Stories from 7 December 2008
Egypt: Egyptian Dialect Wikipedia
Wikimedia has agreed to create a new section - a Wikipedia in the Egyptian Dialect. This decision was the catalysis for a discussion across the Egyptian blogosphere. Is it a good or a bad move, and is Egyptian and standalone language, or just a dialect of Arabic?
Egypt: Change the Channel Initiative
During the past few months, Egyptians have been haunted with catastrophic headlines and top stories on a daily basis. Amid this grim, Egyptian bloggers decided to revolt against the country's current rueful state and bring out some positive energy to the surface through the “Change the Channel” campaign.
Bangladesh: Eid and Christmas Bazaars
Life as a Tai Tai posts some pictures of Eid and Christmas Bazaars in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
Pakistan: Responding to Thomas L Friedman
Kashkin at Pak Tea House responds to Thomas L Friedman’s article “Calling All Pakistanis” published in the New York Times.
Paraguay: Dependence on Brazil for Bridge Costs
A new bridge over the Paraná River will join Paraguay and Brazil. However, the costs will be financed entirely by Brazil, and Michael Quomo of Zoopolitica [es] believes that it makes his country of Paraguay to be dependent, means “condescension” and “creates informal subordination links.”
Nicaragua: Human Rights March
Ramón writes about the planned civil society march, without the presence of political parties, planned for Nicaragua to commemorate the International Day of Human Rights [es] on December 10.
Mexico: Identifying Stolen Cell Phones
How can one stop the robbery of cell phones in Mexico? Diego of Blog Mx [es] thinks that unique registration codes can help identify the phones, but according to laws the information can only be seen with a judicial order.
Bolivia: Irresponsible Driving in School Zones
Marisol Medina of Lenguas Cultura y Sociedad [es] witnessed an unfortunate accident in El Alto, Bolivia, when a bus hit a student and she faults the bus driver to not being aware of pedestrians in school zones.
Japan: Bloggers’ Meeting on Dec. 18th
Agile Media Network announces [ja] a bloggers meeting on December 18th starting from 19.30 at the Nomura Research Institute [ja]. The event is free and in Japanese. More info in Japanese here. [ja]
Video:What image opened your eyes to human rights?
The sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is on December 10th, and Witness' The Hub team has put together a video that responds to the question: What images have opened your eyes to Human Rights? The video is online right now and with it they are asking all of us to participate by showing and telling the world about the power images have had in making us care about Human Rights.
Japan: Hatena Bottle a spam trap?
In a post entitled, “I realized for the first time yesterday that Hatena is doomed” [昨日初めて「”はてな”はダメだ」と思った], blogger id:grgr56 explains how they tried out the new service “Hatena Bottle” yesterday [ja] and concluded: “Hatena Bottle is a spam trap”: “I noticed [after registering] that mails started coming. […] If you go...
China: Official report — political aristocracy has ruled national wealth
National wealth, as an dauntingly open article in public media suggests, has almost been monopolized by the class of political power. What makes the matter worse is that, the privilege has been passed on to the next generation.
Armenia: CNN Genocide Coverage Controversy
Too short for Armenians and too long for the Turkish government, a two-hour CNN documentary by Christiane Amanpour on genocide includes a 45-second mention of the WWI extermination of Ottoman Empire's indigenous Armenian population. Premiered on December 4, 2008, Scream Bloody Murder has made many Armenian bloggers angry.
Armenia: Earthquake Anniversary
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the 1988 earthquake which devastated parts of northern Armenia including the country's second largest city of Gyumri. Unzipped says that for the estimated 7,000 families which still remain homeless the past two decades have been full of nothing more than empty promises. Meanwhile, Anush...
Japan: Japanese Language Proficiency Test Day
Takeshi at Saigon kara kita tsuma [サイゴンから来た妻] writes about his Vietnamese wife who took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test [en] [日本語能力試験, nihongo nōryoku shiken] today, as do thousands of other people every year who want to test their Japanese level. Seeing his wife to the test site, Takeshi-san was moved...
Korea: Train Connecting North and South Stopped.
The train service that connects North Korea and South Korea was suspended on the 28th of November. [En] When the train that stopped more than 50 years started operating after the North and South Korean summit last year, people were excited and expected closer relations. Due to the increase in...
