· November, 2009

Stories from Quick Reads from November, 2009

India: Corruption Is The Hindrance

  30 November 2009

“India needs to be made free of corruption before it can become developed. But the entire existing Indian governance ecosystem will prevent this from happening,” opines Rajesh Jain at Emergic.

Egypt: Spotlight on Zabbaleen

  30 November 2009

Regine, at we make money not art, introduces us to photographs by Bas Princen of Cairo's Mokattam Ridge or Garbage City (Zabbaleen) – where a community of mainly Coptic Christians live and make a living out of collecting, sorting and disposing of Cairo's waste.

Iran: A blogger released, another arrested

  30 November 2009

Iranian authorities released Mohammad Ali Abtahi,former vice president and blogger on a $700,000 bail one week ago after his lawyer said he had been sentenced to six years in prison. Human rights activists reported [fa] that a few days ago Sasan Aghayi, a blogger and journalist got arrested in Tehran.

Trinidad & Tobago: Numb from CHOGM

  30 November 2009

This Beach Called Life features a press ad that was taken out by “a group who knows Trinidad and Tobago better than any foreign or local politician”, adding in a follow-up post: “The only thing that CHOGM did for citizens of this country was to send the fed up level...

Bangladesh: Spreading the Warmth

  30 November 2009

Bangladeshi blogger Sadiq Alam, who blogs at Inspirations and Creative Thoughts, has taken an initiative called ‘Spreading the Warmth‘. The goal is to distribute winter clothes for those who live on the street in Dhaka, especially the children and the elderly.

USA: Historical Truth of Thanksgiving

  30 November 2009

“To European-Americans this holiday is laced with fanciful symbolism and metaphorical memories about that great feast between Pilgrims and Indians. But the historical truth often goes untold and unheard,” writes Rusty’s blog.

UAE: .il unblocked?

  29 November 2009

samuraisam, from the UAE Community Blog, asks: “Has anyone else found the Israeli TLD to be unblocked from the UAE? On my Etisalat connection it seems to be open.”

Yemen: An Architectural Gem

  29 November 2009

Yemeni Omar Barsawad shares with us information on the Yemeni capital San'aa. “Be it in Sana'a Old City or the mud bricked houses of Hadhramout, Yemen's architecture remains very much traditional and unique. And is still being preserved in most parts of the country,” he notes.