15 May 2006

Stories from 15 May 2006

Uzbekistan: One Family – One Cow

Registan.net discusses Uzbekistan's “one family – one cow” program under which entrepreneurs are coerced into donating livestock or cows to the poor, or as is more often the case, money to bank accounts of local officials.

Armenia: Sharm El

Christian Garbis raves about his favorite Indian restaurant in Yerevan and says that it has been so successful that it is taking over the kitchen at another location.

Interview with Afghan Warrior

Global Voices has started a series of interviews with Afghan bloggers. Our first guest is Waheed from Afghan Warrior. 1 Q: How long have you started to blogging and why an English one? 1 A .I have been blogging since March 8, 2005. I wanted to raise my voice, and...

Bruna Little Surfer: blog turns into book, call girl turns into writer

  15 May 2006

Bruna Little Surfer is how she became known, the Brazilian blogger named Rachel Pacheco turned celebrity while posting in her online diary details about her job as a call girl. The mainstream media is emphasizing the "tramp-to-celebrity" phenomenon more than the blogosphere which is providing some very interesting discussion.

Pakistan: Driving In Lahore

  15 May 2006

Driving in Lahore seems to be suspended between a nightmare and delight. Metroblogging Lahore takes a closer look at the driving culture in the city.

Bangladesh: Bangla Wikipedia and Open Tourism

  15 May 2006

Rezwan talks of the Bangla Wikipedia with links on how the content can be improved, and more edits can be achieved. On the same issue of online content generation – imperfect world 2006 links to a community driven site on tourism and the link for Dhaka.

China: Rock star imprisoned

  15 May 2006

Uleewang at Non-violent Resistance blogs on the hottest story in mainstream Chinese media this past week “involving a popular tabloid, a burned-out rock star, his ex-wife the most famous Chinese singer ever, their daughter and her puppy, his second ex-wife, his erstwhile fellow rock star, some broken computers and TV...

China: Fuel shortage cover-up?

  15 May 2006

Is there a fuel shortage in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen which lies next to Hong Kong? “The government is claiming there is no shortage,” says Simon of Simon World, “and they're right. There's enough fuel, but thanks to the cap on pricing the station owners are refusing to...

China: Wu Hao's whereabouts

  15 May 2006

Nina Wu, sister of illegally-imprisoned Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao writes of her ongoing push to find out where her brother is: “I still remember the first time I came to Beijing for little brother's affair, freezing to the point of shivering despite wearing an overcoat. Now, it's already...

Barbados: What will happen to drug-bust yacht?

  15 May 2006

Two US citizens have been arrested in Barbados for attempting to smuggle 135 pounds of cocaine into the country on their yacht, according to media reports. What Barbados Free Press wants to know is “how this seized yacht will be dealt with? Is the system for disposal of seized assets...

China: New political campaign shows sarcasm is alive and well

  15 May 2006

A strange custom of every Communist Party of China leader is for them to come up with their own theory or “ism”. Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping had their own respective variations of Socialist theory. Jiang Zemin has his Three Represents. And what about the current Chinese president Hu Jintao?...

Suriname: Update on flood relief efforts

  15 May 2006

At World Wide Help, Angelo Embuldeniya posts a two-part update on the ongoing flood disaster in Suriname from Sharda Ganga, head of Stichting Projekta, an NGO helping to coordinate volunteer relief efforts. “The latest news from Upper Suriname … was that it started raining again. If the rainfall continues, the...

China: Yuan gets stronger

  15 May 2006

Dawanr at TalkTalkChina posts on the news yesterday of a strengthening Chinese yuan as the rate on the US dollar dipped below 8.0.

Hong Kong: Making fun of news

  15 May 2006

EastSouthWestNorth blogger Roland Soong translates a blog post which takes a humorous look at the ten hottest news stories on the internet this past week.