Burma

Rangoon city authorities on Monday banned graffiti on public buildings, roads and bridges, as well as in schools and parks. Authorities said anyone defying the ban would face an unspecified punishment, according to a report by The Associated Press (AP).

The report quoted graffiti artists as saying that the ban was not a surprise because authorities were copying regulations enacted in other countries. The artists also said they expected many to continue drawing, and urged authorities to provide a legal outlet for their work so they would not have to act illegally.

The International Comic and Animation Convention (ICAC) 2012 has been rescheduled for Dec. 1-9 at Xiedao International Exhibition Center in Beijing.

The nine-day event was originally slated to be held Nov. 3-11, but was postponed for reasons relating to the Chinese organizers and authorities.

The ICAC Beijing was intended to be one of the largest official events of its kind in China, featuring Japanese manga and anime at the "Japan pavilion" jointly operated by the two countries. But it will be referred to as the "international pavilion."

The entire event will also be scaled down with some of the programs, guest appearances and autograph-signing sessions with manga artists being postponed or canceled.

Thailand

For some, the negative side of instant social networking begins to get under the skin

There are over 17 million Facebook users in Thailand and their number continues to grow. From Facebook statistics, by country, Thailand ranks 14th among nations with the highest number of subscribers to this popular social networking medium.

Like it or not, Facebook has become a part of many people's lives. Probably yours too.

Burma

If the 34-storey Diamond Inya Palace looks like being the first skyscraper to rise over Rangoon, it is unlikely to be the last. But is Burma about to ruin Asia’s last characterful city in the race to modernize?

Burma’s biggest earner right now, after gas exports, is tourism. Visitors are flocking to Rangoon and Mandalay and other places because they have not yet been spoiled by the concrete jungles that have grown over most other Asian cities.

“There’s nowhere in Asia like [Rangoon] any more, a cityscape studded with hundreds of grand and humble buildings from the colonial era amid multi-ethnic communities that have remained intact, vibrant and colorful for a century and more,” veteran regional journalist Denis Gray wrote recently after a visit.