International Comm & Culture 2009

showcasing Malaysia's cultural and ethnic heritage.

Malaysia's cultural and ethnic heritage.

biggest Malaysian student cultural show

The Surabaya administration has blocked access to Facebook

He said the ban was introduced because many civil servants wasted too much time on the services during office hours.

We're still evaluating the idea that we should block Facebook permanently in all levels of government," Buchari said.

Australians have grown too cynical about Asian institutions and regional diplomacy.

the great English poet Francis Thompson: "Our hearts, with many schemes so flawed, have grown cynical and bored."

This is Rudd's most ambitious statement for the G20 yet. The organisation was founded because of the Asian financial crisis a decade ago. It is small enough to be manageable but big enough to have the clout to affect all parts of the globe.

We sat on the ground and the message from all these fishermen was along the lines of: "They may be talking about an economic crisis in Europe but if you want a real crisis it's right here in Senegal."

A very animated and infuriated Abdoulaye told me that his son left for Spain in a fishing boat five years ago, and was now living a far better life than he was. "I am 45-years-old and I don't have half of what he has now, like a nice house and a car," he said, adding that he would do all he could to send more of his relatives to Europe. None of these young men referred at any stage to the risks of getting to Europe even though hundreds - probably thousands - have died at sea in recent years. Senegal looks to Europe more than most countries I have visited. Not so much to Spain, but to the old colonial power, France, which has maintained strong links.

If it were not for the West African street traders, the whole of Europe would be squinting and struggling to keep their trousers up, judging by the number of people I have met who said they made their living selling these goods on the streets.

The "AIDS is a mass murderer" TV and cinema advert

The new campaign, designed by Regenbogen e.V. in conjunction with the advertising agency das comitee, speaks in clear terms: its slogan is "AIDS is a mass murderer". It features the greatest mass murderers in recent history having sex. TWITTER PROFIL 

The "Adolf" poster The "Saddam" poster The "Stalin" poster

The American fast-food giant McDonald's has lost an eight-year legal battle to prevent a Malaysian restaurant calling itself McCurry.

McDonald's argued that the use of the "Mc" prefix infringed its trademark. But the Federal Court in Kuala Lumpur ruled that there was no evidence to show McCurry was trying to pass itself off as part of the McDonald's empire.

The owner of McCurry insists its "Mc" prefix is an abbreviation for Malaysian Chicken Curry.

One of President Obama's campaign promises was to make the US government more open and transparent.

"It's a great opportunity to redefine how government works," said Mr O'Reilly

"We've got to recognise that we can't treat the American people as subjects but as co-creators of ideas. We need to tap into the vast amounts of knowledge... in communities across the country.

Military rabbis are becoming more powerful. Trained in warfare as well as religion, new army regulations mean they are now part of a military elite.

One of their main duties is to boost soldiers' morale and drive, even on the front line.

The 19-year-olds I spoke to at the seminary told me religious soldiers like them can make the army behave better and become "more moral".

“I want to go to school,” he said in English. “I would like it if I could be — it sounds like a lot to ask — an engineer of computing.”

Although some are as young as 12, most are teenagers seeking an education and a future that is not possible in their own country, which is still struggling with poverty and violence eight years after the end of Taliban rule.

Once in France, the boys face more hardship. The Paris police have started conducting nightly searches to prevent Afghan migrants from sleeping in Villemin Square. The 15-year-old was placed in a cheap hotel, while others were put in temporary shelter in an unused subway station. Others find their own shelter under bridges and beside a canal

Concubines are no longer kept hidden away behind closed doors. In modern China's far more open society, concubines can be seen in the shopping malls and cafes of the cities, especially in the south, where there are thousands of what are known as "er nai" or "second breast".

"China's future will be undermined in those corrupt officials' hands," wrote one outraged citizen. Another described the corrupt cadres who keep concubines as "absolutely superfluous, vampires, corrupt scum. They deserve to be killed".

A Sudanese woman who wore pants in public was fined the equivalent of $200

“I will not pay a penny,” she told The Associated Press.

The judge had threatened to jail her for one month if she did not pay the fine.

The Dalai's visit, ostensibly aimed at comforting victims of last month's deadly typhoon, has posed the most serious challenge to relations between the island and the mainland since Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou took office 15 months ago, the party said.

We got a call from them saying they could not attend. They said they had to postpone the visit due to technical reasons and would not provide details. But I think you and I know why,"

Beijing had warned that the Dalai Lama's visit was "bound to have a negative influence on the relations between the mainland and Taiwan."