News from Thailand – January 24

It is to be hoped that this lady will get out of the turbine in time, otherwise there will be little left of her. She graces the January page of budget airline Nok Air's 2014 calendar (nok means bird in Thai).

But Nok Air isn't the only airline that firmly believes in the adage that sex sells. Ryanair from Ireland and VietJet Air from Vietnam also throw in a pin up to lure passengers.

The calendar of the Irish includes pictures of ladies in bikinis, that of the Vietnamese models, celebrities and crew members in swimming gear. Nok Air plays with bunnies, known for Playboy.

If you think society is plagiarizing, the calendar was produced in collaboration with the Thai unit of Playboy. The bunnies were photographed near the airline's Boeing 737-800. The photos were then retouched. And now let the criticism erupt. Sexist….

– Nineteen potential buyers are interested in the rice, which the government has put up for sale on the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand. Experts attribute the good response to the fact that mainly new rice is being auctioned and that conditions have eased.

For example, the winners are allowed to export the rice as well as sell it domestically. The government also guarantees quality and delivery, giving buyers more confidence.

In total, this concerns 148.940 tons from seven warehouses in five provinces. The nineteen buyers were chosen from 27 interested parties; the others did not meet the conditions. It is the fourth time that the government sells rice through AFET.

– The Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee has the policy rate maintained at 2,25 percent, although it has lowered its forecast for economic growth for this year to 3 percent.

The current rate is conducive to economic recovery, according to the MPC. Maintaining financial stability remains a cornerstone for the Committee. The decision was taken by 4 to 3 votes. The three sleepers wanted to cut the rate by a quarter of a percentage point due to low inflation and greater adverse risks.

– The Thai Chamber of Commerce fears that the state of emergency may deter foreign tourists in the short term and will have important consequences for new foreign investment in the long term. The Chamber estimates that Bangkok Shutdown will result in a loss of 500 to 700 million baht per day. If the protests continue, that amount could go up.

In many places, business turnover has fallen by 30 percent as foreign tourists refrain from visiting Thailand. Border trade can compensate for the loss to some extent, so that the TCC nevertheless assumes economic growth this year of 3 to 4 percent and an equal growth rate in exports.

– And again the carcass of a dead gaur has been found in Kui Buri National Park (Prachuap Khiri Khan). This brings the number of animals found since the beginning of December to 24. This specimen was 3 to 6 years old and was located near a water source in the park. The skull of the animal has not been found. The animal was probably dead for two months. The cause of all those mysterious deaths is still being investigated. Poisoning or disease: that is the question.

– A 12-year-old Polish girl fell from the ninth floor of a hotel in Ratchathewi (Bangkok). She was found on an awning on the ground floor. The girl did not survive the fall. She and her older sister stayed at the hotel, where they checked in on January 21. At the time of the fall, the older sister was asleep. The police did not find any traces of a struggle in the hotel room.

– In Muang (Yala), an 18-year-old young man was shot dead on Wednesday evening. He was riding a motorcycle and was shot three times by the pillion passenger of a passing motorcyclist. The victim later died in hospital.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post