13 July 2008

Stories from 13 July 2008

Death Penalty for Malagasy Farmers over Land Dispute

  13 July 2008

Twenty one farmers from the locality of Ankorondrano-Analavory (90 km west of Antananarivo) were sentenced by the state because of a collective act of rebellion that stemmed from a dispute over land ownership. An online campaign for clemency for the farmers and conversations about the verdicts are taking place, keeping online forums users and blogs busy.

Angola: An unacceptable silence

  13 July 2008

Brazilian expatriate, Menina de Angola [Girl from Angola, pt] comments about two separate cases of rape committed against Brazilian women in Luanda and criticizes the silence surrounding the issue, which...

China: The Upside Down Commemorative Notes for Olympics

  13 July 2008

The People's Bank of China has issued a commemorative note with a face value of 10 Yuan to mark next month's Beijing Olympic Games. However, before most of the collectors had a chance to get it, a blogger named Naughty Lion pointed out a "mistake" in the backdrop of the special notes.

Peru: Success of National Strike in Doubt

  13 July 2008

A national strike took place on July 9 throughout Peru, which was organized by the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP for its initials in Spanish) and had rallied against Peruvian president Alan Garcia's economic policies. Both the striking groups and the government declared victory, but Peruvian bloggers say that the underlying issues that led to the protests still remain.

Armenia: Indian Students

Armenia Higher Education & Sciences comments on a meeting between the country's new president and the Indian Ambassador. The specialist education blog wonders if the two discussed any real issues,...

Armenia: Junior Eurovision

Unzipped comments on Armenia's entry into this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The blogger says he is impressed by 12-year-old Monika Manucharova whose family is homeless, but concludes that the...

Doing business with the poor

  13 July 2008

The United Nations Development Program has released a new report on how businesses may include the global poor as potential customers–and how the global poor might benefit from collaborating more...

Vietnam: Street vendors

  13 July 2008

Street vendors were banned from Hanoi's thoroughfares. But noodlepie observes the order had little impact as shown by some of the images in flickr.

Memorizing Quran and Hadist competition

  13 July 2008

The Indonesian government in association with the Saudi government will hold an Asean Musabaqah Hifdzil Quran wal Hadist/MHQH (Memorizing Quran and Hadist competition) this month.