Stories from 7 February 2008
Serbia: More Views on Boris Tadic's Re-Election
Democracy has passed one more very difficult exam in Serbia, eight years since the end of Slobodan Milosevic's regime: the incumbent president Boris Tadic got re-elected on Feb. 3, with 50.5 percent of the vote to Tomislav Nikolic's 47.9 percent. The previous Global Voices post on the outcome of the election covered reactions of the Anglophone Serbia bloggers. Below is a translation from Serbian of two more posts, both published on B92's blog portal.
Mexico: Chinese Community Celebrates New Year
Cuadernos de Silicio [es] describes the events surrounding preparations for the Chinese New Year in Mexico City, and that 2008 corresponds to “the Year of the Rat,” a year that members of the Chinese community think “could be favorable for having a lot of children, as it is characteristic of...
Albania: No Power; (No) Smoking
Stepping Stones writes on the Albanian way of coping with power shortages – and on the non-enforcement of the no-smoking law.
Albania: Gambling; Religion
Living in Shkoder writes about gambling in Albania – and posts three “Reflections on Religion” pictures.
Bulgaria: TV Game; Feminist Blog
Petya of bighead writes about helping her boss out in the Bulgarian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and running a feminist blog in Bulgarian.
Estonia: Institute of Memory
Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonian history and the establishment of the Institute of Memory, “which despite its interesting name, serves an honorable purpose — to look into the human rights violations committed in Estonia in the period from 1944-1991.”
Estonia: Laine Jänes
Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's current culture minister and, quite possibly, the future prime minister.
Latvia: “The Idiot's Day”
All About Latvia writes about “a criminal investigation over the allegations of distributing child pornography by the Latvian National Opera” – and about a fine imposed on a Latvian supermarket by “the language police” for advertising “in non-understandable and mutilated state language.”
Iran: Shutting Down “Zanan”
Razeno says several leading western journals published articles about “silencing Zanan (means women) Magazine”. The blogger has given links to New York Times and Boston Globe.Zanan was a leading magazine for 16 years writing about women issues.
Burkina Faso: New schools, village feminism and the shame of all birds
Blogger Keith from Under the Acacias immediately got to work on one of his new projects for 2008 of planning to build a Christian primary school in Gorom-Gorom. The project is still in the initial stages, and he’s using this time to coalesce design ideas that will allow the building to be more aesthetically pleasing and eco-friendly than “the cement-brick ‘ovens’” that often double as schools in Burkina Faso.
Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana: Supercat
Boy, does West Indies Cricket Blog have a book for you!
Guyana: R.I.P. Bernard
Signifyin’ Guyana laments the passing of writer Deryck Bernard.
Dominica: Small Tremor
Steve's Dominica felt “another little earth tremor…5.0, 80 miles east of us, 21 miles down.”
Cuba: Students Ask Questions
“Why are Cubans barred from freely using the Internet? Why are those few who are lucky enough to get access to the Internet then banned from using Yahoo?” Child of the Revolution reports that Cuban students asked some tough questions in Havana recently.
Bermuda: Public Access
“The Ombudsman has published her annual report, describing cases of…incompetence affecting virtually every branch of the Bermuda Government. And guess what: the world did not end.” Vexed Bermoothes is in support of a Public Access to Information law.
Iran:A documentary about Tehran
In You Tube, we can find a trailer of “Tehran: Another Side”, a documentary produced & directed by Sam Ali Kashani. The film explores the streets of Tehran, exposing a side of the people and culture that we don't usually see in western media.
Sri Lanka: A big dose of politics
London, Lanka and Drums takes a closer look at the Sri Lankan blogosphere, and observes that a lot of the discussion appears to focus on the political situation in the country.
Hong Kong: From Sex to Police Scandal
It has been 10 days that Edison Chen’s sex photos scandal occupied the front page of local newspapers (ESWN has summed up local newspapers report everyday.) The issue is not only a sex scandal about various prominent local pop stars, but also an outburst in response to the tension caused...
Pakistan: Caring for the mentally ill
All Things Pakistan on the critical but neglected issue of caring for the mentally ill in the country.
India: Eastern Promises and Bollywood
A wonderful set of photographs at Trivial Matters – focusing on women from Russia and Eastern Europe who work in the Bollywood film industry in India.
Pakistan: Made in China
The Pakistani Spectator on the rush of Chinese goods, and how Pakistan needs a strong infrastructure to maintain its economy.
