Word: thais
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...convinced, says Jon Fredrik Baksaas, Telenor's CEO, that "mobile communications are as important in this kind of society as in Scandinavia." Once Grameenphone, its business in Bangladesh, was up and running, Telenor sought fresh openings in markets offering rapid growth, and gradually accrued controlling stakes in local Thai and Malaysian operators. When Pakistan invited bids for a license to operate from 2005, Telenor jumped at the chance...
Still, Telenor's reception in Asia has been generally free of controversy. "Norwegians are seen as friendly people," reckons Sigve Brekke, the Norwegian CEO of Telenor's Thai operator DTAC, "from a small country far away, which is not seen as a threat." That perception could ease Telenor's way into a fresh round of expansion in Asia. "We have a lot to offer in markets where Telenor is not present for the time being," says Baksaas, with Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines all on watch. Back at the firm's Oslo headquarters, meeting rooms could get even more eclectic...
...thing if you can't find pork at your local market. You can always buy chicken. But rice has no good substitute in many Asian diets. In Mandarin, the word for rice is also the word for food. The Thai phrase "to eat" translates as "eat rice." "Rice isn't just another commodity," says Robert Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute in Manila. "In Asia, rice has cultural, social and, in many places, even a religious role, so it carries much more psychological weight." Indeed, Asian nations have reacted to the mere prospect of shortage with something...
...retired general who in September 2006 oversaw Thaksin's bloodless overthrow, ushering in more than a year of military rule before the elections last December that brought Samak to power. (The current P.M. openly campaigned as Thaksin's proxy, since the former leader is currently barred from re-entering Thai politics.) At an astrological ceremony on Sunday, Varin played host to associates of the military regime who have made no secret of their distaste for Thailand's new Prime Minister. Samak fired back, accusing Varin of political favoritism and pointing out cases in which the fortuneteller's prognostications had failed...
...Part of the instability comes from the same divisions that led to Thaksin's military ouster in 2006. In the months before the billionaire-tycoon-turned-P.M. was deposed, hundreds of thousands of Thai citizens flooded the streets to rally against him. Among other things, they were incensed over a multibillion-dollar business deal in which Thaksin and his family did not pay any tax. By removing Thaksin from power, the junta may have thought it could unite an increasingly polarized country. But even after the military regime publicized a litany of complaints against Thaksin-alleged corruption, abuse...