Stories from 16 January 2006
Armenia: Bid for Power
Oneworld Multimedia reports on an Armenian oligarch's bid for power.
Afghan Whispers
Afghan Reality says that according to a poll released by WorldPublicOpinion.org, 83 per cent of respondents think things in the country are going in the right direction. The blogger adds: “Two imporant considerations must be taken into stock: a greater need for labour intensive programs to tackle the ‘opium economy’...
Ukraine: Gas Pains
foreign notes says that Ukraine's natural gas problems are politically hurting the president's bloc.
Hungary: Chinese Cooperation
Central Budapest Blog reports an encouraging sign of Chinese-Hungarian business cooperation.
Albania: Dream On
Our Man in Tirana says that Albanians are incredibly optimistic about when their country will enter the EU.
Taiwan: Chinese Fire Drill
Taiwanonymous describes the unique fire escape items used in Taiwan, including a plastic “smoke-free” bag one puts over one's head while fleeing.
China, Vietnam: Character-less
Pinyin News translates comments by a Chinese writer who claims that the foundation for Vietnamese culture is “extremely superficial” since Vietnam gave up writing Vietnamese in Chinese characters.
Biking to WSF
Colombian ecologists are riding their bikes from Pamplona (Colombia) to Caracas (Venezuela) to attend the WSF. The 8-days tour aims to promote environmentally friendly transportation.
El Salvador: Highest Murder Rate in Latin America
Tim points to a new report by Prensa Grafica which lists El Salvador as having the highest murder rate in Latin America.
Argentina: Tourism's Good and Bad
Jeff Barry writes out his definitive list of 30 things to do when visiting Buenos Aires while Jorge Gobbi takes a closer look at the negative impact tourism can play in the city of Tilcara.
Chilean Elections in the Blogosphere
Este artículo fue traducido por Fernando Meza. On Sunday, Michelle Bachelet, the socialist candidate, won the Chilean presidential election over the more conservative Sebastián Piñera with 53.5% of the vote. One would expect the blog reaction to be equally split. Interestingly, when I checked Technorati earlier today, the posts were...
China: Chinese Map of the Americas
Frog in a Well, the China history blog, weighs in on the ongoing discussion over a 15th-century map allegedly showing that the Chinese encountered the Americas before Europe did.
China: Coverage of the Zhongshan Incident
EastSouthWestNorth posts selections from English-language and Chinese-language (translated into English) coverage of the “Zhongshan incident” — a clash over the weekend between protesting villagers and local authorities in Guangdong province.
Hong Kong: Expatriate Pay
The Hong Kong legislature is apparently considering a law to curb the “expat package” — the controversial practice of company offices paying Western foreign workers more in benefits and salaries than similarly qualified locals. OrdinaryGweilo — himself an expat — doesn't think such legislation is necessary given the changing economy,...
South Korea: Presidential Overblog
Apparently, South Korean president Roh Moo Hyun has three blogs. Writes Oranckay: “Some have said one of Roh’s biggest problems is that he’s got his head buried in the internet. You know, instead of just governing without constantly trying to be best buddies with The Netizens all the time. I...
Singapore: Blog “Queen” in Another Controversy
Recall Xiaxue, who soon after New Year's 2006 started an online petition to ban aerosol foam sprays from Singapore after unhappy encounters with both foam sprays and Bangladeshi foreign workers on New Year's Eve? No you don't. But many Singapore bloggers do. Some have accused her of thinly-veiled racism against...
Vietnam: Noodlepie's Podcast
Vietnam-based foodblogger and freelance journalist Noodlepie takes a breather from his usual offerings to expound on blogs and journalism on his blog and in a podcast interview. “Rethink newspapers. Give every journalist a blog,” he writes, in his further thoughts on his new blog space, stillbop.
Uruguay: News Aggregator
Pablo Hoffman (ES) has created an aggregator of Uruguayan news (ES) using his own open source project, Noti. The site, called NotiUY has a handy RSS feed.
This Week in Palestinian Blogs: It's the Little Things That Matter
News of the blogosphere… Laila from Raising Yousuf reports that the big day of elections is less than two weeks away. She has been recruited by the Guardians Unlimited to write about the elections in a series of posts. From Ramallah Online, in Palestinian village of Al-Walaja people still live...
India: Into the temples
India: Into the temples
Nepal: Thangka paintings
Nepal: Thangka paintings
