Stories from 27 August 2009
Russia: Nikita Mikhalkov's '12’
Poemless writes about Nikita Mikhalkov's 12, a Russian re-make of Twelve Angry Men.
Azerbaijan: Washington DC demonstration in support of detained bloggers
Melissa_Ys tweets that a protest demonstration in support of detained video bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli is set to take place outside the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Washington DC tomorrow at 4pm. The two youth activists have so far spent 51 days in pre-trial detention and...
Japan: Falling Asleep on Trains
A Tsukuba Express train driver fell asleep at the wheel and was reported by a customer who used his cell phone to film the driver's slumber. While many bloggers expressed relief that this didn't cause an accident, ruhiginoue wonders why the line needs drivers [ja] when it's equipped with an...
Maldives: Defense Arrangement With India
Mohamed Nasheed, a Member of Parliament, writes in his blog how and why he initiated a motion in the Maldives parliament pointing out the need to make sure that the recently proposed Defense arrangement with India conforms to the Maldivian constitution and has the prior approval of the parliament.
Hong Kong: “Compensated Dating” and the use of Pejoratives
The life imprisonment of the “girl butcher” might have halted the case against “compensated dating” in Hong Kong for a while, but what have Hong Kong people learned from the incident? It all started with the conviction of a 17-year-old girl for soliciting compensated dating online. In Hong Kong, it...
Japan: Hazy yet Familiar IT Vocabulary
Motoko Hunt discloses “top IT words that many Japanese don’t understand – secretly“.
Iraq: Death Of Shi'ite Leader Abdul Aziz Al Hakim
Sayyed Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (the largest political party in the Iraqi Council of Representatives), died of lung cancer on August 26 in Tehran, Iran. His death is expected to have repercussions for politics in Iraq. Bloggers around the region have responded to the news.
Bahamas, Jamaica: Thoughts on the IMF
Rick Lowe at Weblog Bahamas takes issue with an article in a Jamaican newspaper which laments the fact that the country “now has to pay the piper (IMF)”, saying: “Of course I am no fan of the IMF, but to suggest that a country ignore its debt is simply irresponsible…it...
Ecuador: The National Festival of Music
José Elias introduces his readers to the XXII National Festival of Ecuadorian Music, which recently took place in a rural parish of San Lorenzo of Manta [es], where artists and children from parishes all across the country come to sing for a national and international audience.
Martinique: Dance the Bèlè
Repeating Islands features Leïla Bizet and her bèlè, “a traditional folk dance practiced on islands like Dominica, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, and Martinique; hailing from the days of slavery, it has become a time-honored symbol of African legacy.”
Argentina: The Passing of a Fellow Twitterer
In Argentina, Marcelo Klein mourns the passing [es] of fellow twitterer and blogger Guillermo Lutzky [es] @glutzky, who was also his former teacher and basketball coach.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: R.I.P. Walter Porter
And Still I Rise remembers Walter Porter, “a son of the Vincentian soil, calypsonian, musician and unfortunately the person seated in number 25C on Pan Am 103.”
Pakistan: Bloggers Vs. The US Citizenship And Immigration Services
Talkhaba informs that “a newly formed network of Pakistani Bloggers namely Union of Patriotic Bloggers for Sovereign Pakistan (UPBSP) has started (the) ‘Containment of USA’ Campaign which aims at containing US and confining it to its diplomatic role guaranteed under the international law.” Their first target was to take the...
Trinidad & Tobago: Productivity
“So we need to produce more corn curls, Crix and painted stones (aka GDP) per man per hour”: This Beach Called Life takes a tongue-in-cheek look at productivity in Trinidad and Tobago.
Japan: What to do with “Media Arts”
For a nation working to capitalize its “soft power”, what is the role of anime and manga culture in governmental policies? The official answer is that anime, manga and digital art is both an important heritage and high-growth industry, requiring an official hub for preservation and presentation. Throw in a...
Jamaica: Making It Last
“What good is it to glean several medals, to ride the wave of national camaraderie and unity for a few days, only to be bogged down once again by the crushing weight of national issues, such as crime, corruption, and economic chaos?”: Jamaican blogger Life, Unscripted, on the Rock wonders...
Sri Lanka: Video Evidence Of Extra-Judicial Killings Sparks Debate
Prathapa Madhav posts the controversial video clip which was first uploaded in YouTube by the Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) and was subsequently removed by YouTube for violating the terms of use. The gruesome video evidences the way extra-judicial killings were executed by the Sri Lanka’s army during...
Ted Kennedy And The South Asian Immigrants in the USA
Sepia Mutiny, a South Asian diaspora blog from USA remembers how Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy affected the lives of South Asian immigrants by playing an active role in passing the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
Bangladesh: Mourning Senator Edward Kennedy
Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009), the second most senior member of the US Senate, died of cancer last Tuesday. Bloggers recall him as a true friend of Bangladesh and explain why Bangladeshis will remember him forever.
China admits organ harvesting as main source of transplantation
C.A. Yeung highlights China Daily's recent report which admitted that executed prisoners had been the source of more than 65 percent organ transplantation performed in China. The blogger points out that the quoted statistics could be regarded as state secret.
China: Mobile phone and Dissent 2.0
Uln from Chinayouren blogs about his experience in getting dissent messages asking people to quit CCP via mobile phone.
