tagged w/ Thailand
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Short documentary “Behind the Siamese Smile” exposes the shocking truth about Asian elephants in Thailand's booming tourist trade, which rarely receives any media coverage.
The documentary unveils the other side of the elephant tourist business in the Land of Smiles (Thailand), where domesticated Asian elephants are trained to give ingenious performances in tourist camps. Their cuteness and 'intelligence' never fails to attract tourists from around the world. However, not so many people are aware of the real situation of these animals or their living conditions. Besides uncovering the current situation of the elephants, the documentary also features an ancient taming ritual known as 'Pajaan,' where baby elephants receive hard training in order to enter the tourist business.
"Behind the Siamese Smile" aims to raise the public awareness of the animal's plights, while questioning the common perception of the Thai Asian elephants in the tourist business.
The documentary has been selected for screening at 2011 ISFF Detmold Short Film Festival in Germany as well as at the Once A Week Film Festival.Short documentary “Behind the Siamese Smile” exposes the shocking truth... more
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Deep in the jungle, armed forest rangers trek through the palms on a mission to confirm some rare good news: the discovery of a wild tiger population in an area of Thap Lan national park previously written off by wildlife experts.
Working with foreign conservationists, the rangers have been gathering evidence from camera traps over the past two years that suggests this single national park in Thailand may have more tigers than China.
Thap Lan, with its spectacular forests of saw-bladed plan palms, is an oasis of biodiversity amid expanding human development. Elephants, clouded leopards, spotted linsang, boar and deer thrive below the canopy, which is filled with the song of myna, lapwings, laughing thrushes and other exotic birds.
Locals have long insisted that tigers also prowl in this area. Camera traps, triggered by heat and movement, have been left strapped to trees for a month. Some have been destroyed by wild elephants or infested by nesting ants, but the memory cards inside have yielded a treasure trove of images of bears, leopards, itinerant monks, as well as tigers and – worryingly – armed poachers.
More than half the park has still to be checked, but rangers have already confirmed eight tigers. This is not yet enough to be classified as a sustainable population, but park managers are optimistic more animals will be found. "I'm very happy as this is beyond expectations," said Thap Lan's superintendent, Taywin Meesap. "There are areas deeper inside where we haven't placed camera traps yet. Given the results so far, there could be 20 to 50 tigers here."Deep in the jungle, armed forest rangers trek through the palms on a mission to... more
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Went riding in Thailand and rented a KLX 250f chasing water falls, dodging elephants,a and finding some of the most amazing beaches in the world. After my ride I had a small argument with the guy who happens to have the name tricky (should have seen that before), he charged me 6,000 baht which is about $200 for the fender and mirror. Thankfully I only rented the bike for $20 a day; I still think I made off pretty well with all the beautiful sights I was able to experience.Went riding in Thailand and rented a KLX 250f chasing water falls, dodging elephants,a... more
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As part of the Pitt Rivers Tattooing and Body Art project, a group of four women worked with Filmmaker Sharon Woodward to produce a short film their own experience of tattoos and piercings.
C
http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/bodyartsAs part of the Pitt Rivers Tattooing and Body Art project, a group of four women... more
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Thank You Skinhead Girl the award winning documentary is still going strong with its tour of Inda's Film Festival in Tamilnadu and it recent Screening in Turkey :
2009 - Ultimate Picture Palace, Oxford
2009 - Portobello Film Festival, London
2009 – Gonzaga University, Washington DC
2009 - Falstaff International Film Festival
2009 - 40th Anniversary of the Skinhead Spirit of 69 Margate
2010 - 8th Film Palace International Festival, Bulgaria
2010- San Lorenzo Festival in Rome, Italy
2010 - Edinburgh Fringe - Film Festival, Scotland
2010- FilmDirecting4Women International Film Festival, London
2010 - Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn
2010 - Thame Cinema supporting Exit through the gift shop
2010 - The 1st Doi Saket International Film Festival, Chiang Mai, Thailand
2010 - 2011 - 12th Maduria Film Festival, Tamilnadu, India
2011 - 6th 7Island International film Festival, ANDHERI (W), MUMBAI, INDIA (
2011 - 9th International Filmmor Women's Film Festival, Istanbul, Turkey
Currently distributed by Concord Media in the UK later this year Germany company Sunny Bastards will be distributing the documentary film.
