Asia- The Latest Headlines from the continent of Asia

A packed train slammed into Buenos Aires' busy Once station on Wednesday, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds of morning commuters.

Six people were shot dead and dozens wounded in protests in Afghanistan which flared for a second day today in several cities over the burning of Quran.

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was arrested the evening today for assaulting an NRI businessman from South Africa and later released on bail.

South Africa-based Econet Wireless is seeking at least $3.1 billion in damages from Bharti Airtel (BRTI.NS) in a dispute over ownership of the Indian group's subsidiary Airtel Nigeria, according to a suit filed on Wednesday.

Etisalat's Indian joint venture will shut down its mobile phone network after the country's top court ordered all telecoms licences issued under a scandal-tainted 2008 sale be revoked in four months, including those held by the UAE carrier's joint venture.

SAN JOSE MINE: Engineers have rushed to reinforce a shaft through which to hoist 33 men trapped over two months down a mine in Chile, as the men below

KABUL: An improvised bomb laid by insurgents killed nine civilians, including women and children, in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, according to a NAT

LOS ANGELES: Facebook film "The Social Network" captured the top spot at North American box offices for the second straight weekend in a lackluster fr

Chris Cork Human misery has always sold newspapers and caught the eye and the attention of those who watch TV. From the beginning of the era of mas

Asif Ezdi Even by the twisted standards of Pakistani politics, the murky circumstances surrounding the promulgation last month of the National Acco

KUALA LUMPUR: Ticket vending machines at LRT and KL Monorail stations will start accepting the new Bank Negara Malaysia coins from next month.

PETALING JAYA: A businessman was found guilty by the Sessions Court here of attempting to murder his friend by ramming him with his minivan.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's improved ranking in the 2011/2012 Press Freedom Index proves to the world that the country is open to freedom of speech and people making known their views, said Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Handphone Owners Association (Perbit) Wednesday voiced its objection to the proposal by local telecommunications companies to enter into mergers, as it would infringe on consumers rights.

SHAH ALAM: Yet another drug trafficking syndicate with African links was crippled by the Selangor police recently.

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd resigned Wednesday, his office said, amid speculation he might mount a leadership challenge to Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

A series of blasts last week in Thailand that set off accusations between Iran and Israel involved bombs disguised as radio sets, police said Wednesday.

Hundreds of Indonesian police officers charged into a prison in Bali on Wednesday to subdue rioting inmates who had set a building on fire and thrown stones at firefighters.

Demonstrators burned tires and threw rocks outside a NATO military base in Kabul on Wednesday, as protests continued for a second day after troops burned copies of the Quran.

One year on, reminders of the massive earthquake that ripped through Christchurch, New Zealand, are never too far away, from the broken buildings to frequent aftershocks that rattle the city every day.

The Mainichi Daily News has shut down this feed. Please click here to view our new selection of RSS feeds

(ChinaPost.com.tw) - Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce Francisco Sanchez will be visiting Taiwan from March 4 through 6, according to the AIT yesterday. Upon hearing about Sanchez' visit, civil groups announced that they would hold an emergency meeting to discuss the possibility of organizing a protest session in Taipei during the U.S. official's visit.

(ChinaPost.com.tw) - On Tuesday, the 17-country eurozone approved Greece's second financial lifeline in less than two years, worth 130 billion euros (US$172 billion), and a 107-billion-euro (US$141 billion) debt write-down on banks and other private holders of Greek bonds.

(ChinaPost.com.tw) - Taiwan's predicted growth rate for 2012 was lowered by 0.06 percent to 3.85 percent, said the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics (DGBAS) yesterday. This is mainly due to the decline of private investment.

(ChinaPost.com.tw) - China said Wednesday it had made an official complaint to Tokyo after the mayor of a Japanese city denied the well-documented massacre of Chinese civilians by Japanese troops in 1937.

(ChinaPost.com.tw) - President Hugo Chavez announced Tuesday that doctors in Cuba found a new lesion in the same place where a cancerous tumor was removed last year and said he will shortly return to the island to have it surgically removed.

In keeping with a China Blog tradition, I'll sign off with a photo from the bureau window. Only this time there's no snarl of cars to be seen. Amazing how a few tanks (they're practicing today for the Oct. 1 National Day parade) can clear out traffic.

We've had a good run, but alas, the China Blog is indeed shutting down. Come visit us elsewhere on Time.com. You'll find most of our stories on the World and Magazine pages, ie the current issue of Time Asia includes the China 60th anniversary cover package. And if you want to respond to any of [...]

All good things must come to an end and, sadly, that applies to the China Blog too, which will shutter at the end of today. I and my colleagues have thoroughly enjoyed doing this (mostly) and equally been interested to get feedback from readers. There  was a lot of puerile drivel, too (you know who you [...]

