14 February 2009

Stories from 14 February 2009

Blogging Positively: Join the Global Conversation on HIV/AIDS

  14 February 2009

This Valentine's Day (February 14) marks not only the start of a Global Voices campaign asking people to “Teach Someone You Love to Blog or Micro-Blog,” it also kicks off a series of health-related activities focused on HIV/AIDS to encourage more people infected and affected by the disease to blog....

Palestine: A community oven in Gaza

  14 February 2009

Canadian activist Eva Bartlett describes how a community oven has been set up in a village in southeastern Gaza: “For the many villagers who can’t afford, or can’t find, cooking gas and who are exhausting firewood supplies (although the Israeli military’s bulldozing and tank-ravaging of olive and fruit trees provides...

Palestine: Gaza's Valentine's Day flowers

  14 February 2009

In Gaza, Prof. Said Abdelwahed reports: “For three years Israel gave no permission to any farmer to export flowers! Gazans had to “eat and drink’ flowers for two years. Well, this year, after the invasion, Holland bought 25000 flowers to be shipped in three shipments. Yesterday, Israel permitted shipping 10000...

Egypt's Leading Women

  14 February 2009

Egyptian women, like many other women, have great potential once they unleash their power. Eva habil, Passant Refaat, and Radwa Saad El Din are three women who took the lead in three different fields. Marwa Rakha has more in this round up from Egypt's blogs.

Bahrain: The importance of Arabic in advertising

  14 February 2009

Bahraini blogger aMaL laments the poor Arabic used in advertisements: “As an Arab country, and in the face of the capitalist global campaign to “blend” all cultures together and implant a consumerist heart in their core, it is our duty to preserve one of the few identity symbols we have...

Bahrain: No need for speed

  14 February 2009

Maldita, a Filipina living in Bahrain, thinks Bahraini teenagers should be provided with more recreational facilities – instead of using public roads to entertain themselves in their cars.

Brazil: A Falling Castle (and Congressman) in Two Acts

  14 February 2009

Recently elected Vice-President and Ethics Magistrate of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, Edmar Moreira has resigned following only one week in the post, after a property of his – a medieval-style castle in the middle of tropical Brazil about which the tax office were not told – has suddenly come into the spotlight. Will he be investigated? Bloggers speculate on this tragic-comic plot.

USA: Marrying for Love and Country

  14 February 2009

Whether for love or for visa, deciding whether to marry is never an easy thing. In the United States, where more than 12 million people live as "undocumented" immigrants, falling in love and getting married to an American is one way legal status can be resolved. Immigrant bloggers share their stories.

Azerbaijan: GONGOs

  14 February 2009

Blogs dealing with democracy across the globe continue to discuss last week's controversial visit to Azerbaijan by Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. Democracy Digest is the latest and says that the embarrassing event at least exposed the existence of government-organized NGOs (GONGOs) in authoritarian countries. The blog also says that...

Bangladesh: Citizenship Amendment Act 2009

  14 February 2009

Tulip Siddiq writes about the newly enacted Citizenship Amendment Act, 2009 in Bangladesh which fixed the previous anomaly that children of any Bangladeshi woman marrying a foreigner would not be Bangladeshi citizens.

China: Prominent Blogger Stabbed

  14 February 2009

Prominent blogger and novelist, Xu Lai at ProState in Flame was stabbed twice in a book store, One Way Street, at Beijing when he finished a public talk. Zola and doubleaf keep updating the news in their twitters. Can also read GVA for details.

China: On privatization of rural land

  14 February 2009

For those not quite interested in fireworks and dumplings, the Spring Festival mainly becomes a yearly pretext for reflecting upon the condition of Chinese peasants and the state of China’s countryside. During the week of hearty celebrations for the new year, millions of temporary workers return from the cities where...

Georgia: Homphobic TV

  14 February 2009

Unzipped: Gay Armenia reports that a LGBT organization in the Republic of Georgia has filed a complaint against the deputy head of Public TV for homophobic remarks.

Indonesia: Divorce and polygamy

  14 February 2009

I feel guilty writing about divorce and polygamy on Valentine’s Day. But these two unmentionable topics are also realities of love and relationships. In Indonesia, more women are divorcing their husbands because of polygamy.

Japan: Municipal opposition to Street View

  14 February 2009

Demands by municipal assemblies and bar associations across Japan that Google revise [ja] or even halt altogether its new Street View service, rolled out in 12 Japanese cities late last summer to mixed reactions, have triggered renewed debate on issues of privacy and the limits of public space. The latest moves by municipal governments come on the heels of demands by a group of Japanese lawyers and professors, who petitioned Google in mid-December to retract its service.

Brunei: Think Big ICT Business Plan Competition

  14 February 2009

The 'Think Big ICT Business Plan Competition' aims "to motivate local entrepreneurs to realise their ideas in the field of information and communications technology with the opportunity to develop their business ideas and enhance their creativity; as well as to provide a platform for identifying, nurturing and showcasing entrepreneurial talents in Brunei."