By Neil Campbell
OpenDemocracy.net
An incident during my recent visit to Timor-Leste gave a useful insight into the difficult security conditions in the small, young and troubled independent state. A few kilometres outside the capital Dili, under the shadow of the Cristo Rei statue, I came across an agitated western official shouting down a mobile-phone - a [...]

Plugged: One of my favorite tech bloggers, Jeremy Wagstaff, has this interesting take on Facebook, specifically why anyone who values his or her privacy should stay away from the popular social-networking site.
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by Katsuya Tsurusaki

http://www.jiia.or.jp/en_commentary/200801/24-1.html
From the 1990s through 2005, China’s GDP grew at an average annual rate of more than 9 percent. To power this record growth, China’s steel production tripled to 390 million tons between 2000 and 2006 and its coal consumption jumped by 230 percent to 1,000 million tons between 2000 and 2005. This rapid [...]

By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita lets the cat out of the bag when he said, “So what’s …the end game for negotiation? Let’s silence the guns.” He thus exposes his militarist mindset. All he wants from peace negotiations is that the people’s army surrenders.
Silence the guns of the people’s army, [...]

DailyBits: The gaming niche is characterized by its haves and have-nots. You’ve seen Kotaku, IGN, GameSpot, Joystiq, 1UP and the others, but what about the great, lesser-known gaming sites?
This post introduces 18 great gaming sites you might not have seen before. Whether you’re looking for freebies, music, laughs or oddities, there’s something here for occasional [...]

By Toufiq A. Siddiqi

HONOLULU (Jan. 24) – Global climate change has moved firmly during the past six months to the forefront of the international agenda.
Last September, Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, convened a meeting of heads of state and other world leaders at the United Nations headquarters for a forum entitled “The Future [...]

By Fr. Shay Cullen
Is he a prophet, priest, politician or a popular uncorrupted elected leader? These are the questions that run through everyone’s mind when they hear that Father Ed Panlilio, 54, a catholic priest on a leave of absence from regular priestly duties is now the elected governor of Pampanga Province in the Philippines. [...]

Why Facebook Is Really Creepy

By Carlos H. Conde
While I am one with my colleagues in the press daring the Philippine National Police and the Department of Justice to file charges against Jiji Press correspondent Dana Batnag for allegedly helping Capt. Nicanor Faeldon escape at the height of the Manila Pen siege, I think such a dare is pointless. Simply [...]

“THE PUBLIC’S RIGHT TO KNOW IS A RIGHT, WITH OR WITHOUT GOVERNMENT’S CONSENT”
Statement of Ms. Maria A. Ressa in support of the filing of the Petition for Writ of Amparo
before the Supreme Court
21 January 2008
We can’t stand by and watch a kind of creeping censorship test and weaken our democracy.
Our [...]

UNMASKING THE VEILED THREATS AND HARASSMENT FOR WHAT THEY ARE

Statement issued by Ces Drilon on the filing of the Petition for a Writ of Amparo before the Supreme Court
21 January 2008
A free atmosphere for speech, press, and public opinion is possible only for as long as the people will it to be. That [...]

Plugged: I’m a long-time Windows user and I usually upgrade to its newest version. But when Microsoft launched Vista last year, I resisted the urge to change the Windows XP operating that’s running my laptop. Two reasons.
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Plugged: Nokia Philippines warned consumers last week that fake Nokia phones are proliferating in the market. These fake phones — Nokia N81, Nokia 5310, Nokia N95, Nokia N82, Nokia 6120, to name some — are usually sold in sidewalks or stalls, those that sell “GSM” (Galing sa Magnanakaw) phones. Nokia Philippines enumerates ways to tell [...]

by L. Gordon Flake
Since year’s end, much of the attention on North Korea’s
nuclear program has focused on the missed deadlines for disabling the
Yongbyon facility and more importantly for Pyongyang’s provision of a
“complete and correct” declaration of all its nuclear
programs. However, whether a declaration is forthcoming or not, [...]

by Brad Glosserman

A gloom is settling over Tokyo. A recent visit revealed deep and deepening frustration and anxiety as Japanese contemplate strategic options. Decision makers in Tokyo have framed their choices in overly simple terms that do not reflect the range of possibilities in foreign and security [...]

by Brad Glosserman and Bonnie Glaser
There is no simple description for the U.S.-China relationship. The two countries are bound together by a thick web of interactions that is growing denser on every level. That is to be expected of two countries with global interests and influence. But strains in [...]

By Luis V. Teodoro

DESPITE funding constraints, the University of the Philippines (UP), which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, has grown from a small institution on Manila’s Padre Faura street into a national university system of 12 campuses (including the cyber or virtual campus of its Open University) and seven constituent universities.
[...]

By Fr. Shay Cullen
If we are to look at the Philippine government record of the present and past years in approving and ratifying international conventions, especially those concerning the rights of the child, we will be greatly edified. There is almost 100% ratification but what appears on the gilded document in the halls of the [...]