Stories from 1 November 2006
Senegal: If Africa Had Not Been Colonized
Chroniques de Ndoumbelane dislikes (Fr) the question “If Africa had not been colonized, would it now be developed?“. Instead the blogger prefers to think of an alternative history where “the west would have encountered other civilizations without destroying them.”
Madagascar: Development through Onion?
Since onion is such a staple of Malagasy cuisine, Aiky at Madagascar Croissance would like to see (Fr) more exploitation of the food for exports.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Jumbie leggo
Abeni no longer believes that hundreds of “jumbies” roam around during the “jumbie leggo” on November 1st and 2nd: “However, I find myself wishing there was some truth to the old tale. It would be so nice to see the dearly departed if only for two days.”
Celebrating Eid ul-Fitr the Blogger Way
Some Indonesian bloggers still talk about Eid ul-Fitr, or something to do with it, days after it passed for various reasons. Agus Setiawan at Blogonesia, for example, discusses the recent fatwa (religious decree) made recently by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Indonesian Muslim organisation, in which it stated that watching...
Japan: school bullying
The school bullying in Japan becomes a social problem related with racial discrimination. Debito reports on a recent court case disclosing the details of a nasty bullying of a third-grade female student who has a Chinese father.
Japan: mobile phone battle
According to Alexpappas in Japundit, the battle is between mobile phone companies, NTT DoCoMo and Softbank over “unfair advertising”.
Hong Kong: the story of a cleaning woman
ESWN translates a feature story on the 12 hours working day of a cleaning woman in Hong Kong. On average she earns HKD$10 (USD$1.2) per hour. Yet the government is still hesitated to pass the law on minimum wage protecting cleaning women and security guards.
China: TCL withdraw from Europe
Fang Jun in mindmeter reports that TCL, one of the biggest electronic appliance producers, is about to withdraw from Europe market. In the first half year, TCL has lost HKD758 millions (USD 1 million) in Europe market. It is not always a good strategy to go global (zh).
China: Baidu's performance
Keso comments on Baidu's performance. Even if the company has an increase in profit, its stock price drops. In order to fulfill the estimated stock price in 2 years, the company has to have 100% increase in profit annually (zh).
China: property developers
Tsinghua university architecture department Zhou Rong criticise property developers for promoting luxurious lifestyle in their designs which are very much against people's need – more from sohoxiaobao (zh).
China: no censorship!
Will at imaginethief comments on the recent Chinese official, Yang Xiaokun's statement that China has no censorship! – an insult to people's intelligence and a PR suicide.
The Week that Was – Bolivian Blogs
What would happen with the fast approaching deadline that required all oil companies operating in Bolivia to renegotiate their contracts? This deadline was set in accordance to the decree of nationalization of the hydrocarbons that sought to give back ownership back to the state. Many speculated that the companies would...
Mexico: Oaxaca Update
El Blog de Rodrigo [ES], Ana Maria Salazar, El Sendero del Peje [ES], and Mark in Mexico [ES] continue their near-hourly updates on the tension in Oaxaca. Blog.com.mx draws a comparison [ES] between Apple Computer's hesitation to license its software and President Fox's decision to send in federal troops: both...
Colombia, Peru: Medellin Poetry Festival
Liz Henry recounts an incredible (if not completely credible) story about the 1995 Medellin Poetry Festival where poets were kidnapped until they secured their freedom by reciting poetry to their captors. For more info on this year's Medellin Poetry Festival, check out Henry's post and the blogs she links to.
Bolivia: New Contracts with Oil Companies
Gretchen Gordon takes a look at Bolivia's renegotiated contracts with foreign oil companies. Miguel Buitrago, posting a graph of the new agreements, writes: “I haven't looked at it in detail, but on the fly I am thinking, if the companies agreed to this conditions, if they agreed to keep investing,...
Panama: Panamanians and Halloween
Rob Rivera paints with broad strokes what one can expect of Halloween in Panama.
Nicaragua: Elections This Weekend
Campaigning (and the consumption of alcohol) has ended in Nicaragua with Ortega in the lead, writes Erwin Cifuentes in a well-linked pre-election wrap up. Bloggings by Boz has three observations to keep in mind for on Sunday's election.
Panama: The Zombie Walk
Panama was invaded by Zombies on October 28th. The event promoted by Rob Rivera and ButterFest Media was a total success. The walk started by Parque Urraca in Avenida Balboa and ended outside of the Unplugged Bar in Avenida Uruguay. For more information on this activity visit Jorge Yau's blog,...
El Salvador: Update on Solidarity Net
Tim Muth gives an update on Solidarity Net, “the program of president Tony Saca's government to provide subsidies of $30 to $40 per month to poor families with children.”
Czech Republic: “Hiking Heaven”
My Czech Republic Blog writes about the country that is “the hiking heaven” and “a world trail marking superpower.”
Belarus: Activist Sentenced
TOL's Belarus Blog posts a weekly digest of the Belarusian blogosphere and writes about the sentencing of a young activist.
