Stories about Breaking News from April, 2008
Remembering Aimé Césaire
Aimé Césaire - Martinican poet, politician and consummate West Indian - passed away today at the age of 94. It is not often that politics and poetry go together, but when they do, the West Indies is as fertile an environment as any for the two to coexist. Césaire seamlessly blended his love for language, ideas and writing into his political life, which spanned almost 60 years.
Indonesia: Alert level raised around Mt. Papandayan
News from Indonesia reports that alert level was raised on Indonesia's Mount Papandayan volcano. The volcano lies 51 Kilometers southeast of Indonesia's third-largest city, Bandung, which is home to around...
East Timor President returns home
Xanana Republic Gazette describes how the East Timor President was greeted by his people when he arrived back in the country. An onlooker described the returning president as “frail but...
Maghreb netizens respond to 8 year-old Yemeni girl's petition for divorce
Tunisian blogger Stupeur!! Un nouveu depart!! (Stupor!! A New Beginning!!) responds to a Yemen Times article about an 8 year-old girl who is trying to file for divorce from a 30 year-old man she says her father forced her to marry.
Philippines: Bishop blogger sued
A hard-hitting Philippine Catholic Archbishop was sued for libel by allies of the government because of something he wrote in his blog a few years ago.
Indonesia: Volcanic eruption
The Volcanism Blog reports that Mount Egon on Flores Island, Indonesia, erupted a 4 kilometer ash plume late on Tuesday 15 April, causing the evacuation of hundreds of villagers from...
Tunisia: Al Radeyef Protests – When Bloggers Give a Voice to the Voiceless
With little to no coverage of the plight of thousands of people at the rich Phosphorous mines of Gafsa, Redyef and Oum el Arayess on mainstream media, Tunisian bloggers and activists are turning to the Internet to tell the world their story.
D.R. of Congo: Fifth fatal crash in under a year, food prices the real disaster
News agencies are reporting that 75 were killed when a cargo plane crashed in Goma shortly after takeoff on Tuesday. Du Cabiau à Kinshasa reflects on how a plane crash can bring attention to the DRC, generally ignored by Western media, even though it's reeling from one of the greatest human disasters in a century. But Cabiau thinks the skyrocketing food prices, although less photogenic, are the real disaster in the making.
UAE: Thousands of Sites Blocked in New Crackdown
The UAE blogging community is slowly absorbing a new clampdown on the Internet, following the blocking of thousands of websites en masse after objections on their content. While some bloggers are welcoming the move to filter sexually explicit and "unacceptable" material, others are not so happy with the crackdown.
Philippines: Bomb blasts
The Mindanao Examiner reports that two bombs exploded in southern Philippines. There were no reports of casualties
Malaysia: Emergency meeting
Sources of Life writes about unconfirmed reports that the Malaysian Prime Minister will convene an emergency meeting today.
Kuwait: A Ridiculous Mixture of Hail, Rain, Wind and Dust
Unusual for this time of the year, Kuwait was just hit by a 'semi-tornado,' which included "a ridiculous mixture of hail, rain, wind, dust, gusts" in the words of blogger Kuwaitism. Equipped with cells phones and digital cameras, the Kuwaiti blogopshere is full of stories reporting the unexpected weather which hit the country.
Myanmar: 54 dead after suffocating in a lorry
Watch a You Tube video which reports the death of 54 Myanmar migrants who suffocated in a lorry while being smuggled in southern Thailand.
Prison Break, Moroccan Style
On Tuesday morning, 9 inmates and suspected terrorists escaped from a Moroccan jail. Moroccan bloggers used every pun and reference from the American television show, Prison Break, to describe their shock and disbelief.
India: Ties with Africa
Sepia Mutiny on the growing ties between India and Africa, and the first-ever India-Africa summit in New Delhi.
Morocco: Prison Break
On Monday, April 7, nine men convicted of involvement in the 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca went missing from a Kenitra prison. Prisoner rights advocacy group Ennassir said that the escape coincided with the beginning of a hunger strike by about 1,000 prisoners across Morocco. A search is underway, but the prisoners have yet to be found. Jillian Yorks brings us reactions from the Moroccan blogosphere.
Egypt: Bloggers on the Frontline
Egyptian bloggers worked round the clock telling the world about a workers' revolt that shook their country, as thousands rioted at a textile mill in Al Mahalla, demanding better pay and protesting against increasing prices. They were also among the first casualties of the unrest, which left two people killed, scores injured and an undetermined number of activists, organisers and mere spectators behind bars. Their coverage came in the form of blog posts, YouTube videos, Twitter feeds, Flickr shots, Facebook messages and all other online tools they could get their hands on.
Kenya: Cabinet talks suspended
Phil writes about the recent development in Kenya cabinet talks: “Tension is steadily building around the country following the collapse of talks between PNU and ODM towards the formation of...
Japan: Major Parties Cooperate to Legislate Regulation of “Harmful” Internet Content
Japanese bloggers have been making noise the past few days in reaction to two separate bills, submitted first by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) and next by the leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), each aiming, in apparently similar ways, to legislate regulation over Internet content deemed to be "harmful" to minors (users under age 18). According to bloggers, the latest moves by government legislators, despite having received virtually no mainstream attention, constitute potentially the most extensive Internet regulation proposed thus far.
Egypt: A Wake Up Strike
Around 500 people were arrested in Egypt Sunday as police quashed a general strike, in protest against the increasing cost of living and calling for better wages. And just as word about the strike was spread via massive text-messaging, email, and popular social networking platform Facebook, bloggers and online activists kept the world abreast with arrests and developments on the ground minute by minute throughout the day. Eman AbdElRahman brings us the story.
China: Chinese protest in London you never see on BBC
Bridge-blogging has taken on a whole new meaning now in China since armies of multilingual netizens started scouring the known media universe last month for inaccuracy or distortions in reports regarding China or, more specifically, Tibet.
