6 January 2010

Stories from 6 January 2010

Azerbaijan: Chess victory

Thoughts on the Road says that while there might be a military stalemate between Armenia and Azerbaijan still locked into a state of war over the disputed territory of Nagorno...

6 January 2010

Bolivia: Bicentennial Mural in La Paz

Blogsasa [es] writes about the unveiling of a mural in La Paz, Bolivia to commemorate the city's bicentennial. There are pictures of the mural that includes 187 historical figures represented,...

6 January 2010

Brazil: 2009 Green Retrospective and COP15

Almost one month since the United Nations Climate Change Conference, bloggers discuss still; as well as criticizing its outcome, year-end-blog-retrospectives mention the event as one of the most important of 2009.

6 January 2010

Caucasus: Unity in Diversity

With three unresolved conflicts and a local media that often self-censors, blogs comment on an online project hoping to break stereotypes by reporting on examples of ethnic groups otherwise in conflict in the South Caucasus co-existing peacefully together.

6 January 2010

India: On Racism In Australia

Madhavi at The Trajectory comments on the Government of India’s advisory for ethnic Indians in Australia and questions – who is over-reacting on the racism issue: India or Australia?

6 January 2010

South Africa: A glowing tribute to Dennis Brutus

The News of the death of Dennis Brutus came as a rude shock to many, not just in South Africa but to the world at large who knew him for his poetry and activism against the Apartheid system in South Africa in the 1960s and his fight for social justice throughout his life.

6 January 2010

Pakistan: Stop Attacks On Asif Ali Zardari

Bilal Qureshi at Pakistan Foreign Policy Blog urges Pakistanis to stop the vicious and vitriolic campaign against President Asif Ali Zardari to keep the country united.

6 January 2010

Bnagladesh: Secularism And Constitution

Bangladesh has proceeded to annul the fifth amendment to the constitution, which will lead to the ban of religion-based politics in the country. Indus Asia Online Journal (iaoj) commented that...

6 January 2010

Colombia: FARC's controversial online presence

Although most of the reactions visible on twitter to a trailer for a documentary made to support the FARC armed forces of Colombia in international venues were skeptical, the existence of dozens of online videos supporting the FARC makes it look like the support or rejection of these so called terrorist groups is not a black or white issue.

6 January 2010

Georgia: Tragedy ushers in the New Year

As citizens of Georgia waited in anticipation of the New Year, two high profile scandals were instead set to dampen the holiday spirit. As part of plans to decentralize government, a Soviet-era statue to thise who died during World War II was set to demolished in Georgia's second largest city to make room for the construction of a new parliament building. A mother and her child were tragically killed.

6 January 2010

Jamaica: Police Power

“Just in case we thought that the Jamaican police were unique in their brand of brutality we are reminded that police forces anywhere can be equal opportunity purveyors of brutality...

6 January 2010

Mozambique: Demise of a massive biofuels project

In late December, the Council of Ministers of Mozambique made a significant announcement. A 30,000ha land concession to biofuels firm Procana had been revoked. The case of the Procana project, on a massive area bordering on the cross-border Limpopo National Park, was polemic from the beginning in 2007.

6 January 2010

Lebanon: Bloggers Participated in “Kolena Laila”

"Kolena Laila"(We are all Laila) is an online initiative that aims to spread awareness about the Arab women in the Middle East and North Africa. In its fourth year, "Laila" got to be Lebanese. Here are some of the Lebanese bloggers' contributions.

6 January 2010

Egypt: “Have a Voice” Campaign

As Egypt gears up for its 2011 presidential elections, a group of bloggers have launched a new campaign to make people believe that they can usher in change and make their voices heard through voting. Eman AbdElRahman rounds up reactions from the Egyptian blogosphere in this post.

6 January 2010

Jordan: Teaching Jordanians To Laugh At Themselves?

The second Amman Stand-Up Comedy Festival was held in December, with comics mostly from North America. The New York Times published an article about the festival entitled "Jordanians Can Take a Joke, Comics Find" – but some bloggers did not appreciate its tone.

6 January 2010