Stories about East Asia from November, 2006
Africa: Africa's economies
Eliesmith writes about the 2006 African Development Indicator, “According to the report, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of South Africa have retained their dominant positions on the economies of sub-Saharan Africa. Both countries account for 55% of the GDP of the region.”
Ethiopia's bloggers disappear again
The bulk of Ethiopia's bloggers disappeared from Ethiopian computer screens for the second time in seven months this week. All sites hosted by the popular Blogspot platform stalled when internet users tried to log on to them through their Ethiopian Telecom Corp dial-up connections. The small stable of anti-government blogs...
East Timor: East Timor Survival Guide
Via Dili-gence comes this post by Teresa that has a comprehensive guide for newly arrived people in East Timor.
Cambodia: Cambodia's Rabbi
Arie meets the first and only native rabbi in Cambodia.”Jewish? In Phnom Penh? Adollah would like to meet you. He's very friendly, free with his blessings, and he may be able to heal the sick.”
Brunei: Bomb Scare at the Airport
Our Local Style in Brunei is happy that the authorities are serious about airport security. Brunei's main airport was closed for two and half hours after an alert passenger notices an unaccompanied handbag in the smoking lounge.
Thailand: Black May Video
New Mandala links to a video from May 1992 that shows Thai soldiers kicking and beating people who were protesting against the government then. The soldiers were under the ultimate command of Surayud Chulanont, the current prime minister of Thailand.
China: foreign bank
Logan Wright in Survived SARS translated a survey from China Youth Daily about consumers’ attitude towards foreign bank.
China: the rise of great nation
Sun bin blogs about a recent Chinese documentary T.V, the rise of Great Nation, which will probably be as influential as River Elegy produced 18 years ago. It is regarded as a prelude to the next wave of reform in China
China: open against hidden shamelessness
ESWN translates an interview in the Southern Weekend with actress Zhang Yu, who has been posting videos of her trading sexual favors with directors and producers in return for film roles.
Japan: cutting cedar trees
Multantfrog points to a news concerning Japan public policy makers recent action: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government started a project Monday to cut down 1.8 million cedar trees in the mountainous Tama region west of Tokyo to help people with cedar pollen allergies.
Japan: fingerprinting foreigners
Joe in Multantfrog blogs about the newly introduced foreigner registration system in Japan, which requires foreigners to give the immigration a copy of their criminal / fingerprinted record.
China: rule of party
The State Council of the People's Republic of China has finished the investigation of several pollution cases in Jilin province, which has caused the death of 8 people and 700 million yuan economic loss. However, the government officials involved only recieved warnings and punishment by the party. Ai Wei-wei criticized...
China: boycotting Karaoke copyrights management
Wang Xiao feng comments that the Karaoke copyrights fee management recently proposed by culture bureau is against international practice and damaging local music industry: The caculation is a standardize price per song (via the culture bureau managing system) rather than a monthly negotiated price between the Karaoke company and the...
Taiwan: handicapped VS. foreign maids
A report at interlocals.net by torrent on the recent debate between handicapped alliance and foreign maids on granting the migrant domestic workers basic labour rights in Taiwan.
South Korea: My Reflections on Roh Moo-hyun
Citizen reporter, Victor Foo, from Ohmynews! writes an evaluation on South Korea's president Roh Moo-hyun's achievements and setbacks during his term.
China: Chen Guangcheng's case re-opened
The blind human rights activist's case is re-opened today. According to Zeng Jinyang (zh), the lawyers were harrassed by local police and the village has been blocked to prevent local villagers to go to the court as Chen's eyewitnesses.
Japan: blogger survey
Kaishin in Japundit presents some data from a recent blogger survey: almost 70% of the people who took it responded that updating was too much of a trouble…
China: More crazy growth for 2007
Fons Tuinstra from China Herald foresees that China will have more crazy growth for 2007.
China: golden Mao
Shang_kenneth from Shanghaiist reports that a 7 metre high statue of Chairman Mao has been recently erected in Changsha. It is a prelude to Mao's birthday next month.
China: story on resignation of a soccer commentator
ESWN puts togethers reports and translation on the media story about the resignation of a famous soccer commentator on CCTV, Huang Jianxiang. The case is significant as it touches upon the media system, a debate between two media workers.
China: sex scandal
China Media project translates an article from Southern Metropolis Daily which comments upon the recent sex scandals and discusses about free speech and social responsibility.
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