· July, 2007

Stories about Breaking News from July, 2007

China: Released documents implicate Yahoo!

  31 July 2007

A Beijing State Security Bureau document has been released, writes Rebecca MacKinnon at RConversation, which shows Yahoo! was aware at the time the reason why Beijing authorities wanted access to the content of Chinese journalist Shi Tao's e-mail account, later sent to prison for ten years. And there's more.

Malaysia: GVO's Jeff Ooi joins Opposition Party

  31 July 2007

Today marks one of the most important occasion in Malaysia's blogging community as Screenshot's Jeff Ooi, who is dubbed as one of the most prominent blogger in Malaysia's blogosphere joined an Opposition Party – the Democratic Action Party (DAP). Speaking at the the press conference announcing his decision, Jeff reason's...

Japan: A Historic Election Defeat

  31 July 2007

The overwhelming defeat of the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan's upper house elections on Sunday, historic in its scale, brought about a drastic shift in the Japanese political landscape and sent a clear message to prime minister Abe Shinzo and his government. While media across the world analyze political fallout of the political shift, bloggers are echoing the message and demanding change.

China: Citywide taxi strike

  31 July 2007

It seems the ten thousand taxi drivers in one Chinese city have all gone on strike, bloggers are making this much clear. Local media appears not to be reporting on the incident, so the reasons for the job action have yet to be made known.

Iraq: WE WOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!

Iraq's national football team won the Asian Cup, an event which brought joy to Iraqis at home and around the world. Sufferings, death, sectarian divisions and repercussions against Iraqis celebrating abroad were also captured in the reactions rounded up by Salam Adil from the Iraqi blogosphere.

Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago: Bergman Passes On

  30 July 2007

“I have always found his films to be difficult to watch, always knowing, though, that I was watching a master at work.” Babalu Blog acknowledges the passing of Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, as does Jonathan at Trinidad's Studio Film Club blog.

Barbados: Nation Grieves for Bus Crash Victims

  30 July 2007

A tragic bus accident which claimed the lives of six Barbadians as they made their way to the Crop Over Party Monarch Finals prompts Barbados Free Press, Barbados Underground and Notes from the Margin to extend their sympathy to a grieving nation.

China: WordPress plugin subverts keyword filters

  30 July 2007

Ryan McLaughlin, a very innovative blogger and long-term resident of China has just released Censortive, a WordPress plugin which converts words into images which fit seamlessly into your blog post, allowing it to subvert keyword filtering. Chinese character support is still being developed. Any suggestions?

Touring Libyan Blogs: Health Sector, Old Ladies, Confrontating a Racist Bully, Globetrotting and Another Libyan Writer

The case of the Bulgarian nurses (and the Palestinian doctor) is already fading into history - while speculation rages if they have been bought off, whether they were guilty or not, if they were hostage to a political settlement in the New World Order or who is it exactly that defused the situation? One thing is sure on this side of the world is that their innocence or the lack of it has not been proven 100 per cent. However, in the interest of self preservation Libyans are moving on, writes Fozia Mohamed.

Turkey is Typing….Election Issue

The Turkish parliamentary elections were this last Sunday… and despite public protests in the last few months against the ruling party AKP, they still won with a resounding 47 per cent of the popular vote. Turkish bloggers wrote extensively this week about their predictions of the elections and what future...

“Following the release of the ‘Benghazi Six,’ Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov has pardoned and released them. He’s also granted citizenship to the Palestinian among them,” reports Elijah Zarwan from Egypt.

Palestine: Today's Ultimate Sin – Complacency?

"'It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.' The virtuous amongst us try to identify evil, and not do it. However, how often do we consider the act of NOT DOING as evil?" asks blogger Oranges and Olives. A good question among many from this week's post of prolific Palestinian blogs.

China: Dispossessed farmers beaten

  21 July 2007

The local government wants to build a new administration tower, 240 farmers in Jiangxi province claim, but they don't even have enough to pay us back for the land it will be built on. On July 20 the developer moved on in and the villagers got in the way.

Arabeyes: Saudi Women Fight for Men's Rights

Saudi women are grabbing the headlines once again - this time with a protest to demand the freedom of their husbands and kin arrested under 'terrorism' charges, in the conservative kingdom where women are not even allowed to drive. While newspapers are shying from covering the demonstration, bloggers are coming up with creative methods to spread their demands and concerns.

Cuba: Tobacco Deal?

  19 July 2007

“More than 245 years after the English briefly held Havana, the British are close to becoming a big player in Cuba again. This time it will be all about tobacco.” Child of the Revolution explains.

Japan: A Week of Typhoons, Earthquakes, and Nuke Leaks

  19 July 2007

The past week has been rough for Japan. Just as a torrential typhoon finished ripping through Okinawa and Kyushu, massive earthquakes hit Niigata and nearby regions, among other things setting fire to parts of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, the world's largest nuclear power plant. Video footage and blog translations in this week's post provide a glimpse into what has been happening at ground level.