· March, 2008

Stories about Economics & Business from March, 2008

Japan: Ikeda Nobuo's Spectrum Japan Blog

  26 March 2008

Blogger and economics professor Ikeda Nobuo has started [ja] an English-language blog entitled “Spectrum Japan” focused on spectrum policy in Japan. In the first post, he explains that the Japanese government is planning to stop analogue broadcasting by 2011, and writes about closed meetings held to allocate the spectrum, a...

Turkmenistan: Dealing in Turkey

  26 March 2008

Patrick Frost says that for the first time in seven years, Ankara hosted a Turkmen head of state, as President Berdymukhamedov visited the nation this March 24-25 with both economic and energy issues as the two main areas discussed.

Argentina: Web Entrepreneurs in Palermo Valley

  25 March 2008

Web 2.0 entrepreneurs from Argentina gathered in a new Buenos Aires neighborhood called "Palermo Valley." The interest in these gatherings demonstrate that there are many projects in development, as well as many others who want to learn what it takes. These get-togethers attracted attendees who heard about the event through blogs and twitter messages, and also motivated others in Costa Rica and Chile to put on their own events for local entrepreneurs.

March Madness in Kuwait

Just as there is March Madness in the US, the phenomena seems to have spread to Kuwait - not for basketball but elections. Abdullatif Al Omar brings us the Kuwaiti bloggers reactions to the resignation of their government, the dissolving of Parliament and the looming elections in June.

Turkmenistan: Deadly Highway

  25 March 2008

Abdulgamid writes about deadly condition of the longest and busiest motorway in Turkmenistan, Ashgabat-Mary-Turkmenabat. The road was built a few decades ago, and currently it’s not complying with any minimum technical and safety standards.

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Sarajevo War Memorial

  24 March 2008

YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett comments on the plans to erect a memorial to Serbian war victims in Sarajevo: “Here is how I think the money should be spent instead of building the cross, why don't these people help Serbian war survivors? Why don't they help the injured people from their side?”

Poland, Ukraine: Euro 2012

  24 March 2008

20 East writes about Euro 2012, to be hosted by Poland and Ukraine: “As I live in Warsaw, I’ll worry more about the Polish side of things although one general point is that however far behind Poland might be, in Ukraine it is slightly worse.”

Taiwan: Future Report

  24 March 2008

Micheal Turton wrote a fictional future report on Taiwan economic and political development under Ma Ying-jeou presidency from 2008-2016.

Liquid assets: Bloggers on World Water Day

  23 March 2008

It's known as the universal solvent, Adam's Ale, government juice, council pop, H2O, dihydrogen monoxide, hydrogen hydroxide, has a ton of different names in Arabic and yesterday (March 22) the world was called upon to pay it special attention. World Water Day 2008 marked the start of the fourth year of the UN International Decade for Action on Water that began in 2005, and to mark the occasion the bloggers weighed in with insights and commentary from various corners of the world.

Dismissal of Brazilian Blogger: Censorship or Just Business?

  23 March 2008

The abrupt dimissal of the journalist Paulo Henrique Amorim — or PHA as he is referred too — from his anchor-like position at the IG portal has fueled this week's blogs debate. The humorous and opinionated style used by PHA in his ‘Conversa Afiada‘ blog to attack what he called...

Peru: Inflation Affecting Consumers

  21 March 2008

Inflation is beginning to affect the pockets of Peruvian more and more. Silvio Rendon of Gran Combo Club [es] writes about the rise in prices and whether president Alan Garcia “does not want to see this reality.”

Japan: Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant fuels debate

  21 March 2008

The village of Rokkasho, situated Aomori prefecture in the north of Japan's main island Honshū, hosts a nuclear facility for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, the first of its kind in Japan. While the scale of this reprocessing plant dwarfs standard nuclear plants, most Japanese citizens have up to recently known little to nothing of its existence. This has started to change recently with demonstrations held in various parts of the country by citizen groups. Bloggers have also picked up this debate, offering varying perspectives on the costs and benefits of the latest development of Japan's nuclear industry.

LiveJournal: Bloggers Protest Basic Account Cancellation

  21 March 2008

Yet again, LJ users are in distress. Unlike the previous times, however, the current situation involves both the Russian-language and the English-language segments of LiveJournal. It all began when LiveJournal's management announced that no account created after March 12, 2008, could be turned into a free-of-charge and ad-free Basic Account. Today, some Anglophone and Russophone LJ users protest against this unpopular measure.

Kazakhstan: Oddities of the Digital Present

  20 March 2008

In the most recent counple of weeks the Kazakhstani blogosphere – usually heavily politicized – was focused more on the developments in telecoms sector and Internet-related novelties in Kazakhstan. The country's authorities are still aiming to enter top 50 of the most competitive countries, although the Economist's index of “e-readiness”...