20 April 2008

Stories from 20 April 2008

Iran: A new site is filtered

According to Iranian media,Fararu,an Iran based news site,was filtered and nobody knows why. A few months ago there was an article about Global Voices in Fararu.

20 April 2008

Iran: Save a Mother from Execution

Kamangir reports that Akram Mahdavi, 32 year old mother of a girl in her early teens is facing imminent execution for conspiracy to murder.The complaintaints in Akram's case have agreed...

20 April 2008

Turkey: Armenian Sportsmen

Unzipped posts an entry on an online exhibition which depicts ethnic Armenian sportsmen in Ottoman Turkey. The blog notes that not only were Armenian sporting events held during the priod...

20 April 2008

Georgia: Dubai of the Black Sea

Registan comments on news that the United Arab Emirates plans to invest $100 million in Poti. With Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili promising to turn the port into a Eurasian Dubai,...

20 April 2008

Damascus: The Destruction of The Old City

Damascus prides itself on being the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. The history of Damascus goes back well into the 8000BC. In every corner of its ancient alleys there's a taste of every historical era there was to be found. The city that had withstood everything from earthquakes to invasions for nearly 10 millennia, is now crumbling under the threat of... "Modernism", writes Yazan Badran, who brings us the reactions of a Syrian blogger.

20 April 2008

Azerbaijan: Seki

Exerro continues its journey through Azerbaijan with a fleeting visit to an observatory included. The travel blog says that despite the depressing relics and environmental damage of the Soviet era,...

20 April 2008

Armenia: Wedding

Kyle's Journey in Armenia attends a local wedding and offers a fascinating account of some of the traditions which make tying the knot a day to remember. Although Armenians pride...

20 April 2008

Japan: About40, and what next?

Changing times in Japan are opening the door for a new style of television. "About40", aired for the first time on April 11th, has done something novel for a Japanese TV drama: aim at the age bracket of 35 to 45 year old women, and hit it big. The new drama targets the late-thirties demographic of single women who entered the work force during the 80s bubble, captured in the newly-coined term "arafo". Bloggers give their initial thoughts on the show, and provide their perspectives on being "arafo" in modern Japan.

20 April 2008

Korea: Invincible Samsung Kingdom

Through the three-month investigation into alleged corruption at Samsung, Samsung snuck out of punishment again. Even though the special investigation team was established, and hidden bank accounts and illegal activities...

20 April 2008

Zimbabwe: Chinese troops Mutare?

Curly wonders what the Chinese troops are doing in Zimbabwe: “These blue suited marathon running highly trained policemen probably know the identities of the Chinese troops who have been reported...

20 April 2008

Zimbabwe: The endless game

Ethan discusses “the endeless game” in Zimbabwe: “It’ not very often that I find myself siding with Condoleeaza Rice. But she’s right – it’s embarrasing that the African continent’s leaders...

20 April 2008

Sudan's Looming War

Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement may possibly collapse if the bad pile up of misfortunes continues, but before we go into that, let's proceed with the good news first. Drima is ecstatic about a new book by the Sudanese Muslim scholar Abdullahi An-Na'im whom Irshad Manji hosted as a guest recently at her latest initiative, the Moral Courage Project.

20 April 2008

D.R of Congo: Mobile game for conservation

Silverback is a mobile game to raise awareness about the plight of mountain gorillas in Congo DR: “Called “Silverback”, the game promotes understanding and appreciation of the world’s mountain gorilla...

20 April 2008

Burkina Faso: Vegetarians need not apply

As much as Ouagalais love political intrigue, most people are much more preoccupied with the power cuts that have afflicted the city for the past five weeks or so. First, a galet poussoir, which translates as a roller tapet, failed at one of the city’s main power stations, forcing Sonabel, the local power company, to schedule rolling blackouts throughout the city every day for more than a week until someone was sent to France to pick it up a new piece.

20 April 2008

Hyejin Kim: A praised young novelist among GVO authors

Global Voices celebrates, this month, Hyejin Kim's first anniversary as the GVO Korean Language editor. She is also a celebrated young novelist: her debut book, 'Jia: A Novel of North Korea', has been highly praised as a very vivid and moving novel set in 1990’s North Korea. Is this story just fiction? Hyejin lets us know in this interview.

20 April 2008