Two years ago, the Thai toddler made headlines when it was discovered his junkie prostitute mother had rented him to smugglers for $250. The smugglers, who used Got as a human prop so they could pass through customs as a vacationing family, were busted in Los Angeles, and Got?abused and hiv-positive?was eventually placed with an American family. Got dodged immediate deportation when a U.S. judge refused to send him back, controversially calling...