An elephant has stomped three rubber plantation workers to death in southern Thailand, police have said.

The female beast attacked a 44-year-old male worker who was working in a farm on Wednesday morning, police Lieutenant Somjit Ma-ou told reporters.

He said: "It then freely wandered into another plantation a few kilometres away and attacked another woman.

"Her husband saw it elephant charging toward her, grabbing her body with its trunk and hurling her on the ground before stomping on her body."

All three victims died instantly after she stamped on their chests and stomachs, breaking their ribs.

Somjit said another victim was found in a nearby plantation later in the morning.

A woman has filed a complaint with the police against the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand for selling VCDs of the alleged lese majeste speech by a former PM's Office Minister and translating a red-shirt leader's alleged lese majeste speeches into English and distributing them.

57-year-old Lackana Kornsilapa, who works as translator and adviser to a private company, filed a lese majeste suit at the Lumpini police station against Jonathan Head, BBC correspondent to Asia, and the 13 board members of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, or FCCT.

She alleged the accused had conspired to sell VCDs of the alleged lese majeste speech by former PM's Office Minister Jakrapob Penkair, given at the FCCT on August 29, 2007.

A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their release are to take legal action for compensation.

They were the victims of an extortion racket that has ensnared other foreign travellers at the airport, which handles most of the 800,000 British visitors to Thailand every year.

Stephen Ingram, 49, and Xi Lin, 45, both technology professionals from Cambridge, were detained by security guards as they went to board Qantas flight QF1 to London on the night of Saturday, April 25.

They were accused of taking a Givenchy wallet worth £121 from a King Power duty-free shop and were handed over to the police. An official release order from the local Thai prosecutor’s office subsequently conceded there was no evidence against them.

They were freed five days later after a frightening ordeal in which they said they were threatened and held against their will at a cheap motel on the airport perimeter until they had handed over the money.

The bribes were paid to an intermediary named Sunil “Tony” Rathnayaka, a Sri Lankan national in his fifties who works as a “volunteer” interpreter for Thailand’s tourist police (motto: “To serve and to protect”).

“Our main motivation is to protect other innocent British tourists from being caught up in this nightmare,” said Ingram last week. “We intend to take every legal means to recover our money and obtain justice.”

The owner of the Thai Ginger, a local chain of popular Thai restaurants, pleaded not guilty this afternoon to federal charges alleging she paid her employees thousands of dollars to enter into "sham marriages" with her relatives from Thailand so they could stay in the U.S.

A federal grand-jury indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Seattle against Varee Bradford, 43, of Issaquah, who operates five Thai Ginger restaurants in Seattle and the Eastside. She was arrested this morning.

Bradford is charged with four immigration crimes, including conspiracy to commit immigration fraud.

She was released on personal recognizance after her initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court.

Also named in the indictment is an associate of Bradford, Porramin Tangchaiwanna, 32, also known as "Golf." He is charged with assisting Bradford in arranging a sham marriage with a man who turned out to be an undercover immigration agent. He also pleaded not guilty.

Bradford's husband, Michael, the co-owner of the restaurants, declined to comment this morning.

As many as 28 Democrat Party MPs face disqualification for holding shares linked to state concessions, Thepthai Senpong, spokesman of Democrat Party leader said on Tuesday.

The Democrats will call a meeting on Wednesday to find ways for their MPs to fight the case in the Constitution Court.

He ruled out that the government's stability would be affected reasoning the Opposition could not launch censure motion since Parliament is in extraordinary session.

Five Pheu Thai Party MPs who face disqualification on the same ground would request the Election Commission to extend time for them to submit evidence related to their equity holding for another 15 days, an MP said on Tuesday.

"We need more time to check their equity holdings since they may have held the shares over ten years ago and some have wives or children who work in the state enterprises and were given shares as staffers,'' Pheu Thai Party party list MP Sunai Chulapongsathorn said.

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT: -- A surprise test of their knowledge has enraged many Thai-language teachers in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

"We will stage a protest so that the top education officials look back on their policies too," a teacher said on condition of anonymity.

"We major in other subjects but due to the shortage of teaching staff, the Education Ministry has required us to teach the Thai language".

This teacher has taught Thai in the southern province for years. She and colleagues teaching the same subject were forced to take the test designed to assess their knowledge of Thai.

The Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) initiated it after seeing a significant drop in children's Thai-language performance.

"It's unfair to pass the blame on to teachers alone," the same teacher said, "Why doesn't Obec assign teachers to teach subjects they have been well versed in?"

BANGKOK, June 13 (TNA) - Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) officials on Saturday began cleaning and fumigating all 435 schools under the agency’s administration in the Thai capital, while entertainment venues in Thailand’s Andaman Sea resort province of Phuket have been asked to close for five days after an employee was found to have contracted the Influenza A(H1N1) virus, officials said.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the two-day school cleaning campaign, ending Sunday, is aimed at preventing the spread of the flu to students under City Hall’s supervision.

