28 January 2009

Stories from 28 January 2009

Hong Kong: Fortune Stick Reading

ESWN summarized local newspapers reports on fortune stick reading in Lunar new year. The unfavorable outcome stirred up a hot discussion about: who is the traitors inside home?

28 January 2009

Israel: Where is Mahmoud al-Zahar?

Senior Hamas official Mahmood el-Zahar is no where to be seen. Gilad Lotan tunes into to the whispers making rounds on the blogs about his possible whereabouts.

28 January 2009

Bahrain: Bloggers united against decision to block websites

Bloggers in Bahrain are fuming at a decision by the country's Minister of Information to block access to scores of websites, as well as prevent access to proxy sites which enable surfers to get to sites in a round about manner. Ayesha Saldanha reviews reactions from Bahrain.

28 January 2009

Arab World: “We Stopped Saying Israel…”

A message on Twitter calling upon Arabs to stop saying Israel has snowballed into a movement across the Arab world, in this latest twist of the ongoing online war following the Israeli bombing of Gaza. Anas Qtiesh reports from the front lines.

28 January 2009

Armenia: Council of Europe Reprieve

Yesterday's meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) gave Armenia one last chance to avoid sanctions following last year's clashes between opposition supporters and security forces in the aftermath of a bitterly contested presidential election. Armenian bloggers react to the news.

28 January 2009

The plight of the Rohingya

The Rohingya have been called “trafficked victims”, “refugees”, “forced migrants” and “illegal migrants”. The Irrawaddy provides a comprehensive background to the situation of the Rohingya. This issue has involved Malaysia,...

28 January 2009

Fiji: Internet and BPO industry

According to The Coconut Wireless, Fiji needs to expand its internet infrastructure if it wants to attract investors in the Business Process Offshoring industry.

28 January 2009

Is New Zealand bullying Fiji?

Kiwipolitico accuses New Zealand of being hypocritical and neo-imperialist for criticizing Fiji's military leadership yet it maintains trade and diplomatic relations with countries with “less than stellar human rights records.”

28 January 2009

Colombia: Against Bullfighting in Medellín

Andreata of Jovenes Pensantes [es] thinks that more people should protest the annual bullfighting festival in Medellín, Colombia since it is “another death celebrated by many insensitive persons and executed...

28 January 2009

Russia: “Economic Shock Therapy”

Sean's Russia Blog cites the director of the Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry, who says that “since the financial crisis requests for psychologists have grown by...

28 January 2009