Stories from Quick Reads from May, 2009
Jamaica, U.S. Virgin Islands: Cruise Control
The popularity of cruises to Caribbean destinations gets Jamaican diaspora blogger Labrish thinking about “the overwhelm of the environment, marine and land, that these mega-cities-on-the-sea bring with them.”
Cuba: Sex Change Operations
Repeating Islands notes “that Cuba is reinstating sex-change operations that had previously been banned on the island.”
Belize: Earthquake
Belize-based blogger As The Coconuts Drop recounts his experience of yesterday's strong earthquake.
Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: Schengen Waived
As Bajan Dream Diary reports that “Barbadians travelling to the European Union will no longer need to obtain the Schengen visa”, Trinidad and Tobago's fake Prime Minister asks: “Since when do Trinis visit Europe anyway?”
Jamaica, Cuba: Amnesty International Report
Iriegal and Jamaica Salt comment on Amnesty International’s criticism of the Jamaican police force, while Havana Times notes that the organization”recognized…that the US blockade on Cuba has a negative effect on the general population.”
Zimbabwe: Is Movement for Democratic Change backing down?
Is the Movement for Democractic Change in Zimbabwe backing down?, “In a shocking about face, the MDC told the media yesterday that they could live with Gideon Gono because they can “manage and control him” through a revision of the Reserve Bank Act.”
Japan: Open access online journal Journal@rchive
Librarian Charles Ellwood Jones writes about academic journals focusing on antiquity at open access online journal Journal@rchive, an archive site of J-STAGE operated by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. The site offers high resolution scans and OCR texts on a wide range of journals.
China: Police harassment
Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated Ai Weiwei's blog posts on how he was harassed by security “rice streamers” (meaning stupid polices) and lawyer blogger Liu Xiaoyuan's article explaining Ai's rights. Ai Weiwei's blogs hosted on Sina and Sohu have been suspended.
China: Deng Yujiao Case Reporters Assaulted
ESWN translated local forum news reporting on the assault of Southern People Weekly magazine reporter Wei Yi when he tried to interview the maternal grandmother of Deng Yujiao – the nail beautician who stabbed to dead a local government official in defense of sexual assault.
Azerbaijan: Toyland
Fighting windmills? Take a pill introduces its readers to “toy,” the local word for wedding, and comments on the role marriage plays in society in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan: Republic Day
Sheki, Azerbaijan marks the anniversary of the first republic declared in Azerbaijan by looking back at the significance of the event, and also looking forwards.
Colombia: HiperBarrio Workshops in Ituango
The HiperBarrio project has been conducting blogging workshops in the Colombian community of Ituango and Blueandtanit of $ujetate [es] provides details on the weekend's activities.
Colombia: Bogotá Campus Party 2009 Blog
The official blog of Campus Party Colombia 2009 [es] is now providing updates on the activities scheduled for the event to held in Bogotá on July 6-12.
Bangladesh: Waiting For The Community Radio Boom
Panos Radio South Asia airs a special report on the status of the community radios in Bangladesh. Following a progressive and pro-radio broadcasting law enacted by the government last year, 116 community radio stations are waiting for the final nod to be on air.
UN Human Rights Council Backs Sri Lankan Government
Sepia Mutiny reports that the UN human rights council passed a resolution praising Sri Lanka's victory over the LTTE and refused calls to investigate allegations of war crimes by both sides in the fag end of the civil war. Human Rights Watch condemned the resolution.
Sri Lanka: Prabhakaran's DNA Matches With Son
Bailaman reports that DNA taken from the body of the LTTE leader Prabhakaran matches with his son Charles Anthony. This discovery by Sri Lankan Army medical experts is supposed to end all speculations over his death.
Lebanon: Women in Parliament
“There are actually more men with the first name of Mohammad than there are women in parliament,” writes BabaGannouj et La Zaytouni about the current number of women parliamentarians and about the very small number of women candidates (12) compared to the hundreds of men running for the upcoming elections...
Honduras: 7.1 Scale Earthquake Hits
A 7.1 scale earthquake has hit Honduras. Janpedrano [es] writes about communicating with friends and family around the country through internet, SMS, and telephone making sure that they were alright.
Bahamas: Flooding
Weblog Bahamas republishes an article which addresses the serious impact of flooding on the island.
Haiti: Father Jean-Juste Passes On
HaitiAnalysis.com acknowledges the passing of “Father Jean-Juste, a friend and inspiration for us all.”
Trinidad & Tobago: AG Resigns
Bloggers have their say about the resignation of Trinidad and Tobago's Attorney General. This Beach Called Life: “The AG resigned, bringing with it accusations she wouldn’t tow The Party Line. Or support The Dictatorship, depending how you say it”; Jumbie's Watch: “This is a red herring to detract us from…the...