1 December 2006

Stories from 1 December 2006

Armenia: Rules of the Road

  1 December 2006

Zarchka reports on the transition to new traffic rules for vans that serve as public transportation that requires them to stop only at bus stops. After some chaos, she says that some sort of order has been restored, but that there have been unintended consequences.

World AIDS Day

  1 December 2006

With the inaugural theme of “Communication” in 1988, World AIDS Day was first established by UNAIDS as an annual day of awareness and outreach to confront the stigma, discrimination, and ignorance surrounding one of the world's deadliest preventable diseases. Nearly two decades, 65 million infections, and 25 million deaths later,...

Venezuela: Preparing for Sunday's Election

  1 December 2006

Venezuelan bloggers everywhere are adding their lost thoughts before this Sunday's presidential election. Miguel Octavio says, “Strange happenings all over the place as the Government seems to be stirring the pot unnecessarily.” Katy shows and links to “pictures of the illegal use of government funds to help the Chávez campaign.”...

El Salvador: The Next Archbishop

  1 December 2006

Carlos X. Colorado, moderator of the “San Romero” Yahoo! Discussion Group and guest-blogger on Tim’s El Salvador Blog takes a look at the top five candidates who might replace San Salvador Archbishop Fernando Saenz Lacalle next year.

Bolivia: Confronting Tear Gas

  1 December 2006

“Minding my own business at a corner internet cafe along a main avenue in Cochabama, I noticed a commotion originating from the city’s main plaza, one block away. Dozens of pedestrians were holding their mouths and I knew that could only mean one thing – tear gas was dispersed to...

Iran:Blogs and Sites should be registered

  1 December 2006

Alpar has given a link to what he calls ridiculous law about sites and blogs. According to the new law [Fa], all sites and blogs should be registered in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.Sites and blogs will have no right to publish anything against Leader,Islamic regime and even...

Ukraine: No Borat

  1 December 2006

“The glorious expat community in Kyiv is wearing their sad faces,” writes Carpetblogger: neither pirated, nor licensed Borat DVDs are to be found in Ukraine's capital.

CAR: France Military Support Against Rebels

  1 December 2006

The blog of CAR presidential candidate Olivier Gabirault points to a Liberation article stating (Fr): “In 1997, Paris, linked to its former colony by a defense accord, disengaged by closing its two military bases (Bangui and Bouar) for economic reasons. Ten years later, French soldiers are back to support President...

Serbia: Chinese Film Banned

  1 December 2006

“Just minutes before the movie Summer Palace (Serbian: Letnja Palata) […] rolled, Serbian authories came to the rescue and pulled the movie off the Festival because apparently China threatened to freeze all diplomatic activities with Serbia if the movie is shown,” reports Belgrade 2.0.

Russia: Abortion Politics

  1 December 2006

In response to the grim economic situation, abortion was made legal in the Soviet Union in 1920. From 1936 to 1955 – under Joseph Stalin and until after his death – abortion was outlawed. In today's Russia, according to some data, abortions outnumber live births; for many women, abortion is...