Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2008 August 07

7 August 2008

Daily archive · 3 posts

Stories from 7 August 2008

Lebanon: Fires and Global Warming

Written by Moussa Bashir · Middle East & North Africa

Summer forest fires have been erupting in what is left of the Lebanese wilderness for years now. And every year, the blame game is played; starting with parties and politicians blaming each other for not being prepared, to blaming each other for intentionally starting the flames. So, what do the bloggers have to say about this?

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Jamaica: Independence Day

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · Caribbean

Jamaica just celebrated its 46th year of Independence from Britain and several bloggers marked the occasion with posts that ranged from thoughtful critiques to excited celebration...

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Korea: Threatening Books and Their Popularity

Written by Hyejin Kim · East Asia

Several days ago, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) in Korea categorized 23 books as threatening books and decided to forbid those books in libraries in the army units because...

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Updates from 7 August 2008

Bahrain

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif claims the country's Ministry of Information, responsible for censorship, has been visiting his blog, where he maintains a list of banned blogs and sites.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Bahrain

Bahrain's King has pardoned 225 people arrested for taking part in demonstrations, reports blogger Mahmood Al Yousif. “His majesty might also consider the fact that without such social justice, many of those released and others might continue to demonstrate to express their chagrin at the iniquitous circumstances they find themselves in,” he adds.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanon

To cater to different readers, Lebanese blogger Mustapha has tweaked his blog - Beirut Spring. The Beirut Spring ‘family' is now made up of Beirut Spring Tabloid and Beirut Spring Business.

• Nash Suleiman

Kuwait

Writing at ZDistrict, Kuwaiti blogger Marzooq says a new law will soon be introduced to ensure complete segregation in gyms.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Iran

Mohmmad Ali Abtahi, former vice president and blogger, says[Fa] that Syria plays with Iran card for its own interests. Contrary to Syria's policy, Iran supported this country when it was in trouble.

• Fred Petrossian

China

Off the Map blogger Sean Gorman and friends have taken Chinese government pollution data and made a mashup map of pollution levels in the areas surrounding Olympic venues in Beijing. Code to embed the map here.

• John Kennedy

Iran

A judiciary spokesman said that the punishment of death by stoning has been suspended in Iran.Amatour, an Iranian blogger, calls[Fa] this decision a very good news and remind us that several high ranked clerics have been against stoning.

• Fred Petrossian

Russia

Eternal Remont posts an ironic comment, based on a Financial Times article, about the new drive in Russia to find suitable civil servants.

• Vilhelm Konnander

China

Following last month's Olympics terrorism threat/confession video claiming to be from a group called the Turkestan Islamic Party, another video has been released. Judging from the look of it, this clip will be even less convincing than the one before it. See the Xinjiang-based The New Dominion and The Opposite End of China bloggers for details and analysis of the larger situation.

• John Kennedy

China

An indignant French-writing journalist has, along with a lengthy rant, posted video taken this week during an opening ceremony rehearsal inside the Bird's Nest. Hong Kong entertainer Jackie Chan and Tibetan singer Han Hong can be seen on stage. Note that in the comments one reader shares the most popular rumor as to who (or what) will be symbolically wrapping up this year's Olympic torch relay…in just over twelve hours.

• John Kennedy

Ukraine: Homophobic Legal Initiatives in Sync with Public Attitudes

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