Stories from 3 August 2013
16 Passengers Travel in One Rickshaw In Rural India
Blogger and entrepreneur Kiruba Shankar writes how in rural India an auto rickshaw built to take four passengers, now transports 16 people: Here’s how the math works. Three in the front (including the driver). Four in the back seat. Three in the small wooden seat opposite the rear seat. Two...
Will Vietnam’s New Internet Decree Ban Sharing of Online News?
The government claims the decree is aimed only at protecting copyright but critics describe it as "the harshest offensive against freedom of information”
China's State-Run Media Invokes Specter of USSR Collapse
A front page article by Xinhua news agency points the finger at the former Soviet Union as an example of the consequences of democratic reforms.
Stop Black Sand Mining in Biodiverse, Idyllic Philippine Island!
College students created a Facebook page to oppose black sand mining operations in Camiguin Norte, located in the northernmost part of the Philippines Imagine a serene, idyllic isle where humpback whales breed, where corals and rare marine biodiversity thrive. This is Camiguin Norte. The very existence of this island is...
Singapore Media and Censorship
After working for three years as sub-editor in a leading Singapore newspaper, Mark Fenn explains how censorship is enforced in the country: Control at the paper is exercised both overtly and through more subtle means. Self-censorship, meanwhile, is ubiquitous. …it was not uncommon for reporters to alter their stories at...
Bloodied Dolphin Prop Gets Activists Kicked Out of Hong Kong Aquarium Protest
The demonstration at Hong Kong Ocean Park was part of the "Empty the Tanks" global day of protest against marine mammal captivity.