Stories from 21 January 2010
Russia: Project Aims To Translate Popular Blogs Into Russian
The World Wide Web now hosts a new project that aims to make English-speaking blogosphere more accessible to Russians. Inoblogger [RUS] is a Web site that will be translating the most popular IT-related blog posts from all over the Web into Russian.
Malian Bloggers on the 2010 African Cup of Nations
Toujours pas sages from Bamako, Mali and elsewhere share [Fr] everything you wish to know about the Soccer African Cup of Nations on CAN 2010, a blog created for the occasion by members of French Lingua team Boukary Konate and Claire Ulrich. The blog enables you to follow the games...
Sri Lanka: Meditate For A Peaceful Election
Sarvodaya, the largest NGO in Sri Lanka, has launched a 12 day long campaign comprising of a series of island-wide mass public events and daily meditations to ensure a peaceful presidential election.
Haiti: “We’re all eight days old”
Bloggers and Twitter users on the ground in Haiti continue to provide news on efforts to recover from the disastrous earthquake of 12 January, and comment on "aid politics" — who gets helped by whom.
India: The Need For A Micropayments Infrastructure
Rajesh Jain at Emergic stresses the need for “a friction-free person-to-person micropayments capability, much like PayPal” in India. Read the series here: (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)
Japan: Kawaii Ambassadors
Harvey blogs about the appointment three Kawaii ambassadors by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The government expects they will increase international understanding of Japan and its people.
China: The Internet is freer than ever?
C. Custer criticized Shaun Rein’s recent column in Forbes about China internet freedom.
Japan: Tweeting Politicians
The Twitter application Politter offers lists of tweets from the official accounts of Japanese politicians. It also has an interface for hashtags related to politics. @masamix0417 uses it instead of following the politicians on Twitter. [ja]
Kenya: Kiswahili an optional subject
Bumni writes about the decision to make Kiswahili an optional subject in Kenya: “The subject will no longer be a compulsory paper in the Standard Eight national examinations…”
Japan: Differing viewpoints on the US base relocation issue
The southern Japanese island of Okinawa, the first colony of Japan in the 19th century and the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the WW2, has become in the past months both the symbol and the object of a diplomatic dispute between Japan and the U.S. It began...
Africa: AfricaKnows Project
Erik discusses AfricaKnows Project: “AfricaKnows is a new project by TED Fellows Josh Wanyama and Sheila Ochugboju. Their job: to tell a different story of Africa, through big pictures that let you see directly into the heart of African cities.”
Zimbabwe: The state of Zimbabwean economy
The state of the economy in Zimbabwe from Economic Views of Zimbabwe blog: “We closed 2009 with an average inflation rate of minus 7,7%, but from April this year it is likely that the negative numbers will start moving quickly into less comfortable positive inflation rate figures. Because of the...
Haiti: French-speaking bloggers react to the 6.2 aftershock
Bloggers at Espas Ayisyen and Potoprincipe describe the severe 6.2 aftershock which hit Haiti this morning. They both sense fear among not only the population but also the foreign rescuers.
Philippines: Online behavior of netizens in 2009
Tonyo Cruz highlights the top online campaigns in the Philippines in 2009. He also noted the rising number of internet users in the country
East Timor: Rising cost of living
Residents are complaining about the rising cost of living in Dili, East Timor.
Indonesia: Pop music hits
The Lost Boy samples the latest pop music hits from Indonesia.
Kucku: Vietnam-based social media site
Kucku is a Vietnam-based microblog platform that helps users to send quick messages about what they are thinking or just found out.
East Timor: Travel notes of a Singapore journalist
A Singaporean journalist writes his impressions of East Timor when he visited the country upon the invitation of East Timor leaders.
Indonesia: Twitter capital of Asia
Indonesia is the Twitter capital of Asia. It ranks 6th in the world with the most number of twitter users and tweets contributed in the web
Thailand: Mobile internet users
Latest data shows Thailand has 12 million mobile internet users.
Egypt: America and Israel get to choose the new president
The chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Egyptian Parliament, Dr Mostafa El Feki, in his article in Al Masry Al Youm Newspaper, stated that America and Israel have to approve of President Mubarak's successor. Zeinobia blogs the Presidency's disapproval.
