WALL STREET JOURNAL (Also, LOS ANGELES TIMES, NEW YORK TIMES ONLINE, REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, CNN, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, BLOOMBERG, BBC, FINANCIAL TIMES, GUARDIAN, AUSTRALIAN, ECONOMIC TIMES, PC WORLD, COMPUTER WORLD, ASIA TIMES)
March 31 “Google runs into China’s ‘Great Firewall’”
Google Inc.'s search sites in China abruptly stopped working Tuesday, but the explanation for the outage shifted as the day wore on. The Internet giant first blamed itself, citing a technical change, but later reversed course and pointed to the heavy hand of China's "Great Firewall"—even as service appeared to be back to normal.
… Its international sites, such as the Hong Kong one, have always been subjected to filtering, meaning that Chinese users' searches of some sensitive terms—like those related to the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests, the initials RFA, for Radio Free Asia, or even the names of top leaders—might trigger an error message from the browser instead of a results page.
HUFFINGTON POST
March 24 “Libby Liu – China’s Google Syndrome: Online giant's retreat puts spotlight on Internet freedoms”
What an amazing week. It started with Google on Monday deciding to reroute its Chinese users to its unfiltered Hong Kong-based search engine.
… The events also throw a spotlight on China's draconian restrictions of the Internet and its use of the far-reaching medium to enforce its perpetual prohibition of free speech and the unfettered exchange of ideas.
OAKLAND TRIBUNE
March 24 “Timing critical in interview project”
Moraga psychologist Marcella Adamski set out this time last year to spread the news far and wide about her groundbreaking interviews with 85 Tibetan elders. She raised enough money to have 25 oral histories of the Chinese occupation of Tibet translated and archived on the Tibet Oral History Project Web site.
The work interested Radio Free Asia’s Tibetan Service, which is broadcasting excerpts worldwide, and Adamski wants to send the collection to libraries around the world.
NEW YORK TIMES
March 23 “China: 2 protests by students in Tibetan areas”
Groups of students in two Tibetan areas of Gansu Province, in western China, have held separate protests after Chinese security forces imposed lockdowns at boarding schools before the anniversaries of previous Tibetan uprisings, according to a report by the International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group. The report, based on information obtained by Tibetans in exile with ties to people in Gansu, was similar to an earlier report of the protests by Radio Free Asia.
KOREA TIMES
March 19 “N. Korean leader’s China visit uncertain”
A phone call was made to the North Korean embassy in Beijing on Tuesday night and the following conversation was logged.
The North Korean official, who declined to give his name, was right. The last time Kim Jong-il visited China was in 2006. Since then, there has been an endless stream of reports about an "imminent" visit by Kim to China, which to this day has yet to materialize.
… For example, Radio Free Asia said Kim would arrive in Beijing on Jan. 10. When the date passed by without Kim's appearance in China's capital, a series of other speculative reports ensued, each, after passing the deadline, incrementally postponing the time.
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
March 19 “Tibetans take to the streets to mark uprising”
Protests broke out in at least two Tibetan-populated towns in Gansu this week as middle-school students took to the streets on the anniversary of deadly rioting two years ago. The protests took place despite tight security in Tibetan-populated areas ahead of the March 14 anniversary.
… Radio Free Asia quoted Machu residents as saying the student shouted slogans decrying the lack of freedom and calling for Tibetan independence. It said the protest was joined by 500 to 600 other Tibetans.
INTER-PRESS SERVICE
March 19 “Exiled radio plays a cat-and-mouse game”
For exiled journalists working on shortwave radio programming aimed at Burmese and Tibetan listeners, dodging the 'enemy' in the name of free speech is often a cat-and-mouse game.
… In an environment of media restrictions and state-controlled radio stations' lack of substantial information on current issues, many naturally turn to foreign-based radio programs like DVB, apart from the British Broadcasting Corp, Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, says Zin Linn, who is information director for the U.S.-based Burmese exiled government.
PHNOM PENH POST
March 17 “5 cool things with Chrann Chamroeun”
… I also like listening to breaking news on Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, which I think are trustworthy news outlets for people.
