Stories from 6 August 2008
South Africa: Facebook Guide for South African Businesses
Andy produces a guide for South African businesses intending to use the popular networking site, Facebook.
Africa: Big Brother Africa III
A Nairobian's Perpectives writes about Big Brother Africa III, which is set to begin this month.
Latvia: President Scolds Parliament
Baltic comments on the continued political drama in Latvia, as the country's President today scolded parliamentarians after the failed referendum to give people the right to declare non-confidence in the Parliament – the Saeima.
Belarus: Lukashenka and God
Malishevsky analyses (RUS) Belarussian President's Alyaksandr Lukashenka, relationship to God from his frequent invocations of higher powers in speeches and public appearances, especially when it comes to foreign relations.
Kenya: Google funds Mobile Planet
Emeka reports that Mobile Planet, a company that develops voice and data applications for mobile devices, has received funding from Google.
Morocco: The True Story of Andalusia
die blog van toons expresses frustration at an Al Jazeera documentary and clarifies the history of Andalusia.
Pakistan: Grey Lady of Bagram
CHUP! on Dr Siddiqui, who was described by the British journalist Yvonne Ridley as the Grey Lady of Bagram being extradited to a US Court.
Pakistan: Dr Afia Siddiqui
All Things Pakistan on Dr. Afia Siddiqui, wanted by FBI on alleged links with Al-Qaeda.
Japan: CNET article on Mainichi scandal sparks huge response
An article [ja] by former Mainichi journalist Toshinao Sasaki has sparked a huge response from Japanese Internet users, scoring a whopping 23643 votes on CNET and nearly one thousand bookmarks on Hatena, as well as many blog reactions [ja] and forum discussions [ja]. In the article, Sasaki quotes from anonymous...
Environment: Recycling Beach Waste
Karen Chernick writes at the Green Prophet blog, about the initiative to clean up the beach and recycle plastic waste, an initiative of major beverage companies in Israel.
Jamaica: War on Crime
As a Superintendent of Police is detained on charges of corruption for the first time in Jamaica, Kadene Porter at Abeng News Magazine asks: “How serious are the authorities in this war on crime and violence?”
Haiti: Black Chopin
AfriClassical profiles Ludovic Lamothe, “one of Haiti's most renowned classical composers”, whose méringue Nibo won a municipal contest in Port-au-Prince and celebrated the coming end of the U.S. Occupation in 1934.
Dominica: Rascaly Rabbits
Steve's Dominica writes an amusing post about “the annual Rabbit Festival in Cochrane.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Spillage and Spin
A spirits manufacturer whose factory is located in a low-income area of Trinidad and Tobago has a molasses spill, causing Attillah Springer to comment: “I wonder if their factory was in a different neighbourhood if they would have waited so long to engage their spin cycle, not to talk about...
Jamaica: Connecting with Memories
Francis Wade makes a trip out to his late grandfather's home and realises that one reason he moved back to Jamaica was “to give up the rootless and drifting feeling of not belonging that I always felt in America. I am able to piece together parts of my grandfather's memory...
Taiwan: China Taipei!
Michael Turton from The View from Taiwan comments on the recent debate about Taiwan's status in Beijing Olympics. The blogger points out that the term Taiwan has disappeared in the recent naming debate, now it is a choice between Chinese Taipei or China Taipei.
Hong Kong: Green Olympics and Black Soul
William Sin criticized Greenpeace's press release on Beijing Olympics for supporting hard handed environmental policy. Hevdevil in respond to the Greenpeace's post at inmediahk.net said that Greenpeace Hong Kong should change its name into GreenHarmony Hong Kong, as the organization has been harmonized.
China: Olympic Blocking and Unblocking
Many websites, such as Radio free Asia, have been unblocked in China during Olympics, however, Liu Xiaoyuan pointed out that many local blog posts are still blocked. The unblocking is selective deal to political pressure, while blocking is still set as default policy. Citizen media such as inmediahk.net in Hong...
Myanmar: Jade and Beijing olympics
Activists urge visitors to the 2008 Beijing Olympics to boycott souvenirs and jewelry made of Burmese jade in order to avoid supporting Burma’s “abuse-ridden jade mining industry.”
Thailand: Prime Minister hides in a public toilet
Mangozeen reports how the Thai Prime Minister evaded reporters by hiding in a public toilet for 30 minutes. The leader criticized the media for not giving him privacy.
Southeast-Asia: Tallest waterfalls
Bisean lists Southeast Asia's tallest waterfalls.
