Stories from 5 July 2006
China: Earthquake gives Beijing a wobbly
Jeremy Goldkorn from danwei describes the blogsphere discussion on Beijing earthquake, it also brings out the issue of the current draft bill which intends to make breaking news illegal: “Any law that hinders the process of sorting the facts from the rumors is a bad law. The law is a...
China: a homosexual criminal case
Li yin-he is discussing a criminal case in Shanghai in her blog. The court charged a homosexual person for three years imprisonment in 1984 under Hoodlum crime and rejected the appeal in 2006 by referring to the defendant's sodomy behaviour. However, sodomy has never been a crime in China's criminal...
Kurdistance:
Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today's post is going to be short for two reasons: one, I am currently taking an intensive Arabic class this summer and transitioning back to English today is proving to be much more difficult than I first imagined and two, I just fell up the concrete steps...
Peru: Protests Against FTA
Living in Peru has first-hand account of recent protests against the US-Peru free trade agreement in Arequipa and Lima.
Venezuela: Caracas Among World's Cheapest Cities?
Neither Afrael nor his readers can understand how El Universal listed Caracas as one of the world's most affordable cities (ES).
Venezuela: 6th Annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade
Michael Fox has an informative summary of the 6th Annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in Venezuela.
Ecuador: Newspapers with Blogs
Christian Espinosa links to a new blog by the newspaper El Diario (ES) from the province of Manabí. So far the weblog has been embraced mostly by migrants living outside of their home state. El Telégrafo and La Noticia are the two other Ecuadorean papers with official weblogs.
Mexico: AMLO Takes the Lead
Incredible, now it is Lopez Obrador who has taken the lead. Michelle Dion, Matthew Shugart, and A.M. Mora y Leon are all updating on the hour in English. With 85% of the votes in, Lopez Obrador has more than a one percent lead over Calderon, but as Dion explains, “Calderon...
Africa: Lessons Learned from Mittal Steel
Lessons drawn by Le Pangolin from the recent acquisition by Indian-owned steel company Mittal Steel of European-owned Arcelor (Fr): ” Economic actors of developing countries can really change the world if they are so inclined. (…) The West is not invincible.”
Mexico: Voting Irregularities
Jennifer Woodard Maderazo translated an article by Mexican intellectual Elena Poniatowska who was among the many to observe voting irregularities on election Sunday. Michelle Dion explains that “the real voting begins today.” Goleech describes the situation (ES) as “hardly expected and nothing desired.”
Uzbekistan: Bad & Good
Registan.net reports bad news from Uzbekistan, while neweurasia reports some good news.
Kyrgyzstan: Russians Leaving?
Yulia reports that there are fears in Kyrgyzstan that ethnic Russians may leave for Russia in response to Vladimir Putin's call for Russians living outside of Russia to move back. She also notes that many ethnic Kyrgyz continue to leave for Russia in hopes of finding work and wonders how...
Mongolia: Press Attack in Parliament
Tom Terry responds to an attack on him and Eagle TV, the station he manages in Mongolia, made during a session of parliament by the Speaker of the body.
Turkmenistan: Slow Succession
Will Turkmenistan's next ruler be the current president's son? Peter of neweurasia examines the speculation that this will be the case.
Armenia: Contemporary Music
Onnik Krikorian writes about contemporary music in Armenia. He compares the situation as it was about seven years ago, and notes some slight improvement in the ability of artists to find success without connections and rich sponsors.
Tajikstan: Travel Blogs
Vadim surveys blogs about or posting on travel in Tajikstan.
Jamaica: The day Bob died
Geoffrey Philp remembers the day Bob Marley died.
St. Lucia: Political meeting
Matthew Hunte attends a meeting launching the campaign of a political candidate in Choiseul in rural St. Lucia.
Suriname: Photos
Vanessa Decort publishes a series of recent photos from Suriname on Flickr.
Trinidad & Tobago: Greenlight network
The Greenlight Network announces its next “simple, symbolic, creative event”, which takes place on the first Saturday in August and involves asking random people in the street to commit to caring for the environment by wearing a green band around their wrists.
Russia: Beslan Question to Putin
Marina Litvinovich (LJ user abstract2001, founder of the PravdaBeslana.ru site) has posted a link (RUS) to the 28 questions on Beslan, posed to Vladimir Putin by Russian internet users who hope the president will answer them during an online conference Thursday. Here's one question, translated from Russian: “Dear [Vladimir Vladimirovich]....