Feedback here:
http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi3062209817/Thank You Skinhead Girl the award winning documentary is still going strong with its... more
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"We've made a lot of progress since 1776. Back then, Thomas Jefferson owned black women. Today, Eliot Spitzer just rents them." Stand-up comedian Chris Martin emcees the 9:55 Comedy Club's open mic July12, 2010 in Richmond, VA.
http://www.ChrisMartinComedy.com"We've made a lot of progress since 1776. Back then, Thomas Jefferson owned... more
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Wow, they need to feed these monkeys more often? They act like they're starving. But these mini-baboons will rip you up pretty good, they have huge fangs. But these guys look conditioned to get food from tourists.Wow, they need to feed these monkeys more often? They act like they're starving.... more
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"Thailand is cool. At a Family Dollars Store in Thailand you can actually buy a family for a dollar." Stand-up comedian Chris Martin gets all up in your grill July 7, 2010 at Refried Comedy @ Aztek Grill in Richmond, VA. MC is Odyssey Michaels.
http://www.chrismartincomedy.com"Thailand is cool. At a Family Dollars Store in Thailand you can actually buy a... more
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It is a leading cause of dain bramage aka "brain damage". The punch knocked him out, the kick is what turned his brain off.It is a leading cause of dain bramage aka "brain damage". The punch knocked... more
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Wow, elephants really DO come in buckets. Just another day giving an elephant a little help in giving his best...
Remind me not to order a vanilla milkshake in Thailand.Wow, elephants really DO come in buckets. Just another day giving an elephant a little... more
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Chinese products were known as competitive price and good quality, and “made in China” logo could be found all over the world, from Asia to Africa. If you don’t believe, check around the items around you, you won’t be disappointed I promise.
If you want to do some small business or buy something from China, especially fashion related. There is something you really should know about before start.
Casual fashion clothing: Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Shanghai. These 4 provinces are the main textile bases dominating the fashion business in China. Thousands of wholesale websites existing thanks to them, like casual dresses, skirts, t-shirts, blouses, pants, etc.
Jeans & Denim: Xintang (Guangzhou). The jeans and denim definitely could represent Xintang, it accounts for 70% of the share in the country. Production over 0.2 billion pieces every year. More important, the strategical partnership between the town and Alibaba has been signed.
Wedding dresses: Huqiu, Suzhou (Jiangsu). Every bride dreams about the perfect wedding dress. Suzhou known as “silk city”, and wedding dress is their characteristic. Most of the suppliers and companies could offer custom-made service. So it would be easier to get you a suitable and cheap wedding dress. There are also many wedding wear companies in Guangdong.
Shoes: Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shanghai. They are 3 main shoes manufacture bases in the nation. A joke was once said from CCTV, if these bases stop the production, we won’t have shoes to wear at all! A little exaggerated, but it makes sense.
Handbags: Guangzhou(largest), Yiwu(Zhejiang), Baigou (Hebei), and Tainan(Jiangsu). All kinds of bags, leather products could be found in these four main markets.
Accessories: Yiwu (Zhejiang -largest), Guangdong, and Qingdao. In the 1980s, Taiwan was the larggest accessories center in the world, but now Yiwu takes over the place, and the business grow rapidly. Their 70% products were exported.
Since you know these basic information about the Chinese markets, if you need the items in very large quantity, you can think about manufacture orders; but if you don’t need that mean, ordering some stocks from China will do. Like those Chinese online wholesale websites, Taobao, Eachnet, etc. You will need a reliable agency to do so if you can’t come to China personally.
For more information or any help, please visit Fashion Bop. Much more useful stuff waiting for you on our fashion resources categories too, one stop shopping!
[All rights reserved, please state it's from www.fashion-bop.com, thanks!]Chinese products were known as competitive price and good quality, and “made in... more
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World AIDS Day comes amid progress, concern
By the CNN WIre Staff
December 1, 2010 2:32 a.m. EST
A giant red ribbon hangs on the White House for observance of World AIDS Day.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* The estimated number of children with HIV/AIDS in 11 Asian countries increases 46 percent
* The UN says the number of new HIV infections has dropped 20 percent in the past decade
* But the number of new HIV infections outpaces the number of people starting treatment
(CNN) -- As the global community commemorates World AIDS Day on Wednesday, international health organizations report both promising and sobering trends.
While the United Nations says new HIV infections have declined by almost 20 percent worldwide over the past decade, the estimated number of children living with HIV or AIDS in 11 Asian countries has increased by 46 percent between 2001 and 2009, the World Health Organization's South-East Asia office said Wednesday.
