Latest news with #Tha
Express Tribune
22-06-2025
- General
- Express Tribune
Sri Lanka's sacred alms bowl faces modern crisis
The alms bowl is a symbol of monks, yet in Sri Lanka artisans are struggling as cheap substitutes flood the market, igniting a debate over Buddhist tradition and quality. The village of Panvila has long been associated with craftsmen who produce the humble "paathra", the special bowl that forms part of the eight essentials donated to monks and which is used to ask for food. Thenuwara Badalge Sarath, 65, says he is the only blacksmith left in a village that once supplied much of the country. "When I learnt the craft from my father, there were more than 10 families in the neighbourhood who made these bowls," Sarath told AFP, while hammering a piece of scrap metal into a holy utensil. "Today, I am the only one keeping up the tradition. My son died recently in a road accident, and there is no one to carry on this line of work after I am gone," said the fourth-generation craftsman. He spends about a week producing a batch of five to six bowls from discarded steel barrels. He sells each for 600 rupees ($2), but competition from cheap imports is tough. "There are aluminium bowls that come from abroad. They are cheaper and lighter – we can't compete," Sarath said at his village smithy, near the southern tourist resort of Hikkaduwa. Karma drives demand The Buddhist-majority nation of some 22 million people has just over 42,000 monks, but the demand for bowls is disproportionately high because of the positive karma attached to offering them to temples. Kirinde Assagi, a leading Buddhist monk, said the alms bowl forms part of the eight items for a monk to lead an ascetic life and spread the teachings of Buddha, along with two robes, a razor, a straining cloth, a needle and thread, and a belt. "The bowl is his livelihood. When a monk goes out begging with his bowl, he gets sustenance", Assagi said. "Because gifting 'ata pirikara' to monks brings enormous good karma, devotees clamour to donate this," said the monk, in reference to the eight-item package. At his Gangaramaya temple in the capital Colombo there were nine such packages donated within an hour one weekend. 'Mountain' of discarded pots Assagi says most of the bowls however are of poor quality, made out of aluminium and unfit to serve food in. In a storeroom at the back of his temple, there is a huge pile of bowls that monks say are not suitable even for offering food to household pets. "I will show you a mountain of begging bowls that we have discarded. We make holes at the bottom and repurpose them for potted plants." Monks in Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos traditionally seek alms every morning, underscoring their simple life and demonstrating that their livelihood depends on others. But the influx of cheap bowls is impacting the dawn ritual. "We see the practice of monks begging slowly dying off as the quality of the bowls goes down," he said. The Gangaramaya temple in Colombo has campaigned to improve the quality of utensils offered to monks and revive the ritual of seeking alms. Assagi said the Thai royal family has in recent years gifted more than 27,000 high qualitiy stainless steel bowls to Sri Lankan monks, most of whom are followers of the Siam sect of Buddhism practised in that nation. Unlike the financially well-off Gangaramaya, smaller temples are known to sell their excess bowls back to the market in a move that undermines traditional craftsmen such as Sarath. "When the bowls go back to the shop from a temple, we find it difficult to sell our produce," Sarath said. He is trying to convince devotees that there is less merit in offering bowls that are being regifted.
Metro
28-05-2025
- Metro
Man who tried to bomb ex's house dies after explosive bounced back and hit him
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A man who plotted to kill his ex-girlfriend died when a bomb he threw in her home recoiled and exploded in his face. Surapong Thongnak, 36, hatched his plan when Kanonraphat Saowakhon, 28, said she didn't want to reconcile with him in Surat Thani, southern Thailand. Witnesses were drinking coffee when they said Surapong drove up to the property, before barging into the house and waking up Saowakhon, pleading for her to take him back. After the chaos, he allegedly tried to stab her with a pair of scissors before running to his car to grab a grenade. Once he threw it, the explosive hit a concrete pillar on the property and bounced back. Surapong leaned down to pick up the grenade, when it exploded in his hands, instantly killing him and injuring four others on May 25. Police arrived at the scene and found Surapong lying face down in a pool of blood, with debris and shrapnel scattered across the yard. Four people, including his ex-girlfriend, Saowakhon, were wounded and rushed to a hospital where they were treated for minor injuries before being released. Police Major Chinnakrit Sawatdiwong said: 'The injured individuals were taken to the Tha Chana Hospital. All of them have been discharged except for Samart Janyang, 68, who suffered more serious injuries. He has been transferred to the Surat Thani Hospital for further treatment.' Surapong's mother, Ranjuan Timdee, 58, said the couple had only been dating for two months before breaking up. She said: 'I was shocked to receive the news this morning that he had died. I couldn't believe he could be so violent.' Police said they also seized half a kilo (1.1 lbs) of meth from Surapong's car. Recent statistics found that the most dangerous time for a victim who has left a relationship to face violence is shortly after a breakup. More Trending 77% of domestic violence-related homicides happen after a separation, and for two years after, there is a 75% increase of violence in these situations, according to Battered Women. Women's Aid exclusively shared that 72% of people underestimate the prevalence of domestic abuse, revealing a critical gap in public awareness around this urgent issue. Nearly a quarter of us know a woman or girl who has been a victim of domestic abuse over the past year, an exclusive survey for Metro found previously. A shocking 20% also confirmed they had seen or heard it happen in the same period. And 39% confirmed that they know a woman or girl victim of sexual harassment. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Thousands of men are spitting on women runners — it's happened to me MORE: My husband shoved and spat on me on our wedding night MORE: Police make stark warning over British 'drugs mule' found with record cannabis haul
The Star
17-05-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Pearly-Thinaah to stay aggressive against S. Koreans
