Stories from 19 June 2007
Iran:Appeal for Iranian Students
In CityBoy we read “this is an appeal by bloggers against the detention of 9 Iranian students from the Amir Kabir Polytechnic University in Tehran who are been kept and repeatedly tortured at the notorious Evin prison.”The blogger has published the photos of these 9 jailed students too.
Jordan: 48 Hours to War
Shifaa from Jordan gives us a break down of the last 48 hours that led to the civil war in Gaza.
Jordan: Municipal Election Polls
Municipal elections are being planned in Jordan for next month and Naseem Al Tarawnah updates us on poll projections.
Israel: Kos Ban Benefits
Israeli Desert Peace says being banned from the Daily Kos has opened new doors for him and others to air their views.
Bermuda: Government Appeals Gag Order Decision in BHC Scandal
Both IMHO.bm and Politics.bm blog about the latest developments in the Bermuda Housing Corporation scandal.
Iraq: Sleeping Arrangements
Iraqi Sunshine speaks fondly of how she misses sleeping in her own room and how her family now sleeps in the living room – where they have three hours of air-conditioning every night.
Barbados: Accountability in Construction Sector
“Recently Barbadians witnessed the sanitizing of a ‘list’ of 300 companies which were previously approved by government to benefit from building contracts.” Barbados Underground wonders whether the inefficiencies of the construction sector make it an easy vehicle through which taxpayers’ money can be misappropriated.
Kuwait: Dream Lunch
“If your lady manager invited you for lunch in your dream, would you tell her the next day about it?” writes Purgatorian from Kuwait.
Iran:Beautiful photos of Sahand mountains
You can see several photos of Sahand mountains in this photo blog.
Kuwait: No to Cucumber Drink
Sumi-Kuwait hopes that a cucumber beverage launched in Japan will not make it to the Kuwaiti markets.
Japan: Freak Accidents
TokyoMango reports on freak accidents in Tokyo in the news today: a 28-year old woman was strolling in Shinjuku when a sign from a pizza place fell on her head, leaving her in the hospital with a brain contusion, and a fancy day spa in an upscale neighborhood in Shibuya...
China: Chen Guangcheng beaten, on hunger strike
It's Dragon Boat time, nearly a year to the day since blind reproductive rights advocate Chen Guangcheng was taken in by police, and civil rights blogger Hu Jia makes his blogging return with news that Chen has been beaten while in prison.
China: Environmental politics
Chong from interlocals.net translated an article by Zhu Jiangang on “three parties in environomental politics”: the three parties are central government, civic groups and citizens, special interest consortium in the local levels.
China: Security guard culture
Security guards (Bao-an) in China is omnipresent. Granite Studio noticed the presence of Bao-an is very distinctive feature in China, but they have different set of rules for locals and for foreigners.
China: Harmonizing 18 child rape cases
Chris O'Brien from Beijing Newspeak criticised Chinese media for downplaying the crime of 18 child rape cases in Gansu by a primary school teacher: Xinhua did not release this story in Chinese. The report about the death sentence was buried, as usual, on page four or five of the local...
Hong Kong: Defending plagiarism
A blogger's commentary on a comic had been plagiarized by a popular local magazine. An apology would have ended the issue. However, the editor's attempt to defend plagiarism has resulted in more outraging responses from the blogsphere. ESWN has translated the conversation between the blogger and the editor. The original...
Japan: Video Art, Media and Zen
An interview with Montreal-born Japan-based video producer Michael Goldberg has been posted at gyaku. In the interview, Goldberg discusses his experience with media art movements in the 60s and 70s, as well as his recent documentary entitled “A ZEN LIFE” about Japanese author/translator D.T. Suzuki, widely credited as having introduced...
China: More on Slave workers
ESWN translated various local reports on Shanxi slave workers issue. They give more background on the morality of contemporary Chinese society.
Afghan Whispers:Education, music, wonderful nature and freedom
Sun Leaf talks about the painful situation of Afghanistan's education system. The blogger says Compared to other countries in Asia, the Afghan education situation is startling. The statistics below show that tremendous challenges remain. One of the poorest measures includes funding or implementing short-term education projects, which are abrubtly brought...
Costa Rica: Breaking Relations with Taiwan and Starting with China
After 60 years of diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the Costa Rican government broke this relationship to begin a new one with China. Some bloggers see this as a positive commercial step for the country, while others think that Costa Rica prides itself on being a defender of human rights and freedom of speech and that this should not be compromised in exchange for access to markets.
South Korea: How Does Seoul Rank Globally?
R. Elgin from Marmot's Hole points to the fact that Seoul's quality of life ranks below 50 best cities globally.