KBS
March 16 “RFA: Orascom Telecom Posts $26 Mln in Sales in NK”
The sole mobile phone operator in North Korea has been found to have posted 26 million U.S. dollars in sales in the communist state last year.
Radio Free Asia quoted a 2009 performance report released by the Egyptian firm Orascom Telecom as saying Tuesday that some 22-thousand people began using mobile phone services in the North in the fourth quarter of last year. The figure brings the total number of cell phone users in the North to some 92-thousand.
KOREA TIMES
March 14 “Portrait of Kim Jong-il's Son Ready for Public Distribution”
Last month, the Radio Free Asia also reported the regime began to restrict the use of the name "Jong-un," instructing people with the same name to change it.
YONHAP NEWS AGENCY
March 11 “IOC says it provided North Korean Olympic athletes with US$115,000”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) provided US$115,200 worth of support for the training of North Korean athletes who took part in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, a Washington-based radio station said on March 7.
From November 2008 through last month, the IOC provided monthly support of $1,500 to each of five North Korean athletes, two of whom participated in the Olympics that ended March 1, the international broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported, citing an e-mail from the committee.
ASIA TIMES
March 10 “US ponders China's Southeast Asian rise”
The United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) last month held a lengthy hearing on China's activities in Southeast Asia and the implications for US interests in the strategic region.
… The competition for hearts and minds has also taken to the airwaves. While the US has long promoted Radio Free Asia and Voice of America radio programs in the region, China launched China-Cambodia Friendship Radio in December 2008.
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
March 9 “N Korea's currency reform backfires; Shortages worsen as private wealth wiped out”
North Korea's failed attempt to reform its currency has worsened shortages of food and other necessities, devalued its money and made it more reliant on China for survival.
…Radio Free Asia quoted members of a foreign delegation visiting Pyongyang saying that even the prestigious Koryo Hotel, where high-ranking foreigners stay, had no kimchi. “The city's economic life has come to a halt. There are no goods in the shops and construction workers are staying away. In 10 visits here, I have never seen anything like this.” Millions of citizens rely on foreign aid for food.
DEUTCHE PRESSE AGENTUR (Also, TIBETAN REVIEW, TIBETAN NEWS & CULTURE ONLINE)
March 8 “China sends Tibetan singer to labor camp”
Chinese authorities sentenced a popular Tibetan singer to 15 months of "re-education through labour" after he released an album containing lyrics that were deemed political, US-based Radio Free Asia said Monday.
ARIRANG – KOREA’S GLOBAL TV
March 5 “N.Korean Leader's Visit to China Mainly to Discuss Economic Aid”
The lastest report by a Japanese daily says that the main reason behind North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's possible visit to China later this month is to rake in as much economic aid as possible from Beijing.
… Radio Free Asia reported that Pyeongyang's market activity is paralyzed with most markets and shops in Pyeongyang closed and severe inflation, social unrest and starvation inflicting many areas.
CHOSUN ILBO
March 4 “Americans turn up their nose at N. Korean tipple”
Exports to the U.S. of the North Korean liquor Pyongyang Soju have been halted due to a lack of interest from consumers, Radio Free Asia reported Tuesday. Tang Kap-jeung of importer Tang's Liquor Wholesales in Flushing, New York, told RFA, "There was some interest at first because people were curious, but the poor taste led to dwindling orders and we stopped imports a year ago.
TIBETAN REVIEW
March 4 “Further tightening by world’s biggest online censor”
China on Feb 23 began implementing strict new controls on internet by requiring all individuals wishing to operate Web sites to first of all meet in person with regulators from the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
… “It’s getting harder and harder to set up a Web site from within China, and now they have set another layer of restriction on the process,” Radio Free Asia (RFA) online Feb 24 quoted a Blogger named Zhou Shuguang as saying.
ASIA NEWS
March 3 “Laos: Free meals to attract Laotian children to school”
In Laos it is difficult to convince many poor rural families to send their children to school. The Ministry of Education is trying to convince parents to send their children to school by offering free meals and sending teachers who speak the local language.
Lytou Buapao, Deputy Minister for Education, told the Radio Free Asia that the peasant families “consider the child as an aid to family work.”
