Showing 1 - 10 of 12
Brakes abandoned in 'Phnom penh express'
B Magazine, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 17/02/2013
» A Belgian-educated Khmer, a female Hezbollah-financing Israeli crime boss, a sexy Cambodian-born Mossad agent, a gung-ho US embassy worker and a Belgian ex-military diamond lord. In Phnom Penh Express, a first novel by Thailand-based Johan Smits, this quintet of self-serving characters cast their nets and drag each other ever closer in an implausible but highly readable thriller as tension mounts. Set in a Phnom Penh riddled with corruption and mismanagement, an imbroglio of misplaced packages and mistaken identity unfolds, as assassinations go awry amid an international turf battle.
Is 'White Prison' making Bang Khwang a darker place?
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 17/03/2013
» Bang Khwang Central Prison is undergoing a transformation under an initiative aimed at ridding the notorious "Bangkok Hilton" and eight other facilities of drugs and other contraband. The "White Prison" policy came into effect last May under new director Vasant Singkaselit. Under the policy, visitors have been banned from bringing food, clothes or other items for prisoners; even books are banned. Prisoners are allowed to meet visitors once a day for 45 minutes, up to two visits a week, while visitors can only seen one inmate per day. Inmate workshops have been cancelled, punishments have become harsher and access to help in case of medical or fire emergencies has been limited.
Locked away and forgotten: inside a high security jail
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 04/11/2012
» At two security checkpoints visitors are frisked and scanned with metal detectors. No sharp objects, no liquids, no metals, no mobile phones or gadgets.
'Evil man from Krabi' victim speaks out
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 25/11/2012
» 'Im trying to pick up my life again, but until justice is served I'm finding it difficult," said the victim of a alleged rape in July, in Ao Nang, Krabi province last week.
As seen through the lens of an insider
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 16/09/2012
» Over the course of 25 years covering Myanmar and Southeast Asia as a photojournalist, Thierry Falise has come under fire from Lao militia, been hit by shrapnel covering riots in Bangkok and come face to face with a diminutive follower of the 10-year-old twins commanding God's Army who would stand on a chair to beat his wife.
Dead child walking
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 22/07/2012
» Just returned from a visit to Bangkok's notorious Bang Kwang prison, Toshi Kazama is ready to talk about criminal justice. On a rainy evening at the Foreign Correspondents' Club last week, the Japanese-born photographer shows slides of his photographs of juvenile offenders and speaks about the complexities of capital punishment. He has been photographing young people on death row since 1996, mostly in the US, where he has lived since the age of 15, and more recently across Asia.
For Belarusian troupe, show must go on despite dangers
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 19/08/2012
» Thespians of the Belarus Free Theatre have been beaten, arrested and harassed by authorities. And husband-and-wife co-directors Nicolai Khalezin and Natalia Kaliada, as they explained to Spectrum last week while on a visit to Bangkok, are now forced to live in exile, facing prison sentences if they return home. Within Belarus _ their large landlocked country of just under 10 million people, bordered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania _ the actors continue to perform in secret and at great risk to themselves and their audiences.
Dragons & butterflies, an inmate finds inner peace
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 13/05/2012
» South African Alexander Krebs, known to friends and family as "Shani", arrived in Bangkok in April 1994 on a 10 day holiday. He was 34 at the time and writing a novel, but was also a 15-year-long drug addict who had a sporadic wild streak in him and had just broken up with his fiancee. His family thought the time away would do him good.
An open invite to access all arias
B Magazine, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 20/05/2012
» Interminable arias, incomprehensible stories, deadly boredom _ these are some of the apprehensions people might have when approaching opera, says Anette Pollner, director of Who Is Afraid of the Opera?, a new Bangkok Music Society production.
Players shoot but don't kill as electrifying sport makes its debut in Bangkok
News, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 04/03/2012
» The atmosphere was electric as a shocking new sport came to Bangkok.