Stories about Weblog from November, 2006
Flying Over the Iraqi Blogodrome
Literally this time. I am writing this as my flight to Dubai is actually flying over Iraqi airspace. First time ever. If I were to give a true summary of the Iraqi blogs these past weeks it would be one of sadness, death, and violence. But I am not going...
Philippines: Boxing Champ Captivates a Nation
Boxing champion Manny Pacquiao is already one of the most popular icons in the Philippines today. His successive victories in the ring inspired a nation in need of a modern hero. The poor adores Manny, who is also called the ‘nation’s fist.’ Politicians take advantage of Manny’s popularity to win...
Web 2.0 in Brazil Displays the Powers of Participation
Web 2.0 is coming on strong in Brazil and showing its transformational impacts on the national mind. The recent elections were a dramatic example demonstrating that blogs and citizen media are playing an important role in the process of challenging mainstream institutions of Brazilian society and they seem to be...
Online Life in Singapore
Decent broadband Infrastructure and familiarity with online technologies makes Singaporeans avid experimenters of emerging technological trends. It is not uncommon to find Singaporean blogger topping Technorati's listing once every couple of months and Singapore based meetup groups often have more members than the ones from bigger cities. Second Life, the...
This week in the Kenyan blogosphere
Jamaapoa writes about the allegation that the boom in the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is a result of drug money as claimed by a local politician – Mr. Raila Odinga. Jamaapoa refutes this assertion and writes: There is nothing to stop a drug dealer from using the exchange to cleanse...
Russia: Litvinenko's Death
Aleksandr Litvinenko, a 43-year-old ex-KGB/FSB lieutenant-colonel and a harsh opponent of the Kremlin, died Thursday night of radiation poisoning in London, where he lived under asylum since 2000. In his deathbed statement read out by his friends, Litvinenko was addressing (and implicating) Vladimir Putin: […] You may succeed in silencing...
No Congress Debate for Abortion in Chile
With 61 votes in favor, the lower house of the Chilean congress decided to not legalize abortion and declared it “unacceptable”. 21 votes were against there were 3 abstentions. Quemarlasnaves (ES) posts about the democratic sense that involved the decision: La decisión del Presidente de la Cámara, respaldada por la...
China: Videos emerge of clashes between police and students in Jiangxi
Hot on the heels of the Chinese government's claim of a 22.1% reduction in “mass incidents” (read “protests”), here's some more video of “mass incidents” from China, in case you missed this portion of John Kennedy's latest Beijing bulletin: Backing up to China late last month, students at one technical...
Bangla blogs discuss politics and elections in Bangladesh
A growing sense of discontent in palpable in the Bangla blog world with citizens of Bangladesh voicing strong concerns about the current socio-political condition in the country. Chief Election Commissioner Mr. M. A. Aziz has taken 3 months leave of absence, succumbing to the mounting pressure of many political parties...
Balkan Blog Roundup: Focus on the Positive
The Balkans need reconciliation, confidence and positivism to change and become the winning region of Europe with happier citizens. You can see that in the inspirational words from the Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian blogospheres. Toshiba posts some thoughts of the late Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic during his motivational meetings...
Shock and Tragedy in UCLA, Murder in Iran
According to reports in the media, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a UCLA student, was repeatedly stunned with a taser and then taken into custody after he failed to exit the CLICC Lab at the Powell Library at UCLA in a timely manner. Community Service Officers had asked Tabatabainejad to leave after he...
Arabisc: Plagiarism, Arrests, Bans and Democracy!
The Arabs are as usual busy this week debating anything and everything, from plagiarism to the arrest of bloggers, and from banning public meetings to embarrising George Bush Senior at a conference held in the UAE. Ahmed from Egypt had always wanted to become a journalist. But because not all...
Bush and Indonesia Islam
If you watched CNN or BBC before and during Bush's visit to Indonesia, you would see a sea of protersters in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta with slogan of anti-Bush and to some extent, anti-American foreign policy. But with most female protesters were wearing Islamic clothes i.e. jilbab (Indonesian term for Islamic...
Latin American Election Blogging
November is quite the electoral month in what has already been a year of elections throughout the Western Hemisphere. The month has already seen the return of Sanidinista leader, Daniel Ortega to Nicaragua's presidency. The United States – condemned by many for its influence in Nicaragua's elections – shifted to...
Egypt: Cairo's women speak out against violence
In the run-up to the annual global campaign for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, Egypt's First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak, addressing a meeting of the Arab Women's Organisation, issued a heartfelt plea: What shall we do to face challenges of discrimination, extremism and religious fanaticism? It's a vexing question...
Ukraine: Maidan's Second Anniversary
Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kyiv, Ukraine: two years since the beginning of the Orange Revolution – by Veronica Khokhlova Nov. 22 marks the second anniversary of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, but little orange has been visible on the streets of Kyiv today. A crowd gathered at Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti), but...
China: India
Been a busy week for Chinese President Hu Jintao, first in Vietnam and now in India, and just what for? asks Hexun blogumnist Liu Dingcai: 胡哥访印度可以学什么 What can big brother Hu learn in India? 中国国家主席胡锦涛11月20日抵达印度首都新德里,开始对印度进行国事访问;21日胡锦涛在新德里海德拉巴宫同印度总理曼莫汉&S226;辛格举行会谈,双方就发展中印战略合作伙伴关系达成重要共识。(据《人民日报》) China's national chairman Hu Jintao arrived in the Indian capitol New Delhi on November 20...
The Week that Was – Bolivian Blogs
The Bolivian blog community webpage, Blogs de Bolivia [ES], has been at the center of discussion regarding the growing phenomenon of Bolivian blogs. Recently, it sought to find out the demographics of those visitors that frequent the page. Its survey found that by far, the two two categories were Bolivians...
Esperantoland through Pictures / Esperantujo tra Bildoj
Only one more month until Esperanto Day! If you would like to participate you can sign up here, especially if you would like help with translation. Nur unu monato ĝis Esperanto-Tago! Se vi volus partopreni, vi povas enskribiĝi ĉi tie, speciale se vi deziras helpon je tradukado. Welcome back for...
Image from Mali: Transporting Sheep
Flickr photo blogger Johanne Veilleux posts this shot taken in Siby, Mali and writes (Fr): “Yep, these are indeed sheep attached to the bus’ roof.”
Costa Rica on Arias, Sabina and CAFTA
Costa Rican blogs these past two weeks have had a bit of CAFTA, a bit of music and some complaints on the roads and the trash. The latter two are issues that worry those out in the streets and seem to leave those in power unconcerned. The uproar on the...