4 March 2008
Stories from 4 March 2008
Ecuador: Breaking Diplomatic Ties With Colombia
Ecuadorians are divided regarding the incidents along Ecuador's Northern border with Colombia, when the Colombian army attacked a group of FARC guerrillas, killing a top leader, Raul Reyes. As a result President Rafael Correa decided to break off diplomatic relations with Colombia because the attack occurred on Ecuadorian soil. Some bloggers agree with the president, but others are wondering what the FARC was doing in Ecuador and their relationship with the Correa government.
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Japan: The decline of pachinko
A staple of the modern Japanese cityscape, pachinko parlors employ a third of a million people in Japan, draw in an estimated 30 trillion yen per year, and entice roughly one quarter of the country's entire population to play at least occasionally, 17 million of them on a regular basis. With plans underway to legalize and regulate casinos in Japan, the status of such pachinko parlors has been put into question, sparking a re-assessment, in comments and blog posts, of the place of gambling in modern Japanese society.
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Guatemala: Addressing the Energy Crisis
Guatemala is the midst of an energy crisis. Some non-governmental organizations are experimenting with alternative fuels, and the national authorities are relying on dam projects, which has caused resistance from the local populations. The government has even adjusted daylight savings time to save energy. However, no solution has yet to solve this problem and local bloggers add their thoughts.
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Russia: Anglophone Bloggers Discuss the Presidential Election
"On the day that I turned 42, Russia elected a president who is also 42. I grew up in a world in which the Russian (then Soviet) presidents were basically the oldest men in the world." Read a few samplings of the coverage this past Sunday's Russian presidential election has received in the English-language blogosphere.
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Hello Kasnar, I regret to say that those type of programmes are very common all over Brazil, both on local and...
Wow!!. I'm an American and I do not speak Portuguese well if at all. I did find it strange...