16 May 2007
Stories from 16 May 2007
Kurdistance: The Honor Killing of Dua
This may seem like old news....but it isn't. Even though the tragic honor killing of a young girl in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan took place in early April, sometimes the meaning of these sad stories take a while to surface. There are conflicting reports about how 17-year-old Dua died, some say that she was lynched, some stoned to death, others say both. What we do know was that Dua was a young girl in love, who left her Yezidi faith to live her life with a man that she loved. She was brave and idealistic; and she died horribly because of it. A mob of Yezidi men dragged her into the street, tore her clothes to shame her, and then the mob killed her...the final blow being a large rock taken to her head. And someone filmed this horror, which is floating around the internet somewhere if you truly wish to see it. What is important, is that this tragedy not only is sad in the individual sense of this girl's death, it is also sad in what it signifies for a culture and society eager to change, but unable to, as the Kurdish bloggers point out.
Iran: Police Officer Kicks Woman
Iranian authorities are fighting against women on at least two fronts. On one side, women activists protesting for equal rights are sent to prison and persecuted. On the other side,...
Earthquake in Laos, Felt in Thailand
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck north western Laos on Wednesday afternoon. There are only a handful of bloggers inside Laos and no one has talked about the quake as of yet. In neighboring Thailand, some bloggers wrote about the tremors.
Conservation 2.0: Congo Park Rangers Bring Global Attention To Endangered African Wildlife
Conservation, like many other areas of our professional, political and social life, is currently adapting to new trends in information and communication technologies. Despite the colossal digital divide that exists in the Democratic Republic of Congo, blogs are becoming an important information and communication weapon in the hands of Congo park rangers. Since last year, Congo park rangers have been using blogs to tell their stories and voices from the deepest part of Africa for a global audience. Armed with blogs and cameras, the elite park rangers highlight stories, which have hitherto been mostly ignored by the mainstream media.
Peru: The Grupo Néctar Tragedy
The tragic death of thirteen members of the popular Peruvian band Grupo Néctar in an automobile accident sent shockwaves through the Peruvian blogosphere. Juan Arellano collects these tributes and links about their sudden passing.




































In my opinion, the only slang from this list which is falling out of vogue is the nickname of Medvedev...
I'm from Russia, use internet daily, and I didn't know half of these words. The other slang words are not...