The "Land of Smiles" is growing grim as the political maelstrom in Thailand threatens to further erode the southeast Asian nation's battered tourism industry. Thailand has been a popular destination since its spectacular beaches were discovered four decades ago by backpacking travelers and U.S. troops on leave from Vietnam. But visits and tourism dollars have dwindled in recent months on the heels of the global economic crisis and December protests that blocked access to Bangkok's airports. A current round of ...

Political demonstrations in Thailand on Saturday disrupted the Association of South East Asian Nations summit, according to Thai and Japanese officials. Thousands of "red shirt" protesters -- named for their clothing -- have rallied for days to demand that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva step down. Their protests are not directly related to the Asian summit, but the demonstrations created so much chaos that summit members could not reach at least two of their meetings. The disruptions included traffic ...

Hundreds of anti-government protesters amassed outside a hotel hosting a major Asian summit as they continued their demand Friday for Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down. Some of the protesters and police engaged in shoving and shouting matches outside the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel in the beach resort city of Pattaya. But the demonstrations have been without incident otherwise. The hotel is the site of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. The demonstrators have said ...

Anti-government protesters have issued a Thursday deadline for Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down. If their ultimatum isn't accepted by 4 p.m. (5 a.m. ET), the protesters will intensify their efforts to destabilize the government, said Jatuporn Prompan, one of the protest leaders. Jatuporn did not elaborate on the threatened measures. Abhisit has said he cannot comply with the protesters' demands, calling them confusing and unclear. Thailand is in the midst of a political crisis, with ...

About 50,000 anti-government demonstrators amassed Wednesday in the capital in a push to topple Thailand's prime minister. The "Red Shirt" protesters -- named for the color of their shirts -- had gathered outside Government House in Bangkok, according to the chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau. Demonstrations have intensified in recent weeks to destabilize the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. The Red Shirt protesters have declared Wednesday their D-Day, claiming they will draw up to 300,000 people ...

Anti-government demonstrators say they will gather in the thousands in the capital city Wednesday in a bid to force Thailand's prime minister from office. The massive demonstration is the culmination of a movement that has intensified in recent weeks to destabilize the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. On Tuesday, the "Red Shirt" protesters -- named for the color of their shirts -- attacked Abhisit's motorcade as it was struck in traffic. He escaped unharmed. Abhisit was leaving a Cabinet ...

Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire early Friday near a disputed border temple that was the site of clashes last year, a Thai military official said. A group of about 20 Cambodian soldiers "intruded" into Thai territory and opened fired after they were warned to leave by Thai soldiers, said Col. Sansern Kaewkunerd, a spokesman for the Thai army. Both sides exchanged gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in a firefight that lasted about five minutes. There were no Thai casualties, he ...

"I was a walking time bomb. I knew I had to get on that plane if I wanted to be around to see my grandkids." Sandra Giustina is a 61-year-old uninsured American. For three years she saved her money in hopes of affording heart surgery to correct her atrial fibrillation. "They [U.S. hospitals] told me it would be about $175,000, and there was just no way could I come up with that," Giustina said. So, with a little digging online, ...

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. If you want to reduce citizens' exposure to dangerous and illegal activities online, why not gather up all the URLs for sites that promote such acts — child pornography, extreme violence, weapon-making and so on — and have Internet Service Providers simply block them? Wouldn't that make the internet safer for families and children? Actually no, as the Australian Communications and Media Authority is ...

China has blocked the popular video-sharing Web site YouTube but did not offer a reason for the ban. Google, which owns YouTube, said it began noticing a decline in traffic from China about noon Monday. By early Wednesday, site users insider China continued to encounter an error message: "Network Timeout. The server at youtube.com is taking too long to respond." "We do not know the reason for the blockage and we are working as quickly as possible to restore access ...