Word: australian
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...Foreigners have also run afoul of Thailand's lèse-majesté laws. Recently accused expatriates include an Australian teacher whose novel referenced a fictional wayward prince, and the BBC's Thailand-based correspondent whose online pieces described the role of the monarchy within Thai politics. Both cases have prompted an outcry from international human-rights organizations. "By trying to protect the King's image, the government is actually doing it harm, and in some cases the charge of lèse-majesté has been entirely inappropriate and unjustified," said media watchdog Reporters Without Borders...
...study illustrating the difference between the concept of wisdom in eastern and western cultures: "Takashi and Bordia showed four groups of college students - one American, one Australian, one Indian, and one Japanese - all the possible pairings of the seven adjectives 'wise,' 'aged,' 'awakened,' 'discreet,' 'experienced,' 'intuitive,' and 'knowledgeable.' When the students were asked to rate which two adjective were most similar to each other, the western students chose 'wise' and 'knowledgeable' or 'wise' and 'experienced,'' whereas the easterners most associated 'wise' with 'discreet...
...heroin in cans of shaving foam is a sensible way to earn a living. The second question is tougher. But apart from Alex Garland's classic novel The Beach, the books I see most tourists reading in Thailand are the his-and-hers prison memoirs The Damage Done (convicted Australian heroin trafficker Warren Fellows' account of life in Bang Kwang Central Prison) and Forget You Had A Daughter (by British smuggler Sandra Gregory). Wherever you go in the country, you find foreigners sipping cocktails on beautiful white-sand beaches and reading about how horrible the place...
...Klong Prem's reputation as one of the world's most productive writer-in-residence programs looks set to flourish. One current inmate said to be writing his story is suspected arms dealer Viktor Bout. One that I hope will do the same is Harry Nicolaides, an Australian arrested for supposedly insulting Thailand's crown prince in a self-published novel called Verisimilitude that sold only seven copies. Already famous for turning criminals into writers, is Thailand now turning writers into criminals? Now that's worth writing a book about...
Still, there are hints of good news. Rates charged by large coal and iron-ore carriers recently jumped by more than 50%, mostly because demand for Australian coal is rising again. The huge port of Newcastle on Australia's east coast is busier than it was even a few weeks ago. Could shipping have bottomed out already...