Stories from 2 September 2009
Jordan: Why was he let off the hook?
“The woman in Malaysia who was to be caned for drinking beer will now wait until after Ramadan for her punishment,” writes Kinzi, who lives in Jordan, and asks: “What I really don’t get is why her husband was let off the hook, and is not facing similar punishment.”
Jordan: Maktoob's Rise
Jordanian site Jazarah discusses the development of Arabic site Maktoob in this post. “Yahoo! and Maktoob officially announced the acquisition of maktoob.com, the largest Arabic website, by the international giant Yahoo! in a multi million deal, the financial figures weren’t announced but expectations suggest the deal worth more than $100...
Jordan: Support Palestinians
From Jordan Ali Dahmash argues for supporting Palestinians by urging Arabs to travel to Jerusalem.
Jordan: Making Lists
Do you make lists to determine the direction of your life? Tololy, from Jordan, shares her experience with making lists in this post.
East Timor: The land was freed, but who owns it?
A decade since Indonesia left East Timor with one of the most devastating scorched earth campaigns of modern times, there is strong debate about the draft Land Law, and among other things, its implications for community lands.
Global Voices seeks co-director for Translation community
Global Voices (GV) is seeking to hire a part-time co-director for Lingua, our translation community.
Sri Lanka: A Journalist Sentenced For 20 Years
Sepia Mutiny reports that Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who has written articles critical of the Sri Lankan government for a magazine, has been sentenced for 20 years hard labor. Groundviews calls the sentencing of Tissainayagam a travesty of justice.
India: The Young And Fair International Actresses In Bollywood
Santosh at Über Desi finds that almost all foreign actresses recently introduced in Bollywood movies are young fair skinned attractive females. The blogger opines that: “an unhealthy obsession with skin color is not a new phenomenon to Indian society, a deep rooted post-colonial hangover, that seems to manifest itself in...
India: Ban On Headscarf In Dakshina Kannada
Hasnain reports that a ban on Headscarves for students is in effect in some colleges of Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, India.
Puerto Rico: Saving the Parrots
Repeating Islands blogs about the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery Program, which is “an effort to conserve, protect, and manage the wild and captive populations of this endemic parrot in order to downlist the species from endangered to threatened.”
Trinidad & Tobago: “Police an’ Tief”
“Many made promises, empty from the start. No one really wants to touch this topic. They will talk, and tell you how brave, how talented, how important. But they stay away from this issue”: Adele Todd tackles “crime in Trinidad and Tobago from four perspectives” during five days of performance...
Trinidad & Tobago: Irresponsibility or Truth?
The debate over the decision of a local daily to publish a photo of a dead baby on its cover rages on – Trinidad and Tobago News Blog re-publishes the paper's response to the firestorm of criticism, while kid5rivers says: “The decision to run with it was the Editor's –...
Jamaica: The Beauty Battle
Although Long Bench is not a fan of beauty pageants, she finds “some of the criticisms about this year’s selection rather disingenuous and void of basic historical perspective. To suggest that a light-skinned woman is not authentically Jamaican – ie. is a foreigner – and therefore should not even be...
Guyana: Lessons Learnt
Guyana-Gyal learns a few life lessons.
Argentina: Tax Dollars for Football Television Rights
David of Artepolítica [es] does not care about football, and does not worry that his tax dollars are being used to purchase the television rights to the Argentine football season. However, he does not buy the argument that the government will make money from the expenditure because of the poor...
Colombia: The Extraordinary UNASUR Meeting in Bariloche
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) recently held an extraordinary meeting in Argentina primarily to discuss the use of Colombian military bases by the U.S. military. Bloggers and twitterers commented during the 6 hour meeting.
Costa Rica: TEDx Event Planned for March 2010
Fusil de Chispas [es] writes about the planned TEDx event for Costa Rica scheduled for March 19, 2010.
China: Shanghai “black girl” abused by racist netizens
Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated a forum post full of abusive and racist comments against Lou Jing, whose is the offspring of an extra-marital relation between her mother and a black American.
China: A blog on rescuing husband
A woman's husband was arrested and sentenced to 14 days in a detention center in Beijing. Apart from trying to give him support, she sets up a blog, Beijing Haze, and writes down what she has been through in the process of finding out what has happened.
China and Japan: New era for Sino-Japanese dynamic?
Angry Chinese Blogger looks into the implications of Japan's election and the shifting of ruling party on the future Sino-Japanese dynamic.
South Korea: 3 bills regarding native English teachers
Matt from Gusts of popular feeling discusses the three bills submitted by Democratic Party representative in the national assembly. The bills require foreign English teachers to have criminal record and health and drug checks before being hired at public or private schools.
