Stories from 15 June 2009
Cuba: Prisoners of Conscience
Diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense refers to a report which claims that there have already been more than 500 political arrests and detentions in Cuba for the year.
Eritrea: Analysing Asmara
Eritreans have always found it difficult to differentiate ‘freedom’ with the politically overloaded word ‘independence’, writes Gabriel Guangul.
Burkina Faso: Rugby Star From Burkina Faso
Do you know the rugby hero from Burkina Faso? “Burkina Faso is not usually known for its success at rugby. However…In France's 22-27 defeat of the All Blacks in New Zealand on Saturday, one of the stars of the French team was a Burkinabe called Fulgence Ouedraogo.”
Palestine: Recovering A Corpse After 54 Days
Canadian activist Eva Bartlett describes a mission to retrieve the decomposed body of a young man from the border area of Gaza – where he had been killed 54 days earlier.
Armenia: Photo evidence of alleged hazing in army
Unzipped comments on news reports and alleged photo evidence taken by mobile phone of beatings in the Armenian military. The blog asks why few others seem concerned by such incidents.
Azerbaijan: Dynamic blogosphere
In what is fast becoming the most dynamic blogosphere in the South Caucasus, and especially in English, Azeri bloggers continue to write poignant entries.
Paraguay: Governmental Response to Arrival of H1N1 Virus
New cases of the AH1N1 virus have been confirmed in Paraguay. The total people infected rose to 25, however, there have not been any deaths linked to the virus. Bloggers reflect on the steps that the government is taking in regards to providing information from the public, and detection at the airport.
Azerbaijan: Persepolis
Global Voices Online author Ali S. Novruzov is interviewed by the OL! Azerbaijani youth movement on the movie Persepolis and comments on the role of women in post-revolution Iranian society.
Kazkahstan: Educational Deadlock
The problem of Kazakhstani textbooks for secondary school is still very urgent – numerous misprints, factual errors and inadequate language are charachteristic for these books. Lately, the Minister of Education reported to the ruling party on his activity, and told that his ministry is not responsible for them, as they...
Japan: Copyright Law amendment
Fumi Yamazaki from What's happening in Japan right now blogs about the amendment of copyright law in Japan. Now downloading illegal contents will be illegal…
Korea: Kim Jong-il’s Heir
Beom-seok Sohn from Ohmynews International discusses the potential candidates of North Korea state leader Kim Jong-il's successor.
China: The Fall of Lady Liberty and Chai Ling's Revenge
Xujun Eberlein from Inside-Out China comments on former Tiananmen activist Chai Ling's recent move to sue the film maker of “The Gate of Heavenly Peace” for “defamation” or “infringing trademark”.
USA, Singapore: On Buying Brides with Credit Cards
The Human Trafficking blog by Amanda Kloer at Change.org in the United States declared victory on Friday in their campaign to get the credit card company Diners Club International to stop doing business with a company in Singapore that sells Vietnamese mail order brides. More than 800 people signed a petition to get Diners Club to stop making it easier to purchase women for marriage.
