13 June 2007
Stories from 13 June 2007
“Beat the Censors!”, a gift of freedom for Thai Internet users
To date, Thailand’s ICT Minister, Dr Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, has not kept his promise to unblock the popular video-sharing site, YouTube, which was blocked by the Thai government in April 2007 following the appearance on the site of material critical of the country's king. Sami Ben Gharbia explores Thailand's worsening censorship climate, and interviews one of the activists behind FACT, an organisation that is refusing to take the government's threats lying down.
·
read »
D.R. of Congo: Rhumba stars of today and yesterday
As Francois recently observed in Du Cabiau à Kinshasa [Fr], “Music and dance probably share the podium with Jesus among the top reasons for living for a majority of the Congolese people.” For a hint of the obsessive enthusiasm with which Congolese music fans trade gossip about the star musicians and debate their merits, you only have to visit forums such as AfroMix, AfricaAmbience and CongoPage [Fr]. However, despite the massive popularity of Congolese music all over Africa, the blogosphere remains relatively quiet on the subject.
·
read »
Japan: The Disappearing Pension Accounts
For the past few weeks, pressure has been intensifying against the Japanese government over its apparent mismanagement of over 50 million public pension accounts belonging to millions of Japanese citizens. While the government has attempted to deflect attacks by issuing flyers pinning the blame on a former member of the opposition, many Japanese bloggers are not buying it.
·
read »
Vietnam: Food Recommendation in Hue
Vietnamese God is traveling in Hue, the old capital city of Vietnam. The blogger has some pictures of local food and restaurant recommendations.
Please sign this if you are pro