Development Issues
SINGAPORE: Silence of the Lions |
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By Stanislaus Jude Chan SINGAPORE, Jul 30 (Asia Media Forum) – "Chewing gum is banned in Singapore?" a curious friend in Bangkok asks. Encouraged by my nod, she cautiously probes: "What happens when you get caught, death sentence?" |
Burmese Authorities Deny Plague Reports |
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By Wai Moe Burmese authorities denied on Saturday that there has been an outbreak of the plague in areas east of the Pegu mountain range, saying that the National Health Department has found no evidence of the disease in dead rats taken from areas considered at risk. |
THAILAND: 26 Community Radio Stations Shut Down |
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By Chularat Saengpassa - 'The Nation' Using the emergency decree, authorities have recently shut down 26 community-radio stations in nine provinces and pressured six others to discontinue their services. |
THAILAND: Sexuality 101 Exhibit Says It Straight |
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By Lynette Lee Corporal These scenes greet many a visitor to the National Science Museum located just outside the Thai capital Bangkok, where 'The Story of Love', an interactive exhibit on human sexuality, is underway. |
Thailand Fights Addiction to Plastic Bags |
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By Lynette Lee Corporal BANGKOK, Jun 28 (Asia Media Forum/IPS)Buy a hairpin and the sales clerk has a microscopic plastic bag for it. A soda purchase from a corner store may end up having the liquid poured into a plastic bag, and then topped off with a plastic straw. There isn’t a plastic bag yet that could fit a car, but if there is one country that could come up with one, Thailand would probably be it.
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PAKISTAN: Furore Over Leaked Tape Cause for Media Soul Searching |
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By Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Pakistan, May 31 (IPS) - The continuing debate on the purported audiotape implicating Pakistani television anchor Hamid Mir, popular and controversial in equal measure, has raised serious concerns about the media amid calls for an impartial investigation to uncover the truth behind the recording. |
CHINA: Social Networking Sites Vibrant and Thriving Among Activists |
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By Gordon Ross BEIJING, May 31 (IPS) - Last June, when thousands of Iranians – many organised through social networking websites such as Twitter – took to the streets to protest the outcome of the country’s presidential election, a Chinese English-language newspaper, ‘Global Times’, published an editorial critical of the Western media’s coverage of the protests. |
INDIA: Journalists Live on the Edge in Assam |
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Despite a phenomenal growth in the media, journalists here have to put up with poor wages and working conditions, and the hazards of working in an insurgency troubled state. Journalists' organisations are now no longer willing to stay silent, says 'The Hoot's' Nava Thakuria. |
Malaysia Seizes Political Paper |
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Malaysian authorities seized more than 6,000 copies of a pro-opposition newspaper amid a dispute over whether it flouted the country's strict publication laws, 'The Straits Times' quoted officials as saying on May 25. |
INDIA: Climate Change via FM |
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By Teresa Rehman* SHILLONG, India (AlertNet) - Climate change issues are reaching a remote new audience in Meghalaya, a hilly state in northeast India, via 'Mawsawa,' a popular FM radio music show. |









Aung Htun (not his real name) is one of the young video journalists featured in the award-winning feature documentary 'Burma VJ (Reporting from a Closed Country)'. 