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei underwent cranial surgery this week in Munich to treat lingering pain he's suffered since being punched by a Chengdu police officer last month. (He's posted pre- and post-surgery photos on his Twitter page.) Ai, who organized a campaign to tally student deaths in last year's Sichuan earthquake, was detained with other [...]

Heads up: here's my essay in this week's TIME Asia, about why, after nearly 100 years, China is suddenly honoring my great-grandfather.

Swami Nityananda has decided to step down from all posts of his ashram to lead a life of spiritual seclusion.

Rajkumar Soni's son Rahul had died on May 26, 2009 under mysterious circumstances.

Tamil Nadu govt says Prison Advisory Committee has not recommended Nalini's release.

Her lawyers are hopeful that she'll get relief under the state govt's amnesty scheme.

Curfew has been imposed indefinitely in 17 police station areas.

At least 49 people were killed and more than 600 people were injured Wednesday when a train plowed into a platform at a Buenos Aires station, state media said. The train slammed into the barrier at the end of the platform at the Once station during the morning rush hour. The commuter train came in [...]

The judicial commission, probing the memogate scandal, recorded statement of Mansoor Ijaz, the man at the center of the controversy, on Wednesday. Mansoor Ijaz, the protagonist of Memo scandal, provided details of his meetings with DG ISI Ahmed Shuja Pasha and former Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani. He also said Haqqani also assured the [...]

The White House is apologizing for the burning of Muslim holy books in a pile of garbage at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan. Violent protests left at least five dead and others wounded Wednesday as demonstrations over Quran burning intensified in Afghanistan. Hundreds of protesters have clashed with police and security forces in Afghanistan [...]

The central character of the memogate scandal, Mansoor Ijaz has started recording his testimony from the London High Commissionvia video conferencing before the judicial commission setup to investigate the memo scandal. Secretary Memo Commission Raja Jawad Abbas and PML-N lawyer Rashid A Rizvi are at London High Commission while Husain Haqqani s lawyer Zahid Bukhari [...]

The US commander of Nato troops in Afghanistan has apologised over reports that foreign troops had “improperly disposed” of copies of the Holy QURAN. U.S. General John Allen said in a statement Tuesday that he ordered a ?thorough investigation? after learning that coalition forces at Bagram Airbase may have ?improperly disposed? of a large number [...]

KARACHI: Coalition partners in Sindh have an agreement for the distribution of 12 Senate seats in the province, so

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday stressed that the next budget should focus on protec

LAHORE: Amir Jamat-e-Islami (JI) Syed Munawar Hassan on Wednesday said Pakistan was being weakened under a planned

LONDON: Mansoor Ijaz, the protagonist of Memo scandal, Wednesday recorded his statement via video link from London

LAHORE: Pakistan Mulsim League-likeminded leader, Senator Salim Saifullah on Wednesday said that if Nawaz Sharif d

SWABI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Kiramatullah Khan said on Sunday that the United Nations had failed to prevent regional conflicts across th

ISLAMABAD: The inquiry commission constituted by the Government of Pakistan under Section 3 of Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act 1956 (Act No V1 of

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Haidar Khan Hoti said Pakistan is a sovereign country and everyone should respect its sovereignty an

ISLAMABAD: The Awami National Party (ANP) on Sunday warned that the poor across Pakistan could eventually attack the capitalists and Waderas, who suck

MURIDKE: The Pakistan People’s Party is determined to provide relief and rehabilitate all flood victims, says Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer. He w

A Port Klang Authority (PKA) legal adviser told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today in the corruption trial of former transport minister Dr Ling Liong Sik, that its former general manager OC Phang...

A Health Ministry probe has confirmed that the police had breached standard operating procedures (SOP) when dispersing Bersih 2.0 rally participants at the Tung Shin hospital. In a statement late this...

There are no 'black' consituencies in Perak for the upcoming 13th general election as far the Perak Barisan Nasional (BN) is concerned, said Perak Menteri Besar Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir. Zambry, who is...

The Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has announced revised guidelines and documents for the employment of skilled and unskilled workers from India which take effect from Nov 1 and they include a...

The Council of Former People's Representatives Malaysia (Mubarak) is requesting the government not to marginalise the interests of former legislators when tabling the 2012 Budget this Friday. Its...

DUBAI: Samantha Stosur appears to have her best chance to win a first title since the US Open after reaching the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open on Wednesday.

CAIRO: The verdict in the landmark murder and corruption trial of ousted Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has been set for June 2, Judge Ahmed Refaat said on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: Favourites India overcame a stiff challenge from lower-ranked Canada to post a 3-2 win and virtually book a place in the men's final of the Olympic qualifying tournament in New Delhi on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama's administration on Wednesday unveiled plans to lower the top corporate tax rate to 28 percent and choke off lucrative loopholes, an election-year gambit testing Republicans' pro-business credo.

DENPASAR, Indonesia: Inmates at an Indonesian prison on Bali island, which holds 12 Australian drug mules and other offenders, took over the jail again after a second night of riots on Wednesday, an AFP reporter said.

