The warning was given two days after a Thai criminal court sentenced Amphon Tangnoppaku, 61, to 20 years in prison for sending text messages deemed insulting to the country’s queen.
Amphon was found guilty on four counts and sentenced to five years’ consecutive jail on each charge.
Thailand’s laws against lèse-majesté (insulting a monarch) are the most severe in the world. Even repeating the details of an alleged offence is illegal.
A report in the Bangkok Post quoted the information technology minister, Anudith Nakornthap, saying that anyone who had pressed “like” on items related to lèse-majesté on Facebook should go back and delete all their reactions and comments. Such material could end up being copied by people who set up fake pages to insult the monarchy, he said.
“If they don’t delete them, they can end up violating the computer crime act for indirectly distributing inappropriate content,” Anudith said.
Thailand: It was one long kiss for a couple – one record-breaking embrace for mankind.
A determined Thai couple locked lips for 46 hours, 24 minutes and nine seconds to celebrate Valentine’s Day in this southern beach resort town, emerging victorious after a “kissathon” organizers claim marked the longest recorded smooch in history.
Couples in the Thai tourist resort city of Pattaya marked Valentine`s day o…
The previous record of just over 32 hours was set in 2009 by a couple in Germany, according to Guinness World Records, whose officials will have to verify the latest milestone for it to become official.
Fourteen couples kicked off the contest at 6 a.m. on Sunday. By Monday afternoon, half had already beaten the record and were still puckering up on the white-marble corridor of an oceanside shopping mall in Pattaya. Passing tourists gawked, smiled and snapped pictures with glowing mobile phones behind a red rope.
“We didn’t think we would find anybody that could break the record,” said Somporn Naksuetrong, the manager of Pattaya’s Louis Tussaud‘s Waxworks museum, which organized the competition. That seven couples apparently did, he said, “is amazing.”
The winner was announced before dawn on Tuesday: A Bangkok couple, Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat. They won a diamond ring worth 50,000 Thai Baht (US$1,606), and a 100,000 Baht ($3,213 dollar) cash prize.
According to the rules, the lovebirds’ lips could not part at any time. Any drinks could only be consumed through straws while continuing the kiss, and the couples had to remain embraced during bathroom breaks possible every three hours – accompanied by contest monitors.
The harshest rule: no sitting or sleeping. One woman participating with her boyfriend fainted just half an hour after it began on Sunday.
Despite its reputation for having one of the biggest sex industries in the world, Thailand is still a conservative nation where kissing in public – even a small peck – is frowned upon. Participants had to prove they were either married or truly a couple – a letter from both parents or a marriage certificate was acceptable.
“We want to show that love is meaningful and powerful,” Somporn said. “It’s not easy to stand there and kiss for that long. They really have to help each other and support each other.”
A Thai and international soundtrack that included tunes like Sixpence None The Richer‘s 1997 hit “Kiss Me” kept couples swaying two nights straight, some barefoot or striking yoga-like poses to keep awake.
About 35 hours into the marathon, 37-year-old Preedi Singhajan scribbled a note on a paper tablet to his 51-year-old partner, Rungnapa Rojananawin.
“Can you go on?” he asked.
She soon answered by ending their embrace. Attendants swiftly sat the couple down and a nurse took Rojananawin’s pulse.
“The competition is fierce,” she said, slumped in a metal chair as five other couples shimmied in a bizarre scene akin to a high-school dance tempered by bright floodlights. “These people aren’t giving up easily.”
Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks – a Pattaya wax museum, is under the management of Ripley’s World of Entertainment. Representatives of Guinness World Records were not immediately available to comment, but Somporn said they were aware of the contest.
The couples who took part were mainly Thai and ranged in age from 21 to 51. There was one German man with a Thai woman, and also a gay couple.
The official longest kiss was clocked at 32 hours, 7 minutes and 14 seconds long by Nikola Matovic and Kristina Reinhart in Germany in February 2009, according to Guinness.
It is heartening to note that there are better crooks than politicians.
By the way who got how much?
Karunanidhi of Tamil Nadu might like to have the address of the scamster.
Story:
ARLINGTON, VA—Defense SecretaryRobert Gates admitted losing $192 million in defense funds Tuesday when he unwittingly purchased a large number of bogus BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles from a disreputable arms dealer known only as “Steve.” “When I got the crate open at the office, it turned out the ‘missiles’ were nothing more than old sewer pipes filled with newspapers and capped with construction cones, all painted to look legit,” Gates said of the transaction that was set up through an undersecretary whose brother-in-law knew a guy looking to unload some long-range strategic weapons. “I probably should have known when he tried to sell me a bunch of sunglasses, too.” Gates confirmed that troops in Afghanistan are scheduled to receive the counterfeit missiles next week.
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