Myanmar arrests journalists, activists in crackdown

YANGON, Oct 30 — Myanmar authorities have arrested up to 50 people including journalists, political activists and students in a security crackdown this month in its biggest city, a Thailand-based human rights group said today.

Ronaldo, Kaka on Fifa’s world player shortlist

Ronaldo, Kaka on Fifa’s world player shortlist
LONDON, Oct 30 — Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, the last two winners of the World Player of the Year award, have been included in a Fifa shortlist for this year’s accolade.
The 23-man shortlist was drawn up by Fifa’s Football Committee and will be voted on by the captains [...]

M.Insider: Julia Roberts’ film producer warned not to disturb sanctity of Bali shrines

M.Insider: Julia Roberts’ film producer warned not to disturb sanctity of Bali shrines
DENPASAR, Oct 30 – The chairman of Bali’s Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia (PHDI), I Gusti Ngurah Sudiana hopes the making of a film starring Julia Roberts in Bali, will not disturb the sanctity of the region`s religious shrines, Indonesia’s Antara news agency reported [...]

China’s enforcement officers following their counterparts in ASEAN and turned into thugs

China’s enforcement officers following their counterparts in ASEAN and turned into thugs
Comment. I just changed the topic.
SHANGHAI, Oct 30 — A highly publicised case of injustice has led to calls for the reform, or even abolition, of a law enforcement agency found in every Chinese city, and which is notorious for its thuggish behaviour.
Attention is [...]

Malaysian Insider: Saudis try to head off swine flu fears before Hajj

Malaysian Insider: Saudis try to head off swine flu fears before Hajj

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims pray around the Kaaba inside the Grand Mosque during in Mecca – Reuters pic
RIYADH, OCT 30 — Every year, the single largest gathering on the planet is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca: 2.5 million people from 160 countries packed [...]

A chameleon or latest Malay traitor?

 New Malaysian chameleon. Pic and facts from Wikipedia
The family Chamaeleonidae are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, and the possession by many of a prehensile tail, crests [...]

Migrant rights’ NGO Tenaganita in Mkini:Check your facts and get to work, Mr Home Minister

Migrant rights’ NGO Tenaganita in Mkini:
Check your facts and get to work, Mr Home Minister
Migrant rights’ NGO Tenaganita has lambasted the home minister for claiming that the recent death of domestic help Mautik Hani following abuse by her employers is the first of its kind in the country.
36-year-old Mautik Hani from Surabaya died having been [...]

Mkini: Swift ‘injustice’ at Malaysian Immigration Courts

Mkini: Swift ‘injustice’ at Malaysian Immigration Courts
Wati (name changed to protect identity) is a mother of two – a teenager and a five-year-old.
But the Indonesian national has not seen them for eight years now because she has been working in Malaysia.
Two weeks ago, immigration officers raided the place where she works and was taken into [...]

Mizzima:Junta supremo to visit Sri Lanka

Junta supremo to visit Sri Lanka

Jackson docu “This Is It” gets jump on weekend

ORLANDO, Florida, Oct 27 — The Gloved One looks likely to have a posthumous hit at the box office this weekend.
Sony Pictures bows the Michael Jackson documentary “This Is It” as the week’s sole wide release. Sony will get the jump on the weekend by moonwalking “This Is It” into about 3,500 theatres starting at [...]

Uighur film shunned due to China fears

Uighur film shunned due to China fears
TAIPEI, Oct 27 — International movie distributors have shunned a film on exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer, whom China condemns as a separatist, because they fear Beijing’s wrath, the film’s producer said today.
As “The 10 Conditions of Love” finishes showing at a Taiwan film festival this week, it [...]

Malaysiakini letter: Tenaganita’s heartbreaking stories of abused migrants

Malaysiakini letter: Tenaganita’s heartbreaking stories of abused migrants
Who is Mautik Hani?
Do we care? 
This is who she is not:
She is not a ’statistic.’
She is not an ‘isolated incident’.
Mautik Hani was a woman.
She was a daughter; she was someone’s friend.
Somebody called her ‘my neighbour’; another called her ‘my sister’. 
Mautik Hani had dreams to chase;
questions to ask; memories [...]

Developing countries must boost broadband, says UN

Developing countries must boost broadband, says UN
 Poor broadband infrastructure puts developing countries at risk of missing the benefits of IT. — Reuters pic
GENEVA, Oct 27 — Developing countries risk missing out on the benefits of information technology because of their lack of broadband infrastructure, a UN agency said.
Read all here

Web addresses may go beyond English

Web addresses may go beyond English
SEOUL, Oct 27 — The Internet is set to undergo one of the biggest changes in its four-decade history, with the expected approval this week of international domain names — or addresses — that can be written in languages other than English, an official said yesterday.
That change could potentially open [...]