Stories from 5 August 2005
Bolivia: New Poll
Blog from Bolivia links to a new poll which has Jorge Quiroga firmly in the lead for December's presidential election.
Venezuela: Telesur
The Devil's Excrement does not yet seem convinced of the quality of Telesur's programming.
Venezuela: Municipal Election Predictions
Daniel of Venezuela News and Views makes his predictions for this Sunday's municipal elections.
Venezuela: American Ambassador and Baseball
Tomas Sancio of Venezuelan Politics covers the reaction and controversy which followed after U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield distributed free baseball equipment to poor youth in the capitol city, Caracas.
Nicaragua: The price of Terror
Some expats living in Nicaragua, joke about “the price of Terror.”
Cuba: 1,524 Cubans interdicted since Jan. 1
Matt Lawrence of Havana Journal has some statistics on detentions of Cuban illegal immigrants so far this year.
Colombia: Visiting Colombia
At the five year anniversary of Plan Colombia, Boz has some excellent and optimistic observations about his latest trip to Colombia/a>.
Guatemala: More Reflections
Cyril Mychalejko has his third and final post on Upside Down Blog about his trip to Guatemala where he observed a miner's union.
El Salvador: Vacation Season
Tim says it's that time of year when most Salvadorans enjoy their vacation time including some 65,000 that will visit Guatemala.
Inside the Japanese Blogosphere
Japanese bloggers were able to offer almost realtime accounts of the recent earthquake in northern Japan. Says one Japanese blogger: The fridge door swung upon, the goldfish bowl fell off the shelf, and it was just a terrible situation inside the house…There have been a lot of earthquakes here in...
Ghana: Kente Weavers of Ashanti
Last night, I put together a short video about traditional kente weaving in Ghana's Ashanti region. Kente, perhaps the most famous West African textile, is brightly colored, coming in a variety of patterns, some reserved for use by Ashanti royalty. The video was shot in the historic kente weaving village of Bonwire, about an hour south of Kumasi. Three weavers are featured, each using a traditional loom to make the cloth. The video also contains music performed by Ghanaian drummer Obo Addy, used with permission from Alula Records. There are two versions of the video: high resolution (13 megs) and low resolution (two megs).
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Zimbabwe: No Fourth Estate?
The Zimbabwean Pundit points out an interview with “reviled media henchman Tafataona Mahoso”, where he explains why there's no such thing as journalism that has Zimbabwe's interests at heart.
Singapore: RadioSDP – A pleasant surprise
Omeka Na Huria is pleasantly surprised that the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), one of Singapore's few opposition parties, has started podcasting. However, Mr. Brown is, in his own unique way, somewhat skeptical of the endevour. And Wannabe Lawyer actually reviews the content–well, kinda…
Philippines: Raul Roco, RIP
Torn and frayed in Manila mourns the death of former presidential candidate Raul Roco: “Philippine politics has lost perhaps its only intellectual heavyweight of recent years.”
Malaysia: The Valley of Bio-Ghosts
Referencing a Nature article, Jeff Ooi wonders what ever happened to BioValley, Malaysia's purported biotechnology research center.
Kenya: KBW: 100 not out
Mentalacrobatics celebrates the fact that the Kenyan Blogs Webring has grown to more than 100 members.
Macam-Macam: An apology
Macam-Macam reports that former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has recieved an apology from the man who beat him while Ibrahim was in police custody in the late 1990s. Wikipedia has more information on the politically-motivated charges that originally landed Ibrahim in jail.
China: Trusting the Media
EastSouthWestNorth reports on the story of an entrepreneur, involved in a dispute with the local government, who disappeared after leaving for a meeting with a “reporter”. As far as anyone can tell, he was arrested by public security officials who had been posing as CCTV producers.
Australia: Soccer and the Australian psyche
The Australian blog Rank and Vile digs into the rivalry between world football (aka soccer) and Australian Rules Football.
Uzebekistan: A Free Clue for State
Registan.net catches a US State Department official desperately trying to put the best possible spin on US relations with Tashkent.
Africa: The AU's priorities
Black Star Journal applauds the fact that the African Union has condemned the coup in Mauritania, but wonders where the rest of their priorities are.
