Stories about Weblog from October, 2007
Sri Lanka: Anuradhapura, Terrorism and Hillary Clinton
On October 22, an air force base at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka was attacked by a Tamil Tiger suicide squad. [News: BBC]. According to BBC, Tamil Tigers claimed to have destroyed eight aircraft including spy places while losing 21 of their fighters. According to the Sri Lankan Government just two helicopters...
Syrian blogger Roukana Hamour has been Kidnapped
Update: Last night (October 26), we've received a call from Rokana Hamour. She is fine. She has been interrogated by the Syrian Security Services about a comment left on her blog. Rokana was released three hours later. We've received an email that appeared to come from someone who witnessed the...
China: Official excess met with humor, scorn, death threats
Bloggers for some reason kept mostly or dead quiet about the 17th Party Congress while it was being held during the third week of this month, and now that it's over, blog posts on the subject are being deleted even before they get published [zh]. A chance for bloggers to...
Philippines: Arroyo Pardons Plunder Convict Estrada
Tonyo Cruz looks at the angry reactions of the bloggers in Philippines after the president Arroyo pardoned former president Estrada Joseph Estrada just a couple of weeks after he wad jailed on corruption charges.
Japan: Taiwanese chorus music to the ears
A video of an auditorium in Taiwan featuring 258 Taiwanese people watching and singing along to the lyrics of Japanese anime songs became a hit in Japan earlier this week after it was uploaded to a popular video sharing website, attracting over 120,000 views and nearly as many comments. A Japanese blogger considers how this kind of connection can bring Japan and Taiwan closer together.
Bangladesh: Bloggers mobilise against domestic violence
(Logo credit: Amnesty International) October is Domestic Violence Awareness month in the USA, devoted to connecting battered women’s advocates across the nation to work together to end violence against women and children. The issue, however, is not country specific. Domestic violence is a menace that is found all over the...
Kazakhstan: “Kompromat” Wars
Rakhat Aliyev has lots of titles with an attribute “former”: former son-in-law of president Nazarbayev, former chief of special services, former media mogul and former influential clan leader. Today he is a figurant of the criminal case, accused of abduction and possible murder of heads of Nurbank, which was also...
Costa Rica: Free-Trade Agreement Passes
Costa Ricans participated in a nationwide referendum regarding the fate of the Free-Trade Agreement with the United States. The result was a vote for the "Yes". Even though the vote passed, there is still a lot to be completed by Congress and a little uncertainty of what the results mean.
Kuwait: Lost Between Cinemas and Restaurants
Between banned and censored movies in cinemas to restaurants which have a lot to make up for in terms of service, Kuwaiti bloggers were at wits' end last week. Abdullatif AlOmar brings us the latest from the Kuwaiti blogosphere in this post.
Kazakhstan: Prices Unleashed
Immediately after the parliamentary elections, which were deemed undemocratic by the international monitors, the prices went crazy in Kazakhstan. The ruling party “Nur Otan”, led by president Nursultan Nazarbayev – who rules the country already for 17 years – had been building its campaign on socio-economic achievements and promises of...
Armenia: Opposition Detainees Released
Via Romamerda1 on YouTube, there are updates on the latest developments following the arrest of Armenian opposition leaders, Nikol Pashinyan and other members of the “Impeachment” bloc. The description accompanying the video reads: Nicol Pashinyan and other members of “Impeachment” party were unjustly imprisoned for 8 hours on 23 October...
Korea: Kissing in Public Places
Kissing in public places can turn into a major issue and generate arguments. An adult is being tried in court for beating teenagers who were kissing at a metro station. He had also beaten a teenager who smoked in public. After the news, a blogger writes how he/she feels about others’ opinions about this accident.
Bangladesh: Bloggers, the media and the army chief
The political arena of Bangladesh heated up after the Eid holidays. Bloggers cum citizen journalists had a role to play in this. J Rahman at Mukti has some background: Earlier this year, Bangladesh experienced an extra-constitutional change in government. The Economist called it a coup that dares not speak its...
Iran: Power Struggle over Nuclear Crisis
The resignation on Saturday of Ali Larijani, the top Iranian nuclear negotiator, has led to speculation about the reasons for his decision, and how it will affect the nuclear crisis. About 200 members of Parliament protested against replacing Ali Larijani with Said Jalili, a close ally of President Ahmadinejad. Iranian...
Peru: Census Day
On Sunday, October 21, Peruvians were counted as part of the National Census. However, with such a massive undertaking, problems would surely arise. Bloggers reported inexperienced census-takers, a lack of security for census workers, and the fuss over the lack of transportation.
Russia: Bloggers Discuss James Watson
James Watson, an American Nobel Prize-winning geneticist, provoked international outrage when The Sunday Times quoted him on race issues on Oct. 14. The news of the controversy produced a certain stir in the Russian-language blogosphere, too.
Tunisia: Breaking Censorship
Tunisian blogger Sami ben Gharbia decides to beat the censors in their own game. He tells us how, in this post (Ar) I am translating from Arabic today.
African Bloggers Pay Tribute To Lucky Dube
"Do you ever worry about your house being broken into / Do you ever worry about your car being taken away from you in broad daylight down Highway 54 / Do you ever worry about your wife becoming the woman in black / Do you ever worry about leaving home and coming back in a coffin, with a bullet through your head / So join us and fight this crime and corruption…."
China: Heavy schooling fees and migrant workers
Yuan Guiren, Chinese Vice Education Minister, emphasized the equal education rights for the migrant workers’ children at the CPC press conference last Saturday. However, the tough reality makes some migrant parents worried if they can find an adequate school for their children next term.
Uganda: Poverty and Paris Hilton
Wednesday's Public Poverty Forum in Kampala had one blogger, Tumwijukue, asking, “Did they (re)define poverty? Did they speak of poverty of the mind? Or did they merely use the event as a networking opportunity and an excuse to miss work for the day, rushing to the organizer's table at the end of the forum for the Ushs. 50,000 delegates' allowance?”
Syria: Stop Internet Censorship!
Following a recent post on Global Voices Advocacy, Syrian bloggers are ready to discuss internet censorship in their country, including the arrests of several forum users and the censure of Blogspot.
