Stories from 29 September 2005
Muddy Waters
Siberian Light discusses Vladimir Putin's muddying of the waters regarding his plans beyond his current presidential term.
Russian Marketing Technology
Russian Marketing Blog reports on Russian grafitti avoidance technology for light box advertisers.
Chile: March Supporting Gay Rights
Andrés Duque has a summary of last weekend's march in Santiago, Chile to celebrate the “decision by the Education Ministry to adopt sexual orientation non-discrimination language in the standard high-school sexual education curriculum and saluted an initiative by the Chile Chamber of Deputies to combat hate crimes based on sexual...
Indonesian Blogs: Oil, protests, and bird flu
Fuel hike, demonstrations and heavy traffic jams: The government is planning to raise fuel prices on this Saturday, 1st October to address the budget deficit, and already Indonesia has seen demonstrations against the hike in the streets of Jakarta. Sporadic protests against a price increase have been launched across Indonesia...
El Salvador: Evacuation Unpreparedness
After summarizing an investigation which found that the Salvadoran government “has done little to prepare to evacuate the 12,700 people who live beside the Ilamatepec (Santa Ana) volcano,” Tim's El Salvador Blog today focuses on fleeing residents from the nearby community of Cantón Palo Campan who are not being supported...
Peru: Summary of Virtual Blog Festival
BlogsPerú has a summary [ES] of the First Festival of Blogs: Blogs y Author's Rights, a virtual and well-coordinated discussion throughout the Peruvian blogosphere.
Kuwait: Sport Stepstone
Kuwaitism says that in Kuwait, sports are only used as a stepstone by people who don't care about it anymore! Giving example of Sh. Ahmad AlFahad, who used to be head of football federation and now is oil minister.
Lebanon: FBI Help
Mustapha of The Beirut Spring blog says that the Lebanese Minister of Interior should resign and the FBI should help with the investigations of recent terrorist attacks on Lebanese figures.
Palestine: Human Shields
umkahlil says that Israeli Forces uses brother of murdered victim as human shield to search a greenhouse belonging to his family. After he was released, he said that the Israeli soldiers used him as a human shield to discover the destiny of the persons who were inside the greenhouse. One...
Ethiopia: Blame Lord Voldemort
Ethiopundit writes a detailed and hugely entertaining update on the withdrawal of the Ethiopian government's lawsuit in a Virginia court against Tensae Radio, which reported that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his officials had deposited millions of dollars in foreign banks.
Saudi Arabia: Gender War
Farooha writes very interesting posts about what she call a phenomenon that is gradually yet shockingly growing rampant in Saudi Arabia, the war between genders.
Chad: Belgian court rules on Habre
A Belgian judge has issued an international arrest warrant charging Chad’s former dictator Hissène Habré with atrocities during his 1982-90 rule, reports Human Rights Watch.
Nigeria: Can this be democracy?
Chippla comments on parliamentary democracy, Nigerian style: “This crisis of Nigerian society lies in the fact that its ruling class sees no reason why it shouldn't live like the ruling class anywhere else in the world. The truth however is that Nigeria is not like ‘anywhere else in the world’...
Syria: Free Elections
Sasa from The Syrian News Wire says that 2007 local council (municipal) elections in Syria will be true test of these promises by Baath Party.
D.R. Congo: Harder than bullets
Jewels in the Jungle warns us why diamonds–especially those mined in the D.R. of Congo–are not a girl's best friend. Via Congo Watch.
Sudan: Well, duh.
So the U.N. continues to say things are getting worse in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur. “What would really be news is if someone actually prosecuted the people behind the violence for their crimes,” writes a furious and on-the-spot Sleepless in Sudan. And until the international community actually gets...
Uganda: New IDP camps
Two new camps for internally displaced persons (IDP) are planned to cope with the humanitarian disaster in northern Uganda, reports UgandaCAN, adding that more than 1,000 people die each week in existing camps from disease, starvation, and violence.
Burma/Myanmar: The name game
Just a little conversation…about romanization. Burma Underground throws its hat into the ring on the Burma/Myanmar naming debate.
Cambodia: What, no laptops?
Beth Kanter asks what happened to a much-vaunted scheme to provide hand-cranking laptops to children in Third World countries, and whether Cambodians will benefit from it.
Indonesia: Fuel price increases
Bali Blog braces for squalls in Indonesia following the announcement of fuel price hikes, which have historically been a flashpoint for popular unrest.
South Korea: Secrets of golfing success
AsiaPundit notes that the secret of the success of South Korean women golfers has at last been made public.