Stories from 15 October 2008
The Balkans: Macedonia and Montenegro Recognize Kosovo
On Oct. 9, Montenegro and Macedonia recognized Kosovo's independence. One blogger noted that "coincidentally, this raises the number of countries recognizing to exactly 50." Below are a few more responses from the English-language blogosphere.
Traditional Lao wedding
Laos Essential Artistry blogs about the traditional Lao wedding rituals and gowns.
Philippines: Blog Action Day 2008
Filipino bloggers participated in the Blog Action Day 2008. The chosen topic was poverty.
British companies owned by Malaysians
ah ok lah lists several British companies which are owned by Malaysians.
Malaysia: World University Rankings
How did Malaysian schools fare in the 2008 World University Rankings? 4896 also mentions the rank of Singapore and Thai universities.
Thailand-Cambodia border clash
Cambodia tells Thailand to evacuate its troops from the Preah Vihear temple. Two Cambodian soldiers died during a border clash between the two countries. Twitter user khanvanna writes: “My deep condolences to my two heroic Khmer fighters. Go Khmer go!” Tharum comments: “It's as if it's no longer the war...
Thailand-Cambodia: “We don’t like the war”
Two Cambodian soldiers were killed during a clash between Thai and Cambodian soldiers near the historic Preah Vihear temple. Both countries are claiming the temple. A Cambodian blogger writes: “We don’t like the war because we just pass the civil war for more then 30 years.”
Iran: Strikes over New Sales Tax
Traders in the Grand Bazaar of Tehran, and bazaars in other major Iranian cities such as Tabriz, Isfahan and Mashad, went on strike for around two weeks in protest over a new 3% sales tax. Strikes in Iran are rare, and there are no legal trade unions in the country. Several Iranian bloggers talked about this event.
Brazilian myths and haunts on the Lusosphere – Part 1
The first of three articles that will take us around the virtual campfire to hear stories about ghosts and enchantment from Brazilian folklore: Cuca, Negrinho do Pastoreio, Boitatá and Curupira, are just some of the beings that inhabit the nights, dreams, and nightmares of Brazil. We also find a group of artists who are telling anew a long told Brazilian popular story.
Sri Lanka: Collateral damage
Portrait reports on the devastation of miles and miles of forest in Sri Lanka which were chopped, burned, bulldozed and cleared on either side of the road for hundreds of meters in as a security measure taken by the armed forces to prevent the Tamil tigers from hiding in the...
Bhutan: Delayed pay revision
Kelen at Kuzu Bhutan Weblog comments about the delayed pay revision process in the Bhutanese government service: “people were blessed with fake promises and the provision of revise pay still remains fancy”.
Bangladesh: A safe exit?
An Ordinary Citizen analyzes the weaknesses of the caretaker (interim) Government of Bangladesh and blames it for making many compromises thinking of its safe exit.
Maldives: Election fever in blogosphere
The presidential election being held in Maldives is the first multi-party election in the country. This election is believed by many Maldivians as their chance to bring democracy to a country that has been ruled dictatorially by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom since he became president in November 1978. Gayoom has ruled...
Africa: African Bloggers’ Conference 2009
What is Kelele?: “Kelele is an annual African bloggers’ conference held in a different African city each year and run by an organising committee in that city. Kelele will be held for the first time in August 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.”
Arabeyes: Mickey Mouse Must Die..or Maybe Not
Mickey Mouse must die, declared a Saudi cleric in a television interview. Or perhaps that is not exactly what he said. Regardless, the interview found its way to television screens and newspaper headlines around the world and bloggers are at loggerheads with the issue. Did the cleric literally mean that Mickey Mouse must die or was it just another ploy to sensationalise and poke fun of anything an Arab and a Muslim utters?
Japan: Financial crises and financial markets
Japanese blogger and economics scholar id:eliya provides a brief background to financial crises that “even a high-schooler would understand” [ja], and then in a later post answers the questions: “What are financial markets for? And are they useful to me?” [ja]
Paraguay: Price of a Proposed Presidential Plane
Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo would like to purchase a presidential plane for his international visits. Carlos Rodríguez of Rescatar [es] is not opposed to these trips, but balks at the price of 7 million dollars, and that it would be more prudent to rent.
Paraguay: Hybrid Cars Have Arrived
Hybrid cars have arrived to Paraguay and Osval's Blog [es/en] has pictures to show it.
Bahamas, Haiti: Eyes of a Child
Doing Theology from the Caribbean republishes an essay written by a Haitian-Bahamian tenth grader who, after watching The Diary of Anne Frank, notices parallels between the Jews and Haitians.
Bahamas, U.S.A.: On Fundamentalism
“One of the problems with a fundamentalist mindset is that it takes a point of view and converts it into the ‘truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’. This is as true for religious fundamentalism as it is for market fundamentalism”: Simon at Bahama Pundit explains.
Hungary: Outing the Informers
Hungarian Spectrum writes about an ongoing debate on whether the communist-era informers should be outed or not.
