Stories from 14 June 2006
Global Voices in Chinese!
Last September, Taiwanese blogger Portnoy started translating Global Voices posts into Chinese – not all of them, that would be impossible for one person, but picking and choosing things he thought the Chinese speaking world ought to know more about. Portnoy's translation hobby has now turned into a full blown...
Cambodia: World Cup Woes
Vutha in Cambodia discusses the seedier side effect of World Cup – gambling. “Bet on footbal was a driven force to make my youngest brother to drop out school and sold his motocycle for betting football match. Before this problem happened I always told him to stop betting football. One...
Taiwan: On Chen's recall
The recall motion on the Taiwan President Chen Shiu Bien is now a most hot topic. David from jujuflop had a lengthly discussion on whether it will succeed? whether it is a good move? or whether it will backfire KMT? etc. Michael Turton also picked up the discussion in The...
Singapore: Singapore-Australia Relations
Serendipity points to an article on Singapore's Prime Minister's visit to Australia and hopes that relations will improve after the low point last year when Singapore hanged an Australian who was convicted of smuggling heroin.
The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs
Bolivian bloggers are beginning to take full advantage of the different multimedia tools at their disposal. Jonathan Olguin recently opened a Youtube account and has begun to upload various news clips from Bolivian television. His blog Business and Politics in Bolivia also provided samples of some of the pro-autonomy commercials...
Haiti: Dress code
Troy, a US missionary based in rural Haiti, is refused service at a government office because he's wearing shorts. A friend tells him, “”Look, man, we have a new president now. You can't just do whatever you want in my country, man. This is seewious.”
Guyana: Remembering Walter Rodney
On the 26th anniversary of the June 13th, 1980 assasination of Guyanese historian Dr. Walter Rodney, Guyanese Resource Centre links to a Guyana Chronicle article outlining the incident and Rodney's vision, and to a Kaieteur News piece announcing that progress is being made toward the establishment of a Commission of...
Lust, Caution
Danny Bloom in Japundit provided some backgrounds on the Ang Lee's latest film “Lust, Caution”. The original story by the late Chinese novelist Eileen Chang (張愛玲) (1920-1995) is only about 10 pages long.
Bermuda: The wrong way to strike
The Limey calls the decision of teachers at a Bermuda primary school to stage a sick-out “wrong, unnecessary, self-indulgent and foolish.”
Hong Kong: debate over questionable poll
The Commerical Radio in Hong Kong launched a questionable poll on “the female artists they would most like to indecently assault” and resulted in a joint protest by woman organizations. The poll was eventually banned and the programme were suspended for two months. It resulted in an online petition against...
Barbados: New anthropological study
Titlayo gives a new anthropological study of rural Barbados two thumbs up, remarking that “what I liked the most about the book is that it portrayed a Barbados I could recognise as the island I live on, not a Barbados as perceived by a couple of foreigners from a university...
Barbados: Muslims offer to bury bodies
Barbados Free Press links to a news story which states that Muslims in Barbados have offered to bury the bodies of the eleven as yet unidentified men which were found on a vessel drifting off the coast of Barbados, though not asking the question: “Suppose some of the bodies are...
Kazakhstan: Sarsenbaev Public Hearing
Aldiyar reports on a public hearing on the conclusions of the preliminary investigation into the murder of the Kazakh opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbaev.
Bahamas, El Salvador: Lessons from El Salvador
On the occasion of a visit to the Bahamas by Francisco Flores, former president of El Salvador, Larry Smith offers an overview of the country's recent political history and recently achieved economic success, calling it “a message that many Bahamian leaders are seeking to come to grips with as we...
Armenia, Georgia: Tourism Promotion
Onnik Krikorian discusses Georgian and Armenian plans to promote tourism to their countries to Western audiences.
Armenia: Stale Bread Strategy
Irina Petrosian writes about the use of the “strategy of stale bread” in Armenia that shopkeepers use to create loyal customers.
Uzbekistan: The Coke Wars
Ben Paarmann discusses the latest round in the wrangling over Coca-Cola in Uzbekistan. The country's bottling company was formerly owned by the former son-in-law of the country's president, and the former owner is now suing Coca-Cola for not backing him when the Uzbek government took his stake in the country...
Azerbaijan: Freedom House Rating
Denise of neweurasia notes that Azerbaijan's Freedom House ranking has again gone down, but she takes issue with their ranking of the state of civil society in the country.
China: the phone number in Mission Impossible 3
There is one scene in Mission Impossible 3 taken at Shanghai old city where a phone number “13347707266” painted on an old wall just over Tom Cruise's left shoulder. A netizen traced the number and wrote an interesting “mission” story. ESWN has translated the story into English.
Sri Lanka: Military and the LTTE
How far is the Sri Lankan military sold out to the LTTE. Moju on “Defence hierarchy in the country was in for one of its biggest shocks last week when it was presented with a list of some 45 names – all from the security forces – who have been...
Sri Lanka: Tantrums in Oslo
Tiny Little Fractures on the LTTE – Sri Lankan Government talks in Oslo – “It looks like the Tigers are doing it again, walking out of Monitor Safety talks (not peace talks) because of the lack of ‘ministerial’ representation.”
