Stories about Breaking News from October, 2006
China: Writings on the walls
Back in the day, big character posters were mostly used for vile purposes, so when they started popping up recently on shop fronts in a remote corner of China's Yunnan province, it's no surprise mention was made at major Chinese forum Tianya. From Tianya blogger Big Reporter (大记者): 云南石林县惊现”大字报” Shilin...
Mexico: The last moments of Bradley Roland Will
Journalism seems like a precarious profession to practise in Mexico. It's ranked by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist. The latest tragic example of this came on Friday 27th October, in the southern state of Oaxaca, with the shooting...
Violence and Misinformation Abound in Oaxaca
The usually tranquil Southern Mexican tourist town of Oaxaca – with its large, shaded plaza and gallery-lined alleys – had transformed into a political pressure cooker over the past few months in what began as a seemingly routine teacher's strike in late May. The lid then blew straight off yesterday...
Arabisc: Sexual Harrassment and the Egyptian Blogosphere
After a month of abstinence (from sex naturally) during daylight hours in the Holy month of Ramadhan, a mob of sex starved Egyptians decided to celebrate Eid by attacking and sexually harassing women on the streets of Cairo. The first the incident was made public was during a television show,...
Prominent Bahraini Blog, Blocked!
It's official, Mahmood's Blog (http://mahmood.tv) will be blocked effective immediately, by the orders of the Bahraini Ministry of Information. Together with 6 other web sites (listed below), the official memo was delivered to all the ISP's in Bahrain this afternoon. Mahmood Al-Yousif, is a prominent Bahraini/Arab blogger. His blog is...
Bangladesh in Turmoil
Bangladesh is going through turbulent times as the row over an interim caretaker government chief persists who will lead the country towards the upcoming parliament election in January 2007. This unique caretaker government (CTG) system adopted in Bangladesh constitution worked in past three elections. However this time the opposition parties...
The Week That Was in Bahrain
Bahrain's bloggers celebrated Eid this week, with many posting greetings on their sites or simply musing about the tradition. While Mahmood Al Yousif thinks that “Eid this time seems to be spread through the whole week, rather than a single day where the whole nation celebrates!”, Silly Bahraini Girl took...
Kenya: blogger's work used by Kenyan paper without his knowledge
This is what Kikuyumoja's Realm had to say to the Kenyan newspaper, Kenya Times, for using his work without notifying him, “Next time you are re-publishing my words, pls let me know. I know I can’t be mad with you kwani no one I know actually reads the Kenya Times….ama?”...
Ethiopian blogger scoops mainstream media
The story broke at 12.42 pm. An Ethiopian human rights activist, another unnamed Ethiopian and two senior officials from the European Commission had been arrested that morning close to Ethiopia's border with Kenya. The report from Ethiopian blogger Ethio-Zagol named the activist as Yalemzewd Bekele and the two European officials...
Lebanon: Brammertz and Syria
Abu Kais says that Serge Brammertz will submit his report to Kofi Annan today, and in it, he will implicate the Assad regime for the first time since he took over investigation of the Hariri murder. Abu Kais has put together an archive of posts related to the Hariri investigation.
New Round of Violence in East Timor
In her latest post from East Timor, blogger Timorsunshine writes about the latest incident in Dili. Apparently the gang war ranging in the airport area has become so bad that the Comoro bridge was blocked off and the airport actually shut down, and attacked by the people living in the...
The Week That Was in Bahrain
It has been yet another busy week on the Bahraini blogsophere, with some bloggers rallying behind an anti-sectarianism campaign, Just Bahraini; others just back home from a long holiday; and one celebrating his/her (?) birthday! In local politics, Mahmood Al Yousif is keeping us abreast with all that's happening on...
Kenya: Kenyan blogger passes away
The Kenyan blogger, Kachumbari, who wrote from a village in Central Kenya has passed away: “I just found out from Ndesanjo that Kachumbari was killed in a car accident several weeks ago. His cousin Samuel offered an obituary and explanation of his death on the blog – Kachumbari had travelled...
Turkey: OpenSource Radio Discussion on Turkey
Open Source Radio will be having a dialouge on their show tonight about recent events in Turkey with the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Turkish author Orhan Pamuk to the passing of a bill in France on the Armenian Genocide. Global Voices‘ author Deborah Dilley will be...
Turkey is Typing…
Two things have been the subject of debate this week in the Turkish blogosphere…Orhan Pamuk being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and the passing of a Armenian genocide law in France. The issue of the Armenian Genocide has always been a hot-topic discussion, with the claims of whether what...
The Week That Was in Bahrain
It's showtime in Bahrain where bloggers are preoccupied with a new craze – a campaign to wipe out sectarianism started by no other than the kingdom's most illustrious blogger Mahmood Al Yousif. In response to a scandal which shook the country, Mahmood decided to fight fire with fire and launch...
Great day for Bangladesh: Dr. Yunus and Bangladesh gets the nobel prize
Wake up world. This is real. For the first time in recent history Bangladesh has made news in all the international media for a positive contribution to the world. Dr. Muhammad Yunus and his organization Grameen Bank have jointly been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 “for their efforts...
Turkey: End of Student Festivals
Metroblogging Istanbul announces the Istanbul's Governor's Office decision to ban all student festivals as a means of combatting separatist group formation. “I wish they could find other ways of beating the ideological groups other than banning all youth fests…”
Arabisc: Ramadan, War, Freedom and Other Issues
With all Muslim countries marking the Holy Month of Ramadan, UAE blogger Bin Kerishan, wonders why people fast. كل العبادات تسبب للانسان الاما و معاناه كالحج و الصلاه و الصيام و الاخير من اقساها و اكثرها ضررا على صحته.. لماذا لا يكون الطقس الديني مسليا؟ كالذهاب لملاقاة الاصدقاء في المقهى...
Syria: Blogger Blocked in Syria
Bloggers in Syria are puzzled by the new move from the Syrian Government to block access to all .blogspot blogs, although access to the main www.blogger.com is still available… The service is blocked through all Syrian ISPs including private one AYA, reports Amr.
Kurdistance
Welcome back to this week's edition of Kurdistance! Hiwa gives us a wonderful link to a amatur video about the Kurdish community in Leeds, UK that is featured on the BBC. Hiwa also reports on an incident that has made headlines in Turkey. At a recent NATO seminar, an American...