Stories about Breaking News from June, 2006
Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome
Its been a fascinating week – with so much to read I don't know where to begin. So here is my best effort. Read how the a mainstream media company created a blog that actually matters, how one Iraqi blogger wants to make peace with Israel, how bloggers rate the...
China: Free media takeover
A Communist Party of China's subtler strategy in silencing unsympathetic newspapers? Ex-Massage Milk blogger Wang Xiaofeng, in a rare one-liner post [zh] , says he's heard two major Beijing newspapers will soon be merged. Wang led the bloglash last year when the outspoken The Beijing News was taken over by...
Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome
We have had enough. The fearsome nights are stifling us and we now have come to hate the Fall [of Baghdad]; we hate Liberation; we hate Sunnis; we hate Shiites; we hate turbans and sidaras; we hate Jihad and Jihadists, resistance and resistors; we hate concrete; we hate streets and...
Egypt: Alaa Released, Finally
Good News! Alaa's wife, Manal, reports that her husband was finally released. He will be back home tomorrow morning or maximum by Thursday. Congratulations Alaa!
China: student riot
ESWN translates a post about Zhengzhou University riot. At its worst, almost 10,000 people were rioting. The cause of the riot was that the school lowered the status of the university diploma and did not refund tuition fees to fourth-year students as contracted.
Arabisc: The Arabic Bloggers Ken, Media, Anti-Blogging and the World Cup
Blogging nightmare… Starting with hot news this week, it looks that the Egyptian blogsphere is going to have more hard time in the near future. Following Aljazeera's one hour TV documentary (Arabic) about blogging and its role in the political scene in the Egyptian street, one of the oldest, biggest...
DRC: Opposition Protest in Kinshasa Today
UDPS Liege reposts a MISNA article stating(Fr): “A ‘motorized procession’ (…) is currently heading towards the area of Royal, in the center of Kinshasa. The demonstration headed by Etienne Tshisekedi's UDPS party gathers the partisans of many political parties. They demand once again that political talks take place for an...
Taiwan: ipod sweatshop
The breaking news of ipod sweatshop in China has been picked up by Taiwan Citizen journalism (zh) website Coolloud as the contracting company Foxconn (registered in Hong Kong) is owned by a Taiwanese multi-national corporate Hon Hai. According to the report workers work 15 hours a week while earning USD...
China: Terror alert issued
The American consulate in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou issued a warning last year of potential terrorist attacks against its citizens there. As seen on Guangzhou-based Lonnie Hodge's blog OneManBandwith, another terror alert has been released: “I think we are relatively safe,” the professor-blogger writes. “I am loathe to...
Zarqawi: More Blogger Reactions
The blogs keep analysing… Baghdad Treasure was at a press conference near the Iraqi parliament when the news broke. And he was happy. “We held our breath for a second and then a loud “Mabrook” [Congratulations] was said by one of the radio stations reporters. Few minutes later, journalists started...
China: Google not blocked
Reporters Without Borders declared Google and Gmail blocked in China earlier this week. AsiaPundit‘s myrick suggests that might not be entirely the case: “There are problems with Google's service,” myrick writes, “but these are being massively overstated by RSF. Google and G-Mail services are still working fine here at AsiaPundit...
China: Journalist sues Shanghai
A Shanghai journalist sues the municipal government for denying him an interview, a move which stands to set a foundation for freedom of information law in China. “It is the first time a reporter challenges the government in court,” writes China Herald blogger Fons Tuinstra, “and other media are speculating...
Exploding at the Iraqi Blogodrome
Finally a piece of news that mainstream media and blogs generally agree with. This morning the Iraqi Prime Minister announce that “We have eliminated Zarqawi”. And the news hit like an explosion on the Iraqi blogs. Among the first to break with the news was Truth About Iraqi's. Hell awaits...
Hong Kong: Bus Uncle attacked
Bus Uncle, whose rise to infamy was aided largely by the translations of EastSouthWestNorth blogger Roland Soong is, as seen in Soong's most recent post on the subject, starting to see his fortunes turn. Soong translates: “Bus Uncle was assaulted in Mongkok when four people charged into the restaurant where...
China: Chinese MySpace rumored
Tangos at China Web2.0 Review validates fears of web users in mainland China that Google and its e-mail service Gmail are next up on the Great Firewall of China block, but blogs good news as well with word of a rumored Chinese version of MySpace, Kongjian, soon to be released...
China: Microsoft attacks piracy
Has Microsoft started playing hardball in the fight against software piracy in China? China Herald correspondent-blogger Fons Tuinstra's post ‘Microsoft might kill millions of PCs‘ blogs some serious new developments: “Panic is hitting Chinese users of Microsoft's Windows. I just received a message from people in China who claim that...
Egypt: Alaa got a 3rd 15 days
Egyptian State Security renewed Alaa’s detention for another 15 days today (he already spent 30 days in prison) . His wife Manal visited him today and reports that he took the news stoically and is trying to remain strong. Renewing them another 15 days could go on forever.
The Week That Was in Bahrain
With temperatures soaring above 45 degrees Celcius, summer is hot in Bahrain. And it is getting hotter, thanks to the escalating war being waged against local telecommunications company Batelco, which has changed its Internet packages overnight in newspaper announcements and emails to customers on May 11. To add insult to...
Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome
When it comes to food, I know where I would rather live. And, those of you who have never eaten ‘Masgoof’ before or tried Iraqi fruit and vegetables, will not understand me when I say that as far as food is concerned Iraq is the most civilized countries in the...
Egypt: LA Times Journalist Arrested in Egypt
Issandr El Amrani report that Hossam el-Hamalawy, a locally hired journalist for the LA Times who has recently been posting on Arabist blog, has been arrested at a protest today at the Lawyers’ Syndicate.
Egypt: From Alaa to Bloggers
Alaa, in his new letter from his cell says that he thought he will be happy to meet the rest of the detained activists, but ended up in disappointment and frustration from the conditions inside the prison (Arabic).