28 August 2008

Stories from 28 August 2008

Iraq: “Egyptians Recruited to Iraq”

“According to Egyptian website Al-Mesryoon, last two months there was a campaign in America to recruit Egyptians as interpreters in the American forces and to be sent to Iraq. The Americans offer Green Card to Egyptians who sign a contract to work for at least six months, and the recruiters...

Iraq: Selling Fuel in Baghdad

“The gas and the fuel for cars has always been a problem for Iraqis inside Iraq, the irony that Iraq has one of the worlds largest reservoirs of oil is not lost on Iraqis,” says Alive in Baghdad, which posts a video on the situation here.

Tunisia: Eleven Minutes

“Another Paulo Coelho book that I've read recently and that I've been meaning to write about is ‘Eleven Minutes’. The book is pretty different from the other books I've read by Paulo Coelho, even though it is equally as great and enjoyable as a book, and inspiring in its own...

Brazil: Digital TV with Digital Rights Managements

  28 August 2008

Sérgio Amadeu [pt] has just learned that the Brazilian National Standards Organization is considering to have Digital TV setup boxes with DRM (Digital Rights Managements). “It is unfortunate that such an issue is decided by a small group of technicians. This decision is not purely technical, it has extremely serious...

Georgia, Russia, Serbia: The Use (or Abuse) of Some Historical Facts?

  28 August 2008

Serbian bloggers follow closely the situation in the Caucasus region. Many of them compared and analyzed the Kosovo issue and the newest opportunities in South Ossetia. Some of them were careful to express their own thoughts and mainly cited thoughts of politicians. Here is a post by a Serbian blogger who quoted in his blog some pieces of the last statements by Russia's government officials, who linked military operations in Georgia to certain historical events.

Brazil: I want to live in Second Life

  28 August 2008

Wanderley Filho [pt] compares, ironically, Brazilian politicians achievements to life on Second Life: a parallel world. “The election air time on TV is a balm to comfort those citizens who imagined that their past elected governments had not done any work for the past 4 years. In a few minutes...

Guinea-Bissau: Travel Pictures

  28 August 2008

Attending requests, Brigida Rocha Brito [pt] publishes some pictures of Forest of Cantanhez, Tombali region in southern Guinea-Bissau, towards Guiné Conacri borders, and promises more soon. “Next there will be new series of pictures from Bissau and a third one from Cachéu, region in the north near the border with...

Angola: Media shut up – again?

  28 August 2008

Eugénio Costa Almeida [pt] is again puzzled by the disappearence of another news portal in Angola, Correio Digital, which displays a “temporarily suspended” error: “What is going on? And this is the second time this happens in a few months. It's an eventual effect of this independent news portal's too...

Kenya: Reproductive Rights Bill Sparks Abortion Debate

  28 August 2008

A bill proposed by Kenyan women's rights groups, which would make it easier to have an abortion, has re-sparked the debate about legalizing abortion. The procedure is currently illegal in Kenya, unless the pregnant woman's life is in danger. Many religious leaders and politicians in the country have spoken out...