Stories from 26 April 2009
Ukraine: The Ruins and the Greed
LJ user sabeloff posts pictures of the ruined remains of a seaside young pioneer camp in Odesa and shares the recent history of the place - which, unfortunately, is a rather common sight in today's Ukraine.
Russia: Sochi Mayoral Election
James writes this about the mayoral election in Sochi at Robert Amsterdam's blog: “It can be tough work to continue coming up with new ways to fake the democratic process … after a while, the voters seem to wonder ‘why bother?'” Russia! reports on the detention of journalist Keith Gessen...
Russia: A Chechen Folk Tale
Just A Mon translates a Chechen folk tale about Beksolta who could catch three lions in one swoop and posts it at Sundry Translations and Other Tangentialia.
Ukraine: Saturday Cleanup in Kyiv
Ukrainiana posts photos and video from this past Saturday's cleanup in Kyiv, and writes: “IMHO, the effort lacked coordination and field resources. There weren’t enough bags for everyone. Some people were promoting corporate brands, some where loafing, and some couldn’t find those bags. I only found one bag. Bagless people...
Ukraine: Chernobyl
Ukrainiana‘s Chernobyl anniversary post is here: “We remember.”
Diarrhea deaths in Myanmar
The Irrawaddy reports that there is a diarrhea outbreak in Rangoon City in Myanmar.
Brunei: Child-safety laws
Rogue Economist from Brunei notes that laws on child-seat and safety belts are not properly observed and implemented.
Brunei: Islamic Banking
Rogue Economist from Brunei sees no difference between Islamic Banks and conventional banks in terms of their operations.
Thailand: Anti-censorship Site Got Blocked
The website of anti-censorship movement in Thailand, Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT), got blocked by several University connections and ISPs on 25 of April. At the time of writing, it has still been blocked. The first report came from Thai Netizen mailing list. Blogger Arthit Suriyawongkul wrote in his blog...
India: Saying No To Parachute Journalism
Sans Serif reports: “A team of 40 BBC journalists from 12 languages began an 18-day tour of India on a special train on Saturday to cover the ongoing Indian elections.”
South Asia: Coping With The Heat And The Rolling Blackouts
Heatwaves during this time of year is not uncommon for countries in South Asia. But the recent dry weather has kept sufficient rain away from the region keeping the mercury rising. And load shedding (rolling electricity blackouts) due to power crisis in several countries have made the lives of millions of people unbearable.
Kazakhstan: Uneven Development
Thousand-Pa reflects on the patterns of socio-economic development in Kazakhstan and suggests that the main reason for little progress is uneven distribution of efforts and funds.
Afghanistan: Bombings in Kandahar
Joshua Foust reports that three suicide bombers have struck the provincial governor’s compound in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Georgia: Cell protest in Tbilisi
A Year in Tbilisi pays a visit to some of the mock cells erected outside government buildings in the Georgian capital. The blog posts photographs and doesn't seem convinced that the opposition movement demanding the president's resignation stand much chance of succeeding.
Azerbaijan: Back in Baku
Scary Azeri in Suburbs returns to her native Baku. Posting photographs of the Azerbaijani capital, the blogger, now resident in the U.K., says that the city is full of contrasts and changes.
U.K.: London Armenian commemorative march
Unzipped posts photos of yesterday's commemorative march held on the occasion of the 94th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Japan: The “anime” business
Hiromichi Yasuda (増田弘道), production director of the anime production company Simple d'essai [ja] and author of Anime Bijinesu ga Wakaru (アニメビジネスがわかる, lit. Understanding the Anime Business), constantly updates his blog [ja] with news and reviews of books about the anime business world in Japan.
China: Labour net launched
A news website, China Labour net has been launched. According to the launching statement: the aim of this website is to facilitate sharing of information, experiences and opinion of the labour movement between China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the rest of the world. We will regularly upload articles on the...
Fiji's expats create democratic movement
A group of ethnic Fijians living in Australia pledged support for Fiji’s return to democracy and called on Australia’s and New Zealand’s governments to apply more political and economic pressure to the new order of Frank Bainimarama. Members of the meeting also called on people of Fiji living elsewhere to help support the country’s political restoration.
Books about Egypt
Blogger Kim wrote a review for a series of pocket guides for Egypt, published by AUC Press, by Alberto Silioti. The books are not in depth, but can give a glimpse into the area it covers for tourists. She also mentioned another book An ABC Escapade through Egypt, a book...
Palestine: Blog About Palestine Day on May 15
Palestinian blogger Za3tar invites bloggers to the second annual “Blog About Palestine Day” on May 15, which marks the 61st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba – the beginning of the Palestinian plight and suffering.
