Stories from 1 May 2006
Mexico: Exaggerated Reaction to Mexico's New Drug Law
Boz comments on the exaggerated reactions to a clarification of Mexico's legal code regarding drugs. He labels the new policy a “step forward for Mexico's legal system,” but adds that “it's unlikely to have major effects on the country's drug problem.” Dr. Steven Taylor, however, argues that legalizing the possession...
Hong Kong: Subtle Chinese humor
EastSouthWestNorth blogger Roland Soong translates a humorous post and compares political jokes in the former Soviet Union with those found in China today. The verdict: “[T]he Chinese people are not humorless. Rather, their humor demonstrably come through in more subtle ways.”
Hong Kong: A democratic future!
n8ma blogger Nathan Madsen has no kind words for those who would downplay the importance of democracy in Hong Kong, mainland China and even America.
Chile, Panama: Earthquakes
World Wide Help has the very latest on an earthquake that hit Northern Chile late last night. Chiriqui Chatter was also shaken awake this morning in Northern Panama.
China: Workers holiday
Outside In blogger finds irony in what the week-long holiday surrounding International Workers Day has become in China: “The great international communist holiday has morphed into one grand frenzy of unabashed consumerism. LONG LIVE THE WORKERS. WHAT'S ON SALE AT IKEA?”
North Korea: Execution carried out
Joshua at The Korea Liberator blogs on a North Korean political prisoner who was executed this past weekend, and then two posts from James Na on the meager turnout at a North Korea Freedom Day rally held in Washington DC just three days later.
Mexico: Star Spangled Banner en Español
Julio Sueco, a Mexican blogger living in Sweden says that the Spanish version of the Star Spangled Banner isn't his cup of manzanilla tea.
China: Tiananmen Mother compensation
China Challenges posts on what might just be the Chinese authorities’ first step towards taking responsibility for 1989's Tiananmen Square massacre.
Trinidad & Tobago: Prison Island Visit
Trinidad & Tobago: Prison Island visit
Belize: Copyright regulations
Nyashazasha at The Global Parish reproduces an article by the president of the Belize Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (BSCAP) outlining the copyright regulations soon to come into effect in Belize. The article foresees some resistance from the public to the idea of paying licensing fees.
India: Engineer killed in Afghanistan
The killing of an Indian engineer, Suryanarayana in Afghanistan by the Taliban militia is a shocking reminder of how fragile the situation is for Indians working in the country. The Taliban had demanded that all Indians leave Afghanistan within a specified time period if Suryanarayana was to be spared. However,...
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Blogger gets job offer
Blogging translates into a job offer for Abeni in St. Vincent, but alas–she refuses. “I don't want writing to feel like a chore,” she says.
China: Artists face crackdown
In ‘We Hate Art and Like Nothing Interesting‘, Supernaut Frances D'Ath blogs on a recent ongoing crackdown on artwork at Beijing's Dashanzi art district: “An apoplectic, insane hatred born of a class of people whose sole aim in life is promulgating a dictatorship of smallness, meanness, and a spiteful programme...
Egypt: Emergence law
Zeinobia of ‘Egyptian Chronicles’ explains the motives of the Egyptian government to ask the Parliament for approval to re-new the decayed Emergence law. “…they need it to stop any attempt of the civilian organization and the judges for the Quest of a real democratic life , they need it to...
United Arab Emirates: Islamic Banking
A Yahya challenge any bank operating out of the UAE to clearly explain in layman’s terms how their financial packages are in fact Islamic. While you all talk about investing back into the community with various schemes from saving the whales to the nationalization of your work force you still...
Balanced election coverage
Journalist and academic Cherian Geoge wonders if the Singapore government is easing up on mainstream media's coverage of elections while blogger Xialanxue does not think so.
Bargaining, not just for discounts
Dương Lam Anh at Virtual Doug observes his mom's buying habits and discovers there is more to bargaining than just to get the price reduced.
What is the world cooking?
#1: From Malaysia & UK, Yang-May Ooi's Lit BlogCurious Legacies: My GrandMother's recipe for Soy Sauce Chicken Grandma left us many recipes for dishes that have been in the family for years. They are old-fashioned and labor intensive, involving a lot of chopping and slicing and marinading to get just...
Haiti: Committee Supports Today's Immigrant Strike
Alterpresse published (kreyol) a press release by GARR, a Haitian committee of support to refugees and the repatriated, which supports today's immigrant strike and boycott in the US. “The same situation is developing in the Dominican Republic for many Haitian workers there, says GARR's Martine Dorvilas. While D.R. government representatives...
DRC: Malu Malu in New York Today
The chief of the controversial electoral commission, Rev. Malu Malu, will be in New York City today to speak about “The Future of Democracy and the Rebuilding of a Nation-State: The Democratic Republic of Congo” at The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, 7pm. UDPS is organizing a protest of the...
DRC: Katanga province
Breaking hearts in the heart of darkness reports on a recent field trip to the Katanga province in the South East of the DRC writing that the region has received no humanitarian assistance despite large numbers of displaced people, sexual exploitation of women by militias and the Congolese army.
