Stories from 11 July 2008
Iran: Students support Tavancheh, a leftist student
Abed Tavancheha, an Iranian leftist student and blogger, was sentenced to 8 months prison for his political activities. He has less than 3 weeks to request an appeal. More than 100 students signed a petition in Sos Tavancheh to support this leftist student.
Trinidad & Tobago: Survival Strategy
Trinidadian blogger, The Coffee Wallah, isn't impressed by the G8 leaders’ tree-planting exercise, and says our approach to the environment reminds her of a Hollywood action movie. “Are we really going to wait until we have four minutes to save the world?”, she asks.
India: HIV Testing
To Each Its Own on the role of law in the issue of pre-marital HIV testing.
Sri Lanka: Scarcity of Seed Paddy
GroundView on the farmers in Sri Lanka facing hardships as a result of the scarcity of seed paddy for them to sow.
Pakistan: Women and Jihad
CHUP! on women gathering at the Red Mosque in Pakistan.
Iran: Balatarin, a successful citizen media story
Meet Yahyanejad, the founder of the very successful Balatarin site, a community website which users can use to share links to webpages they find interesting, with an emphasis on the Iranian audience.
Barbados: Mottley Declares Assets
In the follow-up to Prime Minister David Thompson's first Budget Speech, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley declares her assets, becoming the first Barbadian politician to do so. De Standpipe and Bajan Global Report give the details of this surprise move.
Barbados: Trini Invasion
As Barbados gears up for its annual “Crop Over” carnival, Boyce Voice protests the inclusion of several Trinidadian performers as headliners in the festival's biggest event.
Bermuda: Tourism Outsourced
News that the Bermuda Department of Tourism is retrenching workers at its New York office, and outsourcing to an unnamed US sales company, leaves Vexed Bermoothes asking a lot of questions.
Jamaica: The Need To Take Responsibility
My View of JamDown From Up So uses recent international news events to illustrate how the Jamaican authorities and media may handle—or not handle—similar stories.
Serbia: Arts Roundup
Here are some picks from the blogosphere on the Serbian literature, architecture, film, music, visual arts and cuisine. Enjoy!
Serbia: “Face to Face With Digitalization”
The Parliament of the Republic of Serbia elected a new government a few days ago. The basic goals now are for the new Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic to strive for European integration, defend Kosovo, strengthen the economy and social responsibility, step up the struggle against corruption and crime, and fulfill Serbia’s international commitments. Bloggers have paid attention to this event. However, one of them was also thinking about a very important issue for the government, something the new Prime Minister has so far failed to address: the digitalization of Serbia.
Japan: View from Ecuador on WaiWai “Child Hunt”
WaiWai was a column in Japan's fourth largest newspaper Mainichi, published for years in the English version of their website and featuring some of the most scandalous (and mostly fabricated) articles from Japan's weekly tabloids, translated to English with added “embellishments”. In recent weeks, the story of WaiWai erupted on the Japanese Internet, users reacting to WaiWai's negative depiction of Japan. One Japanese blogger living in Ecuador wrote a blog post expressing outrage at a WaiWai article about Japanese supposedly "hunting" for children in Ecuador.
China and Japan: Support to Earthquake Orphans
Martin J Frid from Kurashi blogs about a Japanese non-profitable group, Ashinaga's initiative in helping earthquake Orphans. Recently the group helped bring Japanese earthquake orphans to Sichuan.
China: Internet Commentators
Woshiyangxue posted a list of professional requirements for internet commentators (the so-called 50 Cents gang). The blogger also collected some ads from various local media on recruitment of internet commentators.
China: Uncle Tea
Zhongguotese wrote a letter to uncle tea (national security guards) who like to invite netizens for a cup of tea (investigation). The blogger believed that they are just getting their job done so as to feed their family, he hope that they can try to do thing differently within their...
China: Support Yang Jia
Although Yang Jia (楊佳) had murdered 6 polices in Shanghai, netizens in general showed sympathy towards Yang. Ai Wei Wei pointed out that the Shanghai police lied about the case and turned Yang into a cold blood murderer. Robert Mao supported Yang as he had been bullied by the police...
Guatemala: Was Antigua the Inspiration for the Little Prince?
For a relatively small country, Guatemala's magnificant scenery can awaken one's imagination. From the 37 volcanoes that rise up from the landscape to the mystical Lake Atitlan, it is a country that has attracted intellectuals in the field of culture and arts, who may have been drawn to this magical land. One other author, Antoine De Sain Exupéry, who is best known for writing “The Little Prince,” visited Guatemala by accident, and leads to the question: Was Antigua, Guatemala his Muse for writing about Asteroid B-612?
Caucasus: Russian Language
Social Science in the Caucasus comments on data indicating the level of English and Russian language proficiency in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Ecuador: Book Fair in Guayaquil
Nuestros Reflejos [es] invites all to the Book Fair currently being held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and which she is helping to organize.
Belarus: The Blast, the Arrests, and Bloggers’ Solidarity
A week ago, a homemade bomb packed with bolts and screws tore through a crowd of thousands of people who had gathered for the Independence Day concert in the Belarusian capital. Following the blast, police arrested four ex-members of the White Legion, the youth wing of the Belarusian Union of Military Personnel, banned in 1996. To show their support for the former activists, many Belarusian bloggers now exhibit the White Legion's emblem on their userpics.
