Stories from 26 September 2008
Nepal: The money question
Blogger Dai comments on the news that 8 Nepali ministers including the Prime Minister are on foreign tour: “It would be great, if they could donate their allowances to the flood victims of Eastern Nepal.”
Jordan: Queen Rania the Blogger
Queen Rania of Jordan is blogging her visit to New York here.
Kuwait: Is Kuwait Being Finlandized?
Kuwaiti blogger Don Veto introduces his readers to the word Finlandization and asks: “Is history repeating itself? Is Kuwait being gradually Finlandized because of its powerful neighbors?”
Bangladesh: Remnants of terror
Black and Gray discusses the threats of remnant terrorists in Bangladesh and opines: “the imams of different mosques and other Islamic scholars can play a pivotal role in making people aware about the evil of terror.”
Pakistan: Fire exchange with US troops
Desicritics.org wonders whether the escalated tension and recent exchange of fire between US and Pakistani forces are “an engineered distraction”.
India: Ramadan in Kolkata
Cuckoo's Call posts some photos of Ramadan in Calcutta (Kolkata).
India: Kashmir problem
ABC blog discusses India's options in Kashmir.
Taiwan: The Return of Local Cinema
This summer, Taiwanese cinema is not only celebrating a comeback, but is also shining like the sun. No matter how strongly the typhoon hits Taiwan, movie theaters are witnessing hundreds, if not thousands, of people waiting in line just for the new film, “Cape No.7“. The movie became a blockbuster...
Egypt: Jihad Hackers
Is Jihad spilling from the ground on to the virtual world? Egyptian blogger Marwa Rakha writes here (and here) about how the internet has affected the ongoing debate between the secular and Islamic camps in Egypt.
Ethiopia: Let's talk about theatre
Ethiopian blogger, Arefe, writes “An Ethiopian actor who paid for Iago’s sin”: “The late Laureate Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin was the leading Amharic Shakespeare translator and his translation of Othello has been a popular item in the Addis Ababa theatrical repertoire.In the article, “Shakespeare in Ethiopia”, Prof.Richard Pankhurst relates the public’s reaction...
Kenya: A recycling center needs help
A recycling center in Kenya is looking for help: “The Karen Langata District Association (KLDA) runs a bottle bank at the Langata Link complex where residents of Karen and Langata can drop off empty glass bottles for recycling. Lately they have been receiving huge amounts of bottles and the glass...
Jordan: An Illustrated Accident
Jordanian Jad had a car accident and illustrates how it happened here.
South Africa: I quit smoking pot when I was 10
Khaya, the South African videoblogger, posts a video titled, “I quit smoking pot when I was 10.”
Africa: How to invest in Africa
Dani writes about an investment initiative for Africa, MyC4.com: “This is a web-based platform that allows you to look up a list of African entrepreneurs who need funding for their projects (described briefly on the site) and to offer them loans. You bid a certain interest rate, which is accepted...
Jordan: Think before you Fire
Jordanian Jazarah links to a story from India where a mob of dismissed workers beat the CEO of their company to death with a hammer. His advice: “Think twice before such decisions, or take the decision on your way to the plane and take a long vacation.”
Kuwait: Rabbit Outside the Mosque
Kuwaiti Frankom [Ar] found a rabbit outside the mosque … and shot it – with his mobile phone's camera, of course.
Jordan: Nothing Wrong in Not Knowing
Jordanian Qwaider remarks that there is nothing wrong in admitting that you don't know something.
Ghana: Using party colors in social functions
Is it appropriate to use colors of Ghana's political parties in social functions?: “The Brong-Ahafo Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Seth Charles Oteng, on Thursday expressed concern about the organisation of social functions under politically coloured atmosphere.”
Japan: Mapping the News with Newsgraphy
Hatena user id:kaiseh introduces a news mapping mashup service they created [ja] called “Newsgraphy“, based on an earlier mapping service for Hatena blogs released in June (with much fanfare [ja]) called HatenarMaps (also by id:kaiseh). The new service creates a 2-dimensional visualization of news stories from Yahoo News using Voronoi...
Japan: Kiki's Atashi Kanojo
Blogger Akihito Kobayashi at the Shirokuma Blog reports on his experience [ja] reading the winning work in this year's keitai shosetsu awards: “Atashi Kanojo” (あたし彼女) by 23-year-old writer Kiki. Although the short story has all the elements of the genre — sex, pregnancy, abortion, and many one-word sentences — Akihito...
Japan: Nakayama comment on expansion of Narita Airport
id:takerunba comments on a statement [ja] by Japanese Minister of Construction and Transport Nariaki Nakayama in an interview with Sankei Shimbun, in which Nakayama criticized local residents obstructing the expansion of Narita airport for not having the spirit to sacrifice themselves for the public good. id:takerunba agrees with Nakayama, pointing...
