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.
Full Article INDIA: Bollywood Horror-Film Ads Shocks a Catholic OrganizationINDONESIA: 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.
Full Article INDONESIA: Not So GreenpeaceSOUTH 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.
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: Kim In-suk’s Expat Odyssey The Long Road is Now Available in EnglishVIETNAM: ‘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.
Full Article VIETNAM: ‘Reporters Without Borders’ Calling for Support of BloggerTHAILAND: 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.”
Full Article THAILAND: Thai ‘Yes or No’ Will Open Gay Film FestivalCHINA: 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.
Full Article CHINA: Confucius Institute Prospers as China Attempts to Change Foreign MisconceptionsNORTH 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.
Full Article NORTH KOREA: Communist Country’s Citizens Stranded Across the Middle EastPHILIPPINES: 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.
Full Article PHILIPPINES: Gunning for Journalists?
Yi Gyeong-yun and Paintings in 17th century, Joseon Dynasty
Buddhists Paintings in the Hall of the Underworld
INDIA: Vandana Shiva Video Interview
Dr. Vandana Shiva, author, physicist, philosopher, environmental activist and eco-feminist came to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on November 1, 2011 to receive the Navin and Pratima Doshi Bridgebuilder Award…
Full Article INDIA: Vandana Shiva Video InterviewAUSTRALIA: Down-Under Goes Over the Top Over Obama
Even before U.S. President Barack Obama’s Air Force One touched down in Australia this week the trip was causing quite the media frenzy. An article in the Herald Sun, one of the widest read newspapers in Australia, trumpeted the fact that Obama was to be welcomed with a jar of Marmite, a popular native breakfast spread…
Full Article AUSTRALIA: Down-Under Goes Over the Top Over ObamaTHAILAND: Transfer of Censorship Powers to Police Criticized
The Ministry of Culture recently passed an amendment to the Printing Act of 2007 that makes the national police chief head of Thailand’s censorship board. The Bangkok Post, Thailand’s leading English-language daily newspaper, referred to this move as “a step backwards and aimed at empowering the government to take complete control of the media.”
Full Article THAILAND: Transfer of Censorship Powers to Police CriticizedPHILIPPINES: Radio Station Latest Target in Wave of Media Attacks as Government Falls Asleep
Nearly two years after the Maguindanao massacre in which 32 journalists were murdered, the Catholic-run radio station dzVT in Luzon has been hit with an arson attack that destroyed 10 million pesos (about 230 thousand USD) worth of transmission equipment. The police believe the fire started in the dead of night and found…
Full Article PHILIPPINES: Radio Station Latest Target in Wave of Media Attacks as Government Falls AsleepJAPAN: Free Speech VS. Political Correctness in Journalist’s Comments
According to the Japanese government, seventeen Japanese citizens were abducted and taken to North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s. Among those who are reportedly held by the communist nation is Keiko Arimoto. In 2009, TV Asahi, a Japanese television network, featured a debate program during which journalist Soichiro Tahara…
Full Article JAPAN: Free Speech VS. Political Correctness in Journalist’s CommentsTAIWAN: The Taiwan Critique
Taiwanese journalists are almost up in arms over the increase in corporate involvement in its media system. They argue that corporate monopolization and political appetite are putting at risk the ability of Taiwan’s news media to support democracy via ethical and professional journalism.
Full Article TAIWAN: The Taiwan Critique