23 March 2008

Stories from 23 March 2008

Blogger of the Week: Abdulrahman Warsame

Today's Blogger of the Week series features yet another global voice - Abdulrahman Warsame, who amplifies the reactions of Somali bloggers on Global Voices Online. A Somali born in Saudi Arabia, educated in Egypt and Australia, and currently working for Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar, as a Senior Analyst in New Media, Warsame shares his thoughts on blogging in his country and the rest of the Arab world.

23 March 2008

Czech Republic, Slovakia: Whipping Girls and Other Easter Traditions

Easter is a very important celebration both in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, called Velikonoce - from Veliké noci or Great Nights. Although the religious connotations of Easter were suppressed under the communist regime, nowadays Czechs and Slovaks are again aware of the strong Christian background of Easter, although they regard it as mostly fun times. Many traditions are still observed, especially in villages. Several bloggers have been describing some of them.

23 March 2008

Georgia: Independent Media Concerns

TOL Georgia details the continuing saga of Imedi TV, a station critical of the authorities which was closed down during the recent state of emergency in the country. The blog...

23 March 2008

Georgia: Hunger Strike Continues

TOL Georgia reports that a hunger strike by the opposition in Georgia continues with several people now in a critical condition. The blog examines the background to the current standoff...

23 March 2008

Armenia: Police Violence

Blogian comments on concerns raised in some quarters that a video allegedly showing soldiers firing directly at protesters during a post-election riot on 1 March has been edited inappropriately giving...

23 March 2008

Liquid assets: Bloggers on World Water Day

It's known as the universal solvent, Adam's Ale, government juice, council pop, H2O, dihydrogen monoxide, hydrogen hydroxide, has a ton of different names in Arabic and yesterday (March 22) the world was called upon to pay it special attention. World Water Day 2008 marked the start of the fourth year of the UN International Decade for Action on Water that began in 2005, and to mark the occasion the bloggers weighed in with insights and commentary from various corners of the world.

23 March 2008

Brazil: Politicians own the media

“271. This is the number of Brazilians politicians that are partners, owners or directors of radio and TV broadcasters, which is against the law. Harassment of politicians on the media...

23 March 2008

Brazil: Here comes the PIG

PIG is an acronym for Coupist Press Party [in Portuguese Partido da Imprensa Golpista] which has been coined to describe the Brazilian media that serves to a political interest, that...

23 March 2008

Brazil: Blogs Blog this!

Wagner [pt] recommends a new “joined ownership” blogging platform for blogs in Portuguese. “BlogueIsso! Blogs is a “condominium” of blogs, a network currently made up by 18 of them, covering...

23 March 2008

Russia: Two Dagestani Journalists Killed

Ilyas Shurpaev, a Dagestani TV journalist who worked for a state-owned federal channel, was found dead Friday in Moscow. Later that day, Gadzhi Abashilov, director of Dagestan's state-owned broadcasting company, was shot to death in Makhachkala, the republic's capital. Below are a few bloggers' reactions to the murders, as well as the translation of Shurpaev's last blog post.

23 March 2008