In a setback for Mumbai Congress president Kripashankar Singh, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the city Police Commissioner to prosecute him for "criminal misconduct" under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

read more

The type of reputation he has earned globally, you may think twice before taking an advice from a man like Robert Mugabe but you got to take it seriously thinking of his age and fitness. On his 88th birthday he told the state radio ?I am fit as a fiddle?.

read more

Former Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has resigned citing lack of confidence in him from Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

read more

Dr Muregeshu Vinayagamoorthy, a British-qualified Tamil doctor, aged 62, has been struck off the UK Medical registry for serious professional misconduct.

read more

A fierce battle to define social values has made Republican candidates define conservatism in conformist ways sternly warning that President Obama is the antithesis of conservatism encompassing a ?phony theology? devoid of social content. Mitt Romney has branded himself as ?severely conservative,? Rick Santorum the consummate purist, Newt Gingrich the proven conservative with a record, while Ron Paul touted the libertarian conservative label.

read more

Welcome to Danwei. We are now publishing on Danwei.com.
if you're looking for research, analysis or monitoring of China's Internet, media and consumer culture, please see our research page.

Our archives 2003 - 20011 are still available:


Search archives
Archives by date
Archives by category

Media and communications jobs in China

Danwei videos
China media timeline 1978 - 2008
Classic Danwei posts
Danwei press coverage and citations 2003 - 2011

Danwei Model Workers 2011 (recommended websites and blogs - English)
Previous Danwei Model Workers - English Previous Danwei Model Workers - Chinese

This article is from Danwei.org

If you miss the old Danwei's daily news updates, we now offer daily and weekly updates on a paid basis, or you can check the fine sources listed here in Danwei's Model Worker list for 2011.

We will update this list periodically as new blogs, websites, and microblog feeds come to our attention.

Blogs and specialist websites

Asia Society website
News and features about Asia with plenty of China coverage.

The China Beat
Articles and blog posts by academics, historians and journalists.

China Digital Times
China news aggregator, translations.

China Geeks
Translations from Chinese media and Internet and commentary.

China Hearsay
China law, business, and economics commentary.

China Heritage Quarterly
Journal of history and heritage.

China Labour Bulletin
Labor issues and workers rights.

China Law Blog
Law and business commentary.

China Media Project
Translations from the Chinese media, and commentary and analysis from Chinese journalists and academics.

China Smack
Photos and translations of Internet postings about scandals and popular Internet topics (see also China Hush) and Ministry of Tofu).

Digicha
News and opinions about Internet and digital media in China by Bill Bishop; see also Sinocism for current events and news.

ESWN
Translations, photos, news and archived materials from the Chinese media and Internet.

Imagethief
PR, communications and humor.

Jottings from the Granite Studio
History and current events.

Laowiseass
An American journalist in Taiwan and elsewhere in China.

Peking Duck
General interest China blog with occasional rants

Shanghaiist
Shanghai news, links and aggregation of China news.

Shanghai Scrap
Scrap metal, Shanghai and China.

Silicon Hutong
Tech, media and communications.

Sinosplice
Life in China and learning Chinese.

Technode and Techrice
Tech and Internet industry news and views.

Inside-Out China
Opinion and commentary from a Chinese writer in Massachusetts.

Podcasts

Sinica
A fortnightly weekly discussion of current affairs in China.

Journalist blogs, newspaper China sections

The Financial Times' China section
The Guardian?s China page
MSNBC?s Behind the Wall
The New York Times' China page
Evan Osnos of The New Yorker
John Garnaut of the Sydney Morning Herald.
Wall Street Journal?s China Real Time Report

China news junkies, journalists and academics on Twitter

Adam Minter
Adrienne Mong
Ananth Krishnan
Bill Bishop (see also his list of tweeting China journalists)
China Geeks (C. Custer)
David Wolf
Ed Wong
Gady Epstein
Granite Studio
Imagethief
Jonathan Watts
Kaiser Kuo
Kai Lukoff
Kathleen Mclaughlin
Kinablog
Laowiseass
Malcolm Moore
Melissa K. Chan
Phil Pan
Ray Kwong
Relevant Organs
Siweiluozi
Tania Branigan
Tom Lasseter

Danwei Model Workers from 2005 to 2010 are archived here.

Tags: blogs, Danwei.com, lists, Model Worker

This article is from Danwei.org

Notice

Danwei.org is going on temporary hiatus for an upgrade and redesign. In the meantime, please visit our partners or find a job.

Tags: announcement, Danwei, redesign

This article is from Danwei.org

Following Zhang Yueran?s NEWriting (?), Han Han?s defunct Party (???), and Di An?s ZUI Found (????), Annie Baobei becomes the latest popular novelist to launch her own literary magazine.

The inaugural issue of O-pen (??) makes a splash by featuring a pair of literary giants.

