Full coverage: Asia and the Pacific

31.01.2006 ICT professionals in New Zealand will soon be able to upgrade their business qualifications while they work, thanks to a postgraduate certificate approved by the Tertiary Education Commission.

30.01.2006 The minister of industries in Tamil Nadu, Nainar Nagendran inaugurated the state government’s multimedia campaign to popularize schemes of the state government.

30.01.2006 Speakers at the seminar on ‘Access to Information and Development: Role of ICTs’ said that the targets of the MDGs and PRSP should provide more emphasis on mainstreaming ICTs for leveraging the potential of economy and society leading towards a knowledge society.

30.01.2006 Bahrain will introduce e-voting technology in its next election. Election and referendum director Shaikha Muneera bint Abdulla Al Khalifa described the e-voting in Bahrain as a genuine experiment of democratic transformation to the horizons of the 21st century.

27.01.2006 An OECD report shows that children in New Zealand have a high level of access to information communications technology at school. The report “Are Students Ready for a Technology-Rich World” rated New Zealand secondary school students fifth out of 41 countries for access to ICT such as computers and the Internet.

27.01.2006 A Sri Lankan robotics scientist leads an effort to get technology working for poor communities around the world. Read more on the project from Scidev.net.

25.01.2006 Much of what we are discussing today is based on information disseminated through media. So, we are familiar with the media’s role in setting off deliberations such as this one. How far they succeed in alleviating poverty is another matter.

23.01.2006 The Prime Minister of Ireland, Bertie Ahern, on Tuesday launched the operations in India of the Global e-School and Communities Initiative, a multilaterally funded organisation that supports enhancing the reach and quality of education by deploying Information and Communication technologies.

20.01.2006 The Prime Minister of Ireland, Bertie Ahern, on Tuesday launched the operations in India of the Global e-School and Communities Initiative, a multilaterally funded organisation that supports enhancing the reach and quality of education by deploying Information and Communication technologies.

20.01.2006 "The main objective of the Pakistan CDMA Forum is to create awareness, encourage dialogue and promote CDMA technology and its use in Pakistan for telecom operators, broadcasters, manufacturers, software companies, government, academia and the general public.

20.01.2006 The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration said that the rural health centres will be open 24 hours for improved medical services. According to an ICT spokesman, three female doctors and three male doctors have been appointed at Tarlai health centres.

19.01.2006 Reporters Without Borders today called on the international community, especially the United Nations, to persuade the government to rethink its plans to create a Broadcasting Authority with broad powers over radio stations, cable TV and online media, and to increase the cost of a radio broadcasting licence by at least 10 or 20 times.

19.01.2006 The Government of India and the World Bank today signed a loan agreement of US$105 million for the Hydrology Project Phase II. Mr. Madhusudan Prasad, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India signed on behalf of the Government of India.

17.01.2006 The traffic police in Bangalore have now started the process of computerising the pre-paid autorickshaw counters so that the autorickshaws can be better monitored. Two of the city's pre-paid autorickshaw counters have been computerised while a third one will be computerised in a week's time.

17.01.2006 Approved in principle by the Prime Minister, the Finance Ministry has created a list of information and communication technology (ICT) products of Vietnam and a roadmap to abolish tariffs on these products in the 2008-2010 period, according to the International Co-operation Department under the Finance Ministry.

17.01.2006 Bangladesh ICT Journalist Forum (BIJF) is the professional ICT journalist association of Bangladesh which was established in 2002.

17.01.2006 This paper looks at the conceptual and historical evolution of the role of civil society in demanding, promoting and ensuring Right to Information. It specifically looks at the role played by the civil society organizations in India in ensuring the enactment of Right to Information Act which addresses and reflects the voices of the people.

17.01.2006 Media are invited to cover ADB's 39th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors, to be held in Hyderabad, India, from 3 to 6 May.

16.01.2006 Next month, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will once again revive an initiative which has eluded policy makers for nearly five years.

16.01.2006 ne of the rarest things witnessed during the RJD regime in Bihar was the senior officials ‘arranging’ combs and scissors, apart from teams of barbers to help ensure success of Mr Lalu Prasad’s Nahao-bal kato abhiyan, a cleanliness-related programme for under privileged children living in slums and remotest villages that eventually turned out to be mere “publicity stunt”.