26 May 2007

Stories from 26 May 2007

Ukraine: Politics Overdose

Ukraine is going through a highly complicated political conflict right now, and its outcome is yet to be seen. But one thing seems clear: many Ukrainians, on whose behalf the politicians involved in the current feud claim to be acting, suffer from politics overdose (and from unusually hot weather). Below is the translation of what two Ukrainian journalists think about Ukraine's political and climatic heat.

Iran: A Bloody Face Symbolizes the Violent Repression of Women

On Sunday a young woman in Tehran became the latest victim of the crackdown. Citizen reporters captured photographs of her bloodied face which were subsequently published on many Iranian weblogs. According to some reports she was filming the police crackdown on women when she was attacked herself by police. Some eyewitnesses say the police wanted to push her into their car because of how she was dressed and she resisted.

Nepal: The Mount Everest Buzz

  26 May 2007

Every mountaineering season, Mount Everest attracts hundreds of climbers from all over the world. Sherpas are key to successful ascent, but they do not get due credit.

Morocco blocks access to YouTube

Yesterday, May 25, 2007, it has been reported by numerous Moroccan blogger that Morocco has blocked access to YouTube video sharing website. There have been many ongoing speculations that the ban followed the broadcasting of material critical of the country's king and pro-Western Sahara. This is the third major sites...

Lotto Fever strikes BIG in Japan

  26 May 2007

People across Japan turned out in large numbers last week to line up and get their hands on tickets for “BIG”, a variation on the soccer lottery “toto” operated by the National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health. The combined sales figure for all soccer lottery tickets was...

Morocco blocks popular video site YouTube

Early this morning, the news broke across the blogosphere that Morocco has joined the ranks of countries like Iran and Tunisia, which already block YouTube. A Moroccan in Washington D.C. posted: “According to postings online and friends in Morocco, access to Youtube is blocked. Nobody knows the reason for this....

Singapore's Myanmarese Go Online for Double Taxation Petition

  26 May 2007

Myanmar residents abroad have to pay an additional tax to the Myanmar government in addition to the tax they pay in their host countries. Failure to pay this this tax results in Myanmar embassy denying them consular services. Myanmarese residents in Singapore are using their blogs and other online means to get support for a petition to avoid this double taxation.

Korea:Is Sexual Harrassment just for Women?

  26 May 2007

While sexual harassment is regarded as the worst scenario that would happen to women and the weak, a male blogger insists that men also run into harassment in their daily lives through his and his friends’ experiences. His post has received a lot of responses especially from young bloggers. It...

Brazil, Uruguay: Videos of OLPC's XO Computer in Action

  26 May 2007

One Laptop Per Child News, an independent blog that provides “news, information, commentary and discussion” of the XO recently added videos of children in Uruguay and Brazil test driving their new laptops. The post's author, Charbax, writes, “I think that the OLPC foundation just needs to make sure that a...

Colombia: Nostalgia for Colombian Television

  26 May 2007

Carlos Raúl van der Weyden takes a trip down nostalgia lane after finding several YouTube channels devoted to old Colombian television programming. News programming and telenovelas are some of the programs featured in his roundup on the Colombia Herald.