The first half of the magazine is devoted to a lengthy interview with Haruki Murakami. The interview, conducted over the course of three days in May 2010 by Matsuie Masashi, first appeared in the Summer 2010 issue of Kangaeru Hito (????, ?The Thinker?). The O-pen version is translated by Zhang Lefeng.

Accompanying the interview is a 1Q84-inspired trip through Tokyo courtesy of Peggy Kuo (???), the author of a book of photo-essays about the Tokyo locations featured in Murakami?s fiction.

One of the issue?s other highlights is ?What Are Dragons? (????), a previously unpublished essay by Zhou Zuoren. Critic and O-pen editorial board member Zhi An (??) describes the essay?s journey to publication:

?What Are Dragons? is an unpublished piece by Zhou Zuoren written in the early 1950s. In Zhou?s diary, we find in the entry for August 24, 1953: ?Copied out the old essay, ?What Are Dragons?, twelve pages by the afternoon.? August 25: ?Copied out the old essay, eighteen pages in all.? August 27: ?This afternoon went to the post office to send off the old essay ?What Are Dragons,? eighteen pages, to Mr. Pan.? Mr. Pan is Pan Jitong (???), then head of the Beijing office of Da Kung Pao. However, the piece was not published. Zhou rewrote some of its material into ?Yangtse Crocodile? and ?The Qilin, Phoenix, Tortoise, and Dragon,? collected in Wood Chips (???). The October 28, 1964 edition of Hong Kong?s New Evening Post (???) printed ?Dragons Today? (????), which included the line, ?Ten years ago I wrote a piece called ?What Are Dragons,? and although it was not published, the manuscript fortunately still survives.? The piece excerpted part ten of ?What Are Dragons,? with certain additions and deletions. The handwritten manuscript of ?What Are Dragons? is retained by the late author?s family. Neither Uncollected Writings of Zhitang edited by Chen Zishan nor the Complete Prose of Zhou Zuoren edited by Zhong Shuhe include this essay.

In the essay itself, a rather lightweight investigation into the origins of the mythological creature, Zhou Zuoren briefly discusses traditional Chinese depictions of the dragon as a reptile, as a supernatural being, and as the Dragon King, before moving on to look at how dragons are depicted in India and in the West. He also compares the dragons to dinosaurs, crocodiles and lizards, and suggests, ?We can conclude that the Chinese dragon actually existed as a large reptile, a kind of lizard. Closest to it today is probably the Komodo dragon, and hence it could be raised domestically. But the strange thing is that this not particularly sophisticated creature has left such a deep influence upon Chinese culture.?

This issue also features a translation of ?Pharmacy? from Elizabeth Strout?s collection Olive Kitteridge, an appreciation of Hou Hsiao-hsien by Jia Zhangke, a short story by Hong Kong writer Flora Wong Bik-wan (???), and an essay by Annie Baobei herself.

Tags: Annie Baobei, dragons, Haruki Murakami, Zhou Zuoren

This article is from Danwei.org

The Dongguan-based Pegasus battery company decorates its wares with elements of traditional Chinese culture.

"Energy transmits culture" (??????), the packaging claims, and customers can enjoy depictions of giant pandas, Peking Opera masks, the four great inventions, and scenes from classic novels, at least until they shut the battery slot and go back to clicking the TV remote.

Shown here is a Qing Dynasty ceramic jar with an illustration of a man riding a qilin. The caption:

Thousands of years ago, through their own knowledge and hard work, the ancestors of the Chinese people invented and created with their own hands a perfect artificial stone, which has endured to be enjoyed by all humanity. This artificial stone, known as ceramic, is a great wonder in the history of human civilization.

Tags: batteries, culture, energy, soft power

This article is from Danwei.org

NEW DELHI ? The Indian government appears to be playing down evidence of Iranian involvement in last week?s bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat here, perhaps out of concern that any such evidence might put it under more international pressure to isolate Tehran, experts say.

Read full article >>

KABUL ? A second day of violent protests over the burning of Korans at a NATO base spread across Afghanistan?s capital Wednesday, as demonstrators directed their anger at Western embassies and military installations.

Read full article >>

BAGRAM, Afghanistan ? As thousands of angry Afghans flung rocks at NATO?s largest military base in Afghanistan on Tuesday, American officials sought to quell a widening furor over what they said was the accidental incineration by U.S. military personnel of copies of the Islamic holy book.

Read full article >>

HONG KONG ? Just a month before Hong Kong selects a new leader, the former British colony is experiencing something that Britain never allowed and that China, in charge here since 1997, certainly doesn?t want: a contest for the top job that increasingly resembles a real election.

Read full article >>

Abdul Hakim gets the first calls just after the bombs explode and the firefights end, when all that is left are the remains of the dead.

The voices on the other end belong to Taliban commanders whom Hakim has come to know well. The first sentence is almost always the same: ?We?re looking for a body.?

