Stories from 1 January 2007
Jamaica: Reading, writing & Absurdistan
“Writers who do not read have no right to write,” states Jamaican novelist Marlon James, in his meditation on reading and writing-cum-review of the novel Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart.
Caribbean: Can the West Indies win the World Cup?
James Fuller is a little dismayed at the lack of faith shown by a group of Trinidadians in the West Indies cricket team and their chances of winning the upcoming Cricket World Cup.
Bahamas: Junkanoo review
Nicolette Bethel posts a detailed review of this year's Junkanoo festival in the Bahamas.
Mexico: Legitimate Government of Mexico
Holding his tongue, León Felipe Sánchez shows a screenshot from the website “Legitimate Government of Mexico,” the so-called parallel government by runner-up candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Peru: Year in Review – Free Culture
Cultura Libre – the Peruvian chapter of FreeCulture.org has an English-language year in review of what they have accomplished and what they hope to accomplish in 2007.
Argentina: 30 Creative Commons-Licensed Albums
Creative Commons evangelist Ariel Vercelli reminds his readers that Fernando Casale has been collecting albums of Argentine musicians released under a Creative Commons license. Casale has already mentioned over 30 albums, nearly all of which can be downloaded for free.
Costa Rica Bridging the digital divide and CAFTA
Andres Guadamuz – who usually focuses on issues involving tech and law – recently returned to his native Costa Rica where he commented on Bridging the Costa Rican digital divide and two posts about the ever-controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement.
Brazil: Marta Vieira da Silva, Football Superstar
The Global Game has pieced together an incredible and inspirational biography of the 5'3″ Brazilian 20-year-old prodigy Marta Vieira da Silva. Here's just a glimpse: “Marta’s background [is complex]: the perennially water-challenged “backlands” area, more than 1,000 miles northeast of the country’s political and tourist centers, that provides her cultural...
Costa Rica, Chile, Cuba: Castro and Pinochet
Both Randy Paul and Boz applaud Costa Rican President Oscar Arias’ commentary on the similarities between Fidel Castro and Augusto Pinochet. Meanwhile, Venezuelan blogger Afrael comments on the celebrity look-alikes (including Winston Churchill!) of Fidel according to the site MyHeritage.
Brazil: Vigilante Militias Take Over Rio de Janeiro Slums
Marginal Revolutions reports about the vigilante militias that allegedly have taken over Rio de Janeiro slums, ruling as feudal lords and imposing taxes, as a result of the collapse of legal policing in these areas.
Poland's Pulse: “This year was…”
Polish bloggers are having a holiday break. Stuck between family and tons of food (both are obligatory parts of Christmas celebrations here), some only posted best wishes, and many didn't even bother to do even that. Among these who managed to update after all, a great number seems to have...
UN Sanctions Against Iran
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously voted to impose sanctions against Iran over its failure to halt uranium enrichment. The Iranian government announced that it will continue its nuclear policy. Here's what bloggers had to say as they shared their thoughts and feelings about the sanctions, the government’s reaction...
Libya blogs: The Last Week of 2006
The main themes dominating the Libyan blogs during this last week were, New Year, Christmas and Eid greetings, whith Khadijateri posting about the Eid Al Adha celebration and using photos for illustration. Libyan bloggers were also concerned with new pets, such as AngLibyan who brought a tame budgie home. Meanwhile...
Trinidad & Tobago: Trying doubles at home
Chennette's mother prepares doubles, a popular Trinidadian street food, and Chennette posts the recipe and link to the Flickr photoset documenting the process.
Trinidad & Tobago: Assessments and predictions
Trinidad blogger Jeremy Taylor assesses 2006 and makes a few predictions for 2007, among them, that “electioneering will start in the US even earlier than usual,” the death of Fidel Castro and a win for Australia in the Cricket World Cup.
China: years in Spoofs
Southern Metropolis Weekly devotes the final Life issue of 2006 to spoofing this year's major news stories – DANWEI has translated the table of content and collected relevant resources.
China: seniors removed from Beijing city streets?
Joel Marinsen in DANWEI translates a parody re-posted from Zhang Rui's blog about banning old and middle-aged from driving in the street starting on 1 January 2007.
Taiwan: DPP PK China Times
ESWN puts together reports concerning Yu Shyi-kun, the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan, order that all DPP central members shall not answer questions from the newspaper China Times anymore. Michael Turton in the View from Taiwan disagrees with ESWN's presentation by pointing that China Times is a...
Japan: new rules for foreign nationals
Alexpappas from Japundit explains the latest policy that made mandatory for foreign nationals to report their employment status to authorities.
Japan: Dog business
Lee blogs about the business concerning dogs (as pet) in Japan.
South Korea: Blogger fired for blogging about Dokdo
Gerry-Bevers from Occidentalism was informed by the university for ending his contract because of his active blogging about Dokdo's history and Korea and Japan territorial debate. The letter said: “I think there is little doubt that the school made this decision because of the Dokdo problem.”
