Two separate bombs hit the Palawan province on Holy Thursday, injuring 3 people but causing no fatalities. The blasts targeted a bus station and a resort, both popular tourist destinations. The two blasts were set off 10 minutes apart and appear to be related in a complicated way to the…
Month: April 2012
NEW ZEALAND: Court Rules Greenpeace Ad For the Birds
According to the New Zealand Herald, one of two complaints made against a Greenpeace ad has been upheld in court. The controversial ad stated that the recent Rena Oil Spill killed as many as 20,000 birds in the surrounding area and suggested that deep sea drilling could kill 1000 times more. The court…
VIETNAM: Dramatically Reaching Out to Japan’s Kyodo News
Vietnam has had a tortured relationship at best with once-aggressive Japan, as it has had with the United States. But one thing both Tokyo and Washington have learned about this large, thinly vertical, well-populated and exceptionally feisty Southeast Asia country: Invading, occupying or even trying to “save Vietnam from communism”…
HONG KONG: No Next Step for ‘Next Media’
Next Media, publisher of Next Magazine and the scandal-crazy Apple Daily, was reported by Forbes on April 7th to be considering selling its operations in Taiwan for a low $500 million. The Hong Kong based company founded by Jimmy Lai, known for his blistering critiques of Beijing, has become one of the largest Chinese language media companies in…
PAKISTAN: Zardari Meets with Indian PM for a ‘Play Date’
This past week, President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan flew to India to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the countries’ volatile relationship. Tension has accumulated over the past half century, starting with the military three conflicts since independence from British rule in 1947 and the ever-present nuclear threat…
MALAYSIA: No Ban of Homosexual Portrayals?
It’s official: There is no ban against portraying homosexual or effeminate characters on Malaysian television or radio. Following the Information Department’s Facebook post, which supposedly said they banned the screening of homosexual or effeminate characters in Malaysian media, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim cleared the air. Datuk…
PROGRESS REPORT: “Conversations with Ban Ki-moon”
“Conversations with Ban Ki-moon,” the fourth in the ‘Giants of Asia’ series, and the first book on the current UN Secretary General with which he has cooperated, is moving closer to publication, now scheduled for September by Marshall Cavendish International (Singapore, New York, London). Late last month, author Tom Plate…
Thailand’s Jirapat Tatsanasomboon: Pop! Goes the Artist
Thailand’s Jirapat Tatsanasomboon: Pop! Goes the Artist
Thailand’s Jirapat Tatsanasomboon: Pop! Goes the Artist
AFGHANISTAN AND LOS ANGELES: Pictures at a Most Gruesome Exhibition
The U.S. news media often has to make publish-or-not-publish decisions under immense time pressure. And sometimes these decisions are not easy ones, especially for our most responsible media (Los Angeles Times top editor Davan Maharaj pictured above left). Take the case of disturbing photographs of U.S. soldiers posing all too…
CHINA BLOG BLOTTER: Scandal, Crackdown and Coverup!
Backtrack to the dismissal of Bo Xilai, a top Chinese leader. A few months ago, scandals surrounding Bo began to surface and subsequently led to an explosion of discussion within the Chinese blogging community. The central government attempted to censor these posts one by one, but Netizens proved more than…