Armenia: Parliamentary Election Monitor

Onnik Krikorian has a report on the Armenian parliamentary campaign.

China: sex tape and corruption

A Chinese actress, Zhang Yu, showed 20 tapes to media of her having sex with famous Chinese directors and actors. DANWEI has the details. Wang Xiao feng's judgement is that there is commercial interest behind the event, the whole issue is a show (zh).

Zany who writes for The View from Fez, Morocco, posts part of a paper which highlights plans to increase the number of women candidates in Parliament. Mohammad V University law professor Mohamed Mouaquit, who prepared the study for the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women, states political representation of women in...

Kyrgyzstan: Driving Bishkek

Driving in Bishkek is an adventure, says Nikki.

Armenia: Swastika Removal

Thomas Seropian has photos of removal of racist graffiti in Yerevan.

Lebanese Mark who lives and works in Kuwait had to fly into Dubai for urgent business. Although he didn't like his hotel, traffic and the fact that an exhibition he wanted to visit was closed by the time he had finished his work, he found items he really wanted but...

The abuse of domestic maids is on the rise in Jordan, reports Black Iris. So far 10 maids have committed suicide this year in the country which has about 38,000 registered maids from abroad in addition to 60,000 illegal domestic workers.

Kazakhstan: Right Hand Rights!

Leila reports on protests in Kazakhstan over the the government's decision to ban the import and sale of cars with steering wheels on the right side.

Armenia: Notes from the Blogosphere

Onnik Krikorian rounds up posts in the Armenian blogosphere on protests against racism.

In the United Arab Emirates, police first arrest men accused of sexual harrassment and then start questioning them, writes Lou Lou in her blog Renderings of Me. There is zero tolerance for any type of sexual harrassment in UAE which is something that deserves respect, she adds.

Kazakhstan: Exact Change

KZ Blog discusses the overwhelming preference for exact change in Kazakhstan.

An Arab version of both YouTube and Flickr on one site, called Ikbis, is gaining popularity in the Arab world, writes Mustapha from Beirut Spring. A video of a Lebanese girl belly dancing in her room is among the most watched videos in the site, which has sparked the interest...

Iran:An Iranian Refugee Family in Danger

Ardeshir Dolat talks about an Iranian refugee family living which has made its home an airport in Moscow. According to the blogger, the Russian authorities now want to deport the family to Iran – something that the family is convinced will be devastating to their lives and safety.You can watch...

China: apart from dog, what else?

Positive solution posts a question concerning the one dog policy in China: If you start banning dogs on the grounds that they are potentially dangerous and a public nuisance, why stop there? Here are a few things that I’d give the same treatment…

China: banking regulation

Survived SARS comments upon the newly released banking regulations in China: at first glance, they appear to provide more leeway for foreign banks to compete than was originally expected…

Afghanistan:Taliban's Purchasing Power

Afghan Lord says about the presence of drugs in country. The blogger quotes NewsMax site “Policemen in Afghanistan are not happy with their lives. The highest-ranking officer makes about $80 per month, and the Taliban pay better, one policeman tells me.Would he go fight with them? “They haven't asked me....

China: wikipedia blocked, unblocked and reblocked

The news about Chinese wikipedia has been confusing. On Nov 13, it was widely accessible, on Nov 16, partial inaccessible, on Nov 17, a reblocked was confirmed and appeared more restrictive – Andrew Lih has the most elaborated update.

Hong Kong: from hit rates to narratives

ESWN has some reflections upon his blogging: but at some point, I ought to develop some opinion or the other after recording ten thousand data points…I believe that there is some room for building up narratives from the ground up.

Podcast: Interview With ChilePodcast's Carlos Toledo

Chilean podcaster Carlos Toledo explains how he started communicating to the world, why he continues, and how he hopes to expand podcasting's educational potential throughout Chile. With introductory music by Valdivia. ChilePodcast | Blog | Podcast (RSS) Valdivia | Creative Commons Review [ES] | Album Page | Caja Fuerte Download

Hong Kong: cultural gap in Hong Kong journalism

ESWN translates different mainstream reports concerning the sacking of SCMP editors to show the cultural gap between Chinese and English journalism.

Japan: cultural day

David Weber in Japundit has a nice photo essay on the Japan cultural day.