Stories from 13 August 2007
Indonesia: Miss Universe Go Back
Japundit links to a news story where visiting Japanese Miss Universe Riyo Mori was given a cold reception by protesters in West Java, Indonesia. The protesters are a part of a hardline Islamic group that opposes the exploitation of beauty.
Malaysia: Human Trafickers Friends With Authorities
KTEMOC comments on the complicity of Malysian officials with human traffickers as reported by NBC and highlighted by another online news site.
Singapore: Senseless Records
DK is not amused by the world records that Singaporeans are happy breaking.
Russia: Part of Europe
Having spent some time in Moscow, Jonathan Power of Wanabehuman became convinced that “the EU must now pick up the unfinished business of modernising and stabilising Russia that ended in 1914. […] Russians, I dare to suggest, would welcome it.”
Ukraine: Update on Politics
Europhobia posts an update on the current political situation in Ukraine and calls to the EU to take action: “Ukraine is simply too important a neighbour to just sit back and ignore – yet that is what the EU has largely been happy to do for much of the last...
Eastern Europe: Flat Tax
Transatlantic Politics reports: “The Eastern European countries are engaging in what seems to be a race to the bottom in the implementation of a flat tax policy & rate.”
Russia: Book on Lenin, Stalin and Hitler
The Economist's Edward Lucas reviews a book on “the three monsters of 20th-century Europe”: Lenin, Stalin and Hitler.
Russia: Gender-Bent Dolls
Boing Boing reports on “gender-bent dolls” and snow sled that are “causing upset” in Russia.
Serbia: “Nefertiti” by Jasmina Tešanović
Boing Boing hosts the HTML version of Jasmina Tešanović's latest novella, “Nefertiti” – Creative Commons-licensed, featuring stencil art from Aleksandra Petković.
Russia: Views on Blogging
"Anyone who has a LiveJournal or any other blog is a person with an obvious psychological pathology," said one Russian writer in a recent newspaper interview. Gallery owner Marat Guelman responded to this harsh judgment on his blog, and his readers then shared their views on what blogging is and isn't.
India: On Museums
Youth Curry on museums in India, and how they could improve a visitor's experience.
Pakistan: Bad infrastructure
KO on rain bringing Karachi's infrastructure to a standstill, and why bad infrastructure is worse than terrorism.
Pakistan: Celebrating Independence
Metroblogging Lahore has photographs capturing the spirit of celebration to the run-up to Pakistan's Independence Day on August 14th.
Bangladesh: August in 1947 and 1990
The month of August and the flood of memories at Addafication. Partition in 1947, and memories of the author's family living in Kuwait in 1990, during the Iraqi invasion.
Africa: Beautiful Africa Blog Carnival
The third edition of Beautiful Africa Blog Carnival: “Just wanted to let you know that the next edition of Beautiful Africa is due in a week. Time to read through your blog again and look at the posts you've written (in order to see if there is anything amidst all...
Africa: the music of Samba Mapangala and Dar International
Steve Ntwiga's musical link takes you to East Africa: Meet Samba Mapangala and Dar International.
Zimbabwe: commercially insane
The failure of the business community in Zimbabwe to confront Mugabe is “commercially insane”: Business has become the latest target of the Mugabe regime, and yet in the face of all of this, it remains reluctant to criticise or confront him directly. The Mail & Guardian recently leaked the contents...
South Africa: what is the future of Facebook in South Africa?
What is the future of Facebook in South Africa?: “THE calls are growing for facebook to be banned from offices around the country as bandwidth is soaked up by “social networking”. This is one workplace where it would be crazy to do that. Facebook has well over 150 000 users...
Liberia: pro-Charles Taylor signs
You might have missed the story about pro-Charles Taylor signs in Monrovia: “As previously mentioned here, and often mentioned in articles by visiting international reporters, for about six months now there's been a pro-Charles Taylor billboard posted at the corner of 20th Street and Tubman Blvd, behind a high wall...
Kenya: civil society protest
Mental Acrobatics marched last week with other Kenyan activists: “On Wednesday afternoon I joined civil society activist in a peaceful march to parliament to present a petition to parliament protesting against the Media Bill passed by parliament which is now awaiting presidential consent and the corrupt, immoral, illegal “gratuity” payment...
Lebanon: Analyzing the By–Election Results
Are you interested in finding out the different interpretations for the results of the by–elections held last week in Lebanon? Then you have to read this week’s round up of the Lebanese blogosphere.
