· April, 2006

Stories about Breaking News from April, 2006

East Timor: Update from the streets

  29 April 2006

Things have quietened down in Dili, the East Timor capital. Blogger at Dili-gence drives around the streets of central Dili to look at the damage. A largely peaceful protest by sacked soldiers turned violent on Friday when gangs of unemployed youths joined in started looting.

Riots and panic in East Timor

  28 April 2006

Violence broke out in East Timor's capital Dili earlier today. Dili-gence says The usual press outlets have already reported 2 dead and 21 injured. We received a phone call from a Timorese in the current hot area Comorro. People are scared and people have seen smoke rising from the general...

China: Rock festival coming

  27 April 2006

Friend Gram at Holidarity pulls quotes from the organizer of The Midi Festival—China's biggest each year—to be held in Beijing during the Golden Week holiday next week. “Before you could never do a big outdoor festival,” writes organizer Zhang Fan. “We're trying to let the government accept that rock ‘n’...

China: AOL arrives

  27 April 2006

In ‘Congratulations and Controversy‘, AngryChineseBlogger chunlin looks at the arduous road AOL has been down in trying to establish a presence in China. “After months of speculation, anticipation, and a few false starts,” chunlin announces, “AOL has this month announced the finalization of a multi-million dollar partnership deal with SMG...

China: Technorati blocked

  26 April 2006

Technorati has been blocked. Albeit limited, Technorati used to be the best Chinese-language aggregating one could hope to get.

Dahab Spring Tears

Another black day! Yesterday, Egypt was having a national holiday, Sham an Nessim, just few days after the Coptic Easter, which means that many Egyptians were in Dahab as well as foreigners. At about 19:15 local time, three different explosions rocked the tourist town of Dahab. It was reported that...

Trinidad & Tobago: Opposition Leader sentenced

  24 April 2006

Caribbean Free Radio links to a newsflash from a Trinidad & Tobago daily stating that Basdeo Panday, the country's Opposition Leader has been found guilty of “deliberately failing to disclose a London bank account.” According to the news item, Mr. Panday “has to pay 1.5 million TT Dollars to the...

China: Photoblogs allow exchange

  24 April 2006

Photoblogs can not only get around keyword filters but language barriers too. Beijing-based Ziboy has invited his photoblogging peers to send in contributions to his exhibition to be held in China's capitol this coming Saturday, which will “[use] the form of photoblogs on the internet to promote exchange and understanding...

Taiwan: Regional aggregator coming

  24 April 2006

Prominent Taiwanese blogger Portnoy has started an English-language blog, Portnoy in Between. First up? Time to see a Chinese-language blog aggregator. “It is nothing about English hegemony;” he writes of Asia247 set to open June 4, “it is about how to communicate effectively, how to break the language divide, and...

China: Hu's heckling approved?

  21 April 2006

Was Chinese president Hu Jintao set up for face loss in his visit to the United States this week? The EastSouthWestNorth blogger posts photos and translates an analysis which recounts Hu's stop at the White House yesterday and suggests why that might be so: “During the speech, there was a...

China: Google's compromises

  20 April 2006

Shak at Chinawhite, via Imagethief, gives us a sneak preview of Google in China: The Big Disconnect, a feature story to be published in this coming weekend's New York Times Magazine: “Brin's team had one more challenge to confront: how to determine which sites to block? The Chinese government wouldn't...

China: Prisoners’ organs harvested?

  20 April 2006

A report mentioned today on the Chinese Law Prof Blog links Chinese prisons, executions and conveniently-timed organ donations. “The first comprehensive report on this issue of which I am aware is Human Rights Watch, China: Organ Procurement and Judicial Execution in China (August 1994). The research behind this report is...

China: Economic relaxations ahead

  20 April 2006

Simon at Simon World looks at two key parts of Chinese president Hu Jintao's economic concession plan announced today in the midst of Hu's visit to the United States. “Will it magically reduce the trade surplus problem? In the longer term it should and will,” Simon says. “In the short...

China: Chinese Wikipedia launched

  20 April 2006

Via Virtual China comes news from China Web 2.0 Review of leading Chinese search engine Baidu's own Chinese-language wikipedia-style encyclopedia service. “Since Wikipedia is blocked in China, we'll see just how creative Baidu writers can actually get,” writes Virtual China‘s Lyn Jeffery, going on to point out that the number...

Volcano nears eruption

  20 April 2006

Indcoup is watching the news on the possible eruption of Mount Merapi, the most active volcano in Indonesia. People living in the area are getting ready to evacuate.

China: Yahoo! implicates writer

  19 April 2006

Seen on the Chinese Law Prof Blog today is a post on Reporters Without Borders’ announcement of Yahoo!'s role in the persecution and arrest of yet another Chinese internet essayist, Jiang Lijun: “As in the Shi Tao case, the information was apparently provided by a Hong Kong company subject to...

China: Gates hosts Hu

  19 April 2006

One reader responds to a post on the MindMatters blog which lists what Bill and Melinda Gates served Chinese president Hu Jintao for dinner Tuesday night by comparing the reception to former American president Nixon's visit to China in 1972, in preparation for which Chinese premier Zhou Enlai had a...

China: Blogger suggests agenda

  18 April 2006

The Sun Bin blogger raises two issues he expects to see addressed during Chinese president Hu Jintao's visit to the United States this week: plans for Iran and Tibetan independence: “Dalai [Lama] is showing to Hu that he can command all the Tibetan separatists (I guess I can use this...