Stories from 5 October 2005
Panama: Blogs in the Media
TecnoCHICA, written by two young women in Panama received some international media coverage with the help of Ecuadorean blogger and journalism professor, Christian Espinosa.
Puerto Rico: Governor Comments on Weblog
Tinta Digital writes that Puerto Rican governor, Anibal Acevedo Vilá [ES] answered questions submitted as comments to the weblog of the popular radio program, Agitando El Show.
Egypt: Egyptians Third Happiest Population
Ritzy Mabrouk says that in this report, Australia topped the chart with 46 percent of its population saying they were ‘‘very happy’’, followed by the US (40 percent), Egypt (36 percent) and India (34 percent). The UK and Canada shared the fifth spot, with 32 percent claiming to be very...
Bahrain: Where is Bahrain?
Zainab on a trip to Madison, she meets someone: “where are you guys from?” I said “Bahrain” The guy said “OHHHHHHHHH Bahrain” “You KNOW Bahrain??” “Yes…” “Really??” I was still in shock “Yes, thats where Michael Jackson is, isn't it”
Jordan: Suicide Muslim
Haitham's predictions came true. Now they are linking Oklahoma Suicide Bomber to Muslims.
Saudi Arabia: Internet Morals
Dotsson says that according to this 92.5% of the Kingdom's internet users try to access websites that are blocked for one reason or another!
United Arab Emirates: Unskilled Labour Figures
Secret Dubai diary writes that UAE labour figures are always startling. There are around one million Asian migrants working as unskilled labourers in the UAE, nearly a quarter of the ~4.5 million population.
Peru: Are Weblogs Profitable?
Coming off the success of the first “Festival of Blogs,” the folks behind BlogsPerú have announced the theme of the second Festival of Blogs to be “Are Weblogs Profitable?”
Venezuela: Switching to Linux
Matt Asay says two Venezuelan government officials approached him at LinuxWorld UK, where he spoke, wanting to learn more about switching from Microsoft to Linux-based systems.
Jordan: Electoral System
Naseem Tarawnah talks about Jordanian electoral system history, present and future.
Syria: Operation “Block the Vote”
Joshua Landis at Syria Comment reports that the US military offensives in western Iraq have driven thousands of Sunnis–and Sunni voters–into Syria. The Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker Hajem al-Hassani has spoken out against Operation Iron Fist, saying it was a deliberate attempt by Washington to dissuade Sunnis from going to the...
China: Top of Asian blogosphere
Letters from China carries out a Google Blog search to find that China has the most blogs in the Asian blogosphere, although s/he uses a somewhat unusual definition of “Asia”.
Japan: Blogging vs. journalism
Journalist Thomas Crampton sparks a debate on the difference between blogging and mainstream journalism after a month as a guest on Joi Ito's blog.
Malaysia: Fighting corruption
Brand New Malaysian posts an essay on corruption, which he says exists at every level in Malaysian society. “A good many Malaysians actually condone/contribute to it, and that is where the battle should lie. It must start intrinsically…”
Venezuela: Secuestro Express
The movie, Secuestro Express has inspired reflection from another Venezuelan blogger, this time PandaVamp's Lair.
Taiwan: Google map dispute
ESWN comments briefly on the furore over Google's map of Taiwan, which has it marked as a province of China, linking to a previous post which shows that the U.S. State Department's map is just the same.
Hong Kong: Dispute with NYT
Hong Kong-based blog SimonWorld details attempts to get the New York Times to abide by its stated terms of use when filleting its comments and posts for a report on the Kissel murder trial.
Bermuda: Vibrating Sales
A Limey in Bermuda says the Bermuda Sun put a picture of a vibrator on its front page in order to get attention and boost sales. It seems to have worked.
Thailand: Army in the south
At Thai-Blogs, Stilee posts a long article with photos on the Thai army which is stationed in Betong-Yindee in the troubled south of the country, together with an account of how the armed forces have turned their focus to internal threats since the 1960s.
Uganda, D.R. Congo: Kampala reaction
Coalition for Darfur picks up a news dispatch about Uganda's dismissal of calls for a U.N. arms embargo against it after 400 of its Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel fighters crossed into the D.R. of Congo. Eugene Oregon comments briefly on a reference to “LRA fighters and their families”.
Uganda: Moment of truth
The Uganda Conflict Action Network (Uganda-CAN) calls on the Ugandan government to better protect its citizens, support an amnesty program for abducted fighters, and work for a clear and transparent peace plan with broad support in the international community.