"In 2001, an estimated 89,000 children were living with HIV/AIDS," said Vismita Gupta-Smith, public information and advocacy officer for WHO's regional office in New Delhi, India. "In 2009, there are an estimated 130,000 children living with HIV infection," including recent HIV infection, advanced HIV infection and AIDS.
The 11 countries in the region are Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Liste.
But a report by a United Nations program released last month shows some encouraging news, including drops in AIDS-related deaths and new HIV cases.
Data from the 2010 global report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows that an estimated 2.6 million people became newly infected with HIV, compared with the estimated 3.1 million people infected in 1999.
Also in 2009, approximately 1.8 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses, compared with the roughly 2.1 million in 2004, according to UNAIDS.
Among young people in 15 of the most severely affected countries, the rate of new HIV infections has fallen by more than 25 percent, led by young people adopting safer sexual practices, according to UNAIDS.
"We are breaking the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic with bold actions and smart choices," said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS. "Investments in the AIDS response are paying off, but gains are fragile -- the challenge now is how we can all work to accelerate progress."
But not all the news from the UNAIDS report, which covered 182 countries, was good.
"Even though the number of new HIV infections is decreasing, there are two new HIV infections for every one person starting HIV treatment," UNAIDS said.
Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most affected by the epidemic, with 69 percent of all new HIV infections, according to UNAIDS.
In seven countries, mostly in eastern Europe and central Asia, new HIV infection rates have increased by 25 percent.
UNAIDS said in the Asia-Pacific region, 90 percent of countries have laws that obstruct the rights of people living with HIV.
Despite the lower numbers of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths, UNAIDS said the demand for resources is surpassing the supply.
"Donor governments' disbursements for the AIDS response in 2009 stood at $7.6 billion, lower than the $7.7 billion available in 2008," UNAIDS said. "Declines in international investments will affect low-income countries the most -- nearly 90 percent rely on international funding for their AIDS programs."World AIDS Day comes amid progress, concern
By the CNN WIre Staff
December 1, 2010... more
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Tiger Summit aims to save big cats
AP
FILE - In this March 23, 2000 file photo, an Indian tiger looks on from a camouflaged cover of strawgrass in Ranthambhore National Park near Rajasthan AP – FILE - In this March 23, 2000 file photo, an Indian tiger looks on from a camouflaged cover of strawgrass …
By IRINA TITOVA and JIM HEINTZ Irina Titova And Jim Heintz – Fri Nov 19, 12:37 pm ET
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Global wildlife experts and political leaders from 13 countries on Sunday open a meeting aimed at finalizing complex and costly plans to revive the world's tiger population, which has plummeted so sharply that it may be near the point of no return.
Although the fierce and wily tigers may be the epitome of power in their natural habitat, they have seemed nearly helpless against man. The World Wildlife Fund and other experts say only about 3,200 of the big cats remain in the wild, a severe plunge from an estimated 100,000 a century ago.
Their forest habitat is being eaten up by timber operations and construction, while poachers stalk the dwindling tiger populations, killing them for their skins and for body parts prized in Chinese traditional medicine. The wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC said in a report this month that more than 1,000 parts of tigers slain by poachers across Asia had been seized in the past decade.
"The Tiger Summit is our last best chance to ensure a future for these animals in the wild," Ginette Hemley, a WWF vice president, said in a statement Thursday.
The summit, which ends Wednesday, is hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has adroitly used encounters with tigers, polar bears and other wildlife to bolster his image, and was driven by the Global Tiger Initiative which was launched two years ago by World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
The summit intends to approve a wide-ranging program with the goal of doubling the world's tiger population in the wild by 2022 and to produce a declaration of commitment signed by government leaders from al countries that still have tiger populations: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia.
The summit also will be seeking donor commitments to buttress expenditures by each of the country's governments. A draft of the Global Tiger Recovery Program, expected to be approved at the meeting, estimates the countries will need $330 million in outside funding over the next five years to fulfill the plan. About 30 percent of that estimate would go toward programs to suppress the poaching both of tigers and of the animals they prey on.
For advocates, saving tigers has implications far beyond the emotional appeal of preserving an attractive and thrilling animal.
