Stories from 31 July 2006
Georgia: United National Exams
Ana praises Georgia's new higher education entrance exams, which are designed to limit opportunities for corruption and ensure that students entering higher education institutions are adequately educated and prepared for higher degrees.
Armenia: Hye Superstar
Zarchka reports on the outcome of “Hye Super Star,” Armenia's version of “Pop Idol.”
Georgia: Kodori
Vasili Rukhadze has a detailed and informative post on Georgia's recent capture of the Kodori Gorge from a rebel warlord, noting the significance of the event in Georgian and regional politics. He says that Georgia's success mark the beginning of a new era in Georgian politics.
Azerbaijan: Oil
At neweurasia, Delia explores whether oil revenues will be good or bad for Azerbaijan.
Uzbekistan: Revoked Licenses
The Long and Winding Road has a report on Uzbek pop musicians losing their licenses to perform in public after a journalist accused their lyrics of not being authentic Uzbek poetry and them of being bad musicians.
DRC: Post-Election Roundup
“A Peaceful Election” Congolese at the polls. Photo by Federico, courtesy of Extra Extra. By and large, the voting has ended in the DRC, according to The Salon: With the exception of the three towns that had to continue/report the voting for today, due to numerous arsons (Mbuji-mayi, Mweka and...
South Africa: The scammer spammed
Electric Spaghetti, otherwise known as Saaleha, reels in her man after a spontaneous and florid response to a “419” spam/scam-mail in her Inbox.
Nigeria: Missing Lagos
“Lagos,” writes Jangbalajugbu, “is a city that habours the hardworking as well as the lazy. The sane and insane. It is a city with different kinds of people from the rich, educated, wealthy, brilliant & intelligent to the dejected, the accursed, the incorrigible, the hopeless, the dead but breathing-walking corpses,...
Nigeria: Scotland Yard
Detectives from Scotland Yard have just arrived in Nigeria to help with the investigation into the murder of politician Funsho Williams who died last week in Lagos, writes UKNaija. “If they fail, I can just imagine the Nigerian government crowing ‘Well, even the experts from Scotland Yard couldn't crack it,...
Zimbabwe: Morgan Tsvangirai speech
Eddie Cross on Zimpundit posts in its entirety the speech given by former union leader and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to a National Convention held by Churches in Zimbabwe Saturday to debate the crisis in the country, and the way forward.
South Africa: Trade union
Writes Farrel Lifson at politics.za, South Africa's largest trade union COSATU gets a lot of media exposure, but still has fewer than two million members.
Kenya: Mourning a father
“Next year will be 25 years since you were shot ruthlessly and left to die in some ditch,” writes Farmgirl to her much-missed father. “Oh just want to tell you that Raila and his cronies plotted the whole coup thing that led to your death…I wish he would say sorry...
The unshackling of Bangladesh
Tasneem Khalil reports that Bangladesh is the cover theme for August 2006 issue of Himal Southasian, South Asia's first and only regional magazine. The magazine's introspective comment: "Bangladesh is set to become a powerful member of the world community, once it deals with its difficult issues of mal governance and confrontational politics".
Old dating practice
Cigay of Bhutan Weblog writes about an age old tradition of Bhutan. Young men used to visit a girl's house discreetly at night, to let her know of his feelings and his intention to marry her and have children with her. With the passage of time, this rural practice has been misunderstood and grossly abused by those who are richer or more powerful.
Indonesia: Chinese Valentine's Day
Indonesian blogger Christine Susanna Tjhin, currently a student in China, talks about the traditional Chinese Valentine's Day. This year, the day falls on 31 July.
Mexico: Godwin's Law a la Mexicana
Reminding readers of Godwin's Law, which says that “as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one,” Eduardo Arcos posts (ES) recent photos of election protests in Mexico.
Argentina: SosPeriodista
Franco Giménez introduces (ES) SosPeriodista (ES) (“You're the Journalist”), a new citizen media space based out of Córdoba.
China: reticence: would-be lesbians, corporate executives and urban journalists
Ever wonder why there was no male version of 2004's smash television phenomenon Super Girl? While a lesbian conspiracy might have made for better Communist Party PR positioning than news of yet another great initiative cut down by state censorship, super-adrogynous and super-popular Super Girl winner Li Yuchun‘s queer image...
Albania: Reactions to the Sunday Times Article
annabengan of annasblog reposts the Sunday Times Magazine's article on Albania, and the “official reply/explanation from the chief editor of Sunday Times.” annabengan's Albanian friends thought the article was “fair” – while her non-Albanian friends considered it “bad journalism.” One reader wrote: “[…] if this were written about a poor...
Serbia: Talks of War
Eric Gordy of East Ethnia writes on the talks of war and the pains of forming a viable democratic coalition in Serbia.
Russia: “Mystery Illness” in Chechnya
David McDuff of A Step At A Time has translated a Prague Watchdog/Radio Free Liberty broadcast on the “mystery illness” that affected more than 100 children in Shelkovsky district.
