2 April 2008

Stories from 2 April 2008

China: Hu Jia to be sentenced today

  2 April 2008

Blogger Hu Jia goes back on 'trial' in a few hours where it is expected he will be handed down a sentence of up to five years in prison based on two interviews given and six unspecified blog posts most of which written during the more than one year he spent under house arrest.

Arabeyes: April Fool's Day

Pranks were in the air across the Arab world this April Fool's Day. Ranging from an Israeli withdrawal from Palestine, to the sale of Mars to Dubai and the construction of a pipeline to supply the red planet with water from the Arabian Gulf, to the plight of a baby camel in Cairo, readers were left scratching their heads in disbelief.

Romania: NATO Summit

Andy of Csíkszereda Musings writes about the NATO Summit in Bucharest: “Bucharest is being flooded with loads of violent, aggressive and corrupt criminals. Any sane immigration policy would have kept these people out of the country and turned them back at the airport, but Romania instead is welcoming them and...

Armenia: A1 Plus Anniversary

Unzipped remembers the sixth anniversary of the demise of A1 Plus, an opposition TV station stripped of its license in 2002. The blog says that when A1 Plus returns to the airwaves it believes it will mean Armenia is a better country to live in.

Romania: NATO Summit and Bucharest Traffic

Stan Faryna translates a Romanian bloggers' report on traffic in Bucharest on the first day of the NATO Summit: "After listening to the discouraging morning traffic report on the radio, I was surprised to find traffic was lighter than usual (like a quiet Sunday)."

Brazil: They killed Chico Mendes’ ideals

  2 April 2008

Altino Machado [pt] has interviewed Ilzamar Mendes, murdered Brazilian environmental activist Chico Mendes‘ widow. “She makes a harsh assessment at the time that the Chico Mendes Virtual Committee, the Labor Party and the Acre “government of the forest” begin to “celebrate” the 20th anniversary of the Xapuri's rubber tapper's murder....

Cape Verde: On the lack of a theatre in Praia

  2 April 2008

João Branco [pt] on the lack of a theatre in the Cape Verde capital: “Perhaps it is here that lies the starting point for us to question the fact that in a city so full of life, of poetry, of contrasts, colors, smells, feelings of impossibilities, ironies, absurd, in short,...

Peru: Sidewalks Off Limits

  2 April 2008

Gabriela of Seis de Enero [es] writes about her love of walking through the streets of Lima, which lately has been made more difficult due to the number of construction projects that impede the sidewalks.

Ecuador: God in the New Constitution

  2 April 2008

During the process of rewriting Ecuador's Constitution, Cronica Cero [es] wonders if God should part of the text, but thinks that God would be more content with positive acts, rather than empty promises.

Brazil: No talks about politics in blogs

  2 April 2008

Leonardo Fontes [pt], still on the law that bans blogs from the elections in Brazil: “While the American presidential campaign takes place in the Internet with a strong debate that is the envy of any bar talk, our law wants to stop the best part about politics: the free expression...

Nigeria: Nollywood movie, Anini

  2 April 2008

Oluniyi reviews Nollywood movie, Anini: “I had the opportunity to watch a Nollywood (Nigerian movie industry) action thriller movie directed by Fred Amata on Africa Magic yesterday, titled: Anini. The movie was released in 2005 and features Nollywood stars like Bimbo Akintola, Fred Amata, Jeta Amata, Segun Arinze, Chidi Mokeme,...