The BMA campaign follows the H1N1 diagnosis Friday of a student of St. Gabriel’s College, a private school operated by the Roman Catholic Brothers of St. Gabriel in Bangkok’s Samsen district. A private tutoring school the school the student attended on the weekend will also be closed for a week to curb the spread of the disease.

PHUKET: -- Four tourists in Phuket are suspected of being infected with swine flu and are currently in quarantine in Phuket hospitals.

According to the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office, three of the quarantined tourists are believed to be Pakistani nationals. They were immediately quarantined at Patong Hospital after thermo scanners showed they were suffering from high fevers.

The fourth tourist is a Thai national who has been quarantined at a “private hospital”, according to a report on Thai-language news website Manager Online.

Blood samples from all four have been sent to the Regional Medical Sciences Center in Surat Thani for testing.

Blood samples from 26 Patong nightclub employees were also sent for testing at the center. They reported coughing and flu symptoms after coming into contact with a Hong Kong tourist who came down with swine flu during a stay in Patong.

CHON BURI: -- A tiny underwater camera, slipped through a hole into a mysterious container on the seabed off Chon Buri's Sattahip district yesterday, found the container empty, with no skulls or toxins as feared.

Following a fishing boats' discovery of eight sealed containers under the sea, the government assigned Central Institute of Forensic Science director Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan to work with the Royal Thai Navy to find what was inside.

Yesterday a diving team, with media members and officials went to Chong Sam San, eight sea miles off the Sam San port to inspect one container.

The first diving team went down with a dosimeter and detected no radiation harmful to humans. A second diving team followed to record the inspection with an underwater camera.

The container was lying sideways on the sandy seabed some 20 meters below, with a 50cmwide squareshaped hole. The camera slipped into the hole found a ladder inside, suggesting it was a containerturnedoffice space. The officials also collected water samples from inside the container through a syringe, and sand samples for further testing.

SA KAEW: -- Health officials Friday quarantined 10 New Zealand tourists after one of them was found to have high fever when crossing the border at the Aranyaprathet checkpoint.

Officials measured the body temperature of Blair Matthew and found that he had 39.3 Celsius degree body temperature.

Matthew had led 9 other New Zealanders to visit Vietnam. They had arrived from New Zealand before visiting Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and returned to Thailand the check point at 12:30 pm Friday.

The ten were sent to the Aranyaprathet for quarantine pending a test whether Matthew had contacted the type A (H1N1) influenza virus or not.

-- The Nation 2009-06-12

BANGKOK: -- The number of confirmed cases of swine flu in Thailand nearly tripled to 46 yesterday, with most of the new infections detected among workers at a nightclub in the seaside resort of Pattaya.

And a Hong Kong visitor has claimed to have contracted the virus on the southern resort island of Phuket. Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva has sent Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai Witthaya there to investigate.

"There are new confirmed cases both in Pattaya and Phuket," the prime minister said. "But none of these confirmed cases is in a serious condition."

Health officials reported 30 new cases across the kingdom, including a young British traveler, and said more were expected. But they urged people to remain calm.

VANCOUVER, B.C. — The long battle by fugitive Thai banker Rakesh Saxena to avoid extradition to Thailand on embezzlement charges may be drawing to a close, after the B.C. Court of Appeal rejected his bid to overturn earlier rulings upholding his removal.

Saxena was arrested in Whistler, B.C., in 1996 on an extradition warrant for his alleged part in a massive embezzlement scheme.

He's accused of stealing US$88 million from the Bangkok Bank of Commerce, which along with theft by others, triggered the bank's collapse.

Saxena, 56, has been fighting ever since to stay in Canada, arguing he could be harmed if he returns to Thailand and won't get a fair trial.

Last month, Saxena asked the Appeal Court to reconsider earlier rulings upholding a ministerial order for his extradition.

BANGKOK: -- Thailand on Thursday reported 21 new cases of the flu, all of them were discotheque staff in Pattaya, Thai Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said.

Among the 90 samples collected from people who worked in hotel and discotheques in Pattaya, 21 of them were confirmed to be positive to the flu.

The collection of the samples were conducted after two Taiwanese who visited Pattaya were found infected by the flu when they returned home.

"All 21 cases which were found positive to the flu were staffs of a discotheque in Pattaya," he said.

He also referred to a 11-year-old student of a private school who was infected by the flu although he had no record of travelling to a foreign country like other patients.

His school suspended their classes for three days, starting today, to find the source of the flu.

PHUKET CITY: -- A 33-year-old man from Hong Kong fell ill with human swine influenza following a stay on Phuket, the Gazette has learned.

The Hong Kong Department of Health said the man visited Phuket with a friend from June 4 to 8. He reportedly developed a cough on June 7.

The travelers returned to Hong Kong on Dragonair flight KA213 on June 8 at about 10.30pm.

