Stories from 5 August 2008
India: Abortion, Parents and the Indian Law
A recent court case has brought focus on the abortion laws in India. According to the current laws in India, abortions are not permitted after 20 weeks of pregnancy, unless the pregnancy is determined to be dangerous to the woman's health. In this particular case, a couple, whose foetus was...
Cuba, Venezuela: Sound Familiar?
Cuban blogger Babalu thinks that the latest decrees by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sound awfully familiar…
Trinidad & Tobago: Unchained?
“Here every creed and race find an equal place but there is no solidarity. Only the Africans celebrate the fact that they are free. Only the Indians celebrate the fact that they arrived. What is the point of being cosmopolitan if we can’t even be bothered to share our triumphs...
Cuba: Hunger Strike
“It is a small action…it has not made the international press”: Ninety miles away…in another country reports on a hunger strike undertaken by four political prisoners in Cuba.
Bahamas: Quality Teachers
“Economic growth closely depends on the interaction between new knowledge and a country’s ability to learn”: Guest blogging at Bahama Pundit, Ralph Massy stresses the importance of attracting quality teachers in order to improve education standards.
Cambodia: Blogging on Genocide
After graduating from Brown University in 2004, the articulate, cunning Elena Lesley was awarded a Henry Luce Scholarship to Cambodia to write for The Phnom Penh Post. With a long-time interest in Asia, it seemed like a good match. But knee-deep in a society scourged by years of civil war and gut-wrenching poverty, the experience quickly proved eye-opening.
Cuba: Getting Productive
The Cuban government proposes “the handing over of idle land to those who want to make it productive”, causing Yoani Sanchez to “peruse (her) city looking for everything that is useless.”
Malaysia: Consumer grievance campaign blog
Edward Skading, a senior citizen in Malaysia, has been blogging his complaints against a consumer company in Malaysia.
Indonesia: Olympics TV broadcast
Unspun is wondering why there is little information about which station would be carrying the Olympic broadcast in Indonesia.
Laos: From street kids to Lao cooks
Lao Voices blogs about a project which helps Vientiane street kids by training them to be Lao cooks.
Cambodia: Pictures of wildlife sanctuary
Alison in Cambodia visited the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary in Phnom Penh. She posted pictures and video clips of the animals in the zoo.
Laos: Vientiane online map
Apocalypse Lao endorses an online map of Vientiane
Philippines: Catholic Bishops on You Tube
The Philippine Catholic Church has launched a channel in You Tube to spread the gospel via the internet
Philippines: Tobacco promotion through concerts
Fans of a popular disbanded local rock band in the Philippines have set-up a protest blog to dissuade tobacco companies from sponsoring a reunion concert.
Georgia: Church-State Relations
Talks with Diana posts a paper written by the blogger on Church-State relations in Georgia. The paper concludes that the tendency for the Georgian Orthodox Church to be used by local political forces poses a threat to democratization in the former Soviet republic.
Latvia: Failed Referendum
On the 2nd of August a referendum took place in Latvia, to vote on amendments to the Constitution that would make it possible for the people to initiate the dissolution of the Parliament. In spite of popular support for the process, the referendum had to be declared invalid due to a low turnout. Bloggers reacted to the disappointing results.
Iran: A journalist and blogger was executed
Varesh, an Iranian blogger, reports [Fa] that according to several news sites, Yaghoub Mehrnhad, an Iranian journalist, blogger and civil society activist,was executed in Zahedan. He was accused of collaborating with a terrorist group. The blogger says it was a shocking news for Iranian civil society and Iran based news...
Western Sahara: Three Cups of Tea
As with many cultures, people in Western Sahara have developed rites and a social scene around tea and we can imagine the desert, a cloudless sky at night, a full moon and a cup of tea (or two, or three)! Renata Avila makes us do just that in this translation of Spanish Sahrawi blogs.
Mideast Youth: Voices without Votes Podcast
Amira al Hussaini, GV's Middle East and North Africa editor, talks with Mideast Youth‘s Esra'a about GV- and Reuters-sponsored project Voices without Votes.
