Toerke

I am not quoted in the stock exhange. I know what the weather will be like: continuously warm and humid. I don’t care much for soccer results. When on holiday, no news is good news. Only sporadically do I open the newspaper and read what is being written about “the world”. Today was sporadically, with the Bangkok Post and The Herald Tribune accompanying my morning cups of tea. And what do I read?

The pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithkline is striving for a patent on the anti-AIDS/HIV medicine Combid. Once the champagne uncorked, the Thai Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) will no longer be allowed to market the cheaper alternative product GPO-VIR with the same formula. It doesn’t look like the Intellectual Property Department will lose any sleep over this. And the AIDS patients won’t need to lose any sleep over it. In fact, they just won’t wake up anymore. Easy, not?

The editor of the Chinese newspaper Taizhou Wanbao died three monts after he was severely clubbed by the police. He had risked – what was he thinking? – to publish criticism on the traffic police corruption regarding licenses for electronic scooters. On the telephone, his widow mumbles something about liver problems and that she doesn’t want to answer any questions, whatsoever. China PD black & blue?

Imagine being a Dane on a world trip. Or a Turkish chicken.

The Indian monk Ngawang Tashi Bupa is nominated for a Grammy Award for his buddhist chants. Good for him. Not that is makes any difference. The Dalai Lama once received the Nobel Peace Prize, but in 2005 was refused to speech in Belgium. Something about timing. Or a trade mission to China. Or both.

Google, once Mr Right among the search engines, has lost its innocence bending for the yellow censorship dragon. Keep on surfing in the free world!

I read the news today. Not that it makes a difference. The Cambodian paper boy and paper collector have earned at least a nickle this morning. That is, I think, the best news today.