The sick man sat in row 26 of the flight.

On returning to Hong Kong he declared his symptoms in the health declaration form and did not pass temperature screening.

He was taken to by ambulance to Princess Margaret Hospital, where he was placed in quarantine.

KUALA LUMPUR : Thai Airways International (THAI) seems poised to cancel its order of six A380 superjumbo jets, which it considers not viable for its operations and, at a total cost of about US$1.8 billion, too expensive to fund.

Wallop Bhukkanasut, chairman of THAI's executive board, revealed the national carrier's revised stance on procuring the world's largest civil aircraft, which it agreed to purchase back in 2007 when the carrier was struggling to weather its worst financial crisis in 49 years.

"It is not economically viable to have and deploy this aircraft in our network," Mr Wallop said at the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual general meeting being held in Kuala Lumpur.

Airlines operating A380s have found it difficult to achieve the yields they expected due to the global economic crisis, high operating costs and a lack of flexibility in moving the aircraft through airports, he said.

"It is a special mission airplane and can currently operate through eight airports around the world, meaning you can't put the aircraft on routes as you may wish," he said.

With THAI's planned configuration of the A380, the airline must fill 88.8% of 501 seats just to break even, he said.

BERLIN, GERMANY: -- A previously unnoticed sojourn by former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra in Germany at the start of this year upset Bangkok and triggered fury in Berlin, a German newspaper reported Friday.

The Munich newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung said Thaksin had last summer obtained a 90day visa to visit Germany. Then, on December 29, 2008 in Bonn, he obtained a one year residency permit, picking it up in person without federal officials noticing.

The newspaper said the permit was cancelled at Berlin's demand on May 28. It was not clear from the report where Thaksin was living now. The paper said he was using a Nicaraguan diplomatic passport. His Thai passport has been revoked.

BANGKOK: - Thailand Privilege Card's board yesterday approved a sharp cut in expenditures that will affect Thailand Elite Card members' privileges.

Board chairman Thongchai Sridama, who is also deputy director-general of the Highways Department, said the cuts were necessary, because losses meant TPC's working capital could cover only this year's costs.

Initially, the annual budget will be cut from Bt541 million to Bt210 million. This will require the board to terminate the Bt77-million management and information-technology service contract signed last year by the board when it was chaired by Sorajak Kasemsuwan, as well as a Bt20-million contract leasing Toyota Alphards for executives.

The board will also slash its annual spending by at least Bt23 million, leaving the organisation Bt190 million per annum.

"Kung Fu" and "Kill Bill" star David Carradine was found hung himself in a closet in a hotel room in Bangkok on Wednesday, Thai police said.

Police believed he committed suicide.

Carradine, 72, was in Bangkok to shoot a movie and stayed at a Suite Room 352 of the Park Nai Lert Hotel on Wireless Road since June 2.

The film crew were aware of his absence when they went to dine out at a restaurant on Sathorn Road on June 3.

Carradine did not show up at the dinner and the team could not reach him. They assumed that he took a rest because of his age.

PHUKET CITY: The director general of the Land Department has reiterated that foreigners using Thai nominees to buy land anywhere in the country will have their land title deeds revoked if caught – even if the nominee in question is a lawfully wedded spouse.

Land Department Director Anuwat Meteewiboonwut made the comments during a recent stop in Phuket as part of a nationwide inspection tour of 30 provinces.

The tour is aimed at improving public services by land officials in three areas: dress, conduct when dealing with the public and working harder to eliminate a backlog of work.

Many members of the public have complained that it takes up to a year to complete a transaction that should only take one day, he said.

Mr Anuwat, a former governor of both Phang Nga and Samut Prakan provinces, said he was satisfied on the first two points, but rated the general level of success among land officials nationwide at speeding up their work rate at “only 30%”.

The next round of inspection tours will come in July, after which time personnel changes will be considered if service does not improve, he said.

“We have to keep pressure on them, otherwise the work will not get done,” he said.

As for foreigners seeking to buy homes in Phuket, they can do so through the Condominium Act, which allows foreign ownership of up to 49% of any project, he said.

Foreigners cannot use a Thai spouse as a nominee to buy property in Thailand, however.

BANGKOK: -- Top environmental group Greenpeace called on the authorities yesterday to tackle pollution released from factories along the Chao Phraya River more seriously.

Several hundred supporters of the group teamed up with staff from Ayutthaya province yesterday to collect garbage from the river near Muang Ayutthaya.

Greenpeace also plans to collect garbage out of the river from boats between Nakhon Sawan and Bangkok.

The idea is to raise public awareness about water pollution and get people looking out for all forms of pollution.

Greenpeace coordinator Plai Pirom said the group had studied pollution impacts on the Chao Phraya from Ang Thong downstream to Samut Prakan. It found that many factories released toxins into the river and this contamination affected the ecosystem and food chains.