Pearly Tan (R) and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia hit a return against Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia during their women's doubles final match of the Hong Kong Open badminton tournament in Hong Kong on September 17, 2023. (Photo by Peter PARKS / AFP) PETALING JAYA: Sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don't. Women's doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have experienced unsatisfactory record in the World Tour finals but are keen to stick to their strategy in the Thailand Open title match today. Pearly-Thinaah have reached eight finals before this but have only won three titles - the 2021 Swiss Open, 2022 French Open and 2024 Hong Kong Open. French Open was their biggest career title being a Super 700. The pair's aggressive and intelligent game play has so far paid dividends in Thailand and helped them to beat Japan's Rui Hirokami-Sayaka Hobara 21-18, 21-12 in the last four at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok yesterday. After a closely fought first game, world No. 4 Pearly-Thinaah raised their game in the second to wrap up the match in 45 minutes. Thinaah said that standing firm on their strategy helped them come through in the second game. 'In the first game, our opponents pressured us into making simple mistakes and that made it a close fight,' said Thinaah in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF). 'In the second game, we told each other to stand firm on how we wanted to play and that really helped us to win.' Pearly said: 'Reaching the final boosts our confidence as we have had a lot of ups and downs. We discussed a lot about our game play which sometimes works and sometimes does not 'I'm very happy that things have worked out well in this tournament so far. We hope to keep this momentum for tomorrow's (today's) match.' Pearly-Thinaah have made it into their second final this year after finishing runners-up to South Korea's Kim Hye-jeong-Kong Hee-yong in the Indonesian Masters in January. Standing in their way to the title are another Korean pair Jeong Na-eun-Lee Yeon-woo. Based on the head-to-head records, Pearly-Thinaah hold a slight advantage after coming out on top over the Koreans in their only previous meeting at the Orleans Masters second round in March. On facing Na-eun-Yeon-woo again, Pearly said: 'We have played the Koreans once and they are a strong upcoming scratch pair. 'As usual, we just want to focus on our game play and hope this works for tomorrow (today).' Pearly-Thinaah's last title came in the Hong Kong Open last September. Men's singles: Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Loh Kean Yew (Sin) 21-10, 21-12. Men's doubles: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) bt Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Kittinupong-Kedren (Tha) 21-17, 21-13; William Kryger-Christian Faust (Den) bt Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto (Ina) 21-13, 21-12. Women's singles: Chen Yufei (Chn) bt Tomoka Miyazaki (Jpn) 21-11, 23-21; Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) bt Supanida Katethong (Tha) 21-9, 21-18. Women's doubles: Pearly-Thinaah (Mas) bt Rui Hirokami-Sayaka Hobara (Jpn) 21-18, 21-12; Jeong Na-eun-Lee Yeon-woo (Kor) bt Hsu Ya-ching-Sung Yu-hsuan (Tpe) 21-17, 21-19.
IOL News
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Thando Thabethe gets the last laugh: April Fool's prank doubles as men's underwear reveal
Thando Thabethe may have been up to more than just harmless pranks on April Fool's Day! The media personality's announcement that her popular underwear brand, Thabooty's, was expanding into men's underwear turned out to be a clever prank. The renowned actress, radio personality and entrepreneur's underwear brand, Thabooty's, has been making waves in the fashion industry. Thabooty's has been catering exclusively to women's intimate apparel needs since its inception, offering a range of stylish and comfortable underwear options, from swimwear to shapewear and lingerie. The brand has become synonymous with quality, fashion and empowerment, resonating with women of all shapes and sizes. But her recent announcement of the brand's new men's underwear range is what got people talking. Although it was initially an April Fool's Day joke, it turned out to be more than just a prank. The clever marketing move served as a teaser as Thabethe's follow-up post revealed that the joke was actually a teaser for their upcoming men's range, set to launch soon. The initial announcement, made on April 1, had many fans excitedly reacting to the news. The post made by Thabethe read: 'You asked and we listened!!! Introducing 'Tha' BHUTI', the ultimate in men's intimates providing not just underwear but shapewear too!!! Tag your boo or BHUTI (brother) because we are about to be twinning in Thabooty's and Tha' Bhuti!!!'
BBC News
30-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Hull two off lead going into Arizona final round
Ford Championship third-round leaderboard-18 L Vu (US); -16 C Hull (Eng); -15 A Furue (Jpn), NK Madsen (Den); -14 A Thitikul (Tha), A Corpuz (US), H-J Kim (Kor), H-R Ryu (Kor), Y Zhang (Chn)Selected others: -13 L Ko (NZ); -11 N Korda (US); -5 L Maguire (Ire)Full leaderboard England's Charley Hull will go into the final round of the Ford Championship in Arizona in second place, two shots behind American leader Lilia Vu. Hull matched Vu's four-under-par 68 in a third round played in difficult, windy conditions on the Whirlwind Golf Club's Cattail Course. She steadied herself after bogeying the opening hole, only dropping one further shot following a three-putt at the 14th and picking up six birdies, including two in the closing three holes. "It is what it is and it ain't what it ain't, but nice to finish with a birdie," said Hull on making it to 16 under par. Vu, a six-time winner on the LPGA Tour, also struggled with the conditions as she reached a tournament record 18 under for 54 holes. Having completed the opening two rounds without dropping a shot, she bogeyed the sixth and ninth holes and carded a double bogey at the troublesome 14th, but rallied to close with three consecutive birdies. Elsewhere, all three of the players who started the day alongside Hull on 12 under fell away, with Denmark's Nanna Koerstz Madsen in a tie for third after making it to 15 under following a round of 69. She was joined by Japan's Ayaka Furue, who shot a 67. Thailand's Atthaya Thitikul fired a 70 to join a five-strong group on 14 under, while world number one Nelly Korda fell away dramatically with a one-over-par 73 to leave herself seven shots off the lead.
