Stories from Quick Reads from March, 2010
Trinidad & Tobago: Shouter Baptist Liberation Day
“It seems hard to believe or to fully understand the idea that practicing a faith could be considered illegal here in T&T where we pride ourselves on religious tolerance and diversity, however for many decades that was exactly what the Shouter Baptist community endured”: TriniGourmet.com has some ideas for local...
Brazil: “Sao Paulo, shithole of world”
In a post called “Sao Paulo, shithole of world”, Adriano Cintra from the band CSS, publishes a set of amazing pictures showing what happens when it rains in the biggest Latin American city, portraying the chaos the population has lived with since the beginning of the year.
Lebanon: The Adventures of Salwa
Liliane comments on The Adventures of Salwa a new comic-style campaign aimed at combating sexual harassment in Lebanon.
China and Hong Kong: Post 80's Generation
K.E. David from ChinaGeek translated an article written by Yang Hengjun on his encounter with post 80's generation in a talk on democracy. The discussion makes him realize the connection between democracy and young people's future.
China: Google.cn search blocked
Several twitterers, including @williamlong @geekinmedia @aHexie @terryxxy and @mranti, confirmed the blocking of google.cn's search in major cities, such as Beijing and Shenzhen in China. According to @mranti: Google search is blocked in Beijing. Any search will trigger reset.
India: Tribals Using Cell Phones To Publish News
Indian Tribals Blog reports that “dozens of citizen journalists in India’s chronically neglected tribal communities are producing and sharing audio news reports for the first time through an innovative cell phone system.”
Bangladesh: Aktel Becomes Robi
Aktel, one of the leading cell phone service providers in Bangladesh, has renamed its brand as Robi in an attempt to ‘localise’ its branding. Bangladesh Corporate Blog analyzes consumer reactions through netizens’ eyes.
India: Water Crisis Is Man Made
Muriel Kakani writes that India’s recent water crisis is “predominantly a man-made problem”. The blogger opines that ‘water harvesting from rainfalls’ can be a solution.
Sri Lanka: Unbounded Crowd-sourcing Of Human Rights Violations
Sanjana Hattotuwa at ICT For Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) discusses about the unbounded nature of a new crowd-sourcing initiative in Sri Lanka called Citizens Net. This mapping project records human rights violence on issues regarding “gender-based violence, the rights of children, the elderly and the disabled”.
Bolivia: April 4th Regional Elections
Miguel Centellas of the blog Pronto* previews Bolivia's municipal and departmental elections scheduled for April 4, 2010.
Peru: Alarmist Report on Possible Earthquake in Lima
A recent report by the Peruvian Civil Defense finds that if an earthquake struck the capital city of Lima that 51,000 people would die. Blogger Juan Sheput of Mate Pastor [es] criticizes the report calling it “alarmist” and “incomplete” for not thoroughly explaining its methodology and for not taking into...
India: Battle Of Two Newspapers
Sans Serif brings to you a three part story of the battle between two major newspapers of India – The Indian Express and The Hindu (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
Bhutan: Facing Power Shortage?
Bhutan, a major producer of electricity in the sub-continent, exports surplus electricity to its neighbors. However, the country can face power shortage in recent years, opines Adhikari School of Thought.
Pakistan: Prayers For Moscow
“Prayers for #Moscow from #Lahore – there are no words that will lessen your grief.” tweets Mars On Earth from Pakistan as reported in Lahore Metblogs.
Bangladesh: Trial Of War Criminals Begin
After 40 years of independence of Bangladesh, the government has formed a tribunal to prosecute the war criminals of the country. An Ordinary Citizen writes about this long awaited trial.
Suriname: Art as a Beacon
At Paramaribo SPAN, Nicholas Laughlin blogs about artist Sri Irodikromo’s “monumentally scaled batik panel”, which, on the night of SPAN's recent exhibition opening, “served as a beacon, drawing visitors to the far end of the DSB Bank garden”. He suggests that the piece “might also be seen as another kind...
Jamaica: Responding to HIV
Repeating Islands reports that with funding support from the World Bank, the Jamaican government “aims to curb the spread of HIV, improve treatment, care and support for persons living with HIV/AIDS, and strengthen Jamaica’s capacity to respond to the epidemic.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Food Prices
“The basket of items you bought in the grocery in Jan 2010 is just over three times the price of the same basket bought in Jan 2003…Is your salary today three times what you earned in Jan 2003? If not, then, at least for food, you're not winning”: KnowTnT.com looks...
Bermuda: Political Power
Politically, says 21 Square, “Bermuda is on the verge of either destruction or greatness.”
Africa: Will France Telecoms dominate East Africa?
Rebecca's advice for France Telecoms whose plans are to dominate the East African telecommunication market.
Nigeria: The New Afrika Shrine one of top small venues
More kudos to Lagos as [The New Afrika] Shrine is named as one of the top small music venues in the world. I am not sure what the reviewer means “its not for the faint-hearted”…” writes Sokari.
