24 August 2005

Stories from 24 August 2005

Egypt: Al Hurra Exposure

The exposure to US based Al Hurra channel and Radio Sawa increased in Egypt from 70% last year to 92% this year. Al Hurra received tremendous negative media coverage and skepticism upon its inauguration. The Big Pharaoh blog gives credit to Al Hurra's correspondent in Egypt, Tarek El Shami for...

Indonesia: Flash memory

  24 August 2005

“Don't ever trust things you buy IN China…” that seems ot be the conclusion of three Indonesian bloggers (Waryaman Wardana blogs in both English and Indonesian) and two online resource sites. They each paid 100 yuan, excluding taxes, for a 4GB SONY flash memory card which turned out to be...

Brunei: Royal wedding bells

  24 August 2005

The Brunei-born Australian who blogs Macam-Macam (meaning all kinds) from Indonesia was watching Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, former World's Richest Man, divorcing his second wife and taking a new bride. “Unsurprisingly, no mention of the Sultan's marriage in the country's compliant national English daily, the Borneo Bulletin. Wouldn't want to let...

Japan: Labour pains

  24 August 2005

Japan is not a place where fathers are readily allowed to attend the birth of their children. In fact, recounts Cottontimer, it is against many hospitals’ policies to allow husbands to be with their wives during labor and delivery. On the other hand, due to work culture in Japan, husbands...

Thailand:

  24 August 2005

Thailand's ‘Sangha’ (loosely translated it means Buddhism Body) declared for the umpteenth time that monks producing Buddhist amulets for financial gain are be stopped. Some of the most sought after amulets e.g. ‘Somdet Wat Rakrang’, may fetch mind-boggling prices up to 30 million baht.

Malaysia: The New Blogocracy

  24 August 2005

Jeff Ooi points to a story in Oxford Business Group titled: The New Blogocracy which features the Malaysian blogosphere. It is also the topic of academic study with the recent publishing of a paper entitled “Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom: A Malaysian Case Study on Blogging Towards a Democratic Culture”...