Stories about Development from January, 2010
Azerbaijan: Reflections
Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines experiences Baku at morning and night, reflecting on the Azerbaijani capital and the social, economic and political situation in the country.
Caucasus: Society, sex and the dating game
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, hopes that new freedoms would quickly replace the old have often been dashed by the re-emergence of traditional practices. Largely kept suppressed by the communist system, gender and issues of sexuality were particularly affected. Slowly, however, discussion is starting to take place online.
Russia: Blogger Reveals Microchip Plant Construction Delay
Habrahabr user pechkin1007 published [RUS] photos showing a construction delay at the “Angstrem-M” microchip plant near Moscow. The plant administration received a €815 million government loan [RUS] in 2008 and committed to starting the...
China: “Avatar” and forced demolition
Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated Chinese reaction of the Hollywood movie “Avatar”, some comments related the struggle to the forced eviction and demolition of people's home in development project.
The Year that Was in Madagascar : Part III
Mialy reviews the final weeks of 2009 in Madagascar in the last of a three-part series.
Rwanda: Kigali to become first hot spot African city
“Kigali will soon go wireless after the government launched a $7.66 million wireless broadband (WiBro) facility that is set to make it the first “hot spot” capital city in Africa,”...
Caucasus: Unity in Diversity
With three unresolved conflicts and a local media that often self-censors, blogs comment on an online project hoping to break stereotypes by reporting on examples of ethnic groups otherwise in conflict in the South Caucasus co-existing peacefully together.
Georgia: Tragedy ushers in the New Year
As citizens of Georgia waited in anticipation of the New Year, two high profile scandals were instead set to dampen the holiday spirit. As part of plans to decentralize government, a Soviet-era statue to thise who died during World War II was set to demolished in Georgia's second largest city to make room for the construction of a new parliament building. A mother and her child were tragically killed.
Mozambique: Demise of a massive biofuels project
In late December, the Council of Ministers of Mozambique made a significant announcement. A 30,000ha land concession to biofuels firm Procana had been revoked. The case of the Procana project, on a massive area bordering on the cross-border Limpopo National Park, was polemic from the beginning in 2007.
Bangladesh: Becoming A Service Oriented Nation
“Bangladesh, is becoming more of a service oriented nation and a customer service culture is developing more than ever before,” comments Zain Mahmood, a non-resident Bangladeshi and the CEO of...
South Asia: Looking Back At 2009 (Part 2)
This is the second part of our retrospection of some of the major events, which took place in 2009 in the South Asian countries, seen through the eyes of the citizen journalists.
Azerbaijan: Winter blues
Linda in Azerbaijan details the downside of being a Peace Corps Volunteer in the South Caucasus. Based in Azerbaijan, she says that winters can be particularly depressing and fitting in...
UAE: Burj Dubai Opens with Twitter Fanfare
Dubai has pulled all the stops to signal the opening of the world's tallest tower - Burj Dubai or Burj Khalifa. The 828 metre (2,717 ft) super tall skyscraper is being opened now with much fanfare despite the gloom that has surrounded the emirate's economy in recent weeks.
Taiwan: Suhua Freeway Project Deferred
Suhua Freeway Project has been in dispute for more than a decade. On 22 of December, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) opted for a plan to improve existing...
