Stories about Breaking News from March, 2006
Bahrain: Ship Disaster
Beside the deepest condolences expressed by Bahrain bloggers to the families who have lost relatives and friends in the catastrophic ship disaster, for Amira, this toke away the excitement of returning home, and Mahmood believes that people who were directly responsible for flouting safety laws should be punished, and this...
Moroccan Arabic blogs opt for the sarcasme and CAIR dare to defend a Christian convert
Moroccan bloggers who choose to blog in another language(Arabic) than Arabic are facing a new wave of criticism(Arabic). “Why don't you blog in Arabic?” (French) Is a question they had to answer last week, and as I told you in my latest roundup, they were many to justify(French) their choice...
China: Detained Activist Released
Zeng Jinyan, wife of AIDS activist Hu Jia—detained last month during a nation-wide hunger strike in protest at the government's alleged hiring of thugs in February to beat up a civil rights campaigner in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong—posts on her blog Searching for Hu Jia that after forty...
This week in Israel: today is election day
Voting in the Israeli elections. Tel Aviv, March 28. (Photo by Lisa Goldman. Click to enlarge.) Israelis go to the polls to elect a new government today. The media have been screaming since 10 a.m. that voter turnout is at an all-time low, even though the polls don't close until...
DRC: Kabila's Rwandan Ties Questioned
Renouveau Congolais posts (FR) a picture in which DRC transitional president and presidential candidate Joseph Kabila allegedly stands to the right of Rwandan General Paul Kagame during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Kabila was allegedly General Kagame's bodyguard during the genocide. Blogger Dr. Francois Thsipamba Mpuila and several readers debate whether...
11 Quakes Hit Southern Iran
Early Saturday morning (at approximately 07 GMT), an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8, struck in Southern Iran, as measured by the USGS. With the given depth of 44 km there were no fatalities expected, but it was said that a few people could have been injured. At the time...
Bolivia: Terrorism?
Miguel Bitrago writes about last night's explosions in La Paz, which are being called “terrorist attacks”. Eduardo Ávila, with the help of Jonathan Olguin has done some investigating on the two suspects.
Belarus: Radio Liberty Reports Violence Against Protesters
LJ user l_u_f_t posts a Radio Liberty report (BEL) claiming that the police are beating up protesters who are going down into the subway to go home and then return to the square. There's a photo of one boy with an impressive scratch on his body. The boy, Mikhail Avdeev,...
Belarus: March 20 Rally Notes (9)
LJ user lipski writes (RUS) that two groups of around 1,000 people total remain on the square: one group guards the electricity generator and audio equipment, another is by the tents. People who are leaving the square individually, not in groups, are said to be arrested outside the square.
Belarus: March 20 Rally Notes (7)
LJ user maty has posted (RUS) March 20 photos from Oktyabrskaya Sq. More to be posted soon.
Belarus: March 20 Rally Notes (6)
LJ user maty reports (BEL): “Milinkevich has had negotiations with the police. The police has allowed people to stay at the square. People are chanting “Police With the People” and are setting up tents. Maidan begins.”
Belarus: March 20 Rally Notes (5)
LJ user lipski reports (RUS) that the riot police demand to turn off the music playing at the square at 11 p.m.; opposition leaders have agreed. People are still encouraged to spend the night at the square. A representative from Mogilyov said that regional delegations are expected to arrive in...
Belarus: March 20 Rally Notes (4)
Opposition leaders have declared the March 19 election a coup and are demanding to cancel the results, reported lipski (RUS) a while ago. Also, Milinkevich has asked everyone to stay at the square overnight and all day tomorrow.
Belarus: March 20 Rally Notes (3)
LJ user samuel_smith reports (RUS): people are leaving because it's cold; a Ukrainian LJ user advises to put something underneath the tents to make them warmer – on the photos, the tents appear to be on the bare ground; a bell is ringing; speakers at the rally include a head...
Belarus: March 20 Rally Notes (2)
According to LJ user l_u_f_t (RUS), people from the regions are beginning to arrive and five tents have been set up at Oktyabrskaya Sq. already. LJ user samuel-smith writes (RUS) that “there's a ring around the tents. People surround them so that the police couldn't take them away. From time...
Belarus: March 20 Rally Notes (1)
LJ user lipski reports (RUS) from Oktyabrskaya Sq. in Minsk for the second night in a row: weather's good; the square's not blocked; politically active young people decided not to set up a ‘tent city’ because officials have allegedly confiscated 1,500 tents, but there are plans to put up their...
Free Hao Wu!
On March 22nd it will be one month since filmmaker and Global Voices Northeast Asia Editor Hao Wu was detained without charge. We appeal to the Chinese government for Hao Wu's immediate release! What happened to Hao? Hao Wu (Chinese name: 吴皓), a Chinese documentary filmmaker who lived in the...
Belarus: Protesters Are Leaving the Square
LJ user lipski reports (RUS): “People are leaving the square en masse. The reasons: audibility is poor (people do not understand why they are standing there, what is being said and what is to be done afterwards), and it's cold. In 1-1 1/2 hours, there'll probably be 1-2 thousand people...
Belarus: 15,000 People Gather in Minsk to Support Opposition
LJ user lipski reports (RUS) from Minsk where some 15,000 people have gathered to support the opposition: “The rally's taking place on the steps outside the Trade Unions Palace. Milinkevich is speaking, but what he's saying isn't audible. There're no sound amplifiers and they're using megaphones. People stand and actively...
Belarus: Non-Stop Blogging of Election News
Andrei Khrapavitski (ENG) and LJ user Wolni (BEL, RUS) intend to do non-stop blogging of the news from today's presidential election in Belarus. Another blog to follow is br23 blog – in English and in Belarusian.
Saudi Bloggers React to the Arrest of a Writer
According to several Saudi blogs and forums, the Saudi authorities have arrested the Islamic intellectual Dr. Mohsen Al-Awaji after he published an article on the web, in which he criticized Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, the minister of labor. In his article, Al-Awaji accused Al-Gosaibi of leading a group that tries to change...
