11 August 2009

Stories from 11 August 2009

Armenia: Journalist assaulted

  11 August 2009

Unzipped comments on reports that a prominent opposition representative is accused of assaulting a local journalist. The blog notes that the alleged victim is usually attacked by government supporters and says that actions such as this only results in many considering both sides of the political divide to be the...

Japan: Suicide rate of SDF officials

  11 August 2009

Id:zyesuta analyses the problem of the high rate of suicides among the Self-Defence Forces (自衛隊 Jieitai) officials. The number of cases was particularly large in 2006 while it seems to have been slowly decreasing since then.

Barbados: Seeking Solutions

  11 August 2009

“The whole region is in turmoil and yet we expect West Indies cricket to be any better?”: Barbados Underground says that “a solution has to be found, not only for the West Indies cricket team but more importantly for the whole region.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Feeling Tight

  11 August 2009

“Tight belts. Tight thoughts. Tight minds that allow us no space to consider our humanity”: The Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister tells the public that they can loosen their belts, but Attillah Springer says that “tight or loose is the same old khaki pants.”

Suriname: Questions Seeking Answers

  11 August 2009

Artist and curator Christopher Cozier, blogging at Paramaibo SPAN, seeks to “generate a fertile exchange…towards transforming predicaments into mutually shared sovereign understandings.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Above The Law?

  11 August 2009

As a stash of drugs and ammunition is found hidden in the ceiling of a police station in Trinidad, This Beach Called Life says: “What this raid does for public confidence in the Service is to destroy confidence even further because for every police gang uncovered Mr. Public feels there...

Barbados: Respecting the Environment

  11 August 2009

Lani Edghill, guest blogging at Barbados Free Press, believes “our environment is trying to tell us something” and urges fellow Barbadians to change their consumption habits and get involved in environmental events: “We as a community have the power to change our behavior.”

Korea: Commentary on Clinton visit

  11 August 2009

Ask a Korean! translated two blog entries from a famous North Korea blog, Nambukstory, that commented on Clinton's visit and the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling.

China: An “old comrade” urges re-evaluation of the CCP

  11 August 2009

Qian Gang gave some backgrounds of an article, “Conversations with an Old Comrade on the Eve of the 60th Anniversary of the PRC”, which has been circulated widely on the Internet, calling for reflections on the Chinese Communist Party's rule at the eve of 60th anniversary of the establishment of...

Puerto Rico: The Battle Over Public Lands

  11 August 2009

The Puerto Rican government has issued an order to remove 200 families from the Villas del Sol community, under the premise that they illegally occupied lands that are prone to flooding. As the families continue to resist the eviction order, bloggers weigh in.

Sri Lanka: Perils Of Communal Schools

  11 August 2009

Nazeeya Faarooq at Groundviews starts the discussion describing why Sri Lankan Muslims celebrated the recent Pakistani win against the Sri Lankan cricket team and states that the ethnic segregation is perpetuated and perpetrated by having communal schools in Sri Lanka and the absence of comparative religion as a subject.

Mexico: Telling Secrets on Twitter

  11 August 2009

Rafa Saavedra is a connosseiur of underground culture from Tijuana, México. In an interview, he tells about his most recent project combining Twitter and the telling of secrets.

Azerbaijan: Bloggers’ appeal rejected

  11 August 2009

Media Helping Media reports that appeals by Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two video bloggers and youth activists currently held in pre-trial detention in Azerbaijan on what many consider to be politically motivated charges, were yesterday rejected.

Malawi: The good, the bad and the hopeful in health care

  11 August 2009

In this post we highlight some of what Malawian bloggers are writing about the country's health care system. We look at bloggers describing developments in eye care, reflecting on midwifery, expressing shock over negligence in hospitals and government waste, and we end with rare good news about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.