Read full article >>

MANAMA: GCC leaders will firmly confront any plots against member states, His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa said yesterday.

A MUNICIPAL council is going up against parliament in a multi-million-dinar land row - with one councillor accusing MPs of wasting people's time.

RELATIVES of a British pensioner, who went missing nine months ago during the height of Bahrain's unrest, have accepted they may never see her again.

MANAMA: The Interior Ministry yesterday stated that a medical examiner affirmed the death of a citizen on Saturday was due to natural causes.

MANAMA: Bahrain could soon have an energy agency that would focus on green power working closely with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

As Southeast Asian countries lined up against China in the South China Sea sign pacts with extra-territorial powers like Russia and India to redress the strategic balance, Beijing can only respond with more aggression. A better solution lies in the way in which the scourge of piracy was tackled. - Chietigj Bajpaee (Feb 22, '12)

India is resisting pressure from the United States and Israel to stop buying oil from Iran, despite Delhi signing on to various United Nations sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program. Iran says all it wants to do is talk, even if nuclear inspectors say it is being less than cooperative. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Feb 22, '12)

Whether there is any substance in allegations about a plot to kill the pope cannot be established, but China's name has been dragged into the conspiracy whirlpool. That's a leap of imagination: China is important to the Vatican as the new frontier of faith, but the Vatican means little to China. - Francesco Sisci (Feb 22, '12)

As Iran and Azerbaijan trade barbs over allegations of assassination plots, many worry that these and other incidents mean the countries in the South Caucasus region - American-backed Georgia and Armenia too - have become an espionage no-man's-land in the conflict between the Iranian and Israeli intelligence services. - Nicholas Clayton (Feb 22, '12)

As the "Friends of Syria" coalition lays an international path for ending a conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 lives, debate is raging over whether the United States should arm Syria's untested opposition. Meanwhile, military and logistical assistance is likely to come from other state and non-state actors. - Samer Araabi and Jim Lobe (Feb 22, '12)

HONG KONG - Research In Motion (RIM) announced in a press release the launch of the new BlackBerry Bold(TM) 9790 smartphone in Hong Kong. The powerful BlackBerry Bold 9790 features a compact design ...

The financial tsunami that crashed onto our shores in 2008 and 2009 has abated somewhat in the past two years, but the danger of a second dip remains.Many of the debt-laden economies in Europe ...

Secretary for Food & Health Dr York Chow says the Government has no plan to differentiate non-local women giving birth in Hong Kong into different categories for different treatment.Dr Chow told ...

Chief Executive Donald Tsang has refuted claims of a conflict of interest in his recent private activities.He told the media today he only accepts invitations involving no conflict of interest.He ...

Seventy-one million illicit cigarettes worth $168 million were seized last year, compared to 47 million in 2010, which were worth $90 million.Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Prof ...

Officials are still determining if there were casualties after dozens of homes and motorcycles were swept away by a flash flood in Simpang Alahan Mati district in Pasaman, West Sumatra, ...

State-owned accident insurance company PT Jasa Raharja is considering increasing the compensation given to victims of transportation accidents or their families by up to 15 percent this year, a ...

A French photojournalist and a prominent American war correspondent working for a British newspaper were killed Wednesday by Syrian shelling of the opposition stronghold Homs as President Bashar ...

British police, fire and ambulance staff held a huge pre-Olympics security exercise Wednesday centering on a mock terrorist attack on the London subway system. The two-day test - called ...

PSA Peugeot Citroen is in talks over a possible alliance with Detroit-based General Motors, a deal that could dwarf France's leading car maker's existing partnerships with BMW, Mitsubishi ...

U.S. regulators, as part of a broad probe of how Wall Street firms bundled mortgage-linked financial products as the housing crisis worsened, notified a former Mizuho Financial Group Inc. executive he may be sued for his role in structuring the securities.
Alexander Rekeda, who was previously head of structured credit in the Americas at Mizuho, received a so-called Wells notice in October informing him that Securities and Exchange Commission staff intend to recommend enforcement action against him for allegedly making misrepresentations about a collateralized debt obligation, according to his public broker filings.

The Buffalo Bills' scheduled preseason game in Toronto this summer is moving back to Orchard Park as a result of a scheduling conflict.
In unveiling their season ticket-price plan Tuesday, the Bills announced they will not play what was supposed to be their third and final preseason game at Toronto's Rogers Centre. It's unclear what the scheduling conflict is at the downtown facility.

From the armed coup that recently ousted the Maldives' first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, to the Pakistani Supreme Court's current effort to undermine a toothless but elected government by indicting Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on contempt charges, South Asia's democratic advances appear to be shifting into reverse.
Nasheed's forced resignation at gunpoint has made the Maldives the third country in the region, after Nepal and Sri Lanka, where a democratic transition has been derailed. The Maldives, a group of strategically located islands in the Indian Ocean, now seems set for prolonged instability.

