Stories from Quick Reads from January, 2008
Japan: Whale as Food Culture
Lee from Toyko Times blogs about Japan Prime Minister Fukuda's defence for whale research while public discourse is about food culture.
Japan: Letters from the Prison
Debito posted letters from Osayuwamen Idubor, written in jail. The Nigerian was sentenced last December to three years for rape despite no physical evidence and flawed accuser testimony. Part I and Part II.
South Korea: Abusive Daycare
Korea Beats translated a citizen report from ohmynews about an abusive daycare center. Matt has an update of the story.
China: Internet Privacy
Vincent points out that many social networking sites have violated the protection of privacy. For example the fact that spokeo.com can track down hundreds of friends’ online activities via their email accounts is a form of surveillance, probably against the account holders’ will to be left alone.
The difference between Senegal and China
Blog politique au Senegal explains the difference between Senegal and China [Fr]: “Aside from the obvious differences like the color of their skin, the enormous disparity in the size of their populations, their respective demographic differences, I also know that there exists another fundamental difference…Us, we play football, we dream...
Iraq: One Million Iraqis Killed in War
“One million Iraqis have been killed because of the US occupation, but US interventionists from both the “right” and “left” are still giving excuses to stay in Iraq,” notes Raed Jarrar, from Iraq.
Iraq: Libya Sponsoring Terrorism
After Iran, Syria and others it's now Libya's turn to sponsor terrorism in Iraq, notes Omar, from Iraq the Model.
Saudi Arabia: Women Right's Group Soon
Lou from Saudi Arabia reports that her country will establish a women's rights group.
Saudi Arabia: Women Football Players
Saudi women are now given a chance to show off their sportsmanship, according to Muneeb, who says that female Saudi women football players staged their first public match.
Egypt: Gaza Coverage
Egyptian Nora Younis posts some of her coverage of the recent incidents in Gaza here .
Egypt: Al Jazeera's Arab Unity Series
The Arabist from Egypt sheds light on a television production, by Qatar-based Al Jazeera, on Arab unity.
Bahrain: Away from Blogging
Silverooo, from Bahrain, discusses what is keeping her away from her blog in this post.
Bahrain: Rotary Commitments
Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif sheds light on his social commitments in this post.
Algeria: Elections and Media
Nouri discusses Algerian politics, media and his country's presidential elections and compares them to the situation in the US in this post.
Ukraine: Affordable Housing
Ukrainiana writes on what looks like a competition between Ukraine's PM and president in promising a better mortgage deal to the electorate.
Albania: President Bamir Topi
A Fistful of Euros writes about Albania's president and some of his policies.
Russia: Osoaviakhim-1
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about the Soviet balloon Osoaviakhim-1, which reached the record altitude of 22,000 meters on Jan. 30, 1934, but crashed during the descent.
Russia: Khodorkovsky on Hunger Strike
Robert Amsterdam posts updates on Mikhail Khodorkovsky's hunger strike in protest against the treatment of jailed former Yukos executive Vasily Alexanyan – here and here.
Russia: No Future for “Nashi”?
Robert Amsterdam and Vilhelm Konnander write about what looks like the end of pro-Putin youth movement Nashi.
Russia: Internet Regulations
Perspectives on the new Russia writes about the Russian government's plans to regulate the internet.
Georgia: Post-Election Distractions
TOL Georgia reports that now Mikhail Saakashvili has officially started his second term in office a new report from international election observers note further irregularities with the conduct of the vote. However, the blog notes, the country and even the opposition have since moved on.
