Stories from 9 June 2010
Russia: Far East “Partisans” – Nationalists or Corruption Fighters?
Maxim Sviridenkov posts the recording of the coversation with Vladimir Savchenko [RUS], father of one of the members of the Primorsky krai [EN] partisan group. The “Partisans” were claimed to be a nationalist cop-killing gang [EN], although Savchenko says they “went to the woods” because of the police corruption and...
Mali : Chasing TV Sets to Follow the World Cup
In Mali, the World Cup provides a great business opportunity for television repairmen. Boukary Konate, blogging at Fasokan, interviews [Fr] two of them in Korofina, a district of Bamako.
Costa Rica: Chinchilla to Answer Questions Via Web
The blog Fusil [es] posted a YouTube video [es] where Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla talks about her efforts to communicate with the citizenry. As Fusil explains, she will respond via YouTube to questions asked on Google Moderator through Pregúntele a la Presidenta [es] (Ask the President). Users will select what they consider...
Russia: Street Action to Save Khimki Forest
Bloggers Igor Podgorny [RUS] and bb-mos [RUS] post pictures of the street action to protect a historic oak forest north of Moscow. Legally protected Khimki Forest Park is endangered to be completely replaced due to the construction of the new Moscow-St.Petersburg highway [EN].
China: Ongoing online ‘jihad’ against Korean pop fans
Following a stampede outside a Korean boy band concert at the 2010 Expo in Shanghai, an ongoing culture war between China's devoted K-pop fans and their equally crazed World of Warcraft gamer counterparts has broken out in a fresh online skirmish.
Bolivia: The Cost of Internet Domains
In Bolivia, the cost to obtain a country-specific internet domain has been seen as too expensive. Some bloggers and twitterers have expressed their concern on the Facebook page of the state institution administering the domains, and carried over their campaign to their blogs and Twitter accounts.
Rwanda: Following The Peter Erlinder Case
Editions Sources du Nil has been posting several updates about the arrest of US citizen Peter Erlinder on May 28th, charged with denial of genocide (fr). They report that his detention has been prolonged and that he seems to be weakened since his arrest (fr).
Jamaica: Caribbean-American
What does it mean to be a Caribbean-American? Diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp asks someone who knows.
Cuba: Slow Going
While the Cuban government and the Catholic Church engage in talks, Without Evasion says any developments “are absolutely insufficient and extremely slow with respect to the ultimate objective of the civic resistance of The Ladies in White and Guillermo Fariñas: their definitive liberation.”
Chad: Regional Conference on the Issue of Child Soldiers
A conference on the prevention of enrollment of child soldiers took place in Ndjamena (fr). Mak reports that there are between 7,000 to 10,000 child soldiers in Chad (fr).
Bahamas: Budget Perspectives
Larry Smith at Bahama Pundit examines “how [the country's] economic circumstances have evolved over the past decade.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Dual Role
KnowTnT.com sees “three pillars” regarding “the issue of whether the new Minister of Works and Transport, Mr Jack Warner, should resign his FIFA Vice-President and CONCACAF President roles.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Media & Food
“The food industry is engaged in a number of strategies, sometimes considered questionable, to control the dissemination of information and the general response to their products”: Simply Trini Cooking considers how advertising influences food choices.
Russia: Prosecutor's Office Forces Provider to Close Website
Prosecutor's office of Zabaikalsky region [EN] demanded to block [RUS] the website of newspaper “Russkoye Zabaikalie” (previously available at www.srn.megalink.ru), whose content has been officially recognized as “extremist.” Earlier, the newspaper's editor was given a 1-year suspended sentence [RUS] for xenophobic and anti-Semitic articles.
Brazil: “Why does not Brazil want to punish torturers?”
Leonardo Sakamoto asks [pt] a tough question that many Brazilians have posed to themselves: “Why does not Brazil want to punish torturers?”. He quotes a recent poll in which Brazilian population said that they do not want to punish those who tortured hundreds of people during the 1964 military dictatorship...
Armenia: Music video homophobia concerns
The Armenian Observer posts a video by a British-Armenian band, VO.X., saying that the song, I Love Armenia, contains some powerful messages. However, while Unzipped:Gay Armenia agrees to some extent, it also notes that the messages are not always positive. This is especially true for what the blog says is...
Japan: Threatened theaters decline to screen “The Cove”
Following threatening calls and protest by right-wing activists, some theaters decided to pull "The Cove". Bloggers discuss the pros and cons of screening the documentary in the country, where it was filmed.
Thailand: Facebook membership surged during crisis
Social networks, particularly facebook, gained a lot of new users during the Red Shirt protests in Thailand
Timor Archives
Timor Archives blog is a project to “identify any privately-held Australian collections of documentary material on East Timor (1974-1999).”
East Timor: “Government needs a proofreader?”
The Lost Boy identifies the grammar errors in a press statement released by the Ministry of Defence and Security of Timor Leste
Brunei: Energy Saving Campaign
The eSaving SOS campaign in Brunei received 958 individual pledges and a total of 103 organisation pledges.
