29 April 2007

Stories from 29 April 2007

Mali: presidential elections in Mali

  29 April 2007

Sociolingo's Mali blogs about today's presidential elections in Mali: “So far all is quiet here in Bamako on polling day. There seems to be a little apathy in the city – only 31% have been reported as picking up their voting cards despite being given the day off on the...

Africa: ingenuity at a young age

  29 April 2007

Afrigadget on ingenuity of African children: “Most African children are forced to create their own toys from scratch. Below are some samplings of what they make with what’s available. Old tire inner-tubes, soda cans, mud, bailing wire and sticks are just a few of the materials used to create imaginative...

Nigeria: musical gift from Nigeria

  29 April 2007

“I really got into Nigerian hip hop and R&B music while I was there over the past few weeks. Below are links to my favorite songs from my trip, many of which are fairly old but were new to me” writes Dare Obasanjo.

Africa: building applications for mobile phones in Africa

  29 April 2007

Building mobile phone applications in Africa, from Ethan Zuckerman's “Geek tracking, African hacking”: Eagle’s new project – EPROM (entrepreneurial programming and research on mobles) – is trying to encourage people in developing nations to learn how to build applications for mobile phones. This involves building a community of mobile developers...

Fiji: May Day 2007

  29 April 2007

The intelligentsiya blog has a post on the significance of the month of May in Fijian political history. The blog urges the readers to “to use May Day 2007 as an instrument of passive protest against Fiji's ruling illegal junta has put paid to such misgiving, or, more candidly, such...

East Timor: Chinese Involvement in East Timor

  29 April 2007

Tumbleweed finds a Chinese petroleum company building a petrol station in Dili, the capital of East Timor. The post also some discussion on other construction projects that the Chinese are involved in.

Indonesia: Quiz

  29 April 2007

Are you a “capitalist pig”? asks Indcoup and invites the readers to take a quiz to prove or disprove it.

Religion and Philippine elections

  29 April 2007

Majority of Philippine politicians tolerate the political activities of some Church leaders, especially during election season. This is understandable since many Filipinos remain obedient to the teachings and instructions of religious leaders.

Iran:Disrespect to the Society

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, reformist politician, reminds us that these days ladies are inspected in many streets of Tehran. The ladies who are not wearing proper veil (hejab) are arrested… the ladies who are traced in the streets these days are mostly born after revolution and they have all been grown...

Egypt: Worldwide Free Kareem Rallies

A series of rallies were held worldwide to draw attention to jailed Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabil Suliaman, who have been sentenced to four years in prison for insulting both Islam and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Supporters gathered in Berlin, Germany, the United Kingdom, Bucharest, Romania, Stockholm, Sweden, Washington DC, US...

Japan: Why are checks not used in Japan?

  29 April 2007

Joe at Japan Law Blog explains the reasons why, unlike in many other countries, in Japan checks never caught on: “Japan has an entire legal structure for the payment systems familiar to Americans and Europeans. Yet if you live in Japan all your life, you may never write a check...

Japan: Interview with Sankei Shimbun Editor about Comfort Women Issue

  29 April 2007

Trans Pacific Radio reports on an interview with Sankei Shimbun Editor Yoshihisa Komori, conducted in late-March for the PBS series Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria, on the “Comfort Women” issue. TPR notes that “three things struck me [about Komori]: He looks off camera quite a bit, he brings up every...

Egypt: Sandmonkey Quits Blogging

Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey is hanging his boots and calling it quits. “One of the chief reasons is the fact that there has been too much heat around me lately. I no longer believe that my anonymity is kept, especially with State Secuirty agents lurking around my street and asking questions...