In the Feb. 3 opinion article "Exam forces students to cram irrelevant facts," was the writer, professor Julian Dierkes of Canada, looking at the same national university exam that I took?
The Japanese portion involved two long reading comprehension sections in addition to some recognition of kanji characters. The English portion, too, included four long reading comprehension selections, which accounted for most of the score.

With a layered sound that blends postrock dynamics and sprawling song structures with pure J-pop sensibility, akai ko-en is quickly becoming one of Tokyo's most talked-about new bands. But just try searching for the group on YouTube and see how far you get.
Despite releasing its second mini-album last week through EMI, and though it toured in Canada last fall, akai ko-en has managed to maintain a near-zero-tolerance policy toward the Internet. And in an age where every band in the world wants you to check out its SoundCloud or Facebook page, the four-piece's bid to build an air of mystery seems to be working.

Sydney, Feb 22, 2012 (AFP) -Mining giant Rio Tinto said Wednesday it has unearthed a "remarkable" 12.76 carat pink diamond in Australia, the largest of the rare and precious stones ever found in the resources-rich nation. Named the Argyle ...

Driver Wanted . home in Andalus. very light work HIGH salary with room and meals. Tel: 99994542

Just want to know if I resign from my company after 15 years, will the first 5 years be calculated as full in my indemnity or still 2.5?  Name withheld Answer: For the first five years you will get 15 days salary per year and after that on...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? The U.S. has apologized for the burning of Muslim holy books that had been pulled from the shelves of a detention center library adjoining a major base in eastern Afghanistan because they contained extremist messages or ins...

WASHINGTON, Feb 21, 2012 (AFP) -Five people were killed late Tuesday in a shooting at a Korean spa outside Atlanta, according to a local news station and police. WGCL television, a local CBS affiliate, quoted Police Chief Warren Summers as saying ...

Gepokert wird bekanntlich auf der ganzen Welt und in jedem Casino. Natürlich sind die Mitspieler nicht alle so brav, wie man es gerne hätte. Viele sind auf Betrügen aus und wollen nur eines. Den ganzen Pot gewinnen. Egal auf welche Art und Weise. Das Falschspiel hat schon eine lange Tradition. Schon im Wilden Westen wurden [...]

Beim Pokern kann man nur gewinnen, wenn man von Anfang an weiß, welche Karten schlecht und welche Gute sind. Es macht keinen Sinn, wenn man schlechte Karten bis ans Ende mitspielen lässt, weil man im Endeffekt nur eine Menge Geld dabei verliert – mehr zum Geldgewinnen findet Ihr auch unter http://www.der-casinoclub.com. Das bedeutet schlechte Karten [...]

Es gibt Dinge im Leben, die darf man einfach nicht verschweigen. Glücksspiele machen eine Menge Spaß und der Reiz ist groß. Manchmal leider zu groß. Menschen, die nie von sich gedacht haben, dass sie irgendwann mal spielsüchtig werden, sind jetzt pleite. Ob diese Menschen Warnungen ernst genommen haben, ist fraglich. Die meisten wollen es gar [...]

Überall auf dem Malediven wird Poker gespielt. Das Poker, welches man im Fernsehen sieht, ist die populärste Methode und nennt sich Texas Holdem. Es gibt aber noch viele andere Varianten, die man gemeinsam spielen kann. Manche sind eventuell schwieriger, andere dafür einfacher. Aber hat man einmal die Regeln verstanden, dürfte jedes Spiel seine Reize haben. [...]

Die 19 Inselgruppen der Malediven werden nochmal aufgeteilt auf 1196 Inseln, dabei sind aber nun 220 bewohnt. Leider liegen die Malediven nur einen Meter über dem Meeresspiegel und werden oft von Hochwasser heimgesucht. Aber durch das wunderschöne Klima wird das Hochwasser wieder überspielt. Die günstige Lage bringt tropisches Luft auf die Inseln – ideal für [...]

Yangon ? Myanmar’s election authorities on Monday said a ministerial order restricting some campaign rallies had been lifted, just hours after Aung San Suu Kyi’s party complained its campaigning for upcoming parliamentary by-elections was being stifled.The Union Election Commission (UEC) contacted Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which boycotted the 2010 election, to tell [...]

Chiang Mai? After the Burmese finance minister opposed his motion to increase salaries for all government employees, Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann has again asked Parliament to raise government workers? pay.In a message to Parliament on Tuesday, Shwe Mann said the minimum salary of government employees should be 100,000 kyat (US$ 122), Lower House MP [...]

Yangon ? After decades of a virtual information vacuum in Myanmar, reforms set in train last year by President Thein Sein have unleashed a voracious appetite for information and public debate.At a recent seminar in Yangon, government advisers and prominent academics ? including U Myint, the chief economic adviser to Myanmar?s president, and Joseph Stiglitz, [...]

