Stories from 4 March 2008
Kuwait: New Role for Women in Police Force
Desert Girl from Kuwait zooms into a new role for women in the police force. Go Kuwaiti women go!
Japan: Mixi to claim rights over user content
Bloggers Matt at Altjapan and Fukumimi report that Mixi, Japan's largest social networking site, has announced that as of April 1st, it will change its terms of use retroactively granting it rights to replicate, broadcast, transmit, display, distribute and translate any user content without compensation, including information in messages delivered...
Serbia, Kosovo: Twitter Use
Twitter Facts writes about Twitter use in Serbia and Kosovo.
Turkmenistan: Presidential Program Speech
Lunaric comes up with the translation of the Abdulgamid's post that analyzes Turkmenistan President's speech outlining the agenda to reorganize national economy, modification of the country’s investment policy and stabilization of the country’s geopolitical situation.
Tajikistan: Hunger to replace energy crisis
Vadim reports that the partly solved problem with electricity in Tajikistan, may have been not the main problem to face by the population this year, as the coming food deficit threatens to spark unrest in this volatile region.
Afganistan: Five Suicide Bombers Arrested
Mohammad says that Afghanistan officials announced the arrest of five Al Qaeda suicide bombers in the northern province Balkh.
Afghanistan: Afghans protest at Danish cartoons
Sanjar reports that over a thousand protesters gathered in Mazar Shariff to protest against the republication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers, also demanding the withdrawal of Danish and Dutch troops from Afghanistan.
Brunei: ASEAN Youth Leader Exchange Program
The Rogue Economist links to a Youth Leaders Exchange Program run by an Singapore University open to all university undergraduates in ASEAN region. “I made many friends, learnt new things, exchanged a lot of ideas and enjoyed every minute of it. So, now is your turn…Enjoy!”
China: Bjork Declares Independence for Tibet?
Kenneth Tan from Shanghaiist confirmed the report that Bjork yelled for Tibet independence in her concert at Shanghai. Adam from Danwei translated bits of discussion at local discussion board.
China: Information in News Story
Angry Chinese Blogger compares the writings of a news story by China Daily and CNN to show how information is being manipulated in news.
China: PX moves to Zhangzhou
The Xiamen chemical factory project has moved to Zhangzhou because of citizen protest. Wang Ning finds out[zh] that there are also protests in Zhangzhou, but the information has been repressed. So far he only managed to find one blog [zh] and an overseas report [zh] on the anti PX protest.
Iraq: Journalists Pay the Price
“In Iraq, journalists are always targeted by insurgents. The last sacrifice was the head of journalist union in Iraq who was assassinated in cold blood few days ago. Yet, no protections measures have taken by Iraqi government to stop this series,” write Laith and Jenan from Iraq.
Iraq: Ahmadinejad Does Baghdad
Iraq Pundit shares his thoughts on Iranian President Mahmood Ahmadinejad's visit to his country here.
Iraq: Muslim Thoughts
Iraqi Khalid Jarrar shares the findings of a book on what Muslims really think in this post.
Mideast Youth: Back to School
Mideast Youth bloggers took part in a Skype discussion with students from an American school. Questions were about race, politics, bigotry, nationalism, materialism and a few other ‘ism’s, explains Egyptian D B Shobrawy, who was joined by Esra'a, from Bahrain.
Algeria: Decoding Ahmadinejad
“There has been much discussion over the proper way to pronounce — and even transliterate — the current Iranian president's last name,” writes Nouri, from Algeria, who shares his thoughts on how best to write Mahmood Ahmadinejad's name.
Hong Kong: Money Without Vision
In the new financial year, the government has a series of measures to cut tax and give cash to the citizen, such as by paying their electricity bill. Willsin finds no vision and mission in the budget plan, and it tries to buy people support by money, rather than by...
Hong Kong and Japan: Maid Culture
Ben ng blogs about the development of maid sub-cultural economy in Akihabara [zh]. There are dozen of maid salon at the district and the blogger wonders if such culture would be imported to Hong Kong.
Russia: Notes on the Post-Election Protest Rallies
On Monday, riot police in Moscow arrested dozens of people who attempted to take part in an unauthorized post-election protest rally. Below are several Russian bloggers' reactions, translated from Russian.
China: Save the Slave Labour
Wen Yunchao posts a joint letter [zh] to people representatives of National people congress urging them to rescue the slave labour from the illegal brick kilns.
Thailand: Casinos in Thailand
The lost boy asks readers what they feel about Thailand looking at allowing casinos to operate.
