A book bag of contemporary gifts that show real smarts December 4, 2011 LOS ANGELES – It has finally hit Washington that Asia will be the major-league playing field for the foreseeable geopolitical future. But why should we complain when Uncle-Sam-comes-lately? Instead, we vow stay ahead of the great global…
Month: December 2011
NORTH KOREA: College Students Get Third Degree on Hurry-up Construction Sites
Pictures taken in North Korea by an American tourist purport to show that the country is mobilizing college students to help finish massive construction projects in time for the nation’s centennial birthday celebration of its late founder Kim Il-Sung, according to Yonhap News Agency, the leading news agency of South Korea.
CLIMBING TO THE TOP OF THE TAIWAN ART WORLD: AT THE TAIPEI WORLD TRADE CENTER
China Blog Blotter – Issue #4: Nudity is Not Porn…On the Internet
Ai Weiwei, the sensational Chinese artist who often criticizes China’s government, is in trouble again. Last time, he was detained for three months for “tax evasion.” This time, an artistic photo of him and four women, all nude, titled “One Tiger, Eight Breasts” is deemed pornography. The government is now…
PAKISTAN: Is It Military Vs Civilians– Or ‘The News’ Vs ‘The Dawn’
A widely publicized but supposedly secret memo appears to show the country’s civilian leaders all but begging Washington to protect them from a punitive military coup. The scandal is now being called “Memogate” in the press.
SINGAPORE: Social Media Impacts Parliamentary General Elections
According to a recent panel, the Singaporean parliament’s General Elections this May were heavily influenced by the country’s proliferating use of social media.
INDIA: Bollywood Horror-Film Ads Shocks a Catholic Organization
Upcoming Bollywood horror film “Kaun Hai Waha” has been spooked by an unanticipated reproach from the organization Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), which claims the film is filled with anti-Catholic imagery and symbols.
INDONESIA: Not So Greenpeace
Tensions between the international NGO Greenpeace and the government of Indonesia have continued to escalate in recent weeks over increasing deforestation practices across the country.
SOUTH KOREA: Kim In-suk’s Expat Odyssey The Long Road is Now Available in English
Kim In-Suk’s award winning 1995 novel, The Long Road, is the lone work of Korean expatriate fiction that has been translated into English.
VIETNAM: ‘Reporters Without Borders’ Calling for Support of Blogger
“We request the immediate and unconditional release of de Nguyen Tien Trung. The accusations made against him are a total fabrication,” says the press freedom organization.
THAILAND: Thai ‘Yes or No’ Will Open Gay Film Festival
The film “Yes or No” — Thailand’s first lesbian film — has been chosen to open the 22nd Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film festival in Hong Kong alongside the Vietnamese film “Lost in Paradise.”
CHINA: Confucius Institute Prospers as China Attempts to Change Foreign Misconceptions
The Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) has recently joined with seventeen other foreign universities to set up Confucius Institutes, non-profit institutions that promote Chinese language and culture internationally, in fourteen countries overseas.
NORTH KOREA: Communist Country’s Citizens Stranded Across the Middle East
North Korean citizens are stranded in the Middle East, specifically Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and Kuwait. They are being prevented from returning home, for fear that they would spread news of the social unrest in the region throughout North Korea.
PHILIPPINES: Gunning for Journalists?
This past week marks the two-year anniversary of the massacre in the town of Ampatuan in northern Mindanao. Fifty-eight people were killed in the massacre, thirty-three of them, journalists.