Leaders of the 88 Generation Students group have urged the public and government to unite and form a transparent society as a crucial factor to achieve development in Burma.?A society with transparency will drive forward with consideration and consciousness, freedom, openness and honesty. From this, we believe the society will create the main strength to [...]

160 Burmese have been suffering from great trouble in Kuwait as their employer has forced to do hard labor in the desert after bringing them to the country on the promise of carpentry jobs, according to a letter sent by a fellow migrant worker. The letter said they were brought to Kuwait by Shwe In-arr, [...]

TOKYO ? Typhoon Songda churned northeast along Pacific coasts in southern Japan Sunday, bringing with it heavy rains and staying on course to hit Tokyo as it weakened, weather officials said. It was expected to be downgraded to a depression late Sunday but could still dump torrential rain on the northeast coast, which was devastated [...]

BEIJING ? Authorities said a blast at a chemical plant in eastern China has killed three people and injured eight others. The government of Zibo city in Shandong province said in a statement Sunday that police were investigating the cause of the explosion at a chemical plant owned by Shandong Baoyuan Chemical Co. Ltd. The [...]

KUALA LUMPUR ? A team of UN atomic energy experts began a week-long visit to Malaysia on Sunday to review the safety of a proposed Australian rare earths refinery that has drawn protests. Following public concerns that radioactive waste from the plant could leak out and harm the environment, Malaysia has put the project by [...]

TOKYO ? Emergency workers on Sunday restored the cooling system of a reactor which had come to a halt after escaping major damage from the March 11 quake and damage at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. The water pump to cool the reactor and the pool for spent nuclear fuel at the facility’s No. [...]

BEIJING ? China will expand a ban on free shopping bags, state media said, as it tries to further curb its addiction to plastic in a bid to rid the country of “white pollution” that clogs waterways, farms and fields. Bookstores and pharmacies nationwide will soon be forbidden to give out free plastic bags, joining [...]

QNA DOHA THE Emir His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani will open the two-day International Conference for the Defence of Jerusalem in Doha on February 26. The conference follows a resolution (No. 503) of the Supreme Council of the League of Arab States which was adopted at Sirte in March 2010. Palestinian

REUTERS DOHA AL MEERA Consumer Goods Co, which recently struck a deal to franchise French retailer Casino’s Geant hypermarkets in the parts of the Gulf, will explore financing options to fund its expansion plans.

AILYN AGONIA DOHA FORMER Miss Universe Natalie Glebova unveiled Mouawad’s a diamond-studded watch valued at $6.8 million at the ninth Doha Jewellery & Watches Exhibition (DJWE), in Doha on Tuesday.

REUTERS ADEN/SANAA YEMEN ushered Ali Abdullah Saleh from power after 33 years on Tuesday, voting to endorse his deputy as president, with a mission to rescue the nation from poverty, chaos and the brink of civil war.

REUTERS BAGHDAD SAUDI Arabia, which has had frosty ties with Iraq’s Shiite-led government, has named an ambassador to Baghdad for the first time since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Tuesday.

RIYADH - A drive by shooting could have claimed the lives of three people in Riyadh downtown on Saturday. Two men received the full force of the shotgun blast to their legs and thighs. Both were taken to hospital.A verbal exchange of words and gestures including cursing between two groups

JIZAN – Ahmad Al-Reithi, a citizen and a native of Al-Reith mountainous area in Jizan, filed a complaint with authorities against the Governor of Al-Reith Mountain for an alleged abuse of power. The complaint also included the Wadi Amoud Center, affiliated with the Governorate, and the police,

Baha/Asir – As thermometers in other parts of the Kingdom have recorded high temps, the southern part has been blessed with rain. But at a price.Torrential rains pouring down on Al-Baha and Asir regions accompanied with gutsy winds on Friday afternoon halted traffic and destroyed signboards, an

JEDDAH – Breast cancer is no longer part of the Kingdom’s traditional culture of “Don’t tell anyone.” Public programs have been set up to encourage women to check on their breasts for early detection of the No. 1 killer of women in thus region.A national campaign for breast cancer detecti

SIHAT – A Bangladeshi national was executed on Saturday after being convicted of fatally stabbing and decapitating a Saudi national over a money dispute, the Ministry of Interior said.Jaman Hussain Jalaluddein was executed in Sihat in the Eastern Province, according to the statement, which was

The Elections Department has said the name of the DNA member to fill the vacant parliamentary seat of former Army Commander and DNA Leader Sarath Fonseka would be gazetted today (7).

Private buses operating along at least 15 routes from Horana including the 120 route have launched an indefinite bus strike from this afternoon.

Police today (Feb. 06) arrested two Muslim men from Sea Street, Colombo on the charge of having aided the LTTE.

UNP MP for Hambantota Sajith Premadasa says he will launch an local government election campaign of his own, which will be second to none.

