Stories about English from April, 2009
Jamaica: Mad Tax
Abeng News Magazine‘s Michael Spence says: “The new gas tax added in the latest Jamaican national budget is bad but when you tax reading material…this has to come from a government that has gone mad and is intent on helping the poor to get poorer.”
Jamaica: Career Crime?
“In times of economic downturn, crime pays”: Jamaica Salt is saddened that “more and more Jamaicans are taking up robbery as a professional career.”
Jamaica: Calabash Countdown
“The line-up looks yummy”: Life, Unscripted, on the Rock begins the countdown to Jamaica's Calabash Literary Festival.
Guyana: e-Waste
“The mo’ they fall, the mo’ they break, the mo’ they break, the mo’ you buy. Slick, smart cell-phone makers and sellers”: Guyana-Gyal considers where all the e-waste goes.
Egypt: Plans for Sexual Harassment Film Unveiled
After the success of Egypt's Anti-Harassment Day, Egyptian blogger Asser Yasser invited women to share their personal experiences with this issue. Women and young women will be filmed going about their everyday lives, registering the different forms of harassment they are subjected to. Marwa Rakha has the story.
UAE: Torture video sends shock waves around the world
Last week, a grainy video from 2005 made headlines, shaking up viewers around the globe. The video, first shown on U.S.-based ABC News, showed Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan - brother of UAE's crown prince torturing an Afghan grain farmer, attacking him with a cattle prod then literally pouring salt on his wounds. Jillian C. York brings us reports from the blogosphere.
United Kingdom: Barcamp Transparency to discuss Internet monitoring by government
A new U.K. government plan to monitor all email, phone calls, and internet use as part of a counter-terrorism initiative has already sparked lots of negative commentary in forums and blogs. It makes even more timely an upcoming Barcamp Transparency meeting in Oxford on 26 July, 2009.
Egypt: “Egyptians are not Arabs”
Mathilda wrote her thoughts in a scientific research that believes Egyptians are not Arabs; it focused mainly on the Egyptians around Luxor, where old upper Egypt was located.
Egypt's First Independent Union Formed
Egypt's real estate tax collectors have formed their first independent trade union since 1957. In addition to local recognition, the union has won international legitimacy after being accepted in the international body Public Services International. One blogger follows the developments from their start until the moment of triumph - with hundreds of photographs.
Armenia: Shooting the Messenger
Security, in the Caucasus and beyond…. comments on the tendency for nationalist voices in Armenia and the Diaspora to shoot down any proposals intended to promote peace and reconciliation with Turkey by discrediting them and preventing any open discussion or independent thought.
China: English-language mouthpiece paper launched
People are talking about the new English-language Party paper, Global Times, which launched last week, finding it alternately: confused, soft power, serious, a waste of money, revealing and redundant.
Mexico and Hong Kong: Fears over the fatal swine flu virus
I know I cannot affect your decision, but I understand your feeling at this moment as we are all Hong Kong people now on exchange in Mexico…..I really believe….we should leave now!!
“Cashing In On Swine Flu: How Ethical Is That?”
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy shares her “doubts about people shamelessly cashing in on the hysteria surrounding the latest threat to the human race – the swine flu.”
Hungary, Bolivia: Eduardo Rózsa-Flores
Hungarian Spectrum writes about Eduardo Rózsa-Flores and the alleged plot to kill Bolivia's president – here, here, and here. (An earlier GV post on Rózsa-Flores, by Eduardo Avila, is here.)
Thailand: Southern militants launch attacks
Eleven attacks by separatists in southern Thailand were launched last Sunday. A blogger criticizes the lack of in-depth coverage by the local media
Indonesian minister thinks swine flu could be man-made
Indonesian Heath Minister Siti Fadilah Supari thinks it is possible that the swine flu could be man-made “to boost pharmaceutical companies’ profits.”
Cambodia: Road accidents
Road and traffic accidents have been increasing in Cambodia, especially in the capital city of Phnom Penh.
India: Showing The Middle Finger
Über Desi reports that according to “a new ruling by The Election Commission of India, voting officials in certain polling stations are now marking middle fingers with the purple ink, instead of index fingers.” This has sent vibes across many bloggers who are trying to analyze what the voters are...
Nepal: Politics of Energy
Nepali Perspectives comments on the failed power supply deal between India and Nepal: “Nepal’s.. interest will be best served by ensuring energy security and being self reliant in the matters of energy – from our own water resource.”
Fiji: New rule creates thousands of retirees
A recent government decree in Fiji orders all civil servants 55 years and older must retire Thursday, April 30. The new rules affect any person working within Fiji’s government, police force and prisons service. Previously, those workers would be employed until turning 60.
India: A Peek Into The Young Voters
Kamla Bhatt profiles an young voter from Trivandrum, Kerala to understand who the young voters of the Indian elections 2009 are and what are their issues.
