Stories from 8 September 2009
Afghanistan: Protecting People or Bombing Hospitals?
Joshua Foust reports that U.S. forces bombed a hospital in Paktika Province because the hospital was treating a Taliban commander. Moreover, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan claimed the Americans attacked one of their clinics as well.
Colombia: Medellín Celebrates its Festival of Flowers
Every year, the city of Medellín, Colombia, celebrates the Festival of Flowers. This celebration's defining symbol are the "silletas," which are flower displays that are carried throughout the city by the flower carriers.
Turkmenistan: Naval base on the Caspian Sea
Elina Galperin reports that Turkmenistan intends to open a naval base in the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi to fight smugglers, terrorists and any other forces.
Afganistan: Universities and master programs
Afghan PenLog explains why universities in Afghanistan are not academically prepared to offer master programs.
Afghanistan: U.S Army – To Stay or Not to Stay
Safrang reviews the recent opinions on Afghanistan, the new strategic assessment of the counter-insurgency measures and anticipations of the upcoming review of the strategy this fall.
China: New real-name requirement
Rebecca MacKinnon from Rconversation discussed the implementation of real name registration in online discussion and pointed out that the system, started from South Korea, is becoming a global trend.
Bangladesh: To Get An Indian Visa
Kowshik describes the painful ordeal a Bangladeshi has to go through to get an Indian tourist visa from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
Morocco: Moroccan Recipes
The View from Fez shares some Moroccan recipes in this post.
India: How To Stop Online Movie Piracy
Soumyadip at Cutting The Chai discusses ways to curb online movie piracy, which is affecting the Indian movie industry.
Jordan: Migratory Birds over Amman
While driving, Jordanian blogger Naseem Tarawnah “noticed a swarm of birds, possibly the largest I’ve ever seen in Jordan, swooping by.” He had his camera with him and here‘s the proof.
Yemen: Healthcare under the Spotlight
From Yemen, Omar Barsawad complains about the state of government hospitals and asks: “Hadhramout and Yemen as a whole, simply do not have the facilities to handle such kinds of ‘complications’. I have been wondering: if Egypt or Jordan can, why can't Yemen?”
Libya: Meeting the Dentist at Midnight
“Everything gets turned upside down during Ramadan. Tonight I had a dentist appointment at midnight,” complains Khadija Teri, from Libya.
China: Crowdsourcing subtitle translations
Activist Tan Zuoren, little-known outside China, is the inspiration for a new documentary from artist Ai Weiwei and his Sugar Jar posse. Featuring civil rights lawyers Liu Xiaoyuan and Pu Zhiqiang, Chinese netizens have since begun transcribing and translating subtitles for the film.
Iran: ‘Green Movement and Iran's government’
Pejman Elipur‘s cartoon talks about the Iranian opposition (green) movement and the government's attempt to stop it.
Indonesia: Raising toll fees
Youthful Insight from Indonesia advises the government on how to raise toll fees without affecting the inflation