Stories from 18 October 2006
Papua New Guinea: On the Iron Lady of Liberia
Islandbaby in Papua New Guinea blogs about the West African nation Liberia's president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and tells why her younger sister's middle name is Monrovia – the capital of Liberia.
Singapore: Government and Web 2.0
Kevin at theory.isthereason.com links to another blog post at WebSG that talks about the online efforts of some governments agencies to engage the citizens.
Singapore: Singapore's role in the history of Lonely Planet travel guidebooks
The blogger at beyond.sg meets the founder of popular travel guidebook company Lonely Planet and talks about the start got in Singapore for their guidebook business.
New Caledonia: Fete du Boeuf
Says Sebastien Merion from 5 Minutes en Nouvelle Caledonie: J'ai l'impression de revenir direct des States, mais non, ce n'était que le village de Païta et sa fameuse fête du bœuf !! On s'y serait cru, ambiance chapeaux de cow-boy et musique country, il y avait un paquet de monde....
Thailand: Bangkok's Latest Shopping Mall
In a city obsessed with shopping malls, Mike at bangkok.metblogs introduces the latest addition.
Taiwan: mobile coffee
Funck Chen at CCB.2.0 blogs about the cultural history of mobile coffee house. The first coffee car appeared in 1999, and now becomes a national landscape and the drivers of moible coffee house are usually the best tourists’ guides (zh).
Taiwan: Taipei Mayoral election
Michael Turton blogs about the coming Taipei Mayoral election, which reflects on the political effects of the anti-president campaign.
China: censorship
Brian Chan in China Media Project reports on another censorship case. This time it is about a ban on all coverage of an incident at a county school in China's western Gansu Province where the principal was allegedly found to have drawn blood from scores of pupils over several years...
China: business social responsibility
Fang Jun at mindmeter blogs about China Entrepreneur Summit 2006. This year the them is “Chinese business ethics at the age of Globalization” (zh).
China: How to improve Beijing's quality of life
Will from imagethief have ten recommendations on how to improve Beijing's quality of life.
China: labour law
Law Prof blogs about the comments of Amercian Chamber of Commerce on the draft of Chinese labour law.
China: decriminalization of sex worker
Li Yin-he argues for the decrminalization of sex worker, including prostitutes and “second wives” (zh).
China: eating Chinese
Lyn Jeffery introduces great blogs and forums about Chinese food.
Armenia: Vostan Hayots Reunion
Onnik Krikorian reports that Vostan Hayots, the “Armenian Metallica,” is reuniting for a few shows.
Argentina: Smoking Prohibited?
Smoking bans have inspired coffee house debates throughout the world. Earlier this month Argentina followed the lead of Uruguay, Spain, and Ukraine by banning smoking in public spaces smaller than 100 square meters. Similar proposals are currently underway in Kenya, Nepal, Germany, and France. But are the bans really effective?...
Central Asia: History of Japanese Relations
Leila writes about the long and accidential history of ties between Japan and Central Asia.
Kazakhstan: R&D
Ben takes a look at Kazakhstan's pledge to boost research and development spending to 5% of GDP by 2012 and says that for the spending to have its promised impact, it will have to be accompanied by structural reforms.
Afghanistan: Getting There
The latest edition of “Ask Carpetbogger” informs readers on how one gets to Afghanistan. As an added bonus, there's a post on buying carpets in Kabul that also discusses the deteriorating situation in the country.
Mongolia: Drinking Water
At A Year in Mongolia, Alexa discusses an impressive-sounding World Bank proposal for increasing access to and affordability of water in Mongolia only to find out that the same plan tried elsewhere achieved little.
Venezuela: New Passenger Rail Service
Unsurprisingly, the inaugural day of Venezuela's new inter-city passenger rail service has Oil Wars touting its achievements and Miguel Octavio lambasting its failures.
Bolivia: Prosecuting Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
Nick Buxton has been busy lately organizing the International Day of Action in Solidarity with Bolivia, which aimed to “call on the US to notify and extradite former President of Bolivia, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (known as Goni) and two of his Ministers from the US.” In a related note,...
