Stories from 6 September 2005
Aruba: Natural Bridge Collapses
Lost in Smallness reports that the same day a judge released all three suspects in the Natalee Holloway case, Aruba's famed Natural Bridge collapses.
Trinidad and Tobago: Podcast
After a brief absence, Caribbean Free Radio's 30th podcast covers Hurricane Katrina, remembers the Martiniquans who died on a plane crash in Venezuela, and has plenty of good music from around the Caribbean.
Puerto Rico: Media on Taino People
Roberto Borrero says an article in El Nuevo Dia “perpetuates myths and writes a slanted, ugly story about the Taino people”
El Salvador: Police to monitor lawyers for gangs
Tim's El Salvador Blog says the Salvadoran police will begin monitoring lawyers who represent gang members.
Venezuela: Comparing Natural Disaster Responses
Like Tomas Sancio did with the 1999 La Guaria floods, Oil Wars compares the US response to Katrina with the Venezuelan response to the February, 2005 floods of Vargas, Caracas.
Venezuela: Prison Conditions
Daniel of Venezuela News and Views writes of the prison conditions in Venezuela.
Peru: Bloggers and Online Radio
As Diana Zorrilla Ríos notes, PeruBlogs is trying out an online radio station where listeners can send their requests via Instant Messenger. They are also looking for more volunteer DJ's, but do not specify whether one must be living in Peru.
Ecuador: 600 Registered Blogs
Eduardo Ochoa of Li-1 notes that Ecuablogs, which he helped set up just a few months ago, already has more than 600 registered bloggers. The 600th blog, from Quito, is dedicated to the soccer club Emelec.
Argentina: Kevin Johansen
Ana of Nivel 13 sums up a recent online chat [ES] with Alaskan-born, Argentine rock star, Kevin Johansen.
Ecuador: Ecuadorian Soup
Newley Purnell gives his impressions of a New Yorker piece on Ecuadorian soup.
Kyrgyzstan: Lunching on loam
If you've ever wondered what “geophagy” means, it happens in Kyrgyzstan, and it's explained on Registan.
Uzbekistan: Avoiding isolation
Registan revisits the argument that it would be a mistake for the United States entirely to cut off ties with Uzbekistan over its human rights record.
Ethiopia: 21st century Maoism
Ethiopundit dissects his country's ruling ideology, “Revolutionary democracy”, exposing language and concepts which would be strangely familiar to anyone raised on Mao Zedong Thought.
Estonia: Tree cult
Bonjour l'Estonie describes the custom in Estonia of setting aside large individual trees as landmarks and tourist attractions.
Azerbaijan: Voter registration drive
Marianna Idrisova Gurtovnik writes about efforts to ensure widespread voter registration ahead of the Azerbaijan elections in November, especially in the mostly ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno Karabakh.
Afghanistan: Women candidates struggle
Afghan Warrior goes into more detail about the problems faced by prospective women candidates in the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.
Kenya: Halliburton contract
Kenya-based Mental Acrobatics highlights the awarding of a multi-million dollar reconstruction contract in hurricane-hit Louisiana and Mississippi to Halliburton, a company with strong ties to U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney.
Kenya: First birthday
Kenyan blogger Mshairi celebrates one year in the blogosphere, looking back on 12 months of life, love, poetry, Africa and gender activism.
Sudan: Love and aid
Sleepless in Sudan has found a man! and blogs hilariously about what can go wrong with a date in Darfur…
South Africa: Women in IT
Thea Burger reports on bursaries aimed at getting South African women into careers in IT.
Kenya: Katrina poetry
Kenya Democracy Project posts a long poem and photos depicting the ravages of Katrina, and picks up on the infamous (white) “finders” and (black) “looters” captions on AFP photos out of New Orleans.