· March, 2006

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...

China: Detained Activist Released

  28 March 2006

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

  26 March 2006

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?

  23 March 2006

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: March 20 Rally Notes (9)

  20 March 2006

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 (6)

  20 March 2006

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)

  20 March 2006

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)

  20 March 2006

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)

  20 March 2006

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)

  20 March 2006

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)

  20 March 2006

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!

  20 March 2006

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

  19 March 2006

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

  19 March 2006

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...

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...