· March, 2006

Stories from Quick Reads from March, 2006

Uganda: Conflict

  31 March 2006

Uganda Conflict Action Network reports that the “current rate of death from the war in northern Uganda is three times higher than [that] in Iraq following the US invasion.” Facts and figures are provided to back up this claim.

Israel: Rabbis and Imams for Peace Meet in Seville

Richard Silverstein argues that “there is no end of those who criticize Islam and its imams for their supposed hatred against Israel and the west… Such attitudes toward Islam are unfair and anti-Muslim. I’ve argued here against such individuals saying that Islam is as varied a religion as Judaism or...

DRC: Priest Describes 3/22 Protest

  31 March 2006

Le Blog du Congolais posts (FR) a Le Phare interview with a priest, Rev. Blaise Kanda, who attended UDPS’ March 22 protest. Rev. Kanda reports that even though UDPS leadership may not be ready to take up arms, rank-and-file demonstrators shouted slogans that indicated they were. He was also surprised...

DRC: Malu Malu Announces Delay in Communal Elections

  31 March 2006

UDPS Liege blogger ngstephane comments (FR) on electoral council President Appolinaire Malu Malu's appearance on a Belgian talk show yesterday. Blogger is especially disappointed with Malu Malu's announcement that communal elections will have to take place later than the constitutionally mandated June 30, 2006 deadline and predicts that Malu Malu...

Bahrain: Ship Disaster

Beside the deepest condolences expressed by Bahrain bloggers to the families who have lost relatives and friends in the catastrophic ship disaster, for Amira, this toke away the excitement of returning home, and Mahmood believes that people who were directly responsible for flouting safety laws should be punished, and this...

Costa Rica: Global IT Ranking

  30 March 2006

Uri Ridelman notes that Costa Rica lost eight places in global IT ranking according to the World Economic Forum. Costa Rica was ranked below El Salvador and Panama, but above Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Bolivia: “Battle at the Cochabamba Airport”

  30 March 2006

Eduardo Ávila is covering a developing story at Jorge Wilstermann airport in Cochabamba, where workers of the airline Lloyd Aereo Boliviano are demanding that the indebted airline be nationalized. Writing from Cochabamba, Jim Shultz describes LAB as “one more lab rat in that great IMF-induced economic experiment of privatizing all...

Argentina: Indie Online Radio

  30 March 2006

unaRadio is an online radio station based in Argentina which describes itself as “a free medium to distribute the work of independent artists in Spanish and other languages.” You can listen to it in any media player by clicking here.

Mongolia: Reporter in Court

  30 March 2006

Luke Distelhorst writes about the case of a journalist in Mongolia being taken to court for slander by the country's president and says that the country would greatly benefit from more skilled investigative journalists and greater access to government documents.

Belarus: Prison Journal

  30 March 2006

Ivan Lenin at Rush-Mush links to an English translation of a Belarusian protestor's jail journal. (Written by LJ user forion in Belarusian, translated by LJ user kapitan-tanaka.)

Poland: Singer Turned Politician Tired of Politics

  30 March 2006

The beatroot writes about a 56-year-old Polish rock musician turned politician and the problems he's facing. “After making a lot of money over the years, he must have got bored – like ageing rock stars do – and thought that he would represent the very un-rock and roll Law and...

Morocco: Moroccan Saffron – As precious as gold dust

Know anything about Moroccan saffron? Several hundred hectares of flowers grown on light chalky hillsides at an altitude of between 1200 and 2000 metres (4000 – 6500 feet). Each September the bulbs are planted and come into flower towards the end of October when the harvesting takes place. Harvesting is...