Stories from 29 November 2009
Russia: Thousands Protest Against Trading Center Construction
On November 29, thousands of people in Moscow went out on the streets to protest against the construction of a new trading center. This center would replace the “Cherkizovski” market [ENG], which was closed down in June because of many illegal activities on its premises. The photos of the protest...
UAE: .il unblocked?
samuraisam, from the UAE Community Blog, asks: “Has anyone else found the Israeli TLD to be unblocked from the UAE? On my Etisalat connection it seems to be open.”
UAE: Call for Action
UAE blogger An Emirati's Thoughts calls for action following the “recent slump in the confidence in Dubai's debt management capabilities.”
Yemen: An Architectural Gem
Yemeni Omar Barsawad shares with us information on the Yemeni capital San'aa. “Be it in Sana'a Old City or the mud bricked houses of Hadhramout, Yemen's architecture remains very much traditional and unique. And is still being preserved in most parts of the country,” he notes.
Chile: Council Rejects Giant Pope Statue in Santiago
The proposed construction of a giant statue of the late Pope John Paul II that was to be placed in a square of the capital city Santiago, was rejected by Chile's National Monuments Council.
Yemen: The Greatest Journey
Yemeni Omar Barsawad reflects on Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam.
Jordan: Brass Award for The Black Iris
Naseem Tarawnah's The Black Iris won the Brass Crescent award in the Middle East category for the second year in a row.
Bolivia: Citizen Coverage of Upcoming Election
A group of Bolivian bloggers have put together a site called Elecciones 2.0 Bolivia [es] which will provide citizen coverage of the upcoming general elections to be held on December 6.
Ecuador: Carlos Vega Book
In Ecuador, Eduardo Varas reviews the most recent book written by Carlos Vera [es] and its place in the current conflict between the government and the press.
Kyrgyzstan: Water Management
Misha reflects on the problems of water management in Central Asia against the background of the news about glacial retreat in Kyrgyzstan.
Afghanistan: Empowering trading potential
Sanjar shares his idea of creating opprtunities for market linkages between small entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, sellers and businesses in Afghanistan via the use of mobile technologies.
Russia: How Passengers of “Nevsky Express” Tell Their Stories Through Social Media
The crash of the "Nevsky Express" train happened far from any major populated area. It took several hours for reporters to arrive on the spot. Only then the first photographs and videos started to appear everywhere. But what happened to citizen reporting that led the way in the coverage of the plane crash in Russia a year ago?
Russian authorities stop application process for domains in new .РФ zone zone
The Russian Coordination Center for the new national Cyrillic domain .RF stopped the application process for new domains. Anti-cybersquatting measures turned out to be infective and the center plans to review the rules of submission process, Russian news agency Prime-Tass reported [RUS]. It's not clear what will happen to the...
Hungary: Violence “Behind Doors”
This month, Hungarian NGOs joined the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. Marietta Le describes the situation with domestic violence in Hungary and translates one blogger's post on the subject.