"Because tigers are apex predators at the top of the food chain in many Asian ecosystems, they are essential to the effective functioning of other parts of these ecosystems," the GTRP draft says. "Protecting tigers and their landscapes also protects a host of other endangered species and their habitats."
Over the past two decades, much has already been done to try to save tigers, but conservation groups say their numbers have continued to fall markedly, by about a third just since 1998.
In part, that decline is because conservation effors have been increasingly diverse and often aimed at improving habitats outside protected areas where tigers can breed, according to a study published in September in the Popular Library of Science Biology journal.
Putin has done much to draw attention to tigers' plight. During a visit to a wildlife preserve in 2008, he shot a female tiger with a tranquilizer gun and helped place a transmitter around her neck as part of a program to track the rare cats.
Later in the year, Putin was given a 2-month-old female Siberian tiger for his birthday. State television showed him at his home gently petting the cub, which was curled up in a wicker basket with a tiger-print cushion. The tiger now lives in a zoo in southern Russia.
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Heintz reported from Moscow.Tiger Summit aims to save big cats
AP
FILE - In this March 23, 2000 file... more
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After investigating a strong smell of decay seeping out of Buddhist temple in central Bangkok, Thai police found more than 2,000 foetuses hidden in its morgue.The foetuses are believed to have been illegally aborted as abortion is illegal in Thailand except under three conditions - if a woman is raped, if the pregnancy affects her health or if the foetuses is abnormal.During the initial investigation police discovered piles of plastic bags containing more than 300 foetuses, but today police Lt. Col. Kanathud Musiganont said workers pulled out another 1,700 bodies."From our interrogation of the morticians, they admitted that they have been receiving foetuses for about four years, and they told us that they kept the foetuses until they dried up, so it is easy to burn them," Milintachinda said.Two morticians have been charged with hiding bodies and face a year in jail if convicted, police added.
After investigating a strong smell of decay seeping out of Buddhist temple in... more
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Bet he's singing "I'm a little tea pot" to himself...I wonder if he is doing all that on roller blades? However, they do this on purpose as it helps cool down the tea.Bet he's singing "I'm a little tea pot" to himself...I wonder if... more
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It's pretty cool this is how we roll in Bangkok actually we have cars and electric driven train downtown but this is old school and you guys should try it if you come here in Thailand.It's pretty cool this is how we roll in Bangkok actually we have cars and... more
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koonw
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added this
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1 year ago
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Some 80 tonnes of counterfeit designer goods bearing names such as Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Chanel and Gucci have been destroyed in an effort to show Thailand's commitment to observing intellectual property rights
Deputy Minister of Commerce Alongkorn Ponlabutr on Wednesday launched the attack on more than 600,000 fake and pirated items valued at 2.27 billion baht ($US73.6 million ($A78.41 million)), slashing away with a long sword at confiscated T-shirts, and then driving a steamroller over piles of watches and CDs.
A team of workers then joined in the destruction of the bogus goods, ripping with ease through shoes and bags with a machine of steel jaws.
"The objective of this activity is to prevent counterfeit and pirated goods from getting back to the market and to show the government's strong and steadfast commitment toward intellectual property rights protection and enforcement," said Alongkorn.Some 80 tonnes of counterfeit designer goods bearing names such as Louis Vuitton,... more
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Washington - Mordechai Orian, president of Global Horizons, a Los Angeles- based labour recruiter, has been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for "engaging in a conspiracy to commit forced labour and document servitude" of approximately 400 Thai citizens who were brought to work on farms in the U.S. between May 2004 and September 2005.
Orian was formally charged on Sep. 1 in what federal officials described as the biggest human-trafficking case ever brought by the U.S. government.
On Sep. 2, Orian "deceived and evaded federal FBI agents for approximately 24 hours by providing sporadic misleading and conflicting information concerning his location, willingness to surrender in Dallas, and failing to report," government lawyers stated in documents filed with the federal court. They further charged that Orian "flew to Hawaii on another flight to avoid contact with federal agents at the airport."
Today Orian is sitting in a Honolulu jail awaiting Judge Leslie Kobayashi's decision on a government request to deny Orian's release on one million dollars bail secured on his exclusive West Moonshadows Drive home in Malibu. Susan Cushman, assistant U.S. attorney for Hawaii, has filed documents stating that Orian is a flight risk, noting that he had used 26 different aliases and four different Social Security numbers in the past.
Multiple Court CasesWashington - Mordechai Orian, president of Global Horizons, a Los Angeles- based... more
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