Thaksin Shinawatra

The rubber industry is of much significance to our countries. For millions of our smallholders, the rubber tree is a tree of life, serving as a crucial source of income for earning a living and raising families.

The thrill of a photo-realist painter is if you get really close to the painting, it looks just like a photograph. Whereas in my case, if you get close to my paintings, they totally fall apart - so I'm about as far from a photo-realist as it gets.

The question is not whether Tibet should be independent but the extent of the autonomy that it is allowed. Tibet has been firmly ensconced as part of the Chinese empire since the Qing dynasty's military intervention in Tibet in the early 18th century.