15 June 2009

Stories from 15 June 2009

Pakistan: Virtual Bloggers Meetup

  15 June 2009

Teabreak, Paksitan's largest Blog aggregator celebrated its first birthday with a virtual Bloggers meet up, first ever in the country. The bloggers discussed about the IDP issues in Swat region...

Iran: Protests and Repression

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians in Tehran and several other cities have rallied to support presidential candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi defying a government ban on demonstrations. Although Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are currently blocked in Iran, many Iranians have been using proxies to bypass filters and report up-to-the-minute news. Iranian authorities have also blocked SMS text messages, and are also filtering several news websites reflecting reformist opinions.

Moroccan Elections: The King's Party Triumphs

Whilst world attention was focused on the fiercely fought presidential election in Iran, communal elections held in June 12 in Morocco passed almost unnoticed by world media. The polls were officially hailed as crucial for the country's future and an important milestone in Morocco's protracted journey to democracy. Moroccan blogger's covered and commented the event, their hearts swaying between skepticism and full endorsement of the vote.

Japan: HBS on Japanese Anime Industry

  15 June 2009

Matt Alt links to a Harvard Business School working paper (pdf) on the state of the Japanese anime industry: “If Japan wants to bank on its ‘Gross National Cool’, it...

Trinidad & Tobago: In Naipaul's Defense

  15 June 2009

Repeating Islands features a defense of Trinidad-born V.S. Naipaul in which the author “makes a valid point about the separation of the writer’s shortcomings as a person from the texts...

Dominica: Chavez’ Visit

  15 June 2009

“It's like the uncle who comes with some cash in his pocket and the whole family gets lined up by the door of a recently cleaned room”: Caribbean Man reports...

Trinidad & Tobago: Up in Flames

  15 June 2009

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but who would want to flatter matches?”: From Trinidad and Tobago, This Beach Called Life explains.