· April, 2009

Stories about North America from April, 2009

Haiti, U.S.A.: TPS for Haitians

jmc strategies reports that ” the New York City Council adopted…a resolution urging Congress to pass legislation granting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitian nationals in the United States.”

27 April 2009

Global Health: Swine Flu Threat Spreads Worldwide

Confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu, which was detected in Mexico earlier this month, have now been found in at least seven other countries around the world. The World Health Organization says that this outbreak constitutes a "public health emergency of international concern."

27 April 2009

Sri Lanka: The Pros And Cons Of International Attention

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are holding on to to just a sliver of land in the north of Sri Lanka, but the United Nations is estimating that 50,000 people are still trapped in the warzone. As fighting surges in the final throes, concerns for civilians is growing and calls for international attention and understanding abound on the Internet and in the streets of cities around the world, such as London, Berlin and Paris.

24 April 2009

Jamaica: Wasn't Me

Girl With a Purpose learns that as investigations are launched into the security breach at the Jamaican airport which resulted in a (now resolved) hostage situation, “the persons in charge...

23 April 2009

Cuba, U.S.A.: What Next?

“After a week in which President Obama announced new Cuba policy measures and discussed Cuba policy at the Trinidad summit,” The Cuban Triangle asks: “Where do things stand?”

23 April 2009

MENA: Reflections on Durban II

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech, and the way European Union representatives reacted to it at the United Nations Conference on Racism in Geneva (Durban II), has stirred debates among bloggers across the Middle East. Eman AbdElRahman sums up reactions in this post.

22 April 2009

Americas: 5th Summit Reactions

The much-hyped Fifth Summit of the Americas is now over, culminating with the Hemispheric leaders' adoption of the Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain - albeit with one signatory - the Prime Minister of host country Trinidad and Tobago, who purportedly signed on behalf of all participating leaders. This signaled to many a clear lack of unanimity on the final declaration, hardly surprising given the differing agendas of the 34 participating nations. Bloggers were quick to post their impressions of the three-day engagement.

20 April 2009

Jamaica: Hostages Released

Breaking news in Jamaica this morning is that a hostage situation has developed with the crew of a Canadian jet at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. Canadian mainstream media is since reporting that the situation was resolved without any loss of life when "an anti-terrorism unit of the Jamaican military stormed the plane and disarmed the gunman", but bloggers Caribbean-wide and throughout the diaspora are still in disbelief.

20 April 2009

Jamaica: Perspective on Pirates

Jamaica-based blogger Annie Paul happened to be reading a manuscript about pirates at a time when “the pirates of Somalia were rousing international consternation by capturing a US ship and...

20 April 2009

Global Health: Twitter Face-Off To Fight Malaria

This past week Twitter became the newest weapon in the fight against malaria when American actor Ashton Kutcher challenged news network CNN to a race to get a million Twitter followers. The winner of the competition vowed to donate mosquito bed nets in time for World Malaria Day on April 25.

20 April 2009

Global Recession: The world is talking. Are we listening?

There is no lack of online articles about the various aspects of the global economic crisis. Many of them are written by economic experts and policymakers. What about the perspectives of ordinary bloggers? This global roundup of blogs gathers stories of people around the world who are struggling to survive the economic downturn.

18 April 2009