Crime had never really been a problem in Takham Uthao's impoverished rice farming village in central Thailand until prices for his crop began hitting record highs.
The price of Thai rice jumped 50 percent last month to levels never before seen, turning the output from Takham's paddy fields into a far more valuable commodity just as the harvest was getting underway.
The Shia "martyrs" of this hill village are normally killed in the dangerous, stony landscape of southern Lebanon, in Israeli air raids or invasions or attacks from the sea. The Hizbollah duly honours them. But the body of the latest Shia fighter to be buried here - from the local Hashem family - was flown back to Lebanon last month from Iran.
One of Britain's last bell foundries on Thursday marked the 150th anniversary of its biggest creation - the massive bell whose bongs sound the hour at the Houses of Parliament.
It was made by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which also made Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and the Bell of Hope, given to New York by Londoners on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Crime had never really been a problem in Takham Uthao's impoverished rice farming village in central Thailand until prices for his crop began hitting record highs.
The price of Thai rice jumped 50 percent last month to levels never before seen, turning the output from Takham's paddy fields into a far more valuable commodity just as the harvest was getting underway.
The Shia "martyrs" of this hill village are normally killed in the dangerous, stony landscape of southern Lebanon, in Israeli air raids or invasions or attacks from the sea. The Hizbollah duly honours them. But the body of the latest Shia fighter to be buried here - from the local Hashem family - was flown back to Lebanon last month from Iran. 
One of Britain's last bell foundries on Thursday marked the 150th anniversary of its biggest creation - the massive bell whose bongs sound the hour at the Houses of Parliament.
It was made by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which also made Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and the Bell of Hope, given to New York by Londoners on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.