• West Asia

    [Asian Books] Diaries of an Unfinished Revolution: Voices from Tunis to Damascus

    Diaries of an Unfinished Revolution: Voices from Tunis to Damascus By Layla Al-Zubaidi, Matthew Cassel, Nemonie Craven Roderick, Robin Moger, Georgina Collins and Samar Yazbek | Penguin Books | 2013 Although the world was informed about the uprising of the Arab Spring in 2011 through the media, experts, analysts and…

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  • South Asia

    Which is better path for reconciliation, cricket or UN?

    “In Sri Lanka, cricket is a better path to reconciliation than the UN plan” Rejecting the resolution passed at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on March 27th to mount an ‘independent’ international investigation into alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapkase said that Sri Lanka would…

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  • East Asia

    [Asian Books] By All Means Necessary

    By All Means Necessary How China’s Resource Quest is Changing the World By Elizabeth Economy & Michael Levi | Oxford University Press | 2014 In By All Means Necessary, Elizabeth C. Economy and Michael Levi explore China’s unprecedented massive quest for natural resources and the global impact of Chinese growth.…

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  • South East Asia

    More fun in the Philippines

    Enjoy Boracay, El Nido, Maskara, Moriones, and more Filipinos are indeed a blessed people, and one of the reasons is their geography and climate being a tropical country. The seasons are generally divided into three: the hot season from March to May, the rainy season that runs from June to…

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  • West Asia

    Lee Kun-hee, The Man behind Revolutions

    First comments I read in Arabic,on the death of Samsung Electronics Chairman; Mr. Lee Kun-hee, showed that he was the man behind revolutions. If we speak of Arab region, it is clear how every house, and each citizen might be expressing easily their own experiences with some products with the…

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  • East Asia

    Geisha girls

    Geisha girls parade down the streets toward Asakusa Shrine in the compound of Sensoji Temple in Tokyo, Friday, May 16, 2014, prior to the annual Sanja Festival, one of the three major festivals in Tokyo, scheduled on May 16-18.

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  • West Asia

    Five years to stay or leave

    The new minister of social affairs is trying to offer solutions for restricting, organizing and controlling the visa trade in Kuwait by limiting the duration of expatriates’ residency in Kuwait to five years. When I first read about it, I thought it was a joke and a waste of time…

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  • West Asia

    Qatar to end sponsorship system for expat workers – Doha unveils labor reforms but no timetable

    DOHA: Qatar, host of the 2022 football World Cup, said yesterday it will abolish its controversial sponsorship system for foreign workers, whose treatment in the energy-rich state has stirred mounting international criticism. FIFA chief Sepp Blatter described the move as a “significant step,” but Amnesty International said it lacked substance…

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  • West Asia

    Yemen’s dire need for WOMENOMICS

    In his speech at the 68th session of the U.N. General Assembly, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe talked about many key issues that matter to the world, but what was more interesting for me personally was the interest he showed in empowering women in the economic sector―let’s call it, “womenomics.”…

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  • East Asia

    Kimono-clad woman at Yushima Tenjin shrine

    A kimono-clad woman strolls along a wall enclosure to Yushima Tenjin shrine in Tokyo, Thursday, May 15, 2014. The shrine is devoted to the “god of learning” so many students visit for prayers during the country’s high school and college entrance examinations every February.

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