Stories from 30 November 2005
South Africa: domestic labour
South African blog, Fodder is disgusted at the latest 6.7% increase in wages for domestic workers….”It is a blight on our new democracy that our government says a person can live on such a minute amount of money every month, if one wants to go the minimum wage route then...
Malaysia: “Squatgate” Reporting
Says Project Petaling Street Blog, in the Malaysian police-political scandal rapidly coming to be known as “squatgate,” opposition politicians’ blogs have been much more adept at using the Internet to get out their message about local officers forcing Chinese illegal immigrant women to do squats in the nude.
Philippines: Are You Lonesome Tonight?
“The Philippines is one of the world's major exporters of Elvis impersonators,” claims Jessica Zafra. Read about it here.
Singapore: History Lesson
The Higher Criticism reviews the history of pre-colonial Singapore, which is often believed to have been an insignificant nullity.
Singapore: Un-Confucian Government
The Useless Tree debunks the Singapore political elite's self-image as “Confucian gentlemen.”
Africa: Commonwealth conference
Mzansi Afrika is one of the few African blogs to mention the recent Commonwealth Conference which took place in Malta to discuss trade issues. Bronwyn comments…”Well and good. Fair farming practices and competitive trade are essential issues that do need to be sorted out. Handled right, such issues are probably...
Taiwan: Poor Report Card
the leaky pen answers the question: “Why is Taiwanese higher education so bad?“
Darfur: firewood patrols
Sleepless in Sudan reports on the return of the “so-called firewood patrols” in Darfur……The idea behind the firewood patrols is pretty simple: the African Union (who has deployed about 6500 troops to Darfur to monitor the situation and create a more secure environment) is meant to work with local police...
Malawi: Dignitas International
Geeta in Malawi writes on a NGO called Dignitas International which is a humanitarian medical NGO that “responds to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.”
Zimbabwe: Hijack
This is Zimbabwe writes on a near miss “hijack” …..Today I came close to being hijacked. I got the fright of my life. Two cars were waiting facing opposite directions, and as I came past the one did a ‘u’ turn and followed me and the other followed as well....
Congo: November in the DRC
Congo Watch provides a monthly roundup of events in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)…
Ethiopia: VOA
Ethiopian Politics writes in support of the VOA Amharic Program which is described as “A voice to the voiceless”...We the undersigned Ethiopians, Ethio-Americans and friends of Ethiopia who are concerned and disturbed by the Ethiopian government’s deliberate attempt to shut down all free press and journalistic activities, here by, alert...
Ethiopia: VOA
Meskel Square reports about an ongoing “war” between Ethiopia and the Voice of America. The battle surrounds VOA broadcast service in Amharic. The Ethiopian News Agency comments on VOA “In their phone-in programs they have deliberately selected and organized individuals who have rehearsed what bad things to say about the...
Kenya: politics
Kenyan Pundit reports that she is “sick and tired of Kenyan politics”….responding to a comment on the sloth that is Kenyan and African politics, she writes “The sloth has unfortunately often been a two-way street…the politics are incompetent and the electorate tolerate and often encourage the pettiness we see, hopefully...
Nigerian Blogosphere
Dabar Objects starts us up this week with “Nigeria and ECommerce: We must be joking”. He pointed out issues about Nigeria doing eCommerce successfully. He discussed why he thinks that even though about 5 million people confortable uses mobile phone in the country, only a minute do eCommerce and that...
The Darfur Crisis: Bloggers Speak
The western Sudanese region of Darfur made the headlines for a significant portion of last year when millions of civilians were displaced by fighting between rebel groups and the pro-Sudanese government Janjaweed militia. The Janjaweed militia was also implicated in the killing of innocent civilians and the raping of women,...
Bangladesh bombs: Blog buzz
Yesterday 9 people were killed in Bangladesh in suicide bombings in two court premises. Read what the bloggers around the world are saying about this.
