15 March 2006

Stories from 15 March 2006

The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs

  15 March 2006

Fresh off some historic accomplishments such as the approval of two important laws in Congress, the convocation of the Constituent Assembly and another to finalize the Referendum for Autonomy, Bolivia again witnessed some additional meaningful events. Miguel Buitrago summarizes much of the week’s occurrences in a recent post in his...

Kyrgyzstan: Revolution Day

  15 March 2006

The Golden Road to Samarqand reports on the planning of festivities to mark the first anniversary of Kyrgyzstan's revolution, in which protests caused the collapse of Askar Akaev's government.

Argentina: Buenos Aires in 3D

  15 March 2006

Argentine media professor, Julian Gallo posts slides (ES) of a 3D overlay of Buenos Aires for Google Earth created by architecture student, Ezequiel Galotti.

Bolivia, Peru, Colombia: Coca

  15 March 2006

A small Andean plant which was once used to flavor Coca-Cola, continues to make waves across the Western Hemisphere. Niko Kyriakou, writing from Caracas, describes the cultural and legal differences between South America and North America regarding the plant, which can be refined to make cocaine. Wall Street Cafe says...

Peru: Humala Bounces Back in New Polls

  15 March 2006

Both Leftside and Justin Delacour mention leftist presidential candidate, Ollanta Humala's recent bounce-back in pre-election polls. Fabiola Bazo quotes pollster Alfredo Torres in saying that whichever candidate is able to distance him/herself from outgoing President Toledo will win. Finally, Un Lobo en Perú describes a museum exhibit in Lima by...

Mexico: Oil Discovered Off Veracruz Coast

  15 March 2006

Arturo de Albornoz of Olganza describes a new reserve of oil (ES) discovered in deep waters off the coast of Veracruz. Chris of Cuaderno Latinoamericano says that the find is a boon to state-owned energy company PEMEX which has been borrowing heavily in recent years. Meanwhile, Portside recently commented that...

Russia: Train Rides

  15 March 2006

Tim Newman of White Sun of the Desert writes about a typical train journey in Russia: boiled eggs and endless conversations are the most common features. Also, for a male foreigner, motherly attention of female compartment-mates, which would be considered rude in the West but are a norm in Russia.

DRC: Missing Opposition Party Members

  15 March 2006

UDPS Liege, the blog of the Liege chapter of opposition party UDPS reports (FR) that some UDPS members have been missing since a peaceful demonstration the party held Friday in Kinshasa. The missing members are: Asimbu Pierre, Olivier Mushita, Johnny Tshiamalenga and Emmanuel Luboya. The latter two members are law...

Commonwealth Games

  15 March 2006

Regan liveblogs the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, which took place last night in Melbourne, Australia.

DRC: Shots of Kinshasa and East Kasai

  15 March 2006

Renouveau Congolais posts (FR) pictures of the poorly maintained streets of Kinshasa, the DRC's capital. Poster wonders whether the current transitional government will deliver on its promise to turn Kinshasa into a modern city if permanently elected. Mostly, poster asks why international aid money has not been used on improving...

Japan: Out of the tunnel

  15 March 2006

Miyakonojo takes note of the lengthening spring days, and the shortening weeks until his wedding day. “Over the last ten days the glow of the center of our solar system has been creeping back into my life,” he writes.

China: An Altaic legend

  15 March 2006

Musing Under the Tenement Palm tracks down the source of a commonly reported “factoid” that China claimed to have invented skiing on the basis of ancient Altaic cave-paintings of Stone-Age hunters on skis in its northwestern regions.

China: Massage Milk blunder

  15 March 2006

ESWN has a chortle over a Chinese media report which gloats over the ease with which Massage Milk and Milk Pig kidded Western media into thinking they had been the victims of government censorship. After lecturing the readers on the importance of research, ChinaNews/Xinhua gets the gender of one of...

China: Plunder of the past

  15 March 2006

Angry Chinese Blogger reports on the The Lost Cultural Relics Recovery Program, a mainland Chinese NGO and subsidiary of the China Foundation for the Development of Folklore Culture. Founded in October 2002, the group has since dedicated itself to locating Chinese cultural artifacts that were taken by foreigners, and to...