The Malaysian state of Pahang - the biggest on peninsular Malaysia and the third biggest in Malaysia, banned discos. Seriously. Not for Islam, but for… drugs:

The police have singled out discotheques as places where youths consume ecstasy and dancing in drug induced stupor called “goyang kepala.”

Recently, the federal government banned poppy seeds (kas-kas) in the nations popular mamak (Indian Muslim) restaurants. Because, apparently, it is too addictive.

Here is today’s round up of some of the blogs of South Asia.

Bangladesh:

Sadiq (aka the mystic man) studies the Muslim prophet Muhammad’s mentions in Hindu scriptures.

‘Deshcalling’ links to a history of the Kashmir conflict.

India:

Chandrahas of ‘the middle stage’ posts an interesting review of Naguib Mahfuz’s book ‘Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth’.

Dilip D’Souza discusses a myth behind the stars which are called Cepheids.

Pakistan:

‘The Glass house’ links to an article about misfit Pakistanis in England.

‘Pakistani Parspective’ talks about a 10 year old Pakistani girl who has become the youngest Microsoft expert.

‘KO Offroad Pakistan’ shows an alarming state of Pakistan’s Internet connectivity.

Nepal:

‘United we Blog!’ reports that the Nepali government barred agitating political parties to hold the special session of the dissolved parliament in a public building in Kathmandu.

Tuesday July 20th the Pentagon released a report that outlined the military capabilities of the PLA and what some of its near-term goals would be.  The report details what the PLA has done to beef up its military infrustructure from adding submarines, landing craft, long-range nuclear missiles, to a possible foray into space-based weapons. It also outlines some scenarios of what China might do if Taiwan were to declare independance - most of which end up with a lot of shooting.  It says what everyone expected it to say - China is a growing military presence in Asia and is shaping up to be a global military power in the long term. Which really means China is going to be a military threat in the future. 

This document is an assessment of what the Pentagon thinks the PLA can do militarily now and in the near future and therefore will be cited quite a bit in the next year or two as China starts flexing it’s military muscle.

Madame Chiang, an expat who has recently moved from Hong Kong to Manila, has an interesting blog, full of wry humor. Her entry on Philippine newspaper headlines and funny/peculiar news items is a refreshing read. One such story:

"Three injured as corn truck, fish van sandwich chicken pickup"

it seems that three roast chicken shop employees were on their way to work when a cargo truck filled with corn made a sudden turn, causing their vehicle to brake which caused the van behind them to rear end them…the van behind was carrying fish. Now, I ask you…is that not a headline writer’s dream occurence?!

China’s internet censors are ‘keeping an eye’ on sino-sexblogger Sister Hibiscus. The below item from the Asian Sex Gazette (worksafe, risque banner ads) concludes that her 15 minutes of fame are up.

To monitor what these increasingly curious "netizens" are reading about, the authorities have intensified their internet surveillance by recruiting "web watchdogs" to anonymously police thousands of cyber-cafes and public message forums. And all Chinese websites, bloggers and bulletin-board operators must register with the government - or be fined and shut down.
Furong Jiejie - the name literally means "hibiscus older sister" - seems likely to face that fate. "We have been keeping an eye on sister Furong," said Liu Qiang, an official with the Ministry Of Culture, which is responsible for overseeing the internet. "But there aren’t any explicit regulations to control such a phenomenon." The latest in a series of online celebrities, known in China as BB, or bulletin-board, stars, to have emerged in the past couple of years, 28-year-old Furong is an unlikely candidate to run into trouble with the authorities.
Prone to posing in provocative photos - tame by Western standards - Furong has an obvious hunger for fame. She hardly seems a threat to society.
Nevertheless, the publicity department of the central committee of the Communist Party has told BlogChina, the largest provider of blog-hosting services, to relocate content relating to Furong, whose real name is Shi Heng-xia, to less prominent parts of their website.