Stories from 15 May 2008
Kazakhstan: Monuments, Economics, Gender and Media
The blogosphere of Kazakhstan was not too keen to discuss perturbations in the official government. The traditional May holidays have become a naturally most popular theme, however many other issues were also traced by the bloggers. Thus, pycm posts a photo of the Eternal Fire monument in Atyrau, a city...
Hong Kong: Fishing Village Photos
Tinyau posted photos of Tai O, one of the remaining fishing villages, in Hong Kong.
Kazakhstan: What Rakhat Knows
Adam reviews the Wall Street Journal article, telling that in 2003 Dariga Nazarbayeva, elder daughter of the Kazakhstan president, hired an American consulting firm to collect data on the Kazakhgate trial, a probe into corruption among top Kazakh officials.
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan: Shake Down, Shake Up
Patrick Frost tells that the Tajikistan government tries to impose a voluntary tax on its citizens to raise $10 million dollars to finance the Rogun project, while the Kyrgyz government has given a compensation payment to 72 children, who were accidentally infected with the AIDS in hospitals.
China: Civic Rescue Team
In less than 36 hours, 120 civic rescue team members and 60 bulldozers had been mobilized to the earthquake areas. More from hecaitou [zh].
China: Earthquake Diary
Zengying, a reporter from Chengdu, started his earthquake diary since May 12. Journalists were reporting with tears and he pleaded the government not to strengthen the control over media report. Today, he started his journey to the earthquake center, Wenchuan.
Chile: Meeting with Ministry of Planning for One Computer Per Child Project
Luis Ramírez of Audentes Fortuna Luva [es] writes about his meeting with the Chilean Minister of Planning regarding the One Computer Per Child project. Ramírez writes that it was suggested that the Ministry establish “technological policies for equality.”
China: Reprimand Theory
Michael from The Opposite end of China is furious at the reprimand theory of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka on the earthquake in Sichuan. Similar reprimand theory can also be found in Hong Kong. (via ESWN)
China: Against One Voice in Disaster
Wang Ning pointed out that even though people should hold together to fight the earthquake disaster, there shouldn't be just one voice in telling the disaster story. He praised the ATV report (from Hong Kong) in showing the genuine emotion of the people in disaster.
Ecuador: Changes in the Country's Symbols
Danny Ayala of El Federalista [es] writes about proposals to change some of Ecuador's symbols put forth by members of the Constituent Assembly. He adds his own suggestions on what should changed, such as the country's flag.
Japan: Views on the Sichuan Earthquake
The earthquake in China's Sichuan province, besides taking its toll on tens of thousands of Chinese citizens, has also had reverberations far away in the Japanese blogosphere, where the topic ranked top among blogging keyword lists and sparked conversations in forums over the past few days.
Bahrain: Why?
“Why does the person in the fifth car back at a traffic light usually believe that beeping as soon as the light turns will make the queue move more quickly?” asks Bint Battuta in Bahrain.
Algeria: Favourite Books
Algerian blogger Nouri shares a list with 53 of his favourite books in this post.
Kuwait: Car Query
From Kuwait, Amu, asks what car to buy.
Kuwait: Gay Encounter
Cat, from Kuwait, describes her encounter with a gay person at a workshop in this post.
Kuwait: Mixed Signals Over Name
Ansam, a male blogger from Kuwait, is receiving mixed signals over his name.
Ukraine: Moscow Mayor's Sevastopol Controversy
Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov got himself barred from Ukraine this week, after announcing during a trip to Sevastopol - "a Ukrainian naval base mutually used by the Ukrainian Navy and Russian Navy" - that the city did not belong to Ukraine. Below are a few opinions from the Russophone blogosphere.