S. Pathmanathan aka ‘KP’, described as LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s successor, says his North-East Rehabilitation and Development Organisation (NERDO) will not seek political recognition.

Up to 400 residents and monks attack non-Tibetan businesses and individuals.
[Globe and Mail, 28/03/08, last updated 30/03/08.]
(reported by Globe and Mail, 30 March 2008)

Date unspecified: Pelo Trulku, a reincarnated lama, was to give a spiritual teaching towards the end of February; “local Chinese ‘work teams’” refused to allow the teachings to take place, resulting in a scuffle between local Tibetans and the ‘work teams’.
[Note: reported by CTA on 17/03/08 and again on 18/03/08.]
(reported by CTA, 17 March 2008)

China has ordered a “sweeping purge of Tibet’s ‘splittist’ monasteries” in the Kandze [Kardze] region, according to measures contained in an official “document” dated 28 June 2008, carrying the name Li Changping [possibly a signature on the original document], head of Kandze [Tibetan] Autonomous Prefecture. The “document” was posted in Tibetan language on a Chinese government’s Tibet information website (www.tibet.cn; Tibetan language version: http://zw.tibet.cn/news) on 18 July. However, the posting itself was “based on an earlier article” that appeared in the Tibet Daily newspaper [it appears that both the article and the posting based on the article contained the entire text of the document].
FTC’s translation of the document [specifically, a translation of the posting based on an earlier article] was independently verified by Tsering Topgyal at the London School of Economics [and trustee of Tibet Watch, FTC’s sister organisation]. The document reportedly contained details of “serious decisions” that were “settled at the third conference of the Executive Committee of concerned region”. The measures are “highly significant as they are to be implemented by the Kandze [Kardze] Tibetan Autonomous Prefectural Government” [note: FTC does not elaborate on this assumed significance]. Monks and nuns charged with “quite serious” crimes will undergo “serious re-education” [?] and will remain in custody until he/she “co-operates by telling the truth, confessing their guilt and submitting a shuyig (self-criticising letter). He/she must sincerely and voluntarily tell the truth”. Monks and nuns “with serious crime and attitude problem” will be “subjected to serious re-education” [?], dismissed from his/her monastery and his/her religious rights will removed. Monks and nuns not registered at the religious affairs office, or who have come from other regions, or who had been away from the monastery for a “very long time” will be “subject to dismissal from the monastery and their huts will be destroyed”. Severe punishment is prescribed for monasteries considered to have led protests in March and April. At monasteries where between 10% and 30% of monks took part in protests, “all religious activities at the monastery will be halted. Movements of monks will be closely monitored”.
[Further categories of offences and prescribed measures are listed in full in the FTC press release.]
(reported by FTC, 01 October 2008)

A document titled “Serious decisions to be taken against monasteries and monks/nuns for undertaking turbulent activities” was posted in Tibetan language on a “government information website” (URL provided as “www.ti.tibet.cn”) on 18 July. The “document” was “based on an earlier article” that appeared in the Tibet Daily newspaper [it it understood that both the article and the posting based on the article contained the entire text of the document].
A translation published by Tibet Watch carries the name Li Changping [possibly a signature on the original document], head of Kandze Autonomous Prefecture [Kardze TAP], and date 28 June 2008. The translation refers to “serious decisions” that were “settled at the third conference of the Executive Committee of concerned region”, and refers to new measures to deal with ‘subversive’ monasteries and nunneries in Kandze [Kardze] TAP; lists “various levels of punishment for monks or nuns who have taken part in protests, distributed flyers or raised the Tibetan flags”.
Families of monks and nuns who confess to ‘minor’ crimes are to be responsible for their ‘re-education’; religious leaders accused of collaborating with foreign ‘splittist’ groups are to be publicly humiliated on state television. A monk or nun charged with “quite serious” crimes will remain in custody until they tell the truth, confess their guilt and submit a shuyig (self-criticising letter). Severe punishment is prescribed for monasteries considered to have led protests in March and April. At monasteries where between 10% and 30% of monks took part in protests “all religious activities at the monastery will be halted. Movements of monks will be closely monitored”.
[Further categories of offences and prescribed measures are listed in full in the Tibet Watch report. Tibet Watch cited as “www.ti.tibet.cn” – an invalid URL; actually www.tibet.cn, the website of China Tibet Information Center. However, the posting appeared on the Tibetan language version, at http://zw.tibet.cn/news.]
(reported by Tibet Watch, 01 October 2008)

‘Patriotic education’ classes (“Anti-splittism, defending Stability and
Promote Development”) held for locals by retired Khangmar county cadres who also performed a cultural performance, which “exposed the miserable life under the rule of serfdom system in old society by narrating their own experiences” according to a government news report.
[Tibet Watch cited www.chinatibetnews.com/xizang/shizheng.]
(reported by Tibet Watch, 01 October 2008)