Stories about Western Europe from April, 2009
United Kingdom: Barcamp Transparency to discuss Internet monitoring by government
A new U.K. government plan to monitor all email, phone calls, and internet use as part of a counter-terrorism initiative has already sparked lots of negative commentary in forums and blogs. It makes even more timely an upcoming Barcamp Transparency meeting in Oxford on 26 July, 2009.
Mapping the Arab Blogopshere
Meedan announces that data expert Will Ward is “heading to Copenhagen’s New Islamic Public Sphere programme for a couple of weeks as a Meedan representative. The idea is to share ideas about our attempts to map the Arab blogosphere and get input on our growing Arab Media Index, which will...
Global Health: Swine Flu Threat Spreads Worldwide
Confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu, which was detected in Mexico earlier this month, have now been found in at least seven other countries around the world. The World Health Organization says that this outbreak constitutes a "public health emergency of international concern."
U.K.: London Armenian commemorative march
Unzipped posts photos of yesterday's commemorative march held on the occasion of the 94th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Russia: Baymurat (aka Jimmy) Singing Bollywood Song
Videos of a rendition of a Bollywood song by Baymurat (aka Jimmy) – an ethnic Uzbek from Tajikistan, a gastarbeiter in a town near Moscow, and a YouTube celebrity: one of the earlier versions is here, and the performance at Asian Dub Foundation's April 4 gig in St. Petersburg, Russia...
World Book Day: Women's lives in the mirror of their men
Do women's lives paint themselves on- or against - the canvas "their" men provide them through the years ? A literary stroll gives us a bigger picture and takes us from Quebec, to France and finally, to some fascinating Algerian writers.
Taiwan: “Luc Besson, you find the wrong guy”
TEIC(Taiwan Environmental Information Center) criticize French director Luc Besson‘s decision to invite Hau Lung-pin, the Mayor of Taipei City, to dub his latest documentary film about environment while Hau is actually a tree killer and nature destroyer(zh).
Sri Lanka: The Pros And Cons Of International Attention
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are holding on to to just a sliver of land in the north of Sri Lanka, but the United Nations is estimating that 50,000 people are still trapped in the warzone. As fighting surges in the final throes, concerns for civilians is growing and calls for international attention and understanding abound on the Internet and in the streets of cities around the world, such as London, Berlin and Paris.
Russia: Weekly News and New Blogs
Siberian Light re-introduces Russian Weekly News section – and continues to promote blogs that focus on Russia and other former Soviet states: a review of The Russian Store Blog (“The History of Pisanki” is one of the recent posts there) and a roundup of blogs of British ambassadors to Belarus...
Jordan: Beyond Stereotypes
How to get past stereotypes and the future of the relationship between Denmark and the Arab and Muslim worlds was the centre of discussions at an event organised by the Danish Embassy in Amman. Mohammad Azraq, who attended the programme, picks up on this story and more in this round up of Jordanian blogs.
MENA: Reflections on Durban II
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech, and the way European Union representatives reacted to it at the United Nations Conference on Racism in Geneva (Durban II), has stirred debates among bloggers across the Middle East. Eman AbdElRahman sums up reactions in this post.
Bahrain: Submissions for Bitfilm Open
Mideast Youth has been named a partner in the Bitfilm Festival for Digital Film and New Media, which will be Hamburg and Tel Aviv, writes the site's Bahraini founder Esra'a. The deadline for submissions is July 1.
Israel: Reflections on the Holocaust Memorial Day and Durban II
Yesterday was the national holocaust memorial day in Israel. Coincidentally, it was also the opening day of the highly contested UN Durban II conference on racism in Geneva. Gilad Lotan updates us with reactions from Israeli bloggers, who link both occasions.
Japan: The SHADO Collective
Photoreporter Noriyuki Aida (会田法行) presents the SHA-DO Collective (写道・写真家集団). The group comprising Aida-san and other four photographers based in Tokyo — the Japanese Yasuhiro Ogawa, the Greek Androniki Christodoulou, the Spanish David Coll Blanco and the German Eric Rechsteiner — intends to provide “five specific photographic approaches focusing mainly on...
Global Recession: The world is talking. Are we listening?
There is no lack of online articles about the various aspects of the global economic crisis. Many of them are written by economic experts and policymakers. What about the perspectives of ordinary bloggers? This global roundup of blogs gathers stories of people around the world who are struggling to survive the economic downturn.
Guadeloupe: Sarkozy & Guadeloupe
After the 45-day mobilization in Guadeloupe, French President Nicolas Sarkozy made many promises – Mycho, who blogs at Critiqart Guadeloupe [Fr], expresses her disappointment about the President's attitude.
Global: Hijablogging Fashionistas
In March, we caught up with a new crew of “hijabloggers” - women who wear the hijab and blog about it. Such bloggers span the globe, blogging about a wide variety of issues from parenting to fashion to travel to politics. In this post, we will re-visit the “hijablogosphere” to see what's new.
Macedonia: Alexander the Great as Media Bait
For several years now, the Macedonian traditional media have have been involved in relentless promotion of all and any claims related to Alexander the Great deemed "positive" in terms of generating public approval and more readers/viewers. Such coverage tends to grow more bizarre, as shown by recent events.
French Caribbean: “Les Scoops d'Or” Competition
On the blog Les Scoops d'or, Lagencedecom’ and Scoop announce the launch of a new blog and website competition in the West Indies!
Qatar, Dubai: Responding To British Media “Bashing”
In recent weeks reports in the British media about the Gulf states of Qatar, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, have provoked debate amongst bloggers in both places.
U.S., Europe: Clinton's Message on Roma Day
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a video message in recognition of the International Roma Day: video and text – at U.S. Department of State Blog.
