Dozens Perish in Bangkok Club Fire

Club was ill-equipped for fire safety

(NEWSER) - Firecrackers or a pyrotechnic New Year's display are the likely culprits in last night’s Bangkok nightclub blaze that killed 61 people and injured 200, the BBC reports. Witnesses said flames shot from a stage set the ceiling on fire, which then fell onto terrified partygoers. “People were screaming for help from every window. It was a terrible sight,” one said. More»

(NEWSER) - David Carradine, the star of campy '70s TV classic Kung Fu who enjoyed a career renaissance as the villain in the Kill Bill films, was found dead today in Bangkok, where he was shooting a movie, the AP reports. Carradine, part of a prominent Hollywood family that included father John, a legendary character actor, and niece Martha Plimpton, had apparently hanged himself, according to a local media outlet. More»

President Thein Sein's reforms have obviously convinced her

(NEWSER) - Burma's most popular political activist is leaving her country for the first time in decades, a sure sign of confidence in the nation's fledgling steps toward democracy, Reuters reports. Aung San Suu Kyi plans to arrive in the Thai capital of Bangkok tomorrow to give a speech at the World Economic Forum on East Asia. Since returning to Burma in 1988, she has refused to leave during her times of freedom, thinking the military junta wouldn't let her back in. More»

Bangkok devices match those used in India, Georgia attacks

(NEWSER) - The suspected Iranian hit squad busted in Bangkok last week made cheap portable radios into bombs that they intended to use against Israeli targets, authorities say. Experts say the bombs are nearly identical to those attached to vehicles in attacks in India and the republic of Georgia , ABC reports. After an explosion at a house in Bangkok, one of the three Iranians now in custody in Thailand hurled a radio bomb at police in an attempt to evade arrest, but it bounced back and shredded both his legs . Other bombs were found in the house. More»

They spent two days at Thai 'sex resort,' say officials

(NEWSER) - Three Iranians suspected of plotting Bangkok bomb attacks on Israeli diplomats arranged to meet women as they planned their missions—and they weren't 72 virgins . They spent hours over two nights partying with prostitutes at a Thai beach resort in Pattaya, known for its sex industry, say authorities. One of the prostitutes has been brought in to identify the men in Bangkok, where they're being held, reports MSNBC . The hookers took a cell-phone snap of the hard-partying Muslims that has been published in the Bangkok Post. Nothing triggered the prostitutes' suspicions except when they were ordered away from a closet in the men's hotel room. More»