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) Tourists advised to steer clear of Myanmar until it settles down
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The military's brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar has derailed what was looking like a record year for tourism, with travel companies and governments warning visitors away from the exotic Southeast Asian country.As the ruling junta continues to root out dissidents following its bloody suppression of demonstrators, there are also renewed calls for a tourism boycott of the country.
In 2006, 263,500 tourists visited Myanmar. And this year, with nearly 190,000 through August, was on track to be another record.
"It would have been a good year," said John Koldowski, spokesman for Pacific Area Travel Association, which represents some 1,000 travel agents, airlines and other enterprises associated with Asia's travel industry. More>>
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) Thai police hunt suspected Canadian pedophile
Thai police launched a nationwide manhunt for a Canadian pedophile suspect on Wednesday, asking for public help in catching a man unmasked by a unique Interpol Internet appeal and putting all border checkpoints on alert.Immigration police at 54 border posts were ordered to watch for Christopher Paul Neil and police were scouring tourist hangouts for the 32-year-old caught on camera at Bangkok airport arriving from Seoul last week, officials said.
Border guards in Thailand's neighbors have also been placed on alert in case he tried to slip across a land frontier.
Neil, whose digitally swirled face in Internet photos of child sex abuse was unscrambled by German police computer experts, fled South Korea shortly after Interpol posted unscrambled pictures of his face on the Web. More>>
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) Look Northeast policy
Amidst the Incredible India@60 blitzkrieg in New York was an event that didn't attract the attention it should have. The one-day 'North East India Investment Conference' of September 26 - aimed at putting the Northeast on the international investment map - was certainly unprecedented. For the first time in 60 years, the Indian government was signalling that it was ready to showcase a region marked by insurgencies, militarisation and alienation - and which it had always kept under wraps - as an investment destination and a paradise for tourism.Hosted by the Ministry for the Development of the North East Region (DONER) and the Confederation of Indian Industry, the seriousness with which the event was staged was evident in the battery of VIPs in attendance: three chief ministers from the region, one deputy CM, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, two ministers and two GOI secretaries, a host of senior officials were all present to make the case that India's Northeast was the new kid on the trade and investment block. More>>
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) Thai exports jump 10.4 percent in September
BANGKOK (ThomsonFinancial) - Thailand's exports jumped 10.4 percent in September from the same time a year ago on steady European demand for hi-tech goods and agricultural products, the commerce ministry said Monday.Exports, the main driver of the Thai economy, totalled 13.27 billion dollars, while imports were up 7.4 percent at 11.31 billion dollars, resulting in a trade surplus of 1.96 billion dollars in the month.
"Even though our exports to our major markets, including Japan, were slightly down, shipments to Europe and India did very well in the month," Commerce Minister Krirk-krai Jirapaet told reporters.
The minister said global demand for agricultural and hi-tech products supported growth in September. More>>