18 March 2009

Stories from 18 March 2009

Pakistan: Sari Makes A Comeback To Fashion

  18 March 2009

The trademark dress of the women in the Indian Subcontinent is called Sari. During the 80s it started disappearing in Pakistan after it was declared un-Islamic by then president Zia-ul-Haq . Pak Tea House reports that Saris are making a comeback in Pakistani fashion.

Bangladesh: Non-profit Wonder

  18 March 2009

“Have you ever heard of an international organization that self finances 80% of its work? Want to know how they do it?” Read BRAC Blog for details. Based in Bangladesh, BRAC is one of the world's largest non-governmental development organizations.

Global: Bubbles, Bailouts and Stimulus Plans

  18 March 2009

Identifying the economic woes of the United States is crucial. But we should also understand that other countries are also grappling with bankrupt companies and shrinking economies. Many countries are also implementing their own stimulus plans. What are some of the examples used by bloggers around the world when they discuss the bubble economies, bailout of banks and stimulus plans of their countries?

Argentina: Xenophobia in the Football Stands

  18 March 2009

Rivalries in Argentine football can become quite heated. The battles on the field often spill over into the stands, as club supporters clash with one another. It is not always physical violence that marks the conflict between supporter groups. Chants, songs, and signs can be directed at the opposing team and supporter groups. In some cases, these messages contain racist or xenophobic overtones, which is what happened when the fans from the team Independiente mocked their rival Boca Juniors for the large number of Bolivian and Paraguayan immigrants in their fan base.

Iran: Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, jailed blogger died

Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, who had been sentenced to 30 months prison for insulting Islamic Republic Leaders last month, died in prsion today.Human Rights Activists in Iran site says[fa] the reason for his death has not been announced but he was in very bad psychological condition.

India: Pata Chitra

  18 March 2009

Tanay Behera at Desicritics writes about ‘Pata Chitra’, a popular Indian art form using rich vegetable colors. ‘Pata’ in Sanskrit means piece of cloth and ‘Chitra’ means painting or picture.

Maldives: Dissident And Anti-Islamic Sites Blocked

  18 March 2009

Several dissident and alleged anti-Islamic websites were filtered recently in Maldives. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs ordered the Telecommunication Authority of Maldives (TAM) to block access to those websites. Maldives Dissent informs: A week after President Anni announced his intention of turning the Maldives into a sanctuary for oppressed writers,...

China: Goodbye Grass Mud Horse

  18 March 2009

Last week the story of Grass Mud Horse has traveled to the U.S.A via the New York Times and re-imported back to China with new ideas for reproduction, such as the marriage of two legendary creatures: Grass Mud Horse and FaKe Squid into FaKe Mud Horse. As imagethief pointed out,...

Bahamas: To the Mothers…

  18 March 2009

Bahamian blogger Womanish Words missed International Women's Day and pays a late but meaningful tribute to the mothers of the world “who are most at risk globally, because of poverty, war and victimization”.

Martinique: Moving Memorial

  18 March 2009

Repeating Islands’ Blog introduces us to the Anse Cafard Memorial in Southern Martinique – “a deeply moving monument to the losses imposed on African peoples through the slave trade.”

Jamaica, U.S.A.: Eye of God

  18 March 2009

“The folks at AIG are proceeding as if it’s business as usual, paying out, and accepting, large bonuses, and that from public monies…how is it that some people…can’t grasp that we are…between the Devil and the deep blue sea?”: Jamaican blogger Pamela Mordecai says that the Eye of God image...

Guyana: On the Road

  18 March 2009

“Man can’t stop roaming. So you can imagine what happen when Guyanese discover open borders between here and the rest o’ South America”: Guyana-Gyal ruminates on the probabilities.

Japan: I wanna know America!

  18 March 2009

Koichi (耕一), a webdesigner living in Oregon (U.S.A.), tells about American culture, people, food, language and much more at his personal website Koichiben: Amerika ga shiritai (コウイチ弁、アメリカが知りたい lit. Koichi dialect: I wanna know America). Writing and video-blogging in Japanese, he proposes every time a new interesting topic with the aim of...

Japan: Sri Lanka, Somalia, us? The government?

  18 March 2009

Ryutaro Yanagawa (柳川龍太郎) in his podcast program Nekura Nomikon Onvoice (ネクラのみ来ん on voice) [ja] reflects upon issues related to Japanese foreign politics. In the last episode, the podcaster invites us to not forget those areas of the world, such as Darfur or Sri Lanka, that too rarely are the centre...

Japan: The work of art in the age of digital reproduction

  18 March 2009

A cross-generational debate over the value of art, and culture in general, has arisen among users of the social bookmarking service Hatena. The debate, originated by an anonymous entry titled: ehm… Isn`t it weird the idea that we have to pay money for music?, has brought many bloggers to ask...