Bangkok Police

Schoolteacher Christopher Neil was arrested in Thailand after the international police agency Interpol unscrambled swirled digital images of him allegedly engaged in sexual acts with young boys.

Investigators received hundreds of tip-offs which led to Neil's arrest in October last year.

The Thai court also imposed a 60,000 baht (£960) fine on the 32-year-old, who had pleaded guilty on May 12.

Friends said they armed 69-year-old Ian Beeston with a tazer gun to protect himself. But it was not enough.

Being a Thai participant at the United Nations-sponsored climate change negotiations can be embarrassing.

While delegations from other countries actively made their proposals, bravely commenting on other parties' stances, or strongly defended their national interests from unsound obligations, the Thai delegation, on the other hand, opted to sit quietly.

The Thai team's silence at the five-day Bangkok Climate Change Talks, which ended yesterday, continued from previous meetings, including the conference of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol and other talks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

John Leo Del Pinto, 25, died after being shot in the face and torso while Carly Reisig, also from Canada, was taken to hospital with a bullet wound.

Colonel Sombat Panya, of Pai district police in northern Mae Hong Son, said the officer involved claimed the shooting was an accident.

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But he revealed Sergeant Uthai Dechawiwat had since been charged with premeditated murder and released on bail.

Tun Chomchuen, 45, was found dead Tuesday with the skin stripped off her face and head after being attacked by two Bang Kaew dogs, a Thai breed, at a horse farm in Buddhamondhol district on Nakorn Pathom province, 60 kilometres west of Bangkok.

Jorg Rudolf Fiedler, 43, was found guilty of molesting and raping five minors under the age of 13 and sentenced to nine years and four months in prison, said Judge Udom Saenboonsiree of the Bangkok Criminal Court.

At Thanyaburi Provincial Court, Judge Samart Ardnarong presided over the verdict in a case filed against Chalerm by five girls - three under 15 and two over 15.

The court said Chalerm was clearly guilty. He was a well-known person who knew his actions were illegal and his appeal did not carry sufficient weight to clear him.

In 2002 the Criminal Court found Chalerm guilty of four counts of statutory rape from November 2000 to January 2001 and sentenced him to four years in prison on each count. Chalerm posted Bt1 million in assets as bail.

"If I had done it, I guarantee that the prime minister would not have survived," General Panlop Pinmanee, the deputy chief of the Internal Security Operations Command, told reporters in Bangkok. "I think Thaksin cooked the thing up to damage me."

The discovery Thursday by police of a car laden with explosives near Thaksin's residence has added intrigue to an already shadowy political battle between the Thai leader and groups in Bangkok vowing to oust him from politics.

With elections scheduled for Oct. 15, the alleged plot introduces the prospect of further violence in a political crisis that until this week had been largely peaceful. Thailand has not had a sitting Parliament since February, when Thaksin called for a first round of elections. These were held in April but were boycotted by the opposition and nullified by the courts in May.

The driver of the car seized Thursday, Thawatchai Klinchana, is a lieutenant from the Internal Security Operations Command. He was arrested and charged with illegal possession of an explosive device.

Thaksin said Friday that "three or four" military officers were involved in the plot and that more suspects would be arrested.

"I never thought this kind of thing could happen in Thailand," Thaksin said, according to Agence France- Presse. "I don't have wicked intentions toward anybody."

Pam Fitzpatrick, 26, was shot in the back of the head Monday night as she and her sister stood in front of the UP2U restaurant in Kanchanaburi town, 160 kilometres west of Bangkok, to watch the Australia vs Brazil World Cup football match on the establishment's television.

Listed in critical condition, Fitzpatrick was reportedly transferred to a Bangkok hospital for emergency treatment Tuesday.

The two men, both Thais, were watching Italy's 2-0 win over Ghana at a restaurant Monday at the Thai beach resort town of Pattaya, and erupted in roars when Italy scored its first goal, said Panipha Wattakul, a girlfriend of one of the victims.

In Narathiwat, assailants ambushed two security groups supervising the delivery of ballot boxes in Si Sakhon district.

The first attack occurred in Ban Pa Nan about 7.30am. Assailants threw bombs and shot at a pick-up truck carrying ballot boxes while it was on its way to the fifth polling station in Ban Ai Jue No.

Shrapnel wounded village headman Adiya Balo and Pol L/Cpl Pipat Sangmani.

Shortly afterwards, troops guarding the delivery of ballot boxes to the eighth polling station in Ban Ai Bue Tae, tambon Si Sakhon were attacked. Pol Cpl Sakchai Inlek, 34, died instantly from a shot to the head. Six other police were injured.

Chusak Leelaprapaporn, 63, a mini-mart shop owner, told police two men slipped into his house and broke into his bedroom in the late hours.

The burglars assaulted him and his wife, who was sleeping. Mr Chusak jumped from the second storey and ran to the local police station for help.

Saengroj Kanjana, 36, son of Chumpon Kanjana, the former Democrat MP for Surat Thani, surrendered to police on April 8 to answer charges that he raped two Burmese women on Jan 29.

The Burmese women lodged a complaint with police in Surat Thani alleging Mr Saengroj sexually assaulted them, causing severe physical injuries.

The deputy police commissioner said Mr Saengroj might escape and intimidate the witnesses if released.