Stories from 20 January 2006
Costa Rica: Elections Site
JD Clarke has launched a website dedicated to the 2006 presidential elections in Costa Rica called elecciones2006.com (ES). On its front page is an announcement which seeks volunteer photographers, pundits, and bloggers who want to help cover the election.
Costa Rica: Broadband (Im)penetration
Bob Glass writes that for every 1,000 Costa Rican inhabitants, there are only 10 high speed connections, compared to South Korea's 248 or even Chile's 59.
China: Flash Patriotism
Sinosplice points us to some pretty, Flash patriotic propaganda for China.
Malaysia: Worth a Thousand Words
Genuinely Bored is a new blog by a Kuching, Malaysia-based graphic designer. She's putting up drawings she's made over the past decade that are themselves thoughtful comments. Call it graphic posting.
Bolivia: PR Advice for Bechtel
Jim Shultz has some PR advice for Bechtel: admit that they made a mistake in their administration of Cochabamba's water supply.
Philippines: Long Day's Journey
Jessica Zafra is on her way to Utah from Manila for the Sundance Film Festival. Her first adventure: a cancelled flight in Manila that forces her to stay overnight at a cockroach-infested hotel with Filipino immigrants to the U.S. who say “Tell dem we are prom di Istates and we...
Singapore: Closed Door
Recently, several prominent Singapore bloggers were invited to a “closed door” meeting held by a well-connected think tank. The meeting was called “Blogging and the Law.” Sintercom. org wonders if the meeting was a prelude to government legislation against bloggers, while Singabloodypore thinks “it was probably just a cosy chat....
Singapore: Victim of its Own Success
The annotated budak writes down his thoughts about Singapore blog aggregator tomorrow.sg: as it becomes a one-stop shop for the Singapore blogosphere, people are expecting far more than it can deliver. Has it become a victim of its own success?
North Korea, South Korea: Treatment of Defectors
The Asia Pages writes about how poorly North Korean defectors are treated in South Korea: “for all the rhetoric of love South Koreans speak of when referring to North Koreans, there are too many cases of Southerners talking the talk but not walking the walk.”
Peru: Political Blogs
Juan Arellano reviews (ES) two Peruvian political blogs as the election season heats up. Peru Election 2006 is written in English and Spanish by political science students at the University of British Columbia. Perú Político is written solely in Spanish by two Peruvian and one German political science students with...
Argentina: Ruthless Efficiency, Cultural Consumption
Ian clarifies that he's not joking when, in a post entitled “Argentina's Ruthless Efficiency” he writes that it only took 20 minutes to get a three month working visa. Roberto Bobrow is back with another comic about the state of cultural consumption in Argentina. But in his bilingual explanation, he...
India: Changing Trends
India: Changing Trends
India: Comparing Spain
India: Comparing Spain
Bangladesh: Human Rights
Bangladesh: Human Rights
Nepal: Curfew Times
Nepal: Curfew Times
Pakistan: Getting interviewed
Pakistan: Getting interviewed
Kuwait: Kuwaiti leadership on the brink
After the sad passing of the Kuwait Emir earlier this week, everything was supposed to be figured out within the week or so to clear the view for us as Kuwaitis to know what is the future of our leadership. The new Emir, Sheikh Sa'ad, is physically in very bad...
Egypt: Visit Nefertari
A special fund raising tour for Theban Mapping Project will cost you $5,000 not including flights plus a donation of $500, Tour Egypt said. The tour promise to take you to visit Nefertari and other closed tombs like KV5 and Seti I.
Iran: Blogger gets three-year suspended sentence
Journalist and blogger Ahmad Reza Shiri (Persian) will have a permanent threat hanging over him as a result of the suspended sentence (used to silence journalists who bother the authorities) of three years in prison handed down by a court in the northern city of Mashhad, Reporters Without Borders said...
Kenya: Domestic violence
Gukira and MentalAcrobatics both write eloquently on the subject of domestic violence… MA writes “As a man I feel disgrace that on what is essentially my watch, i.e. in my years of manhood, it has become more dangerous for women to be women in our cities, in our towns, in...
Nigeria: same sex marriage outlawed
Musings of a Naijman comments on the passing of a bill outlawing same sex marriage in Nigeria…”He caps it by reiterating that oft repeated triteness espoused by such eminences as the venerable Mugabe that homosexuality is “unAfrican”