Stories from 25 January 2008
Guatemala: Esquipulas and Rabinal, Two Symbols of Peace
Two villages in Guatemala, which were the site of brutal violence during the armed conflict, celebrate very important festivities in January - "Esquipulas" and "Rabinal". These communities have been able to resume these celebrations after the war ended and have become symbols of peace for the country.
Tunisia: An Introduction
The "Tunisphere" is a group a passionate Internet users and bloggers even if their number is not as high as in neighbouring countries like Morocco. Naruto introduces us to some of his country's leading bloggers in his first post for Global Voices Online.
Brazil: How the USA backed the dictatorship
Luiz Carlos Azenha [pt] has started a series of posts in which he intends to translate all the official documents about the American support to the 1964 coup in Brazil, currently kept by George Washington University's National Security Archives. In this second post, he deciphers a “message from the then...
Serbia: Australian Open Finalists
Belgrade 2.0 writes poignantly and at length about “a fairytale ending; two Serbian tennis players in the finals of the Australian Open.”
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Srebrenica Child Victims
Srebrenica Genocide Blog republishes a list of child victims of the Srebrenica massacre issued by Bosnia & Herzegovina's Federal Commission for Missing Persons.
Lusosphere: Child survival
UNICEF has just published its annual analysis of the mortality rate of children under 5 years. Among the conclusions, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, East Timor and Cape Verde have rates far above the admissible, considering Brazil as the standard intermediate and Portugal as the only one...
Ukraine: Tymoshenko and Bohatyryova
Dan McMinn returns to Ukraine and resumes blogging at Orange Ukraine; one of his first posts is on two Ukrainian women politicians: Yulia Tymoshenko and Raisa Bohatyryova.
Brazil: São Paulo's 454th anniversary in Second Life
Andre Lemos [pt] reports that, to celebrate the anniversary of 454 years of São Paulo, Second Life has inaugurated its main avenue in the virtual world at the New Island Brazil (183, 182, 41). “At least 20 thousand users are expected to take part of the celebration to launch the...
Bahrain: Save the Patients
A doctor by profession, Bahraini in Alaska is appalled with the inhumane manner in which certain patients are dealt with at the main government hospital in Bahrain.
Bolivia: Television Station Logo Knockoff
Rodrigo Serrate of La TeVelisión [es] notes the obvious similarities in the new logo of the Bolivian channel Gigavision and the Argentine station Telefe.
Ukraine: NATO Problems
Foreign Notes writes about the bad timing of the current NATO-related initiatives undertaken by Ukraine's leaders.
Russia: Ukok Princess
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about plans to re-bury the mummy of a Scythian princess in the capital of Russia's Altai Republic.
Yemen blocks independent news websites
Numerous Yemeni websites have been blocked recently by government-controlled ISPs. Among them is the popular YemenPortal, Yemen’s first multi-source news crawler and search engine, which extracts headlines from news sites that are being blocked by the authorities. YemenPortal is inviting Yemeni internet users to access the website through a mirror they build at yemen.arabiaportal.net.
Kuwait: Get Children off the Streets
Fonzy from Kuwait calls upon parents to get children off the streets – where accidents are waiting to happen.
Morocco: Obama and Religion
“Thanks to Barack Obama, Islam may have to redefine “believer” in Islamic terms as well as who is considered a Muslim, or the world community may have to start working on a new definition for “ethnic Muslim” to accommodate complicated individuals such as Mr. Obama,” writes Myrtus from Morocco.
Lebanese Contestant in Italy's Big Brother
Beirut-born Ali Ayach, 28, is one of the nineteen contestants in the eighth edition of Grande Fratello, Italy's version of Big Brother, reports Lebanese blogger Skylark.
Kuwait: 42pc Women in Labour Force
From Kuwait, Fonzy sheds light on labour statistics in the oil-rich country – where women make up 42 per cent of the work force.
Bahrain: A Walk in Town
To avoid getting stuck in traffic, Bahraini blogger Ammar walks to a nearby meeting with his camera in hand.
Nari Jibon: Bloggers discussing education, emancipation and poverty
Since July Nari Jibon Project staff and students have posted more than 170 articles (in both Bangla and English). Today we feature their stories about their livelihoods and their perspectives about poverty, emancipation and importance of education for women.
Iran:Logos to support Gaza
Muslim Bloggers Association has published a couple of logos[Fa] to support Palestinians in Gaza strip.One of logos says:”Gaza is a land of resistance in blood and fire.”
Lebanon: Car Bomb Targets Counter-Terrorism Captain
Yet another terrorist attack targeted Lebanon leaving behind deaths and destruction. Today, at 10am local time, a car bomb killed Lebanon’s active counter–terrorism police officer, Captain Wissam Eid and three others. The explosion along the Hazmieh highway, just on the outskirts of Beirut, also wounded 38 other persons. Moussa Bashir sums up some of Lebanese bloggers’ reactions to the incident.
