Stories from 25 May 2007
Colombia: Bloggers Campaign for the Release of a 3-Year Old Hostage
Libertad para Emanuel is a blog that was started in order to call for the release of a 3-year old hostage taken by FARC guerrillas. Many other Colombian bloggers joined the campaign and wrote their support for the cause, while others who supported the cause did not want to forget about the other thousands of hostages currently being held.
Albania: Shkodra
Stepping Stones posts pictures from her recent trip to Albania's northern city of Shkodra.
Estonia: Part of Nordic Community
Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's relations with its Nordic neighbors: “Estonia is too small and too far for serious investment when dollars and pounds can flow into larger, closer markets like Poland, Hungary, or the Czech Republic. For the Finns, Swedes, and to a lesser extent the Danes and...
Hungary: Budapest Photos
Budapest photos – at Pestcentric.
Hungary: Human Rights
“The annual Amnesty Report this week has charged Hungary with discrimination against the Roma, a lack of protection for women and not surprisingly, police abuses,” writes Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar.
Moldova: Chisinau, Countryside and Elections
Live in Moldova posts pictures from the countryside; Public Policy Watch writes about Chisinau City of her dreams and the local elections.
Romania: Pilgrimage to Csiksomlyo
About half a million Catholics from Hungary and Romania make an annual pilgrimage to see Our Lady of Csiksomlyo, Csikszereda Musings reports.
Poland: Ryanair Case
The Polish government doesn't like to be made fun of: the latest case involves Ryanair, the beatroot reports.
Bulgaria: Prom Season
Eternal Remont visits Bulgaria at the height of the prom season: “Even desperately poor families will bankrupt themselves to pay for a fantastic dress and a classic car. Entire convoys of these vehicles roll the streets of Sofia, honking horns and otherwise making a fantastic racket.”
Serbia: 50 Human Rights Tasks
Belgrade 2.0 comments on Goran Miletic's “fifty human rights tasks that new government should do.”
Ukraine: “Turbulent Day”
Pictures from Abdymok: two Ukrainian riot policemen preparing lunch, the Prosecutor General's office, and people gathered for yet another rally at a Kyiv park. Foreign Notes writes about a “turbulent day” for Ukrainian politicians.
Americas: Reproductive Rights Blog
Rh Reality Check is an “online community and publication serving individuals and organizations committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights.” The site recently launched a series on its blog written by men and women from across Latin America, where they discuss their own country's reproductive rights policies. Recent...
Kazakhstan against -bashization
Yesterday Sergey Duvanov, a journalist and a human rights activist was arrested for organising the protests on the square in Almaty against the constitutional amendments that exempt Nazarbayev from a limit on the number of the presidential terms. Casio Cisar writes: Duvanov was holding an unsanctioned protest against what he...
Afghan Whispers:Refugees,War Lords and Orphanages
Several Afghan bloggers have discussed Iranian government’s decision to expel Afghan refugees to Afghanistan. Some of these refugees have lived in Iran for years. Marine Gustavson, from Parsa NGO shows in our photo.You can see more photos here. Afghanistan's government called the consequences of sending back thousands of people to...
Brazil: New Round on the National Internet Policy Debate
There are not many issues in Brazil where you are able to find unanimity. But when you talk about messing with Internet freedoms, the defenders spring up from radically different locations in the political spectrum. That's what we are seeing again this week as Sen. Eduardo Azeredo, the protagonist of...
Pakistan: Transporting Students
Metroblogging Islamabad on the inadequate transport facilities for students in the city. “I talked to a few students on the road, about the transportation availabilty in their schools and the responses were quite shocking. Most came back with complains that their schools, including the private and the public ones were...
Bangladesh: No under-30 maids to the Gulf
a bengali in TO points to a recent move in India banning women under 30 to work as maids in the Gulf. “Renuka Chowdhury, the Indian minister of women and child development, has called for a ban on women under 30 to work as maids in the Gulf in a...
India: Muslims and the Media
After an attack on a mosque in Hyderabad, is the media missing the bigger picture? iFaqeer comments “Of course, he is taking it from the perspective of a “Security” hawk within the Indian establishment and not looking, as I am trying to do, beyond the tension between Muslims and other...
India: Jesus and his missing years
varnam on the speculation surrounding Jesus's missing years. “The Jesus in India theory comes from author Holger Kersten who wrote a book about the same. Though without proof the idea comes from the observation that the teachings of Jesus are similar to Buddha who lived in India, 500 years before...
India: Child Labour and Trafficking
The Weight of Silence on child labour and trafficking. “The conditions these children are forced into essentially amount to nothing more than slavery, two hundred years after legislation was passed which made the practice illegal. And this is slavery at its ugliest, most evil core, slavery of the most vulnerable...
South Africa: is the South African blogosphere entirely white?
Izzonline writes about race and blogging in South Africa: “Not that it's worrying. But a small concern it is. The SA blogosphere is nearly entirely white – I realised since starting to blog. I went across many blogs on Amatomu, the SA blog aggregator, and you hardly ever come across...
